Fuck! Well, I suppose that answers how much she heard.
Chapter 26
Declan
Today has to be the weirdest Monday ever. Not the hardest or worst, but theweirdest.
I am checking out possible places for a new bar with Liv and she is in a very strange mood. I can’t put my finger on it, but she is sombre, a little too quiet and every time I look at her, I find her watching me with an expression akin to sympathy. Initially I wondered if she and Mase had had some kind of argument, but he called her earlier in the day and they were clearly on good terms, very good terms.
We are just leaving a warehouse on the docks that would be an amazing location and the possibilities for making it a unique venue are limitless when I start questioning if there is something going on in the Carrington family because Anita was in a strange mood from the second we left the baby shower. In fact, even leaving there was an odd experience. Anita and Liv returned from the kitchen, but now that I think about it, Liv seemed to be in pursuit of Anita as they reappeared in the lounge where the rest of us were. Liv was empty handed, despite going into the kitchen to collect cake. Anita had a tray piled high with cake and once it was distributed, she had suggested we leave. We did and before we had reached the end of the drive, she was all over me, not that I objected to that in any way. I lived for that, but now, with hindsight paired with Liv’s weird mood, there is something fishy going on, of that, I am sure.
Maybe I would have smelled a rat sooner had Anita not been naked for the remainder of the weekend. By the time we’d gotten back to mine, she had already given me the best blow job of my life and before the front door closed, I was rock hard at the sight of her shedding her clothes. That is how the rest of the weekend had gone. Again, I had no objection to my lady being horny and seeking out pleasure from and with me, but now, her dedication to shagging me into oblivion seems like it may have been some kind of distraction and fuck me if it didn’t work.
“You and Mase enjoy the baby shower?”
“What?” Liv spins to face me and looks alarmed by my very innocent question.
My suspicion is rising.
She seems to take stock. “Sorry, miles away. We didn’t want one in the first place, but yes, it was nice to see everyone.”
“Even Christian?” My question is light-hearted, and I expect Liv to laugh at the idea that she would ever be pleased to see him.
Her reaction, like her face is one of horror and I would almost go as far as to suggest fear. She stops dead and stares up at me looking nervous. Shit! Did he do something or say something to really upset her?
“Liv, are you okay? Did something happen?” I am as nervous as her now because if it did, I will tell Mase, and he will lose his shit big style.
“What? No!” She almost shrieks the last word, and the addition of a very strange and high-pitched laugh confirms she is lying about something.
“Liv…”
Her phone rings, interrupting us. I stand by, leaning against my car as she agrees to find somewhere for lunch and to sit down and relax for at least an hour before looking at any more locations with me. She giggles and laughs with Mase and looks like she usually does, so whatever is making her act strange, along with her sister is nothing to do with her and my brother, leading me to the conclusion that her mood and behaviour is down to one thing. One person.
Sitting in a nearby pub, Liv and I eat lunch. She has her computer out and is already putting together a list of pros and cons for the three places we’ve already seen. I watch on as she grabs a notepad and pencil and begins to quickly sketch ideas for each of the possible locations keeping the general theme from Dazzler.
She is incredibly focused, so much so that she doesn’t seem to notice me studying her, engrossed as she is in her drawing. She is no longer preoccupied or nervous in any way. It’s like this, work, and when she’s with Mase are her natural environments. I can’t help but smile, my smile only broadening when she subconsciously reaches down to gently stroke her belly.
“How is the next Harding generation?”
She looks up and grins across at me and for the first time I can see that the pregnancy glow is a very real thing. I am beginning to wonder what Anita would look like, her belly swollen with my baby and her whole being aglow.
“Sitting on my bladder if you really want to know.”
I laugh, back in the moment with my sister-in-law rather than with her non pregnant sister as she staggers to her feet, clutching her side and wincing.
“You okay there, tubs?”
She scowls at me but doesn’t really rise to my sizeist comment. “Aside from the fact that if I don’t leave right now for the bathroom, I’m going to leave a puddle and your shoes are in the splash zone.”
“Wow! Mase is beyond blessed to have you with lines like that…I have no more words.”
She giggles and makes her way to the bathroom, looking very much like a cross between a duck and a penguin.
I pick up my phone and roll it in my hand before dropping Anita a quick text, all earlier suspicions and thoughts of her weird mood gone.
