Dirty Bastard

He shrugs and doesn’t seem all that concerned, which makes me relax. “It’s normal to have bleeding in the first trimester of a pregnancy. Any number of things, really. You don’t have a urinary tract infection, so I’m going to guess that you had some sort of vigorous exercise that might have irritated tissues.”

“Vigorous exercise?” I echo, unable to stay silent. What the hell’s he talkin’ about? “You mean yoga?”

“Not unless she’s doing yoga with her uterus,” Dr. Kwan says, and Lexi looks as if she’s fighting back a howl of laughter. I can feel my face flushing with embarrassment. Guess that was a dumb question. “What I’m saying,” the doctor continues, “is that you might want to tone it down in bed. No sex until her next appointment, and we’ll see how things are from then.”

I pull off my cap and rub my hand through my hair, feeling a little sheepish. Rough sex did that? I didn’t think we were that rough, but then again, Lexi’s never been one to hold back in bed and neither have I. I think of how many times I bent her flexible body as far as it’d go and pounded into her and feel guilty. “Damn.”

“Damn?” Lexi asks, amused. “Damn that we can’t have sex for a week?”

“Damn that we were that rough,” I correct, and now my ears feel as red as my face.

“I guess the whips and chains were a bit too much,” she says drily, back to bein’ my sly Lexi all over again.

“She’s lyin’, Doctor,” I say.

“I guessed,” Dr. Kwan replies.

“He’s right,” Lexi continues. “Whips and chains are never too much.”

Chapter 21

Knox

I take Lexi home after that. Her car’s still at the urgent care, but I’ll send my assistants over at Price Brothers Oil to go and retrieve it tomorrow for my girl. I’m not lettin’ her out of my sight tonight, and she doesn’t seem to mind that. The chopper pilot helps me secure Lexi in her seat, and all my girl says is, “I can’t believe you really flew a chopper here.”

Of course I did. Borrowed Boone’s the moment I heard she needed me. Fastest way to get somewhere.

We drop the doctor off, and then the pilot lands back at Boone’s helipad and I drive us back to Lexi’s little cottage. She’s awful quiet, but she’s had a rough night. Hell, we both have. Still, she’s allowed to be a little thoughtful. I don’t push her to talk to me. Plenty of time for that.

We pull up and I park the car, then race around to Lexi’s side to open the door for her and help her out. She gives me a funny look. “If it was up to me, I’d carry you inside,” I tell her. “I’m gonna fuss over you tonight. There’s no gettin’ around that.”

Her lips tug into a half smile. “Fair enough.” She rubs her arms and shivers in the night air. “I mostly want a shower, honestly. A shower and pajamas.”

“We can do that,” I promise her.

I help her inside, despite her fussin’, and it takes everything I have not to go into the bathroom with her and help her shower. She doesn’t want me in there, though, and so I sit on the couch and twiddle my thumbs until I decide I’ll make her a snack instead. I fix a big bowl of kettle corn—one of her favorites—and a glass of milk, and then wait for her to come out.

She emerges a short time later, hair wet, and wearin’ her biggest, fluffiest flannel pajamas. That’s all right with me. I pull the popcorn bowl into my lap and pat the sofa next to me. “Come sit.”

I worry she’s gonna think I’m pushin’ too hard, but she moves to sit next to me and curls her legs up under her. I put an arm around her shoulders and she leans in, snuggling against my chest.

“Don’t think we ain’t gonna talk,” I murmur, wrapping my arms around her. “’Cause we got a lot we need to hash out. Don’t want either of us sleepin’ on it and thinkin’ the problem went away.”

Lexi groans and grabs a handful of kettle corn, shoving it into her mouth. “Look, so busy snacking, can’t find time to talk.” She gives me an overly bright smile, her cheeks puffed out.

I snort and put the popcorn on the table, out of her reach. “That’s what I get for tryin’ to feed my woman.”

“Crumbs on your lap?” She brushes a bit of popcorn off of the front of her pajamas.

“More like her usin’ it as a stalling tactic.”

Lexi sighs heavily and gives me a chagrined look. “Old habits die hard.”

“That’s all right,” I tell her. “As long as they do eventually die.” I put a hand on her back and rub the small of it. “You can talk to me, can’t you? Am I that hard for you to open up to?”

“That’s the thing. I’m not used to opening up to anyone. I just . . .” She scrunches her face and puts two fists in front of her and shakes them. “Bottle it up until I’m ready to explode.”

“That ain’t healthy.”

“Well, that’s what yoga’s for. Instead of exploding on people, I make them do really tough poses. Their groans of distress soothe my ego.”

I can’t help but laugh a bit at that. It’s true. Lexi’s favorite thing about yoga is trying to watch other people attempt the same poses. “Just try for me, all right? I promise I won’t keep anything from you or do shit behind your back no more.”

She sighs again, as if pained. “All right. Let’s talk about Keith Lawrence, that fucking dildo of a human being. It was really sweet of you to go and talk to him, but I don’t like that you didn’t talk about it with me first.”

“I don’t like that you felt threatened by him and didn’t say anything to me,” I counter, my tone as gentle as I can make it. “How do you know he isn’t dangerous?”

“Because I figure he would have chopped me into pieces and hidden me inside his fridge already if that was his intent? No? Hey, don’t frown like that. I’m just being funny.” She puts her hands on my cheeks and tries to force a smile to my face manually. “Smile.”

“If he so much as touched you,” I growl, seein’ red at the very thought, “I’m gonna burn that fire station down to the ground.”

“Which wouldn’t be all that useful, seeing as how it’s a fire station and they probably can put it out, but hey.” She crawls into my lap, tryin’ her best to distract me. “Look. Keith just has a hard time taking no for an answer. I thought I had him handled, but I didn’t. Part of me is glad you stepped in, and part of me wants to smack you around for pushing ahead without my permission, because it was my problem and not yours.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I tell her, letting my hands settle around her waist. If she wants to crawl all over me, I’m more than happy to oblige. “There ain’t no more you problems or me problems. There’s ‘us’ problems. And the way I see it, he was scarin’ my baby . . . who’s carryin’ my baby. Understand?”

Lexi purses her lips. “Much as I hate to admit it . . . yes. So what did you say to him? Did he actually listen or was he just a dick about it?”

“He postured a lot, but he didn’t have a choice but to listen when I brought in the lawyers and mentioned his record in front of everyone.”

Her eyes widen. “Record? What record?”

I nod and tell her all about the scene at the firehouse. About Keith’s prior record and all the threats I lobbed at him. “Course,” I point out, “I should probably give the dick back his keys, but I’ll let him sweat on ’em for a bit. Then I’ll have my lawyer return ’em once enough time has passed.”

“You stole his keys?” She shakes her head. “What am I saying? Of course you did. This is you we’re talking about here.” Lexi slides her hand down my chest. “Just give them back. I don’t want to even think about him anymore. If what you said is true, if he even tries anything, he’s going back to prison to be someone’s bitch for a long time.”

I think for a moment and then add, “I might have also strongly hinted that you’d have bodyguards followin’ you around for a while.”

“Bodyguards?” Her brows go up. “Were you plannin’ on telling me this?”

“Well,” I drawl. “I wasn’t at first, but since we’re tellin’ each other everything, I figured I’d better. You mad?”

She considers for a long moment, and then rubs her hand over my heart again. “I’m glad you told me, and now that I have time to think about it, no, I’m not mad. It might not be a bad idea if Keith does have a prior record. Just . . . how closely will they be watching me?”

“You won’t even know they’re in the area,” I promise her. “I’ll introduce you and then we’ll make sure they stay clear of you to give you the room you need. I just don’t want him tryin’ anything. That’s all.”

She nods. “All right. I can handle that.” Lexi brightens. “Look at us, handling things like real adults and talking about them. I feel like I leveled up at life.”

I chuckle. “Wanna level up again? Let’s finish talkin’ about living situations.”

Her nostrils flare, and she gives me a mildly panicked look. Her fingers clench in my shirt. “I don’t know if I’m ready to figure out houses yet. That feels so very . . . domestic.”

I stroke her back, and she leans in close to me again. “We don’t have to be domestic just yet. But I figure we should do somethin’ between now and the time Junior’s born.”

“That’s still over five months from now. Do we have to decide today?”

“Nah, baby. We don’t have to decide today,” I tell her gently. “Long as we decide where the baby’s staying between now and then.”