I nodded but those words settled around me like a lead weight. A responsibility. Priority. Obligation. They were all nice words to say you were being forced to do something you didn’t want to do, whether because of pride, obligation or morals. All I heard was the word burden and that was the last thing I ever wanted to be to anyone. Ever. “I’m not interested in being anybody’s obligation. I have enough money and time and love for four parents.”
“And two doting aunts,” Hope added around a mouthful cheesy nachos.
Bo growled. “Maybe. I mean she only told us about the pregnancy now because she needs advise. Maybe we’re not really friends.” Arms folded and nostrils flaring, I knew I messed up when Bo and I were just solidifying our friendship.
She deserved more than that. She deserved honesty because that’s exactly what she would offer. “Because I wasn’t sure if I would stay in Tulip at all, and honestly, I figured you’d take Nate’s side since he is your brother and all.” It felt silly to say it, but I knew that when it came down to taking sides, people chose what was most important to them. For my daddy that had been the business. For Bo, it was family.
She sighed. “There are no sides, Mikki.” She was muttering a different, profanity-laced tune when I told her his initial accusation. “Okay fine, he’s my brother which means I can be as mean to him as I want. I can even torture him. Hell, that’s what little sisters are supposed to do.” Her eyes held a devious gleam that I didn’t trust. It almost made me feel bad for Nate. Almost.
“Well I think you should just give him a chance.” Hope was a hopeless romantic. The woman never looked at a situation and saw anything other than a happy ending. “He’s practically begging at this point, based on what you said, which means he’ll be quality boyfriend material. If it doesn’t last, then you did all you could to give your baby two parents who love each other. If it does, you get wrap your body around that big stupid hunk of a hometown hero every night.” Her grin was mischievous but I couldn’t deny that Hope’s idea appealed to me on so many levels.
The Nate I was getting to know was a good guy. A decent man who did the right thing for the simple fact that it was the right thing. He would be an excellent role model for a child, aside for his aversion to commitment. “A tiger can’t change his stripes and Nate is a man who likes variety when it comes to women. And sex.”
Bo leaned forward with a grin. “Tell us more about this sexual variety. Jase and I are always up for a little experimentation.” She wiggled her eyebrows and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I want to give him a shot, but how can I when I know how this will end?” Why should I put myself through the hell of a broken heart when I was already in love with him and I knew this couldn’t last?
“How do you know that?” Bo’s question was serious and I could tell my answer mattered.
“Because he told me. All about his dad and how he doesn’t think he’s cut out for fatherhood.” He wanted to try and I believed that, but was that enough?
“So you believe he’ll be a bad father?”
I shook my head, vehemently. “No but Nate does and that’s what matters. I can’t change that for him and I can’t make him see otherwise. Only he can do that, which means I need to protect myself.” I couldn’t afford to fall apart over a man, not with a baby and a new business counting on me.
“You’re in love with him!” Hope laughed and clapped her hands together in giddy excitement. “You are totally in love with him already.”
I could deny it, but all of my precious energy these days went towards achievable goals. “Now you see why I can’t afford to play around. He could really hurt me and I’m sick and damn tired of being hurt.”
“Or he might see in himself what you see,” Bo added ominously. “But you know, some people might just choose to miss out on something great because they’re cowards. Just didn’t think you were one of’em.”
I glared at Bo because I knew what she was doing, dammit. Because I knew she was right. I was being a coward. “I’m not,” I insisted fiercely. Okay maybe I was a coward, but that was the past. Starting now I would be brave and open to possibilities.
“We’ll see,” Bo said, a challenge in her voice.
Nate
“Uh, Nate?”
I hid a smile as I turned to face Mikki, looking sexy and rumpled in a plain gray tank top and matching gray panties. There was something irresistible about a woman like Mikki, all sensual curves, wrapped up in everyday basic cotton. “Good morning, Mikki. Sleep well?” It took all the willpower that several generations of Callahan men possessed to keep the counter between us, especially the way her nipples beaded under my intense gaze.
“I slept fine, thanks. What are you doing here?”
Some women might have found it creepy, to come downstairs to find a man who doesn’t love with you, inside your kitchen. “Making breakfast. I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m always hungry,” she said and rubbed her belly but my gaze stayed on the heavy weight of her breasts jiggling on the other side of that cotton. “How did you get in here?”
“Still had my key,” I told her and nodded towards it’s place on the edge of the counter. “Is that all right?”
She took in a deep breath. “Hard to say no when the scent of pancakes and bacon is permeating the air.” Mikki folded her arms and glared at me but there wasn’t much fire behind it, instead there was a resignation that I found strangely hopeful.
“I was hoping you’d say that. Have a seat.” I turned back to the stove, nerves fluttering in my belly as I flipped more pancakes and the scent of butter wafted on the air. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. Every day I feel like I’m hungrier and less food comes back up, which I’m looking at as a positive.” Her tone was upbeat but I couldn’t get over the circles under her eyes. “I must look awful if you’re that worried,” she said, trying for a joke.
“You always look gorgeous, Mikki. But I am worried you’re not getting enough rest.”
She sighed and it wasn’t annoyance this time, it was something else. “I am too, but I’m resting as much as I can. Being tired all the time is part of this whole pregnancy game, my friend.”
“I still don’t like it,” I growled, making her laugh.
“I don’t know why you’re so worried bout being a terrible father, you’re the flutteriest mother hen I’ve ever come across, I swear!” hand to her chest, doing the perfect imitation of a delicate southern belle, Mikki laughed like I’d just told the funniest joke in the world. She erupted into bigger fits of laughter at my scowl.
“It’s called caring.”
She laughed again but it was softer this time. “I know and I appreciate it, more than you know. But I can’t get any more sleep than my body will allow. Okay?” I nodded and she flashed a smile bright enough to power the entire town of Tulip. “Good. Now tell me what this breakfast is all about.”
I should have known I wouldn’t be able to just show up here and execute my plan in my own time. “Suspicious much?”
She shrugged and tucked one leg under her body, resting her chin on the other in an impossible feat of flexibility perched on one of the kitchen chairs. “Not suspicious. Let’s call it curious.”
“I love watching and listening to you eat.” Her cheeks blushed prettily and the other foot slid to the floor, granting me another glimpse of her beautiful breasts.
“While I know that much is true, it doesn’t explain this unexpected visit early on a Saturday morning.”
“Fine, you got me. I have an ulterior motive for being here.”
She swallowed, visibly, bracing herself for the worst. Whatever that was. “I’m all ears.” To Mikki’s credit, she was doing her best to remain calm. Cool.
“I heard what you said, what you’ve been saying about making a decision and I think you know I’m all in.” My gaze was fixed on her, taking in every detail from the way her hazel eyes turned a burnt gold color as her face flashed a series of emotions
from shock to disbelief to hope and back to disbelief. “Maybe you think I haven’t done enough to prove it to you.” Hell, maybe I hadn’t. “What do I know about cherishing a woman?”
She laughed and shook her head. “It’s not about how much you’ve done, Nate.”
“Then what is it about?” Because I had no fucking clue and this insecurity was driving me out of my damn mind.
She sighed. “It’s about change, Nate. You’re a good man, I see that now. You have issues that make commitment difficult and I even get that, but before you found out about the baby you were Mr. No Thanks. Mr. No Commitment. Mr. One Night Stand.”
“Got it,” I cut her off angrily and the damn woman laughed. She laughed!
“Right,” she grinned again, suppressing another laugh. “So it’s hard to believe that this isn’t just because of the baby. I don’t want to let my guard down and fall for you completely only for you to realize six months or six years down the line that it’s too much for you.”
I heard what she said and I understood her worries but my brain was focused on something else. Something other than her fears and her glorious breasts. Her words. Fall for you completely. That meant she’d already fallen. That was something I could work with. “That won’t happen.”
Arms folded, she stared at me in disbelief, looking more beautiful than she ever had with no makeup, no fancy hairdo and no sexy little dress hugging her curvy little body. Just all natural, unvarnished Mikki. Just how I liked her. “You don’t know that.”
I nodded and brought the food to the table, starting with the gigantic stack of pancakes that made Mikki’s stomach growl. I took my time with the bacon, the fruit, the shredded potatoes and the big bowl of shredded eggs because I wanted to prolong the moment. This crucial moment. “I do know that,” I told her and sat a small glass of ginger ale on one side of the plate and a taller glass of fresh orange juice on the other side. “In fact, I’m absolutely certain of it.”
“Gee, I wonder why I’m skeptical,” she said and snapped off a slice of bacon between her teeth. “Nate, please.”
I took the seat across from even though everything inside of me wanted to sit right beside her, to inhale her feminine scent and to put my hands all over her silky skin. Her soft curves. “I’ve finally figured it out, the problem with my dad.” It was so simple but it had taken all these years and this particular woman to make me see the light.
“He’s an overgrown child?”
I nodded. “That’s part of it but not the most important part. The part that matters most, Mikki.” I waited until I had her full attention before leaning in, pressing my elbows into the table. “The reason he wasn’t able to give me and Jase, or my mom everything we deserved.”
She swallowed, eyes wide and impatient. “What’s that?”
“Love,” I told her simply. “He didn’t love us and if he did, not more than he loved having fun and sleeping with random women. He didn’t want to cheer us on at football and baseball games, didn’t want to watch us make fools of ourselves at the annual holiday play or the fall games. However much he loved us, even he even did, it wasn’t enough.” It hurt to realize that, but that was the past and I was only focused on my present and my future. Dad was another issue, one I’d have to deal with before the baby arrived.
“A-and you already love our baby?” Her question came out shaky, like she was afraid to hope. Afraid of the answer.
“I do love our baby, Mikki. I love him or her so damn much already, that it scares me.”
“Nate,” she said on a wistful sigh.
“But what scares me even more is being in love with you, Mikki.”
She shook her head, she wasn’t ready to hear it yet, but that was too damn bad. “Nate, you don’t-,”
“I do dammit and if I wait on your timeline our kid will be finishing college before you believe that I love you. That over the course of trying to prove to you that I’m a good man, I think I actually became a good man because I wanted to be good enough for you.”
“You were already good, Nate.”
That was crap and we both knew it. “No. I was a good person but I didn’t treat women particularly well, especially you. But your sassy mouth called me out every chance you got and I couldn’t keep being that guy, not if I wanted to be worthy of you.”
“I think you’re worthy.”
I smiled at her words. “Good, because I’m in love with you Mikki. So full of love for you that sometimes I can’t breathe right or think straight. And I’m hoping like hell there’s a chance you could feel the same way about me.”
“A chance?” She snorted the question and shook her head and I felt a chill begin to settle in. “I’m in love with you too, Nate. That’s why this has been so hard for me. I couldn’t give you my heart if your heart wasn’t in it.”
“It is,” I grunted. “Could’ve saved myself a big damn headache if I’d known that’s what was happening.”
“Tell me about,” she laughed. “I was pretty shocked too. But there it is, Nate Callahan, I love you. What are you gonna do about it?”
I stood and walked around the table, gathering Mikki in my arms and taking her chair so we were completely entangled with one another. “What I’m gonna do, sweet woman of mine, is call in every favor I’ve ever collected to give you the perfect small town wedding you deserve.”
She blinked and put a hand to her chest, lips twitching like hell from trying not to laugh. “Wedding? Funny, I didn’t hear a proposal.”
“That’s real simple sweetheart. It’s ‘cause I’m not proposing that we get married. We love each other and we’re having a baby, we’re getting married. So pull out your wedding book, or whatever, and get to planning.”
“Bossy,” she grumbled, a mile-wide grin splitting her face.
“You like me bossy,” I reminded her.
“No, you like me bossy. So remember that over the next four weeks when I become a pregnant, hormonal bridezilla.” I froze, both hands cupping her ass and she laughed. “Uh-oh. Want to take your non-proposal back?”
“Hell no. I can handle you being bossy, because in the bedroom I’m the boss.” I pulled her in for a slow drugging kiss and when she pulled back, her hazel eyes were sleep and so filled with love it took my breath away. But there was something she said that I couldn’t forget. “Four weeks?”
She nodded. “If you think I’m getting married with a big fat baby belly, you are out of your beautiful bearded mind.” Then she kissed me, long and slow until my whole body was on fire for her and I got to my feet, Mikki still in my arms.
“Your big beautiful baby belly,” I corrected.
“Fat,” she shot back and nibbled my ear until I could only think of having her again.
“I guess I’ll have to spend the afternoon showing you just how beautiful you and your pregnant body are to me.” She shivered and a swell of masculine pride shot through me.
“That’s a tall order, even for a hometown hero.” She laughed when I laid her out on the bed and stripped her out of her tank top and panties.
“I’m not worried, babe. Because you are beautiful, so damn beautiful that I can’t believe you’re mine.” I trailed a finger down the center of body, dipping it inside her slick heat and producing a moan. “And that sound, I promise I’ll never get sick of it.”
“Good to know,” she moaned again, arching into my touch.
Now that I had her right where I wanted her, it was time for the final phase of the plan. I undressed and joined her on the bed, holding her hand in mine. “One final thing,” I told her and slipped the ring on her finger.
Mikki looked down and gasped. “Nate, it’s gorgeous.”
“It’s nothing compared to you Mikki, but it’ll tell the whole damn world that I’m yours and you’re mine.” Now that I had her, there was no way in hell I was letting her get away. Ever.
She blinked away tears and climbed on top of me, and that’s how we spent the rest of the day. Loving each other until we fell i
nto an exhausted, satisfied sleep.
The first of many with the woman of my dreams in my arms.
The End.
Mastering Her Curves: A Curvy Girl Romance Page 15
