Baby, You're Mine(8)

I scooted past him and opened the fridge door, finding a pizza box, Chinese takeout containers and beer on the shelves. Glancing at the door, I noticed butter, milk and a bottle of syrup. “Breakfast might just be saved.” I moved to the pantry, pulling open the door and searching the almost bare shelves for anything resembling pancake mix or flour. I let out a startled laugh, surprised to learn he didn’t even have enough of the most basic staples on hand. The house might not look like it on the surface, but Wyatt’s place was definitely a bachelor pad. “Scratch that, we’re definitely going out to eat.” My stomach growled loudly again. “Now.”

I wasn’t happy putting my clothes back on from the day before to head out the door early in the morning. I was even less so when Wyatt changed my order. “Switch her coffee to herbal tea and add a side order of fresh fruit.”

The waitress shifted her attention back to me, her brow lifted and lips tilted in amusement. “That okay with you, sweetie?”

“I hate tea,” I grumbled.

“Caffeine isn’t good for the baby,” Wyatt replied.

“Ahh, that explains it,” the waitress laughed, her gaze dropping to my belly. “How about I bring you decaf coffee instead? All the flavor with none of the lead.”

“Fine,” I sighed, complaining to Wyatt after she walked away. “The whole point of coffee is the caffeine.”

“Baby,” he replied like it was a complete answer. I guessed it kind of was, at least until I had a pregnancy book in hand which said I could have a cup of coffee without hurting the baby.

“Don’t be a smartass.”

“Better than a dumbass,” he shot back.

Gah! Winning with this man was impossible. “Just so long as you don’t think this means I’m going to start letting you make all my decisions for me.”

He reached underneath my chair and scooted it closer to his, wrapping an arm around my shoulder once I was near enough. “I’ll try my best to not steamroll over you, but I’m going to have a say in your life from now on.”

I bit my tongue, wanting to argue but knowing it wasn’t fair. To a certain extent, what he’d said was true. I was pregnant with his baby, which meant we were going to be connected forever, regardless of what happened between the two of us in the future. “I’ll listen to your input,” I conceded.

“Good.” He nodded. “Because we need to talk about your living arrangements, and I have a lot of input I’d like to provide.” He practically spat out the word ‘input,’ making his distaste for my word choice clear. “Starting with the fact that I want you to move here permanently.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready yet.”

He didn’t let me finish my response. “I wasn’t done yet, Bailey.” His arm slid off my shoulder, and he turned me so we were facing each other. “When I say ‘here,’ I don’t mean this town, and not your dad’s place either. I want you under my roof so I can watch my baby grow in your belly, to be with you every step of the way.”

I dropped my head against his chest and groaned. “How am I supposed to argue with you when you say such sweet things?”

“You aren’t. It’ll be much easier if you just go along with everything I want.”

My head jerked back up at the sound of plates being set down on the table. “Don’t go tricking the girl into agreeing to something when she’s dying of hunger.” The waitress shook her finger at him before turning her attention to me. “Go ahead and fill your belly so you can think straight before you tell him you’ll do whatever he wants.”

Saved by the food. Our conversation halted while I stuffed my face, eating all the food I’d ordered plus the fruit Wyatt had insisted on getting me. It gave me some time to mull things over, and I was ready to discuss things a little more rationally once I’d satisfied my hunger.

“When I came to Nebraska, it was only supposed to be for the summer. I wanted the chance to get to know my dad and brother, but I always planned to go back home before the school year started. I have a job and a home there waiting for me.”

“That may be true, but you have a family and the father of your baby here for you,” he pointed out.

I gripped his hand, lacing my fingers through his while I searched for the right words to make him understand. “For so long, it was my mom and I against the world. Now she’s gone and I have a family.” I paused, my hand dropping to my belly. “A growing one at that, but I’m not ready to let go of the house I spent my entire childhood in. It’s the last tie to my mom and I’m not prepared to sell it and walk away.”

“I’m not asking you to give up your mom’s house,” he murmured, resting his hand on mine. “We can keep it for family vacations, let our kids see what your childhood was like. Hell, we can spend the entire summer there each year if you’d like. I’m an architect, and my own boss since I own the firm. I can work from wherever I want with a mobile office, and the place I most want to be is by your side.”

“There you go with the sweet again,” I sighed, considering all that he’d said. The thought of returning to my hometown three months pregnant and alone except for my best friend was daunting. It wasn’t what I wanted for myself, and it sure as heck wasn’t what I wanted for my baby. Especially not when Wyatt was offering me the perfect solution. “I’ll call the school and see if they’ll give me a leave of absence due to the pregnancy. If I’m going to spend the next year—“

“More like the rest of your life,” he interrupted.

I glared at him. “—here, then I’ll need to go back and get some of my personal items and mementos I left back home. Clothes won’t be an issue since I’m going to need a whole new wardrobe anyway due to the pregnancy.”

“I’ll drive you out and load the truck myself if it means I’m moving it all into my house.”

“Then I guess you have a deal,” I agreed. “But don’t think for a second that I’ve forgotten how you called me your fiancée at the doctor’s office yesterday. I might have agreed to move in with you, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to marry you.”

“Maybe not yet,” he replied, a smug grin on his face because he knew he’d won this round. “But I’m going to do whatever it takes to make it happen before you give birth to my child, and that’s a promise you can take to the bank.”

I felt like the gauntlet had been thrown down, but there was no way I was going to pick it up. It was a challenge I was pretty sure I couldn’t win, not against the man who’d gotten me in his bed the first night we’d met. The same man who’d managed to knock me up the second time I’d ever had sex. And he’d been able to talk me into leaving the town where I’d grown up to move halfway across the country. He was persuasive, to say the least. Plus, if I was brutally honest with myself, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to win.





Chapter 8


Wyatt


I loaded one last box into my truck, shut the tailgate, secured the tarp, and returned to the house. We’d been in California two days gathering up Bailey’s belongings. At first, she’d only packed another suitcase and a small box, as though she was coming back for an extended visit. I didn’t let her get away with that. She may not have fully come to terms with it yet, but this was no longer her home. I started packing up her bedroom while she huffed in annoyance and stormed off. Taking my time, I worked slowly, waiting. Sure enough, not twenty minutes later, she stalked back into the room and shouldered me aside muttering that I was doing it all wrong.

I laughed and held up my hands in surrender until she gave me direction and we got to work. We completed the room the next day and she asked me to stack all of the boxes in a corner. I did as requested, but when she went to dinner with her best friend, I loaded it all into the back of the truck. I’d insisted on staying in a hotel, not wanting her to be cleaning up after us in addition to packing, so she didn’t return to the house that night. I managed to keep her distracted enough that she didn’t notice the boxes this morning as well and now I was ready to get on the road.

It was early afternoon and we’d be able to go a good distance before pulling off for the night. I didn’t like having her sitting in the car for such long stretches, but I wanted to get her home and settled even more. I planned to stop early enough to have a relaxed dinner and get a good night’s sleep, though. I was particularly dedicated to wearing her out so she wouldn’t have any trouble sleeping.

I grinned to myself. Some nights, I collapsed before Bailey, she was insatiable. If this was how she would be every time she was pregnant, I was seriously considering keeping her knocked up for the next decade.

Once I walked in the front door, I stopped and watched her as she wandered around the front room, her hand softly trailing along, touching mementos and furniture. Her face was wistful, her eyes full of sadness, and I wanted nothing more than to take away the pain of her past. After a few minutes, I strode over and wrapped her up in my arms. She leaned against me, her head resting on my chest, and took a deep breath.