Flirting Under a Full Moon - By Ashlyn Chase Page 0,81
it was me and not some rapist?”
Brandee nearly choked. When she could speak, she said, “I thought you were my boyfriend.”
He set his hands on his hips. “And I thought you were my girlfriend. How could you just throw away a year with me for a couple weeks with some big, blond, hairy ape?”
“Ape? You don’t even know him.” Her stomach growled and roiled. She clapped a hand over her rounded abdomen. “Oh crap.” I know these symptoms. She had an awful feeling there might have been some kind of milk in the bread pudding. She could already feel the bloat beginning to distend her stomach.
Darryl stepped back and eyed her belly. “Shit.” He pointed to it. “Is that from us?”
He thinks I’m pregnant! Brandee was about to rip him a new one, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she burped instead. “Oh, my Pepto…”
“Uh, yeah. Never mind, Brandee. You have a new guy in your life now. He can deal with your—problems.” Darryl turned on his heel and practically ran out the door. His footsteps pattered quickly down the stairs.
What an ass. Nick would never do that.
She thanked her lucky stars that she found true love before settling for—for what? She realized she didn’t even like Darryl. Why on earth did she think she might have a future with him? Was avoiding loneliness more important than learning what love really was, even if it took a while? Talk about a close call!
Brandee didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She opted for running to the bathroom when she felt the inevitable about to happen.
As soon as she was seated on the throne, she yelled, “Angie!”
A few seconds later, Angie answered through the door. “What’s the matter?”
“Did you use milk in the bread pudding?”
“What? Of course not, I know better than to…”
Brandee couldn’t hold it in without immense pain, so she let out a loud burp.
“Oops. Let me check.”
***
As Nick rounded the corner onto Charles Street, he thought he saw Brandee’s ex-boyfriend fleeing from her apartment. He chuckled to himself, wondering what his little spitfire had said to scare the guy off like that. He could hardly wait to find out.
He jogged the rest of the way to her apartment, opened the outer door, and hit the intercom buzzer. He waited a while before Angie finally answered it.
“Nick? Is that you?”
“Yeah. Brandee’s expecting me.”
“I know, but she’s a little, um…under the weather at the moment.”
She looked fine at the bar. I hope she isn’t crying over that asshole. “All the more reason to let me in. Whatever it is, I can help take care of her.”
“I don’t think she’d want you to do that right now.”
“Angie,” he said in a controlled tone, but one he hoped broached no argument, “open this door and let me in.”
“Or what? You’ll huff and you’ll puff and blow our four-story brick building down?”
Nick almost gasped. Did she still know he was a wolf? Was she protecting her roommate from him? A growl escaped.
He pressed the intercom again. “Angie. Let me in. I mean it.”
“Oh, all right, but you’re going to wish I hadn’t.”
What the hell could be wrong with her? He yanked the door open when the unlocking mechanism buzzed and took the stairs two at a time. He arrived at the second floor before Angie had a chance to change her mind. He pounded on the door a little harder than he meant to.
Angie opened it with the chain still linked across. “Jeez, calm down. She’s not dying or anything.”
He balled his fists. “Angie, let me in. I need to see her.”
“You can’t. She’s in the bathroom, and you really don’t want to go in there.” She lowered her voice and spoke behind her hand. “Not without a gas mask.”
Nick’s eyebrows shot up. All of this because of a little gas? He gentled his approach. “Just let me talk to her through the door.”
Angie sighed and closed the door enough to remove the chain. “Fine. But I guarantee she’ll be embarrassed. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Nick stalked to the bathroom and stopped just short of the door. “Brandee, honey? Are you okay in there?”
“Nick?”
“Yes. Angie said you were feeling ill. I need to be sure you’re all right.”
“Yeah, I’m just…indisposed at the moment.”
Her voice sounded okay. At least she didn’t seem shaken up.
“I can wait,” he called.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” He glanced over his shoulder and saw Angie coming up behind him.