Page 25 of Worth the Risk

She was so sexy that I could barely think. And apparently, that was becoming a real problem for me lately.

“You know, this whole overly concerned thing you have going on was a little cute at dinner, but now, the act is getting old.”

Her words burned in a way that I knew was my own fault. If I hadn’t hurt her, she wouldn’t doubt me so much.

“It’s not an act,” I insisted. “I know that I shouldn’t have done that on the beach. I just… I think that I’m feeling overprotective because of our situation.”

She snorted. “Situation. That’s one way to put it.”

“I think I worry more than I should because I don’t know what’s going on with you. How you feel physically or emotionally. You’ve shut me out.” I raised a hand when she opened her mouth to speak. “And I know I brought that on myself. But I can’t help how I feel.”

“Neither can I. And right now, I feel annoyed.”

The waiter brought our waters, and I relaxed a bit when she gulped down half of hers.

“I’m sorry,” I said, suddenly embarrassed by my reaction on the beach. “I’ll try to tone it down, okay? But I don’t think I’ll be able to stop worrying about you. I just want to take care of you and our little sweet pea.”

“Sweet pea?”

My cheeks felt warm, and I shifted my gaze to my water bottle, my fingers pulling at the paper label. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been calling the baby in my mind. When I did some reading about pregnancy, I learned that’s how big it would be at six weeks. The size of a sweet pea.”

Zoey’s annoyance melted away, and she smiled at me with soft eyes. “Wow. That’s… really cute.”

I chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It was.” She took another sip of her water. “But when you say you were reading about pregnancy…”

“You know obstetrics isn’t my specialty. So, I had to do a little research to brush up on anything I need to know.”

“Anything? So… all the things that can go wrong?”

I shrugged. “Sure. The good and the bad. As the father, I think it’s important that I’m informed.”

Understanding flashed across her face. “Ford, you know how it drives us crazy when a patient uses Google to research their symptoms and then comes into the ER thinking they’ve got the bubonic plague when it’s actually a cold?”

I nodded.

“That’s basically what you did. You read all about pregnancy and got it into your head that a million things could go wrong.” She lifted her bottle of water. “I’m not going to get overheated or dehydrated. I can do light exercise. I’m healthy.”

She was right. Sliding my hand across the table, I took hers, squeezing her fingers. “I get it. Just promise that you’ll tell me if anything concerning happens, okay?”

“Of course, I will.”

She said it so easily, and it hit me that I hadn’t lost all of her trust, despite my despicable actions.

More progress.

“So… it’s a sweet pea, huh?” Zoey’s free hand went to her stomach, and I imagined her with a baby bump. It was a more satisfying mental image than I ever could have expected.

“For now.”

“So, does that mean you’ll change the nickname as it grows?”

I grinned. “Why not? We can do raspberry at eight weeks and plum at twelve weeks. Avocado at sixteen weeks.”

Zoey laughed. “I’m not so sure about that last one. But I am impressed that you memorized so much about the size of the baby.”

“I might be a little obsessed.” I looked into her brown eyes. “I hope the baby looks just like you.”