She waved her finger at me. “Nuh-uh, we’re not doing that. If we’re doing this whole relationship-thing, we’re going to communicate. It’s the only way this is going to work—or so I’m told.”
“Fine, remember you asked for honesty,” I warned her. “I was thinking about the DNA test and wondering why it was so important to you to find out if I was the father. Do you plan on breaking up with me if I’m not biologically the father?”
Nellie’s jaw dropped, and she blinked away her surprise. “No, I just, I wanted to make sure you had all the information before you made a lifelong commitment to raising a child with me.”
I nodded, accepting that answer, and walked over to her. I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, running my fingers along her jawline. “I’m telling you, I’ve already committed to raising a child with you. To being with you. Heck, I signed the paperwork, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Nellie’s lips twitched as she nodded. “And now, I guess we’re having our first sleepover. Alone.” She sounded nervous about it.
“Have you never slept over at a guy’s house before?” I asked, cocking a brow.
“Not sober, and I usually dip out before morning.”
“Why?” even in my playboy days—which granted, weren’t that far behind me—I’d let my conquests spend the night. I didn’t expect them to get dressed and leave the minute we’d finished.
Nellie shrugged. “There’s something intimate about someone seeing you in the morning.”
“Ah, I see. Well. I’d prefer to get super intimate with you as soon as possible, but I promise I’ll go at your speed. Whenever you’re ready, Nell. In the meantime, I have two guest bedrooms you could choose from if you’d rather not spend the night with me in my bed.”
Nellie seemed surprised by my answer. “Okay, thank you.”
“Are you hungry?”
“I’m always hungry these days,” she said, her hand going to her stomach.
My heart seemed to skip a beat in my chest when I remembered how she’d held my palm to her womb the other day, and I’d felt the baby moving.
“I’ve got some steak in the refrigerator I could toss on the barbeque, and some potatoes. There’s probably enough stuff to make a salad, too.”
“That sounds good,” Nellie whispered.
“Gotta keep my girls fed,” I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. I moved around her and headed to the kitchen.
“Girls? You think the baby’s a girl?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“What makes you say that?” Nellie asked, following me into the kitchen.
“It’s just a feeling I have. I have no clue if I’m right. Guess we’ll find out in time.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Noah
* * *
I applied a dry rub to the steaks, tossing them and some potatoes on the barbeque while Nellie insisted on making the salad. I had a dining room table, but I rarely used it. Instead, we sat at the island and ate our dinner while the woodstove warmed the cabin and the snow fell outside, blanketing the world around us.
“Gosh, it’s so gorgeous,” Nellie said, her gaze yet again going to the sliding door off the dining room that led to the back deck. “It must feel like a vacation living here.”
“Sometimes,” I replied, setting my fork down and wiping my mouth on a napkin. “But since I work at a cottage resort, it usually doesn’t feel like I’m ever in vacation mode. There’s always something to think about or do to make sure other people’s vacations are perfect.”
“Good thing we have no guests right now at the resort.” Nellie shook her head, looking back at me. “How long do you think it’ll take you guys to dig us out tomorrow?”
“Probably a couple of hours, at least. I’ve got a snowblower here to dig us out. There’s also Damien’s truck with the plow, and at the resort, we’ve got the ATV with a plow, and another two push snowblowers. Usually for heavy storms like this, we contract Jim at S’no Problem Snow Removal. He comes out and clears all our roads and driveways, then we can handle the rest.”
“S’no Problem?! Seriously?”
