Sexy Summers (Sexy Series) (24 page)

"I just went to the loo with Clare."

"Great news in there, I can't believe he didn't tell me first!"

"I'm surprised he didn't actually."

"He said he felt that if Bea was going to get married, other than her dad, she should probably know about it first."

Wow. That hits closer to home than I'd have thought. "Well, yes, I'd agree with that. So he picked the ring on his own? That's amazing."

"Yeah, but he does seem to know what she likes."

"He does, you're right."

"So you'll marry me one day, right?" he asks and I burst out laughing.

"What an amazing proposal, thanks!"

He laughs with me. "I'm not proposing, baby, but I wanna know that you'll always be mine."

I smile and stare into his eyes, "Yes, one day, I'll marry you."

"Good. Let's get back to the party. How's your stomach?" he asks, and reaches to touch it again. I scoot away and he immediately holds out his hands and frowns again, "What the heck is it? What's wrong with your stomach? Why can't I touch it?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck.
"Nothing, I told you. I'm bloated, it's uncomfortable."

"Shit, since when does it hurt to stroke a bloated belly? Are you like..."
Oh god, oh god, oh god...
"getting your period or something?"
Oh thank fuck.

"No." I could say 'yes', but that would be lying even more than I already have and we're going to be having the 'talk' later anyway. "Let's just get back. We can talk later, okay?" I ask, rubbing his arm, affectionately.

"Are you sick, or something? Are you okay, baby?"
Oh no, not his concerned face...

"I'm fine, Luke. Don't worry. Come on."

I take his hand and pull, encouraging him to drop the subject and get back to the table.

~~~~~~~

The rest of the evening was such fabulous fun. Daniel chose the dessert, apparently; we had a delicious choice of warm doughnuts and chocolate sauce (I assume Daniel doesn't know that I know what this represents), and key lime pie. I remember them eating that in Los Angeles, too, I wonder if they did anything dirty with that one...

We retired to the sitting room for after dinner drinks around the fire. Bea and Daniel sat on the floor in front of the fire together, with Bea in between his legs, resting against him, whilst the rest of us sat on the sofas. I curled up with my man, thoroughly tempted to fall asleep in his arms, right there.

When it was time to leave, we all offered another round of congratulations to the happy couple, and headed out to the limo to return to Alexia's house. As we pull up outside, Luke helps me out of the car and slowly walks up the steps, holding my hand.

"I know it's late, Princess, but I really want to share something with you."

"What's that?"

"Well, you haven't been up to the hot tub yet, it's incredible at night and I think it'll finish off the evening perfectly. Will you take a hot tub with me? Please?"

I smile, he's so cute, and I think a hot tub sounds amazing, right about now. Just as I'm about to agree, I suddenly remember that I am pregnant! Apart from the fact that I don't want to expose myself, I'm also not supposed to use hot tubs or jacuzzi baths, according to my pregnancy manual... not sure why not.
Oh bugger, now I have to think of another excuse and see that disappointed face again.

Oliver opens the door and we follow him inside. "I really don't feel like it, darling, but you go ahead. I'm just so tired."

He nods, quietly before responding, and I feel awful. "Okay. No, I'll come to bed with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I want to hold you. We can do it another night, maybe have a Christmas soak."

My stomach churns as we go up to his bedroom, the nerves of what I'm about to do, the amount of dinner I have eaten not sitting right in my belly, Wriggler having a wild old time in there. It's enough to make me feel really rather sick.

As we step through the door, Luke walks to the balcony again and opens the door wide, sending a freezing breeze through the room, and I stand still by the bed. As he turns back, he looks at me and frowns, "Are you okay? You look... pale, you look sick, Princess." He reaches for me and I run, fast, bashing the en-suite door into the wall on my way in and bend to vomit violently into the toilet.
OMG, couldn't I have done this a little less dramatically?

It keeps coming and all I want is to close the door and shut the fuck up. There is nothing more revolting than hearing someone being sick. And to my absolute horror, he appears next to me. "No..." I mumble and he ignores me completely, holding my hair back and putting his hand on my forehead, under my fringe.

"It's okay, baby," he says, gently, "just let it out."

As more of the poison leaves my body, I start to cry, I hate being sick, I hate that he is hearing and watching me, and I love him so much for not caring.

"Don't cry. It's okay, you'll feel better in a minute. Just let your body do what it has got to do."

I whimper and then sob. "But..." I wail, "you're here, you can hear it..."

"I know, it's okay. I have seen and heard it plenty times before. It's not going to stop me loving you, sweetheart."

I sob again. "But... it smells of sick... I smell," I cry, mortified.

"It really doesn't. Calm down, stop worrying."

I flush the toilet when my stomach seems to have let go of everything it needs to. And I stand, hunched over, and make my way to the sink to clean my teeth. There's no way I can look at him and talk with sick breath.

He holds my hips. "Is that a little better?"

I nod as I start to brush. I look in the mirror and my face is flushed, mascara running down my cheeks and my eyes red. Wow, I guess this is what Luke's going to have as the memory of being told he's going to be a dad.

When I finish, he leads me out to the bed and starts to undress me. "No, I can do it."

"No, let me. I want to." He reaches for my waistband and I jolt back, away from him. I look up at him, knowing what's coming and a tear falls slowly down my cheek. This is really going to happen.

"Okay. You won't let me see you naked, don't think I haven't noticed, and you won't let me touch you now. You're going to tell me what the hell is going on, and you're going to tell me now." His voice is strong, stern, masterful.
Shit, I really shouldn't be turned on right now.

I put my face in my hands and nod, preparing myself. I take a long, deep breath in, and exhale slowly. "Okay."

"So what is it, Til?"

My voice wobbles as I ask, "Will you close your eyes? Please?"

"What? Why?" he asks, bewildered.

"Please?" I plead, my voice becoming more of a whimper.

"Okay, okay. Calm down." He closes his eyes and I begin to undress.

"Please stay that way, I will tell you, I promise."

"Okay, my eyes are staying firmly shut, until you tell me I can open them."

"Thank you."

I continue to remove my clothes until I am fully naked, and I tentatively step over to where he is standing, at the side of the bed. Tears fall down my face, my heart races and my skin prickles from the goose bumps as the breeze flows through the room. "Keep them closed," I ask and he nods as I take his hands and slowly move them to rest on my ribs. I sniff, and blink the tears from my eyes as I direct him. "Move your hands down, they're on my ribs. Touch my tummy." I wipe the tears from my cheeks and fresh ones replace them in seconds.

"Tilly, I don't understand, sweetheart."

"Please?" I ask, crying, "Please just slide them down."

He slowly glides his hands down my body and I sob as he reaches my little bump. He slides over it and stops. He goes back up and repeats the process and as he reaches the bump again, he pauses and opens his eyes. He looks directly into mine and all I can do through the tears is frown and silently beg for his acceptance. His face is serious, not an emotion on display. He blinks and his eyes shoot straight down to his hands. And Wriggler.

One hand immediately leaves me to cover his mouth and his eyebrows shoot up. "You're... you..."

I cry and hold his hand to my tummy, desperately needing the contact.

"Shit, Tilly, I... I'm so confused. You're pregnant?"

I nod, petrified of what comes next.

"And this is my baby, right? I mean, you're not gonna let me fuck you with some other guys baby in there?"

"Yes, it's your baby, Luke."

He sits on the bed and looks blankly at the door to the en-suite. "So... so, you knew? You've known? All this time?"

"Oh god, Luke, I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you when I first saw you, I really did but then it got all sexy and then we got all 'together' and everything and I was scared that I'd lose you. Please don't be angry with me." I weep, begging for his forgiveness. I crawl onto the bed next to him and clutch his arm. "Please?"

He looks at me with a frown. "Baby, calm down. Come here." He pulls me onto his lap and I break down again, holding him tightly so he can't let go. "Shh, calm down. I'm sorry, Tilly, but this is all a big shock to me, I don't really know how to react right now. I... I'm, I am a little angry, actually. You should have told me."

"I know. But I was so scared. Are you going to leave?"

"No, we need to talk, I'm not leaving."

"No, I mean, are you going to leave me?"

"No... I... Jesus, Tilly, you're pregnant?" he asks again in disbelief.

I nod, silently.

"How? I mean, when? Oh..." I see it registering, "the pool?"

I nod again. Wiping my cheeks, shaking.

"Til, you're freezing, get into bed please," he says, dominantly.

"Please don't go," I beg.

"I'm not going. I'm going to undress and get in to bed so we can talk about this."

I climb off him and into the bed. Covering myself, I sit up against the headboard and watch as he undresses. He removes his top and starts to unbuckle his belt. He pauses. "So... there's a child inside your body..."

"Uh huh."

He continues to remove his trousers. "And you haven't told me because you were scared? Of what? My reaction or that I'd leave?"

"Both. Scared that you wouldn't want it, scared to never see you again. Lots of things."

He turns off the light and walks over to climb into bed next to me. The light from the en-suite illuminating us both.

He pulls back the cover and looks at my belly. "How pregnant are you? Like, three months or what?"

"No, I'm actually sixteen weeks tomorrow."

"And what's that line going up to your belly button?"

"It's called a linea nigra, apparently it's totally normal. I had to look it up."

"How can I
not
have seen your stomach? We've had sex, like, every ten minutes."

"I was just being... careful."

"Careful not to tell me that I'm going to be a father?"

I pull the covers back over myself and slink down in the bed, to lie down. I turn to face him. "Yes. I'm sorry."

"You keep saying that, Til. I know you're sorry, but I still have questions, okay? I just found out that my girlfriend of one day is four months pregnant. How does that even work out?" He starts to count the weeks back on his fingers.

"You have to add a couple of weeks on to the pregnancy date, it's all worked out from my last period, not the actually conception date."

"Oh, okay. So, what? Have you had one of those ultrasound things?"

"Yes."

"Jesus Christ, Tilly." He runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head. "You have done all this stuff knowing I'm the father of your child and you didn't fucking tell me? I should have been there!"

"I didn't know if you'd have even wanted that, Luke. I didn't think you'd want to change your life to settle down. We weren't an item then, remember?"

"I know, but fuck! I'd have liked the choice."

"Would you have been there? Do you want a baby?" I ask, quietly.

"Shit, Til." He shakes his head. "I am just so out of left field here, I mean, Christ. I don't know what to think."

He stays silent for a minute, just looking at me, and suddenly he jumps. "Oh, fuck, I know you said you hadn't, but please god, tell me no one has touched you or my baby."

I frown, "What do you m... oh... No! I haven't slept with anybody, Luke. Just you."

"Okay. But we've been rough, Til, I've been throwing you about all over the place... shit, that can't be good?"

"It's fine, Luke. We can have sex the way we do without it harming the baby."

"The baby..." he repeats.

I nod. "The baby."

"There is a baby inside your body, that is made of you and me..."

I nod and the tears flow again, just the way he describes it is beautiful to me. The man I love and me made this thing. It might be freaking him out, but I love that fact. "Yes. And no matter how you feel right now," I say with a squeaky voice, thoroughly laced with emotion, "I am so in love with it, because of that. Whether you want to stick around or not, my little Wriggler is part of you, and that makes me love it so much more. And if possible, it makes me more in love with you." I sob as he just stares at me. He doesn't know what to do or say, and I understand that, but I will damn well tell him how much it means to me.