Tracy Wolff - Beginning with Their Baby

“You need to eat, Camille. You heard Rick—you’re healthy, but you need to gain a few pounds to help support the baby.”

“I heard him. But I had breakfast less than two hours ago—how much do you expect me to eat?”

“Well, at least let me pick you up something before I drop you back at the motel.” He glanced at the clock. “I have a meeting in a little over an hour, so I need to head back to work. But I’ve got your vitamin prescription—I’ll drop it off at the pharmacy on my way to the office and pick it up at the end of the day.”

“There’s no rush. Rick gave me enough samples to last for two months or so.”

“Still, it’s better to have them on hand for when you need them. Also, I thought maybe you’d like to go to an art store tonight or tomorrow? Maybe you could look around a little, find an alternative to the oil paints that won’t hurt the baby. Rick said—”

She gritted her teeth and tried not to scream, but it wasn’t easy—not when Matt seemed intent on taking over every aspect of her life. If she heard Rick said one more time, she was going to forget that she was a pacifist and take a swing at Matt. “It’s no big deal.”

“Of course it is. The fumes can—”

“It’s not like I’m planning on busting out the canvas today. The art supply store can wait a little while—as can lunch.”

“But, Camille, you need—”

“I know what I need! I’m a grown woman who’s been taking care of herself for most of her life. I have a rental car, I have a motel room. I have an ATM card and a relatively healthy checking account. When I’m hungry, I’ll eat. When I’m ready to paint, I’ll figure out what I want to use. And when I need more vitamins, I will go get them. So lay off, okay?”

Matt’s jaw snapped shut with an audible click and for a few minutes blessed silence reigned in the car. Laying her head back against the headrest, Camille closed her eyes and tried to drift off. She was so tired—she couldn’t remember ever being this tired. And Matt’s constant nagging about what she needed to do and eat and think was only making her more exhausted.

She knew he was a planner, knew he liked to map things out far in advance as opposed to flying by the seat of his pants, as she was wont to do. But this was too much, even for him. He was borrowing trouble where there wasn’t any, trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. And it was driving her insane.

Still, when he pulled up in front of her motel, she couldn’t help feeling a little bad for snapping at him. In his own way he was only trying to help—it wasn’t his fault that all his plans were slowly freaking her out. How could he know that all she wanted was blessed silence and a chance to assimilate all the ideas currently running rampant in her head? She’d never told him.

Turning to him with a sigh, Camille laid a light hand over his, where it rested on the steering wheel. “Look, Matt, I didn’t mean to bite your head off. I just—”

“It’s okay.”

“You were just trying to help and I totally blew up. I’m sorry.”

When he finally turned his head, it was with a contrite grin. “Nothing to be sorry about. I keep talking about this pregnancy, but forget the most basic stuff. Like how tired you’re supposed to be in the first trimester—even without the jet-lag. Go get some sleep and I’ll call to check on you in a few hours.”

She searched his face for a minute, but found no sign of upset—just a rueful resignation that all was not going to go according to his master plan. Of course, now that she’d gotten her way, she couldn’t help thinking that it was kind of sweet, how much interest Matt was taking in her and her pregnancy. A lot of guys would have been horrified to have an ex-girlfriend drop in, pregnant and unannounced. Matt had simply absorbed the news and then started making decisions that he thought would keep the baby healthy and safe.

He was a stand-up guy, and though she hadn’t planned this pregnancy, she could have done a lot worse for the father of her baby. Impulsively, she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

Matt froze for a second, then turned so that his lips brushed against hers. Once, twice, so softly that it felt like a feather whispering over her mouth. And yet his touch reawakened something inside of her, a need for him that she’d sublimated but that had never really gone away.

Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, until his mouth fit fully over hers. Then she sucked his lower lip between her teeth and nibbled on it, in the way she knew he loved.

He groaned, yanked her across his gearshift, and pressed her against him so that her breasts were flush with his chest, her legs straddling his as the steering wheel bit into her back.

But she didn’t care, the pain barely registering as his lips raced across her cheek and down her neck to the pulse point at the hollow of her throat. She moaned, let her head fall back while he licked at her favorite erogenous zone. Heat raced up her spine, her fingers tangling in Matt’s hair as she started moving anxiously above him. Against him.

He felt so good, made her feel so good, that she couldn’t help wanting to forget the nearly three months that stretched between them. Couldn’t help wanting to take this attraction as far as she could and to say to hell with the consequences. They’d been good together once, they would be again. And if it complicated things, they would deal—they were grown-ups after all.

Twisting her fingers in his hair, she yanked Matt’s mouth back up to hers and devoured him. He tasted just as she remembered—like lemon and mint and the deepest, darkest chocolate. Familiar, comforting and yet so exciting she could swear she heard her brain begin to sizzle. Dipping into his mouth, she stroked his tongue with her own and—

Matt wrenched his mouth away with another groan. She whimpered, tried to drag him back, but he lifted her and set her back on the passenger seat.

“We can’t do this here,” he muttered, his voice dark and growly and so sexy that it took all her willpower not to climb back into his lap. He was breathing heavily—maybe even more heavily than she was. His dark auburn hair was tousled from her fingers and his dark eyes were burning with the same need licking its way through her. “People are everywhere.”

For the first time since Matt’s lips had met her own, Camille became truly aware of where they were—in Matt’s car, parked in front of the door to her motel room, and people were, indeed, everywhere.

“Do you—” She cleared her throat. “Do you want to come up to my room?”

He shook his head regretfully. “I’ve got a meeting in a little more than half an hour.”

“Right. Your meeting. I forgot.” She felt her cheeks blaze and for a moment wanted nothing more than for the ground to open and swallow her. She’d been the one to break up with Matt, yet now she was practically begging him to take her back. It was embarrassing, especially considering the fact that he’d been able to pull away when she was so far gone she would have let him take her in the front seat of his car. Not to mention the fact that he’d turned down an invitation into her bed because he had a meeting.

Maybe it was childish to expect him to drop every thing to be with her, but she didn’t understand how he could run so hot and cold. How he could be so controlled after he’d all but ripped her clothes off in the front of his car?

For a minute, she couldn’t help thinking of the cool blonde she’d run into at his house the night before, couldn’t help wondering how serious she and Matt were.

“Right, of course, I’m sorry.” She fumbled for the door handle. “I’m tired anyway.” She scrambled out of the car. “I guess I’ll see you…whenever.”