Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 145606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 582(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Grey eyes met mine. “Concentrate on the pancakes, Gwen; I don’t want you burning yourself. Or my breakfast,” he teased.
“Stop distracting me then,” I snapped.
“I’m readin’ the paper, how is that distracting?”
“You’re just being all sexy and irresistible and it’s distracting okay?” I declared, my hormones telling me to jump him on my parent’s kitchen table.
His eyes darkened as he read the desire in mine.
“Pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen, Gwen? I’d never thought I’d see the day.” Amy walked into the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee, smirking between Cade and I.
“You watch your mouth if you want pancakes, Abrams.” I pointed my spatula at her warningly as she walked over to me, putting a cup of the sweet sweet nectar into my free hand. I brought it up to my face and Cade’s angry voice stopped me.
“You’re not allowed coffee, Gwen!” he growled, looking as if he was going to waltz up and snatch my precious away from me.
I cradled it protectively to my chest. “I know.” I glared at him until I was sure he was staying put. “I just like to smell it.”
I took a huge inhale and let the scent dance into my nostrils before Amy snatched the cup away from me and sat at the table.
“Seriously, Mouse, I don’t know why you torture yourself with that every morning. You can be a weird kid sometimes. Just drink decaf if you’re that addicted to the stuff.” Dad entered the room smiling, kissing me on the forehead.
“I’ll drink decaf when you drink non alcoholic beer,” I told him, turning back to my pancakes.
“The day I drink that horseshit is the day hell freezes over,” my father proclaimed with ferocity, before pouring his own coffee, as if to taunt me.
“Decaf,” I muttered to the pan in disgust. I flipped a pancake onto a plate and was preparing to pour another one when I felt it. I grabbed my stomach, the glass jug slipped from my hands and shattered on the floor. Cade was by my side in a second, Dad was on his feet, phone in hand. I was impressed with their reflexes.
“What’s wrong, Gwen?” Cade looked terrified with his eyes glued to my stomach.
“I’m calling the doctor,” Dad declared.
I smiled, catching them both off guard. “I’m fine both of your calm down. Dad hang up the phone.” I grasped Cade’s hand and put it over my belly. His eyes widened. “She just caught me by surprise that’s all,” I said softly, relishing the feeling of my baby kicking at Cade’s hand.
Cade seemed hypnotized for a second then he shook his head, he didn’t move his hand from my belly but he put the other under my legs and carried me to the table.
“I don’t want you cutting yourself,” he explained, a twinkle in his eye, I knew he was remembering back to a time not so different than this, apart from the fact I was carrying his spawn now.
Our moment was broken when Dad and Amy rushed over.
“Supe’s kicking, let me feel!” Amy demanded placing her hand beside Cade’s.
“Gotta know if my grandkid’s gonna be an All Black.” Dad put his hand there too.
Three heads looked up at me smirking before they released their hands, well actually, two did. One very masculine, tattooed hand stayed sprawled over my swollen belly. I covered it with my own, looking into the grey eyes of my man, his expression sending a warm feeling to my toes. We stayed like that, staring at each other silently, enforcing a bond that would keep us connected forever. The little person inside me that we both created out of love, the baby that would forever be ours and would be loved by countless people. Cade framed my face and pressed a firm but chaste kiss on my lips.
My father, bless him, broke the moment. “What are you two lovebirds up to today?” he asked, his tone light and happy. Not that fake cheerfulness that he had been putting on for two months, protecting his girls from the depths of his grief, being strong for us. No, this was genuine, the warm feeling continued to sneak its way into my heart, then I did something I hadn’t genuinely done for two months. I smiled. “Well, father, I thought I could show Cade around town, then go for a drive up to Malcolm’s Peak.” I informed him, turning to Cade I continued. “Let’s see how you handle New Zealand life my hunky American.”
“Nice meeting you Cade, you’re not a bad bloke…for a Yank. You take care of this girl,” Gray barked at Cade gruffly, giving him a firm handshake. His eyes softened towards me and then to my belly.
“This baby comes home with an accent, we got problems,” he roughly kissed my head then sauntered off to his table. I giggled and looked over to Cade who just shook his head and took a pull of his beer.
It had been an eventful day, showing Cade ‘around town’ didn’t take long considering our town consisted of one main street, a handful of shops and three cafes. That didn’t mean we weren’t busy. We stopped off for a coffee, and as was per usual in a small town such as ours, we bumped into a thousand people I knew. This normally didn’t bother me too much, considering I didn’t make it home often and I genuinely liked most of the people. But this was one of the first times I had been out and about since the funeral. I hated the sympathetic glances, the hand squeezing, the ‘how are you holding ups?’ everyone meant well but it was suffocating. Thankfully, I had a hunky biker who distracted most of the well-meaning locals away from their pity party and into a full-scale interrogation, with some overly friendly arm touches and eye fucking from the younger, female generation. I had narrowed my eyes at this and stuck my belly out rubbing it in front of them, communicating that I was pregnant with his child. Some people.