Page 393 of The Tempted

I took the photo in my hand and tried to make out a head, two legs and two arms but all I saw was something that looked like a dot.

“That’s Pea,” she said, pointing to the dot. “And these lines, on this picture is the heartbeat,” she added, showing me the lines that traveled up and down the photograph.

“Wow,” I said, more to myself than to her, looking back at the dot, at Pea, before glancing over at Lauren. “Cute kid,” I teased, winking at her.

She smiled at me and I stared at her for a moment, my eyes dipping to her flat stomach as I tried to picture what she’d look like in the next few months as Pea grew inside of her.

How fucking crazy was that? Lauren was growing a human inside of her.

Without thinking, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and tugged her into the crook of my arm.

“I’m sorry I missed this,” I said, holding up the photo. “But I won’t miss anymore,” I promised.

And I wouldn’t.

Because I didn’t want to.

Wow.

Funny, what one little picture could do to a person, how one little dot could mean so much.

I leaned down and kissed her forehead, dropping my arm from her shoulders and placed Pea’s first photo back where it belonged.

“Did you eat?”

“No,” she said, glancing at the bag of groceries. “What’d you get?”

“Sorry they were all out of cottage cheese,” I lied. That shit was vile, and I wasn’t about to subject Pea to that crap. I walked over to the bags and pulled out chocolate pudding, a gallon of milk, cookies, a rotisserie chicken, a tub of ice cream and lastly a jar of pickles.

All the necessities.

I may not know much but wasn’t it some cardinal rule that all pregnant chicks craved pickles and ice cream? Tada!

“Riggs?” She asked, picking up the jar of pickles.

I did good, I knew the pickles would be a big hit and I smiled proudly.

This baby daddy thing would be a breeze.

“Yes, Kitten?”

“How about we order out?” She asked, placing the pickles back on the counter, covering her mouth with her hand.

I reached out and pulled her hand away and she giggled.

“What?” I asked.

“You bought me pickles and ice cream,” she said through her giggles.

“Yeah, so?” I looked back at the ice cream.

“Nothing,” she said, surprising me by wrapping her arms around my middle and hugging me. “Thank you, that was really sweet.”

“But you rather order out,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist and glancing down at her.

“I want pizza,” she declared, tilting her head back so she could look up at me.

Those eyes, man, they were pretty.

---