Page 129 of His Big Bad Stick

I bring my left hand back and Turner grabs my arm. “How about we wait outside for the ride to the gentlemen’s club?”

“Go for it,” I say.

Dax smiles the entire way out of the gallery.

I don’t need any of them to get involved in my life when it comes to Abrielle.

Also… for the record…

No matter what I did for the guys just now…

… I never said the words ‘thank you’ …

“I could have done something for them.”

“Like what, kitten?” I ask.

The mischievous look in my eyes gives me away.

Abrielle sighs with disgust. “Yes, that’s right. Come look at the pregnant woman. Let me get naked for you.”

“Works for me,” I say with a slight grin.

“Do you want to be there right now?”

“Where?” I ask.

Abrielle tilts her head. “Colver, stop it. I just need to know. Be truthful with me. Please.”

“Wait, are you talking about the gentlemen’s club?”

“Stop calling it that,” Abrielle growls. “It’s a fancy strip club. Just say it that way.”

“No,” I say. “Teddy runs a good business over there.”

“You’re defending… never mind, Colver. You know what? It’s been a really long day. I should go. You did so much for me today. I can never thank you enough. I mean that. I don’t want to be in the way right now.”

“Do you think I have you here for pity? What is going through your damn hormonal brain right now?”

“Just go to the gentlemen’s club.”

The icy sarcasm in that sentence is enough to make the heat want to turn in my apartment.

“Wow,” I say. “You think I’d rather be there than here? Worse yet, you think I’m lying to you about it. If I didn’t want to be, I wouldn’t be here. Is this jealousy because of the pregnancy or just who you are all the time? Just wondering what I’m up against for the next… how many months…?”

“And then what?” Abrielle yells. “Then what happens with us? You think that ends things? What are you going to do? See the baby a couple times a week or something? Huh?”

Abrielle then covers her mouth.

Her cheeks turn red.

I take another step closer to her and she turns, then runs to the bathroom and slams the door hard.

I’m not sure if I’m out of line here or not, but if this is the kind of stuff pregnancy does to someone’s hormones, then I’m in for a long road.

She’s got a few minutes before I kick down the bathroom door and handle this myself.

How?

---