All I Want Is You (A Chester Farms Novella) (10 page)

Unless he put up another tree at his house. It hadn't been something he planned since it was just him there. He glanced to the boxes and boxes of lights. Or, screw the tree, he could just hang some lights all over the place.

"Okay, swap me."

How about swap to behind the counter? Since she held out the lights and reached for the extra in his, he doubted that's what was on her mind. He shifted around her and strung the lights.

She stepped in and reached up. "Push it down in there."

Her arm was up against his, her side plastered down the length of his as she poked at the strand. If his pants got any tighter, they'd rip. He shoved a section down the branch and moved to the next branch. The quicker this was over, the quicker he could see about that behind the counter idea. Or hanging up more lights at his house. Or her room. His bed was bigger, but hers was a damned lot closer.

There were so many ideas filling his head of what he could do, he wasn't sure where to start. He shoved the last string between two branches and faced her. A smile bloomed over her face that socked him right in the chest. He loved the holidays even more now.

Put up a tree, fix some lights. Fix something to drink. It was cool enough for hot chocolate. Then spend a few hours naked somewhere. Excellent.

She turned away and rubbed her hands together. "Ornaments!"

Oh, not what he wanted, but he couldn't resist as she all but skipped across the room to the box and plucked two out. He lifted the bin. "Let me bring it closer."

And therefore save at least three steps per trip and shave off five minutes of this decorating. The two she picked out were on the tree and she was back in the box and coming out with more bulbs dangling from her fingertips. "Just dig in and hang where you find an empty space. I like them on every branch."

"Every branch?" He should have got a smaller tree.

She nodded and started to the left of the tree. "And the back too, because of the windows."

How about every fifth branch? He didn't ask and lifted out a tray of bulbs. If it’s what she wanted, that’s what she got. While she started before him, he made quick time in catching up and reaching around to add red, green, blue, yellow, and every other color bulb all around the tree. He hung bulbs until there were none left.

She took a step back next to his side and wrapped her arm around his back and rested her cheek on his chest. "I love it. Thank you for this."

Not too shabby. He wrapped his arm around her and held her to his side. He especially liked this part. "It looks good in here."

"I'll need to get a skirt. I'll pick up a sheet next time I'm in town."

She sighed and it wasn't the pleased kind of happy sound that would mean he could scoop her up and carry her to the other room. He rubbed along her arm. "Something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, just, Mom has this garland that looks like candy. Peppermints and all kinds of hard candy strung together. I think it'll look perfect on there. She hasn't used it in years. Maybe she'll give it to me, if she's not too angry over what I've done."

He held her tight and shifted her in front of him so she tucked in right along the underside of his chin. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. "It'll blow over. Just give them time.” He turned with her so she faced the tree. “We also need a star."

She hummed and tipped her head to the side. "I think I have an idea."

The turn of her lips released the heavy hang of her brows and he let her go. He stacked up boxes and stood them by the door. As he added the last one, pancakes filled the air. She worked something behind the counter, opening and closing. He couldn’t see and her back was to him. Finally she returned with a waffle. It was thin as a waffle cone, but it wasn’t shaped like one. She’d cut the edges down to make a star. She held it out. "The best I can do, but no tree should ever be without something. Will you?"

He lifted the sweet and delicate makeshift star from her hands and stuck it on top of the tree. Then he used the tail end of the light strand to loop over the edges of the points to add some light to the star and to secure it in place.

Her hands clasped together. "What do you think?"

He looked at her, to the tree and back to her. "That I wish you didn't have all those windows."

She frowned. "Why?"

He cupped her cheeks and turned her face up to his for a kiss that was all body against body and heat mixing with heat. There was no space between them from thigh to chest and her sweet mouth opened right away. It was a kiss completely indecent for any kids who might see them, but compared to naked with her legs around his hips and backside pressed against the glass, it was pretty damn tame.

He reached around her and cupped her ass that had teased him for the last hour and held her tight to the front of him. A purr slipped out of her throat and he lifted her. Her legs went right around his waist and he wasted no time in carrying her behind the counter and into the privacy of her room. Every bit of it with her was just so easy and worked. He didn't have to think about where to touch her next because every spot was exciting. By the chills racing across her skin, it was the same for her.

He laid her on the bed and bent over her. Her hands eased up his arms and he caught her by the wrist and kissed her palm and licked at the sweetness. "Your fingers taste good."

She grinned. "It's from the waffle cone batter. They’re always your favorite."

He sucked at the pads of her fingers and then reached for the bottom of her shirt. "I don't see that changing any time soon."

Chapter Eight

Tasha rubbed the back of her neck and stared into the eyes of her gynecologist. "This doesn't make any sense."

Her doctor gave her a one shoulder shrug. "It happens."

Tasha put her hand to her stomach because she was about to be sick all over her paper shirt and blanket. She fell back on the exam table and faced the big, red word “Relax” written on the ceiling.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Yeah. No. Not a chance. Try telling that to her heart that couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to just stop or race. She fisted her hands. "But I'm on the pill! It's supposed to prevent this kind of thing."

"Abstinence is the only confirmed method to prevent pregnancy."

She dug the heels of her hands in her eyes as her heart landed back in the racing camp. Pulsing throbs whipped through her veins and pounded in her head. "I can't be pregnant. I have too much to do right now. Are you sure?" God, her store. Her life. Her…everything. She couldn’t afford cable and she was having a baby. No. Not possible. She propped up on her elbows. "Can you look in there to make sure? Maybe that test is wrong?"

Her ever patient doctor leaned over the desk holding the tiny blood test that was no bigger than a domino. Something that small shouldn't be able to hold Tasha's future. Her doctor nodded and continued her sweet, patient smile. "You’re pregnant, Tasha. With the blood test and your late period, it’s a done deal."

God. No. What the hell was she supposed to do? She was living in a room. Her entire life—in a single room. She had to make a place to hang her bras, how in the world would a baby ever fit in there, too?

Cold sweat clawed up her back. If she waited, maybe the test would show negative and that blood test, along with the half dozen other sticks she'd peed on the last couple days would prove false. "I'll wait and see if it changes its mind."

"Tasha." Her doctor moved closer. "It's not the end of the world. It's the beginning of a new one."

She looked down and wished there was something there. Something more than her empty palms staring back up at her. "I just don't understand. The first ever condom break I have and that happens to be when the pill failed?"

"It happens. And things can affect the pill’s function and different things can affect our bodies."

No, no, no. The pill was supposed to be a little ninja in her vagina kicking the ass out of any sperm that dared to access her ovaries. That was it’s job. "If anything, I should be under so much stress because of lying to my parents for the last three months, starting my own business, and surviving that God-awful of an ear infection last month that nothing in my body should be working aside from acne."

Her doctor frowned and looked up. "You had an ear infection?"

Tasha fisted the paper gown and resisted shredding it into a hundred pieces like the shape of her life. "Yeah."

The frown eased and she started to smile, but then coughed. "Those are often treated with antibiotics and antibiotics can reduce the effectiveness of the pill."

And Tasha finally found something to fill her hands with. Her face.

She counted up the days. She'd had an infection that wouldn't go away. There was a ten day supply of pills? Twelve? She rubbed her head and couldn't remember. The ear drops took care of the pain the first day and she finished the last of the medicines just before talking to Patrick. "This sucks far more since it's my fault."

Her doctor set her file aside and offered a little smile with a tilt of her head. "Best to tell everyone involved as soon as possible. Especially the father if he's in your life. The added stress is just more weight on your shoulders that you don’t need."

The father
. Oh, geez. Patrick. He wasn't much better off than she was. They were going to have a baby and neither of them could afford a couch! It finally happened. Her friends were right. Her parents were going to be right. She hooked her ankles in the stirrups and scooted her butt to the edge. She never should have left college. "Let's get to it."

She tried picturing his face as she told him he was going to be a daddy and came up short with an expression for it. She knew him for barely month, that was a problem. The best image she could dream up was of a cartoon with his jaw dropping to the floor and eyeballs falling out next to his tongue.

Her hands shook as her doctor finished up. She stopped by her side and patted her hand. “I’m giving you a prescription for some prenatal vitamins. I want to see you again in a month, but if you need anything, anything at all, just call me. Take some time to let it sink in.”

Her doctor stepped out of the room and left her alone to dress. Tasha sat on the examination table, swung her feet, and didn’t get in any hurry to attempt walking. Her knees were still shaking too bad. She was going to have a baby. They were going to have a baby.

She rested on her knees and stared at the floor. She just had to tell him. She sat up, and finally hopped off and dressed.

She walked to the front of her doctor's office and stared at the Christmas tree decorating the waiting room.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

Binding him to her for the rest of his life rather he liked it or not wasn't exactly the gift she had in mind.

Chapter Nine

Patrick landed in his recliner, pulled up the feet and tossed a pillow against his shoulder. He patted his lap. Tasha didn't seem to be feeling well since yesterday. A movie and a candy bar sounded like a good idea for the evening. "I already have the movie in and the remotes are right here to turn it on."

She walked in front of him. Her cheeks were still pink from her shower and her hair just a little damp. She looked better already. He never saw a woman like this before. Hell, he never had a woman over at his house, using his shower before.

There were always jeans and shorts or whatever. Instead of having her hair done up and makeup on, pants two-sizes too-big clung to her lower hips and hid everything about her legs. She didn't even have shoes on. Just bare feet. A tight shirt cupped her breasts that were very clearly not in a bra. Instead of lifted and pushed together, her chest was rounded and just waiting for his hands. Blood rushed south and he adjusted in his chair, trying to take the edge off those thoughts to get through a two hour movie with her ass in his lap.

Just as soon as she sat. Which she wasn't making a move to do. "You okay?'

She stood by the arm of the chair where she would normally turn and fall on his lap. Instead she continued to stand there with her lip caught between her teeth. "We need to talk."

His stomach sank. There couldn't be more phrases hated than that one. He'd heard it more than once from girls he dated in high school. That conversation never ended well.
We should see other people, too
.
I'm not ready for a boyfriend
. And other variations. He dropped the legs of the recliner and sat forward with his chest feeling five times heavier. "About?"

She tapped on her thighs. "My doctor appointment was yesterday."

His brows lifted and his breath caught. Okay. Not what he expected. "And?"

"She's running tests just to be sure."

"All right." He waited for whatever shoe was coming to land on his head.
We need to talk
never came before a simple update about a doctor visit. That special phrase was limited to break ups only.

"They told me to call back next week for those results."