“I really hate you,” Melanie muttered with a groan.
“That doesn’t count,” he pointed out, licking his lips as he watched her.
God, she felt so fucking good…
“Fine! A couple of years ago, all the waitresses at the Fire & Brimstone were doing a diet pool and they let me join,” she began only to shake her head with a wince as she suddenly sat up and placed her hands on her belly, letting him know that this position was too much for her.
“Are you okay?” Aidan asked, reaching for her only to have her wave away his hands as she crawled off him, stole the pillows from behind him, placed them on the bed, leaned over with a sigh and wiggled her ass in demand, making his lips twitch.
Knowing better than to deny her anything, Aidan got on his knees behind her, carefully grabbed hold of her hips, and-
There was a soft moan and then, “That’s better,” Melanie said as Aidan knelt there, slowly exhaling as he slid inside her and-
“And I didn’t want to give up carbs, but I also didn’t want to lose. So, I may have umm, made a few tactical decisions that I kind of feel bad about,” she said, making him frown as he tried to figure out what she was talking about only to chuckle when she admitted, “I left baked goods, chocolate, and candy in the breakroom every day and made sure that all the healthy options quickly found their way to the dumpster out back.”
“Did you win?” Aidan asked, running his hands over her back.
“No,” came the sadly mumbled answer. “My love of carbs ruined my chances.”
“All that for nothing,” he said, chuckling only to groan when she gave her ass another pointed wiggle.
“I know,” she said with a sniffle and another wiggle that had him deciding that they could finish her five things later…much later.
Chapter 29
She was going to be sick, Melanie thought as she opened her eyes and found Aidan sitting across the room, watching her and reminding her of the morning that she wanted to forget. Swallowing hard, her grip tightened around the comforter as she laid there, waiting for him to say something that would destroy her only to feel herself relax when his lips pulled up into a devastating smile.
“Good morning,” Aidan said as he stood up and walked over so that he could lean down and make everything better with an incredibly sweet kiss.
“What time is it?” she asked as she reached up to run her fingertips along his jaw.
“A little after twelve,” he said, pressing a kiss against her chin.
“I slept late,” Melanie said with a heavy sigh even as she had to admit that she wouldn’t mind going back to sleep only to end up deciding that being awake definitely had its benefits when she felt Aidan’s hand slide beneath the covers and cup her breast.
“You had a late night,” he said, kissing a path down her neck as his hand gave her breast one last squeeze before sliding down over her belly and-
“Oh, no,” Melanie mumbled as the reminder that she’d slept in late had her struggling to sit up.
Without a word, Aidan moved so that he could brush his lips against hers one last time before he helped her sit up, handed her one of his shirts so that she could pull it on while he helped her stand up. Once she was on her feet, she mumbled a quick, “Thank you,” winced, sort of cringed, and prayed that she was able to waddle her way to the bathroom before she made this morning truly memorable.
Twenty minutes and an empty bladder later, Melanie walked back into the bedroom, freshly showered, hair combed, and teeth brushed to find Aidan lounging on the bed, reading something on his iPad. Without a word, she walked over to the bed, somehow managed to climb onto it without losing her towel and then promptly moved between his legs, laid back, closed her eyes, and felt herself relax.
God, he was comfortable, she thought as Aidan wrapped his arms around her.
“Better?” Aidan asked, placing his hands on her belly.
“Yes,” she said, sighing with relief as she laid there, more than ready to have this baby.
“Only two more weeks,” Aidan said, reading her mind.
“I feel like I’m ready to explode,” Melanie said, making him chuckle as she placed her hands over his.
“It will be over before you know it,” he told her as he pressed a kiss against the top of her head.
“Promise?” she asked because she wasn’t really sure that she was going to be able to make it another two weeks.
“Promise,” Aidan said with another kiss before they fell into a comfortable silence. For a while, they sat there as Aidan caressed her belly while she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed being in his arms until it was time to get back to reality.
“I have to go back to work,” he said, not sounding any happier than she was about it.
“I know,” Melanie said, wishing that they could spend all day like this. She’d never been big on cuddling before, but then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that no one had ever held her the way that Aidan did. He made her feel safe and cherished, something that she’d quickly become addicted to.
“I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted with another kiss, making her smile.
“But you have to go to work,” she said, biting back a disappointed sigh.
“I have to go to work,” Aidan said, sighing before adding, “and I have a double shift at the hospital that I couldn’t get out of afterwards.”
“So, I won’t see you until tomorrow morning?” she said, understanding probably better than most people would since up until seven months ago she’d been a workaholic as well.
She’d never had time to slow down, never wanted to because she’d loved what she did. It hadn’t always been that way. When she was in high school, she’d been forced to choose between taking theatre and a programming class, which really hadn’t been much of a choice given how much she hated musicals. She’d regretted her decision within the first five minutes of class. That had been followed by asking to go to the front office and finding out that there were no other options.
It had taken her twice as long and required her to stay after school for extra help, but by the end of the first semester, she’d earned her first F and an unhealthy hatred for all things computer related. That had been followed by her marching down to the front office and demanding that they let her take the class again next semester.
After a thirty-minute meeting with the school psychiatrist to make sure that she wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown, they’d reluctantly allowed her to take the class again with an offer of letting her take double gym classes instead if she changed her mind. With a glare that may have been a bit too much at that point, she’d headed to the library and took out every book on computers and programming that she could get her hands on and read them over Christmas break, determined to pass that damn class.
At the end of Christmas break, she’d somehow managed to hate the class even more, and by the time progress reports came out next quarter, she wanted to curl up into the fetal position and stay there all while she was tempted to give up. She still wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but somehow, she’d made it through that class with a C- and found herself signing up for another programming class.