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I placed my palm on her stomach, feeling it as if it caved in and out with each breath she took. “Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?”
“A girl,” she answered sharply. “I want a cute little girl I can dress up as a mini-me and of course, she would look just like me.”
My lips quirked, a smile breaking through. I palmed the back of her head and kissed her forehead. “I’m never leaving you alone again.”
Chapter 16 - Giselle
The tasty aroma of breakfast made my stomach rumble. Nikolai pulled a chair out for me and waited until I sat before he headed over to the vacant seat beside mine. It was clear that he reeled from the guilt of upsetting me after the appointment and still sought ways to make it up to me.
My cheeks flushed and I appreciated the gesture.
He looked innocent and yet still rogue—acting all oblivious and paying attention to the plates of food on the table—with his messy bed hair attractively tousled and his ripped biceps flexing underneath the plain gray tee shirt he was wearing.
I grabbed a plate. There were a lot of options on the table—scrambled eggs, toast, pancakes, coffee, and a whole lot more, and for a moment, I wondered how we would finish it all.
Nikolai appeared not to have any trouble. Unlike me, he calmly munched on a toast and dusted the crumbs from his fingers.
I lifted a slice of pancake to my lips. A minute after the delicious goodness hit my tongue, my husband cleared his throat.
“I’ll have Vlad and your bodyguards accompany you to the clinic. Something came up and I don’t think I can make it today.”
The fork in my hand froze mid-air, and my jaw stopped moving. What a way to ruin breakfast. “That wasn’t what we agreed, Nikolai.” I hated that he was putting his business before me and our baby and entrusting me to Vlad and the bodyguards again when he knew I’d rather be with him.
I enjoyed Vlad’s company, but it was weird having him go to prenatal with me when he wasn’t the father of my baby. I hated having the bodyguards around me even more.
He noted my sudden silence and turned on his chair to face me. His dark eyes held seriousness, and his lips formed a grim line.
“Giselle.”
My grip on the cold steel fork in my hand tightened but I put on a mask of indifference. “Huh?”
He peered closer with a quirked brow. “I know it isn’t what we agreed on. I’ll make it up to you on the next one.”
I stuffed a bigger slice of pancake in my mouth and shrugged once. “Fine. I didn’t want you there anyway,” I lied.
“Then, why do you look so uncomfortable?”
“I don’t look uncomfortable,” I said, my voice muffled.
He massaged his temple and sighed. “You have a lot of food in your mouth.”
“That’s because I am hungry.”
“Giselle,” was all he said. But I heard the edge in his tone. He was in no mood for games. “I know you’re mad that I’m missing the prenatal, but it’s not because I want to.”
The façade turned off, I let the fork clatter on my plate and leaned backward on my chair. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and faced him. Maybe he had an excuse for missing the prenatal, but what excuse did he have for making the bodyguards stick to me like a bad itch.
“I thought I was finally going to get some privacy. You know, staying here, being indoors and surrounded by a gazillion bodyguards doesn’t make me feel great. It’s almost like you don’t trust me.”
And you don’t want to be around me.
“Trust you? I’m only doing all of this for your good and the baby’s. Your safety is a top priority to me. Look, I’ve thought about it a lot, I can’t pretend like every minute you spend outside those doors doesn’t put you in danger.”
I exhaled. “Or maybe you’re doing it because you don’t care about me. All you want is the baby. You don’t care about spending time with me or doing the things other couples do. It’s fine. I shouldn’t have expected so much from you anyway.”
Nikolai slammed his fist on the table. “You think so.” He placed a call on the phone. “Take care of the business with the Italians. I’m busy today.”
When he hung up, he tossed his phone on the table. “Happy now?” he asked and turned back to his toast and scrambled eggs. “I’ll go with you on every prenatal from now on. Don’t ever question my loyalty to you, Giselle.”
