by Megan Ziese
“I guess that means you want me to be old-fashioned and get down on one knee? I know how you women like that kind of show, I can oblige you.”
He slid her off of his lap and made a move to get down on one knee before her, taking her now very pale hand in his.
“Sera,” he paused, smiling at her with a smile that made her kegels clap, “what’s your last name?”
Sera huffed in irritation, irritated at her body’s traitorous attraction to him, irritated at his blithe disregard for the fact that she didn’t want a proposal. “Anderson.”
“Sera Anderson,” he said, his face all mock-seriousness, “will you be my wife?”
Sera tapped a finger on her cheek, a contemplative look on her face. “Let me think. Right now I have a normal life in which I plan to raise my children on my own, without interference. On the other hand, I could marry a total stranger.” She pretended to think it over.
“I know, it’s not that hard a decision. But if you feel uncomfortable saying yes in front of my mother I completely understand.” His smile widened and he wriggled his brows at her.
Sera looked at him open-mouthed in awe of his audacity. He perfectly expected her to jump at the opportunity to become Mrs. Savage and this was their first conversation. They were complete strangers for god’s sake! She had known when she saw him that he was the kind of man that go exactly what he wanted. Well, he was in for a surprise. “Actually, you’re right. I was thinking that it was an easy decision. It’s very easy for me to say no thank you. I don’t need a man to raise a baby.”
Soldier's Women
Chapter Four
A week later, Sera arrived at Irene’s house for her next doctor’s appointment. She always enjoyed the walks over to Irene’s, the scenery was beautiful, and the exercise and fresh air made her feel great. A few months ago, Irene had started taking her to her doctor’s appointments. She considered it very thoughtful of Irene. They had talked at length about the severe morning sickness and motion sickness Sera was dealing with that was so bad that it had become extremely hard for her to drive through her bouts of illness. She could make it, but she was always running late because she had to make so many stops along the way.
As she walked the last few steps to Irene’s front door, she sincerely hoped that the seemingly constant nausea wouldn’t last the entire pregnancy, she was getting sick of crackers and soda, but at least she wasn’t gaining any weight. Of course, she’d much rather gain weight than be sick.
She wasn’t too worried about weight gain. She didn’t have anyone to impress. She didn’t want to become a cow though, that would make it hard to keep up with her babies. However, she got plenty of exercise on the long walks to Irene’s house. It was the exercise she needed to keep in decent shape, which was really important. In fact, since her and Irene had gotten to be such good friends, she had started walking over to Irene’s several times a week just to visit, since her rental home was located just a few streets away.
Sera rang the doorbell on Irene’s house and waited.
Nigel answered the door.
Sera couldn’t help the look of surprise that stole over her face. She really hadn’t expected to see Nigel again, wishful thinking, especially not so soon. She really hadn’t known what he would do once he arrived, but she supposed it was only natural that he would want to spend time with his family after what he had endured. She knew she would have. She had to admit, even though she wasn’t happy to see him, he looked amazing. Even after a near death experience, he still had a healthy glow to him. His long lean muscles were very hard to miss, especially in the tank top he was wearing, which showcased his broad shoulders and defined arms. It would be great if the babies were as fit and strong as their daddy. She couldn’t wish for any more than that.
But as she finished her examination of him from his strong thighs exposed in his mid-thigh shorts to his strong well built chest to his angular face, she couldn’t help the catch in her breath. It was probably just the hormones talking but the long black hair around his face next to a few days of black stubble on his jaw was looking seriously hot. Too bad he was so damn aggravating and stubborn. He hadn’t stopped saying that the babies were his since he’d found out about them. The world was stock full of men who could care less about the children they’d fathered. She just happened to get the donation from the one man in the world that actually wanted to be involved. Her brow furrowed in irritation at that thought. She sincerely hoped the babies didn’t inherit extreme hardheadedness from their father.
“Come in,” Nigel said, holding the door open wide for Sera to enter.
As Sera entered the house, Nigel followed her with his gaze. She was wearing a light t-shirt without a bra. His gaze had been riveted to her nipples tenting the fabric when he’d opened the door. Thankfully she hadn’t been looking at his face when he’d noticed.
As she entered the house, he shut the door behind him and followed her in. He couldn’t help but watch the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. There was something so sultry and seductive about it. He could just imagine clutching those hips in his grasp and putting his seed in her himself.
Feeling the sneaking suspicion that Nigel was watching her every move, Sera stepped inside, confused by him and his behavior. He’d been downright possessive of the children-which was down-right amazing because he hadn’t know about them for five minutes when he had started feeling that way. But, for some odd reason, she was a little disappointed that he wasn’t as interested in her as the mother. She couldn’t imagine why though. She tried to put it down to irrational thoughts driven haywire by hormones. That was surely it.
“My mother is in the living room,” he informed her.
When he spoke he had surprised her. He was much closer than she’d thought and his voice had sounded husky to her ears. Perhaps it was just her imagination.
Trying to brush off the strange electric currents that Nigel seemed to ignite in her, Sera went in search of Irene. But before Irene was even in sight, though, she could hear her.
“Oh, oh. Oh, my head hurts so bad,” Irene gushed.
Sera walked into the living room to find Irene holding her head and talking in a die away air. She couldn’t help but feel that Irene was displaying some poor acting skills. The question was, why.
“It appears my mother has come down with a terrible headache,” Nigel said, trying ineffectually to hide a half-smile behind a hand.
He was so close to Sera and she was so focused on the noise Irene was making, that when he spoke he surprised her, and she jumped a little.
He didn’t try to hide his enjoyment at her reaction. Had he surprised her or was he affecting her more than she’d like to admit?
Sera looked at Nigel a little irritably. What did he think was so humorous about their situation? His mother wasn’t feeling well, apparently, and she had a doctor’s appointment. Now she would have to walk all the way back home and drive herself, and she was going to be terribly late. And that meant she would have to wait forever in the doctor’s office to get seen. She was not the least bit pleased by the turn of events.
Nigel noticed that Sera looked acutely displeased by his smile. Perversely, it pleased him. Normally, it would have bothered him that a woman didn’t reciprocate his feelings. But for some reason, he liked it when she got angry with him. Perhaps it was because it really brought out a light in her pretty sea green eyes, or perhaps it was the way it made her cheeks flush lightly, but, either way, it was very attractive.
“Nigel, sweetheart, can you drive Sera to her appointment?” Irene said, clutching her head as if each syllable in each word caused her more agony.
“Of course, mother. It would be no trouble at all. You just stay laying down and get some rest.”
He would be more than happy to drive the little hot-headed independent woman to her appointment. He had a lot of unanswered questions that his mother hadn’t addressed satisfactorily. And he wanted to get to know the mother of his child. The drive to the doc
tor’s office posed the perfect opportunity to push the idea of marriage to Sera as well.
Sera knew she looked crestfallen, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want him to take her. She didn’t really know him and she was a little uncomfortable with the idea of him accompanying her to the doctor since it was so personal, and Irene was always her pillar of strength at her appointments. She also didn’t want him to take her because she usually ended up puking several times before they actually made it there.
Who wanted to throw up in front of complete stranger, especially when that stranger just happened to be the one who unknowingly donated the sperm that got you pregnant and also happened to be an extremely hot guy who also happened to want the baby and her? Well, take that back. He only wanted to marry her because he was old-fashioned. She didn’t want to get married and she definitely wouldn’t say yes to someone who was only proposing because it was the right thing to do. She didn’t feel that men should propose if they weren’t truly in love with the woman. They damn well shouldn’t if they felt pressured to or if the woman inconveniently got pregnant.
Talk about a tense situation. She didn’t like conflict. She didn’t like drama, another reason to avoid all types of relationships. Things would be much easier if she just stayed the independent person she was and did things by herself from here on out.
“Really, Irene, that isn’t necessary. I don’t want to put anyone out. I’m sure Nigel has better things to do than accompany me to a routine doctor’s appointment. I’ll just go back home and drive myself. It’ll be just fine.”
Irene looked really worried by that comment and stopped moaning for a minute.
The comment only deepened Nigel’s desire to take her himself. Stubborn woman, if he didn’t know any better, he might get the impression that she was trying to avoid him.
Taking Sera by surprise yet again, he stepped closer to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against his solid build. His member jumped to attention as he felt the swell of her breast against his chest through the thin material of his tank top. He gritted his teeth and inhaled deeply for a moment, trying to will it down, to no avail, because when he’d taken a deep breath, her sweet scent had filled his nostrils and it was intoxicating his senses. It took him a second to collect himself enough to talk without giving himself away.
“I’ll make sure she gets there in one piece. You just lay still like I said and get to feeling better. We’ll be back before you know it, and we’ll let you know how it went.”
Sera wasn’t sure how she felt about having Nigel behave so intimately with her, about having him so close. It made it hard for her to focus on the fact that she didn’t want him around. That he was butting his way into her life where she’d already said she didn’t need or want him. His making the decisions without consulting her was exactly the kind of male behavior she had been looking to avoid.
He turned her away from the living room, and she quickly stepped out of his grasp.
He couldn’t help but smile as she snatched herself away from him. He could only hope that the contact between them was as much a firebrand for her as it was for him. He walked behind her, thoroughly examining her all the way to the car.
He opened the passenger side door for her and shut it behind her once she had seated herself. Going over to the driver’s side, he got in.
“What doctor are you seeing?” he asked, not looking at her as he backed out of the driveway and took off down the road.
“Dr. Yules,” she said. “Do you know where his office is?”
“Yes,” he said, and took off in the direction of the doctor’s office. The drive to the doctor’s office was a good fifteen minutes. This was the perfect opportunity to press her about marriage so that his boys could have his name he decided.
Just as they rounded the first turn in the trip, Nigel prepared to ask some really tough questions, but he never got the chance.
Sera began to wave a hand in the air.
Nigel, trying to focus on the road and figure out what she was doing at the same time, turned his head to look at Sera. Her cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk that had gotten too greedy.
“Pull over, pull over now!” she said through gritted teeth, trying desperately not to throw up all over the dash board in front of her.
Nigel pulled the car over so fast that the tires squealed, rocking Sera violently in her seat. She was thankful she hadn’t unbuckled yet.
Before the car was even stopped good, she had the door open, her seatbelt off, and she was clutching onto the door like it was her only lifeline as she spilled her guts onto the pavement below.
Nigel leaned over and pulled Sera’s hair back so that it wouldn’t get dirty. He rubbed her back in what he hoped felt like a reassuring gesture.
“I’m sorry I didn’t understand what you wanted back there. Are you okay?”
Through fits of heaving, Sera said, “Do . . . I . . . look . . . like . . . I’m . . . okay!”
That put Nigel in his place. He only vaguely remembered his mother being pregnant with his youngest brother, but he knew from experience that pregnant women were not to be taken lightly.
After Sera thought she’d puked her brains out, she decided there was nothing left to throw up but her stomach and that it would be safe to resume the rest of the ride to the doctor’s office. However, they wound up making four more ‘pit’ stops before they finally made it to their destination.
Nigel had never been more thankful to get to a doctor’s office in his life, not even when he’d been recovering from a bayonet wound to the stomach a few years before. Nothing could compare to hearing a pregnant woman get sick over and over again.
Weakened from the constant upheaval process, Sera had trouble getting out of the car.
Nigel, ready to get her inside to see the doctor, swept her up in his arms and carried her inside as if she weighed no more than a feather.
If she had felt well, she might have appreciated the gesture more, but as it was, she could hardly acknowledge it. Of course, if she had felt better, she probably would have resented him treating her like a child. As it was, she felt bad about having put him through it, but surely he would understand. But the damned stubborn ass had asked for it by insisting on taking her. It served him right. She supposed she was glad now, though, that he hadn’t given her a choice on driving. After the brief trip, she was hardly in any condition to see the doctor, let alone do anything else. She supposed, just this once, she needed him.
He sat her down gently in a chair in the waiting room.
“I’ll go sign you in,” he informed her.
He went to the front desk and noticed that all the nurses stationed behind the counter were smiling at him.
“That was so romantic,” one nurse told him. “It’s so nice to see a couple so in love. I wish my man had treated me like that when I was carrying our children.”
Nigel realized she was talking about how he had carried Sera in. If only she had known the torment he had just endured driving the woman to the office, she wouldn’t have thought anything about why he’d been in such a hurry for her to get some medical attention. Or if she knew how much Sera resented his company, she wouldn’t have thought it was so sweet.
He signed Sera in and then went and sat down beside her.
He felt relieved to see that she seemed to be getting some of the color back in her cheeks. He was also glad to see that more heaving fits were not imminent. He hadn’t been sure if he could handle anymore without losing some of his own dignity.
After about ten minutes in the waiting room, a nurse finally called Sera’s name.
Nigel didn’t wait for Sera’s permission, he got up with her and went to where the nurse stood at an open door that led to a different part of the building.
“We are ready to take some vitals and then you can see the doctor.”
Nigel followed the two women to a row of chairs, patients, and nurses lined up in front of some sinks and bathrooms.
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The nurse took Sera’s blood pressure and weighed her, writing down all of the information.
It wasn’t long before the nurse was leading them further back in the building to one of the waiting rooms.
“Now, Sera, you know I need you to put on one of the gowns so that the doctor can check you and then we’ll do the sonogram and check on the babies and everything.
Nigel hesitated at the door. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Sera naked, but he didn’t want her to make a big scene about not letting him in. Of course, the staff might just put it down to relationship trouble.
The nurse smiled at Nigel. “Would the father like to come in?”
Sera answered for him before he could. “No, the father would not like to come in. The father would like to remain in the hallway while I get dressed,” she said to Nigel with a look in her eyes that dared him to say otherwise.
The nurse shrugged her shoulders and walked away to check on more patients.
Nigel stood outside and waited for the okay to enter the room with Sera.
A few minutes later, he heard her voice through the door.
“Okay, Nigel, you can come in now. I’m decent.”
Nigel entered the room.
“And I’m disappointed,” he said with a wink as he entered. Finding a small round stool, he sat down.
“Well, you shouldn’t be. Pregnancy isn’t used by models to enhance their looks.”
He looked her deep in the eyes before he spoke again. “It’s true that I didn’t know you before you were pregnant, but you couldn’t be more beautiful or radiant.”
Sera blushed at the compliment, looking away, feeling a little uncomfortable. He was probably just saying that because he knew she was carrying his child. In some way that was like complimenting himself, she was certain. Of course you look good, it’s because of my sperm, you know. Men always thought their sperm had super powers. Typical, alpha male behavior. But, if she’d been a lioness, he would definitely have been the perfect mate. He was all male pride and superiority, strength and testosterone.
