Page 48 of Surprise Mother Pucker

“Here, drink this,” Eli said, placing a cup of herbal tea in front of me. “Ginger tea.”

I thanked him and took the cup as he sat down next to me, taking my spare hand in his. Eli fidgeted in his seat for a second, turning to me, an optimistic look on his face that immediately put me on edge.

“How would you feel about meeting my pack tomorrow? I told them about you, Charlotte, and the baby, and they’re excited to meet you.”

Tomorrow?

“You’ve already told them? That feels so soon,” I admitted, chewing my lip. I busied myself drinking the herbal tea, instead of answering. I hadn’t even told Beth yet—I had been so lost in my own world that I hadn’t even thought about it.

Eli filled the silence easily. “I told them immediately. We don’t keep anything from each other, especially something big like this.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” I nodded, dazed.

What would his pack think of me? I had met Micha, and he was sweet, but the other two members of the pack were an unknown to me. Like it or not, I was connected to them now through this baby. If they didn’t like me, it was going to be a nightmare.

The last thing I wanted was to cause unhappiness in Eli’s pack. He had spoken about his pack mates with such joy. If I ruined that, I would never forgive myself.

“Given our situation, I think sooner rather than later is a good idea. With another baby on the way, you’re going to need all the support you can get.”

“I’m worried, Eli. What if they don’t like me?”

The alpha looked at me in shock. “Kennedy, they’ll love you. It’s impossible not to like you.”

That made me snort in disbelief. “Eli, I’m a single mother. Your pack mates are college students, still enjoying their youth. I’ll be cramping your style.”

“Kennedy, I’m twenty-seven. My party days are long behind me… and by party days, I mean the times I would stay up all night playing World of Warcraft with friends.”

The idea of Eli sitting at his PC all night, playing a video game, made me smile. He seemed so grown up and put together. It only endeared me to him further.

“I know,” I huffed. “It’s just such a huge change. I was finally getting used to my new normal with Char. This…this changes everything.”

“It does, but we need to look on the bright side.”

“Bright side? My ankles are going to swell, and I'm going to blow up to the size of a whale. Yes, we get a cute, squishable baby out of it, but the process of making the baby is not fun.”

Eli raised an eyebrow at me. “I beg to differ. The process of making the baby was extremely fun. The process of growing the baby is probably not as much.”

I snorted a laugh, putting my tea down. “I think I have to agree with you there.”

“And if your ankles swell, I will just give you daily ankle and foot rubs.”

“Daily? Those are some bold words, Mr. Daniels. Don't write checks you can't cash.”

He smirked. “Oh, I fully intend to do it every day. See, Kennedy, I'm kind of obsessed with you, so touching you in any way, shape, or form is heaven in my books.”

“Does that include neck massages? Because I do get a sore neck when I've been studying.” I hummed thoughtfully, taking another sip of the tea. “Ugh. This stuff tastes like medicine now. I drank so much of it throughout my first pregnancy.”

“Can the doctors do anything for the nausea?”

I nodded. “There's a medication I got last time that I'm sure I'll be able to get again. It helped a little bit, but it was hardly a cure. Instead of running to the bathroom twenty times a day, it was only three or four.”

Eli frowned. “Statistically, that’s a good decrease, but I would much rather we get it down to no times a day.”

“Think that would be asking for a miracle, honestly,” I said, shifting in my seat. This discussion of being sick was making my stomach queasy.

Eli beamed down at me, his face almost adoring. What had I done to deserve that look? I was a mess, sick, sleep deprived. Probably had enough bags under my eyes to rival a celebrity's closet.

“Well, you decided to take a chance on a math nerd who hit on you in the library, so clearly, miracles do happen.”

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