Knocked Up(42)

Luke blew out a sigh as relief coursed through him like wildfire.

“So everything is okay? Tawny…the baby?”

"She's going to be just fine, and so is the baby, all right?” the doctor said, pulling the device away and setting it in its holster before swiping the gel off Tawny’s stomach. “Try to lay low for the next couple weeks and we'll see you at your next appointment, okay? If the cramping returns and starts to increase in intensity and move closer together, or is accompanied by blood or fluid, call me immediately.”

Luke thanked the doctor and shook her hand and Tawny offered her a weak smile. "Thanks so much, sorry we panicked."

"Totally normal for first-timers and better safe than sorry."

Luke watched as the doctor exited the room, and wished he could go with her. He felt raw and beat up, emotionally. Like this incident had taken years off his life, which led him to one very scary realization that he couldn't quite get a handle on.

If he was this much in love with his baby and it wasn't even born yet, what was going to happen in a few months? The emotional weight of it lodged in his chest like a stone.

"I'll let you get dressed," Luke murmured.

She shot him a grateful glance and he realized he wasn’t the only one feeling overwhelmed at the moment. He backed out of the room and made his way into the waiting room, running through the past couple hours in his mind.

He never wanted to feel like that again, and part of him couldn’t help but wonder if all of this hadn’t been his fault. If he hadn’t been so hell-bent on seducing her, maybe the Braxton Hicks thing never would’ve happened. He had to stop thinking about himself and what he wanted and start thinking about Tawny and his baby.

The doctor told her to take it easy and to avoid stress, so from now on, no more seduction or trying to define this thing between them. Instead of trying to press for more, he would be the perfect gentleman. Rub her back or her feet when she needed him to, take her to the doctor and buy her ice cream if she was craving it, but under no circumstances was he going to risk her or the baby again.

An image of a naked Tawny, full breasts, little round belly, filled his mind and he shoved it back just as a hot rush of blood filled his cock.

It was going to be hard, in more ways than one, but he was determined. No sex with Tawny until he was sure she and the baby were safe, even if that meant waiting until after the delivery.

God help him.





Chapter 17





Eight weeks.

It had been eight long weeks since Luke had last touched her, and she was pretty sure she was going to lose her mind.

Surely something she’d only done a couple times couldn’t be classified as an addiction, could it?

She flopped back onto her bed and groaned. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, but she could barely even look at him at the last doctor appointment without wanting to jump his bones.

Not that he’d have noticed. He’d ceased seeing her as a sexual being somewhere around the time that he’d had to hold a cold cloth to her head while the doctor poked around her hoohah to make sure the false contractions hadn’t been something more serious. She imagined the fact that she looked like she was smuggling a watermelon under her shirt these days wasn’t helping her case either.

It was so unfair. He got to look exactly the same. Hot and muscular and sexy, while her body betrayed her in every possible way.

The baby rolled restlessly in her belly, almost as if in protest, and suddenly her irritation melted away. She pressed a hand to her stomach and closed her eyes to savor the moment.

There was a lot wrong with her life right now. She was pretty sure she was more than half in love with her unborn baby’s daddy, and she was hot on the Hulk’s tail for the title of “Most clothes busted out of in a day”, but she had this. Her precious little bundle, and soon she’d get to meet him.

She pushed herself awkwardly off the bed and stood in front of the mirror. In the event that maybe Luke wasn’t totally turned off by her, what might he like to see her in for their casual Jack and Jill shower tonight at his mother’s house? Not that she was going to try to seduce him. She definitely wasn’t.

But she wouldn’t say no.

Sighing, she opened her closet and flipped past the shirts she’d outgrown in the past few months before finding what she could now only describe as “torso tents”. She had to admit, between her limited budget and the even more limited options at the maternity store, nothing exactly screamed “come and get it”, but there was one shirt that wasn’t completely repugnant.

Fingering the lace sleeves and the cute, baby doll cut, she pulled it off the hanger and tugged it on before settling for a pair of comfortable maternity jeans. With a little make-up, she might just be acceptable. Maybe.