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We were checking out the room service menu when the door swung open and Clay wheeled in, wearing only his jeans, his curls mussed, eyes bleary but dark with worry that vanished as soon as he saw me.
"Whoops," Nick said, snaking a hand around my waist. "He caught us. We were about to get food without him."
I forced a smile. I knew why Clay had come bursting in. For ten years, anytime he'd gone to bed with me and woken up alone, there'd been a good chance that I wasn't just in the next room.
It had always happened like that. We'd get back together for a while--days, maybe weeks--then one morning, I'd wake and see him beside me, and my brain would scream, "What the hell are you doing? Have you forgotten what he did to you?" and I'd run.
Since I'd accepted that I wanted to stay, we'd had our spats, but I never took off. Yet sometimes, if I wasn't beside him in the morning, he wouldn't so much as use the bathroom until he knew where I was.
"You sleep okay?" he asked, still standing in the doorway.
I nodded. He nodded. Silence thudded down.
After a moment, he waved to the room service menu. "Go ahead and order."
"Glad we have your permission," Nick said.
Clay made a face and started to retreat.
"Hold on," Nick said. "Since you're up, we might as well eat someplace with tables. There's a restaurant across the road. Elena and I'll head over. You can catch up."
Clay hesitated, but he couldn't very well refuse, not without implying that Nick couldn't protect me.
"I'll shower and be right there."
We loaded up plates, then headed to the sidewalk patio to eat. Although it was lunchtime, the o
nly other patrons were one couple who'd stayed inside, out of the late morning heat, so we had the patio to ourselves.
I ripped the top off my orange juice. "So you're going to be an uncle. Think you're up for it?"
When Nick murmured something and picked up his bagel, I laughed. "Oh, I'm kidding. We don't expect you to--"
He shook his head. "I want to be an uncle, Elena. A 'drop the kid off and I'll spoil him rotten' kind. I'll have fun teaching the little guy everything that'll drive his dad crazy. Payback time."
"Good. I just thought...well, you haven't seemed very happy about it. I understand that. Your friends are going to be parents. Things will change--"
"Sure, but it wasn't like you guys were out partying with me in the first place. Hell, I had to twist Clay's arm to get him out to a club even when he was single, and then it was a couple of drinks, no girls and home by midnight for a run or a hunt, because that was his idea of boys' night out. You coming along was a godsend, because at least he'll socialize a bit for your sake. But fears that our wild partying days will be curbed by a new baby?" He snorted a laugh. "If anything, a baby might drive you guys out of the house more often, and I'm not complaining about that."
"True. But a baby will mean Clay and I will have to be more careful, take things easier."
Nick lifted his brows.
"A bit easier."
"I'm not worried. I'm thrilled for you guys. And I'll love being an uncle. That's the role I'm cut out for. Uncle-hood."
A shadow crossed his face, but he hid it behind a quick swig of coffee.
"That's it," I said softly. "You're thinking about yourself. Fatherhood."
"Can you see me being a father?"
"Do you want to be?"
A sharp shake of his head. "Never really thought about it before."
"Before Clay and I started talking about it...and talking about it, and talking about it." I shook my head. "Three years of 'should we or shouldn't we.' Must have driven everyone crazy."
