I wanted to touch her. I knew two sets of eyes were on us, but as much I wished it was just Meela and me in the room, it wasn’t, and I didn’t give a fuck. I placed my hand on her stomach, and her eyes darted toward mine, shock and … pleasure maybe? Or maybe I was just imagining things. I did, after all, have a mild concussion.
“Um ...” She shook her head, trying to remember where she’d left off. “When they brought us in, they said I was having mild contractions, most likely Braxton Hicks because of the stress. They hooked me up and monitored them until they slowed and then finally stopped. They weren’t strong enough to do anything.”
I nodded but didn’t move my hand. My fingers flexed, enjoying the feel of the firm, round muscles. When my eyes found Meela’s, she was staring at me so intensely. I wanted to crush her to me and kiss her, but a clearing of a throat reminded us we weren’t alone.
Meela took a step back, and my hand fell away, but my palm was left with a burning sensation that spread to the tips of my fingers.
“You’re good now?” My voice was thick and hoarse after our moment.
“I’m good now. They let me come in here to sit with you until you woke up.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to look away, and I had to force myself to drag my gaze from Meela to the nurse. “How much longer do I have to stay?”
“The doctor will be in shortly to check on you, and then he’ll decide after. Since Meela has been cleared, she’s good to go, and I can start the paperwork to discharge her.”
“Thank you,” Meela said, and I nodded.
“I’m going to try to run this through your insurance, but since you were let go technically yesterday, I’m not sure they’ll cover it.”
“Wait, what?” My brows pulled together in a frown. “Let go? They fired you?”
Her skin flushed as she nodded. “Yesterday.”
“Why?”
She sighed. “They said my performance wasn’t what it had been when I first started.”
“Do they know you’re pregnant?”
She shook her head. “Not officially.”
“They can’t fire you for being pregnant.”
“They know that, and since I hadn’t said anything officially, it’ll be easy to claim they had no prior knowledge.”
“They can’t do this. We’ll sue them.” I felt pure, hot rage.
“No,” she said firmly. “I just want to forget it happened.” She folded her arms across her chest, tucking her feelings and everything else safely within her embrace.
“Okay.” I nodded.
The nurse cleared her throat, but it would take a lot more than that to clear the thick air in the room.
“Why don’t you come with me, Ms. Davis, and we’ll get you all set.”
“I’ll come with,” Carrie said, speaking for the first time. She’d nearly become just another item in the room while everything was going on.
“No, stay,” Meela told her, and something transpired between the two that I wasn’t privy to. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”
Meela threw a quick glance at me before following the nurse out of the room. Carrie closed the door, and then stood there, her watchful eyes holding mine.
“What was that?” I asked her, almost completely sure she would tell me none of my damn business.
She lifted her shoulder in a half-ass shrug. “She doesn’t want you to be alone in case you pass out or suddenly stop breathing.”
Meela had been worried. It made the ache in my stomach grow and spread.
“Coffee?” she asked, holding up one of the cups toward me.
“Does it have anything stronger in there as well?”
She smirked but shook her head as if it had been a serious question. She moved to the side of the bed and handed me the cup. It was still warm.
“Probably not the best idea to consume alcohol while nursing a mild concussion,” she pointed out.
I shrugged. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?”
She didn’t seem nearly as uncomfortable with the silence as I did. As if I’d just realized she had more than just a head, her round belly came into focus.
“How far along are you?”
“Forty weeks.”
“Ouch, please, sit,” I told her, nodding toward the chair on her right.
“You’re getting to her,” she said after a few moments of silence. She stared at me in a way that made me feel like I was a worm on a hook.
“I don’t know what that means,” I told her truthfully. “Is that a good thing or bad thing?”
Her head dropped to the side, sizing me up, and her lips pursed to one side. “I don’t know. You don’t have the best reputation where Meela is concerned, Mr. Pierce.”
“Reed, and the last thing I want to do is hurt Meela. She’s carrying my daughter.”
“So that’s the only reason you don’t want to hurt her? She’s the mother of your child?”
She was quibbling over semantics. “You’re twisting my words.”
“Not at all. I’m trying to find the truth behind your words. Meela is more than a baby incubator, and you shouldn’t want to hurt her because she’s made up of flesh and bones and emotions.”
“I … care about Meela a lot. I don’t want to hurt her period.”
She was sizing me up again. “Has Meela told you anything about her childhood?”
I frowned. “Just that her dad died when she was young, and it’s been her, her sister, and her mom ever since.”
“Meela’s dad left when she was twelve. She hasn’t heard from him since.”
“I don’t understand. Why would she say he’s dead?”
“Because, in a way, he kind of is. At least to them. Meela and Kaylee have a classic case of daddy issues. They don’t trust men easily, and you already have two strikes against you, Mr. Reed.”
“Two? What was the second?”
“It’s not second. It was the first, and it’s not something you could have helped. It’s genetics and biology and completely out of your control.”
Meela didn’t trust men, and I was a hundred percent male.
Fuck.
Within hours of meeting me, I hadn’t given her much, if anything at all, to trust me. It probably didn’t help my case that she thought I was a womanizing man whore.
“Why did her father leave?”
“That’s probably better for her to explain.”
I nodded. “Thanks for telling me.”
“She wasn’t lying when she told you she didn’t have moments with guys, but she had one with you. I want Meela to be happy, and she’s different when she’s with you even though she tries to hide it. Don’t ruin it, Reed.”
The door opened then, and the doctor, followed by the nurse and Meela close behind, filled the room. It was a tight fit, and Carrie said she would wait outside.
The doctor was quick and brisk as he announced I had no actual damage besides a bump on the head and a fucking killer headache that would probably linger for a few days. He cleared me with the nurse, and they both left to start my discharge. Meela and I were left alone again.
“Carrie is going to drive us … back to the house.”
“You heard the doctor. I’m fine. I can drive us.”
“Unless you plan on walking home first to get your car or high jacking an ambulance, Carrie will take us.”
I’d forgotten how we got here. “I guess Carrie is taking us home.”
I rubbed my jaw and grimaced, feeling a stab of pain in the back of my head.
“Are you okay?” She was at my side, her warm palm on my forearm.
“I’m good. Nothing a few hours’ sleep, some Tylenol, and a good, strong shot won’t take care of.”
Her face soured. “Drinking and concussions don’t mix.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“I’m so sorry, Reed.”
“Please stop apologizing, Meela. It was an accident. I was the idiot who didn’t tell you I was there.”
“I’m glad you were there, Reed,” she whispered, and her head dropped, her fingers picking at something, or maybe nothing, on the hospital linens. “This past week has been …”
“Fucking shitty?”
She laughed, and I was pretty sure I was in love with the sound. “Yes, definitely shitty. I wish I could blame it all on the pregnancy and hormones.”
“Isn’t that one of the perks of being pregnant?”
“I wouldn’t know.” She shrugged, and I was reminded that this was never a thing for her.
“Well, let’s just go with that then.” We both laughed. “Are you sure you’re okay? The baby is good?”
Her face brightened as if she had a secret she couldn’t wait to share. “I can’t believe I forgot. They called my doctor to come in, and she did an ultrasound.” She pulled out the photo and looked down at it. “The baby was moving so much. She printed this, so I could show you.”
She handed me the photo, and I immediately searched it for something wrong, but all I could see was the two words typed out. I looked up at her, and she had her fingers clasped together under her chin, and she was smiling.
“Holy shit,” I whispered and then did what I had wanted to do since I woke up. I pulled her to me, kissing her fierce and quick. “We’re having a girl.”
“She heard you,” Meela said, looking down at her stomach and pressing her hand against the curve of it. “She likes your voice.” Her smile brightened when she looked up at me. “Feel,” she said, taking my hand and placing it on her belly.
It was hard under my hand, and my fingers flexed against the muscle. But nothing happened, and my brows pulled, finding her face again.
“I don’t feel anything.”
“Talk to her. She’ll respond to your voice.”
“What do I say?”
“Anything you want. I tell her how excited and nervous I am to meet her, and that I hope I’ll be a good mother to her.”
“You’re going to be an amazing mother to our daughter, Meela.” Leaning over, I pressed my lips against her stomach. “She’s going to be an amazing mother, baby girl Sophia.” I pressed my lips into her stomach. When I lifted my head, there was so much emotion in her eyes, it made breathing a chore. “What’s wrong?”
She swallowed hard. “Sophia?”
I grinned. “Just trying it out. It was my grandmother’s name. She reminds me of you. Strong, brave, hard-ass.” She grinned, too. “Have you thought of any names?”
She shook her head. “No, but I like Sophia.”
Despite how the night had started, right now, I didn’t want it to end.
Thirty Two
Meela
“Are you tired?” Reed asked when we got inside the house.
I was beyond exhausted. It had taken longer to get Reed discharged when the victims involved in a major accident were rushed in, in critical condition and given priority. The whole incident had left me feeling pretty fucking lucky.
A few hours later, Reed was finally discharged. We sat in the back of Carrie’s car, so close that we made a seamless line from shoulder to hip and hip to knees. It was only a twenty-minute drive from the hospital, but at some point, I’d managed to fall asleep.
I heard Reed calling my name. I was sure I’d felt the brush of his lips over my forehead and eyelids, but when I’d stretched my neck into the caress, he wasn’t there. My eyelids fluttered open, and he was staring down at me. His smile knowing and pleased, and I felt the heat from my reaction warm my cheeks.
We were both still standing in the entryway, and I had no idea why neither one of us had moved, but I felt nervous and awkward.
“I can help you to bed before I leave.” I was protesting his words before he’d even finished them.
I hadn’t expected him to leave again, but I knew that was thoughtless, considering I hadn’t asked him to stay or told him I didn’t want him to leave again.
“A little, but I don’t want to go lie down,” I told him, meeting his gaze and hoping he knew the truth behind my words.
I knew all I had to do was tell Reed I didn’t want to be left alone—that after being in this house alone for the past week because of my own stubbornness, I wanted him to stay—and he would be more than willing too. But I couldn’t seem to force the words around my own insecurities.
Needing Reed was a weakness I wasn’t ready to bare to him yet.
“I could stay a little longer if you wanted? We could watch a movie? Maybe order something to eat?”
His words were everything I needed to hear at that moment, and I felt like I was practically beaming at him.
“I want,” I said softly, and his eyes darkened and that smolder he had perfected melted the very core of my bones.
“You sit. I’ll get the menus.”
I did as Reed said while he rummaged through the kitchen drawer for every takeout menu we had. As I sat there, actually feeling happier than I had in days—possibly even weeks—I realized how difficult I had probably made everything with Reed over my rules and my need to be in control.
He returned with a stack of menus, and after we finally picked a restaurant, he placed the order while I turned on Netflix and began scrolling through the movies.
“What do you want to watch?” I asked for his input after he hung up with the pizza place. “Action, drama, horror, or romance?”
“You pick. I’ll watch anything.” He settled onto the couch, sitting close to me again, and put his arms on the back of the couch.
“How about … Captain America?”
“Sounds good.”
I set the movie up and then sat back, curling into Reed’s side, and for now, everything felt absolutely perfect.
L U S T
“Meela.” Reed’s lips moved against my temple as he repeated my name and then said, “You fell asleep.”
“What time is it?” I mumbled into his shoulder and stretched. I felt Reed everywhere. The hard muscles of his thighs under mine, his hip pressed into mine, his chest against my breast. Instantly, I felt the heat gather and muscles tighten between my legs.
“It’s late. Let me help you into your bed,” he whispered, but I was warm and comfortable and didn’t want to move.
“I don’t want to move.”
“You can’t sleep here all night, Meela. You’ll be uncomfortable. Let me take you to your room before I leave, please.”
The mention of him leaving again left me wide awake. I didn’t want him to go, and just thinking about being here alone sent me into a panic. But before I could say anything, Reed was helping me on to my feet, and then we were moving down the hallway to my room.
I tried to keep the tears from falling, but the closer we got to my room, the more they threatened to. When we were inside the room, Reed moved to the bed and began pulling back the blankets.
“Come on, just a few more steps, and then you can go back to sleep.”
I didn’t tell him there was no way in hell that I could go back to sleep now. When I was in bed, lying back, Reed pulled the blankets up, and I knew I was running out of time.
“Reed.” I rushed, catching his arm as he was settling the blanket on me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, and he was suddenly so close to me that I could feel his breath in light pants against my face.
I was glad it was dark because I didn’t think I could get through what I wanted to say next in the light.
“I don’t want you to leave.”
He was silent for the beat of a heart, and then he said, “Okay. I’ll stay tonight.”
I took a long, steady breath. “That’s not what I meant.”
“You don’t want me to stay?” he asked, confused.
“No, I do,” I rushed out before he got the wrong idea. “I don’t want you to leave at all. I want you to move back in, Reed.”
He sighed, and my stomach knotted. It had never occurred to me that Reed might not have missed living here the way I did. I suddenly felt ridiculous for asking. Reed hadn’
t signed up for this life, and maybe living apart had made him realize that now.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered into the dark, lying back down. “I have no right to ask that of you. Just forget I did, please.”
“I knew I left you alone in that head of yours too long,” he teased. “Honestly, Meela, I was really fucking hoping that’s what you meant.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that, are you?”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t want to, Meela.”
I smiled.
“Now get some sleep. I’m going to go take a shower, clean up, and go to bed, too.”
I lifted again. “You don’t want my help?”
He shook his head. “It’ll take me five minutes. Go back to sleep.”
“Okay.”
I didn’t even remember falling asleep again, but when I woke again, the house was quiet. I panicked for a quick second, throwing my legs over the bed and making my way out of the room. The house was dark. I stopped at the end of the hall and searched the darkness for movement. Nothing. I moved to stop in front of Reed’s door and relief washed over me when I heard movement on the other side.
I lifted my hand and took a deep breath.
I had every intention of knocking, but two minutes later, I was still standing there with my fist in the air.
What are you doing, Meela? Just knock.
I was terrified. I was terrified of what it would mean when I walked through that door.
Pressing my palm against the door, I leaned into it and groaned. And then the door was gone. Suddenly, nothing was holding me, and I was falling forward. I fell into heat and muscle, and strong arms circled around me, holding me upright.
“Holy shit, Meela. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Reed moved us forward, making it easier for me to stand on my own two feet. I was still folded in his arms, my hands pressed against his naked chest, and I flexed, my fingertips sinking into his hard flesh.
He made a noise deep in his throat resembling that of a growl, and I could feel the vibration throughout my body. When I lifted my head, he was staring down at me, his eyes dark and oh so dangerous. I remembered he’d asked me a question or maybe two.
Lust Page 25
