“Since when?” I inquire, curious where his mindset is on that topic.
He places his hand over my belly and cups it. “Since this.”
Tears well in my eyes—stupid hormones. “You’ve flipped my entire world upside down.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Britt.”
Jersey stiffening captures my attention and I swivel my head to where I’m looking at her dead on. Slayer takes the seat beside her which has her cemented in place. She’s like a living, breathing, statue. But it’s the moony look on her face that has me second guessing the reason behind her uncomfortableness.
I think somebody’s got a crush on the vice president.
He’s rougher around the edges than what I pictured her future man being. But they do say opposites attract, and in this case, that’s exactly what it is. They couldn’t be any more different than night and day.
I’d brush it off as a one-sided attraction on her part, but when Slayer intentionally brushes his arm against hers and slyly looks at her underneath the brim of his hat, I know it’s not. It hits me out of the blue, he’s getting her used to his touch before he makes his move.
“Holy shit,” I mumble.
“What?” Tanner asks as he follows my line of sight.
“Oh. Never saw that coming,” he states. “It’s going to go one of two ways. Either she’s going to be receptive and he’s going to help her crawl her way out of that shell she’s shrouded herself in, or she’s going to run like a scared rabbit and he’s going to chase her.”
“I see the second one happening,” I convey. “And like the predator he is, he won’t let her get away.”
“He’s not a predator, baby, he’s an alpha man,” Tanner rebuts.
“Same thing, Tanner,” I counter.
“No, Britt, it’s not. A predator goes after his game and once he’s done playing with it, he throws it away. An alpha man knows what he wants, goes after it, and keeps it.”
“So he’s a neanderthal?” I question.
“Aren’t we all?” he asks, gesturing to the room ladened down with men in black leather.
I scan the men around the table who are sitting here with their better halves, and each one of them has a possessive arm slung over their old lady’s shoulders.
Indiana has Zoey basically draped across his lap.
Riptide and Van couldn’t sit any closer together than they are, because if they were, she’d be wrapped around him like a koala.
Icerdoeshave Letti sitting sideways in his lap, feeding her from their shared plate. That’s sweet, in a ‘me Tarzan, you Jane’ type of way.
These men are a conundrum. If you were to judge them by their outside appearance, you’d never think they were as dedicated, loving, and loyal to the women in their lives. Then I look at Tanner out of my peripheral, and realize we’re touching in one way or another. Our legs are basically adhered, our shoulders are perfectly aligned regardless of our height difference, and he’s watching me with an eagle eye to make sure I’m eating.
Which I am, today, I’m ravenous, and I know I’ll pay for it sooner rather than later because it never really goes away. Much to my hope that I wouldn’t suffer from morning sickness, the momentmy pregnancy was confirmed, it hit like a sledgehammer. It took my stomach a minute to catch up with what my mind already knew. But ever since I got here last night, I’ve been queasy and worshiping the porcelain throne like it holds all the answers to the kingdom.
Here’s the thing, I don’t give a shit about gaining that knowledge, I could care less, especially in the middle of the night when all I want to do is sleep.
“Is it back, Britt?” Tanner asks, reading my mind and giving me a probing stare. When I don’t answer in a timely manner, at least not according to him, his voice raises and he repeats his question, “The morning sickness, is it back?”
I inhale past the ever-present nausea, swallow, and answer, “It seems to always be there, lurking and waiting to catch me by surprise. How did you know?”
“Your face is a little pale, you’re swallowing a lot, and you’re holding your stomach,” he answers. “We need to ask Zoey who she’s seeing so we can schedule you an appointment and ask the doctor what we can do to help you hold food down.”
“I planned on asking her once breakfast was over,” I tell him. “I have a lot of questions to ask.”
“Such as?” He turns around, giving me his sole attention.
“I’ve heard there are some things you can’t do or eat when expecting. I just don’t know how much of that is a myth and how much is the truth.”
