“When’s your next doctor’s appointment?”

I was in the middle of pouring hot water into a mug and promptly splattered water all over the counter, startled and distracted by Ward’s question.

“Shit,” I muttered, snagging a sponge from the sink and quickly wiping up the spilled water.

The moment bought me some time to school my expression to calm. I hadn’t meant to wake up beside Ward this morning. I had told myself last night I was going to behave like a rational person and not a sex crazed pregnant woman. I honestly couldn’t have told you if I was sex crazed because I was pregnant, or because of Ward. Given the fact I’d never been pregnant before now, I had nothing for comparison there. If I were being honest with myself, I could admit the depth of my attraction to Ward reached levels of power I had never experienced before.

I was out of my mind with need, and I was pregnant. I made a mental note to ask Dr. Jenkins about that, and then immediately ordered myself to scratch that note. Because that would be kind of embarrassing. Like what would I say? Do women normally want to fuck like rabbits when they’re pregnant?

The unflappable Dr. Jenkins would probably take it in stride, but it would be close to mortifying for me. My thoughts looped back to Ward’s question. I’d told myself I was going to leave this ball in Ward’s court. I didn’t want to have expectations, and a big part of me wished I hadn’t even mentioned the appointments. Yet, it would be more of a thing now if I tried to backtrack, so I elected to play it cool.

Despite my best intentions, I couldn’t resist him this morning because…well, just because. I couldn’t have stopped myself if the world had been on fire. Well, I suppose the world was on fire when it came to Ward and me.

Once the spill was cleaned up, I rinsed the sponge in the sink and dried my hands, finally ready to face him. I finished filling my cup of tea, contemplating how his question had startled me. Ward had taken the ball and tossed it right back to me. Well, maybe that wasn’t fair. I’d asked him if he wanted to go to a doctor’s appointment with me. Now, like a normal human being, he was asking when my next appointment was scheduled.

Taking a sip of my tea, I turned around to face him. A good sip of coffee at a stressful moment could get me through most situations, although tea didn’t have the same kick. I’d have to make do. “Hang on let me check my card,” I managed, my tone remarkably normal sounding given I was a mess inside over one simple question.

I stepped to him where he stood leaning against the counter and handed him the cup of coffee I’d poured for him before I spilled water everywhere. I pulled the card with my appointments out of my purse and returned to the counter where he was sipping his coffee. Catching his eyes, I wasn’t sure how to read his expression.

How about you stop over-analyzing everything he does? Unless you want to look as crazy as you are inside.

With a mental eye roll, I slid the card across the counter to him. Surprisingly, he reached for his phone, spinning it around and quickly entering the entire list of my next three appointments into his phone calendar.

I took another sip of tea and then another, trying to collect myself and figure out what to say. It shouldn’t be such a big deal. But then none of this was normal.

It was supposed to be another one night stand. A rather ill conceived one night stand since I’d known this time we were going to see each other again. A lot. It had morphed from that into me being pregnant, and now I was having far more than one night with him. From what I could tell, Ward intended to be involved in our baby’s life. I didn’t know how I felt about that. I’d have far preferred this to be a clean, no-strings attached situation. A baby was the opposite of no-strings attached. I had to keep reminding myself that I could keep my distance emotionally.

“So does this mean you want to come to an appointment?” I finally asked.

He slid the card across the counter to me. I looked down at the card as though it could somehow give me some answers. Another sip of tea and then I hooked my foot on the leg of the stool closest to me, dragging it close enough to sit down.

Ward’s gaze was considering as he stared at me. My stomach was churning, and for a moment, I wondered if I was going to throw up. Oh shit. I was definitely going to throw up. I dashed to the downstairs bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time.

I retched into the toilet and felt his hands brushing my hair back from my neck. I didn’t know if it was possible for something to be more undignified than kneeling by the toilet and vomiting in front of the sexiest man you’d ever known.

Ward was rather matter fact about the whole thing. He helped me stand, wet a washcloth for me and handed it over when I swatted his hands away. After dabbing at my face with a cool cloth and rinsing my mouth with water and mouthwash, I returned to the kitchen.

“Morning sickness?” he asked.

I felt like an idiot. I’d had a few bouts of feeling queasy, but this was the first time that I’d actually thrown up. “I guess so,” I said with a sheepish laugh.

His eyes crinkled at the corners with a smile. God, I loved it when he smiled. By nature, he was a serious man. He had the whole tall, dark, and dangerous thing going on big time, which only made his rare smiles that much more delectable.

“I don’t think I had a chance to answer your question. If it’s okay with you, I’ll come to all the appointments,” he said, as calm as ever.

As if it wasn’t completely insane that I was pregnant, we hadn’t planned on any of this, and now, apparently, he wanted to come to all of my appointments. Oh well, oh hell.

I stared at him, my mind stumbling over my thoughts. Part of me was crazy happy about this, while another part of me thought it was fucking crazy. Layered on top of that was the part of me that was annoyed at the happy side. It was a three-way argument inside my own head. Sweet Jesus. When I didn’t say anything, his smile faded.

“I thought you wanted me to come since you asked.”

My head was bobbing up and down like a wild woman. “I asked! It’s great you want to come. I just wasn’t sure you would want to. Of course it’s fine.”

He shrugged. “I do.”

There was so much more I should probably say, like maybe put the brakes on this madness. But, I had to throw up again.