Egotistically Yours by Hayley Faiman

Chapter Fourteen

BETHANIE

Reaching out for Laurent,the bed is cold. Rolling over, I look at the bassinet and expect to see Tucker sleeping peacefully, but that’s empty as well. With a whimper, my heart slams against my chest as I sit straight up and look around.

I feel dazed before I realize where I am. I know that it’s been a couple of weeks, but sometimes first thing in the morning I feel disoriented, especially if I’ve slept really great, which I was doing.

Slipping out of bed, I hurry to the bathroom and take care of business, then make my way downstairs, listening for any noises that would indicate where Laurent and Tucker are hiding. It’s completely silent as I search around the place.

The kitchen is empty, the balcony where I know Tucker spends much of his time is also empty. Frowning, I head toward Laurent’s office and that’s empty too. Then I hear the front door. Spinning around, I rush toward the door and see the two of them making their way inside.

“I fed him with one of the bottles that you left in the fridge,” Laurent announces as soon as he sees me.

I know that I must look as frantic as I feel. He lifts his hand and waves a small white bag back and forth, then he picks up a drink from the stroller’s cup holder and shoves it toward me. I don’t take it right away, looking at it, I flick my gaze to the cup, then his eyes, then the cup again.

“It’s peppermint tea. They said it was okay for nursing mothers,” he explains when I don’t take it from his hand immediately.

“You asked?”

He nods his head, his lips curving up into a grin. “There’s a little coffee place down the street. I wanted to give you some time to sleep, so we went on a walk,” he says with a shrug, as if it’s all no big deal.

Reaching for the cup, I take it and bring it to my lips. Inhaling, I smell the peppermint and I almost moan. Taking a sip, I let out a sigh. It’s warm and perfect. It’s peppermint with a hint of orange citrus, I can’t explain just how perfect it is.

“Thank you,” I say softly as I open my eyes to look at him.

He’s smiling, but it’s not cocky or know it all, it’s just a content looking smile—soft and sweet. “I grabbed some pastries too. They had muffins.”

“Muffins?” I ask.

He chuckles. “With brown sugar topping.”

I almost swoon right then and there. Brown sugar is my absolute weakness. “I remembered,” Laurent murmurs.

Lifting my gaze to his, my eyes widen and I can’t believe that I said the words out loud. He’s smiling and he shifts to take Tucker out of his stroller. Taking the white bag from his grasp, I watch as he cuddles a sleeping Tucker in his arms.

“Let’s go eat. Do you want me to cut up some fruit?”

“Really?” I breathe.

“You really need to get used to this, Bethie.”

“Get used to this?”

His lips curve up into a smile and he nods his head once. “Get used to me taking care of you, Bethie.”

God.

I want to believe him.

I want to believe in everything he’s saying and doing, but there is a part of me that still just doesn’t yet. There has to be a moment where I just realize that this is real, I’m going to have to trust that he isn’t going to completely destroy me. Moving in here with him has been nothing like I expected it to be.

“I’ll try,” I whisper.

I can try, that’s about all I can do right now because I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know if this is going to fall apart, but every minute of every day everything gets better. I’m living the dream life that I fantasized about, a life that I never imagined could be possible and yet here it is.

“Go on and sit down. I’ll bring plates and fruit. Do you want some eggs too?”

“No eggs,” I whisper.

“Can you take Tucker?”

Licking my lips, I nod, then hurry and set the tea and food bag down before I walk into the kitchen and take Tucker from his arms. I don’t leave though, instead, I stand to the side and I watch him make eggs and cut up some fruit.

I’m living a dream. Of all the times we slept together, never did I stand in the kitchen and watch him do anything. He never made me breakfast, never bought me a tea, never gave much of a shit.

“Lucinda is coming over tonight,” Laurent announces.

“She is?”

He hums as he throws the fruit in a bowl and takes it to the table. I watch him set it down before he returns back to his eggs. He doesn’t say anything right away, so I ask him if she’s coming over for dinner, trying to get more information out of him as to why Lucinda is coming over tonight, though I don’t mind it, I really like her.

“She’s going to babysit,” he announces.

“What?” I gasp, clutching Tucker closer to me.

He nods his head, then he turns to look over at me. “I made reservations and we’re going out to dinner, going dancing, then coming home.”

“Laurent,” I exhale.

His lips curve up into a grin. “A date, Bethie. We are going on a date. Something I should have taken you on a long time ago.”

Tears fill my eyes at his words. A date. Pressing my lips together, I watch him for a moment. He must feel my gaze on him. He turns to me, his eyes connecting with mine and he turns his eggs off, abandoning them before he closes the short distance between us.

His hands cup my cheeks and he dips his chin, his lips touching mine. His tongue slides across the seam of my lips before he rests his forehead against my own. “Baby, I should have done this a long time ago.”

“You took me out on a date once, on your boat,” I whisper. The memories of what I thought was a perfect night flood me.

He snorts. “It wasn’t nearly enough. I’m going to make this right, all of it—us.”

He doesn’t realize that every single thing that he’s done since he moved us in with him has been beyond right. It’s been amazing and breathtakingly perfect. So perfect that I feel uneasy, I feel scared that it could be ripped away at any second.

LAURENT

Lucinda showsup an hour earlier than I asked her to be here and I can’t help but laugh. She is so excited to watch Tucker that she wants to make sure she has all of the instructions down and that she is good to go. I don’t blame her, it’s not like we’ve been around babies much in our lives.

“Thank you so much for calling me,” she practically squeals.

Laughing, I let her inside and stand to the side as she breezes past me. “Where is he?” she demands.

“Bethie is feeding him one last time before we go,” I explain.

Her eyes widen. “What if he’s hungry when you’re gone? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” she says and I can hear the fear trembling in her voice.

Laughing, I open the fridge and show her the milk that Bethie has pumped for that situation. “I don’t think we’ll be gone too long. I doubt she’ll want to be away from Tucker for more than a few hours.”

“Her or you?” Lucina asks.

My lips curve up into a grin. “How’d you know?” I ask.

She shakes her head, her eyes finding mine and she shrugs a shoulder. “You’re different, Laurent. You’ve changed and I love it.”

She says it so simply, as if it’s just a fact. I’ve changed and she loves it and this is life. She’s not wrong. I have changed, and I have to admit that I like it too. I like everything about this new, extremely different life of mine. A life that I never wanted—a life I wouldn’t change.

An hour later, Lucina has taken notes and she looks almost confident enough that we can leave. I watch as Bethie gives her a hug, reminding her that we’re just a phone call away. Meanwhile, I give my sister the eye, daring her to call me.

She laughs, reminds us that she’s twenty-five and that she has this down. Wrapping my hand around Bethie’s, I practically drag her out of the penthouse.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” she says, as if she’s attempting to talk herself into it.

“It will. We’ll be close by, plus she can call Tennessee or Dad any time at all.”

Bethie’s eyes widen and she turns to me. “They live too far away,” she snaps.

“We’ll be five minutes away, Bethie. She won’t need to call them.”

“Really?”

Nodding, I lift my hand and touch my finger to her nose. “Really.”

The restaurant is three minutes from the apartment, the club two minutes away from there. I made reservations for both places, knowing they were close. This night was planned over a week ago. I’ve been waiting, anticipating this evening.

Valet parks my car and together we walk into the restaurant. It’s swanky, expensive, and somewhere I would eat at often before Tucker came into my life. Before Tucker and Bethie. When coming home as soon as possible was more important than anything else.

The hostess takes us to our seats, a table that I asked for in the back so that we would be away from the rest of the crowd. Once we’re seated, the waiter comes over and asks for our orders.

“I’ll have water, Bethie?” I ask, lifting my gaze to meet hers.

She looks down at the drink menu, then sighs and orders water as well. I know that it must be hard to be out and unable to drink, another reason why I ordered water, the main one being that I’ll be driving her tonight and though the club is only a few blocks away that’s not something that I would ever do, drink anything and drive her anywhere.

“Thank you for tonight,” she whispers.

Reaching across the table, I take her hand in mine, my eyes never looking away from hers. “No need to thank me, at least not yet.” I grin.

“When and how would you like your thanks?” she asks, her voice dropping slightly. I clear my throat and shift in my seat, my eyes never leaving hers.

“I’ll show you later tonight. After we get home.”

Her lips curve up and she nods her head, her eyes staying connected to mine. She doesn’t look away from me, but I can see her cheeks tint pink at the suggestion, at the idea of what’s to come. Good. My hope is to keep her on edge the entire evening.

Then, when we get home, I want to watch her explode into a million pieces beneath my touch.