Page 392 of The Tempted

Lauren didn’t even look at me as she answered him.

“I’ll be fine, once he’s medicated he’s a pussycat,” she reassured him, as she led him toward the door. “Thanks for coming by and enjoy the car,” she said.

“Thanks,” the guy said, glancing over his shoulder at me again.

I moved to reach for the gun again but he scampered out the door before I could. Lauren glanced down at the bag of groceries I had left in the hallway, bending down to grab them before walking into the apartment and kicking the door closed.

She walked into the kitchen and dropped the bag onto the counter before walking past me toward the couch.

Kitten was pissed.

I bring out the best in her.

“Why’d you sell your car?” I asked.

She continued to ignore me as she flopped down onto the couch and grabbed her phone. I took a deep breath and accepted my fate as I sat down beside her.

“I know you’re mad…” I began.

She threw the phone onto the couch and twisted around, pulling her glasses off her face and her big blue eyes narrowed at me.

“Mad?” She shook her head. “No, I’m not mad,” she said.

“You’re not?” I asked confused.

“I’m disappointed in you, Riggs,” she informed. “Which is much worse than being mad at you. I get angry and then I get over it but once I’m disappointed in someone, I give up on them,” she explained, shrugging her shoulders.

“I’m sorry I let you down, Kitten,” I tried, reaching for her hand. I wanted to pull her onto my lap and erase the look in her eyes, the look that reflected all the ways my actions failed her.

“It doesn’t matter, Riggs,” she said, sighing heavily. “I’ll get used to your disappointment, probably even come to expect it, but I won’t let you disappoint Pea. I won’t sit back and watch you make promise after promise to our baby, only to break each one. I won’t throw you under the bus but I won’t make excuses for you either, and then there will come a point where I won’t tolerate it anymore,” she declared.

It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise, a promise that she would not let anyone inflict pain on our kid, least of all Pea’s dad. While I was failing miserably at impending fatherhood, Kitten was becoming one badass mother.

“I didn’t mean to miss the appointment, Lauren. After the funeral I was going to head straight to the doctor’s office but Pipe got the call that Blackie woke up from the coma,” I explained. “We almost lost him, fuck, I’m the one who found him half dead. I needed to see him alive and well, needed to erase that image of him dying from my mind,” I continued. “I lost track of time.”

Her eyes softened, and she cocked her head to the side. “Is he okay?”

I nodded. “Got a long road ahead of him, but he’s a fucking bull. Blackie will pull through,” I said, leaving out that he wouldn’t actually pull through if Jack found out whatever the fuck was up with him and Lacey.

I didn’t get that one. He was like twelve years older than her, but hey, who was I to judge anyone.

“How’d it go at the doctor?” I questioned, giving in to my urge to touch her and reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Baby is good, perfect actually,” she smiled widely. “I heard Pea’s heartbeat,” she said, biting her lip and shaking her head as if the words amazed her. “It’s so strong,” she whispered, her smile reaching up to her eyes.

I stared at her and I envied the look in her eyes, the pride and love reflected in them. Since I realized I had missed the appointment I had been feeling guilty but now, looking at Lauren I was actually jealous I missed a chance to feel the way she did. I missed out on something big and I was feeling it.

“I have a picture; do you want to see it?”

I nodded.

“Absolutely,” I said, as she stood up and walked toward the kitchen. I followed her, surprised by how much I wanted to see Pea.

She pulled the sonogram picture off the refrigerator and I was never happier about a purchase than I was at the moment and I realized something else—furniture wasn’t going to make this place a normal home.

But Lauren would.

Putting Pea’s first grainy photo on the front of the refrigerator made these four walls a home.

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