Break You (26 page)

I unsnapped the top on my Jeep and rolled it up. Tucking it underneath the passenger seat, I walked around to the driver side door with my cell in my hand. I sent Blaire a text, letting her know I was headed to my mom’s to take a shower before I swung by her place with something for dinner.

What are you picking up to eat? ~ Blaire

Climbing in, I put the keys in the ignition and let them dangle while I thought about where I should order from tonight. A brilliant idea came to me then.

Tell me what you and my peanut are in the mood for.

I didn’t know how she would react to the mention of our little peanut, but I hoped this was the beginning of us getting used to talking about the baby.

I don’t know. All I really want is a salad. ~ Blaire

What? No dessert?

Blaire seemed to have a thing for sweets lately. Any time we went out or ordered in, she always had to have a candy bar or something with chocolate after our meal.

Oh you know I want something, but I really need to slack off and cut a lot of my sweets out. If not, I’m going to be trying for years to get the extra baby weight off.  ~ Blaire

I sighed. I hated it when she started that weight crap; she was still sexy as hell and barely had a baby bump showing at all. Even when she did, I wouldn’t care.

Anyway…I’ll be there in a bit.

See you when you get here. ~ Blaire

I booked it to the house and took a shower as fast as I could. Mom wasn’t home yet. Ackerman’s was supposed to get a late-night shipment of clothes in and it was time for inventory. She wouldn’t be home until late. This was fine, because if she had been here, all she would have done was hold me up by asking questions about how Blaire was feeling and when she would be coming over again for dinner. I was glad they’d hit it off so well. I knew at some point in the near future Mom would ask for Blaire’s number and they’d be talking more than me and Blaire.

After I rubbed on some deodorant—the kind Blaire said made me smell sexy—I pulled on a clean T-shirt and slipped on my flip-flops while I scooped up my wallet, phone, and keys off my dresser and headed out the front door. It was only fifteen minutes tops from my mom’s house to the grocery store, but I hit every red light there was along the way, making the trip seem ten times longer.

I found a parking space and headed through the heat and into the store. The automatic doors opened and blasted me with cool air from inside the store and I smiled as I grabbed up a little basket. Pausing for a moment to make a mental list, I thought of everything I would need to make Blaire the best salad I could think of.

The plan for the night was to cook together, enjoy a meal that included dessert, and then hopefully move this relationship into the intimate area once more. It had been a few weeks and the doctor had said sex while pregnant was perfectly okay at this stage, so I planned on taking full advantage of it tonight.

Racing through the store, grabbing up the ingredients I’d need to make the night perfect, I remembered something incredibly important—Blaire didn’t live alone. She had a roommate.

Is Paige gonna be there? Should I bring her something too?

I smiled as I waited in line to pay, proud of myself for coming up with a legitimate reason to ask. By the time I was unloading my basket at the checkout, Blaire finally messaged me back.

No. She has a date tonight with Craig.  ~ Blaire

I let out the breath I’d been holding and grinned even wider. Everything was falling in place for tonight.

* * * *

“Are you kidding me?” Blaire asked. She chuckled as I walked into the door holding every bag from the store and bumped into the wall to avoid colliding with her. “What is all of this?”

“Dinner,” I said. “Isn’t that what I said I’d get on my way over?”

“Well, yeah, but you didn’t say you’d be getting it from the store. I honestly thought it would be like the other night and you’d say you couldn’t decide so we’d end up going out to eat somewhere instead.”

I walked across her apartment and sat everything on the counter. “Are you disappointed?”

“No, not at all,” she said. “I would have stayed in my yoga pants if I’d known.” A smirk twisted at the corners of her lips and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Go,” I shooed her away. “Go change back into your yoga pants then.”

“I’m just teasing you.”

“No, you’re not. You were really in yoga pants, weren’t you?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

Her cheeks flushed pink and she cut her eyes to the bags I’d set on the counter. “Well, I was…but I’m fine in this. I’m not going to wear my yoga pants and ratty tank top in front of you.”

“Woo, you didn’t say you were in a ratty old tank top, too.” I pinned her between my body and the counter. “Was it see-through?” Her hands came up to press against my chest. The simple touch made me excited. It had been too damn long. Way too damn long.

“Oh my God, are we really having this conversation right now?” She chuckled. There was a sense of nervousness in her tone. That was the last thing I wanted to make her feel, nervous. I took a step back and she slipped away from me. “Okay, so maybe the tank top is sort of see-through. I’m not changing back into it for you, but I will change out of these shorts and into my yoga pants again.”

“I can handle that.”

Emptying the grocery bags onto the counter, I checked her out as she disappeared down the hallway to change. I shook my head and crumpled all the bags up and chucked them in the trash. Organizing the ingredients on the counter, I realized I’d forgotten dressing. How the hell were we supposed to eat a salad without any dressing? Fuck. Opening her fridge, I bent down and glanced at the selection Blaire had. Paige and her must live off condiments, because the condiment-to-food ratio was seriously tipped.

“Whatcha lookin’ for?” Blaire asked. She smacked my ass, startling me.

“I forgot salad dressing,” I admitted with a chuckle. Maybe tonight would go like I wanted, she was already getting frisky.

“There should be plenty of ranch in there,” she said. She bent over and slid between me and the fridge door to look. “Here’s some Italian.”

Taking a step back, I smirked. She had changed into yoga pants. They were black and tight fitting, cutting off at her shins. I couldn’t see why she hadn’t wanted to change into them before, she looked amazing in them.

“Italian is fine,” I said.

“Oh and here’s some fancy blue cheese stuff and some Greek dressing Paige likes.”

“I’ll stick with the Italian.”

She came back up holding the dressing in her hand and closed the fridge with her hip. “Me too.”

“Have you got a big bowl I can make this salad in?” I asked.

“Sure.” She bent down and pulled out a large red bowl from a cabinet. “So, is that what you’re making—a salad?”

“Isn’t that what you said you wanted?” I grinned.

Opening and closing one drawer after another, I finally found a cutting board and knife. I placed them both on the counter and began chopping up the veggies.

“It is, but you’re such a meat-and-potatoes type person I didn’t expect you to eat a simple salad for dinner,” she said.

“I’ll be fine.” I motioned to the package of precooked grilled chicken I’d bought for my salad.

“Yuck, you know that stuff probably isn’t even real meat, right?” she asked. Her face was scrunched up into a look of pure disgust.

“I’m sure I’ll live,” I said, smiling at her cute expression. “Do you have any music?”

“Yeah, let me get my speakers for my phone.” She started down the hall again and I exhaled, relaxing my shoulders some.

Blaire made me incredibly nervous. We needed tonight—this dinner, this time to be absolutely alone—in order to get past this odd funk I felt like we were in.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

BLAIRE

Once I made it into my bedroom, I headed straight to my nightstand and pulled the speakers out from the top drawer. I took in a deep breath and then exhaled it slowly. Jason was making me so nervous I thought I might get sick. There was some sort of tension pulsating between us. It was as though we’d never kissed before and were both waiting for the right moment to initiate it.

I set the speakers on my bed and rubbed my sweaty palms across my pants to wipe away the sweat that covered them. Maybe Lauren had been right, maybe it was time we hopped in the sack and did the dirty again to get us to where we should be in this relationship, had we not taken that long break in between the creation of our baby. Swallowing hard, I scooped up the speakers and started down the hall toward the kitchen.

“I’ll plug these in and then we can listen to Spotify or Slacker Radio, I have both,” I said.

Jason paused in cutting up the veggies and shifted to face me. “You listen to Slacker Radio?”

I nodded and connected the speakers to my iPhone. “Yeah, why?”

“Normally chicks listen to Pandora, because it comes on their phone. Slacker is the shit. I love it, so is Spotify.”

I grinned at him. “Guess I’m not like most chicks then, huh?”

Tapping to open Slacker, I chose a station I thought he might like—Party Rock. Music filled the apartment, soaking up all the silence and awkwardness that had been festering in the space, and I felt myself relax.

“Can I help you with anything?” I asked. I leaned against the counter and gazed at everything he’d set out. “What’s this stuff?” I picked up a glass jar that looked like it held some sort of dip inside. It was creamy and tan.

“Hummus dip,”

“What the heck is that?” I glanced at the side label, which said it was creamy garbanzo bean dip.

“You’ve never had it before?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“It’s the best. Spread it on some crackers and your mouth will be in heaven.” He winked. “That’s our appetizer tonight.”

“Hmm, I’ll take your word for it and try a bite, but I’m not making any promises I’ll like it,” I said.

“Oh you will.” There was a slight edge of cockiness to his tone that made me smile.

Once Jason finished chopping things up and tossing the salad, he set it in the fridge, claiming it would be best served chilled. He then got to work on spreading some hummus onto a cracker for me.

“Open,” he insisted.

I opened my mouth and he slipped a smothered cracker in. The taste was surprising. It had a little kick to it, and the texture was creamy and smooth.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” I took another bite and chewed for a moment before swallowing. “It’s one of those things that I’m not sure of. It’s not horrible, but I need a few more bites to decide if I actually like it.”

Jason laughed. “I love this stuff. It was my grandma’s favorite. She liked to spread it on whole-wheat crackers like this and sit on her back porch eating it while enjoying the view.”

There was sadness in his voice that tore at the edges of my heart. I hated he’d lost someone he obviously had loved so dearly. Then I remembered he’d lost his father right after we’d graduated high school, too. Sadness and loss had touched him and his mother so many times it made me glad I was helping to bring a little happiness into both their lives, even though our baby hadn’t been planned and our start had been slightly rocky.

After eating our appetizer and then our awesome salad, Jason moved on to dessert. I watched as he cut a large bowl of strawberries and rinsed them off. He twisted the lid off a container of chocolate hazelnut spread and began to coat each strawberry slice heavily. A little got on his finger and I stared, captivated, as he brought it to his mouth and sucked it off.

“Look good?” he asked. He licked along his bottom lip and held my stare.

“Huh?” I had no clue if he was being arrogant and asking if he looked good licking chocolate hazelnut whatever it was off his finger, or if he was asking if his dessert of choice looked good. So, I played dumb. “Does what look good?”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “The dessert.”

“Oh, yeah, it does,” I said. Heat crept across my cheeks and down my neck.

Jason slid his finished masterpiece between us with a proud smile. I reached out to grab one and pop it in my mouth, but he stopped me.

“Nope, let me,” he insisted.

A shiver went through me from his tone, low and demanding. A slow smile built on his face as he reached out and carefully picked up a strawberry. I licked my lips in anticipation, still feeling the lingering sensation of shivers sliding along my spine. Jason leaned in to me. His scent filled my nostrils at the same time the energy between us zinged to life even more. I sank my teeth into the smothered berry and an explosion of sorts happened across my tongue. The creaminess of the chocolate mixed with the hint of hazelnut along with the sweetness of the strawberry awoke each of my taste buds individually. How had I lived so long without tasting this goodness?

“Good?” Jason asked.

A little moan escaped me and I felt my cheeks heat from it.  “Very good,” I said quickly.

His finger swiped the corner of my mouth and I froze, praying he wasn’t going to be all creepy-gross like some guys were when they licked stuff off their finger after wiping it off the girl’s face. Thank goodness that wasn’t what Jason did. Instead, he lightly brushed his thumb across the edge of my bottom lip.

My breath caught in my throat as I waited for him to lean in and kiss me. His blue eyes darkened and I heard him exhale softly. This was it. This was the moment when we would kiss and then things would get out of control. One thing would lead to another, and then we’d end up in my bed together, tangled in the sheets. A tiny prick of fear stabbed at my heart. What if sex felt different now that I had a baby growing inside me? Would Jason be able to feel it? Would I?

The darkness washed out of Jason’s eyes and his hand dropped to his lap. My heart sank. Why hadn’t he kissed me? That was the moment…and he’d let it pass.

“Let’s play a game,” he said, breaking the thick silence slowly being crafted between us.