Everything Unexpected (23 page)

I narrow my eyes. “Can I see?”

Shane shakes his head. “Nothing really that great.”

“That can’t be true. There’s a reason everyone wants to hire you.”

He lets out a small laugh. “Maybe. But I think I’ve got a much better model right here.” He lifts his camera from his lap and takes a picture of me. The bright flash momentarily blinding me. Then he takes another. And another. I lift my hands in front of my eyes, shielding me from the bright bursts light.

“Okay, okay. That’s enough. You know I hate having my picture taken,” I chastise him.

He lowers the camera, placing it on his desk. “No you don’t.” He smirks.

He swings his chair to face me and I get my first full view of him. Shirtless, wearing only a pair of light blue lounge pants that sit low on his hips, his pelvic bones are just noticeable above the drawstring hem.

I stand and as sexily as I can without looking like a fool, strut my way over to him, sitting down in his lap. I wrap one arm around his shoulder while one of his drapes across my bare legs. I let my fingers roam about. Over his hips, those pelvic bones, through the small matting of hair just beside it. I giggle when I press down on his belly button.

“I love your outie,” I say.

He looks down at my fingers, circling his tummy. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s just like the rest of you. Outspoken, never shy.”

He laughs.

“Even the night we first met. Do you remember?” I ask him.

He looks up at me, a genuine smile coming over his face at the memory. “Like it was yesterday.”

“You were so sure of yourself. Confident. Cocky—” I giggle.

“And that was
before
I knew I had to compete for your attention,” he says.

“Little did I know who I had just met. Who you’d be to me.”

His free hand comes up and brushes some of my hair behind my ear. “Little did I know who you’d be to me,” he says, looking into my eyes.

We continue to stare at each other, neither of us knowing what to say or do next. It’s funny how our relationship is several years old yet it can feel so new at the same time. This is a new Shane and Leah relationship. One that has expectations and responsibilities and so much more riding on its success. We have a whole other person coming whose life will be impacted by our success…or failure. And I don’t want to fail. Not at this.

“I’m nervous,” I confess. I don’t elaborate because Shane knows exactly what I mean. He understands this feeling just as much. But he doesn’t admit to his own nerves or fears. Instead, he says exactly what I need to hear.

“Don’t be. I’ll take care of you. Of us. Always.” He reaches up and his lips touch mine softly, sealing his promise with a kiss. I want to believe that will be enough. That his promise is all we need.

I pull back, the constant reminder of my pregnancy pressing against my bladder. “I need to pee,” I say.

Shane smiles, releasing me from his lap.

I stand and start to make my way to the bathroom, but stop at the window that overlooks the ocean in the distance. The moon is full and casts a silver glow over the water. I pull the sheers that hang over the window apart to get a better view. I’m about to tell him how pretty it is and he should come and see it when I hear the sound of a click followed by a flash come from behind me. I turn just as he’s lowering his camera.

“What did I say,” I tell him.

“I know,” he says, covering the lens before looking back up at me. “But you’re just too beautiful not to.”

A LOT CAN change in a month. A lot has changed in a month. Leah and I are a couple. I am her boyfriend and she is my girlfriend. We’ve taken the steps to move our relationship to a whole new level. We aren’t just buddies, or best friends, or future co-parents anymore. And even though we only took that turn a few weeks ago, I think we’ve actually been traveling this road for a while. Slowly and obliviously, but now I notice. I notice every single thing that has to do with Leah Kessel.

The way my body reacts to the brush of her hand as she walk by. The way her scent invades my senses when I bury my face into her neck. The way my lips want to lay claim every time they meet hers. There’s an intimacy I crave when she’s around, even stronger when we are apart. I always loved hanging
out with Leah, but
being
with Leah, that’s an experience so new, so different, so much more satisfying. When she’s near, she makes my heart pound out of my chest while at the same time letting me breathe easier.

I seem to do the same to her. I see it in the way she looks at me, in the smile that reveals a bit more than it used to, the gleam in her eye only I know is there. There’s romance between us now. Not the flowers and candles kind, but the intimate, souls meeting kind.

Anything we kept hidden from each other before, we now share. Words we kept silent before, we say out loud. I touch her whenever I can. Her face, strands of her hair, her growing stomach. She was right when she said it would only be a matter of time before she would get bigger and rounder. She’s still uncomfortable with it, not exactly embracing it like others do. But there is no one more beautiful to me than her. No one who can take my breath away like she can. She has a hard time believing it. I can’t really blame her when she has no control over her own body.

A couple of nights ago we were lying down on my couch, and I was rubbing the soles of her feet and she could barely keep her eyes open. She had just spent fourteen hours at the office working on that damn case. I told her I didn’t like her working those long hours, thinking she’d agree with me. She didn’t. In fact, she got angry and didn’t hold back when she told me all the reasons why. That she was just as capable now as she’s always been, that being tired wasn’t a show of weakness and how dare I imply otherwise. Just mentioning anything about her slowing things down at work is like walking through a landmine. There’s no way I want to live through that explosion again, so I’m letting her figure it out.

Then there was last night. We had just polished off a pizza a few minutes earlier when Leah started to get up, needing to go to the bathroom. Nothing new there, but what happened next was. As she stood, she farted. Loudly.

Naturally, I thought it was hilarious. In all our years together, she had never farted in front of me. I found it entertaining. But I could see on her face she didn’t agree. She went beet red, eyes filling with tears. I thought it was a ridiculous thing to get upset over. It’s a natural bodily function. I even told her so.

“Comb, don’t get upset,” I stood, gripping her shoulders. “It’s a fart. It was cute.”

She looked at me with such venom, I actually took a step back. “It’s not cute,” she snapped. She whipped her face away from me, embarrassment still evident.

“Hey,” I tried consoling her. “Don’t be embarrassed. I do it all the time!”

“And I think it’s gross when you do it,” she replied. She faced me, anger replacing embarrassment. “This is your fault. It was
your
idea to get pizza. I was
your
idea to get sausage and bacon. It was
you
who ordered the cheesy dipping sauce. Hear me now Shane and hear me well. We are never eating pizza. EVER. AGAIN.”

She stomped away and locked herself in the bathroom for twenty minutes. So maybe she felt like she was losing control of her body, but one thing was becoming very clear—she and her body were still very much in control of me.

“SO, THE BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND thing…” Bryan says, sitting on the opposite side of the couch. “How’s that going?”

The grin on my face must say it all. It’s that happy, shit-eating grin that screams nothing could be better, feel better, than this.

Bryan rolls his eyes.

This is the first evening in a while the two of us have been able to just sit around, drink beer and hangout. It feels good to sit back and relax and watch the game. Our schedules lately have had us seeing each other in passing. After my trip to LA, a lot of my time has been spent with Leah, alone. And on his end, he’s been going back and forth to Kendall’s. That was, up until last night when he came home, tossing me his phone and begging me to delete her number. So with Kendall out of the picture, at least for tonight, and Leah working late, the both of us had no plans but to stay home and watch the game.

After a minute, Bryan’s voice pipes up again. “What’s it like?” he asks, curious.

I glance his way, turning my attention away from the TV briefly. “What’s what like?”

“The whole relationship thing. Being a couple. How is it?”

He knows how it is. He sees how I am around the loft. He hears the different tone my voice takes when I talk about to her.

“It’s fucking fantastic.”

“Whipped motherfucker,” he says, taking a sip from his beer.

“Maybe,” I agree.

“I hope she’s feeling better than the last time I saw her,” he adds, focusing back on the game.

I bark out a laugh. The last time Bryan saw Leah, we were sitting around watching TV when Bryan made the mistake of commenting on her hair.

“I thought you were blonde,” he said, his eyes lingering on the top of her head.

“What?” she said, turning her attention towards him.

“Your hair.” He cocks his chin. “I thought you said you were blonde but the top of your head is pretty dark.”

He said it so casually, not thinking twice about it. Not noticing the irritation his observation made. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he just stopped there. But he didn’t. Instead he kept bringing it up by calling her Roots all night until she finally had it. She stood up and got right in his face.

“You think you’re funny? Roots? Very original, Bryan. How about you try growing a
human being
inside of you and then think about opening your mouth. Maybe do a little research about how chemicals are bad during pregnancy. Maybe know a little about what the hell you are talking about before you speak,” she said, laying right into him.

“Whoa!” Bryan leaned back, waving his hands in surrender. “It was just a joke. Chill out.”

“Chill out?” she repeated. She stepped away from him but not before knocking her two fists together twice and leaving the room. Classic Ross Gellar.

Leaning into me, Bryan whispered, “What the fuck does,” he pumped his fists together “mean?”

I just laughed. “You don’t want to know.”

“Is she always like that now?” he asked, carefully watching her move about in our kitchen.

“The hormones can be a bitch,” I told him. “You just have to learn how to delicately navigate around her now.”

“All the power to you,” he said. “Makes me wonder if all pregnant chicks are that psycho.”

“Hey, it’s not easy on her,” I quickly defended her. “There’s shit going on inside her we’ll never understand.”

Bryan gave another careful glance to the kitchen. “Should I apologize?”

I leaned back, further into the couch. “She’ll likely forget all about it soon. Her memory has been a little…off lately.” I watched her as she rumbled about in the kitchen, opening and closing drawers. I leaned in closer to Bryan. “The other day, she came out of the bathroom and forgot to do up her pants.”

Bryan busted out laughing. “Serious?”

I nodded, also laughing. “Yup. They call it ‘mommy brain’ or something like that.”

“Fuck,” he said, his smile still large. “If ever there was a time to fuck up, it’s now. She won’t even remember it.”

Bryan’s loud laugh at a commercial partnered with a knocking at our door brings me back to the present. Opening the door, I’m surprised at who I find on the other side.

“Mom,” I say, inviting her in. “What are you doing here?”

She walks by me, kissing me on the cheek as she passes. “Hello, sweetheart,” she says before smiling kindly at Bryan. “Hello, Bryan.”

Bryan stands and walks towards my mother. “Mrs. Carlisle, what a pleasant surprise,” he says. Coming closer, he looks her up and down before smiling. “Just as beautiful as I remember.”

Now
I
roll my eyes. “That’s enough,” I say pushing him away from her. She’s dressed in light colored pants and a blouse to match. Small gold earrings hang from her ears, and her hair is tied in a low ponytail. “This is a surprise,” closing the door behind us.