Chapter Twenty-One
“That’s it. I’m never getting in the same room as guacamole again.” Dina untangled the string of Christmas lights in front of her as Autumn’s laughter rang over the speakerphone.
“Well, I’m sure the guac will be disappointed to hear that.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to set foot in town again.” Dina sighed and stood, shaking the last few tangles out of the white and red twinkle lights.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” Autumn assured Dina. “It’s not like any us are going to say anything about you getting sick. That would be awful to do.”
Dina walked over to the tree and began wrapping the branches in the beautiful lights.
“I guess you’re right. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Getting sick on guacamole is no big deal.” Autumn chuckled. “Now, being pregnant with their son and grandson’s baby? That’s a whole other story.”
“I get the picture.” Dina let out a deep breath and continued circling the lights around the tree. “I know I need to tell him.”
“So when are you going to break the news?”
“The next time I see him I’m going to tell him. I’m sure it will be next week sometime and I’ll be over three months so it’s perfect timing.”
“Sure it is. I’m sure you’ll find another excuse the moment you see him.”
Dina’s brows scrunched together when she saw headlights turn into her driveway as she was finishing up the last of the lights.
“I’m serious.” Dina’s hands gently rubbed the little pouch that had mysteriously formed over the last week, and a blissfulness she’d never experienced before wrapped over her. “I’m going to tell him.”
Dina was excited to become a mother. She wasn’t exactly prepared and certainly hadn’t planned on welcoming a child into the world without more of a blueprint for her life, but that was God’s way of keeping her on her toes. She’d learned long ago, if she made a plan, God just sat back and chuckled as life upended itself. It wasn’t a one-time thing either. She’d consistently learned the hard way that planning was overrated.
When the lights turned off on the vehicle, her heart stalled as she saw Sam climb out of his SUV.
“You still there?” Autumn asked.
“Yeah. Totally,” Dina muttered.
“What? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Dina let out a groan, thinking of what she’d just vowed to her friend as Sam made his way to her front door.
“What’s going on?”
“Sam just pulled into my driveway.”
“Next time you see him, huh?” Autumn chuckled. “Looks like you have a big night.”
“I wasn’t planning on seeing him until next week so it really shouldn’t count.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I’m not saying I’m not going to tell him, I’m just saying—”
Sam knocked on the door and Dina completely froze. She knew she needed to tell him. It was the only fair thing to do, but she already knew life wasn’t fair so would one more day really hurt?
“I’ll let you go. Take care and love ya.” Autumn hung up before Dina even had a chance to respond, and Sam knocked on the door again.
“I’ve got this. We’re both adults and this is an adult situation. Maybe he’ll even be happy about the idea.” Dina said to herself and cleared her throat. “Who wouldn’t want a tiny, sweet, super cute and completely helpless baby to take care of every second of the day?” Dina walked over to the door and rested her hand on the knob. “A committed bachelor. That’s who.”
Dina pulled on the door and Sam stood on the porch holding another vase of flowers. A flutter of nervous excitement ran through her at the sight of him. His blue eyes skimmed over her body before their eyes connected.
“These are from Grandma Martha.” Sam smiled and glanced behind Dina’s shoulders. “I didn’t see a car in the drive, but is someone else here?”
Dina’s brows pulled together and she thought a second. “No. Why?”
“I thought I heard you talking to someone and sounded rather heated.” He leaned against the doorframe, still holding the arrangement, and Dina chuckled.
“No.” She shook her head. “That was just me kind of arguing with myself. It can get intense.”
“Does it happen often?” He straightened up, looking somewhat concerned.
“Only in times of crisis.”
He laughed.
“And I don’t have too many calamities in any given day.” She invited him in, and he glanced at her tree and then the box of opened decorations next to it.
“Pretty lights. Need any help decorating?”
She took the flowers from him and wandered toward the kitchen, ignoring his question. She didn’t want any opportunities to pop up that made him stay longer than necessary. She was already feeling an incessant amount of energy running between them, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to put a lid on it.
“This was so sweet of your grandma. She really didn’t have to do this. I feel so bad that your entire family had to hear that debacle.” Dina glanced at Sam as she added water to the vase. “I think I’ll be mortified for months, if not years, to come. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Sam shook his head. “You’re the poor soul who got sick again. We were just worried about you.”
“It was nice of your brother, Kyle, to drop off the turkey for me. I’m still making sandwiches out of it.”
“It was the least we could do. Autumn got you out of there so fast, my mom didn’t have time to fix a plate.” He smiled. “We just felt awful. Do you have any idea what’s causing it? You certainly can’t blame alcohol because you didn’t have any.”
Dina shifted and brought in a deep breath. Did he know? Was this his way of providing an opening? Now would be the perfect time to tell him. He cleared the way and now she could just offer the explanation, but as she looked into his eyes, she completely clammed up.
She liked Sam.
A lot.
And she knew the moment she told him that she was expecting his child, everything in their world would change. She didn’t know in what direction things would shift, but she knew for sure they would, and she liked how things were now.
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she scolded herself.
“I was thinking it could be some sort of weird allergy,” he offered.
And maybe now he was trying to provide an out so she didn’t have to tell him.
“I’m going to talk to my doctor about it.” She felt bad for lying, and in a way, she wasn’t. After all, she was going back to her doctor right before Christmas for a checkup on the baby and some blood tests, and she was certainly going to bring up the avocado events. “But let’s just put it out of our minds. I want to hide under a rock every time I think about it.”
“Deal, but you ignored my question, though, about wanting help on the tree.” He walked over to Dina who was standing frozen in the kitchen.
“I suppose it would go faster.”
He looped his arms around her waist, and her mind flew to her belly. Would he notice she was getting bigger?
“Is that all you’re worried about is speed or would you like a little company?” His voice lowered. “I sure know I would.”
His blue eyes darkened a shade, and her entire body heated with a desire she shouldn’t be feeling. She should be burdened with the thought of telling him about his unborn child, but instead her hormones were taking over yet again.
“I like your company quite a lot,” Dina whispered, running her hands along his arms.
“Is that so? I was starting to wonder,” he teased. “First, you used to run in the opposite direction, and then you just kind of ignored me all together, and now you just get sick in front of me.”
Dina whipped her finger up to his mouth and shook her head. “You promised you wouldn’t bring that up.”
He nipped at her finger and she let out a little giggle as she thought about those very lips elsewhere on her body.
“I’m worried with you around, I might not get much of my tree decorated,” she whispered, glancing at her naked tree.
“Would that be a bad thing?” He brought her attention back to him and ran his hands up her spine, sending a flurry of chills through her.
She brought in a deep breath and looked into his eyes, and it was in that very moment, she knew she had to tell him.
Before she had a chance, Sam brought his lips to hers and every cell in her body crackled with longing as her round belly rubbed against his hardness. She loved that she had the power to make Sam want her as badly as she wanted him, but now there was something even more raw about the desire running between them.
She parted her lips and his kisses deepened, eagerly sweeping and tasting her as if they’d never kissed before. His hands stroked the back of her neck, moving to her hair as a little moan escaped her lips from the heat rolling between them.
She knew from his kiss that he was willing.
Dina’s entire world was spinning with desire as the ache to make love to Sam North grew stronger by the second. He slowly moved her toward the counter, lifting her body onto the granite as his hands slid underneath her shirt. The gentleness of his fingers as they skated along Dina’s skin sent a wave of shivers through her as their kisses intensified and desire strengthened.
But Dina knew she had to tell him. With every sweep of his tongue, images of when they had sex swirled through her mind, and she realized she couldn’t keep it from him any longer. She pulled back only slightly, ending the kiss they’d so eagerly shared. As his eyes found hers, confusion set in and the fear she’d felt about telling him that appeared so many times burned a hole in her resolve.
“What’s wrong?” his voice hoarse with desire as his hands still stroked her back.
“I need to tell you something.” Her gaze dropped to the counter and she pulled her hands away from his waist.
“You can tell me anything.”
Dina nodded, feeling her pulse pounding harder by the second as she stared at the speckled granite.
“I hope that’s the case.” Dina looked up at Sam and her stomach twisted into knots, not because she was about to tell him, but because she hadn’t told him before.
He gently touched her lips, and her breath caught as his gaze stayed locked on hers.
“I haven’t known how to tell you or even when, but—”
Just as the words almost left Dina’s mouth her phone began ringing on the counter next to her and Sam’s gaze dropped to the screen.
“It says Jenny Romano,” Sam said, watching Dina’s entire expression fall.
“That’s my sister.” With the moment between Sam and her lost, she debated whether or not to pick up the phone. She didn’t want to tell him over a ringing phone and being that her sister rarely called, she was tempted to pick up.
“You can tell me what you have to tell me later.” He stepped back and smiled. “Go ahead and pick up. I somehow think this call is a rarity.”
“You know me better than I realized.”
Sam laughed and shook his head. “You’re not all that hard to figure out.”
Dina chuckled and reached for her phone. “That’s not what my ex-fiancés say.”
“Well, then they’re not very astute.”
“Touché.” Dina grinned and then answered her phone to hear her sister sobbing in the background. “Jen, what’s wrong?”
Dina’s entire world went into slow motion as her sister’s cries echoed through the phone.
“It’s mom.” She sniffed. “She’s had a stroke.”