The Billionaire's Unexpected Baby(14)

"He's the best doctor I know," Brooks said. "I went to college with him  in his pre-med years. Never saw the guy drink or go to a party once. All  he did was sit around and study."

She smiled at him. "Well, that's definitely the kind of doc I need on my side then."

He gave her another faint smile and then said, "I'll be right back. I'm going to go fill out these papers."

Leah nodded and waited for him to leave before she sat back on the bed  with a deep sigh. She put her hand on her belly. "You gave me a scare,"  she said. "You stay put, little peanut."

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Kiersten. She had no  intention of overdoing it, but she did have a lot of things to do.  School would be starting in a few weeks and though she hadn't gotten the  full tour of Brooks's apartment yet, it was obvious she needed to get a  few things. Starting with food. The kitchen looked like it had never  been used. And as a pregnant woman, even with morning sickness, having a  plentiful supply of food around had become incredibly important to her.  She was either throwing up or starving to death. There didn't seem to  be any in-between.

Brooks came back with an armful of flowers and she smiled up at him. "Where on earth did you get those?"

"The gift shop," he said.

She laughed again. "What did you do, buy out the whole place?"

"Kind of. Too much?"

The uncertain hopefulness on his face was almost too much for her to  handle. How did men do that? Go from masters of the universe, ordering  around everyone in their path, to hopeful little boys that tugged on the  heart strings so easily? Total double whammy. Completely unfair.

"Not too much, at all. They're beautiful, Brooks." She took them from  him, burying her face in their petals to inhale deeply. "You didn't need  to, though."

"I wanted to. They aren't nearly as beautiful as you, but I hoped they'd make you smile."

She was smiling before he finished talking. He looked at her like he  wasn't sure what to do. "You're sure you're feeling okay? You don't want  to stay?"

"No, no. I'm fine. I'd rather go home now. Maybe take a shower and get some more sleep."

Funny that she already called his place home when she'd only been there a few hours.

"Okay. I've got the car waiting."

He took her elbow and helped her get settled back into the wheelchair.       

   





"I don't know why they make us use these things. I'm capable of walking out on my own."

"Hush," he said, pushing her down the hallway. "It's the hospital rules. And this is a rule I agree with."

"You wouldn't agree if you were the one getting wheeled out the door."

He chuckled and her heart jumped to hear the sound again. "True, but I'm  not the one getting wheeled. You are. And you heard the doctor. He said  you have to take it easy and I'm going to be around to make sure you  do."

Well, that sounded ominous. "Actually, he said I could resume my normal activities, within reason."

"I've seen your to-do list and it's not remotely reasonable. Not going to happen."

"I'm not going to lie around the house all day. I have school to get  ready for and we need to go shopping or we're going to starve to death."

He glanced at her, his eyes wide with surprise. "How do you know I don't have anything in my fridge?"

"I'm pretty sure it still has the factory plastic wrapped around it."

"It does not. I put a new case of beer in there last week."

"Uh-huh," she said. "And is there anything else in there?"

He didn't answer.

She grinned. "I rest my case. We need to go shopping."

"I do have a housekeeper, you know. I can send her out with a shopping list tomorrow."

"Or we could go ourselves like normal people."

Brooks was already shaking his head. "I'm not going to have you  traipsing around stores all over town when you're supposed to be taking  it easy."

"Did you just say traipsing? I've never traipsed in my life."

He glared down at her. "You know what I mean. Make a list of things you want and I'll have my housekeeper get them for you."

Leah sighed, too tired to change his bullheaded mind at the moment. He  helped her back into the car and wrapped his arm around her when he got  in beside her.

She laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad you were with me."

He held her tighter. "Me, too. Though I don't think I was much help."

"Are you kidding? You were wonderful. I probably would have stayed home, not wanting to cause a fuss."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You can cause as many fusses as you want."

She laughed. "I'll remember that."

"Why do I think that's going to come back to bite me in the ass?"

"Because you're a smart man."

"You know, you may be the first person who's ever said that to me."

This time she looked at him with surprise. "Really? You're the partner  and co-founder of one of the biggest development firms in the city."

"Yes, but when Cole Harrington is your partner people tend to not notice that there is anyone else in the room."

She looked at him for a moment, surprised at the trace of hurt she heard  in his voice. He was always so busy making everyone laugh that it had  never occurred to her that there might be other emotions lurking below  the surface. And maybe that's exactly the way he wanted it. She hadn't  been with him long and she was already discovering aspects of his  character that she never would have guessed.

When they reached home, he settled her on the couch. "Rest here. I'll be right back in a minute."

She lay back against the cushions and he sprinted upstairs. He crashed  around a bit in the bedroom, wrestling with something, but she didn't  really think about what he might be doing until he came back to get her.  He scooped her up in his arms again.

"This is getting ridiculous. I can walk."

"And as I said, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Besides, I like carrying you."

He brought her into the bedroom and laid her on the freshly changed sheets.

"You changed the sheets yourself?" she asked.

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

"I don't know. I guess I never thought of you as a sheet-changing type  of guy. Don't you have people waiting in the wings to do that?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "I am capable of taking care of myself. Just  because I choose not to doesn't mean I can't. I didn't always have  money, you know."       

   





"I didn't know that."

"Cole and I were regular kids until we developed our first app in  college. I can do all kinds of things that would probably surprise you."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well, in addition to my awesome bed-making skills, I can also do the laundry, cook, clean a toilet-"

"You clean toilets?"

"I didn't say I enjoy doing it, or that I did it often. I said I was capable of it."

She laughed again. "I might have you clean a few toilets for me to prove that. But let me get my camera first."

He settled her into the bed and pulled the covers up to her chest. "I  think right now it's more important you get some rest. We'll talk  toilets in the morning."

"Deal," she said.

He stood up and went to leave the room.

"Where are you going?"

"I thought I would sleep on the couch so you could get some more rest."

"I can sleep with you next to me."

"I didn't want to disturb you."

"You won't disturb me, Brooks."

His forehead creased in a worried frown. "I don't want to hurt the baby. The last time I was in bed with you … "

She stared at him for a second, waiting until she had her emotions under  control before she spoke. "I get what you're feeling, maybe even more  than you do. But you heard the doctor. I'm fine. The baby is fine. We  can't have sex at the moment, but we can sleep together. And to be  honest, I don't want to be alone. I want to be held. So please, come to  bed and hold me."

He stared at her a moment longer and then nodded. "If you're sure it won't disturb you."

"I promise," she said. "It will make me feel safer."

His eyes widened a bit at that.

"Yeah, it surprises me, too," she said with a smile.

He smiled and climbed into bed beside her, though he kept his distance.  She wasn't going to let him get away with that, though. She wiggled back  against him until she was spooned up against his chest. It took him a  few more seconds, but then he wrapped his arm around her and held her  close.

"Let me know if you need more space."

"I will," she said, though she had no intention of ever saying a word.

They lay quietly together for a few minutes.

"Brooks?"

"Hmm?" he whispered sleepily.

"I'm glad you were there tonight."

"I'll always be there," he said.

Her heart beat a little quicker at that but she didn't say anything,  just wrapped her arm around his and snuggled back against him.