Frenemies With Benefits (Geek To Chic Book 2) (26 page)

“Izzy I need to ask you something, a little personal.” He
paused a moment, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as though he was
gaining the courage to continue. “When was your last period?”

Her eyes grew to the size of sauc
ers.
“Alex, why on earth would you ask that? I’m awake now I can answer the doctor’s
questions for myself.” Izzy stuttered out.

“Humor me.”

“Fine, if you must know, since I run as many miles as I do a
week, I don’t have a period on a regular basis.
 
So it has been six months or so.” She shifted to sit up, noticing a belt
or something around her waist.
 
“What is
on my waist?”

He studied her intently for a few moments, amusement and
eagerness shown bright in his eyes.
 
“Izzy,
um I think I am the only guy in history who has had the opportunity to tell his
girlfriend…”

“Girlfriend?” She interrupted.

He smiled and nodded his head, kissing her chastely before
continuing, “yes and we will be telling people about us after you get out of
here regardless of what you think.
 
However, when the nurse comes in, act like you’re my wife.
 
It was the only way Roni could think of to
tell them to give me information on your condition.” He held up a hand when she
went to question him. “I’ll explain that later.
 
What I was saying before I was interrupted is much more important.
 
Izzy, honey, we’re going to be parents.
 
That sound you thought was in your head, is
our baby’s heartbeat.”

She felt like she was going to pass out again.
 
Good thing she was already in bed. Then it
dawned on her, “Alex don't fuck with me when I have just been in a car
accident.
 
It's not nice, nor is it
true.
 
Now please call the nurse or
doctor.” He was so frustrating.
 

He smiled again, shaking his head, in pure amusement.
 
“I can see how you would think this is a joke
of some kind, but honey in about 28 weeks we are in fact going to be parents.”
He pulled down her covers and pulled up her hospital gown to show her the baby
monitor on her belly.
 

She quickly did the math in her head. “You're telling me I
am 12 weeks pregnant? How on earth did I not know I am pregnant?” She was
staring at the ceiling.
 
“Is the baby
ok?” She asked in a whisper.
 
Her hand
automatically moving protectively over her belly.
 

Alex gently cupped her chin, turning her head to lock
eyes.
 
“Honey, you and the baby are both
fine.”

Relief flooded her mind, her baby was going to be ok.
 
She stared at him again, assessing his state
of mind.
 
Was he happy about the baby? Or
only playing he was, so she wouldn't freak out?

Izzy smiled because in all honesty, she wasn't freaking
out.
 
She was beyond happy. She wanted
this baby. Was happy Alex was the father. “A baby.”
 

“Our baby.”
 
His hand
left her chin, moving to lay upon her hand
resting
on her belly.
 

“I don’t understand, I take my pill, religiously!
 
How did this happen?” Izzy tried to think
back, did she miss a pill?
 

“Remember when you got sick and had to take all those
antibiotics?”
 
Alex questioned.
 
“According to the doctor, antibiotics weaken
or nullify the pill.”
 
Alex shrugged.
 

“Fuck!
 
Why didn’t I
think of that?
 
We have been sleeping
together without a condom for months.”
 
Suddenly
it dawned on her.
 
“Shit, no one knows we
are sleeping together.
 
No one knows
anything about us being together.
 
How
are we going to explain this to everyone?
 
Roni and Gracey are going to be pissed that I have been keeping this
from them all these months.”

Alex nodded in agreement, rubbing his chin with his thumb
and finger.
 
“Well, I have been thinking
about our… how should I put it…… unique situation.
 
And I have come up with the perfect solution
to our problem.”
 
He paused, she
suspected to gage her reaction.
 

Izzy glared a little, taking her hand out from under his to
cross her arms over her chest.
 
She had a
feeling she was not going to like this idea.
 
“So what is your grand plan, oh wise one?”

Ignoring her sarcastic tone. “Since we started out
pretending to be husband and wife in Cabo, and we are pretending again to be
husband and wife for the hospital, let’s skip telling the gang we are dating
and tell them we are married.
 
We can
take a plane to Vegas and be married within a few hours of springing you from
this place.”
 

Her jaw dropped, her shoulders slumped. She even shook her
head.
 
“Let me get this straight, instead
of telling our friends, we are dating, you would rather tell them we ran off to
Vegas and got married?
 
And I’m the one
who hit my head.
 
Maybe we should have
the doctor check yours too.”
 

“Izzy we’re going to be getting married before the baby arrives
anyway, let’s just do it now.”
 
He
shrugged.
 

Izzy felt tears build in her eyes.
 
He didn’t really want to marry her because he
loved her or even cared for her.
 
No, the
man she had given her heart to all those years ago, only wanted to marry her
because she was carrying his baby.

Fighting the emotional stab she felt in her chest, she blinked
and took a deep breath.
 
Taking his hand
to try to soften the bad news. Izzy spoke softly, “Alex, a baby is not a good
reason to pledge your life to another person.
 
We can’t get married, hell, we can’t even stand each other most of the
time.”
 
Trying desperately to keep her
tears at bay, she continued.
 
“Even
though we aren’t going to be husband and wife, I will never keep you from your
child.
 
I promise, you will always be a
part of his or her life.”

Izzy knew Alex was not used to being told no.
 
She waited for him to explode and storm
out.
 
Instead, he sat, perfectly still,
studying her.
 
After a few painfully
quiet moments. He stood, kissed her forehead and left.
 
No words, no anger, no nothing.
 

Maybe he was relieved that she had said no.
 
Maybe he truly had only proposed marriage out
of obligation.
 
The tears she had been
holding in broke free, as the nurse and the doctor came in to check on her.
 

“Oh honey are you ok?
 
Your wonderful husband will be back.
 
After he told us you were awake, he went to get a cup of coffee and make
some calls.”
 

Izzy nodded and forced a smile.
 
Laying back to allow them to examine her and
answer their questions.
 
Her heart
breaking more with each breath.
 

Alex had fielded calls from Roni, Derek, Jemma, Gracey and
everyone else under the sun.
  
His body
was beyond exhausted.
 
His mind
however,
was buzzing with far
too much excitement to even consider sleeping.
 

The girl of his dreams was pregnant with his child.
 
He was beyond ecstatic with the thought of
being a father.
 
Alex
only
needed to
figure out how to convince the love of his life to marry him.
 
He rolled his eyes at his “proposal.”
 
Explaining logically that they should just
get married now since they were going to get married anyway for the baby was
not the best approach. His mouth had run with the idea before his brain was
able to catch up and weigh in with the proper approach.
 

Alex leaned back in the small uncomfortable chair in the
waiting room, with his eyes closed.
 
He
was attempting to give Izzy some space to come to terms with the pregnancy
while also giving himself time to think of a plan to make up for his misstep.
 

He knew he had skipped a couple of important steps that are
supposed to happen prior to asking a girl to marry you.
 
The first being dating her.
 
Sure, they went out to dinners or out for
drinks, but they were always among friends.
 
They needed more night alone, the few times they had been put alone were
not enough to constitute dating long enough to be engaged. They still needed a
romantic night to remind her of the magic they had shared in Cabo.
 
The connection that still drew them
together.
 

The second step he missed was
far
more important and
very
overdue.
 
He needed to spill his guts about the way he felt about her.
 
In the past few months the two of them had
gone from constantly being at each other’s throat to settling into something
more.
 
Now they were going to be parents
together.
 
He needed to tell her he had
fallen in love with her all those years ago.
 

"Mr. Porter? Your wife is asking for you,
sir."
 
The kindly nurse said as she
nudged him in the shoulder.
 
He must have
dozed off for a bit.
 

Scraping his hand down his face, he smiled at the nurse and
nodded, thanking her for letting him know.
 
He stood and walked to Izzy's room.
 
Inhaling a deep breath, he pushed through the door.
 
Izzy was exactly as he left her, lying
comfortably on the bed.
 
The monitor of
his child's heart beat echoed through the room loud and strong.
 
"Hey."
 
Was all he could manage as a greeting, as he
sat next to her, taking her hand in his stroking her knuckles gently with his
thumb.
  

Izzy's attention seemed to be focused on their joined
hands.
 
They sat in silence for a few
minutes.
 
Neither making eye contact with
the other.
 
Finally, Izzy withdrew her
hand from his and spoke.
 
"The
doctor says the baby and I are both doing fine.
 
He wants to keep me here for a little longer to be sure.
 
I will have to be on bed rest for a week or
so, just to be on the safe side but everything is going to be fine.”
 
She smiled at him, but he knew it was a fake
smile.
 
Meant to comfort him and to hide
whatever was going on in that head of hers.
 

Taking her hand back in his, he answered with his own awkward
smile.
 
“That’s great news.
 
You have no idea how relieved I am to hear
that the two most important people in my life are going to be fine.”
 
He kissed her knuckles.
 
“Once we get you settled at my place, I will
run to the store and get everything you like to eat.
  
I’ll go to your apartment to and get you
extra clothes and your iPad.
 
Oh I better
get the books off your nightstand...”

~*~*~*~

“Alex!” Izzy snapped, cutting off his rambling plans.
 
Pulling her hand from his again, she grabbed
her hair and pulled a little in pure female frustration.
 
Three deep breaths, and four internal murder
plots later, she finally directed her attention back to the overly frustrating
man sitting next to her.
 
“Stop! Stop! Stop
with all the plans! I am not going to stay with you while I am recovering.
 
I can take care of myself.
 
You have to work.
 
I know you guys have a lot going on right
now, and that you should not be taking time off.”
 
Her hands flew around as she spoke.
 
Huffing in air as she finished, she glared at
him.
 

The asshole had the gull to smirk at her tirade.
 
Giving her that panty dropping, I always get
my way smile, he grabbed her hand.
 
Holding her hand firmly between his, ensuring she could not break the
contact, he spoke to her softly and calmly.
 
“Honey, I know you could take care of yourself.
 
The point is you don’t have to.
 
You’re carrying my child.
 
I like being with you.
 
I am going to take care of you.
 
End of discussion.”
 

No longer able to control her anger at his sudden and
unpleasant high handedness, she let out a sound that was very similar to a
growl.
 
Before she could speak he held up
a single finger and walked out of the room.
 
The action of course, turned her anger into pure rage.
 
She was just going to have to explain to her
child one day that his or her father was an idiot and deserved to be strangled
with her IV tubing.
 

Moments later he walked back into her room, trailed closely
by the doctor.
 
“Dr. Jackson, will you
please tell my dear
wife
that she
cannot stay alone right now?”
 

Dr. Jackson looked between Alex and Izzy and laughed a
little.
 
“I take it that the Mrs. Porter
would like you to go to work during the day and leave her be?”

“Yes, that is exactly what
Mrs. Porter
would like at the moment.”
 
Izzy answered between gritted teeth.
 

Unfortunately for Izzy, the doctor shook his head.
 
“Sorry ma’am your husband really should stay
with you.
 
I don’t want your feet to hit
the floor except to go to the bathroom or take a quick, and I mean quick,
shower.
 
You will need someone with you
to help you.
 
Consider this bed rest your
opportunity to boss your husband around all you like. Now if you’ll excuse
me.”
 
The doctor slapped Alex on the
shoulder on his way out of the room with a look of pure amusement on his
face.
 

“See, even the doctor says you need me.”
 
Alex beamed.
 
Hands shoved into his front pockets, he rocked back and forth on his
heels.
 
The act made him look unusually
innocent, and vulnerable.
 
Not a
combination that she was used to associating with him.
 
A combination that was very dangerous to her
heart.
  

“Fine, I guess we have some things to work out anyway.
 
This will give us some time to take care of
all of that.” Izzy begrudgingly agreed.

“We have a lot to talk about.
 
First, I want to make sure you are
recovered.
 
We can talk about our
relationship after we know you are completely fine.”
 

She swallowed hard. Looking down at the covers she spoke.
“We don’t have a relationship Alex.
 
We’re friends, barely friends.
 
Now we have a baby on the way, and you want to pretend that means that
you are suddenly madly in love with me and want to marry me.”
 

The room turned deafeningly quiet.
 
The quiet went on for an uncomfortable amount
of time.
 
Finally, she turned her eyes to
meet his, the look she found there was a mixture of anger and hurt.
 
Before she could even fathom a way to
backpedal, Alex took her hand and spoke gently.
 
“As I said, we have a lot to talk about but only after you’re off bed
rest.” He placed his large warm hand on her stomach.
 
“Once, you and the baby are safe, we will
talk.
 
We will figure everything out, I
promise.
 
Just please come stay with me,
let me take care of you. Please?”

How could she say no to this very sweet man?
 
“I’ll stay with you.
 
Only for the week though.”
 

“A week got it.” Alex said before kissing her hand.