Chapter Three
Covington hadn’t been able to put her feet up as Tris had directed. She was like a child on a sugar high bouncing around from room to room not able to sit for more than a few seconds.
Dancing had always been her mode of coping with stress or anxiety and she had plenty of both going on right now and unfortunately her go-to release valve was no longer an option because she’d completely lost her balance and rhythm since she’d fallen pregnant.
So now she walked.
Or fidgeted.
Or twitched.
It seemed the babies didn’t only hijack her hormones, they hitchhiked her nervous system too. And her brain. They’d rewired that somehow. All around she was one big pregnant idiot. Why else would she sell all her stuff and drive three thousand miles with nowhere to go?
Funny how she hadn’t questioned her decision until she’d driven out of Miami before sunrise at the start of the week. Actually, it wasn’t until she’d crossed into New Mexico that she’d started to second-guess her choice, and by then it was too late to turn back so she’d sucked it up and kept going. For the rest of the way she’d been on tenterhooks and that nerve-wracking anxiety hadn’t lessened in spite of Tristan’s warm welcome.
It probably didn’t help that she still hadn’t told him the babies were his.
She’d been working up the nerve to reveal his part in her ‘condition’ since she let herself into his house last night. Of course she’d gotten a little distracted when she’d fallen into his bed. The soft sheets smelled like him and suddenly she had other things on her mind. Snuggling in, she’d spent half the night reminiscing, the other half dreaming.
Her memories—and dreams—of their one night together were so vivid that when she’d woken this morning she’d thought the last four months hadn’t happened, that she hadn’t kicked Tris out of her bed, and rolled over with a smile only for it to die on her lips when she discovered the space beside her empty. The pillow undented by Tristan’s head.
Typical of recent weeks, the waterworks had started—the ones in her eyes and the one between her legs—and she’d cried her way to the bathroom and gone through a whole roll of toilet paper.
The man didn’t skimp on toilet paper thank goodness because he certainly didn’t buy tissues. There wasn’t a box in the house.
She stared at the shopping list she’d put together. Right on top—tissues, then eggs and milk and cheese. Fruit and veggies and meat.
Tris had a well-stocked pantry but his fresh produce was minimal and she needed to keep her diet balanced or she risked her and the babies’ health. Her pregnancy might be completely unexpected, but Covington wasn’t about to put the babies in danger. Especially when she’d lost so much weight in the first few weeks. She needed to be sure she looked after all three of them from now on.
Building herself back up while building babies took more food than she was used to eating but it wasn’t like she needed to keep herself in peak physical form for dancing. She’d been fooling herself thinking she could continue to dance for a living until she gave birth. She could afford to overindulge a little between now and when she could return to fulltime work.
The one thing she had to do was stop giving in to her cravings for junk food. She’d consumed far too much sugar and fat in recent days. It was only that she’d barely been able to keep down her own spit for all those weeks that she’d eaten anything and everything she felt like since the morning sickness had eased in the last week or so.
Although today she hadn’t been able to stomach the thought of food never mind actually eating. The churning in her belly wasn’t the usual pregnancy nausea though. No, the urge to vomit lay solely at the feet of her anxiety about telling Tristan he was going to be a father. Times two. In five months. Probably less.
Twins often arrived early. She knew that. She’d read it in one of the pamphlets the nurse at the doctor’s office had given her on her last visit.
“Hey, I thought I told you to put your feet up.”
Tris entered the kitchen in a pair of sweats riding low on his hips, his chest bare, the dusting of hair across his pecs sparkling with a few missed droplets of water. Her gaze traveled over every inch of naked flesh.
Heat rushed through her and Covington swallowed the little whimper of desire that worked its way up her throat.
She remembered licking that chest. Remembered weaving her fingers through the hair, scraping her nails over his nipples. And remembered licking her way down his stomach…
“Covington.”
Her gaze darted up and collided with Tristan’s heated one as a shiver vibrated along her spine in the wake of the deep, dark rumble of his voice.
She licked her lips and tried to focus on what had to be done. “W-we should talk.”
Clearing his throat, he nodded. “Yeah, we should.” He stepped closer and every nerve in her body went on high alert.
Oh, who was she kidding? The man had her on high alert all the damn time. Or it was pregnancy hormones. They went berserk during pregnancy. She’d read that in one of the handouts too.
Yes. That was it. She wanted to lick Tris all over because her hormones were in overdrive times two.
“Are you okay?”
She blinked. “Huh?”
“You look a little flushed and your eyes are glassy and dilated.” He leaned forward, his gaze searching her face as he placed the back of his hand on her forehead. “I think you should sit down. You feel a bit warm.”
A bit warm? Ha! Right now she was sweating. She hadn’t done that since before she’d driven up into the mountains. Shaking away his hand, she pushed those pesky hormones aside as well and attempted to behave like a sensible human being not a seething mass of lusty hormones.
“I’m fine. Pregnancy raises a woman’s temperature.” She’d read that somewhere too.
“Oh, right. About that.”
This was it. The perfect time to tell him about the babies. “I need to tell you something,” her voice came out little more than a whisper.
He nodded. “Okay.”
“I’m pregnant.”
Tris chuckled. “Yeah, I got that.”
“Right. Well I’m having twins—”
“We should get married,” he cut in.
“And they’re…what? Married?”
“Twins!”
They talked over the top of each other.
“No. We can’t get married.”
“There’s two in there?”
“Are you insane?”
“Two?” He stared wide-eyed at her stomach. “Seriously. You’ve got two in there?”
“Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.” Covington held up her hands, resisted the urge to stick her fingers in her ears. “Stop talking. Just for a minute.”
She needed to wrap her head around the conversation. Her brain hadn’t been in the best of order since she’d gotten pregnant and honestly she needed a minute—or fifty million—to get over the fact that Tristan Harding just offered to marry to her.
And he didn’t even know the babies were his!
Spinning on her socked foot, she headed for the living room. “I need to sit.” Possibly lie down.
“Are you okay?” He gripped her elbow, steered her in the direction she was already going. “Do you need a doctor? Should you be walking around? You’re not in labor are you?”
She could hear the panic in his voice. The big tough firefighter who ran into burning buildings for a living was freaking out over a pregnant woman. She rolled her eyes. Great. That’s exactly what they needed. Two of them freaking out. Poor babies. Her hand slid over her belly. I promise we’ll get it together when it counts. “I’m fine. Just need to sit.”
He pushed her onto the couch, grabbed her feet and swung her legs up and pressed on her shoulder so she was stretch out along the seat cushions, her head resting against the arm. Crouching down beside her, he held her hand between both of his. “Tell me what to do. What do you need? Should I call someone?”
It was probably the wrong thing to do but she couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter that burst out of her. The whole situation was hilarious.
Okay, maybe not, but she’d been inside out and upside down for months now and if she wasn’t laughing she’d probably be crying and she hadn’t bought tissues yet and…
A hiccupped squeezed her middle and jolted her chest.
Her nose tingled and her eyes stung.
Then she made a noise that was a cross between a laugh and a sob and no matter what she wanted or didn’t want, there was no stopping the jag taking her over.
Through blurry eyes she saw Tristan’s horrified face and cried harder.
She’d never been one of those pretty criers either.
Nope. She was all puffy eyes and red nose.
Big fat tears and snot.
“Shh, shh, shh,” Tris soothed as he pulled her into his arms, cradled her against his chest and tucked her face into the warm curve of his neck. “It’ll be okay. You’ll be fine. The babies will be fine. I promise. Everything will be fine.”
She sobbed against his skin, covering both of them with tears and snot and making a mess of everything.
God. She used to be so in control. Independent. And now she was clinging to a man who had no idea he’d gotten her pregnant with twins but wanted to marry her anyway.
Could her life have gone any further off track?
***
Tris held Cov close and ignored the warm slimy stuff sliding down his chest.
One thing he’d always admired about Covington was her enthusiasm. Anything she did she did with all her heart. It seemed crying her heart out was no exception.
“S-sorry,” she sputtered into his wet neck.
“It’s okay.” And strangely it was. He didn’t care that she’d covered him with body fluid. He’d prefer a different kind but he’d take anything she gave him. He’d take her tears and her smiles and everything in between. “Feel better?”
She nodded smearing the mess between them further.
He smoothed his hands up and down her back. “Want to tell me what brought that on?”
“Hormones.”
“Ah, okay…” That certainly cleared things up. Not.
“I swear, it’s like I’ve got a split personality or something. One minute I’m smiling and the next I’m leaking all over the place.”
“So we don’t need to find a doctor?” He was worried she needed medical attention. His experience with pregnant women could be counted in minutes. All of them with her.
“No.” She brought her arm up and tried to clean both of them with the sleeve of his borrowed sweatshirt. “I’ve covered us in goop.”
He smiled. “Not the first time I’ve been covered in goop.”
She tipped her head back and stared up at him with red-rimmed eyes. “Women cry all over you all the time?”
“Well, no. You’d be the first. But there’s plenty of goop in my line of work.”
She swiped her sleeve across his neck. The fabric was already saturated and did nothing but smear the slick mess more. “Ah… Maybe you should shower again,” she murmured.
“Let’s get you fixed up first.” Tris stood, picking her up with ease. She wasn’t as heavy as he remembered and he knew how women hated to talk about their weight but shouldn’t she be bigger now she was having a baby? Babies. Jesus. He had to get his head around that. “Have you seen a doctor?”
“Yes.” She covered a yawn with her hand. “Back home.”
“And everything is okay?” She felt fragile in his arms and she’d gone to pieces a minute ago, which to his mind said things weren’t normal. Then again, what would he know and two babies.
“Yes. I lost some weight early on because of morning sickness but everything’s progressing like it should.” She snuggled into him and used her clean sleeve to wipe her face as he walked down the hall.
“And you’re staying, right? Here? With me?”
“If it’s okay?” Her words slurred a little, her eyes drifted closed and her breathing deepened.
“Definitely.”
He didn’t add that he’d track her down and haul her back if she left. She was obviously wiped out from crying and she probably hadn’t caught up after the long drive to reach him because by the time he arrived in his bedroom, Cov was sound asleep.
Easing her onto the unmade bed, he debated removing the wet sweatshirt. The house was warm but he didn’t want to risk her getting cold and it couldn’t be comfortable having all that wet fabric sticking to her skin. With as much care as he could manage he pulled the top off and tucked her under the covers without waking her. She stirred. Mumbled something about needing to tell the babies’ daddy and tissues.
Tris shook his head. He had no idea what one had to do with the other. It didn’t matter. Right now she needed rest and he had four days before his next shift to make sure she got plenty of it. After her nap they’d head out to get some groceries. They needed to stock up ready for the big snowfall heading their way.
They should probably see about getting an appointment with a doctor too. He believed her when she said everything was fine, but for his peace of mind he’d like Jason Gilmore to take a look at her. The doc was new in town but Tris had liked him instantly and, more importantly, he trusted him. Putting Cov and her babies in the other man’s capable hands felt right.
Yeah, they’d definitely make an appointment before he went back on shift.
Leaving the bedroom and a sleeping Cov, he went to the bathroom, cleaned up quickly and grabbed the dirty washing. He’d put a load on now then he could toss it in the drier before they went shopping. Depending on how long she slept he’d suggest stopping for lunch at Sue Ann’s Café first. They could both do with a home cooked meal.
With the clothes in the washer he went back to check on Cov. She was right where he’d left her. Tucked up in his bed. He couldn’t resist the urge to lie down beside her and watch her sleep.
Her face was thinner, and the dark smudges under her eyes had to go. She looked different but the same. There were subtle changes but she was still beautiful. He hadn’t seen her smile yet. He’d lived for those smiles even when she’d been engaged to another man. From the minute he’d met her Tris hadn’t been able to stop himself from getting close to her—from falling for her.
And now she was here. Pregnant with someone else’s babies and he didn’t give a damn. He still wanted her. The sweatshirt had hidden her belly but when he’d removed it he’d seen the swell beneath her t-shirt. He’d never thought about having children. They hadn’t been on his radar. Now it was all he could think about.
He wanted those babies to be his. Wanted to have that connection with her for the rest of their lives. He’d been half in love with her before. She’d driven him crazy until he’d gotten a taste of her and he’d known his life would never be the same.
He’d wanted to deepen their friendship from the beginning and now here she was. In his bed. Pregnant. And all he could think about was pulling her close and holding on.
Never letting go.