Page 78 of Tore Up

“Why does this room smell so fucking good?” he asked.

My gaze swung to the bag of items Bane had bought me. I hadn’t even noticed it, but he was right. It smelled delicious.

“New bath products. I was out of the things I’d brought with me,” I explained.

His eyebrows shot up. “I see,” he replied before leaving the room.

When the door closed behind him, I stood up and went to get one of my bikinis. I was being sensitive. Bane might have had other things on his mind when we got here and needed to talk to one of the guys. He didn’t have to give me his complete attentionall the time. This was probably part of the pregnancy hormonal thing messing with my emotions. The knot in my stomach loosened, and by the time I was changed to go downstairs, I felt better.

Ransom gave me a nod from the sofa in the great room, and Oz called out a, “Hey,” when I passed the kitchen.

I looked for Bane, hoping to get a glimpse, but I didn’t see him. Stepping into the warm late afternoon sunshine, I saw Than already swimming in the deep end. Forge was on the phone at the outdoor bar, telling someone what they were out of. He glanced up and saw me. He smiled, then went back to looking at their supply beneath the counter.

I laid the towel I’d brought down on a lounger just as I heard the thudding that I recognized. Bane was in the gym. Knowing he was still in the house made me relax. Why that was the case, I wasn’t sure. But I wanted to know he was close.

Very bad reaction, Halo. Very, very bad.

“Feels good,” Than called out to me.

I started toward the zero-entry end of the pool and walked in, slowly adjusting to the cool water a little at a time.

Than tilted his head back and ran his hand over his head, slicking the wet locks back before looking in my direction. His eyes drifted down to my stomach, and a slow curl of his lips appeared. “You’ve got a bump.”

I glanced down. It had started to show more this week. I was also pretty certain that the strange feeling of actual butterflies in my stomach was the baby. I’d read that it could feel that way at first.

“Yeah, it really seemed to pop out there almost overnight,” I replied.

Than’s eyes met mine when I looked back up at him. “When do you get another ultrasound?” he asked me.

“At twenty weeks.” I was anxious to see how much he’d grownand changed.

The brief flicker of sadness that crossed his expression made me wonder if I’d imagined it.

He smiled brightly. “I want to go to that one.”

That was unexpected.

“Oh, okay,” I replied, not sure what Grissele would think of that. I knew she would be taking me.

“Tell me what you did while we were gone,” he said. “Bane swore he wouldn’t leave you here alone all day.”

He had? Was that why he’d spent time with me? Because he’d had to? No. Bane didn’t do things he didn’t want to do. Did he?

Than was looking at me, waiting on me to say something.

“We went to the stables, had a picnic, watched movies at night, and today, he took me to get shampoo and soap, then took me to the library.”

The surprise on Than’s face was followed by a short laugh. “Seems he did as promised.”

There was that again. Bane doing something he had to do. Now that they were back, he didn’t have to spend time with me. The … friendship I had thought we were forming wasn’t that at all.

I listened to the thud of the punching bag. I wished they’d stayed gone longer. I hadn’t been ready for my time with Bane to end, and I was afraid it had.

When Than had said guests, he’d meant women. The feminine laughter filtered through the house as I finished the meal that Wilma had made for me alone in the kitchen.

After swimming, I had gone to take a shower and use my new products that not only smelled heavenly, but my hair was also smoother and my skin felt like silk. That small little enjoymentthough had been short-lived.

The closer I’d gotten to the great room and the more female voices I heard, the heavier the rock in my stomach seemed to get. Once I reached the entrance, I scanned the room to see a blonde on Locke’s lap with her legs open and his hand between them and Forge with a redhead straddling his lap on the opposite end of the sofa. Backing up before I was noticed, I’d caught a glimpse of Than outside, leading a naked woman further into the darkness.

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