Chapter 46

Eliza's POV:

"Okay, so do you think we should go with the oak or this birchy looking stuff?" I asked gesturing to two different cribs on display.

"They look exactly the same to me." Max replied staring at the furniture in confusion. We were supposed to be shopping for baby furniture but kept getting caught up in all of the choices there were. Thank god he was the easy going type and had been patiently letting me look at everything in the store. His patient "whatever you want to do baby" responses were the only things keeping me sane right now.

"Well I kind of like the oak. I think it will look nice in the baby's room." All of the furniture was beautiful and I couldn't help but sigh over how sweet everything was.

"Baby" he said drawing me against him, "if that's what you want, then lets get it." He kissed the spot beneath my ear making me sigh and lean against him before he let go and walked over to where the saleswoman was trying to keep a polite distance. Unfortunately they had recognized Max right away as soon as we entered and I practically saw the dollar signs flash into her eyes as she thought about her commission.

So far this morning we had picked out which room we were going to make the baby's room and had been to 3 furniture stores before finally pulling up to this one. I felt a little bit better knowing that we were making progress in preparing for the little girl or guy that would be here in a few short months but we still had a long way to go before we were ready to be parents.

I wandered over to look at some of the rocking chairs on display debating whether we needed one or not. Wasn't it traditional to have a rocking chair in a baby's room? Between looking at a million different cribs that morning and not getting the big breakfast Max had promised we would stop and eat, my head  was starting to throb.

"So when will you two be getting married?" I turned from where I was looking at a recliner to see a different saleswoman smiling at me placatingly. She looked down pointedly from my slightly swelled but obvious baby bump to my bare ring finger on my left hand. Bitch.

"Excuse me?" I asked refusing to believe that someone was being that outspoken to me when they didn't even know us.

"You two are just so sweet together. I was just wondering when you two were making it official" she said smiling at me. As a lawyer, I was used to handling people and I could immediately see through her fake facade.

"We haven't decided on a date yet actually" I told her leading her to judge for herself whether or not we were engaged. As far as I was concerned, it wasn't any of her damn business.

"Oh well, you should get on that" she said looking at me with pity in her tone. "Everyone knows Max Talbot's reputation here in Pittsburgh and maybe it's best to tie him down quickly before he fucks around." 

I looked at her in shock for a moment pinching myself to make sure that it was actually happening. Was she seriously talking to a paying customer like this? Baby inside of me or not, I was ready to smack that smug smile off of her face.

"As much as I appreciate the advice, Emily" I said reading her name tag, "I don't really think it's any of your business." I left her there watching me as I walked away no longer feeling in the mood to coo at all of the baby stuff.

Max was still talking to the original, nice saleswoman and holding his wallet while he signed something. I walked over to check up on what he was doing and why it was taking so long. That bitchy saleswoman was still watching both of us from afar and it was making me irritable.

"Do you want the changing table that matches the crib? That would be one less thing that we have to look for and it will all match."

"Yeah that's great. I didn't even think about that part." He nodded and slid over his Visa looking relieved that we were probably done furniture shopping for the day.

"Do you want to grab something to eat then? I'm starving" he smiled sliding an arm around my waist while we waited for the bill to be complete. His eyes narrowed at me speculatively when I shrugged not giving an excited response. He knew that I had been waiting for breakfast all morning and was probably confused why I wasn't more excited.

"Do you feel alright?" he whispered so that only I could hear him. What did I say? Oh hey Max, other people are starting to question when we're getting married too? And it's starting to bother me that we haven't talked about it at all?

"Yep," I said giving him a more sincere smile. "I'm just thinking about what else we need, that's all."

He nodded pressing another kiss to my temple and thanked the saleswoman who brought over the receipt and information for when the furniture would be delivered. I was only half listening as Max planned a day when he would be around during the morning to let the delivery men into the house. Since it was the off season, he was obviously around more often and I had enlisted him to paint the baby's room while I was at work this week even though we couldn't decide on a paint color.

He led me out to his car babbling about how relieved he was to have something to stick in the currently empty baby room. "Do you know where you want to eat? Should we drive out to our diner since we have time today?"

I nodded still preoccupied by what the saleswoman had said to me in the store and partly feeling ashamed of myself for having these doubts because of what one obviously jealous woman had said to me. Neither Max nor I were perfect but that didn't give me reason to always question aspects of our relationship like this. I owed it to both of us and the life inside of me to have more faith in the strength of our relationship.

I was about to get into the car when Max stopped me.

"Lizzy" he said framing my face with his hands and holding me in place with his body against the side of the car. "I thought that you would be more excited about picking stuff out."

"I am excited" I told him smiling at him for real for the first time in over an hour. "I think I'm thinking too much" I told him honestly.

"As long as you're sure nothing's wrong." I nodded again while his hands still framed my face softly and he stared down at me like he was trying to decide if I was lying or not. I expected him to release me and let me get into the car but instead he leaned down capturing my lips in his and giving me a searing kiss in the middle of the parking lot. 

"Do you want to go home instead" he mumbled against my lips, nibbling on my lower lip with his teeth. I was tempted, especially since I could feel how excited he had become all of the sudden but my stomach growled breaking the moment and causing him to laugh.

"Women, always finding excuses" he teased taking a step back and opening the car door for me.

"Hey buddy, I didn't say anything, my stomach did. I would be more than willing to do whatever you want. Just as long as its after I'm fed."

He grinned at me and put on his seatbelt, a habit he had been broken into thanks to me, smiling at me across the console.

"You're right baby. You do need a lot of energy for that." He gave me a cheesy wink and I laughed. Would I always find his ridiculous antics this funny? I hoped so.

"Okay Mr. Smooth Operator, lets go eat. You can sweet talk me later."

Max's POV:

Something was bugging her, I just wasn't completely sure what it was yet. Everything had been fine all morning. Completely normal as I let her drag me around to multiple furniture stores and find the "perfect baby furniture" that she was holding out for. All of that was fine, I would do any of this for her a million times over if it meant that she was happy. What I didn't understand was how she could go from being perfectly fine to quiet and guarded all within a half hour. As much as she insisted that she was fine, she had that defensive look in her eye like she had yesterday after the party.

No matter what I did or said, it seemed like something was really bugging her and she wasn't telling me for a reason. It worried me but it was also typical of her to bottle things up inside for awhile before telling me what was actually wrong.

How long had I waited for her to tell me that she loves me? A long ass time. Still, it was worth it in the end and I knew that everything would be okay eventually.

The rest of the day went by quickly with us spending a large part of the afternoon in Lowes arguing over paint samples and disagreeing over colors to paint the baby's room. Since arguing was pretty normal for us and usually transpired into something much nicer in the bedroom, I didn't think anything of it. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right and she was holding herself back from talking to me about it.

"I can't believe you talked me into that yellow color" she said smoothing lotion onto her arms and turning so that I could rub some onto her back. My hands had become unusually soft for a hockey player thanks to her.

"I told you, yellow is a happy color. I'll just paint a portion of the wall that color tomorrow and if you hate it, we'll go back to the store and find a different color."

She pulled her long hair out of the towel turban on her head and began to brush out the tangles from our shower. "If you say so. I just think we should have waited a little bit longer until we know if it's a boy or a girl."

"Well yellow is a good color for boys and girls" I argued ignoring her eye roll.

"If you're that convinced that I'll love it then I'll give it a try" she said pulling on her underwear and one of my t-shirts that she now used as a nightgown. Even though it was baggy and one of my more ridiculous t-shirts, my second brain couldn't ignore the way she still managed to look curvy and gorgeous in it. She left me in the bathroom to finish up my routine and was already tucked up in bed with her book when I walked back into the bedroom.

"What time do your parents leave tomorrow?" She asked holding her spot in her book.

"What are you reading? You've been reading that thing all weekend" I asked more curious why there was a shirtless guy on the front than answering her question. "What's that guys wearing?" I asked sitting down next to her and trying to pull the book out of her death grip.

"Nothing" she said, her whole face errupting into a blush. "Max let go of my book" she told me now looking exactly like a tomato.

"No seriously, what is it?" I started to laugh as she protested more but eventually I pried her fingers loose and read the cover outloud. "The Duke That Loved Me." This is what she had been reading late at night for the past couple of days? I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing and ducked just as she reached out to hit me.

"It's not that funny" she said narrowing her eyes at me as I continued to laugh at her.

"You've been reading a romance novel? Aren't those kind of kinky?"

"They're not like that!" she cried stealing the book back from me and hugging it protectively against her chest. "They're romantic" she emphasized the word 'romantic' like it was an insult to me.

"Don't  you get enough romance from me baby?" I teased leaning down to try to kiss her lips and apologize for laughing so hard at her.

"Oh don't go there with me" she said holding the book up last minute so that I couldn't kiss her.

"Come on, don't be like that. I didn't mean to be an ass."

"You're still laughing at me!" she pointed out as I tried to conceal my smile. Lonely, old women read these kinds of books, not practical and pregnant Lizzy. It was hilarious. So I guess I was still being an ass. But seriously, it was hilarious that we had been together this long and she had hid this from me.

Instead of trying to defend myself again, I set the book on the nightstand next to her and leaned over pinning her down with my body.

"Oh yeah right, like you're getting any now" she said trying to look stern but it was hard to take her seriously when there was that twinkle in her eye.

I shifted so that all of my weight was on her now and nudged her shirt aside to suck on the spot between her neck and shoulder. Her hands moved up to my shoulders holding me in place while her breathing quickened.

"What are you doing?" she gasped tilting her head back so that I would have more access to the skin there.

"I'm giving you romance" I told her slipping my hand underneath her shirt to trail up to her breast. My thumb found her nipple and she arched against me, her foot rubbing my leg softly and turning me on even more.

"Oh really?" Her body was becoming pliant beneath mine as I continued to stroke her and kiss her neck. "This isn't romance Max, this is just good sex."

"What do you mean good sex?" I said ignoring the other half of her sentence. I was painfully turned on and just wanted to kiss her already. I loved her mouth- Hell, I loved everything about her but I really wanted that mouth to be doing something else right now instead of talking. "Don't you mean 'great' sex?" I said sliding my hand down her thighs to where she was already wet and ready for me. I stroked her slowly feeling her squirm beneath me.

"Maybe" she said starting to sound breathless. I slid my finger in farther and moved faster enjoying the way her hands tightened on my back and urged me on.

She squealed and began to tense as I brought her closer to the edge. She breathed out my name again and I kissed her while her body tensed completely before coming undone.

"Okay, yeah" she breathed out spreading heat onto my neck. "That was great" she smiled cuddling against me and kissing the spot above my adam's apple.

She continued to kiss me while her hands wandered down my lower back letting me know that we weren't finished yet. "Are you still mad at me?" I questioned trying my hardest to contain myself despite the fact that her hands were wandering to very tempting places.

"I don't even care anymore" she replied.

Clearly this was a win-win situation and I wasn't going to screw with a good thing while I had it.



So I feel like this chapter is a little unfocused but I've had a hella-busy last couple of days and just wanted to put something out for this story. Also, I finally figured out where I'm going to take the story next and unfortunately, that does mean that it will probably end in a couple of chapters. It's really the only way that I can see this story ending and not being overly drawn out. So if you feel that this chapter jumped around too much, have no fear, it was all for strategic reasons :D