Page 24 of Whiskey Reveals

And that’s when she knew that there was something off with her body chemistry because she had thoughts like those running through her mind. Maybe all pregnant ladies had weird kinks. Or maybe every single part of Fox was hot, and she just needed to get over herself. Finding the father of your unborn child attractive shouldn’t be weird, but Melody was anything but normal.

“You came.”

At Fox’s words, she turned to look at him and frowned. “Of course, I came. We both said that we needed to talk since we each took the morning off. So, here I am. Did you think I would run away?” The thought had crossed her mind more than once, but running away from her problems hadn’t helped before, and she knew it sure as hell wouldn’t help now.

Fox shook his head and closed the door behind him. Then he reached out and gripped her hand with his. Because she was so off-kilter, so touch-starved, she let him.

“No, I didn’t think you would run away. But a small part of me thought everything that happened last night was a weird dream that I couldn’t quite wake up from. But now that you’re here, and we’re both acting so strange, I have a feeling I didn’t dream up anything.”

Melody barely resisted the urge to rest her hand on her nonexistent bump. She never used to do that at all before yesterday, and yet she had done it twice already that morning. Apparently, knowing there was a baby growing inside you turned you protective and gave you the same gestures that every pregnant woman and every TV show she’d ever watched had.

“Nope. Not a dream. I threw up this morning I think to remind myself exactly what happened.”

Fox’s face went slightly pale, and he reached out for her before lowering his arm. The two of them truly had no idea what they were doing, and it made their interaction awkward.

“Is there anything you need? I stayed up most of the night and read a bunch of articles. I even downloaded that What To Expect book, but I got confused and figured that was something maybe we should read together. Or maybe you already read it. But then I realized that you’ve only known about this a few hours longer than I have, so you probably haven’t read the book yet. I don’t actually know your reading speed because I don’t know anything about you beyond how you taste…and that was awkward as hell, so I am going to shut up now. Wait, I’m not going to shut up. I meant to ask you if you needed anything to drink or to eat or to sit down or if there’s anything I can do for you at all. And, once again, I’m going to shut up.”

If Melody weren’t already sure she’d been slowly falling for Fox since the night they met, she’d have known right then. He was just so damn caring, so perfectly imperfect and awkward.

She was just the same, and she had a feeling they would both be rambling their way into uncomfortable situations more than once as they tried to figure out what they were going to do about the whole babything.

Because, dear God, they were having a baby.

A real baby.

A baby that was currently inside her like that thing from Alien.

Fox’s hands gripped her upper arms, and she blinked so his face came into focus. “You just got really pale. What’s wrong?”

Was it wrong of her that she wanted to lie and say that she was pale because she thought she might be falling in love with him rather than mentioning the fact that she couldn’t get that horrible scene from Alien out of her head?

She’d officially lost her damn mind, but she told him the truth anyway. Just not about the love thing because that was something she was pretty sure she would have to hide away forever if she wanted to stay sane.

“I was just thinking about the fact that when my stomach rolls now, I don’t know if it’s nausea or the thing from Alien trying to escape. And that probably puts me in the record books for being a bad mother, but I’ve only been at this gig for about twenty-two hours now, so hopefully, you’ll let that slide.”

Fox stared at her for a moment, and she thought he might say something that would make her feel like an idiot, but he threw back his head and laughed.

“Oh, God. I’m so glad you said that because I totally had that image in my brain when you were talking about this yesterday. But I didn’t want to say it because it sounded so insensitive and insane. But if you’re thinking it and I’m thinking it, then it has to be okay. And that means we are totally in this together because we’ve lost our minds.”

She shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. “I don’t really know if the basis for good parenting should be a shared imagination of an alien ripping through stomach lining and murdering people in a hospital room. But it has been a while since I’ve seen the movie so I could be wrong about the mothering instincts of extraterrestrials.”

That sent both of them into a fit of laughter, and soon, she found herself in Fox’s arms as he held her close, rubbing his hands down her back. And though she knew it was meant to be comforting, she couldn’t help but inhale his scent and remember how he felt when he hovered over her that night.

“I didn’t even ask you what you wanted to do with the baby. I know I should have. And I know it’s your choice and understand I’ll be here, no matter what happens. But I want you to know that even if you decide that you never want to talk to me again, I’m not really going away. Because, yeah, my mind is whirling and I still feel like I’m two steps behind, but I’m going to be there for you and the baby. And I’m not going to be there with just a paycheck. I know you don’t really know anything about my family, and that is something that’s going to change soon I think, but I have watched both of my brothers deal with being some variation of single fathers. I’ve watched what happens when custody agreements pull children away from their dads, even if it sounded like a reasonable explanation at the time. And I’ve watched my eldest brother raise his daughter on his own because his ex wanted absolutely nothing to do with being a mom. I don’t want that for whatever child we have. I’ve watched my family struggle, and I’ve watched those children thrive, and I’ve tried to be the best uncle that I can be. But I want you to know that I want to be the man you need me to be, in any way you need it. But I don’t want to just be a figment of this child’s life. So, if you choose to continue on with this pregnancy, I hope you let me be by your side. I hope that you let me figure out how to be part of this child’s life.”

He swallowed hard, and Melody tried to figure out the words that she needed to say because she was so overwhelmed with emotion she could barely catch her breath.

“That was a lot more than I had planned to say while standing here holding you in the front part of my house. I haven’t even let us into the living room to talk, yet I’m standing here making declarations and promises that I don’t even know if you can quite believe since you don’t really know me yet. But you will know me, Melody. I wanted to get to know you before this happened. I feel as if we were on the verge of something more than just friendship and a few text messages before all of this happened, and I know everything’s going to change, but I want you to know that you can count on me. And, I guess I have a lot more on my mind than I thought.”

And because Fox had said the exact right thing and she didn’t have the words herself, she went up onto her toes and kissed him. It was only supposed to be a brush of lips, a sweet embrace to say thank you for being the man he was, but as soon as her lips pressed against his, she knew she would be lost in him until the end of days.

They had so much to talk about, so many plans to make and details to hash out. Her life was a roller coaster of endless decisions and responsibilities, but all she wanted to do was push that all out the window and ignore it—just for now. All of the decisions and plans would still be there waiting even if she let go, so she parted her lips and deepened the kiss, knowing that this might be a mistake, but realizing it was a mistake worth making.

She clung to him, and he did the same with her, his hands roaming down her back to cup her butt and press her closer to his hips. She could feel the long line of his erection pressed into her stomach, and she gasped out a breath, forcing herself to try and slow down.

Fox pulled away, as well, his breath coming in hard pants also. “That was… I think it was better than the first time. And I didn’t think that was possible.” She licked her lips, and this time, pressed her hands to her belly. Fox caught the motion, and his eyes darkened. He didn’t pale, he didn’t freak out. He looked…happy.

And yet she had no idea what she was feeling.

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