He walked over and grabbed her bag of clothes, then had the two bags of food in the other hand. She picked up her bathroom items and followed him down after locking the door. No reason for him to come back up for this one bag.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked when they were driving back to his place.

  “Fine. Hungry,” she said.

  “It’s almost lunch,” he said. “We can stop and get something if you want.”

  “I’ve got leftovers I’m assuming you grabbed. It’s spaghetti and meatballs. It’s enough for two if you want some.”

  “That works,” he said. “Can I sound sexist and say how much I’m looking forward to having some cooked food in the house?”

  “No,” she said, grinning. “You know I won’t eat out too much. It’s a waste and doesn’t always agree with me. I’ll be cooking. And we need to talk about splitting costs.”

  He laughed. “Dahlia. You’ve got expenses at the apartment for now. Don’t even think about it. I’m fine on my own.”

  She sighed. “I know. It just doesn’t feel right.”

  He turned to look at her. “Stop. We love each other. I know that it takes you time to commit, but once you do, you work at it. I’d think having a child between us is a form of commitment that time just can’t control.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “When is your lease up?” he asked

  “December first. So just four more months of expenses. Not the end of the world. Ivy hasn’t moved out completely yet. There are things still there. I’ll let the landlord know I won’t be renewing.”

  “We’ll get you out of there by the end of the month. It’s a little over a week but doable. No reason he can’t try to fill it and get you out of the lease.”

  She wasn’t sure how she felt about this, but it’s not like she had much of a choice. It didn’t make sense to pay for a place she wasn’t going to be living in.

  Hugh was right. It took her time to make a commitment, but she was all in when she did. She’d work anything out.

  It sounded like he was the same so for now she had to go with that.

  “I’m sure he’ll fill it fast,” she said.

  “When did Ivy plan on taking her furniture? I’m sure Brooks and I can get this taken care of this weekend. He’s got a truck.”

  “None of the furniture is ours. It’s all Jasmine’s,” she said. “When Ivy moved here, she only brought her clothes. She’d been living with my grandparents so had nothing. I sold everything I had in Chicago and did the same. It didn’t seem like it was worth bringing anything when Jasmine left it for us. She didn’t need it in Wesley’s. I’ll find out what she wants to do with it.”

  Her guess was Jasmine wouldn’t want anything. Wesley’s house was fully furnished with new things. The bedrooms all were filled too.

  Maybe she and Ivy could take their beds for spare rooms.

  “I don’t need anything,” he said. “We’ll buy what we need.”

  “Don’t spend the money,” she said. “Or I’ll buy it.”

  He turned and lifted an eyebrow at her. “You’re not going to let me argue, are you?”

  “Maybe I won’t like your taste. You do have an empty dining room. Our little table isn’t going to fit. Brooks doesn’t need any of those things. He’s been in his house for years.”

  “Then it will make moving easy,” he said.

  They got to his house and carried in the bags the same way they brought them to his car.

  “I’m not sure any of this is easy. At least for me.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “It doesn’t have to be hard either.”

  “I guess not. It just feels as if my life is the one changing more than anyone, but that is selfish. Yours has changed a ton too. You’ve got a housemate now.”

  “You’re more than a housemate and you know it.”

  She’d only spent a few nights at his house. She knew he struggled with sleeping and that was why he didn’t have her here more.

  It wasn’t something he was going to be able to hide from her now, but they’d deal with it like they had so many other things to deal with too.

  “You can go back to work,” she said. “I’m just going to unpack and eat, then get some work done.”

  “I’m staying here this afternoon,” he said. “I’ve got work to do too, but we can work together. If you don’t mind sharing an office with me, I can rearrange that this weekend and put another desk in there.”

  She smiled. “You know, that might be one of the sweetest things.” He kissed her on the forehead after she laughed. “I’m a nerd, I know.”

  “You’re my nerd and I like it.”

  She still couldn’t believe this hot sexy slightly dangerous guy ended up in her life let alone as the father of her child.

  “Glad someone does.”

  “Don’t do that to yourself,” he said. “I think for someone that acts confident in herself, you’re the one that beats yourself up the most.”

  She let out a sigh. No one else ever called her out on that.

  She wasn’t sure anyone else ever saw it.

  “I’ll try to stop. I just realized I should have grabbed my laundry. I can get it tomorrow after work before I come here.”

  “Or leave it until the weekend,” he said. “Don’t worry about those things. Unless you’ve got a laundry day and that is going to bug you?”

  Her shoulders dropped. “Yeah. I do laundry on Wednesday night and Sunday mornings.”

  “Do you want me to go back and get it?” he asked.

  She laughed. “I thought sharing an office with me was sweet, but that is more so.” He didn’t want her to obsess about that. “It’s fine. I can adapt and will. Maybe I’ll do your laundry to get it out of my system tonight.”

  “If it makes you feel better,” he said.

  “I was joking,” she said. She moved out of his arms and started to put the food in the fridge. He helped her.

  Dahlia noticed that his fridge was pretty empty. She’d stop and get food on her way home from work tomorrow instead of her laundry.

  “Whatever works for you. I’m going to take a shower and change,” he said when the last item was in the fridge.

  Which told her that he was accommodating and maybe did try more than his ex did.

  She followed him up the stairs with her clothes. She’d eat once they were put away too. She needed her life organized and tidy. More so now that so much seemed out of control.

  He put her bag on his bed. She moved over and unzipped it, pulled out her folded clothes and laid them on the bed.

  “Do you have a place you want me to put my clothes?”

  “There are a few empty drawers in the closet. We’ll move things around some more this weekend too. I’m not fussy where my clothes get hung.”

  “I’m not too much either,” she said.

  She walked into the closet with him. She liked how big it was that they could both be in there at the same time.

  He grabbed a hanger and took his jacket off. Her eyes were on him, his gun holstered on his side. He hung the black jacket up next to a few other ones. There were some subtle differences in them up close to know they were different suits.

  He unhooked his holster, hung it up and pulled his gun out of it. “What?” he asked.

  “Where do you put that? I guess this is the first time I’ve watched you undress fully from work.”

  “It’s going in the safe,” he said. Her eyes were still moving over him. “Do you like what you see?”

  “Very much so. Can I play with your other gun?”

  He laughed and her face filled with a blush.

  “Sorry. That was crude.”

  “Not at all,” he said. “Hold that thought.”

  He walked out and she stepped out to see him go into another smaller closet and a safe that was on the floor. When it was opened she saw more than one gun in there but didn’t say a word.

  When he stepped back into the hall by her, her hands went to his chest. “The bathroom,” she said. “We can shower together. I’m feeling hot and sweaty now.”

  “Like lightheaded?”

  “Only with hormones to get you naked.”

  He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his hips, then moved into his bathroom while his mouth attacked hers.

  He put her on the counter, his hands going under her shirt and pulling it off.

  She went for the buttons on his shirt and had them undone quickly, his shirt spread wide. She just loved his chest. It was big and hers.

  He didn’t have six-pack abs, but what guy did?

  What he had on him was a mature body. One he took great care of. Not much fat and it was real.

  She was a big fan of real.

  Her hands went for the button on his black trousers next.

  He stepped back and undid them and dropped them fast, kicking them away along with his shoes and socks and she removed the rest of her clothes after getting off the counter.

  She was going to turn the shower on, but he grabbed her from behind and had her up under the arms again.

  “Nope,” he said. “We are going to fuck on the counter. You’ll see why.”

  She wasn’t sure what he was talking about until her butt hit the cold counter. Her legs spread wide, his fingers finding her dripping wet. Then he was moving into position and thrusting fast.

  Her head went back, her legs around his hips again. When she turned her head slightly, she noticed the mirror on the other wall.

  There were two sinks, two mirrors. She was watching him, seeing his ass moving in and out of her, her legs around his hips. Her eyes shifted and saw he was watching in the mirror too. He could see what she was seeing. Front and back with the mirrors.

  “Oh God,” she said. This was more erotic than anything she’d ever done before.

  “Oh yeah,” he said.

  She went back on her hands and let him get deeper, her eyes still on the mirror.

  Then suddenly she said, “Stop.”

  He moved back quickly. “Did I hurt you?”

  “Nope,” she said. “Position change.”

  He laughed and let her get down. She put her hands on the counter, her butt angled toward him.

  “Much better,” he said. “Why did you do this?”

  “Now we are both watching in the same mirror.”

  “Good thinking.”

  He entered her from behind and she let out a moan.

  From this position, she could even see her own reaction to having sex.

  She’d never done this before, but there was part of her that had to see it.

  She felt so different than she appeared on the outside. Maybe Hugh was right and it was time to see herself as someone else.

  Someone who could let loose and have crazy sex with the man she was in love with.

  When his hands went to her hips and he started to pound into her, she shut her eyes. “I want to watch, but it feels so good.”

  “Touch yourself,” he said. “You might need it to get there. It’s okay. I want you there and I’m not sure I can hold off much longer.”

  It never occurred to her to do that, but he was right. She needed something more.

  When her finger touched her swollen bud, it was the extra that started to send her over the edge.

  She pressed on it harder like Hugh always did and her eyes crossed, her inner muscles started to convulse and there was no watching.

  Her head dropped down as the orgasm slammed into her.

  Hugh was breathing heavily behind her, then she felt him coming. His hands were tight on her hips, he might even leave marks, but she didn’t care.

  Nothing existed right now other than the feelings that Hugh invoked in her body.

  Life might not be stable, but it was darn good.

  32

  BE HAPPY AND ENJOY IT

  “How are you feeling?”

  Dahlia looked up to see Poppy standing in her doorway. Lily and Rose came to talk to her yesterday and she assured them she was fine. They left her alone after that. Didn’t even ask what was wrong.

  Poppy wouldn’t be that way.

  “I’m doing well,” she said.

  She picked up her water bottle and took a sip. She was on her second bottle already and it was just a little after eight in the morning.

  She was forcing herself to drink one before she left the house. Another by ten, then one with lunch, another in the afternoon, one for dinner. That should get her enough that she could stop after dinner and not be up all night peeing.

  Yep, she was anal, but if she kept to this schedule, it’d help, she was sure.

  That and the peppermint candies with a lot of small meals or snacks as the doctor said.

  Poppy shut the door. “We know you’re pregnant.”

  Her jaw dropped. “What?”

  “Dahlia. Neither Ivy nor Jasmine said a word. But after you passed out, Lily, Rose and I were worried. It was Rose who started to piece together the water, the candy, the crackers, then what happened.”

  She should have figured with all the pregnancies lately that someone would figure it out.

  “I don’t want anyone to know. It wasn’t planned.”

  “We won’t say anything until you do. But you know I’m not like my sisters and can’t keep it to myself. I had to ask.”

  “It’s fine,” she said.

  “So if you want to talk to Rose, she might give you some pointers. Seems you both are having the same problems that the rest of us didn’t.”

  “Lucky me,” she said sarcastically.

  “Rose felt the same way. But it’s worth it in the end. We are happy for you, but I’m sure you’re feeling embarrassed that it happened?”

  Poppy had an eyebrow lifted with that statement. “There is that. Hugh and I love each other. But it is fast. That isn’t me.”

  “It’s more Ivy and my style. But love has no timeline. Things like this don’t get planned out. Just be happy and enjoy it.”

  “I’m trying.” She waited a second. “Can I tell you something that I haven’t said to my sisters? I just can’t to Ivy. She’ll never let me live it down.”

  “Of course you can,” Poppy said. “It’s about sex, isn’t it?”

  She laughed. “Yes. I don’t know if it’s hormones. I don’t think it is. I felt this way before with Hugh and only Hugh, but now, it’s magnified.”

  “Oh, the baby hormones,” Poppy said, rubbing her hands together. “I was jumping Reese every chance I had. He loved it. He asked me the other day when he could put another baby in me. Holly is getting older and he is ready. I think he just wants nonstop sex.”

  “At least that is part of it,” she said. “I can’t get enough. I don’t ever talk about sex. Ivy does and I tell her to stop. It’s personal.”

  “Which is why you don’t want to with her. If you do it now, she will feel like it’s an open invitation to do it all the time?”

  “Exactly that.”

  “I won’t,” Poppy said. “But you can come to me if you want. You know you want to tell me something right now. Go ahead. I can keep a secret even when people feel like I can’t.”

  Why not? “Wednesday night he was taking his suit off. I’ve seen it before obviously, but never with his gun on. Normally he has it off when he comes to my place after work. This was the first time I saw the whole package.”

  Poppy was fanning her face. “He’s your man, but I totally get it.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “He’s in such good shape and it’s so sexy. He’s not nerdy even though Ivy said he was.”

  “I think she was just trying to make you feel good because Hugh had a suit on. It was her playful way of being accepting and not making you doubt yourself.”

  She didn’t think of that.

  If Ivy said that Hugh wasn’t her type, she might have agreed and talked herself out of it.

  But because everyone thought he was like her, she felt more comfortable in agreeing to the date.

  She’d be kicking herself if Ivy made her feel bad and supposed her sister was so much smarter than anyone gave her credit for when it came to people’s thoughts and feelings.

  Or maybe Ivy just knew her sisters well.

  “You make a good point.”

  “So give me the details you want,” Poppy said, smirking.

  “He was undressing and I just couldn’t help myself. This is so embarrassing.”

  “That’s the best. Say it.”

  Poppy was all but dancing in place like Ivy did.

  “I asked if I could play with his gun.”

  Poppy giggled. “I would have done that too. Good for you.”

  “It was fast and in the bathroom after. I can’t say anymore. Oh my God, I can’t believe I even said this much.”

  Her face was flaming and she grabbed her water to take a drink.

  Poppy walked behind the desk and hugged her. “That is normal, Dahlia. I’m proud of you for opening up. Maybe it’s a sign you are feeling more accepted. We try but know not everyone is the same.”

  She felt her eyes fill up and hated that she was emotional too.

  Oh yeah, the hormones were doing her in.

  “Thank you. I love working here. I love everyone. It just feels like my life is so up and down lately and I’m not used to that.”

  “Life isn’t predictable,” Poppy said. “You can try to control it as much as you want, but that means nothing. It makes it more exciting if you ask me.”

  “I’ve had a lot of excitement in my life growing up,” she said.

  “And you are the way you are because of that. Just like Ivy and Jasmine are too. And look at how happy they are. You are getting your shot at it too.”

  Something she hadn’t been sure she’d get.

  Maybe she felt she was the least happy of the siblings because she tried to be the mature one.

  The stable one.

  To her that was being boring.

  How wrong she was to feel that way too.

  “I am,” she said.

  Poppy left after that. Dahlia didn’t think she’d get bugged much more at this point.

  With Lily not in the office other than getting a few things and going back home to work, Rose always kept to herself, and her sisters had already come up to check in on her, she got back to work.