CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Mindy
The rest of the ride home is quiet but it’s not an uncomfortable silence, just enough so we can both catch our breath, which is both good and bad for me. Good, because it allows me to process the myriad of emotions from what I’m feeling with what he declared. Bad, because now I’m stressing about how differently my body looks for our first time.
Large, ungainly boobs? Check.
Widening hips with small pockets of cellulite? Check.
Baby bump complete with stretch marks along each side? Check, check, check.
Get out of your head, my mind whispers.He wants you for you, not how you look.
“Kitten, we’re home,” he says, which pulls me out of my depressing thoughts, butterflies taking flight in my belly for an entirely different reason. “Give me a second and I’ll help you down.”
With the added weight gain, my balance is definitely off and skewed these days, something that almost caused a huge disaster last week when I went to get down from the passenger seat and wobbled so much from the shift in weight I nearly faceplanted. If not for the ‘oh shit’ bar and Cruz practically breaking his neck to reach me before I ate dirt, it would have happened.
“Staying put until you get here,” I promise. “I don’t think you need to have to move that fast after eating dinner.”
Seems as if the last time we did this is in both of our heads because a frown mars his face before it lightens with a slight grin. “You speak the truth, kitten,” he teases as he reaches the passenger side and helps me down. Once I’m stable on my feet, he leans in and places a chaste kiss on my lips.
Fire immediately licks at my insides over the simple touch. As desire courses through me, I start wondering what position is going to work best for us. I’m sure we can finagle our way through missionary, because I want to look him in the eyes when we make love for the first time, but that might not be comfortable for the baby.
“Cruz?” I ask as we make our way up the steps and onto our porch where he unlocks the door then lets me go ahead of him. I quickly shut the alarm off, knowing he’ll rearm it later on his final walk through of the house.
“Yeah, kitten?” He surprises me when he arms the alarm ahead of schedule and when I raise my brow in question at him, he shrugs. “We know he’s back in jail until the trial, but it’s now an ingrained habit. Besides, we’ve got some plans that include chocolate lava cake and I might be too exhausted to do it later.”
I roll my eyes at him even though I can’t help but start laughing. “While you check the rest of the house, I’m going to go take a shower.”
I love my baths, I really do, but I’m at the point of being a beached whale and how unsexy that would be if I had to ask Cruz for help getting out of the tub. So, a shower it is! He interrupts my thoughts when he asks, “You had a question, kitten, what was it?”
“Oh! Um… well, with this,” I say, waving my hand across my stomach, “how will it work?”
His laughter temporarily shocks me until I realize he’s not laughing atmebut the situation itself. “Mindy, while you’re in the shower, I’ll do a search to see what is comfortable for the woman during your stage of pregnancy if you want, but honestly, I kind of thought with you being in charge, you’d just be on top.”
“Oh, I guess that could work,” I muse. I know my face is blood red, although why I’m embarrassed is beyond me. This man has seen me at my absolute worst, most vulnerable time in my life. So being embarrassed to talk about sex is kind of silly.
“Mindy?” he softly calls. “Nothing to be embarrassed about, kitten. We’ll figure out what works forus, alright?”
“Okay,” I whisper, eager to get into the shower. “I’ll uh… I’ll meet you in our room. Don’t forget to bring plenty of napkins.” When it dawns on me how it sounds, I elaborate, “for the cake.”
“Of course,” he replies, smirking at me.
He’s such a flirt sometimes, I swear!
Walking back into the bedroom after my shower, I see Cruz leaning against the headboard in nothing but a pair of cut-off sweatpants. Every muscle in his abdomen is delineated, something that has my pulse racing. His job is physically demanding, but he also runs regularly, and also works out with weights in the home gym he set up in the huge garage that’s attached to the farmhouse.
That was definitely a bonus to the house purchase, because there’s enough room for both of our vehicles, as well as an area for his tools and of course, the home gym. He even put a small loveseat on that side for me so I can hang out when he’s hitting the weights. I haven’t had the heart to tell him that I spend more time watching him than I do reading, which is why it’s been slow going on the paperback I bring with me.
“I-I’m a bit nervous,” I stutter as I make my way to the bed and crawl onto the mattress. “I feel like a beached whale and she’s not done growing, Cruz! What’s going to happen when it’s finally time for her to come? Will you need one of those lift thingies to move me around?”
He chuckles while pulling me into his arms, his hand cupping our daughter where she’s currently resting. “We’ll figure it out, kitten. Oh, and you’re not a beached whale. I’ve seen one of those before and you’re nowhere close to the size of the one I saw. You’re pregnant, not fat, sweetheart. You just have a petite build, so every pound shows is all. I don’t care how big you get as long as you and Violet are healthy, plain and simple.”
I shrug because I’m now at my next question of the afternoon, just how are we going to make this work? “I know, I know. It doesn’t help that either Nonna or Abuela are constantly shoving food down mine and Jolie’s throats, either. I mean, if they were horrible cooks, it would be easy to refuse, but they’re goddesses in the kitchen!”
“Yeah, they are. Why are you nervous, kitten?” he finally asks after I ramble off a few more inane comments. “We’ve been sleeping in the same bed for months, we’ve kissed frequently, and hold hands whenever we’re near each other.”
