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He smiled and Nova couldn’t help but notice how his sleep-tousled curls matched the sloe-eyed look he gave her. Goodness, the man was lethal in the morning and that was saying something after how cute he looked last night. But there was something about that sleepy look that still rode his eyes and, oh wow, his five o’clock shadow was positively yummy.
And if this was what a solid night’s sleep in a bed not rented did to her, she needed to figure out her future pretty damn quick.
“You thought right.”
Nikolas moved into the kitchen. Although she had no idea how he normally walked around his house first thing in the morning, either by usual choice or in deference to her he was fully dressed. An Arizona State University T-shirt and shorts were hardly seductive clothes.
Yet something about the thickly muscled forearms and the strong calves on display in the shorts made her mouth go dry.
“How do you feel about pancakes?”
“That they’re life-giving?”
“I’m not quite sure I’d give flour and a little baking soda quite that much credit, but I do make a mean flapjack.”
“You made it, being the operative words.” Nikolas walked to the counter and set a cup to brew on his single-cup coffee maker, then turned toward her. “Did you sleep okay? You’re up awfully early.”
“I slept great. Between the nap yesterday, and a full eight hours last night, I feel better than I have in a long time. Thank you.”
“I’m glad.”
His eyes, an intriguing shade between hazel and green, narrowed. “It’s a big day today. Are you ready?”
“I think so. I felt a little wobbly about it when I woke up, but then I gave myself a pep talk and I feel a lot better.”
“A pep talk?”
The moment the words were out, she wished she could snatch them back. What a silly thing to say. Now Nikolas would think she sat around talking to herself.
Or sat around talking herself in and out of things.
Or...or who knew what he thought?
“I do that sometimes. When I’m feeling low. It’s silly, I know. But, well, if there’s no one else around, sometimes you just need to prop yourself up.”
“Do you know how amazing you are, Nova Ellis?”
Heat rushed her face immediately, burning from the middle of her neck on up to cover her cheeks. “For being weird?”
“For tackling the big bad world, and having a child, all by yourself. You know how rare that is, right?”
“I’m not tackling anything.”
Before she could say anything else, he came up to her, taking both of her hands in his. “Yes, you are. You aren’t afraid of doing the hard thing. Of doing what needs to be done. Don’t underestimate that. It’s special and exceedingly rare.”
The baby chose that moment to kick, a swift jab that hit the edge of her rib. Instinctively, Nova squeezed Nikolas’s hands, a reaction against the sharp immediate pain.
“Whoa. You okay?”
Nova gritted her teeth as the second kick quickly followed the first. “Just a bit of morning calisthenics.”
“The baby did that?” Those eyes she’d been admiring only a few moments before widened, their shade shifting toward a bright vivid green. “Like, right now? To you?”
“Seeing as how I’m the only one in the room who’s pregnant, yeah, it was to me.”
She let go of his hands to lay them against her stomach, trying to push her little alien into a more comfortable position. Or at least out of kicking range of her ribs.
“That is so wild.”
