by RJ Moore
I want to say something super sexy to go with my picture, but everything I type out sounds horrible. Ugh, I’m a shame to all women right now. I give up, sending him the picture on its own. I get a text back within a few seconds.
Honey Bunches: Holy shit! I just spit out the water I was drinking. God Evie, you’re killing me here!
Me: Like what you see?
Honey Bunches: Oh yes! Sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. You have no idea what you do to me.
Me: I wish you weren’t so far away. I feel a little lonely being all wet in this tub.
Honey Bunches: I’ve never been so jealous of water. I wish I was there to dry you off and then get you wet all over again.
Me: Well since you’re gone, I guess I’ll just have to handle it myself.
Honey Bunches: You little tease! You wait till I get home. I’ll have you screaming my name!
Me: I look forward to it ;) Sweet dreams, Ian.
Honey Bunches: Oh I will! Sweet dreams my sexy minx!
I dry myself, sliding into bed. I can’t help but slip my hand down under the blankets. The slightest touch has me gasping and in a matter of a few seconds, I’m calling out Ian’s name, imagining him kissing, suckling every part of me. I close my eyes and I’m asleep in no time, having the best—and sexiest—dreams ever.
The week goes by in a blur. I’ve already booked a few new clients for Quinn. Once the little office was put in order, I talked him into getting a phone system for all the calls to come to the office instead of his cell. I even set up a website and put out flyers around the town. Things are running very smoothly now and Quinn’s business is on the rise.
Ian and I text every day. They start out sweet but quickly turn once evening comes around. It’s amazing how much my confidence has grown since being with him. I feel free to do the things that, in my past, people would have looked down on.
I go over to the coffee shop in the bookstore to wait for Lacey. I’ve been so busy working this week, I haven’t had the chance to spend time with her. I order my decaf green tea and go over to chat with Helen since I’m a little early.
“Hey honey, how are you doing?” She rubs my belly. “You’re getting so big!”
I smile at her. “Yes, I get to find out tomorrow what I’m having!”
“Oh that’s just wonderful dear.”
“It is, and I’m going to try to make those chocolate chip cookies from the recipe you gave me.” I hear the bell ring and see Lacey walk through the door. “I’ll bring some in for you if they turn out any good.” I give her a hug and go over to Lacey where she’s ordering her coffee.
She hasn’t noticed me yet so I sneak up behind her and lightly kick her behind the knee, making her leg give in. She turns around, squinting her eyes at me.
“You better watch it—I know where you live.”
I snort. “I’ll just sic my dog on you.” We both laugh as we sit down at our usual table once she has her drink.
“How is ol’ Duke doin?” She takes a sip of her coffee, wincing. “Holy shit balls, that’s hot!”
“He’s great. I’m so glad I brought him home with me.” I try not to laugh as she continues trying to drink, even though it’s way too hot.
“I’m so glad he warmed up to you.” She finally gives up, setting the coffee down to cool. “So, I heard the exciting news—you get to find out tomorrow!”
I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face. “Yes! I’m so excited. It’s killing me having to wait, even if it is only tomorrow.”
“So, speaking of waiting, do you think you could wait a little while longer?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well.” She blows on her coffee and tries another sip. “My mom really wants to throw you a baby shower and was saying how exciting it would be to do a gender reveal at the party.”
My eyes go wide and I’m struck speechless, staring at her. They want to throw me a party? My eyes fill and I feel my lip tying to quiver; I’m going to blame it all on the hormones.
She must interpret my silence wrong because she lowers her coffee, covering my hand with hers. “If you don’t—”
I sniff, shaking my head. “No, no! It’s not that. I’d be more than happy if your mom threw me a party!” I wipe away the tears before they run down my cheeks.
“Great. Are you sure you don’t mind waiting to find out until the baby shower?”
“I don’t mind at all. The wait might kill me though.” I smirk at her before biting my lip. “I can’t believe she really wants to put on a baby shower for me.”
She scoffs at me. “Eve, you need to get over this notion that nobody cares for you. You’re like family. We kind of adopted you, and now you’re stuck with us.” She stands up. “Mom’s going to be stoked.” She pulls on my arm until I’m standing next to her then links them together. “Come on, let’s go shopping to celebrate!”
I can’t do anything but laugh at her. There’s never any bullshit with Lacey. She tells you what’s on her mind then moves on. She never dwells on anything, never giving you time to second-guess yourself. She’s quite the force of nature.
We’re walking down the sidewalk, arms still linked together, when we have to stop suddenly. A person is standing directly in our path and I have to squint from the bright sun to see who it is. It takes me a second to place his face, but once he speaks, I recognize Craig.
“Well if it isn’t little Miss Priss and the preg-oid.”
Lacey takes a small step in front of me, assuming a defensive stance. “Satan.”
Craig’s lips press together in anger. “You’ll never get that shelter, you know that? Bill told me you’d never lay a finger on it.” He turns toward me, a nasty sneer on his face. “And you, I heard all about you—sleeping around with anyone that crosses your path. I bet you don’t even know who the father is.” A look of horror crosses my face and I gasp. He grins cruelly. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Lacey gets up in his face, poking her finger in his chest. “I don’t know how you don’t choke with all the bullshit that comes out of your mouth.” She turns to grab my hand, pulling me behind her and brushing by Craig. “Don’t you have baby bunnies to kill or something?” She gives him the middle finger salute over her shoulder, continuing down the sidewalk like nothing even happened. “Don’t listen to anything that douche says.”
I don’t know what to say or how to respond. Is that what everyone thinks? That I’m some hussy? Or is he just crazy and messing with my head? Jesus, and there I go, only thinking about me when I should be worried about Lacey working alone with that crazy person.
Lacey pulls me to a stop. “Seriously Eve, he’s full of shit.”
“Lacey, are you sure you’re okay to be working him? He doesn’t seem stable at all. Maybe you should stay away from him, or at least let the boss know.
She waves her hand. “Please, I could kick his ass from here to Timbuktu. I’m more concerned about you. You know none of that is true, right?”
“Yeah, I know. I figured that out pretty quick, but I think he’s actually crazy. He was acting super scary, and I worry about you being alone at the shelter with him.”
She links her arm with mine again, leading me to a store with maternity clothes.
“You worry so much you’re going to get an ulcer. Just relax.” She walks in like she owns the store, pulling clothes down and draping them over her arm. I don’t think she even looks at what she’s picking out, but when she has an armload, she goes to the nearest dressing room, dropping them on the bench. “Okay, try those on.”
I giggle as I walk in, locking the door behind me. There are so many clothes, I don’t know where to start. I grab the bright yellow dress that’s on top, holding it up for inspection. I sigh at the color, shape, and well, everything about it. I change my clothes as fast as I can, groaning when I look in the mirror. I look like I stuck a garbage bag on and painted it a god-awful color. I open the door, giving Lacey my best are you kidding me look.
> She instantly starts belly laughing. I promptly turn around and shut the door. Nope, not gonna happen. She’s still laughing at me and when I yell at her to shut up, it only makes her laugh harder. I can’t help but laugh at how I look in some of these clothes. I mean, they are absolutely horrible looking. I try on every piece Lacey brings into my room. Out of what seems like a hundred things, I only find four pairs of jeans and three shirts that actually look okay on me. I would never tell Lacey, but the maternity jeans are actually super comfortable.
I pay for my clothes and we start down the sidewalk again. “So what do you want to do now?”
“Want to come over to my house and make some cookies? Helen gave me a recipe. I’ve been craving them ever since.”
“I never turn down sweets!”
“So…” I pause. “I was wondering if you want to come with me tomorrow.” I’m not sure if she’ll think it’s weird that I am asking her to be with me at my appointment. I always envisioned having a husband or maybe even my mother there with me when the time came to have children and go to these types of appointments. I’m going about my life completely backward from what I imagined. I figured I would graduate college, get a job, find a husband, buy a house, then start a family. As much as it should bother me knowing that one night completely turned all my plans upside down, I’m glad my life has taken the turn that it has.
She hasn’t answered me and when I turn to look at her, she’s staring at me with a blank look. “I mean, you don’t have to—”
“Eve, I would love to.” She starts hoping foot to foot, clapping her hands while squealing. “I didn’t think you would ask me. I’m so excited!”
I can’t contain my laugh at her twirling around on the sidewalk. She reminds me of Duke when he’s excited to see me. I snag her arm. “Come on crazy, we have cookies to make.”
She must have spotted my truck because Edgar is parked right next to it. She opens the driver door. “See you at the house.”
She gets in, backing out before speeding off down the road, making Edgar backfire. A lady walking a pug on the sidewalk jumps about a foot off the ground when they hear the loud bang. I have to cover my mouth at the laugh that wants to bubble out. I couldn’t have found a better adopted sister if I’d tried.
I pull out my phone, dialing Ian’s number as I make my way home. He answers on the third ring.
“Hello gorgeous.”
The smile I am wearing instantly gets wider. “Hello handsome. How’s your day going?”
“Great, we might finish up earlier than expected, and now that I get to hear your beautiful voice, it’s like the cherry on top of the pie. How’s your day?”
“It’s been great. I think I officially have Quinn’s business up and running like a true business should be. It’s definitely kept me busy all week. I’m on my way home now to make some cookies—well, try to anyway. Lacey is coming over to help out, so you don’t have to worry about me burning my house down.” I can’t stop the butterflies that dance around in my belly when I hear his husky laugh. It is, hands down, one of my favorite sounds.
“I have faith in you. Make sure you save me some. I’m a growing boy.”
“Sure you are.” I laugh at him. “That’s exciting that you might get to come back earlier. How soon do you think?”
“Maybe a day or so earlier. Why do you want to know?” His voice drops. “Are you missing me?”
“You’re so full of yourself.”
“You’re not answering my question, Evie. Do you miss me?” His voice gets softer…sexier. “Because I miss you. You have no idea how much I miss those lips of yours, that soft caress of your tongue against mine.”
“Ian! Will you stop that? I’m pulling up to my house now. I don’t want Lacey to see me all hot and bothered.” I come to a stop, putting my truck in park, killing the engine.
“I won’t stop until you tell me if you miss me or not.”
I bite my lip, not wanting to boost his ego more than it already has been. I cave quickly though, not able to resist his charm. “Yes, I miss you more than you know.”
“See, that wasn’t so hard. I could go on for days telling you how I miss your luscious—”
“Stop! I mean it, Ian.” He laughs and I can’t help but join in along with him.
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop.” He lets out one last chuckle. “So are you ready for your appointment tomorrow?”
“Yes, but I won’t be finding out the gender tomorrow. Lacey told me your mom wants to throw me a baby shower and thought it would be cool if I did a gender reveal then.”
“Leave it to Lacey to spoil the surprise baby shower.”
I blink in astonishment. “I didn’t know it was suppose to be a surprise.”
“Yeah, but that’s all right. I think the fact that you’re waiting to find out the gender for her will more than make up for the surprise being ruined.”
I heave a sigh. “Well, I hope—” I jump out of my seat, dropping the phone when I hear a loud knock on window.
“Hey! What are you doing in there? Stop having phone sex with my brother and get inside. We have cookies to make!”
I lay my head on the steering wheel to try to slow my heartbeat down. Lacey is going to give me a heart attack one of these days!
After I fish my phone from the floor of my truck, we go inside to make cookies. I have to refuse Ian, telling him he can’t ‘ream Lacey out’, as he puts it. I take out all the ingredients, lining them up in order from Helen’s list.
“What are you doing?” Lacey is sitting on the floor with Duke, watching me with an amused look on her face. “You know they don’t have to be in order like that, right?”
“Yes, but you forget, I’m new to cooking, so this helps me out.” I lay the bag of chocolate chips at the end of line. “I feel more organized this way.”
“But technically you’re baking, not cooking.”
I give her a glare over my shoulder. “It’s the same thing. I’m making something that has to go in the oven and ends up being eaten.” I mix together all the dry ingredients then read over the list again. The two eggs are next and I eye them warily. I’ve never cracked an egg before, but I don’t want Lacey to know how truly inexperienced I am.
Lacey is still on the floor with Duke, talking about the shelter—at least, I think that’s what she’s talking about; I’ve tuned her out so I can focus on my egg cracking task. I pick up the first one, ever so carefully tapping the side of the shell on the bowl. Nothing happens so I tap harder. I must have tapped too hard because the egg splits completely in half and when I try to catch it so I doesn’t fall into the mix, I end up squishing the other half in my hand. Tons of tiny shells fall into the bowl.
“Shit,” I mumble out. I frantically try to pick out all the shells. Lacey must notice my frenzied movements because she abruptly stops talking and walks up behind me, hovering over my shoulder.
“Yeah, if you think I’m eating all those eggshells, you’re crazy.” She moves to my side, hip checking me until I reluctantly move out of the way. She takes the bowl and dumps it all in the garbage.
“Hey!”
“Sorry, there is no way I am chancing eating some eggshells. You mix all the dry stuff together and I’ll put the other ingredients in a separate bowl.”
We work well as a team and the cookies are in the oven in no time. Ten minutes later, the warm, gooey delicious-smelling cookies are finished, and Lacey puts them on the rack to cool. I don’t trust Duke not to jump up and eat them, so I drag him out of kitchen with us.
“Thank you for coming with me tomorrow. It means a lot to me.” I sit on the couch, folding my legs under me.
“I’m just glad you asked. It sucks we can’t find out the gender tomorrow, but I think by waiting, it will be more special.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” She lays her head on my shoulder and we sit in a comfortable silence. A few moments later, I hear the sound of a slurp…slurp…slurp, and I look down to Duke leisurely licking
his butt.
Ugh, that is just plain disgusting!
At the same time, we both yell, “Duke!” He stops his nasty shenanigans, looking lazily toward us as if to say What? before continuing about his business.
“That’s so gross.” Lacey leaps off the couch, skipping toward the kitchen. “I’m going to get some cookies.” I follow right behind her, not wanting to listen to or watch Duke. I don’t know if I will be able to accept any dog kisses from him for a while.
Lacey picks up a cookie, eating half of it in one bite. She closes her eyes and moans. “Okay, my mouth just had an orgasm.” She shoves the other half in her mouth, mumbling, “Mmm…so good.”
As soon as I try one, I have the same reaction. They are amazing. I get two zip lock baggies, putting a few in each bag for Helen and Ian. We end up eating the rest of them and now I feel like I’m in a cookie coma. “Ugh, I ate way too many. I’m going to bed now before I get sick.”
Lacey pats her stomach. “I hear ya, girl, me too. See you in the morning.” She goes into the spare bedroom, shutting the door with her foot.
I take a quick shower then fall into bed with Duke lying on my feet. I’m asleep as soon as I close my eyes, having sweet dreams of the future.
I feel like I only shut my eyes for a minute before I’m awake. Loud music is blaring from outside my bedroom with Lacey singing even louder over the music. I pick up my phone to check the time, realizing I must have slept through my alarm. Lacey tries to match the voice singing but it comes out a high-pitched shrill, making me wince.
Good Lord!
I have to squint my eyes to see when I walk out of my bedroom. Lacey has turned on every light in the house. I follow Duke to the door to let him out then make my way to the kitchen, sitting down in a chair. Lacey is facing away from me at the counter, still singing as loudly as possible. She turns around, finishing the song with a head bang as it comes to an end.
