Page 44 of Home Run

There was no mistaking the emotion in his eyes when they met mine. It was enough that another wave built in my throat. I’d already cried enough in front of Tanner, I didn’t want to cry any more.

“Will you send me pictures?”

“Pictures of the bump?”

“Yes. And I have our book too. And don’t forget to download the app.”

Oh yes,the app.It was one of many,manybaby apps that tracked the growth of your baby and compared it to a vegetable. Or a fruit. Or anobscurevegetable. Or anobscurefruit. Radley had mentioned it, then Tanner had read about it in one of the doctor’s leaflets, and then found it again in one of the two dozen pregnancy books he’d ordered. There were so many that he couldn’t decide which one he wanted, and my suggestion of us each having different ones was swiftly vetoed because thenwe can’t link them up.

Finally, after more than a week of indecision, he made a choice.

“This week is a strawberry. When I get back, it’ll be something else.”

“I’ll download it, I promise.”

My skin immediately cooled as he pulled his hand away and shifted back onto his haunches. “I’m glad you’re here, Mills.”

Sitting up straight, I twisted to rest my elbows against the edge of the bath. “Thank you for organizing it all, even with my brothers bullying you into it.”

“First off, your brothers didn’t bully me into anything, so let’s kill that rumor before it starts.” He paused, the beginnings of a smirk curled up one side of his lip. “Second, you living across the hall is going to make it much easier for you to fall in love with me.”

My brows dropped while my brain tried to catch up and figure out if I heard what I think I heard.

“You heard me.” Tanner pushed up to standing, this time not bothering to hold in his grin. It was the type of grin he always used to flash in my direction, almost baiting me into a response, the way his eyes danced with amusement.

It was all far tooirritating.

Except the most irritating thing about it was that I didn’t find it quite as irritating as I used to do.

“You wish.”

“I do, actually.”

“Tanner, I might be carrying a baby we made together, but that’s it.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not it. And the sooner you admit it to yourself, the sooner we can get on with the rest of our lives.”

“Tanner—”

“I have to go, need to be at the stadium in thirty.” He leaned down and I was engulfed in the scent of Tanner Simpson—that earthy, woody, boy scent of his—which had my senses reeling. And this time when his hand found my belly, his lips pressed against the top of my head. “Bye, baby, catch you later, Mills.”

I was still lying in the bath twenty minutes later when the intercom buzzed. I got to the elevator doors as they opened to find one of the guys from the front desk holding a box.

Inside were two pints of ice cream—one chocolate, one marionberry—and six assorted jars of bath salts.

TEN

TANNER

“Didyou know a vagina can stretch to fit a watermelon?”

Lux paused, toast in one hand, knife in the other. “Yeah, I think there’s a club in Midtown where the girls do that as a party trick.”

It was hard to tell if Parker’s sharp inhale, sucking in a particularly crunchy piece of Cap’n Crunch, was caused by shock or by laughter. Either way, I was now slapping him hard on the back in an attempt to stop him coughing.

“Seriously, I’m trying to eat here,” he croaked, wiping away the milk dribbling down his chin before downing a glass of orange juice.

Ace looked up from whichever pregnancy book he’d chosen to read this morning, completely oblivious to the commotion he’d caused. “We’re all eating. It’s breakfast.”

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