Chapter Six
“You’re not going.”
“Yes I am.”
“No. You’re. Not.”
“For god’s sake Tristan, it’s just a group of women getting together and talking. We’re not climbing a mountain.”
“The doctor ordered you to rest.”
Cov rolled her eyes at him. “I have been resting and I’m not running over to Amanda’s you’re going to drive me. The most active I’ll be is a couple of trips to the bathroom which is all I’ve done for days.”
Two days. It had only been two days since they saw the doctor. But he could hear the frustration in her voice, see it on her face and knew he’d have to give in on this. Just the thought of her out of his sight for a few hours gave him hives. How the hell was he going to cope when he went back on shift in two days time?
Forty-eight hours without seeing her would kill him.
He didn’t want to think about the things she’d get up to without him here to remind her to rest. Or think about the huge storm heading their way. The forecast called for eight inches in one day. The one day he wouldn’t be home.
“Look. I know you’re worried. I am too, but Dr. Gilmore said my blood pressure was only a little elevated from my last check up and could be attributed to the long drive across the country and lack of sleep,” she reasoned.
He knew all that. Knew he shouldn’t be as worried as he was but that didn’t stop him from coming up with numerous bad-case scenarios. Which was why he’d bought a blood pressure machine. Although he hadn’t told her about it. Hadn’t shown her everything that had arrived with the UPS guy this morning. Not after she’d freaked out when he opened the box of pregnancy books.
So he’d bought a few. Twenty was a few, right?
“Please. If I don’t get out of this house soon I’m going to go postal and beat my head against a wall.” She threw her hands in the air then gripped her head and crossed her eyes for emphasis.
Tris cocked one eyebrow. “Dramatic much?”
“Ha! You’re not the one who’s not allowed to lift more than a glass of water or walk more than five steps without being yelled at.”
He grinned. “Yelled at?”
She let go of her head with a sigh. “Okay, fine, not yelled at exactly.”
Reaching out he drew her closer and tipped her face up to his. God he wanted to kiss that mouth. He hadn’t touched her in a sexual way since the other day. In spite of the fact they were sharing his bed each night he’d managed to keep his hands—and lips and let’s not mention any other body parts—to himself. But she had this pout thing going on and she looked so cute in her frustration that he couldn’t resist dropping his mouth on hers for a brief kiss.
“All right. I’ll drive you to Amanda’s.” Her grin blinded him. “But you’re only staying for two hours, not a minute more, and I’m checking your blood pressure before we leave and again when I pick you up.”
“Okay. Whatever you say.” Her smile drooped, her eyes narrowed. “Wait. How are you going to check my blood pressure?”
“I bought a machine.”
“You bought…” She shook her head. “When? You haven’t left me alone for five minutes. There’s no way you could have gone to the shops without me knowing.”
She looked at him as though she’d cut his knees off if he admitted to sneaking out without her. Laughing, he dropped another kiss on her lips before tucking her in close and holding her tight. “I bought it online.”
“When?”
“Same time I bought all those books you turned you nose up at. Thursday night. After you went to sleep.” He’d watched her for hours, the glow from his phone screen the only light in the room, while he’d googled all manner of things to do with babies and pregnancy. Eye opening were the words he’d use to describe that night.
“Oh.”
His brain was now filled with far more information about a woman’s body and what happened to it during pregnancy than one man could handle. But it was his heart that was overflowing. In the dull light of his bedroom, with Cov snuggled up next to him sound asleep, he’d had an epiphany.
He was completely in love with her.
Totally, irrevocably in love with Covington Valenti.
