Sure she liked her independence, but they were sleeping together now, on a regular basis. And maybe it wouldn’t last for ever, as she kept on mentioning, but as long as it did last—and it sure as hell didn’t look to him as if it would be ending any time soon—and as long as she was having his baby, he wanted her to lean on him a little more. But the frustrating thing was, the more pronounced her pregnancy became, and the more demands it made on her, the less demands she seemed to make on him.
When he’d found her throwing up after that first week, and had started staying over, he’d hoped that she would see reason and that things would change. But they hadn’t. Not really.
She never admitted a single weakness, never admitted she needed anything more from him than sex. He always had to push before she’d accept his help even grudgingly—and it was starting to get annoying.
He’d nearly had it out with her this morning, but he’d seen how tired she was, so he hadn’t pushed. And he’d decided not to go over there tonight until he’d formulated a plan—formulated the best way to get this situation sorted out to his satisfaction. And he’d finally figured out, while bench-pressing weights in the condo gym this evening, the only way to make it work was for him to move in with her, at least until after the baby was born. It was the only thing that made any sense.
After seeing her being sick, he’d done some research on the Internet, deciding it was probably a good idea if he got up to speed on how the pregnancy was likely to affect her in the months ahead. The pre-natal appointments he got invited to only seemed to focus on how the baby was, all the stuff to do with Tess’s health and well-being she handled on her own with her doctor. And whenever he asked her about it, all she ever said was that she was fine.
Once he’d started reading, it hadn’t taken him very long to realise that there was no way he was going to allow her to be living in the cottage on her own when she went into labour. And while that was still several months away yet, she was already in the second trimester. Plus he knew how stubborn she was, which meant it made sense for him to move in now, and take the flak sooner rather than later.
But first he had to get her used to the idea, which meant being subtly persuasive, not flying off the handle and letting her get the upper hand because he couldn’t get a grip on his own frustration.
He’d somehow let his sexual needs become more than that, to the point where his emotions were threatening to get in the way. Just as if they had when he’d been a kid and had wanted a commitment from two people who had never been capable of giving it to him. That had nearly destroyed him. The solution had been to make sure he never needed anything like that from anyone ever again. Spending the night away from Tess would prove that this wasn’t about his needs, it was actually about hers.
The only reason it had been so damn hard was because he had become a little addicted, to the sex and the intimacy and her company as well. Once he’d gone to live with his grandfather, and gotten over Zane’s rejection, he’d learned to become a solitary guy—who was happy enough with his own company. But there was no getting around the fact that he’d rather spend time with Tess these days, than spend it alone.
And unfortunately, he didn’t just want to be with her because he wanted sex with her the whole damn time. Sure she was so sexy she made him ache, but she was also witty and smart and completely unpredictable. He never quite knew what she was going to say or do next—and whereas before Tess, he had always found that kind of aggravating in a relationship, with her he found it challenging and stimulating, and exciting.
He huffed out a humourless laugh as the doorbell buzzed again. No wonder he was so addicted to her. She had the same effect on him as a class-A narcotic, which would explain why sweating away in the gym for an hour to take his mind off Tess had felt more like going cold turkey than the endorphin rush he normally got from good, healthy exercise. He punched the button on the intercom, and the grainy picture from the entrance camera appeared on the display. ‘Tess?’ His heart kicked his larynx like a junkie who’d just mainlined heroin. ‘What are—?’
‘Hi, Nate,’ she interrupted his shocked exclamation. ‘Sorry to catch you by surprise, but you didn’t come round tonight and I have something I needed to talk to you about. Can I come up?’
‘Sure.’ He pressed on the button to let her in, and tried to hold back the intense high—that intoxicating mix of adrenaline and arousal—at the thought of seeing her again.
* * *
‘Hi, Nate.’ Tess pressed a quick kiss of greeting to firm lips, inhaled the familiar scent of soap and man, and then shifted past him before he could draw her into a more intimate greeting.