Page 11 of Leave Me Not: Nick & Elissa #2 (Badger Creek Duet #8)

11

NICK

W hen we get back to the car, I switch on the ignition, waiting for the Bluetooth to connect before I hit play on the recording, the sound of our baby’s heartbeat now filling the space. When I turn to Lis, she’s watching me, a huge smile on her face.

“Holy shit,” I whisper, leaning over, my hand on her cheek. “This is so fucking cool.”

“I can’t believe we’re having a baby,” she murmurs, covering my hand with hers as she shakes her head a little, as though this has all become much more real now. I guess in a way it has, the undeniable proof filling the car.

Grinning, I close the distance, my lips against hers. “I love you so much, Lis. Thank you for taking another chance on me.” I pause, kissing her softly. “I promise it will be the first and only time you ever have to,” I add, kissing her again, slowly, deeply, as I try to show her how much I love her, how much I mean what I’m saying. How much I promise that this time will be different.

She rests her forehead against mine, the sound of our baby’s heartbeat still surrounding us. “That was easy,” she whispers. “It’s always been you and me, Nick. Always.”

“You, me and this one,” I say, dropping my hand to her stomach.

“Just the three of us,” she whispers.

“Always.”

I blow out a breath, knowing that with everything we’ve been through and everything we have going on, all I feel now is even more certain about the fact I should stay. And while once upon a time, I could never envisage a life where I wasn’t skiing competitively or where I wasn’t trying to achieve that Olympic dream I’ve been chasing for as long as I can remember, now, none of that seems important.

Now, all I want is to be with Lis. To stay here and build a life with her.

“I spoke to Max today, about finding a lawyer to look at my contract,” I tell her. “He said I should swing by and drop off my contract. He’ll get his dad and their lawyer to look over it. They sponsor me, but well, it’s different with them. I trust them.”

“Absolutely,” Lis says, smiling. “The Holdens would never do anything to hurt you.”

“Come with me?” I ask, knowing I want to keep her as informed as possible this time around. No more miscommunication or misunderstandings, everything is out in the open between us. “When I speak to them?”

“Of course,” she replies.

“And I want to come to as many of your appointments as possible, too,” I say.

“I mean I have to go every four weeks, so that might be hard if you do have to go back, but maybe we can do the ultrasound before New Year’s. In case you do have to go.”

“Yes, definitely. I’m hoping I don’t have to, but I don’t want to miss anything, babe.”

“I know,” she says. “Are you going to talk to your coach?”

I blow out a breath. “I guess I need to say something, yeah,” I tell her. “But not now. Let’s speak to Jeff tomorrow and then I’ll talk to him. Maybe I’ll have more info on where I stand with the contract and paying shit back. Maybe I won’t have to leave at all.”

“Okay,” she replies, squeezing my hand. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Now, you’re taking the rest of the afternoon off, right?” I ask.

Lis smiles, settling back into her seat. “I mean I have dinner with the girls tonight, but yeah, I think I could be persuaded.”

The next morning, I wake early, still not sleeping great as my brain refuses to switch off, trying to sort out all the shit with my contract. It doesn’t make sense for the coach or the team doctor to push me before I’m ready, but it also doesn’t make sense that two doctors treating me can have such different opinions on my recovery. I mean, I get medicine isn’t always cut and dry, but shit, they literally have completely opposite points of view, and I just don’t know who to believe.

Plus, I’m still fucking pissed at the fact my coach went and spoke to Elissa, especially with everything else we have going on. It was a dick move and with her being pregnant, Lis doesn’t need that kind of stress or pressure. It makes me wonder what kind of motives this guy has, going behind my back like that.

Blowing out a breath, I roll over to find Lis asleep beside me and just like every morning I wake up beside her, all that worry and shit fades into the background and I feel a sense of calm wash over me. Having her back, knowing we are both in this together now, grounds me in a way I’ve never felt before. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel settled, truly believing that whatever happens moving forward, we can do this.

Careful not to wake her, I move closer, scooting down the bed a little and pushing the covers back, before gently lifting her tank.

“Hi, baby,” I whisper, pressing my lips to the warm skin of her stomach. “You don’t have anything to worry about, okay. I’m not going anywhere.” I brush my lips against her again. “All you have to do is just stay where you are, grow big and strong, and I promise I’ll be here when you’re?—”

“Are you talking to my stomach?” Lis asks, her voice husky with sleep as her fingers comb through my hair.

Lifting my head, I lean in and brush my lips against hers. “I’m talking to our baby.”

She smiles against my mouth, her fingers in my hair as she holds me to her. “What were you saying?”

I grin, nipping at her bottom lip. “That I wasn’t going anywhere and all he had to do was stay put and grow.”

“He?” Lis asks, brow raised in question.

Smirking, I prop my head on my hand, my other one resting on her stomach. “Just a hunch.”

“Cause it’s making me puke so much?” Lis asks, a playful smile on her face as she rests her hand on mine.

Chuckling, I drop a kiss to the end of her nose. “He, she, I don’t care what it is, as long as it’s healthy.”

“Me too,” she whispers, pulling me into her. “And, I don’t feel like puking now,” she adds, her lips finding mine in a deep kiss.

I let out a groan, moving closer as I hover over her, my arms now on either side of her face. “Are you sure?” I whisper, my tongue tracing along her bottom lip.

“Positive,” Lis whispers. “You know all these hormones are supposed to make you really horny.”

“Oh, I know,” I tell her. “I was reading about that too.”

Lis lets out a laugh, her hands sliding down my body to my boxers as she pushes them down my hips. “So I think we should probably take advantage of that and my lack of puking, don’t you?”

I push her tank up and over her head, throwing it over my shoulder before dropping my mouth to her breast, where I close my lips around her nipple. Lis groans, arching into me and I remember also reading how she’s going to be more sensitive now too, which definitely seems to be the case.

“Nick,” she murmurs, her grip on my hair tightening.

I look up, my tongue teasing her hardened peak. “You okay?” I whisper, before blowing against it.

“Yes, so good,” she says.

“You’re so sensitive already, aren’t you?” I say, moving to her other breast.

“Yeah,” she moans, her eyes closed.

Smiling, I shuffle lower, pulling her panties down her hips. “Are you more sensitive everywhere?” I murmur, before I lower my mouth to her and gently tease her clit with my tongue.

“Fuck, Nick,” she cries, bucking off the bed and I smile, my hand on her hip, holding her down as I repeat the move. Lis groans again, her hands in my hair as she holds me to her, almost like she’s telling me to keep going.

And so I do, teasing her over and over again with my tongue, loving the effect it’s having on her as she writhes beneath me, her thighs on either side of my face. I fucking love doing this to her, love how much it turns her on and that it’s me who’s making her come.

I trail a finger down, through her wetness, groaning against her when I discover just how wet she is. It’s always been like this for us, the two of us able to turn each other on so much. My dick is as hard as a rock against the mattress right now and all I want to do is bury myself inside her, but I need to make her come first.

I push her thighs wider, as my mouth closes over her clit, sucking harder, teasing her more and more until she’s calling out my name, her back arching as she comes against my mouth.

I crawl up her body, her chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath and I slowly push inside her.

“Fuck, Lis,” I groan, dropping my forehead to hers. “Babe you are so wet.”

“Yes,” she moans, her eyes opening as her gaze finds mine.

“Fucking love being inside you,” I whisper, my thumb brushing her cheek.

“Me too,” she breathes out. “So much.”

“You okay?” I ask. “I’m not hurting you?”

She smiles, shaking her head. “God no, feels so good.”

Smiling, I close the distance, kissing her again as I start to move, pulling out before easing inside her again. I keep my movements slow, savoring this moment with her, knowing that all these days and nights of being together are going to stop for a bit if I have to leave.

I know what it’s like to go without Lis and even though this time is going to be different, I will miss being with her so fucking bad. We were inseparable and insatiable as teenagers and nothing about that has changed since we got back together.

I don’t know if it’s us making up for lost time or if it’s just the insane chemistry we’ve always shared, but I can never get enough of this woman. She turns me on like nothing else. It’s actually kind of amazing it’s taken this long for me to get her pregnant considering how much sex we’ve had, not just this time around, but when we were younger too.

“Nick,” she moans now, her hands moving to my ass, pushing me into her as though she wants it deeper.

I up my tempo a little, thrusting long and deep, my heart pounding in my chest as I watch her beneath me, trying to memorize this moment so I can take it with me. I’m so fucking close, but I want her to come with me.

Dropping a hand between us, my fingers find her clit, stroking her as I continue to push inside her. Lis opens her eyes now and our gazes lock, the two of us lost in each other as we get closer and closer to the edge.

When she starts to clench around me, it’s enough to push me over, the two of us coming hard together.

“Fuck,” I murmur, dropping my head to her shoulder as I bury my face against her neck. Elissa wraps her arms around me, holding me close as my body covers hers. I keep her with me as I roll us to the side and kiss her slow and deep. “That was so fucking good.”

She smiles. “It’s always good with us.”

“I know,” I reply, chuckling. “But I don’t know, that felt like good, good. Really fucking good.”

Lis laughs. “Maybe it really is the hormones.”

“If that’s the case, you’re gonna be pregnant for like the rest of your life, babe,” I tease, sneaking a hand down to her ass. “Because I love you like this.”

“What about when I get fat?” she asks, smiling up at me.

I scoff. “You won’t be fat, you’ll be cooking our little bun in your oven, and you’ll be fucking beautiful.”

“Hmmm,” she replies, rolling her eyes a little. “We’ll see.”

“I’m serious,” I tell her, brushing the hair back from her face. “I can’t wait to see you like that.”

Elissa smiles now, a smirk teasing her mouth as she says, “Who would have thought you’d be such a softie with all this baby stuff.”

Laughing, I give her a hard kiss. “I know it was a shit thing to say, but I really do think it’s different when it’s your own kid,” I say, remembering the stupid comment I made to Max when I first met Sammie. “Everything feels different.”

“Yeah,” she says, pushing me onto my back as she rolls her body onto mine. “It really does. I already love this baby and it’s not even here yet.”

I push her hair back, my hands cupping her face as I stare up at her. “I love you and this baby, and that’s why I think we should get married.”

“What?” Lis blurts out, a shocked look on her face.

I laugh, leaning up to give her a quick kiss. “We should get married,” I repeat. “Before the baby comes.”

“Why, you worried people will talk?” she asks, narrowing her brow, a smirk on her face.

“Please,” I scoff. “People always talk, and I couldn’t give a shit about that. I want to marry you because I love you and our baby, and I want us to be a family.”

Lis smiles, dropping her forehead to mine. “We’re already a family,” she whispers.

“I know,” I tell her, knowing that a piece of paper won’t change that, even if it is what I want.

I reach over to the nightstand, opening the drawer and pulling out the ring box I put there when I first came back. It’s something I’ve had for so long, but something I never got the chance to give her the first time I wanted to do this.

“I love you, Elissa. I have loved you my whole life and I will love you for the rest of it too. That’s why I want to marry you.” I pause, opening the box to reveal my grandmother’s engagement ring. She always loved Elissa and before she died, she actually gave this to me and told me if I was smart, I would put this on Lis’ finger as soon as I could.

I wanted to do it that time I came back in my first year of college. When I’d just been selected for the US team and was going to drop out of college and focus on that. I wanted to ask Lis to not just come with me, but to marry me too. Only nothing about that trip back here had played out like we’d thought. Not this time though, this time everything is different and I am not going to ignore my grandma’s advice anymore.

“What do say? You want to marry me too?”