Chapter 25

Chapter

Twenty-Five

KEIR

The baby was growing.Dash and I went with Lake for every appointment. The estimated date of birth was December seventeenth, based on the date of the transfer, and it would be the best Christmas gift ever.

The first trimester had been textbook perfect. Lake had gained a little weight—all in her tummy—and she had that beautiful glow I’d heard so much about. It was now the middle of July, and Lake had no complaints.

Lake had taken yoga classes when she was pregnant with Jamie and said it made the labor and delivery so much easier on her body. I signed the two of us up for yoga classes at the fertility center twice a week. My old body was slower to adjust, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to gain flexibility with a baby on the way.

Of course, Dash made me show him the moves when I got home from the classes, and we’d enjoyed some very creative love making as a result. He liked seeing my ass in the yoga pants I’d bought, which stroked my ego as much as he stroked my cock.

“Keir!”

I was in the mortuary filling out the paperwork to renew my mortician’s license. Lake had finished cosmetology school and would take online classes to become a licensed funeral director at the beginning of the new year.

Amelie was taking classes at the community college in Reardon and was nearly finished, set to take her mortician and funeral director licensure examinations in September. She was allowed to apprentice with me for embalming, and we’d been busy at the funeral home. I was glad to have both of them working with me.

Vale had yet to decide what he wanted to do, but that was okay. He was in wedding planning mode, which was more to his liking.

“There you are.” I turned to see Lake rushing through the mortuary with a huge smile. Her hand cradled her small baby bump, and I was immediately on alert.

“What’s wrong? Sit down.” I quickly stood from my chair and wheeled it over to her, holding it for her to sit.

“No, no. I’m fine. Give me your hand.”

She took my hand and placed it on her belly. Holding it, she moved it around a bit, and then I felt it. “Oh!” It was a distinct flutter that made my heart skip a beat.

“Is that the baby?”

Lake lifted her right eyebrow. “Duh! It’s not a puppy in there.”

I laughed when it happened again. “Does it hurt?”

She giggled. “It tickles, though Jamie was like a soccer player.”

School was out, so Jamie was going to a day camp and then Dash or her grandparents picked her up and hung out with her. Sometimes they went to the movies or the swimming pool at the country club we’d joined so Jamie could have a place to swim.

“Explains why she has such a strong kick in the pool.” I went with her and Dash to the pool when I could. Lake needed the time to study, and it gave me something to do. The sun felt good on my usually cold skin, and I had a little bit of a tan, which was a first for me.

“Yeah, I think when school starts in September, I’ll sign her up for soccer. She really wants to play since they are learning the game at camp. I never imagined I’d be a soccer mom back in my stripping days.”

We both laughed. We heard footsteps at the top of the stairs from the funeral home. “Go hide in the walk-in. The doorbell didn’t pick up anything, so I don’t know who’s here.”

Lake stared at me before I took her hand and led her to the walk-in, opening the door and checking that nothing was glowing and there were no spirits inside.

I closed the door just as the door at the entrance to the mortuary opened. I grabbed the baseball bat Dash had stashed by the computer desk and waited.

“Dearly?”

I relaxed. It was Dash, thank heaven.

“In here.” When he came into the embalming room, I dropped the bat to my shoulder.

“What’s up? Practicing your swing?”

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream filled the air of the mortuary. Dash ran over to the walk-in and pulled open the door. “Fuck!” I hurried to the door and saw Lake on the floor.

Dash picked her up and carried her out, and I quickly draped a sheet over the table I used for our guests. “Put her here.”

He put Lake on the table, and I patted her face, checking her pulse to find it racing.

“Should we take her to the emergency room?” Dash was holding her other hand while I rubbed a knuckle on her breastbone. Finally, her eyes fluttered open, and she quickly sat up, looking around the large room.

“What happened?” I helped her swing her legs around while Dash went to the fridge to get her a bottle of water.

“I think I hallucinated! I thought I saw someone crawling out of that thing in there. The, uh, the compressor.”

I glanced at Dash, who walked to the cooler and opened the door. He glanced at me and nodded that someone was in there, so I needed to get Lake upstairs to the funeral home so he could deal with it.

“Maybe you need a snack. Let’s go upstairs, okay?” I helped her down and once I was sure she was stable on her feet, I ushered her to the freight elevator because I didn’t trust her on the stairs.

Once we were inside, I closed the gate and pressed the button for the main floor. “Do you feel sick? You didn’t have morning sickness, did you?” I was trying anything to get her mind off whoever was in the walk-in.

“No, but I do have a craving for a Greek salad. Maybe it’s the cucumbers?” We got off the elevator, and I led her to the hospitality room.

“Take a seat and put your feet up. Let me get you some juice, and then we’ll call your doctor. Maybe we need to take you in for a checkup to be sure everything is okay.”

“Nah. I’m fine. I think I’m just hungry. That was so freaky.”

“Look who dropped by...and came in through the receiving bay door.” We turned to see Dash and Jay entering the hospitality room. I was guessing Jay had used the shortcut from Hell. No wonder he’d scared the shit out of her.

“Wow, he looks like the guy I saw in my hallucination.”

We all laughed. “I get that all the time. I’m Jay, a friend of Keir’s and Dash’s.”

“Lake Griner, employee, friend, incubator.” That brought another laugh.

“Jay, Lake’s carrying our baby. She’s due in December.”

“Wow! Congratulations.” Jay abruptly turned to Dash. “I need to talk to you about a problem... with my bike. Uh, yeah. A problem with my bike.”

Dash snickered before he gave me a kiss. “Does she need to go to the doctor?”

“I’m fine. I’m just hungry.”

“Oh yes. I’m going to take Lake to Mykonos and get her some Greek food before I take her home. Will you pick Jamie up from camp and bring her there? I’ll hang around for a while to be sure she’s okay.”

“Sure. Get me two orders of moussaka. I’ll heat it up later.” I nodded at my buff husband. His T-shirt was tighter than I remembered the last time. I had to wonder if he was growing again in preparation for the battle to come.

“Will do. We’ll see you later. Love you.” I gave Dash a kiss. Please be safe. Text me whatever Jay tells you later.

Dash nodded in acknowledgment of my silent thoughts to him. I’ll be there after I get Jamie. I love you so much. I gave him a nod as well before he and Jay went up to the apartment.

I went to my office and got my SUV keys and wallet from the desk. I hoped there wasn’t another surprise around the corner.