Best Dating Rules: A Romantic Comedy (The Best Girls Book 2) (28 page)

“Let me down,” she said, unable to control the quiver in her voice.

Spencer obeyed Emily’s command, albeit with a great deal of regret. They stood in four and a half feet of water, so most of her body was under the surface, but she could still stand easily. His sister, being shorter, was hanging onto Brad’s neck and he was holding her in his arms. He suddenly wished Emily weren’t quite so tall.

“Why don’t we move to the shallow end, so Grace can stand up?” said Spencer.

Brad raised an irritated eyebrow, and Spencer grinned at him. In the shallows, much more of Emily was exposed, although she still attempted to wrap her arms to conceal herself. He decided he could be bold enough to drape an arm around her. He didn’t think she’d object, since they were in such a public place kissing wouldn’t be a danger.

Spencer’s body was amazing. He had muscles everywhere, and no fat whatsoever. Every time he moved, his muscles flexed and rippled under his skin. His chest was well formed, with a bit of hair that seemed to make him that much more masculine. When he put his arm around her, she was conscious of his strength and power. She felt warm and protected, but that’s not all she felt. She also felt a different sort of heat. A sizzle that trickled from the place where his fingers toyed with the skin on her arm, spreading through her body, and settling to burn in her core. She found herself closing her eyes and losing awareness of the thread of conversation as she struggled to maintain her composure.

Brad said something while looking right at her. She tried to focus her eyes on him and listen to his voice, but she couldn’t quite understand him. Then he laughed and pulled Grace toward him and kissed her full on the lips. Emily was thinking she ought to be shocked at that public display, but she couldn’t quite remember what her objections were.

Spencer enjoyed the way Emily relaxed and molded her swimsuit-clad body against him. He felt the scalding contact of her bare skin against his. He let his fingers play lightly against the smooth skin on her arm, while they discussed what they wanted to do after swimming. Grace suggested renting a movie and watching it at Brad’s apartment. Then Brad asked Emily what she wanted to do. When she didn’t answer him, he chuckled. “I think I know what you’d like to do,” he said, “and it doesn’t involve watching a movie.”

Brad drew Grace into a hearty kiss on the lips. Spencer felt a surge of brotherly protest, but he tamped it down. He glanced down at Emily’s drunken expression and decided to follow suit instead. He bent his head down and lightly touched his lips against hers. When she immediately moaned softly and parted her lips, his mouth sought hers with unrestrained hunger, and she responded with equal fervor.

“Eh-hem,” said Grace. “You guys ready to go?”

Spencer released her lips slowly, reluctantly, and turned to his sister with a contented smile. “Yes, I believe we are.”

Emily’s lips protested his departure. She felt bereft of the warm caress of his mouth. She opened her eyes and forced them into focus, blinking rapidly. She reddened at Grace’s laughing perusal. But before she could decide what to do, Grace locked arms with her and urged her out of the pool, talking and chatting.

“I’m so glad you and Spencer are dating. This is great fun. What movie do you wanna watch?”

The full realization of her very passionate kiss with Spencer slammed into her head. She’d kissed him. She’d kissed him hard. Right in front of Grace and Brad. She stammered, “I... I can’t believe we... we...”

Grace gave her a firm elbow in the ribs. “Shut up, Emily. You think too much.” She whispered in her ear. “It was just a kiss. Okay? And Spencer’s a really great guy. He deserves a girl like you.”

The boys were following behind them as they gathered their things and went to change in the dressing rooms. When they were alone in the girls’ room, Emily said, “That’s why I don’t let him kiss me anymore.”

“You don’t let him kiss you? It sure looked like you let him kiss you,” she chuckled.

“Yes, but I didn’t mean to.”

“Why not? I really don’t get it. I’m not teasing you.”

“I’m losing my heart to him,” said Emily. “And he’s going to break it someday.” She looked at Grace through a film of unshed tears.

Grace gave her a hug. “Why are you so sure he’ll break your heart? I told you he loves you. Hasn’t he told you yet?”

“N-no. He... He hasn’t.”

“Well, he will. But he’s afraid to say it unless he knows you love him back.”

Emily pondered her statement. It was possible. Maybe he really did.

“So, do you?” Grace asked.

“Huh?”

“Do you love him back? Or are you going to break
his
heart?”

Spencer dragged himsel
f
into work on Friday. He’d gotten valet parking shifts two nights in a row. The tips had been great, but his shift lasted until two a.m. He’d taken a cold shower and had drunk two cups of coffee, but still felt bleary-eyed. He was planning to work as many shifts as possible, but he hoped to spend some time with Emily over the weekend. She’d already agreed to give him the entire day on Saturday. He’d love to take her to see a musical, but he was saving his money for a ring. So their current plan was to picnic in the elevated park and rent a movie to watch with Grace and Brad.

“Hey, Spencer.” He jumped as Emily spoke from close behind him. “What’re you working on?”

“Just a report that’s due today,” he yawned. “But, I’m looking forward to spending Saturday together.”

“Me, too. Uhmm, I wondered what you’re doing tonight?”

He felt his stomach twist. He’d already accepted a valet shift tonight. He’d have to lie to her. How could he explain his need for the extra job and still keep the ring a secret? Suddenly it occurred to him, he might buy the ring, ask her to marry him, and she might say no. He’d assumed she’d agree. How could he find out for sure, without actually asking her?

“Uhmm, I actually have to help my father on a project tonight. I’m sorry.”

She looked disappointed. Well, it was good she was disappointed, right? At least that meant she wanted to spend time with him. But he needed to keep her from suspecting anything, and it would be even more difficult when he started taking dance lessons. Maybe he could think of some plausible story to tell her.

“It’s okay. I may just rent a movie.”

“Okay. See you Saturday.”

Confusion reigned in Emily’s head. Since that fateful Monday night at the pool when Grace had insisted Spencer loved her, she’d been fighting her emotions. Certain he would eventually move on to another girl, she’d done everything possible to avoid falling in love with him. But what if Spencer really loved her? Would he be able to break his old habits of flirting and dating multiple girls? And he was obviously more experienced than she was physically. Would he tire of her rule restricting their physical contact? Would he be so overwhelmed with need he sought relief elsewhere? She had no idea how long guys could actually go without having sex. The movies implied they couldn’t wait for long without having physical pain, but she didn’t know if that was true. And she was too embarrassed to ask someone. If he did find relief with someone else, how would she know? She simply couldn’t bear the thought of him with another girl.

But then to further confuse matters, he’d been acting a little strange since Monday night. Instead of calling constantly and asking to spend time with her every night, he’d only made plans for one or two nights that week. Granted, she’d been mostly turning him down when he asked for more time, but only to avoid the temptation that came from being alone together. Especially since she’d proven to herself she had absolutely no ability to resist him. But now she saw him less and less. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was already getting tired of her or tired of all her dating rules. Further adding to her suspicions, he hadn’t been available to answer his cell phone the past two nights. He’d called her back within thirty minutes, but it was unusual for him not to answer.

She really needed to talk this through with someone. But who? She considered asking Grace, but she was too defensive of her brother to ever believe he was up to something. She could ask her mom, but she was actually afraid her mom would be too frank with her. Steven and her mom already managed to embarrass her on a regular basis with their overt affection. She could talk to Charlie. But her sister was in a real funk over her relationship with Josh, determined to make a clean break with him before he ever had a chance to disappoint her. Charlie seemed to end most of their phone conversations in tears, a habit highly unusual for her carefree sister. Maybe she could talk to Steven. What was she thinking? She must be getting desperate.

Her cell phone chirped. “Hey, Josh. What’s up?”

“Hi, Emily.” He drug her name out, using the miserable voice he seemed to have adopted permanently. “I wondered if maybe I could hang out with you and Spencer tonight? Brad and Grace are getting tired of me lurking around, and all my single friends just want to go out and party.”

Her heart went out to him. Charlie had broken plenty of hearts, and she seemed to have done an extra special job on Josh. Secretly, she thought Charlie was wrong not to give Josh a chance to prove himself.

“Spencer’s busy tonight, but you could watch a movie with me at my place.”

“Really? That would be so awesome. I’ll pick up a pizza and a movie. What do you want to watch?” He actually sounded almost happy. Poor guy.

“Anything that’s not raunchy. I’ve hardly seen any movies, so I’m sure whatever you pick will be fine. I’ll pay you for half so we’re officially just hanging out instead of going on a date—according to house rules.”

“Good idea. I need to make sure Charlie can’t accuse me of dating her sister. That is, if I can get her to talk to me.”

“Didn’t y’all have a phone conversation last week?”

The glum tone came back to his voice. “Yes. It was about ten minutes of me saying over and over I’d changed and I wasn’t ever going to be with another girl, while she insisted that was impossible and it would never work out anyway.”

“Oh... Sorry.”

“I promise not to spend the whole evening moaning about Charlie.” Then he added, “But probably part of the evening.”

Anne was excited to be going by herself to a routine pregnancy monitoring appointment. Her first week back at work had gone well, except she was extremely fatigued. But she guessed that was to be expected. She couldn’t really remember how tired she was with Emily and Charlotte—it had been way too long. The oral medications seemed to be working well to control the nausea. She was certain she’d gained, and soon she’d be at least back to her normal weight.

The doctor was listening for the heartbeat, and Anne noticed her brows pushing down over her eyes.

“Is everything okay?” Anne’s tongue felt thick and wooden. Was the baby dead? Was she going to miscarry?

“No, everything is fine. But I’d like to do an ultrasound today.”

“But I thought you weren’t going to do an ultrasound until twenty weeks? Is there something wrong with the baby’s heart?”

“No, I promise. The heart sounds healthy. Please don’t be concerned. But there’s no harm in doing an ultrasound to confirm everything is progressing normally.”

“Okay, but we decided we don’t want to know the sex. We want to be surprised.”

“That’s fine. We may not even be able to determine the sex at fourteen weeks. But if I can, I won’t say anything.”

Anne was terrified as the doctor performed the ultrasound, despite her assurances. The doctor turned the screen away from Anne’s view at her insistence so she wouldn’t accidentally find out the sex. She watched the doctor’s expressions, but her face remained very neutral. “This is taking a long time. Do you see something? I mean is something wrong?”

The doctor smiled. “Anne, I can’t detect anything wrong. I only needed to confirm what I heard with the Doppler. You’re still at high risk for birth defects. We won’t know for sure there aren’t any abnormalities just from an ultrasound. But so far, everything looks fine, the heart looks fine, and everything is progressing normally.”

“So the baby looks healthy so far?”

“Yes, so far everything looks good.” Then she moved over to hold Anne’s hand between both of hers. She smiled, nodding her head. “With both of them.”

Anne paced across the apartment floor, glancing to the door every few minutes. She’d declined the doctor’s offer to call Steven and give him the news, choosing to impart the information herself. But now she was regretting her decision. She was afraid to tell him. Not because she thought he wouldn’t be thrilled, but because he was already so overbearingly protective. What would he be like now? He’d have a thousand questions she wouldn’t be able to answer. She should have let him find out from the doctor so he could grill her until he was satisfied.

She heard the door opening and froze in place. Wait... She had to look normal. If she looked upset, he’d notice right away. He could read her like a book.

“Hi, Sweetheart. How was your day?” She put on her best happy face.

“My day was fine. You were with me for most of it, so you should know. How was your...” He turned toward her, and suddenly his face turned white. “What’s wrong? You look like something’s wrong. Is it the baby? Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing’s wrong. I promise.”

He fairly flew across the room to wrap her in his arms. “What is it? What happened at your appointment today? Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. I promise. Nothing’s wrong. But I’d like for you to sit down with me and talk to me for a minute.”

He swept her to the couch and pulled her onto his lap. “Talk to me, Anne.”

She sighed. Might as well simply say it. She wanted to find some funny way to surprise him, but he knew her too well. “The doctor did an ultrasound today.”

“She did? She wasn’t supposed to do that yet. Did you find out the sex? Is that what happened?”

“No. She heard something when she was listening for the heartbeat, and decided to do an ultrasound. But everything’s fine. It’s just...” She choked. She couldn’t make the words come out.

“It’s just what? Anne! What is it? We can handle anything together, but you have to tell me.”

“There’re two!” she gasped.

“There to what?”

“There are two! Babies! Twins!”

For a long moment, he was silent. When he finally spoke, his voice croaked. “Twins?”

“She said women over the age of forty-five have about a one in five chance of twin pregnancy. And women with multiple pregnancies are more likely to have hyperemesis gravidarum, too. She missed seeing it on the first ultrasound, but today she thought she heard two heartbeats.” She paused to take a breath. “And it turns out she did hear two.”

She could see the wheels turning in his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him. “Before you pepper me with endless questions, let me tell you this—she said we don’t need to do anything differently at all. At least not right now. You can call her on Monday and ask all those questions that are churning in your head.”

“But you have to answer a few questions tonight.” He leaned down, kissing her cheek. “Will they be identical or fraternal?”

“Most likely fraternal.”

“So we could even have a boy and a girl at the same time?”

“Yep. Or two boys or two girls.”

“And are you going to get really big?”

“She said I’d only need to gain an extra ten pounds, but I’ll probably look pretty big.”

“I think this means I’m especially virile. Right?” His dimples danced.

“There’s never been any doubt about that,” she chuckled. “But I really think it just means I’m old.”

“I have one more important question.” He nuzzled her neck, sending a little thrill down her spine. “Is it okay to celebrate being pregnant with twins? I mean, is there any chance we might accidentally create a few more babies in there?”

“There’s no danger. In fact, I’m almost certain the doctor recommended it.”

Emily was glad to not be spending the evening alone, but Josh was still pretty glum when he arrived. They decided to eat first, as neither one was really in a movie-watching mood, despite their plans.

“Has Charlie said anything about me?” asked Josh hopefully. “Wait. If it’s bad, I’m not sure I want to know.”

“She still doesn’t trust you, Josh. She’s been hurt before. I know how she feels—I feel the same way. It’s no fun. I don’t want to do it again.”

“If it feels anything like this, I totally understand. I never knew a girl could make me feel so miserable. I almost wish I’d never met her. No, that’s not true. As long as there’s a chance, it’s worth it.”

“Let me ask you Josh, why should she trust you?”

“It’s true enough she doesn’t have any reason to trust me. But I’m willing to prove I’ve changed.”

Emily suddenly realized Josh could provide some of the answers she’d been looking for. “Can I ask you some questions? And will you promise not to laugh at me?”

He grinned. “I’ll do my best. But I can’t even imagine what you’re going to ask. Go ahead.”

“So... Uhmm... How long can a guy go without having sex?”

A chuckle escaped before he could stop himself. “I’m sorry. But that’s not what I expected. Are you serious?”

She nodded, knowing her face must be bright red.

“Well, you’re probably asking the wrong guy. I’ve never really had to go without before. But, let’s see. How long ago did I meet your sister? Like four weeks ago? I can say for sure a guy can go four weeks.” He laughed, and then laughed louder at what must be a horrified expression on her face.

What if Spencer couldn’t wait? Maybe he already hadn’t waited?