Authors: Marla Monroe
“Tell him that you don’t give a fuck, and that you’re not marrying him.”
“I don’t give a fuck. I’m not marrying you. Good-bye, Michael.” She disconnected and laid the phone back on the counter. It immediately began ringing again.
“Ignore it. He’s been following you, or having you followed.”
“I’m sorry. I led him right to you.” She wrapped her arms around herself to try and control the shivering.
“Easy, baby. It was going to happen anyway. We still have time to talk to the gang tomorrow before he starts anything.”
Tears slipped from her eyes.
Damn pregnancy hormones.
She couldn’t stop them or the shaking. Allen walked over and pulled her into his arms. He rubbed her back and whispered in her ear.
Shane walked toward the back of the condo where her bedroom was. She pulled out of Allen’s arms to follow Shane. She needed to pack and get them out of there.
“Where is your suitcase, baby?” Shane asked when she walked in the bedroom behind him.
“Top of the closet.” She began gathering a couple of changes of clothes when he brought her large suitcase and laid it open on the bed. “I don’t need the large one. The small one would be just fine.”
“I want you to have enough clothes in case we have to go out of town for a few days. I’m not leaving you with Michael acting like a dick. I don’t trust him.”
“Fine. I’ll use this suitcase.” She wasn’t going to argue with him. She had a headache. Too much had happened in a short period of time.
By the time she had everything packed, the large suitcase was full. She’d made sure to add her Kindle and the picture of her parents before her mother died. Why she wanted that, she didn’t know, but it made her feel a little better to have it close to her. She closed the suitcase and started to lift it off the bed.
“Uh-uh. You don’t lift anything heavier than your purse,” Allen said, taking the suitcase from her.
“I’m not going to complain about that,” she said with a grin.
They loaded up the suitcase and headed back to their house. She noticed that Shane and Allen both kept looking in the rearview mirror. She turned around but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She certainly didn’t see Michael’s car behind them.
“Are we being followed?” she finally asked.
“I can’t tell it if we are. I haven’t seen the same car behind us for more than a few blocks at a time.”
“I’m nothing but trouble. I know you wish you had turned me down back at that bar.” Parker let her head fall back against the seat.
“I wouldn’t have done a thing different, except for maybe not letting you go,” Allen said.
Parker didn’t know what to say to that. She guessed that she wouldn’t have changed anything either, except that she might have asked to see them again. Where did that leave her now, though?
Chapter Nine
It was close to five when they pulled back into their drive. They rearranged the bikes and pulled her car into the garage so they could close the door. Then they had her unpack the suitcase and stowed it in the walk-in closet that was achingly bare of clothes. She sat the picture of her parents on the bedside table and stared at it for several long seconds. She missed her parents. Times like this, she could have used her mom’s careful thoughts on what she needed to do.
Parker drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She was on her own with this. Well, maybe that wasn’t quite fair. The guys were offering their support in more ways than one. She had to give them credit. It wouldn’t work, though. She didn’t see how it possibly could.
“Parker?” Shane stepped back into the room with a concerned expression on his face. “Are you okay, baby?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“Allen is cooking us dinner. Do you have any preferences? Is there anything you don’t like?”
“I’m really not that picky. I’ll eat most anything.”
“Allen was worried that there might be something that would upset your stomach now.”
“Oh.” She was surprised they had thought of that. “So far, I haven’t been sick, really. Just tired, mostly.”
“It will be close to an hour before it’s ready. Why don’t you take a nap? Do you want me to rub your back while you relax?”
Parker blinked at him. Did he just offer to rub her back? She didn’t know what to say. He stood waiting for her to answer him and she was at a loss.
“Parker?”
“I–I think I’ll lie down for a little while. You don’t have to rub my back though if you don’t want to. I’m fine.”
“Let’s get you comfortable then.” He led her over to the bed and had her sit down while he knelt at her feet and removed her boots. Then he went to work on her jeans.
“I don’t have to get naked to take a quick nap, Shane.” She smiled and shook her head.
“You’ll feel better without anything constricting your breathing.”
“So getting me naked isn’t for your benefit at all.”
“Well, I’ll admit to a certain fascination with your body, but it really is so you will rest better.” He winked at her and continued removing her jeans. He left her panties on but removed her blouse one button at a time.
Once he had her blouse off, he lifted his eyebrows and nodded at her bra. He was right, she would rest better without the bra, but did she really want to leave herself that vulnerable with him?
“Lose the bra, baby. I promise not to molest you, unless of course you ask me to.”
Parker sighed and unfastened the front closure before slipping out of the constricting material. Ever since she had found out she was pregnant, her bras had felt a size too small. It had to be her imagination, right?
“Lie down on your stomach for me, Parker. I’ll rub your back until you go to sleep.”
She climbed back on the bed, rolling over on her stomach and waited to see what liberties Shane would take. To her surprise, he only rubbed her shoulders and back to the tops of her panties. He didn’t delve lower or slip around to her breasts. After a few minutes, she found herself drifting in and out of awareness.
Almost immediately, it seemed Allen’s soft voice in her ear was telling her it was time to wake up.
“Dinner is ready, baby. Are you hungry?”
“Allen?” She looked up into his eyes and saw the awareness there that she was basically naked, but he looked at her face and not her breasts.
“Time to get up, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Mmm.” She stretched and started to sit up.
Allen immediately stood up from where he had been perched on the edge of the bed. He reached down and held her hand to help her sit up. Then he reached toward the foot of the bed and handed her a robe.
She looked at it and realized it was one of theirs. It smelled of male bodywash and them. He helped her into it then pulled the lapels closed and belted it for her.
“Think you’ll be comfortable enough in that to eat?”
“Thanks, yes. This will be fine.” Why did she feel so nervous around them? They’d been all over each other almost eight weeks ago. What was different now other than the baby?
She followed Allen downstairs to the kitchen where they had the table set for three. She started to sit down, but Allen moved her to the head of the table so that they each sat on one side of her.
“I hope you like it. I figured you would be better off with something simple, so I baked some chicken with rice, and there are peas and rolls.”
“It sounds great, Allen. Thanks. You didn’t have to go through so much trouble for me. I could have eaten anything.”
“We want you to have something nutritional to eat, baby. You’re eating for two now.” Allen smiled and waited on her to start eating.
They finished the meal in an easy, relaxed silence. She didn’t feel pressed to make conversation, and she was glad. She really didn’t want to talk just yet. There would be plenty of that soon enough.
She offered to help with the dishes, but Shane shooed her away. Neither of them would let her help. She drifted into the living room then stepped outside onto the deck. It was quiet and relaxing out there. She chose a lounge chair and relaxed into it, looking up at the stars in the night sky.
She heard the door open and footsteps on the deck behind her. She didn’t bother looking to see who it was. They would both be out there before it was over with. It really was a nice night out.
“Sky’s full of stars when you live outside of the big city. Can’t really see that many of them out here.” Shane’s deep voice vibrated over her skin like a silken caress.
“It’s still lovely to see. It’s too bright where I live.”
“You’re welcome here anytime you want to come out.”
“Thanks.”
She heard the door open again and more footsteps. Then there were two lounges pulled next to hers. Close enough to talk but not close enough to crowd her. She appreciated that.
“Parker, we need to talk. Especially before the meeting tomorrow, when the rest of the guys and their wives will be here.” Allen leaned forward on the lounger.
“What do you want to talk about?” She was being a coward, making them push her.
“About the three of us and the baby. We want to have a chance at getting to know you,” Allen said.
“We sort of went about this thing ass backwards. We’re having a baby together. We need to know each other better,” Shane added.
“You’re probably right. I’m just not sure you’re going to like how you’ll be treated by some of the people around me. I don’t claim they’re my friends. I really don’t have but a couple of those. You met Sarah Beth and her fiancé.”
“We don’t give a rat’s ass about what they think, Parker. All we care about is what you think.” Allen sounded so sincere.
“We would really like it if you would move in with us, Parker.”
She started to say something, but Shane interrupted her.
“Wait, hear me out. We want to experience every part of the baby’s growth and that includes while he’s in your womb. Things, like when he first moves, his first kicks, and stuff like that.”
“How about when I first throw up? Want to be a part of that, too?” she asked sarcastically.
“Yes, we want to be there to hold your hair out of your face and rub your back for you.” Allen didn’t hesitate.
She shook her head in amazement. They had to be kidding. No man wants to be a part of the bad part of pregnancy. She had bought a book and was already dreading some of the changes her body would take her through. Did they have any idea what they were volunteering for?
“Just how much about pregnancy do you two know about?”
“Enough to know that you need help sometimes, Parker. Let us help you,” Shane said.
“I don’t know, guys. I need to think about that part.”
“Take all the time you need. We aren’t going to change our minds.”
“How do you want to handle letting people know we’re the fathers of the baby?” Allen asked.
“That’s a tricky problem. I really don’t think we need to announce it. I think that if we’re seen in public together it will come out. If someone asks me, I’ll tell them the truth.”
“We’ll do the same,” Shane said.
“I’m sorry this is affecting your jobs. I was on birth control and we used condoms. It shouldn’t have happened.”