The Girl Next Door - Emma Hart Page 0,32

curtains with my gaze.

This was fucking awkward.

I wanted to apologize to her so badly, but the words wouldn’t leave my tongue. They were stuck there, and I hated that I couldn’t just spit it out right now.

Ivy rolled over so she was in the middle of the bed. I looked down at her only to meet her eyes. They were black in the darkness, but there was still a little glint in them.

She nudged my arm.

“What?” I whispered.

She did it again, except this one wasn’t so much a nudge as it was a light punch, and she combined it with shuffling closer to me.

Right.

I lifted my arm so she could snuggle into me. She moved so I could loop it around her body, and she rested her head against my chest. Her arm fell gently over my waist, and I shifted my legs so one of hers could rest between them.

After one more wriggle, she stilled.

I bent my arm so I could stroke her hair. It was soft, and my fingers easily glided through it. I kept it up until her breathing became slow and low and I was pretty sure she was asleep.

I guess the fact my heart had been thumping at her closeness hadn’t bothered her at all.

If she’d even noticed.

I sighed softly and turned my head so my lips were brushing the top of hers. After a few more minutes, when I was certain she was asleep, the words I’d been dying to say to her fell from my lips.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured against her hair, still stroking it. “I hate that I wasn’t here for you. I should have been. I promised you, and I’ve already broken it.”

She said nothing. Not that I was expecting her to.

She was asleep, after all.

“I’m so damn sorry,” I repeated on another whisper. “I know you can’t hear me right now, and I’ll have to apologize again in the morning.”

Still nothing, just the steady in and out of her deep breaths as she slept on me.

I closed my eyes, my lips still pressing against the top of her head. “I just fucking wish you knew how much I really cared about you. I wish you knew how crazy I am about you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN – KAI

What did you feed a pregnant woman who may or may not want to throw up in the morning?

Google was no help, and Anna had merely glared at me before stomping out of the apartment.

Probably to go tell Mom how terrible I was already.

Like she hadn’t spent her entire life moaning about how annoying her siblings were.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a big breakfast eater, so I didn’t have a lot of food that would pass for breakfast. Fortunately, I was an early riser thanks to having to be up for work early every day, so I’d already been to the store and stocked up.

I had pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, eggs, various syrups, and a range of pastries. I’d also added orange juice, apple juice, three different smoothies, and a protein shake.

Like I said, I had no idea what to feed a potentially nauseous pregnant woman. But after my accidental disappearing act last night, I felt like I had to do something.

Ivy had slept soundly all night, eventually rolling away from me and freeing up my arm. At some point during the night, after that, I’d followed her, and I’d woken up to me spooning her.

I didn’t know if she was awake right now, but I didn’t want to disturb her, so I left what most hotels would call a continental breakfast on the kitchen island and walked into the living room.

I lay down on the sofa and opened my news app while I waited. Not that there was anything particularly happy in the news these days, but it was always good to keep yourself grounded.

I snorted at my own thoughts.

My current situation was pretty grounding.

Not only did I have to apologize to Ivy, but how she responded to it would determine if I was going to come clean to her or not about how I felt.

If she took it well, I’d admit that I had feelings for her.

If she took it badly, I’d take the verbal beating I knew I deserved and keep the truth to myself.

My phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number.

UNKNOWN: Have you spoken to Ivy? She’s not answering my texts.

ME: Who is this?

UNKNOWN: It’s Tori. Colton gave me your number.

ME: Oh. She’s fine. She’s at my place, sleeping.

TORI: What happened?