Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell #11) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,58

Once she was on her feet, she mumbled a quick, “Thank you,” winced, sort of cringed, and prayed that she was able to waddle her way to the bathroom before she made this morning truly memorable.

Twenty minutes and an empty bladder later, Melanie walked back into the bedroom, freshly showered, hair combed, and teeth brushed to find Aidan lounging on the bed, reading something on his iPad. Without a word, she walked over to the bed, somehow managed to climb onto it without losing her towel and then promptly moved between his legs, laid back, closed her eyes, and felt herself relax.

God, he was comfortable, she thought as Aidan wrapped his arms around her.

“Better?” Aidan asked, placing his hands on her belly.

“Yes,” she said, sighing with relief as she laid there, more than ready to have this baby.

“Only two more weeks,” Aidan said, reading her mind.

“I feel like I’m ready to explode,” Melanie said, making him chuckle as she placed her hands over his.

“It will be over before you know it,” he told her as he pressed a kiss against the top of her head.

“Promise?” she asked because she wasn’t really sure that she was going to be able to make it another two weeks.

“Promise,” Aidan said with another kiss before they fell into a comfortable silence. For a while, they sat there as Aidan caressed her belly while she closed her eyes and simply enjoyed being in his arms until it was time to get back to reality.

“I have to go back to work,” he said, not sounding any happier than she was about it.

“I know,” Melanie said, wishing that they could spend all day like this. She’d never been big on cuddling before, but then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that no one had ever held her the way that Aidan did. He made her feel safe and cherished, something that she’d quickly become addicted to.

“I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted with another kiss, making her smile.

“But you have to go to work,” she said, biting back a disappointed sigh.

“I have to go to work,” Aidan said, sighing before adding, “and I have a double shift at the hospital that I couldn’t get out of afterwards.”

“So, I won’t see you until tomorrow morning?” she said, understanding probably better than most people would since up until seven months ago she’d been a workaholic as well.

She’d never had time to slow down, never wanted to because she’d loved what she did. It hadn’t always been that way. When she was in high school, she’d been forced to choose between taking theatre and a programming class, which really hadn’t been much of a choice given how much she hated musicals. She’d regretted her decision within the first five minutes of class. That had been followed by asking to go to the front office and finding out that there were no other options.

It had taken her twice as long and required her to stay after school for extra help, but by the end of the first semester, she’d earned her first F and an unhealthy hatred for all things computer related. That had been followed by her marching down to the front office and demanding that they let her take the class again next semester.

After a thirty-minute meeting with the school psychiatrist to make sure that she wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown, they’d reluctantly allowed her to take the class again with an offer of letting her take double gym classes instead if she changed her mind. With a glare that may have been a bit too much at that point, she’d headed to the library and took out every book on computers and programming that she could get her hands on and read them over Christmas break, determined to pass that damn class.

At the end of Christmas break, she’d somehow managed to hate the class even more, and by the time progress reports came out next quarter, she wanted to curl up into the fetal position and stay there all while she was tempted to give up. She still wasn’t sure how she’d managed it, but somehow, she’d made it through that class with a C- and found herself signing up for another programming class.

By the time she’d graduated high school, she’d fallen in love with programming and had been teaching herself skills that they hadn’t offered in school, which had led to designing websites, databases, apps, and a few dozen