Chapter Five
Tris didn’t know what to think or feel or do.
He stared at the woman who’d kept him awake more nights than any firehouse shift and wondered why the fuck he hadn’t thought he could be responsible for the babies in her belly.
Jesus Christ.
His babies!
“I’m sorry.” Cov reached out a hand but didn’t touch him.
“I’m not.” He stepped forward, the move pressing her hand against his chest. “I’ll never be sorry about anything that’s happened between us.”
“I…” She swallowed, her eyes going glassy. “I didn’t know where you were.”
Shit. He’d left her. Spent the night with her then left town never to be seen again. It didn’t matter that they’d used protection and there shouldn’t have been consequences; there were, and the babies were the least of those. God. They had history—a relationship—and he’d turned his back on it because of a few words she’d said while in an emotionally raw state.
He’d been an ass.
“I lied. I’m sorry for one thing.” He couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms. “I should never have left you.”
“You didn’t have any reason to stay.” She sniffled against his chest and he hoped he wouldn’t need another shower.
“I had plenty of reasons to stay.” He wanted to tell her how he felt but he wasn’t about to get into their complicated relationship in the back of Sue Ann’s Café where anyone could listen in. They’d be fuel for the gossip mill soon enough. She tried to pull out of his arms but he held tight for a moment longer.
“We should talk about—”
“Not now. Food first, then groceries, then home.” Plus he needed time to think.
“Why aren’t you angry?”
Good question.
There might be some anger swirling around in the kaleidoscope of emotions currently tangled inside him but it wasn’t at her. Nope. That was aimed squarely at himself for letting his wounded pride keep him from going back after she’d thrown him out.
“There’s nothing to be angry about. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“I didn’t tell you,” she argued.
“And you didn’t know where I was. What did you do when you found out I was in Hope Falls?”
“I packed up as quickly as I could and came here.”
Tristan smiled. Dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “You think about that and let me know if you still believe I have reason to be angry about not knowing before now.”
“I don’t understand you.” She pulled away and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “I didn’t exactly tell you you’re the father.”
“I am though, right?” Suddenly he needed the words. To hear her say those babies were his while looking him in the eyes.
“Yes, they’re yours. You’re the only man I’ve slept with in six months.” She ducked her head.
“What?” That couldn’t be right. She’d been engaged to Dirk… That fucking asshole. If ever he showed his face in front of Tris again he’d find it full of fist.
She sniffed and rubbed her nose again. “Dirk wasn’t interested.”
Fist followed by fist followed by boot. “That fucker,” he growled under his breath.
“It wasn’t Dirk’s fault.”
“Yes it was.” He clenched his jaw. Ground his teeth. She didn’t need to see his anger over the whole Dirk situation. Pulling it in, he reminded himself they had better things to discuss than her ex-fiancé and his ex-friend. “I don’t want to get into that now.”
Cov glanced around them, said, “Oh,” as if she’d completely forgotten where they were, making him smile and grab her hand.
“C’mon. Sue Ann will get upset if we let our lunch go cold.”
She sniffed again as her stomach let loose with a growl.
Tris laughed. “I think our babies are hungry.”
Her hand jerked in his and he tightened his hold in case she thought about letting go.
“Everything will be fine,” he vowed. And it would be. He’d make sure of it.
Why he felt the need to reassure her he didn’t know but the urge was too potent to resist. Then again, maybe he was the one in need of verbal reassurance. At this point he wasn’t sure how to distinguish the chaotic emotions tugging at him.
One thing he did know was now that he knew those babies were his, he was definitely putting a ring on her finger. The sooner the better.
How long did it take to get a license? Didn’t they need blood tests or something? He’d have to Google it later. After he’d seen to Cov. She’d spent four months dealing with her pregnancy alone. There’d be no more of that. From now on he’d be with her every step of the way.
Which led him back to their need to find a doctor. “We should stop by the clinic after here. See about getting in to see Jason Gilmore before I go back on shift.”
“I saw my doctor just before I left Miami.”
“I’d still like you to see Jason.” He needed her to see him.
“Well, I do have to find someone to take over my care but there isn’t any rush.”
She might not think so, and a qualified medical practitioner might agree with her, but Tris didn’t want to leave anything to chance. Not with Cov, and not with the babies. “How about you just give me this one. No arguments. After this we’ll discuss everything to do with you and the babies but right now I need you to see a doctor. And I’ll be honest and admit it’s not about you or them, it’s about me.”
Cov turned that smile on him, the one that made him feel a thousand feet tall and invincible and weak in the knees. “Okay.”
“Damn.” He grinned. “You gave in too easy. That’s going to bite me in the ass at some point for sure.”
“Oh, you’re still here.”
They turned to see Karina walking toward them.
“I wrote down the details for you, Covington.” Karina held out a piece of paper. “I added my cell number too.”
“Thanks.” Cov took the note.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“I invited Covington to book club,” Karina explained.
“Book club?”
“Yep.”
“Is this the book club the chief’s wife goes to?” Tris asked not really wanting the answer. From what he’d heard around the stationhouse it was more like an excuse for the women of Hope Falls to get together, drink wine and gossip.
Karina smiled. “That would be the one.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry. We don’t have any dirty little secrets about you to reveal. Although…” Karina’s gaze lowered to Cov’s midsection. “I’m sure there’s some we could discover.”
Before he could argue for or against that proclamation Karina waltzed back down the hall and vanished.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell them anything.”
He returned his gaze to Cov. “I’m not worried about what you’ll tell them.”
“Then why is your forehead all scrunched up and your mouth threatening to split in half with the frown dragging the ends down off your face?”
“Because I’ve heard rumors about book club.”
“Oh, really? Anything juicy? I could use a little excitement in my life.”
“I think you’ll be getting plenty of that in the next few months so maybe you shouldn’t go. Keep things calm and easy while you can.”
“Why Tristan, are you scared of a group of women getting together and talking?”
He didn’t like the grin on her face. He knew that grin. It meant he’d somehow challenged her and she’d do the opposite of what he’d suggested. “Damn it. You’re going, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” She nodded. “And you’re going to take me.”
Recoiling, he said, “I can’t go to book club. It’s a woman’s thing.”
Cov laughed. A beautiful sound that vibrated along his skin and into his bones, sinking deep until he felt it in every corner of his body. He’d missed that laugh. The sweetness of it. Her pleasure so audible, so apparent.
“You need to do more of that.”
“What?” she asked, as he gripped her elbow and steered her out into the café and to their table.
“Be happy.”
***
“Be happy.”
Tristan’s words kept replaying in her head. Not that she needed them to. He’d spent the last few hours making sure she was happy. Anything she wanted he bought for her, anything she needed they couldn’t find, he arranged to get. If he didn’t stop he’d have her spoiled rotten in less than a day.
“You okay? Do you need another pillow?”
Covington laughed. “I’ve got three now, what would I possibly do with a fourth?”
His gaze traveled from the top of her head to tip of her toes. “Under you knees…?”
He had her stretched out on his couch, a pillow behind her head, one supporting her back and the last one tucked under her feet. She’d kept her mouth shut when he’d started ‘making her comfortable’ because she was tired after their lunch and shopping and just the thought of arguing with him was too exhausting to consider.
“I’m fine,” she said, covering a yawn with her hand.
Tris glanced at his watch. “We’ve got over an hour before our appointment with Jason. You should sleep.”
Sleep sounded good. Except there were bags and bags of groceries in the kitchen that needed to be put away and then there were the three bags of new winter clothes he’d insisted she needed…she stifled another yawn. “Maybe a nap.”
The constant fatigue she’d thought a result of her lack of food consumption in the last few months hadn’t improved since she began eating anything and everything again. Something to ask the doctor about later…
Covington wasn’t sure what time it was when she opened her eyes. The room was dark, the blinds closed, and someone—obviously Tris—had covered her with the softest blanket she’d ever snuggled under. Grabbing the edges, she tucked her hands under her chin and wiggled deeper into her comfy cocoon.
“Oh, good, you’re awake. We need to leave for the doctor’s in a few minutes.”
“Really?” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up. “I guess I crashed.”
“You’ve done a lot of sleeping today.” He frowned. “Are you feeling sick?”
“No. The nausea hasn’t been as bad in the last few days.”
Come to think of it, other than the anxiety over telling Tris about the babies churning her stomach she hadn’t felt sick at all. She’d passed the twelve-week mark on Tuesday last week and since then she’d pretty much felt normal.
Well, except for the clumsiness. And the urge to eat anything she could get her hands on. And the need to pee every other minute. And the sudden bulge of her belly. And the…
Okay. Maybe not so normal.
“Covington.”
Her gaze snapped to Tristan’s. “Huh?”
“Do you have to go to the bathroom before we go?” he asked as though he’d been asking the question for hours.
Damn. She was doing that a lot too. Zoning out. Her mind would get on a track and like a train it seemed to have only one direction to go in.
“Covington.” He clicked his fingers in front of her face. “Where the hell do you keep going?”
“Sorry.” She forced a smile to remove the worry from his handsome face. “Yes. I need to use the toilet before we leave.”
He eyed her for a moment before offering her a hand.
Covington let him pull her to her feet. “I won’t be long.”
“Okay, I’ll wait by the front door.”
Halfway down the hall she remembered she needed to grab the file the doctor in Miami had given her. He’d included his cell number in case she had any trouble before she managed to find someone to take over her care. Made her promise to look for a new doctor as soon as she was settled. Which kind of played into Tristan’s insistence on seeing Dr. Jason Gilmore.
She grinned as she ducked into the bedroom in search of the bag she’d put the file in. Of course she’d looked through everything, including Tris’s closet and under his bed, before she remembered it was in the big suitcase she’d left in the trunk of her car.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Turning fast, she straightened from her position on the floor beside the bed, lost her balance and smacked her head on the bedside table when she fell on her butt. “Ouch.”
“Jesus, Cov.” Tris was next to her in a heartbeat. “Where did you connect?”
She didn’t need to answer. His hands roamed all over her head, stopping only when he couldn’t find any sign of damage.
“You don’t have a lump but that’s not always a good thing.” He palmed her face and studied her eyes. “Can you see properly? Vision blurred? Feel dizzy or sick?”
“Relax. I’m fine. It was just a little-bitty bump on the head not a life-threatening injury.” She pulled out of his grip and stood. “I need the suitcase that’s in the trunk of my car.”
“Oh.”
“Actually, that reminds me. Where is my car?”
“Er…”
“Tristan.” She narrowed her eyes. “What did you do?”
“Well…”
“Where. Is. My. Car?”
“At the mechanic.”
“Why?”
“I asked Lance to take a look at it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a rust-bucket death-trap and probably should be put out of its misery but I figured you’d freak out if I sent it straight to the scrap yard.”
“It is not a death-trap.” She loved her Cavalier. She’d had it since the day she’d gotten her license. Used every penny of the money she’d save working two part-time jobs to buy it. The car had served her well.
“I notice you didn’t argue the rust-bucket description. And how can you say it’s not a death trap when it coughed and spluttered its way up the street when you got here. I don’t know how it made it from one side of Hope Falls to the other, never mind from one side of the country to the other.”
She huffed. Hadn’t she thought more than once on her trip across the country that the old convertible wouldn’t make it? Dammit. She hated that he was right. Signing, she said, “Fine. A mechanic should look at it.”
Tris laughed. “Jeez, Cov, don’t let my concern for your safety twist your arm.”
Rolling her eyes, she poked out her tongue.
He moved before she blinked. Swooped in and planted his mouth over hers, sucking her tongue between his lips and dancing his across it. The kiss was unexpected, the flash of sensation, the rush of emotion, not so much.
She remembered kissing him. Remembered his lips on hers had a way of wiping her mind clear of everything but him. More. More of him.
Whimpering, she softened, her body leaning into his, her arms sliding around his waist in an attempt to find an anchor. To hold on to the one solid thing left in her world.
The kiss went on and on until they were both gasping for breath.
Pulling apart, she stared up at him, her gaze searching his for an answer. To what question she hadn’t a clue but if she looked long enough, deep enough, surely she’d find the clarity she was looking for.
“Cov.”
Her name whispered though his lips. The ones wet from their kiss. And she remembered hearing that tremor in his voice too. Being in Tris’s arms brought back so many memories. Like a movie reel they rolled across her mind delivered in Technicolor with the added bonus of remembered sensation, taste and smell.
He’d played her body so effortlessly that night. Stroked her skin and marked her bones with every brush of his flesh on hers. She hadn’t known anything like it. Tris had loved each and every inch of her with such desperate enthusiasm that she’d been helpless to do anything but surrender. Returning his passion with an urgent fervor of her own, she indulged in fantasies she’d never dreamed of fulfilling.
It was the most amazing night of her life.
And she’d thanked him by shoving him out the door the next morning and keeping their babies a secret for months.
Taking a step back, she pulled out of his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? I kissed you. I should be the one apologizing.” He dragged a hand through his hair before rubbing it over the stubble on his chin. “I shouldn’t have touched you. It won’t happen again.”
“I’m not sorry about the kiss.” Was he insane? Who in their right mind would be sorry about a kiss like that? She might have what people referred to as ‘baby-brain’ but she was with it enough to know there was nothing to be sorry for in that kiss.
“What are you apologizing for then?”
She wanted to smile at the look of confusion on his face but didn’t think it would help the situation. “I’m sorry I threw you out. Sorry for whatever horrible things I said. I didn’t mean one word.”
He tipped his head to the side and regarded her with shrewd eyes. “You don’t remember what you said do you?”
“Ah…” Covington shook her head.
“Jesus.” A bark of laughter exploded from his chest. “Shit. You don’t remember a word and didn’t mean any of them anyway, and I tucked tail and ran because of them.”
“Oh.” He’d left because of what she’d said?
Shaking his head, he said, “Yeah. Fucked that up royally.”
“I—”
He dragged her in, gave her a quick squeeze then spun her in the direction of the bathroom. “Go. We’re going to be late.”
“But—” He gave her a slap on the ass. “Hey!”
“Get going. I’ll ring Lance about your bag. We’ll swing past on the way to the clinic.”
“Tristan—”
“Cov, baby, one thing at a time. Right now you need to see a doctor for my peace of mind. And you promised you wouldn’t argue about this.”
Dammit. Did he have to remind her this was about him more than her? She owed him so much. He was so generous in spite of her turning up out of the blue with a couple of buns in the oven that happened to be his.
She didn’t understand why he went out of his way to take care of her. It wasn’t only because of the babies either. He’d been caring and considerate—hell, he’d offered to marry her—before he’d known he was the father.
Except he hadn’t brought up the subject of marriage again. Not since this morning. Wouldn’t he push for that more now he knew the babies were his? Should she bring it up?
No. Not when she’d said no and meant it.
Her mother had married a man who didn’t love her because she’d gotten pregnant and look where that got her. A lifetime in a loveless marriage with a faithless husband.
The last thing Covington wanted for her or her children was a house full of desperate unrequited love and silent loathing.
No. She might be a little in love with Tris but she knew what they were—friends who’d fallen into bed with each other one time. Nothing more than two bodies enjoying mutual pleasure. Except now the tiny babies growing in her belly connected them on an intimate level for life.