“Mmm.”He moans sleepily.
“Nothing, go back to sleep.”I wait, listening to him breathe, to make sure he went back to sleep.
Great!I feel a sliver of relief when all I hear is his even breathing and feel the steady rise and fall of his chest against my back.Thank goodness for jet lag.I have to make sure I get up before he does in the morning, get out of bed, and be dressed and ready to go.Him being the master observer he is, I’m going to have to come up with a reason why I’m up and leaving earlier than usual.You tell one little white lie and you end up having to make up a million little ones to back up the first lie you tell.This is why I don’t like to lie, but this is for his own good and my sanity for the next four months.If he finds out I’m lying to him about this I can see him losing his mind, locking me up in here, and tying me to this bed on permanent bed rest.
I’m dressed and ready bythe time he wakes up and comes in the kitchen for his coffee.I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night.I was trying so hard not to think about the baby, the spotting, and lying to Nick, that I kept waking up.I couldn’t stay asleep for longer than thirty minutes.
I get up to wash my plate and cup in the sink and hear him come up behind me, kissing me on the cheek.I turn my head and press my lips firmly against his.
“You’re up early,” he says, rubbing his hands up and down the sides of my arms.
“I have an early morning staff meeting before class.”
“I wanted to wake up next to you my first morning back.”
His hands go from my arms, to the sides of my waist, to under my belly.The tip of his nose and his lips move up and down the side of my neck.I take a fortifying breath to keep up my defenses to him.“I know what you wanted.It’s too late, I have to go.I wish I could stay longer.”I finish with the dishes and dry my hands on a towel.
“It’s not too late,” he says, his hands moving down into the waistband of my pants.
I put the towel down and put my hand on the side of his face.“I would love to, but I can’t.I’m going to be late, Nick.”
“Come on, I missed you.”
“I know, but I can’t.I could afford to be late if someone didn’t keep turning off my alarm.”I pull his hands away from my pants and turn in his arms.
“It’ll be quick, promise.”
He cages me in with his hands on the sink on either side of me, kissing the side of my mouth with a flick of his tongue.I swallow and tilt my head back.He’s making me wish I could give him what he wants.I can’t look in his eyes when he’s looking at me like this.I push his arm away and with my back pressed against the counter I slip past him.Talk about narrow escapes.
“You are never quick,” I say tartly, grabbing my blazer off the chair.He sighs, pouts his lips, and leans back against the counter with his hands across his chest.He looks adorable, but I can’t.I bite down on my lips and smile at him, putting my bag over my shoulder.“This will teach you to stop turning off my alarm.”I can’t leave him like this.“I gotta go.”
I walk back over to him, pin one of his arms down, making sure he doesn’t trap me.He smiles down at me with a wicked gleam in his eyes and I grab him by the tie.“Come here.Let me leave you with a little something to hold you over till tonight.”His soft firm lips cover mine, and he gives me a deep kiss, sucking my tongue so deep in his mouth I can hardly breathe, giving me a pulsing ache between my legs with each gentle suck of my tongue pressed against his.Oh, shit.This is more than I bargained for.I wanted to turn him on, not the other way around.If I don’t get a hold of myself, I’m going to be fucked and in big trouble after he curses my ass out for lying to him.It’s hard when he knows exactly what to do; he makes it feel so good.The muscles in his arms move and I quickly jump back, placing my hand against his chest to distance myself from him.Taking a ragged breath, I wipe my fingertips across my lips and hustle to the door with a wave of my hand.
With a comical look of disbelief he says, “How is that holding me over?”I give him a smile in answer to his question and he yells across the room when I open the door, “You going to leave me like this, hanging up high and dry?”
“I got you all hot and bothered?Don’t worry, I’m saving it all for when I get home.Bye, babe.”I throw his words back at him from when he refused to have phone sex with me.
“I can play too, Cat!”
“I know you can, but remember, I can give as good as I get.”I close the door and giggle all the way to the sidewalk.
I’m sitting in the exam room, waiting for my doctor to come in to examine me, when the nurse finishes with me.The office called me two hours ago and told me they had to push back my doctor’s appointment for today because he was held up at the hospital.I told her it would be fine.It’s always cold in here, and this little paper gown is making it worse.I told the nurse what happened and she took my blood pressure and everything, the normal routine.Which is a good sign.
My doctor comes in and asks me some questions.I tell him I wasn’t feeling any pain or discomfort.After he listens to the baby’s heartbeat and asks me more questions, I lie back with my feet in the stirrups.He examines me and says he didn’t see anything, that the bleeding’s stopped, and the baby’s heartbeat is strong.Lying there, staring up at the ceiling, I was nervous he was going to tell me something was wrong.The only thing that came to my mind was what I was going to tell Nick.When he was finished with the exam, it was like a ten-pound anvil was lifted off my chest when he said the baby and I were fine.It was then I realized how much I was worried, trying to convince myself everything was fine.I feel better about lying to Nick now that I’m sure the baby’s fine.
Sitting up on the exam table, I ask the doctor, “The bleeding is nothing serious to worry about?”
He stops typing in the computer and spins around on the stool to face me.“In some cases bleeding can indicate a serious problem.In your case, no.I’ve examined you and I haven’t found anything that would indicate anything serious.”
“Could…how can I put this?”This is embarrassing, but I have to ask.I look down, searching for the right words to use.He smiles and waits for me to finish.“Could vigorous intercourse have been the cause of me spotting?”How embarrassing for me to have to ask this question.Nick wouldn’t be embarrassed at all.He would have gone so far as to ask about positions, in full detail, without censor.I would be beyond embarrassed.
“Typically light bleeding in the second and third trimester can be caused by interference with the cervix during intercourse, the vaginal exam I gave you, or pregnancy hormones making expanding blood vessels more sensitive.”
“I can go home and tell my boyfriend I’m fine, that there’s nothing to worry about?”
“I assure you, you and the baby are fine.If you start to feel pain, swelling, or if you start bleeding like a period, give us a call and come in or go straight to the hospital.”
“I’ll do that if anything changes.Thank you.”That’s a relief.
