“You sure? I was going to grab a few things for our trip. It might entail a lot of walking.” His worried look made me want to snarl again. He wasn’t giving me what I wanted in bed, he was making sure I rested at least four hours during the day, and he’d gone with me when I went to tell Tim I couldn’t work anymore. He was the reason for my crankiness.
“I’m going.”
I left him standing there to go put on a darker shade of leggings and replaced his T-shirt with a green dress. My bump had seemed to grow even more, making it completely impossible to wear any of my regular shirts. He had lent me a few of his shirts that I loved, but I’d had to ask him if I could get some new clothes, since even some of the maternity clothes I’d bought myself no longer fit me right.
When I came back out, he looked me up and down, a feral gleam in his eyes. I was tempted to see how far his resolve went, but my desire for peanut butter far outweighed any other. Story of my life. Though when I went to walk past him out the door, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me so close our noses almost bumped. “Why do you have to dress like that?” he asked in a ragged tone.
I smirked, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He leaned in, rubbing his lips against mine, making a humming sound. My bones melted, everything in me combusting. Then he kissed me good and hard, his hands roaming my body, stopping to squeeze my bottom. My brain emptied of all grumpiness to be replaced by pure lust. But then he nipped my lip and pulled back, both of us breathing ragged.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he growled in a very sexy way, kissing me once more before smacking my bottom.
I was completely on fire. When he left me standing there, heading for the door, I huffed out a breath. “That was extremely rude.”
He chuckled darkly. “I could say the same of you changing into that dress.”
Then he was out the door, and I was huffing and puffing behind him. He opened the car door for me like a gentleman. We were driving my car, since it turned out his truck wasn’t so easy for me to get in and the market was just down the road. My car should be able to make it.
I held his hand while he drove. He kept glancing sideways at me with those sexy eyes. I couldn’t even be grumpy at him anymore. I just wanted him. Not just in my bed but in my life. All my defenses had fallen. With him, there was no longer the need to be a slut, no need to stick to all my rules that I’d already broken. Him leaving was going to suck. I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of being alone like I was before ever again. In a little under a month, he’d wormed his way so deeply into my life. Maybe making a few sacrifices for him wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Maybe being in love with him, letting myself be, wouldn’t be so bad either.
He glanced sideways again while we were at a red light, saying, “That green makes your eyes look like molten gold.”
I smiled, then said, “What if I moved to Ohio after I finish my summer classes?”
He looked back at the road, driving again. His knuckles turned white, his throat bobbing before he cleared it. “That’s something you would want to do?”
He seemed so vulnerable. I’d made him feel that way, afraid to talk to me about moving in with him. I only had a few more weeks left of school, then a week off, and then my summer classes would start. I only had two of them and would be done a little over a month before the twins were due, but that might work out perfectly.
“It might be a little hectic, moving all my stuff over there and not knowing if I’ll have the twins early.” I shrugged, not wanting to show just how badly I wanted this, wanted to be with him. Wanted to leave everything of my old life behind me. For us, for the twins, for myself.
He gave a small nod, glancing sideways at me again. I could see hope in his gaze, and it made me brave. “I finish my classes at the end of July, so it might be cutting it a little close. But I could transfer my credits to a school over there… if that’s something you want.” I shrugged again, not knowing what else to do with myself. I felt so exposed.
He was silent until we were parked in the market parking lot. Then he looked at me, steel gray eyes full of delight. “That’s something I really, really want,” he said in a guttural tone.
My heart pounded in my chest, my breathing ragged. I was going to do something I’d never imagined I would do for anyone. I was going to trust and move and live with someone I was falling in love with.
When we finally got out of the car after kissing for who knew how long, my heart was fuller than it had ever been. I felt joy—true joy. No more daunting future. No more wondering what the heck was going to happen. I was going to live with him, we would have the babies together, and we would be a family of sorts. Mia could still come stay with me for the couple months before I moved there, just in case. It would work out perfect.
We walked around the store together, piling the cart full of things we didn't really need. I suddenly had an appetite for everything, so he was determined to get me anything I thought I might eat.
When we were looking for a not-so-long checkout line, I realized we’d forgotten the one thing we came for. “Peanut butter!” I exclaimed.
He laughed. “I’ll go grab it. You wait here.”
He headed off, and that was when I noticed the person who’d been walking in front of us staring at me. My heart stopped, my blood running cold.
She came a little closer and tilted her head, saying, “Chloe Dumont? Is that you?” Her Louisiana accent was so thick, that blonde hair and fake smile so familiar. The sound of my real name on her lips made me want to shrivel up and die. Of all the places to see someone from my past, it had to be here, had to be this day of all days over the last three years.
“I think you’re mistaken,” I said through gritted teeth, taking a step back from my cart. I bumped into Kai, who’d returned from getting peanut butter. He caught me with a hand on my hip.
A glance back showed him giving Rita a confused look, which had me hoping he hadn’t heard the first part. “Who’s this?” He gestured toward her.
“I’m Rita Sinclair, sugar.” She winked at him, as if he should know her. “Miss Louisiana of 2015.” So she had won the crown after all. But she hadn’t won the Miss USA title.
I wanted to die inside. This couldn’t be happening. Skin tingling, nausea rolled through me, but I could get through this. It would be okay.
“I don’t know her,” I told him with wide eyes, grabbing his hand to go in the opposite direction, our cart of groceries be damned.
But she grabbed my wrist, pulling me to face her. She was so close I could see the clumps of her mascara, the fake mole she drew above her lip. My stomach curdled.
“That isn’t very polite,” she pointed out, and I about snarled, yanking my wrist from her grasp. “I know it’s you, Chloe Dumont.” She’d lowered her voice, but I was certain Kai could hear her, though he just stared at her with a creased brow, jaw twitching. People were staring, making my palms sweat, my heart race. “You gave your mama such a fright disappearing like you did right before the pageant was through. I heard Jared is still lookin’ for you. But look at you.” She flicked a wrist at my belly with a sympathetic bat of her lashes. “All knocked up. Bless your heart. Though, I have to say, if this is the daddy, he’s a bright shade better-lookin’ than Jared.” Her smile was pure evil.