His Unexpected Baby by Jamie Knight

Chapter Twenty - Chad

I’d heard about heartache second hand but never really thought I would feel it. Or the strange things it could make me do. I felt like a creeper, watching Nina via the security camera. Even though I didn’t do anything sleazy like zoom in on her at all. I was well past seeing her in a purely sexual way. She was still super sexy in my eyes, but there was a lot more to it than that. I’d come to feel for her on a level I’d never really thought possible. The video creeping was mostly, so I could see her again, even from afar. As well as to see if she might be considering talking to me again. Even though I’d really have no way of knowing that just by looking.

I really was going slightly mad.

From what I could tell from the video, Nina was doing a lot better in the shop. The guys really seemed to be accepting her as one of them, which made me feel really good. It was nice to see her thriving, even if it wasn’t with me. Still, I held out hope that she might come around after she had time to work things out.

I gave myself a good slap and decided to focus on work. I couldn’t let my infatuation with Nina let me get sidetracked. Things were going well, and I wanted to keep them that way. I got so engrossed in work I barely noticed that, as usual, I was the last one at the shop. Actually, make that second last.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Nina was alone on the shop floor, rearranging the tools on the rack. Just like she did when she was waiting for me. Was she waiting then? Could I afford to take the chance that she wasn’t? Deciding that I definitely couldn’t, I got up and walked as casually as I could from the office. Hoping I wouldn’t be too far or too late.

She turned as I approached, though she didn’t move. Either toward me or away. I was nearly to her before she spoke.

“C-can we stop acting like silly kids?” she asked.

I was tempted to point out that she was the only one acting like a kid but stopped myself, knowing that it wasn’t exactly true.

“Sure,” I agreed, “there’s a show I think you’ll like, and I’d like to take you somewhere nice.”

“Sounds great,” she said.

Out of nowhere, she got up on her tip-ties, put her arms around my neck, and kissed me. Nothing to lurid. Just a closed-mouth smooch on the lips. Almost innocent in its purity, which felt nice in a whole new way.

Going our separate ways for the moment, I tried to figure out what I would wear somewhere fancy. Most of my closet was full of matching T-shirt and jeans sets that, while weird, saved a lot of time. I was reasonably sure I had a suite somewhere. It was just a matter of finding it.

The suit, it turned out, was a dead end. I should have been able to guess that by the fact it had been nearly a decade since I’d worn it. Searching the recesses of my memory, I recalled that the suit had been safely stowed in a suitcase subtly slid under the bed.

With the care of an archaeologist, I excavated the dusty artifact. The suit wasn’t in much better condition. Fortunately, it was black and just needed a good going over with a lint brush. It even had a button-up shirt and thin white tie included as part of the entire combo, saving time and trouble. I was nothing if not organized.

“You look great,” Nina said when we met outside the garage an hour later.

I wanted to say something. Something charming, or failing that, at least remotely cool. Any of which was made very difficult by the fact that my jaw had quite definitely dropped.

I had seen such dresses before. Though only on billboards and such. Never on a real, breathing girl, standing right in front of me. Nina looked genuinely ravishing. The dress concealing, hugging, and showing her perfect body in just the right ways.

“Wow,” I said.

“Thanks,” she beamed.

“Must have been really expensive,” I blurted, realizing as I said it, I’d made a mistake.

“Oh, stop it,” she said breezily.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

John had told me about the show, hinting it might be the kind of thing Nina might like. This was before the last picnic, but it still seemed like a good idea. Mainly as I already had the tickets. The show was a revival of Noel Coward’s Easy Virtue. As we sat in the dark, listening to Texans approximate the Queen’s English, I felt Nina stroke my hand. Apparently, she made her mine up. I was happy but would have been happier if I’d been so decisive.

I knew it shouldn’t bother me. Everyone was different, after all. Though I just couldn’t help but wonder about her past and if we could ever really understand each other. It was hard to believe we could really ever have much in common, given our obviously different childhoods.

Nina was still giggling as we left the theater, both her arms wrapped around me. With only a bit of trouble, we got into the truck and drove down to the restaurant. My truck standing out in the parking lot like a sumo wrestler in a kindergarten. It wasn’t on purpose, but I saw right up Nina’s dress as she got down from the truck cab. Her lack of underwear immediately became apparent as my cock turned to stone in my pants.

“Oh, Daddy told me about this place.”

I was reminded once again who she was, as well as her family. I wanted to ask her about it but didn’t want to upset her. She clearly wasn’t comfortable talking about money and, despite my frustration, I didn’t want to upset her. I was just starting to get her back. I knew her family was wealthy. Her dad’s gas stations were all over the place. Though I was beginning to wonder how rich.

I got a better indication when the food came. Nina taking up her knife and fork in the traditional way, holding her knife in no way like a pen. Which was more than could be said for my clumsy ass. It wasn’t a problem until I started attracting attention from the surrounding customers, who seemed to be deeply offended. Wealthy people could be really weird about the littlest things.

Nina held out her hand and, after realizing what she wanted, I gave her the knife. Switching which hand the knife and fork were in, she also showed me how to hold them. I couldn’t help but smile. We were already beginning to teach each other things.

Visions of grand balls and diamond tennis bracelets were fox trotting in my head as I drove Nina home. In no way sure how I felt about it all. Except the biggest surprise was yet to come.

Far from a palace, her aunt’s house was a plain rancher in an ordinary neighborhood. Some touches like the black brick walkway looked really nice but could have easily been DIY projects added later.

“Get your tushies in here,” someone called.

“Serious?” I asked.

Nina nodded. “As a firing squad. You don’t tangle with Auntie Blair when she uses the ‘t’ word.”

Hopping down to the freshly paved road, I helped Nina down out of the cab. We walked hand-in-hand toward the house. Nina and Blair kissed on the cheek before Nina disappeared inside the house.

“Have a good night,” I said, though not sure to whom.

“Come in for some coffee,” Blair insisted.

“I have to get home and—”

I couldn’t finish my sentence. Nina’s Aunt Blair looked at me in such a way that I didn’t want to do anything else but stay there for some coffee.

The house was odd but charming. Artifacts and knick-knacks were on every available surface. My attention was caught by a massive dream catcher in the living room window —not the marker of wealthy elegance.

Nina squeezed my hand as I sat down beside her at the small kitchen table. I squeezed back, resisting the urge to kiss her, wanting to spare sweet Nina the potential embarrassment.

Suddenly I remembered what Nina said about being an only child. Not that she always was but that she was now. Like she’d had siblings but didn’t any more. Short of a serious disownment, I wasn't quite sure how that could be. Unless the sibling in question had died. I was even confused and curious than I’d been before.

“Milk, ice cream, or nude?” Blair asked when the coffee was brewed.

“Sorry?”

“In the coffee. She calls black coffee with vanilla ice cream a peasants cappuccino. Nude is the same as nothing in it,” Nina explained quietly, as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

“Milk, please,” I said, unable to hide my mirth.

I love every minute of it. Blair making me laugh with her wonderful eccentricities. The fact that she seemed to accept Nina and me without question only made me like her more. She didn’t seem snobby or rich at all. Which only made me more confused about Nina’s family. Why did her aunt live such a simple hippie life? She wasn’t in any way a flashy person, and neither was Nina if I thought about it. That night was the first time I’d seen her in anything remotely expensive, and it could well have been because I said we were going somewhere nice.

Eventually, I headed back out to my truck and went home, unsure of what to think anymore.