Page 13 of Accidentally Falling
“You’renotalone.”
I glare at him, choosing to ignore his comment as I rub my hand over my forehead. “I have daddy issues, Jude. Hell, I have mommy issues. And now, my sister is pregnant and she’sexcitedto have her baby and she’s going to absolutely lose her mind when she finds out I’m pregnant too but it’snot thesame.”
“And none of that changes the fact that you’re not alone.”
“We barely know each other.”
“And none of that changes the fact that as of five minutes ago, you and that baby are the only things that matter.”
“Jude.”
“I’m serious. You want to pick up and move tomorrow to get away from your family? I’ll go. We’ll pick some bullshit spot on a map and just drive.”
“You’d leave your brother? Your bar?—”
“He’d understand.”
“And the bar?”
“It’s a part of my past that I’d give up in a heartbeat for a chance at a future.” He nods toward my stomach, my shirt covering the bump that looks like I ate a big lunch.
I miss lunch.
So far crackers, grapes, and the occasional apple with peanut butter are the only things I can keep down.
Usually.
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking,” he says, taking another step toward me, but this time I don’t move back. “Look at me, Tennessee. I’m not running.”
“This is ababy,”I tell him, tears clouding my eyes as I try desperately to keep my voice steady. He can’t be sweetanduse that stupid nickname—a woman can only withstand so much. “You’re going to be stuck with me for decades and?—”
“And I can think of a thousand worse things than that.”
“Sure,” I scoff, less to pick a fight and more to choke back the sob that’s stuck in my throat. “But we don’t know each other. How are we?—”
“I know the important things.” He smirks, closing the distance between us, his paw of a hand on my waist as he pulls me against him. “Like what you need to get off.”
“Yes, that’ll come in handy during the midnight diaper change,” I snark and he chuckles.
“Do you honestly think there’s another man out there that’ll be able to handle all your mood swings? The hormones and all the meltdowns?”
“You’re not selling this.”
“I’m sayin’ I’ve got you. You’re gonna hate me and you’ll wanna cut my balls off, but the good news is I’ve trained in hand-to-hand combat and I’m not afraid of you.”
I want to laugh and cry and scream as I push out of his arms. “Don’t you get it? I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be happy when everyone is going to be so happy for me. For us. What do I do?”
“You let me take care of it,” he murmurs, approaching me like he would a scared animal. “Let me shoulder all of it. You think I give a fuck if I hurt someone’s feelings? I’ll be the bad guy. I’ll take it all so you don’t have to.”
“But why? I get it for the baby but whyme?”
For the first time since we stepped outside, Jude lets meseehim—the man behind the gruff exterior—his carefully constructed walls vanishing right before my eyes.
“Because I like the way you look at me. You don’t give a shit about my size or why I don’t smile. You saw me limp in the bar and not once did you ask if I wouldn’t be able to hold you up, if I wouldn’t be able to give you what you need.”
“Fuck anyone who thinks otherwise,” I grit out, my heart double-timing it when his lips curve up on one side.
