Page 29 of Oops, My Professor Got Me Pregnant!

“Hey.” She smiled at Nico and he smiled back.

“Nice to see you again.” He took her elbows and kissed each of her cheeks, as was the French way. She blushed, as was her way. “Shall we?”

At Lauren’s nod, Nico led her toward the café he had in mind.

“This place has the best hot chocolate,” he told her as they walked. “It’s so rich, it’s almost like drinking melted chocolate.”

“I can’t wait.” Lauren grinned. “I love hot chocolate, but I usually end up drinking Swiss Miss.”

“What’s that?”

“Instant hot chocolate powder.”

Nico’s eyes widened in horror. “I don’t think you can even say you like hot chocolate, because that isn’t hot chocolate. Just wait until you try this.”

“We’ll see. Maybe the powder is better.” Lauren winked.

“That’s just such a terrible thing to say.” Nico shook his head. “I don’t know if I still want to take you to the café if you aren’t going to enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I will. Does Louis like this place?”

“Of course. We can never tell him that we got hot chocolate without him.”

“My lips are sealed.” Lauren mimed closing her mouth with a zipper and throwing away the key. “You said he’s at soccer practice today, right?”

“Right. He has practice every Tuesday and Thursday. Some weeks he loves it, and other weeks he says it’s terrible, but he always wants to go back.”

Lauren chuckled. “I think a lot of kids feel that way about their after-school activities. I was in gymnastics all through elementary school, and I went back and forth between loving it and hating it.”

“Gymnastics? Intriguing. Were you any good?”

Lauren wobbled a hand from side to side and Nico laughed.

“I can still do a cartwheel and touch my toes, but that’s about it.”

“Maybe you can teach Louis. He really wants to learn how to do a cartwheel, but so far it’s been a series of disasters.”

“I’d love to.”

Oh, no. This was moving too fast again. Nico raised a hand and they both stopped walking.

“But only if you want to. Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean you need to be a big part of Louis’s life.”

“I understand that it might be concerning for me to be involved with Louis when we don’t know how things will go between us, so I’m happy to take things as slow as you want to with him and with us. But I also want you to know that I think Louis is a wonderful boy and I’d be happy to spend more time with him, when and if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Wow.” Nico reached for Lauren’s hand and squeezed it, then kept walking with their hands entwined. “How did I get so lucky as to meet you?”

“I don’t know, but I am pretty special.” Lauren winked. “And so are you. And so is Louis. I really do think we can make all this work.”

“I really hope so.” They smiled at each other, then Nico ran his thumb over the back of Lauren’s hand. Her smile softened, and Nico felt his heart warm.

“Anyway, back to the original topic. Is Louis good at soccer?”

“He’s not bad.” Nico gave a proud grin. “He’s a good defender for his age. Or at least I would say so.”

“And are you any good at soccer?”

“Like a lot of people, I played some while I was growing up. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say that I was good at it, though. In the league where I played I wasn’t bad, but we were definitely a casual Saturday league, nothing serious.”

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