Page 67 of Capitally Unexpected

My mom walks away in a huff. Laurel steps forward with her coat and purse. “Here you go,AuntDiana.” My mother wrenches them away from her and walks around the corner without a second look.

“No other family? I’m literally her cousin, standing right here,” Laurel says, failing to keep her voice down.

“So not the time, babe,” Caitlin says, but it breaks the mood, and I start laughing. After a moment though, the laughter stops and the tears come. Hunter cups my face and pulls me into him.

“I think we need to take a rain check on those presents,” I hear him say over my head.

“Of course,” Charlotte responds. “You guys get home. We’ll figure everything else out.”

“I’ll go run and get your stuff,” Laurel says, and I hear her shoes clacking at a pace that tells me she’s actually running.

I wipe under my eyes and turn to face my friends. “I’m really sorry you all had to hear that.”

“I’m sorry you had to live with that,” Spencer says, and Duncan elbows him. “What? We were all thinking it.”

A wet laugh-sob combo leaves me. Laurel returns with our jackets and my bag and throws her arms around me, pushing Hunter off. “Love you, cuz. Lunch soon?”

“Love you, too. You’ve got it.”

Waving to everyone else, I let Hunter guide me to the elevator and follow him to the sidewalk and into a taxi on autopilot. He somehow manages to buckle himself into the middle seat so I can lay my head on his shoulder andclose my eyes. “Let’s go home.”

Thirty minutes later, I’ve scrubbed my face clean of makeup, twisted my hair into a bun, and have on the comfy two-piece maternity lounge set from Costco I bought in all three colors. This one’s a jewel green.

“I love you in this color,” Hunter says from the couch. He’s changed into grey sweatpants and a tight white T-shirt, showing off more of the ink on his arms, and a hint of the color on his shoulders through the thin fabric. He pats the couch next to him, and I waddle over and sink down.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not even a little bit,” I say, scrunching up my face.

“Got it. I felt like I needed to ask.”

“And I love you for it.” I lean over to peck him on the lips, lingering for two or three more kisses before he pulls away.

“So, what do you want to do? Order in takeout? Foot rub? Movie marathon of your choosing? An orgasm or two? Anything and everything is on the table.”

I laugh and lay my head on his shoulder, hating I had to move it to get out of the car and change. “Definitely takeout, because you never offer that. Then, movie and foot rub for sure. Let’s see how the food settles and what pressure points you hit. The orgasm might be necessary.”

“Here.” He hands me his phone. “We’ll divide and conquer. Pick out what you want to eat. I’ll start rubbing and then the orgasms can start before the food gets here.”

“This is why you’re going to conquer the meal planning world. You’re a genius.” We rearrange so my feet are in his lap, and my back is up against the side of the couch. His thumbs get to work, and from the first second his hands are on me, I’m positive even without the baby hormones, this would end in orgasms. My eyes close and my head tilts back, forgetting I’m supposed to be looking for food.

A knock at the door startles us both.

“Did you order food by osmosis?”

I look down at the phone, making sure I didn’t pregnancybrain my way into ordering something and losing track of time. “Nope, that’s not from me.”

“Maybe they’ll go away,” he says, resuming his rubbing.

“We know you’re in there. Open up.”

“Spencer?” Hunter says, putting my feet on the couch and getting up to open the door.

“Listen,” Spencer says as he tumbles in the door, followed by a parade of Brandts, plus Charlotte, Jax, Laurel, and Caitlin. “If you hate this idea, they talked me into it. But if you love it, I want all the credit.”

Jax rolls her eyes, adopting the exasperated older sister look very well for an only child. I’ll have to get her to teach me. “What Spencer is trying to say is we hated you didn’t get to finish your party. We needed to bring the presents over at some point anyway, so we thought we’d see if you wanted to open them now, in front of a smaller crowd. Nancy let us in. She feels awful about bringing your mom to the shower.”

“Besides, we have this cake Duncan paid the hotel an arm and leg for.” Preston sets it down on the coffee table.

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