The next morning, I find myself wrapped in a cocoon of Zander. He has his arm around my waist and his legs thrown over mine. I slept well but I don’t remember when he wrapped himself around me. Suddenly the urge to vomit hits me like a brick. I try to get out from under him, but the man is heavy.

“Zander, Zander, let me up!”

He moans and starts to move but not fast enough. “Zander I’m going to be sick, get off!”

He jumps and I run to the bathroom. Morning sickness is beginning to be a major bitch. My stomach is empty when I look up and see a hard dick almost in my face.

“Do you mind?”

“Are you okay?”

“I would be better if you pointed that thing somewhere else.”

He turns and gets me a cold, wet towel. He hands it to me and bends down in front of me.

“You better get used to it, Red. I’m afraid I wake up every morning like this and sleeping next to you all night won’t help it to go away.”

“I can arrange to fix that problem.”

“I told you last night, Red, I might put up with most of your bullshit, but this is something I am not going to let you get away with. That is our bed and you and I will be in it every night.”

He stands back up and turns the bathtub water on. “What are you doing?”

“I’m running some water for you to bathe. I know you’re not feeling well. I thought maybe this would help.”

I’m thrown off for a minute. He’s this big giant of a man, but he’s being gentle with me. I didn’t expect him to worry like this. To prove my case, I hear him say, “I called Jeffery, he should be here any minute with some lemons and peppermint tea. It seemed to help you yesterday.”

He reaches down and pulls me off the floor. I stare into his eyes then I feel his hands go to my back as he starts to remove my bra. I quickly move, shaking off my desire.

“I can do it.”

He smiles and then leaves the room. I undress and wrap my hair in a top knot. I wash my face off and brush my teeth. I then look at myself in the mirror and see my freckles on full display. I look pale but not as bad as I thought I would be. I turn the water off once the tub is filled and sit down, it’s the perfect temperature. The bathroom door opens and in comes Zander wearing a pair of low lying sweatpants, holding a tray with my lemons and tea. He brings the tray over and sets it down on a table next to the tub.

I grab a lemon and start sniffing. I then notice Zander stripping his pants off.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking a bath with you, silly.”

“Oh no, you’re not! Zander, stop!”

“What are you going to do to stop me, love?”

The bastard! He knows I can’t physically stop him and I have a feeling if I yell out, no one will come.

He slowly gets into the tub. “You want to try to yell? Go for it. The walls are soundproof, no one will hear you.”

“Soundproof why?”

“Let’s just say that I am not the only Stern capable of making a woman scream out.”

I try to kick him with my foot, but he grabs it. Now he won’t let go. He laughs and starts rubbing the arch of my foot. I can’t help letting out a moan, which pisses me off. I try to pull away, but he won’t let me.

“Play nice, Red. I told you I won’t force myself on you. I see how high your heels are, I figure this might help. They say a pregnant woman’s feet ache pretty bad. You should really consider wearing flats now.”

“What? No! Zander, what do you want?”

“I figure this is the perfect time to talk. I want to know all about the baby, I want to know how you’ve been feeling, too. Like, how far along are you now? I figure the last time was…”

“I’m eight weeks, the last time was the one.”

“I thought you were on the pill?”

I pull my foot from him. “So, you’re blaming me? I had no intention of getting pregnant. I was on the pill, but I forgot to take one or two here and there. I was stressed, okay? I tried to go away, you were never obligated to do anything.”

He moves fast, sitting up now, he grabs ahold of me. Holding my face close to his.

“Listen to me, Red, I never blamed you for anything. It was a question. And I don’t feel obligated. This is my baby. I put him inside you and he took root. He is mine and so are you. You better get used to it because there is nothing you or anyone can do about it. From now on you’re stuck with me. Try to leave me again and I will find you, always.”

He releases me and I’m stunned as he lays back against the tub and grabs my foot again. He is a mystery to me. One minute he’s kind and gentle, and the next he’s a brute.

“Zander, do you even care if I don’t love you?”

He chuckles. “Of course I do. I know you have feelings for me…”

I go to say something, but he stops me by putting his hand up. “Let me finish, I know you have feelings for me. The night we made our baby, I felt your heart, I saw your vulnerable side. You might have tried to fight it, but you were bare to me. I made love to you that night and you made love to me. That doesn’t happen when you don’t care for someone. Now that a part of me is growing inside you, I think that one day you will show me that side again and when that happens, you will be in love with me.”

He stands and starts drying off. “I want to know when your next doctor appointment is, I’m going with you from now on.”

He leaves the room. Is he right? Will I be able to keep fighting him, or now that I’m carrying his child, will I fall for him even more?

* * *

I leave the bathroom. She makes it so hard for me to show her I care, but I don’t want to be the one to say I love you first. I won’t be a sap for her. I might love her, but she has to show me she loves me too before I make myself more vulnerable to her.

I dress and make my way downstairs for breakfast. When I reach the last step the doorbell rings. I beat Jeffery to the door. Standing there is Forrest, he’s still covered in some bruises, but he looks well enough.

“May I see your mother?”

“I don’t know, Forrest; do you think that’s the best thing for your health?”

From behind me, I hear my mother. “Let him in, I would love to hear what he has to say for himself.”

I wave for him to enter at his own risk. The man cowers and walks in, following my mother to the living room. I follow behind. Theo is sitting down drinking coffee. He raises a brow but doesn’t say anything.

Mom makes herself a cup of coffee and then sits. “All right, Forrest, what do you have to say?”

“Catherine, I meant no disrespect, I promise you. I thought I would be helping. When Judith came to me to help her get rid of the girl, all I thought was that it would make me look good in your eyes if I did. I knew you had your heart set on getting the casino. It never occurred to me that you would disapprove. I had no idea at the time that Zander was interested in the woman.”

I turn when I hear Cherry. “You went after my daughter, Forrest?”

Forrest practically runs to Cherry. “Cherry, I didn’t know, I promise. I had no idea she was your daughter. When I overheard my men talking about what she looked like, then I looked into it. Shit, Cherry, I’m sorry. I recognized her for yours right away. I pulled out, I told Judith I wanted nothing more to do with it or her. But she informed me she didn’t need me anymore, that she had someone new to take care of her problem. I never got a chance to come to Zander or Catherine before Theo’s guys grabbed me.”

Cherry walks away from him. “Cherry, please believe me, I would never hurt your daughter, never.”

Cherry bends to pour herself a cup of coffee. “I believe you, Forrest, I know you wouldn’t hurt what’s mine. But now you have to deal with my son-in-law and Catherine. I can’t help you there.”

Forrest looks at me, then my mother. “Catherine, what do you want me to do? How can I make this right between us?”

Mom looks at me, waiting to see if I have any input. I know to keep my mouth shut, though. This is not my choice. Mom looks back to Forrest and says, “I need you and your men to help find anything they can on where Judith is. My son’s attention needs to be elsewhere. I want you to find her and extract any information you can then I want her to disappear, permanently.”

Forrest nods his head. “Done.”

“Not so fast, Forrest, I am taking one of your parishes away from you. I’m giving it to Teddy Trahan. He will start off small, but he will one day take his father’s place. You need to start treating him as such. Do you understand?”

Forrest bows his head. “Yes, Catherine. I understand.”

He then looks back to Cherry. “Damn, Cherry, you are looking good, woman.”

Cherry giggles. I’ve had enough. “Down, man, that’s my mother-in-law you’re referring to. It’s time to go. I will expect to hear from you soon about Judith.”

I give him the boot and shut the door.

When I return back to the living room, Cherry, mom, and Theo are all laughing.

I shake my head and say, “I can’t believe that guy. Flirting with you right in front of all of us.”

Cherry says, “Aww, Forrest is harmless. He used to follow me around like a puppy dog waiting for a crumb.”

Theo says, “I remember a lot of men doing that.”

Mom clears her throat. “I remember you following the trail at one time too.”

I watch Theo wiggle in his chair. “Come on, Catherine, you can’t still be jealous.”

Mom stands. “I was never jealous, Theo.” She then turns to me. “Where is Murphy? We have some business to discuss. I plan on going with her today to the casino.”

“She shouldn’t be too long. She wasn’t feeling well this morning, but I had Jeffery bring her some lemons and tea.”

Mom pats my shoulder and walks out of the room. I look back at Theo and Cherry and see them still laughing. Theo looks at me and says, “She was jealous, it worked like a charm.” He winks at me and then takes off, following mom.

With an eyebrow raised I start to ask Cherry what they meant by that, but she waves her arm and says, “Don’t ask, it’s a long story. How was last night?”

“Uneventful.”

She stands and says, “I’m sorry, Zander, I warned you it wouldn’t be easy. Give her time, she’ll adjust.” She then walks out of the room too.

Adjust? I don’t want her to just adjust. I want her to love me like I already love her.