Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I wake up with a sharp pain ripping through my stomach. “Fuck. Shit,” I hiss out.

“What’s wrong?” Alistair shoots up in bed and looks down at me.

“Nothing. I’ll be fine,” I tell him while clutching a hand against my stomach.

“You’re not fine.”

“It’s just… ahh… it hurts,” I say.

“Fuck.” He jumps out of bed and throws his clothes on, before he yanks at the dresser drawers and pulls out a shirt and a pair of sweats. “Put these on. I’m taking you to the hospital,” he says.

“I don’t need a hospital, Alistair. I just need to sleep,” I tell him.

“I don’t care. Come on.” He grabs my wrists and pulls so I’m sitting upright. Then he helps me get dressed, picks me up, and carries me out of the apartment.

“I can walk. I’m sure it’s just growing pains or something,” I say.

“Probably. But I like carrying you.” He sets me onto the passenger seat of his car.

Ever since we found out we were pregnant two weeks ago, the man’s been overbearing. Protective. Checking in on me every fifteen minutes, even at work. It’s cute, in a way. The morning after he found out he was going to be a father, he told his partners with a huge smile on his face. I didn’t think he’d be this excited. I honestly thought he’d hate the idea. Run from it. He’s also asked me to marry him every day for the last two weeks. I keep telling him not yet. I don’t want him to hate me, and I fear if I say yes to his proposal, we’ll get married and he’ll wake up one day resenting me.

Alistair tears out of his garage into the early morning traffic. “It’s okay. It’s going to be fine,” he says more to himself than to me.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure it’s nothing,” I tell him while gripping my stomach and trying not to wince. I don’t want him to know just how bad it hurts right now. I don’t want him freaking out any more than he already is. I’m fucking scared. I don’t want anything to happen. I’ve grown attached to this baby already. In just two weeks, it feels like they’re a part of me.

I want this baby. I know I had my doubts, but I really do want this.

Alistair stops right out front of the emergency department. He unbuckles my seat belt, picks me up again, and carries me inside. I don’t argue with him this time.

“My fiancée is pregnant. Something’s wrong. She’s in pain. She needs a doctor,” he rushes out in one long breath.

“How far along are you?” the triage nurse asks me.

“Two months,” I tell her. We found that out at our doctor’s appointment last week, when they confirmed what the million home tests already told us. That I was pregnant.

“Bring her through here.” The nurse presses a buzzer and we’re led to a hospital bed.

“What’s wrong with her?” Alistair blurts out before anyone even has a chance to examine me.

“The doctor will be in shortly,” the nurse says. She disappears after she asks me a few more questions. Alistair is pacing up and down the small room when the doctor walks in.

“Good morning,” he greets us.

“Doc, something’s wrong with her. She’s pregnant,” Alistair says.

“Let’s take a look.” The doctor offers us a reassuring smile. “Hi, I’m Dr Mitchell by the way. I’m going to lift your shirt to examine your abdomen. Have you experienced any bleeding?” he asks.

“No.”

“Can you describe your pain?”

“It just feels like something is ripping through me. It hurts,” I tell him, because I don’t know what else to say.

“I see.” He feels around my stomach for a bit. “I’m going to have a look with the ultrasound machine.” I watch as he drags a trolley over to the bed, then he powers on the little monitor. “This will be cold,” he says as he squirts a gel over my lower abdomen. He picks up a wand and starts running it over my skin while staring at the screen. “There it is. Hear that?” He turns to me. “That’s your baby’s heartbeat. It’s strong,” he says with another smile.

“That’s her heart?” Alistair asks, his eyes laser-focused on the machine.

“Well, it’s a bit early to tell the sex, but that’s the heart. Everything looks good. What you’re experiencing sounds like ligament pain, your body’s way of preparing itself to support your growing baby. Nothing major, but we’ll keep you here for a few hours to make sure that’s what it is,” the doctor explains.

“Are you sure? She shouldn’t be in this much pain. What if…” Alistair stops midsentence, considering his words before continuing. “What if I hurt her? We have sex, a lot of sex, Doc. I thought it was okay but what if it’s not?”

I cover my face, completely mortified. “Oh my god,” I mumble from behind my hands.

“It’s safe to have sex throughout pregnancy,” the doctor replies without missing a beat.

“Okay.” Alistair lets out the breath he was holding.

“Everything looks good. I’ll be back to check on you.” Dr Mitchell nods and walks out.

“You should go to work. You don’t have to stay,” I tell Alistair.

“You’re out of your fucking mind if you think I’m leaving you here,” he says.

“I’m sorry. I told you I was okay.”

“I would rather not risk it. You and this baby are everything to me, Dani. I mean that. I don’t want to lose you. “

“You’re not going to lose me, Alistair.”

“Marry me,” he asks again.

“Maybe.” I smile.

“Maybe is better than no. I’ll take it,” he grins.

I’m not sure why he keeps asking, seeing as he tells everyone I’m his fiancée anyway. He insists that my “yes” is just a technicality that will happen. He’s right. I’m sure I’ll agree eventually. I mean, how could any sane woman turn down the walking lady Viagra that is Alistair Warner?

“I’ll get you a cup of tea,” Alistair says, setting me down on the sofa in his apartment.

“I don’t even drink tea. Stop fussing. You heard the doctor. I’m fine,” I tell him.

“I can still take care of you,” he counters before walking into the kitchen. He returns with a cup. “Here. It’s not tea.”

I take the cup and instantly smell chocolate. “Mmm, hot chocolate is always better than tea.” I smile and lift the brim to my lips.

“You know, it’s going to kill me watching you give birth,” he says. “I don’t like seeing you in pain.”

“Alistair, I swear to god… That’s months away and I really would like to bury my head in the sand for as long as I can when it comes to what I’m going to have to do to get this baby out of me.”

“Sorry… just thinking out loud.”

“If I have to push it out, you’re watching,” I tell him.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

“Yes,” I tell him.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I will marry you,” I say.

“You will?” he questions. “I mean, yes, shit. Hang on.” He jumps up and practically jogs out of the room. I place my cup on the coffee table, craning my neck to see where he’s gone. He returns a moment later and kneels in front of me. “I was planning a big romantic gesture, but you just ruined that. I love you, Danielle Hutchinson. It would be my absolute honour to call you my wife. Will you marry me, please?” he asks while popping open the little jewellery box to reveal a single princess-cut diamond shining in the middle of it.

“Yes, and this is far better than any romantic gesture,” I say. Alistair takes the ring out of the box and slides it on my finger. I hold up my hand and stare at the huge rock. “This is too much. It’s so pretty,” I tell him.

“There isn’t a diamond in this world worthy of you.”

“How long have you had this?” I ask him.

“I bought it the day after our last trip to the club. I saw it in a window and couldn’t walk away.”

“Speaking of clubs, now that I have a ring, can I lose this?” I hold out my arm with the tennis bracelet that’s still locked around it.

“Not a fucking chance. I want you dripping in diamonds, little girl,” he says.

I open my legs as a shudder racks my body. There’s something about him calling me little girl that just does it for me.

“Don’t even think about it. You just got home from the hospital, Dani. We are not having sex.”

“What if I say please? Sir?” I bat my eyelashes at him.

“Fuck. No. We shouldn’t,” he says, but I can see his resolve waning.

“But we really should,” I tell him, lifting my ass so that I can drag my sweatpants down my legs. “I know my body, Alistair, and it wants to be filled with you. Very much. Right now.”

“Fuck. Okay.” He unbuttons his pants, shoves them down, and kicks them off. Then he reaches for the back of his shirt and tugs it over his head before dropping himself onto the sofa. “Come and ride me,” he says. He doesn’t have to ask twice. I climb on top of him and slowly lower myself down.

“I love you.” I take his face in my hands and place my lips on his.

“I fucking love you too. So damn much,” he replies.

I ride him slowly. I’m not in a rush. I take my time enjoying the feel of his cock filling me up. My head falls back, and Alistair’s mouth sucks on one of my nipples. His hand palms my other breast while twisting the peak with his fingers.

“Oh shit.” I grind down on his cock, and pleasure radiates through me as I come apart on him, for him, with him.

“Fucking beautiful,” he says, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight to his chest.