"I'll have to be monitored quite closely because of the baby we lost," I said quietly. I didn't want to talk about that and feel the raw pain of it all over again.
"We'll do everything we can do. You're already eight weeks gone, that's further along than you were last time. You need to take it easy, Carls."
"I still need to work to pay the bills. Plus, being pregnant doesn't make me an invalid. I know what my limits are, what I'm capable of and what I'm not."
"I know you do, baby, but let me do things for you. No heavy lifting, which includes shopping bags. You aren't to lift anything more than a bag of sugar. Okay?"
I smiled at my overprotective fiancé. He really was the best a girl could ask for.
Chapter Eighteen
We decided not to tell anyone about the baby just yet. We wanted to share in our own joy for a few days without other people clucking like mother hens. I didn't even tell Jodie. I'd been into work, I'd even had breakfast with her, but I had to hold my tongue. Keeping the secret from my family wasn't so hard because we weren't all that close. But not telling my best friend was killing me.
Grey was wonderful with me. He wouldn't let me do anything more than light housework-he did most of it for me. He cooked, he cleaned, and he did the grocery shopping. He let me bus tables at work because I won the little fight we had over it. I still did my work for the paper because that wasn't heavy work at all.
About a week later, Jodie dropped by unannounced.
"I'm on to you!" she said as I opened the door.
"Are you? On to what exactly?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen to put some coffee on.
"You're pregnant!"
Trust Jodie to be blunt. Observant, too.
"I am not!"
Lying to her wouldn't work but I had to try.
"You are, too. Do not lie to me, lady. I've seen you dashing off to the toilet at a moment's notice. I've seen you with your hand on your stomach, a thing that a pregnant woman does subconsciously."
I made coffee and sat at the kitchen island. Jodie sat opposite me and stared me down until I broke.
"Okay, I am, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. We haven't said anything to our families yet."
"Oh my god!" she squealed as she got up and ran around to hug me. She embraced me lightly and kissed me on the cheek. "I knew it. I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you. We're so excited. I'm only about nine weeks gone and we're not telling anyone until after the twelve week scan. I have a scan picture to show you, though."
I showed her the picture I treasured so much. She squealed excitedly and couldn't stop jumping up and down. I was so glad to have been able to tell her-now I had someone to talk to about baby stuff and someone to take baby shopping.
"I swear I won't tell a soul," Jodie said as she made a zipping her lips motion.
"We're going to tell everyone soon. I was desperate to tell you but Grey and I agreed we wouldn't say anything to anyone-technically, you guessed, so when he asks, I just have to tell him that."
We spent the next hour or so talking about the baby and the wedding. The printers had the invitations sorted and had shipped them to me, all I had to do was mail them out. Everything was coming together so nicely and our twelve week scan was two weeks before the wedding.
Grey came home later that afternoon. He'd had a job to do taking photos for the local paper that morning.
"Jodie came round earlier."
"Did she? Did you girls have fun?" Grey asked as he fetched himself a bottle of water from the fridge.
"She knows."
I wasn't sure how Grey would react to that statement, but he'd have to deal with it, what's done can't be undone.
"I thought we agreed not to tell anyone?" His voice wasn't accusing.
"We did, but she guessed. She turned up and told me she knew. I asked what she knew, she said that I was pregnant. I denied it but Jodie knows I can't lie to her so I showed her the scan picture."
"Okay. It's not like people won't know soon enough, anyway."
"We talked about the baby and the wedding. She promised she won't even tell Matt."
"Has she moved in with him yet?" he asked, changing the subject.
"She sure has!"
"That's good, they make a great couple," Grey said as he chugged water from his bottle.
"They sure do. Maybe it'll be them down the aisle next."
Grey walked over to me and pulled me up from my seat. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him for a kiss. He kissed me softly, slowly licking my bottom lip to make me open up to allow his tongue to seek out mine. I opened my mouth and let him deepen the kiss.
Our tongues twisted together, Grey's hands roamed up and down my spine as he kissed me fiercely. It was almost as though he'd been away for too long and was now seeking recompense.
I started to pull the hem of his t-shirt over his head. He held his arms up to help me get it off. I threw it on the floor and Grey grabbed hold of me, turning me around so my back was to the kitchen island. He started to undo some buttons on my blouse but didn't get all the way down before pulling it off over my head. He stood between my legs, nudging them apart. He undid the front clasp of my bra and bent to gently suck each nipple into his mouth in turn. He looked up at me and the grin on his face was devilish.
I started to undo his jeans and pushed them down as far as his knees. Then I pulled his boxers down and he sprang free, gloriously hard and shiny with a little pre-cum.
Grey pulled my panties down and pushed my skirt up. He sat me on the kitchen island and pulled my panties right off-then he pulled me forward and edged himself inside me. No foreplay needed. He was hard and I was wet from the sensual kiss and the way he had sucked on my nipples-he really knew what turned me on.
As Grey pushed himself deeper inside me, I moaned in sheer delight. He held me tight as he slowly pushed himself inside me before pulling out again, teasing me the way only he knew how. I braced my arms against the granite worktop and clenched my muscles around him, knowing this drove him wild. He gently bit one nipple as he played expertly with the other. I wanted to come there and then but Grey's stare penetrated me.
"Don't come. Do you hear me, Carly? Hold onto it and do not come," Grey commanded.
I held tight to the warmth pooling inside me. I could hold out for a little longer, but I knew when Grey was like this it was because he wanted an explosion from both of us at once. He continued to push in and pull out of me in a gentle, building rhythm. We were both panting and moaning as I clenched tighter and he pushed harder into me.
Grey made eye contact with me and held my stare as he held onto my hips and brought us closer and closer to a climax.
"Get ready, baby!" he whispered before increasing the speed of his motions. His hands roamed up to my taut nipples and one hand played with each. He leaned forward and bit each one in turn-not a gentle nip, either-he knew I liked a little pain with my pleasure and so did he.
"Ready?" he asked in a husky voice.
I couldn't find my words so I just nodded.
He leaned in to claim my mouth in a kiss that was hot, breathy and anything but gentle.
The kiss was nearly my undoing but I knew Grey needed me to hold out a few seconds longer.
He pulled back and stared into my eyes-the look there told me he was going to explode any second. He pushed deeper inside me in one final thrust that took us both sailing over the edge. I moaned in ecstasy and sprawled on the granite behind me. Grey kissed up and down my naked body as I let the aftershocks ripple through me.
All too soon Grey pulled out of me and did his jeans back up.
I sat up on the island and watched as Grey walked to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. He handed one to me as he stood there and drained his own.
I looked at my beautiful, half clothed god of a fiancé and it hit me that we were going to be married in a few weeks and in a few months we would be parents. Tears spilled from my eyes and when Grey saw, he came to comfort me.
"They're not sad tears," I sniffled.
"Then what are they for?" he asked as he wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs.
"Just because I love you and our baby so much."
He looked at me, still haphazardly dressed, and he put his hand to my stomach.
"Hi there, little one. I'm your father and I love you so very much. You and your mother are the sun, the moon, the stars and everything in my universe."
I cried harder as he spoke, but he wiped my tears away and kissed me softly.
"I love you, Carly Summers. I always have and I always will."
Chapter Nineteen
The next few weeks passed in a blur of last minute checks that everything was in place. My wedding was in two days and I was trying to make sure everything would fall into place on the day. I could only do so much and the rest was up to fate.
I was nervous but excited. Jodie had told me I could only spend one more night with Grey then I was staying at her place the night before the wedding because it was "traditional"-Naomi was staying with us and Tim and Matt were staying with Grey.