Six months later…
I tiptoed down the stairs, heels in hand, just to avoid my overprotective fiancé. I made the grave mistake of treading on the second to last step. A loud squeak erupted and simultaneously I groaned.
“Ah ah ah, where do you think you’re going?”
“Dammit.” I couldn’t help but stamp my foot like a child at the sight of Nikolai strolling in from the living room. “I’m going to work.”
“No. You’re sick, you should be in bed.” His tone was inoffensive, but it irritated me anyway.
“I’m not sick anymore, I promise.” Despite how annoying it was, I still found his overprotective side sweet. He had nothing to worry about but it was nice that he cared so deeply. I had mistakenly indulged him the past few days but enough was enough.
Soon enough, I wouldn’t be able to work. I would be taking advantage of all the time I had left before Nik restricted me to the house. I wasn’t worried about when the time came, I knew he’d be able to handle the business without me.
I’d come to love my role in the family. It wasn’t long after we came home from my stint in Philadelphia that Kaleb decided to step down. He’d planned to do it gradually, to let me take a small amount of work off his plate.
I thought he’d been nervous about retirement, thinking that he would be bored. About three weeks after that phone call, he’d changed his mind, apparently, he was too busy loving his retirement to work. So Nikolai and I happily stepped in. Little did I know that It wouldn’t last very long, and that’s why I was trying to squeeze in as much work as possible before I finally told Nikolai that I was pregnant.
I admit I would be sad that I’d be giving it up, even just temporarily. But I could understand where Nik was coming from, between planning a wedding and growing a human baby, that wouldn’t leave much time or effort for work.
Which brought me back to the conversation at hand, “I have work to do, the Alesso’s aren’t going to give up that space to anyone but me.”
“I can handle that. You especially shouldn’t be travelling if you’re sick.”
“Nik, I’m fine. Plus you’ll be there.” I pressed a soft kiss to his lips before walking off to the kitchen. He followed me, probably with an award-winning pout. But I wouldn’t relent on this. Today, we would be flying out to Philadelphia, which is another reason I couldn’t stay home.
I didn’t usually mind the drive but when travelling with Drex and Zedd, flying was definitely the way to go. It had taken me all of thirty minutes to realise I never wanted to spend longer than thirty minutes stuck in a car with Nikolai’s brothers.
Men may have stepped into the car that day, but they rapidly morphed into whining teenage girls. I made Nikolai promise me, never again would I have to endure that torture.
Tonight we had reservations at a fancy restaurant, more for the occasion than the small portion sizes. I had been buzzing all week. I had my suspicions that Nikolai had been wanting this for a while, so I knew he was going to flip out.
