“We’ve got boys keeping an eye on shit. Men will be around,” I told her as I buckled my bag. “No need for you to worry.”

“I know. I’m just a little jumpy,” she mumbled, stepping into me and wrapping her arms around my waist. “You done here? Can we go inside?”

“Yeah, but I have to hit the road soon,” I warned her, setting my hand on her lower back to lead her up the stairs. “You need to put some clothes on before you leave the house.”

“It’s like seventy degrees already!” she scoffed, walking inside.

“I know how warm it is, Callie, but your tits are huge and your tank top is really fuckin’ small!” I practically shouted as I followed behind her.

“Can I please not hear about my sister’s tits at nine in the morning?” Cody grumbled from the couch.

“Fuck!” I hissed as Callie gave me a snotty look and stomped toward the bedroom. “Shut the fuck up, Cody.”

I followed her into the bedroom as she was whipping off her tank top and trying to stuff herself into a bra. I wasn’t sure why she hadn’t bought any new ones yet, but the old ones looked uncomfortable as hell.

“The doctor said at thirteen weeks they’d probably still grow a bunch, and I didn’t want to buy new ones yet,” she commented, snapping the bra straps over her shoulders angrily. “But they’re really uncomfortable, Asa! And those tank tops are tight enough that I can wear them without a bra.”

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Callie,” I told her, rubbing my hand down my face. “I just don’t want other men seeing your tits everywhere you go.”

She nodded her head, stripping out of her pajama shorts and underwear, and I couldn’t help myself. I scooped her up against me and kissed the hell out of her. By the time I’d maneuvered her to the bed, I’d already undone my belt and jeans, and it took only a matter of seconds for me to shove them down and push inside her. I fucking loved grumpy morning Callie.

“I’m still annoyed with you,” she gasped, pulling my hair loose with one hand. Every time she did that it was like a straight jolt to my dick. “You’re gonna be back soon, right?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. Soon as I can. I’ll be back down,” I assured her, reaching behind her to unsnap her bra as her back arched. “I’m gonna leave some cash for you. You buy new bras.”

She shook her head, her eyes growing dazed, but still following the conversation, “I’ll just grow out of them.”

I stopped moving, making her whine quietly. “Then I’ll buy you more, yeah? Don’t want you walking around uncomfortable for no reason when I can fix it.”

She didn’t argue so I started moving again, my belt clinking loudly as it hit the edge of the bed where I was standing.

“They’ll be ugly,” she told me softly, her eyes meeting mine. “The bigger they are the uglier they get.”

I barked out a laugh that had her tensing, and I had a hard time not groaning when she clamped down on my dick. “Calliope,” I gasped, moving harder against her. “I don’t care what the fuck they look like as long as they’re comfortable. I want what’s inside them…. and why the fuck are we still talking about this?” I asked, running my hand down her belly so I could pinch at her clit.

“No idea,” she whimpered back, arching her neck as I hit the right spot.

I felt her pulsing around me when she came, and I wondered how the fuck I was going to leave her in an hour.

Chapter 58

Callie

Once Asa left, I felt quite a bit more apprehensive about the whole ‘baby’ thing. I didn’t really feel pregnant yet, mostly just tired, and the thought of ballooning and then pushing a baby out of my business had me breaking out in a cold sweat. I couldn’t help being excited, though, especially after we’d seen our little bean on the ultrasound.

Farrah continued to live with me full time, but Gram stopped staying with me a couple weeks after Asa left. Thankfully, because Cody’s scholarship had expired when he’d graduated, Gram was no longer tied to San Diego. She’d had Cody drive down to pack up her trailer and move her things north—right into the apartment I’d just vacated. She’d said she didn’t want to be far away when I had the baby, which made the move to Sacramento seem odd to me. I was still planning on moving in with Asa as soon as Farrah got her shit together, and frankly, I was running out of patience.

It wasn’t as though I’d put her on a time limit. I hadn’t. But she seemed to be racing toward the edge of a cliff and everyone around her was just waiting for the fall. I sort of wished she would get to that point so we could deal with the fallout and she could start to heal. Everyone dealt with grief differently, and it seemed as if Farrah’s grief was manifesting into a drinking, tattooing, piercing extravaganza. She reminded me of a coloring book; every time she came home she had something new drawn or stuck into her body. Unfortunately, Asa had also hit the nail on the head when he told me to watch out for Cody. Something was going on with them even though neither of them were talking about it. It was almost a relief that Cody would be heading to Yale in the fall and I wouldn’t have to worry about whatever fucked up thing they had going. The last thing Farrah needed was a new guy fucking with her life, especially if that guy was my little brother.

It was the third week after Asa’d left and I’d slipped back into preparing for his visit. Everything was so much more vivid now that we were starting a family. I missed him more, loved him more, wanted him more—it was like every emotion I felt was magnified by ten. I wanted everything to be perfect when he arrived, even going so far as to buy new sheets for our bed and cleaning the toilet.