Read Online Deceived 5 - New Beginnings by Eve Carter - Free Book Online Page B

had never been happier—or more annoying. I was delighted, of course, that she’d found a great guy finally, but I’d never imagined she would be so obsessed. At work, she’d burst into my office and tell me about her last date with him, in way more detail than I ever wanted to know, and then two seconds after leaving, she’d text me with the details of what he’d just said to her in his text message. A couple times, she even went so far as to copy his text, word for word, so I could read it, like I needed a microscopic, play-by-play action of their relationship. I loved Elyse like a sister, but I’d had it with all of her ‘Ricky this,’ and ‘Ricky that,’ so it came as a welcome distraction when Nina called, asking if I wanted to meet her for lunch. At least if she talked about Ricky, it wouldn’t be to tell me the latest thing he’d done in bed.
     
    I collected my phone and purse and headed across the hall to Patrick’s office. I poked my head in, giving his door a little tap to get his attention. “Hey, hon. Can I interrupt? Do you have time?”
     
    Patrick swiveled his chair around, greeting me with a broad smile as I walked in. “For you, baby, I always have time.”
     
    No matter how annoyed I was, whether at Elyse or something else, seeing the love in his eyes when he looked at me always made me feel better. I stood in between his legs as he circled his arms around my stomach, gently laying his ear to my belly.
     
    “You do that a lot and I have to ask, are you listening for the heartbeat?”
     
    He lifted his head and splayed his hand across the surface of my stomach. “I’m just listening for a hello from our little girl.”
     
    I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think she can talk yet, silly.”
     
    He grinned and leaned close to my stomach. “Hello, Victoria. This is your daddy. Can you hear me?”
     
    “Are you trying to talk to the baby through my stomach?” My heart swelled with love. I now understood why some women said they’d never loved their husbands more than they did when they saw him with their children.
     
    “What?” He smiled up at me. “I heard this is supposed to make them smart. You’re supposed to talk to the baby and play classical music. It’s supposed to help their cognitive development.”  
     
    “You’re really weirding me out, sweetie. You need to stop reading those books Ryan’s giving you.”
     
    He laughed and began placing little kisses all around the sphere of my protruding belly as I continued.
     
    “You’re maybe going a bit overboard.”
     
    He stopped kissing my belly and looked up at me as he said, “That’s okay. I’m allowed to act weird. I’m pregnant.” He grinned. “I read in the book that men can sometimes feel what is called, ‘sympathetic’ pregnancy pains. They actually feel pain like the women do.”
     
    I slapped his arm as he stood up and said, “Oh, stop it. And stop reading my books . Women are the ones who feel all the pain, not men, you dork. Weren’t you raised a good little Catholic boy? Don’t you know that was part of the curse God put on Eve?”
     
    “I must’ve slept through that part,” he said. “What did God tell Adam then? We’re off the hook as far as the pain thing goes? No pain for men, just the pleasure of sex? Go forth and copulate with as many women as possible just to populate the earth?”
     
    I rolled my eyes and said, “Yeah, that’s what a guy would think. But, no, not exactly. God let men off the hook when it comes to pain.”
     
    “Are you feeling any pain right now?” He was only half-teasing.
     
    “Only the big pain in my butt called Patrick.” I poked his arm.
     
    He frowned with a mock look of hurt on his face and said, “I can’t wait until you get your body back from the hormone aliens who came and took my even-tempered Chloe away.” He gave my belly another kiss.
     
    “Don’t worry, everything will be back to normal once the baby comes.” I took his hand and