She laughed and threw her arms around him. “I was not aware of that.”
“This isn’t funny! I’m…look…just stay still, okay? No sudden movements. Relax on the sofa for the rest of the pregnancy and I’ll take care of everything else.”
Her brows shot up. “You know I have work on Monday after the doctor’s appointment.”
“Baby, you’re not working out. You’re doing nothing. Absolutely nothing except growing our healthy baby.”
She kissed him. “We’ll talk to the doctor about it. Last time I checked, you’re not a doctor.”
He pulled her into his lap with a slow move, tucking her sideways against him, careful not to jostle her anywhere near her stomach.
“You don’t have to treat me like I’m fragile.” She squeezed him in a tight hug. “Give me one of your signature Ty hugs.”
He gave her a small squeeze. “How soon can we get married?”
“As soon as Hailey can fit us in, I guess. I’m not sure what’s involved with the license and all that, but she’ll know. Get in touch with her; she’s eager to do it. We just have to set a date and then let people know. I’m not on speaking terms with my mom, so I’ll just be inviting my friends, my boss, and you, of course.” She beamed. “Life is good. Let’s enjoy it.”
His heart slowed, feeling better at least he had this wedding part locked down. “I’ll get my family there. We’ll see if Claire and Jake can fly in.”
“Are you okay with getting married with crutches? It’ll be in all the pictures.”
“I’ll be in a walking boot in a couple of weeks. It’s better than waiting and having you be hugely pregnant in the pictures.”
“I don’t mind. I’m so happy. It’s my very own miracle.”
“It’s our miracle,” he said, brushing his lips across hers. He cradled her cheek, stroking the soft skin with his thumb.
She did a little wiggle dance in his lap. “My man,” she whispered, running her hands through his hair and then kissing him. He quickly decided kissing was okay and they had a hot make-out session.
Next thing he knew, she was begging him to give it to her. This always happened. He was an excellent kisser. He might’ve let his hands roam too.
He held her head with one hand. “Come on, baby, I told ya we’re not going to do that for a while. I’ll give you a glow job this time.”
“We’ve been making love for weeks before I knew. Remember how hard you fucked me last time, over and over…” Her lips parted on a breathy sigh. She slowly ran her hands up her breasts, her neck, her face and through her hair. Dirty talk and touching herself, the woman was devious.
He was blue steel.
She kept going in a husky seductive voice, her hand stroking down her neck. “Up and down, taking me so deep.”
His cock pulsed. “Okay, okay, but real gentle. Real slow. I control it.”
She gave him a small smile. “Okay.”
He gestured for them to move to the bedroom. Once there, they got naked in record time. He arranged her on top so he wouldn’t accidentally wallop her with his cast. She let out a long sexy sigh as she took him in slowly, inch by inch. Hot bliss. He rocked her gently, keeping her sitting upright, his favorite rider. She made these sexy needy noises and he could feel his control slipping because it’d been a while since he’d had her. When he felt like he needed to thrust hard, he snagged her by the waist and tried to set her away, but she hung on with her hands and strong thighs.
“All the way,” she urged like a demanding cowgirl. “Give me what I need. What only you can give.”
She had all the best dirty words. “That’s right, baby, I give you what you need.” He stroked her slick center, rocking her gently, and then increased the pressure with his fingers. She gasped.
He eased up. “Breathe normally. Steady, steady.”
She grabbed his wrist and made him press harder. “Yes,” she said on a moan.
He slowed down, stroking firmly the way she liked. She closed her eyes, her head tilting back as though she was relaxing into it.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he told her. “Nice and easy.” He rocked her gently, his own pleasure increasing with her soft sigh.
She started moving faster, and the pleasure ratcheted up for both of them. He felt her tighten around him, knew she was going to go off, and stilled so he didn’t instinctively thrust. He kept her still too, one hand clamped on her hip as his other hand stroked her faster and harder. He watched her face, her jaw slack, and then that beautiful moment of pure ecstasy as her body clenched around him. He felt himself grow thicker. She shuddered on a long moan and he held her through it, keeping her as still as he could, everything tightly controlled.
She slowly opened her eyes and gave him a goofy grin. “You rock.”
He grinned. “I know.”
“Can I move now?”
“Small controlled movements.”
“Like this?” She rocked her pelvis faster than he’d let her before, and it felt so damn good, he let her.
“Yes, just like…” And then he was coming. He held her by the hips, pumping inside her, unable to control his own movements. Finally he was spent. He met her soft brown eyes. “You okay?”
She smiled. “I’m great.”
He lifted her off him and carefully rolled to his side, mindful of his cast. He pulled her into his arms in a loose embrace, cupping her head to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed tight.
“Give me a real hug,” she said. “It’s good for the baby to know how much we love each other.”
He tightened his hold a little and she sighed. He stroked her hair, down her back, and then stroked from her shoulders to her wrists, needing the reassurance that everything was good with her.
He felt like his heart was walking around naked and exposed outside his body.
He wished he could tuck his heart—her—somewhere safe. Like a bubble in a beautiful meadow surrounded by medical personnel.
He was getting nuts.
“I think I’ll feel better when I talk to your doctor,” he said.
“I think so too.” She lifted her head and met his eyes. “Oh, Ty, I’ve never been so happy in my life. I never thought I’d feel this way about anyone and the pregnancy just puts everything into this whole other wonderful place.”
“I’m glad, me too,” he said because he was happy. But he was also thinking he’d never been so scared in his entire life and he’d done plenty of risky things for his job. He tucked her head against his shoulder and held her snug against his body.
The only thing that would make him feel better was twenty-four-seven care for Charlotte. He couldn’t wait to set his plan in motion on Monday after her doctor appointment. In the meantime, he’d meet with Alex tomorrow, Sunday night, to get all the details straight from the man who’d lived a risky pregnancy and paid the ultimate price.
~ ~ ~
The next night Ty was exhausted after the day he’d had trying to keep Charlotte resting. The woman was unbelievably energetic given her condition. She’d only rest naked in bed, which required huge amounts of energy from him to keep her from getting overly excited.
He propped his elbows on his dad’s kitchen table and rested his head in his hands, waiting for Alex to put Viv to bed upstairs in Mad’s old room. They’d met here because Alex was sure she’d fall asleep on the drive over, which made it easier to plan a meeting time. At home, bedtime was never a sure thing, a “moving target,” as Alex said. It was just the three of them tonight. Their dad was out at his part-time gig as a security guard at an office park.
“Wake up,” Alex said.
Ty lifted his head and smiled. “Hey, I’m awake.” For the first time in a long time Ty really studied his brother to see how he was holding up under fatherhood. His dark brown hair was cropped shorter than it’d ever been before Viv, especially on the sides, like maybe he’d taken a clipper to it himself. His jaw sported at least a couple days’ growth and there were dark c
ircles under his eyes. Surprisingly he was muscular and fit. Ty could see as much from the blue T-shirt Alex wore. No gut either.
“You still working out?” Ty asked. The personal trainer in him was curious.
Alex flashed a smile. “Thanks for noticing. You want something to drink?”
“Just water.”
Alex retrieved two glasses, filled them at the sink, dumped some ice in them, and joined him at the table.
“Thanks,” Ty said. “When do you find time to work out with your clients and Viv?” Alex couldn’t hang onto a nanny long enough to put a dent in his workload. Not entirely his fault, though his brother didn’t tolerate slackers where his daughter was concerned, it was mostly because Viv was such a handful. The girl couldn’t help it with the hell-on-wheels Campbell genes (so like Mad at that age) and her mom, Tammy, had been a wild free spirit, an artist like Alex was before he had to pay the bills.
“I work out with Viv,” Alex said. “She’s my counterweight. Twenty-six pounds and as she grows and gains more weight, my workout gradually intensifies.”
“That’s brilliant.” A workout for parents and kids together was already cranking through Ty’s brain. “I gotta see this in action.”
“Four o’clock is when we rock.” Alex grinned. “She just thinks it’s a fun game.”
“So you’re using her as a free weight?”
“Yeah, I lift her a bunch of times.” He demonstrated some curls. “Overhead lifts too.”
“What else?”
“I put her on my back when I do push-ups, she sits on my feet for stomach crunches, and then I shift her to my lower legs and lift her that way too. Plus we dance.”
“You dance?” Who knew the Campbell brothers were dancers? Ty had picked it right up with the help of a professional choreographer, but he’d only ever seen Alex do a slow shuffle.
Alex took a drink. “Yup. Just for the aerobic benefits.” He chuckled. “That’s her favorite part. She calls it dance party and, boy, does she get loud.” At Ty’s puzzled look, Alex added, “She sings really loud. Like earsplitting.”
“What’s she singing?” He hoped it wasn’t Alex’s music, alternative, edgy stuff with lyrics that weren’t appropriate for a two-year-old.
A faint blush crept up Alex’s neck. “So I hear congrats are in order. You psyched?”
“I’m scared shitless.”
“Why?”
“She’s high risk. Best I can explain it is a lot of scar tissue was removed from inside her and that can cause problems both for her and the baby.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. The doc only gave her a one percent chance of even getting pregnant.”
“Man, you got the power sperm, huh?”
He couldn’t even joke about it. That was how freaked he was. He rattled off all the risks that were never far from his mind. “She might need a C-section, she might hemorrhage, the baby might come too early.” He shoved a hand in his hair. “What was it like for you and Tammy? Did you know there was a lot of risk for her ahead of time?”
Alex’s lips formed a flat line. He was quiet for so long that Ty was about to tell him to forget it, when Alex finally spoke, staring at the table. “Tammy wasn’t high risk at all. Everything went so smoothly with the pregnancy. She was perfectly healthy.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “I wanted to marry her right away, as soon as we heard she was pregnant, but she wanted to wait until after Viv was born.”
“I know,” Ty said softly. “You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too hard.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s been two years.” Alex finally lifted his head, his brown eyes watery, which made Ty’s eyes water in sympathy. “Things started going south during the labor and then suddenly the baby’s heart rate was dropping. They wanted to do a C-section immediately. They had to put her under general anesthesia, which is riskier, but there wasn’t time for an epidural. She’d never been under before.” He cleared his throat. “It’s a common procedure; usually things go fine. It’s rare what happened to her.” Alex looked in the distance as though he was remembering that moment. “I was there, right there in the operating room. Viv’s taken out, she’s good, she’s healthy. I’m so happy. And then Tammy, her body just shut down. The monitors are going crazy, beeping and blaring; her heart stopped. They tried to revive her. I was right there, watching her die.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ty said.
“She never got to see Viv.” His eyes, hooded with grief, met Ty’s. “Can you imagine?”
Ty shook his head, his eyes stinging with tears of sympathy, but he sat quietly, giving Alex the space he needed to talk. He wasn’t sure if his brother had ever shared all the details with anyone before. It was the first he was hearing of it.
“There was nothing I could do,” Alex said, his voice hollow. “Nothing anyone could do. It was a good hospital, good doctors; it was just the risk of surgery. Any surgery.”
Ty clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
Alex nodded a silent thanks and took another drink of water. “Guess I’m not much help.”
“I’m glad you told me.” Shit happened was what it came down to, even for a low-risk situation.
“How do you manage it all?” Ty finally asked as the reality of Alex being both mom and dad hit home. He hadn’t thought too much about it, honestly. He knew their dad helped out a lot with Viv, and Alex seemed so natural with her like he instinctively knew what to do. It must’ve been tough. Ty had been on the other side of the country and hadn’t seen his brother doing the daddy thing all that much.
“I manage because I have to,” Alex said simply.
Ty lowered his voice, almost afraid to ask his next question, but needing to know in case it went down like that for him. “How were you able to go on after you lost Tammy and then suddenly you have this baby?”
“Daddy!” Viv hollered.
Alex stood. “That’s how. She needs me; I’m there.” He strode out of the room.
Ty followed at a slower pace on crutches. Alex scooped Viv up where she was already halfway down the stairs in her blue pajamas with a pink dinosaur graphic. Her wavy light brown hair was messy, her cheeks pink. “Where’s your socks?” Alex asked.
Viv pointed upstairs. Alex carried Viv in one arm back upstairs, retrieved the socks from the hallway with the other arm, carried her down, and stopped, slipping the socks back on one-handed. Viv rested her head on Alex’s shoulder, stuck her thumb in her mouth, and twirled her hair. Alex was her everything.
“Let’s go,” Alex said to Ty. “I need to get her home tucked in her own bed for the night.”
Ty followed him out the door.
“And don’t worry so much,” Alex said on the way to his car. “Just deal the hand you’re dealt. You’ll figure stuff out on the way. Not saying it’s easy, but…you manage.”
Ty felt the truth of that in his bones. Still he knew he’d never look at Alex the same way again. Now he was alert to every little thing Alex did with Viv from buckling her into her booster seat to the way he talked to her, whether or not she answered, as he covered her with a small yellow fleece blanket.
“You’re my new hero,” Ty said once Alex was in the car.
Alex barked out a laugh. “Yeah, okay, just don’t look behind the curtain.”
Chapter Seventeen
Monday’s doctor appointment had Ty breathing easier. Charlotte had been right; her chances were good for a healthy pregnancy. She was even okay for continuing to work out in these early months with some precautions, which she swore to Ty she would take. After the doctor’s appointment, Charlotte drove him to the garage where Park worked for the next part of his plan. He couldn’t drive with his right leg in a cast. Fortunately, she didn’t have to go to work until late afternoon. He’d told her to wait in the car because he’d only be a few minutes, but really he just wanted her off her feet. He knew it didn’t make sense. She was going to work after this, but he felt the need to protect her when he was with her. H
e had to do something as the daddy and future husband.
Park wiped his hands on a rag and stepped out of the four-bay garage, where he’d been working on a red Ferrari Dino. “Hey, what’re you doing here?”
Ty moved in closer to the car. “This is a beauty. Early seventies?”
Park grinned. “Nineteen seventy-two 246 GT Dino Coupe. One owner. She’s going to fetch a pretty penny at auction.”
Ty nodded, even happier to hear Park speak car than usual. “How’re you doing? They treat you well around here?” He glanced over to the parking lot to make sure Charlotte was still in the car, relaxing as he’d told her to.
“Can’t complain,” Park said. “I’ve got awesome projects. Nico over there—” he tilted his head toward a dark-haired Italian man retrieving a tool before disappearing under the hood of another Ferrari “—knows everything classic cars.” He lowered his voice. “He owns the place.”
“Introduce us,” Ty said.
Park headed over and Ty followed. “Nico, my friend Ty asked to meet you.”
Nico straightened, pulling a rag from his coveralls pocket and wiping his hands before shaking Ty’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Ty. You looking for a classic car?”
Ty shook his head. “Actually not just yet. I need a tank to keep my lady safe. She’s pregnant.”
Nico flashed a smile that even Ty had to admit was movie-star quality. “Congrats. Best thing in the world. I’ve got a twenty-one-month-old daughter, Chloe, and another on the way. Wife thinks it’s another girl, but my money’s on a boy. Lotta boys in our family.”
Ty laughed. “Yeah, ours too. I don’t know what we’re having, but as long as it’s healthy—”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Nico said.
“Great place you got here,” Ty said, gesturing to the garage and the attached showroom.
“Thanks,” Nico said, looking at him expectantly.
Ty got down to business. “You ever think about a reality show about what you all do here?” He needed a paying gig that kept him near Charlotte at least until the baby was born. Most of his money was tied up in his house in LA, where he hoped they’d live once the baby arrived. He figured if things worked out with a reality show, he could fit it into his schedule between stunt-work gigs.
So Revealing (Happy Endings Book Club, Book 3) Page 16
