Page 35 of Wrapped Around My Heart
“Can’t help it that I’m not sorry, baby.” I grab her hand before she can take it back and tangle our fingers together. Tugging her hand to my lips, I kiss the back of her hand with a grin before resting our joined hands on the center console.
Arianna relaxes back into the seat. Her gaze burns on the side of my face, but I refuse to look away from the road. After all, I’m driving with double precious cargo now.
“Thank you for coming with me today,” Ari whispers.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” I tell her, tightening my grip on her hand. “I’d like to be there for every appointment you’ll let me come to. I don’t want to miss anything.”
When she doesn’t respond right away, nerves gather in my stomach. Luckily, I ease the car to stop at a red light and am finally able to look at her.
She’s still watching me, only now she’s chewing on her bottom lip and her eyebrows are pinched together.
“What’s wrong?” I ask immediately, wondering if I overstepped. “If you don’t want me to go?—”
Arianna shakes her head, silencing my words before they’re even fully out.
“No. It’s not that. I would love for you to come whenever you can,” she says, and from the corner of my eye, I see the light switch to green and curse.
“Then what’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Do you have to go home right away?” She deflects my question, but I decide to follow her lead instead of pushing.
“No, Cora is with Lilly.”
“So maybe you could stay for dinner and…” Her voice trails off, but the worry that was etched into her tone makes my skin crawl with the need to fix whatever has her spiraling.
“And what, Freckles? Yes, I can stay, but what’s got you all twisted up over there?”
Ari sighs and pulls her hand from mine as I turn onto her street. “There’s a lot we should probably talk about. You know? Before now, we’ve only been fuck buddies at best…now there’s a baby.”
My teeth grind at her calling us fuck buddies, even though I know she’s not wrong.
Pulling into her driveway, I wait until the car is in park to answer her.
“I can stay,” I repeat. “We can talk about anything and everything on your mind. If we miss something tonight, I’ll come back tomorrow and every day after that if needed, to make sure we go over it all.”
Her shoulders relax a bit as she exhales a sigh of relief. As she twists to unbuckle her seat belt, I decide I will do whatever I can to help keep the weight off her shoulders.
CHAPTER 14
Dean
“Hopeyou’re okay with girl dinner,” Ari says over her shoulder, flashing me an apologetic smile as she leads us toward her kitchen.
“I mean, I’m never one to complain about anything food related, but what exactly does girl dinner entail?”
“Only the best food ever,” she tells me as she pulls out a pot and fills it with water. “Pasta with butter and parmesan cheese, with a side of garlic bread. AKA the only thing that doesn’t make me immediately hurl.”
“Sounds perfect to me. What can I help with?”
She shrugs, bringing the pot to the stove where she adds some oil and simple spices before turning on the burner then preheating the oven. “Nothing. That’s the beautiful thing about girl dinner. It requires very little effort.”
Leaning against the island, I watch her closely and decide to ease into the conversations we need to have.
“Has morning sickness been bad?”
Ari snorts out a laugh and crosses her arms as she turns to me. “Whoever decided to call itmorningsickness deserves a smack on the side of the head. The only time I’m not sick is when I’m sleeping.”
I cringe, which only makes Arianna laugh harder.
