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‘I don’t like to starve and making enough for you is the least I can do given I just made a mess of your kitchen.’ She glanced through the doorway and he laughed. ‘Already tidied it. Figured you wouldn’t let me back if I didn’t.’
She sat down next to him, tried to steer herself back in the right direction—the independent one. ‘But you’ll get the oven in your own flat fixed, right?’
‘Mmm.’ His forking some food in muffled his answer. She didn’t bother with talking either after she took her first bite. This was too good to leave to waste. She’d had no idea she was so hungry. She’d had no idea Jack could cook like this.
‘Lots of good stuff here.’ He finally broke the silence, nodding towards their three-quarter-empty plates. ‘But you should see a doctor. You need to be taking some vitamins. Folic acid and stuff.’
‘I didn’t know you were a walking baby and birth encyclopaedia.’ She took a sip of the glass of orange juice, trying to cool her rising temper.
‘I did some research. This is the only child I’ll ever have, I thought I’d better get clued up.’
‘I’m the one having this child, Jack.’
‘But we’ve already established that I’ll be there for it.’ He grinned, refusing to let her have the last word. ‘Starting now.’
She gripped her knife a bit tighter. ‘Well, you don’t need to worry. I went to the doctor this morning. I have the vitamins and all the information I need.’
‘Who’s the doctor? A specialist, right?’
Kelsi looked at him, surprised by the insistence in his tone. ‘Just my normal doctor. I’ll arrange a midwife in a few weeks.’
‘And a specialist. You should have a specialist.’
A midwife wasn’t a specialist? What did he want—a whole team of ob-gyns and technicians? Kelsi swallowed hard on the last bit of steak that had decided to wedge in the back of her throat. She wasn’t going to start a fight—not tonight. Not until she had the sleep she so desperately needed. ‘I’ll make arrangements.’
‘You don’t think you need to ease back on your workload?’
‘No.’ The urge to argue was harder to suppress now. ‘I’m pregnant, Jack. Not sick.’
He sliced his steak with vicious jabs of his knife.
‘You don’t have to do this with the house.’ Okay, she couldn’t not pick a fight now.
‘Yes, I do. You need a home and you like it here. But it’s not like you could have bought it yourself.’
No, but in a few years she could have bought a little place somewhere.
‘You’re never going to have to worry about money, Kelsi, please understand that.’
She put her cutlery down—suddenly feeling as if her stomach was over-full.
‘You can trust me.’ He practically ground the words out. ‘You know what? I trust you. I trust you to take care of yourself and our baby.’
‘I have no choice but to do that.’
‘I know. And I have no choice but to try to help you as best I can. I will ensure you and the baby are secure.’
But she didn’t want to be reliant on him. She didn’t want to become too dependent on him only for that support to be whipped away—and it would be. It always was.
‘I’m sorry if accepting my help dents your pride.’ He didn’t sound sorry at all.
Besides, it wasn’t her pride getting the battering. It was that thing thumping in her chest. She had to protect it better and knowing more about him might help—like more about his incompatible lifestyle. ‘How come you don’t have your own apartment to live in?’
Jack stabbed the last bit of his steak. ‘I’m never in one place for that long.’
He didn’t taste the meat as he forked it in. He just wanted to eat and get out of there. Doing the domestic thing wasn’t helping him any. Being this near to her strung his nerves tighter across the wires of want—and he was so close to giving in to it. But he’d known she wouldn’t be up to cooking anything—she looked even paler than usual. Tired. Beautiful.
Pregnant.
