Chloe

Thank God, he chuckled at my rambling. I stretched out on my bed in my clean clothes, on the same sheets Alex and I had made love on, and grinned from ear to ear.

"Well, given how we spent last night,” he drawled. “I would say that we're definitely on texting terms. Hell, I might even be so bold as to suggest we’re way past that."

“I thought I probably shouldn’t call you,” I admitted, simply because telling Alex anything that came to mind felt oddly natural. “You know. Because.”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Why shouldn’t you call me? People on beyond-texting-terms should definitely call each other constantly.”

The grin stretched further yet, making my face ache. “Because I don’t want to come across as needy.”

He growled a little and I swear I damn near swooned.

“I like you needy. You should always be needy for me, Chloe. Doesn’t matter if I’ve known you five minutes or seen you two seconds back. You needing me makes me close to insane.”

I am in so much trouble, I thought to myself.

“Alex, we’ve honestly only known each other two seconds—”

He cut me off. “And those two seconds have meant more than two years I’ve spent with previous women. I mean it, Chloe. It’s insane, I admit, but I’m all in. 100% in, baby. Are you?”

I bolted upright in bed, hand resting over my stomach. “Yes. Yes, I am, Alex, my God, yes! But, the bab—”

“Meet me at Malarky’s on Shaw,” he interrupted. “Soon as you can. I’ll be waiting. Don’t leave me out in the cold too long, honey.”

 

I flew to Malarky’s. Honestly, I don’t think the cab’s tires even touched the road once. I shoved money at the cabbie and tumbled out, looking around until I spotted Alex perched on what was probably a frigid bench.

He saw me at the exact same moment I saw him, and then that movie moment thing happened between us again when his eyes met mine.

Alex walked up to me and held out a single red rose, framed by baby’s breath. “For you,” he said simply, then drew me into his arms and lowered his head for a long, slow kiss that turned my insides to mush.

“Mmm,” I whispered into his lips when I finally caught my breath again, looking up into his dark gaze. “Alex … this is insanely fast, you realize …”

“I do realize.” His thumb brushed the curve of my jaw lightly, touching me with tendrils of heat. “But what would be even more insane is not acknowledging that there’s something between us, Chloe.”

“Uh, yeah,” I acknowledged incoherently when he kissed me again. “Okay, yeah. Mmm hmm … this is so not good,” I finally sighed, sinking into his tight embrace.

Alex drew back with a frown. “Why not?”

“Oh … probably a lot of reasons. But the first one is that I’m already losing my mind and pregnancy brain hasn’t even started yet.”

He flashed a fast, wide grin that did illegal things to my heart rate. “I want to see you with pregnancy brain,” he said simply, tucking my hand in his and guiding me into the best burger joint in the county.

He didn’t let go even as the waiter guided us to a booth. Nope. We sat down and Alex was still clasping my hand in his, so I went ahead and gave him my other one, even as the waiter took our orders. “Are we gonna share a spaghetti plate?” I inquired.

“Better believe it. My middle name’s Tramp.” He winked and whatever part of my heart wasn’t already his fell hard and fast.

“You remember Lady and the Tramp?” I demanded. “Nobody remembers that movie! Especially not guys!”

Alex shrugged one broad shoulder. “Like I keep telling you. There’s something between us, Chloe. And if you think I’m going to let that slip away, you’re dead wrong, sweets.”

“I’m liking these endearments,” I decided, pressing my palms to his and admiring how much larger his hands were than mine.

“I like you,” he said softly, pressing my hand to his cheek. “Tell me the truth. Am I moving way too fast?”

I laughed. “Yes. Completely.” As his face fell, I hastily added, “But I like it, Alex. I’m not a take-it-slow kind of girl. Never have been. You’re right. It’s really, really good between us. We just have a few issues that are kind of, well, between us.”

He raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for an explanation, but I waved a menu at him. “Can we pick first? I’m starving. Someone gave me a workout this morning …”

With a smirk, he allowed me to peruse the menu and we even managed to place orders for mega-size burgers, his rare, mine medium, his fries curly, mine sweet potato, before we returned to the topic at hand.

“Sweet potato fries?” He shook his head sadly. “I’m disappointed, Chloe.”

“Only because you’ve never had them here,” I retorted. “Try kissing me after I’ve had a bite of that cinnamon, sugary goodness and tell me you don’t love them.”

“Challenge accepted,” he promised. “So … things between us? Besides your appalling choice in sides?”

Some of my giddiness faded and I fidgeted with my napkin. “Well … you know …” I gestured vaguely at my midsection. “That’s one thing. You’re saying you’re all in, Alex, but I’m not going to look like this much longer.” I held up a hand before he could cut in again. “Far more importantly, in nine months it’s not going to be just me. You’re not the baby’s father. It’s not fair to ask you to stick around for parenthood, not before you even known enough to decide whether that’s something you might eventually be interested in.”

He was silent for so long after that that my heart sank and I finally muttered, “Well? You could say something. Anything.”

“I was waiting to see if you were finished, since I kept interrupting you. Are you done?”

At least somewhat relieved, I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. Please. Talk …”