Irresistible (Neighbor from Hell #11) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,70
woman?” Lucifer demanded as Melanie tried to get comfortable on the lounge chair that she’d been ordered not to move from, but her back was killing her.
“She’s going to kill him one day,” Rebecca said, sounding thoughtful as Melanie gave up trying to get comfortable and settled for watching as Lucifer’s mother glared at him.
“Probably,” Melanie agreed, biting back a wince when more pain shot down her back. Maybe she should go inside? she thought only to immediately dismiss the idea when she remembered that Caitlyn was still in there.
“Everything okay?” Rebecca asked, sending her another curious glance, something that she’d been doing since they arrived a few hours ago.
“Everything’s fine,” Melanie said, forcing a smile as she did her best to ignore the cramp tearing through her back.
“You’re not a very good liar,” Rebecca reminded her with a heavy sigh as she glanced around the large backyard filled with Bradfords, her family, and friends and sighed again. “Where is he?”
“Who?” Melanie asked, deciding that it was time to curl up on her side.
Yup, definitely time to lay on her side, she thought as the next cramp stole her breath.
“She’s right. You are a bad liar,” Joey, who’d joined them an hour ago only to promptly bury her nose in a book, said, not bothering to look up from her book as she turned the page.
Shawn, the teenage boy sitting on the ground between them playing Minecraft on his iPad and Joey’s BFF apparently, asked, “Why is she hitting him?” making them frown as they looked back at Lucifer.
“That’s gonna leave a mark,” Rebecca said, sounding bored as they watched Mary throw one last hamburger bun at Lucifer before storming off.
“This isn’t over, woman!” Lucifer called after his mother only to curse under his breath and turn to run when she abruptly stopped, turned around, and-
“That’s definitely going to leave a mark,” Melanie said, sucking in a breath when the next cramp tore through her back, making her really regret her decision to lie to Aidan and tell him that she was fine. When she felt the warm hand wrap around hers, she glanced over to find Shawn holding her hand as he stared down at the iPad in his lap and decided that she was definitely going to have to steal him because she could always use an extra BFF.
“I’m getting Aidan,” Rebecca said, moving to do just that only to sigh heavily and drop back down on her chair when Melanie said, “Don’t. I just overdid it this morning. It’s just a backache.”
Mary and Lucifer had worked so hard to throw them a baby shower and she didn’t want to ruin it. She also didn’t want to give Aidan another reason to fuss over her. Over the past week, he’d been fussing over her, taking care of her, and glaring, god the glaring was going to get him killed, every time she so much as lifted a finger to do anything.
Which was why she’d been forced to get up in the middle of the night so that she could rearrange all the baby clothes they’d picked out last week because she knew that he would never let her do it. At least, that’s how she’d explained why she was up at two in the morning to him when he found her sitting on the floor, surrounded by baby clothes, crying incoherently because they were all so cute. She was actually hoping that they could forget that moment ever happened, Melanie thought, biting back another wince.
“What are we supposed to do then?” Rebecca asked when another cramp tore through her back.
There was another heavy sigh and then, “Fine. We’ll gossip.”
“I love gossip,” she felt the need to point out.
“I know you do, sweetie,” Rebecca murmured, joining her on the lounge chair so that she could reach over and take her other hand in hers. “Where should we start?” Rebecca asked, sounding thoughtful as Melanie forced herself to open her eyes so that she could consider their options.
When she saw the incredibly hot guy, and yes, he was somehow hotter than Aidan and Roger combined, that had stopped playing touch football with the rest of the Bradfords so that he could sit down and play tea with the cutest little girl that Melanie had ever seen, she nodded in his direction. “What’s his story?”
“Devin Bradford,” Rebecca said with a heartfelt sigh as a little boy walked over and dropped himself across Devin’s lap. “Single