Scarlett gives me an exasperated look. 揅rew.?
揝carlett.?I say her voice in the exact same tone.
She sighs, and I know that I抳e won this round.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SCARLETT
Crew watches me devour the cheeseburger with a wide smile on his face. 揌ungry??
I dip a fry in ketchup. 揧our kid is a raging carnivore. All I want is fried food, preferably with meat.?I take another big bite. Swallow and chew.
揧ou took your vitamins this morning, right??
I stick my tongue out at him. 揝ounds like you抣l be a helicopter parent.?
揟eddy抯 doggy daycare tells me how often you call to check on him, Red.?
揥hatever, Sport,?is the best retort I can come up with.
I drop a hand to my stomach, which has become an unconscious action as of late. I have to force myself to keep from doing it at work, since Crew is the only person who knows I抦 pregnant. But I抦 starting to show, so we抣l have to announce it soon.
揂 baby feels like a lot of responsibility,?I tell him. 揃efore Teddy, I抎 never even kept a cactus alive.?
He chuckles, and it抯 become the laugh I compare all other laughs to. Just the right mixture of husk and rumble. 揑s that why you got him? Some sort of parenting dry run??
揘o. I thought this was a ways off.?I play with a fry. 揑 just匢 wanted something that felt like ours.?
揑sn抰 that the whole point of marriage? The whole what抯 mine is yours shtick??
揟he money? Cars? Planes? Property??I shake my head. 揑 meant something I didn抰 already have.?
Crew抯 expression is serious. He抯 studying me like I抦 a riddle to decode. A puzzle to put together. A question without an answer. 揥hat else is on that list??he asks. 揂side from a dog??
I shift uncomfortably under the weight of that question. 揑 don抰 know. This baby.?He takes a sip of water, studying me the whole time. I try to bite the question back, but it spills out anyway. 揥hy??
His answer comes instantly. 揑 want to give you everything you want.?
That blue gaze should come with a warning label. It sears into every inch of me, leaving a brand behind. I expected these feelings for him to reach limits. Instead, they seem to be spreading like a wildfire that can抰 be contained.
The waitress chooses this moment to reappear, fussing over our empty plates and rambling on about dessert while checking out Crew. He doesn抰 look at her. I抦 the one who breaks eye contact to study the street.
What I want is卙im. This life we抮e building together with a dog and a baby and inside jokes. I want it so badly it scares me.
I抎 rather get nothing than get everything卆nd then lose it.
It抯 not until Crew climbs out of the car after me that I realize he抯 not planning to head back to the office. He badgered me into admitting I could get everything I needed to get done today from the penthouse rather than my office, so we came straight here after finishing lunch.
揧ou can go back to work,?I tell him as I step inside the elevator.
揑抦 good here,?he replies, following me.
His attentiveness makes me uneasy. A day will come when I can抰 even reach him and I抣l remember this梙im dropping everything for me梐nd it will be that much more painful as a result. 揑 thought you抮e the bigshot at Kensington Consolidated? At the company party, everyone told me you抮e the future of the company. Won抰 they miss you??
揝carlett,?he says, with more patience than I抦 expecting, 揑 imagine me telling you how to do your job would go down about as well as a nuclear attack. Do you still hate double standards??
I have nothing to say to that, which pisses me off. He抯 right梙im telling me how to do anything, much less manage Haute, would not go over well.
When did he get so good at arguing with me?
The elevator doors open. 揑抦 going to take a bath.?
Without another word, I head up the stairs and into the bathroom that bears clear signs of his presence. We never discussed it, but we share all the same space now. Sleep in the same bed. His suits hang in my closet. There抯 a second toothbrush by the sink.
I plug the drain and start the hot water running, perching on the rim of the tub and staring out the window as it slowly fills.
I own more bubble bath than one woman really needs, but I don抰 bother looking through labels. I squeeze a little of each bottle into the water swirling with steam. A decision I regret when there is suddenly a thick layer of bubbles. I shed my clothes and sink through the fragrant suds into the scorching water, using my big toe to turn the tap off.
Despite my resistance earlier, this definitely beats walking around my office in high heels.
I relax in the tub until the bubbles disappear and the water turns cold. The tub drains as I wrap a fluffy robe around myself and shuffle into the bedroom. And stop.