Page 19 of Not Ready

“Oh, you’re next door to me.” Her head tilts as she smiles up at me, and my heart tries to take flight right out of my chest.

I clear my throat, shoving the door open. “I needed to keep you close.” Stepping over to my dresser, I pull open the drawer where I keep my undershirts. I grab out an old Marines T-shirt. It’s soft, and no matter how many times it’s washed, it always manages to hold hints of my scent.

“It’s such a crazy feeling being here with you. I’ve imagined it a lot over the years,” she says. “Which is probably inappropriate to admit.”

“Hardly,” I grunt, digging out a pair of sweats.

“I have my doubts I’ll even fit in your clothes.”

I turn to face her, quirking an eyebrow. I’ve got the better part of a foot in height on her and at least a hundred pounds. It doesn’t matter that she’s carrying around extra baby weight. I’m built like a tank.

“Is the towel tied tightly enough to stay up if you raise your arms?”

She nods.

“Then, arms up, gorgeous.” I shove the sweats under my arm and shake out the shirt.

Her arms fly up, making a silly smile cross my face.

She’s fucking adorable.

Yanking the shirt down, I help pull her hair out of the neck hole. There’s a bubble where the towel is tied.

Apparently, I have zero chill or sense of boundaries. My hand slides up the shirt, pulling the towel free. I keep my eyes on hers and run my hands down her hips to straighten out the shirt.

“How shocking. It fits.” I chuckle. The shirt falls a few inches past her cunt, and I hit my knees. “Hold on to my shoulders.”

She complies again with no complaints. My hand falls to her ankle, giving it a tap. She raises it, and I help her into that leg of my sweats before repeating the process on the other side. I pull them up for her, making sure my thumbs brush her hips as I do. The caveman part of my brain loves that she’s bare underneath my clothes.

The household intercom system buzzes, and Mercy’s voice fills the air. “Bishop, your food has arrived. I grabbed it so that it wouldn’t get cold. It’s on the kitchen counter.”

“You should say thank you,” she whispers when I don’t say anything. Her blonde waves cascade around her breasts as she nods toward the nightstand with the phone that houses the intercom system.

“It only picks up your reply if you hold down the button.” I try to hold back the smile, but she’s really cute.

“Oh, good to know.”

I stand to my full height, but I can’t seem to force myself to put any distance between us.

My hand falls to her stomach.

I know I’m supposed to ask for permission. My sisters chewed my damn ear off when it happened to them. I get that no one should touch a baby belly without permission, but yeah, I’ve already accepted that I’m a pushy son of a bitch.

“Are you good to head downstairs to eat? Or I can run down and grab it if you’re more comfortable eating up here.” I tease my hand over the worn fabric of my T-shirt. The little lady must be feeling lazy because no matter how hard I wish for her to move, she stays still.

An adorable little crinkle forms in the middle of Vale’s brow. “You’ll be with me?”

“Yeah, gorgeous. I’m not leaving your side.” I barely manage to control the crazy talk that wants to escape, but I still think it. I’m not sure how I’m going to manage to let her sleep in her own bed tonight. The urge to take the drive to DC to stamp the life out of Andrew is about the only thing that could pull me away until that baby is born. Maybe even after, because she’ll need help. I never could stomach the thought of her alone, with only her roommate for backup.

Not that I’ve got a problem with Kate, but I’ve known for two years that Vale is meant to be mine.

In no universe did I see her coming with a bonus human being. But after I got over the urge to track down the guy who ghosted her, I realized pretty quickly that I really don’t care that the baby isn’t biologically mine.

I figure, ninety-nine percent of being a parent is showing up and putting in the work, anyway. If anything, I’m grateful she doesn’t have to birth one of my gigantic babies on the first try. Seriously, I was nearly twenty-three inches and eleven pounds at birth.

“Okay, then. Yeah, let’s eat downstairs.” She grabs my hand and gives a gentle tug. “I haven’t had anything all day. Once the terror wore off, I noticed I’m actually starving.”

Do not threaten to spank her ass… Do not make a big deal about the fact she hasn’t eaten recently.

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