The Things I Do for You (The Alexanders) (18 page)

Raina nodded. “Thank you. I have to admit, I do feel better just being off my feet and out of the crowd. I’m probably still not used to this many people at once.”

Grant glanced over at Nick with narrowed eyes. “Why wouldn’t you be used to it? How long have you two been married, anyway?”

Nick scowled. “Why? Are you hoping the ink isn’t dry on the certificate or something?”

Raina sat up and looked between the two men. “I’m surprised there’s anyone in your family who doesn’t know that we eloped. I thought all you Alexanders told each other everything.”

“Aaah, Cousin Nick hasn’t told you about the ‘other side’ of the family yet. Interesting. You guys really are newlyweds then.”
 

Raina nodded but decided against saying anything else. Her head wasn’t clear enough for her to navigate the strange undercurrents of this conversation.

He looked at Raina. “Our fathers don’t get along, so most of us West Haven Alexanders are treated like black sheep. Jackson has always been pretty welcoming to us, so we visit him from time to time.”

He didn’t say anything else. Nick’s hand clenched around her waist.
Okay, I think that’s enough sharing for one day
, Raina thought. It was obvious from what Grant hadn’t said that Jackson was welcoming but Nick, not so much. The last thing she needed was to have to referee a fight between two equally stubborn Alexander males.

This family politics stuff wasn’t for the faint of heart.

“I really don’t feel too well,” Raina stated, hoping Nick would pick up on her hint. He glanced at her and then back to his cousin.

“I think I’d better get her home. Thanks again, Grant.” They shook hands and Raina waved without getting up.
 

Grant ambled over to the door. Just before he pushed it open, he looked back. “If you’re ever on the west side of the city, come visit. The door is always open.” Then he walked out onto the deck and they were alone again.

Nick didn’t look at her so Raina placed a hand on his cheek. He looked at her, startled.
 

“Do I even want to know what that was all about?”
 

He shrugged. “It’s ancient history, but I promise I’ll tell you all about it. Later, after your head feels better.” He brushed a stray curl back from her face. “Because trying to understand the intricacies of the Alexander family feud is enough to give anyone a headache.”

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RAINA EYED THE clock, wondering for the millionth time when Nick was going to show up. Waiting to find out if she was pregnant was agonizing, so she’d been scrambling to find ways to distract herself. She couldn’t even hang out with Ridley since Jackson had surprised her with a trip to Paris for their honeymoon. They wouldn’t be back for another week.
 

In lieu of having her sister to talk to, she’d started signing up for different social media sites. She’d stumbled upon a site filled with gorgeous pictures of arts and crafts and some of the most delicious-looking recipes.
 

The fact that she couldn’t cook hadn’t stopped her from downloading a bunch of them and forcing Sam to come with her to the store to stock up on baking supplies. Of course, disorganized as she was, she hadn’t remembered to actually bring the recipes with her so she’d ended up buying almost everything on the baking aisle just in case.
 

Sam, to his credit, hadn’t voiced a word of complaint.

The timer dinged and she stuck her hand in an oven mitt. She pulled open the oven door and a cloud of black smoke billowed out. A few seconds later, the smoke alarm let out a shrill cry.

“Oh no! No, No, NO!”
 

Raina grabbed the dishtowel next to the sink and fanned the opening to the oven frantically, dispelling the thick gray clouds of smoke.
 

“What the hell is going on?” Sam appeared behind her and took the dishtowel from her. He wrapped it around his hand and reached into the oven. A moment later, he dropped the pan on the stove top and closed the door.
 

“Um, I was baking.” Raina would have laughed at his bewildered expression if she wasn’t so embarrassed.
 

“I see that. When we went to the store, I thought you were just stocking up on stuff Nick asked you to buy.” He looked down at the pan of cupcakes and then snorted. “Who were you baking for? A village of giants?”

Raina looked down at the pan and let out a small gasp. She’d followed the recipe to the letter and had filled each mold in the cupcake pan to the brim so they’d be nice and thick. She loved the big, thick cupcakes sold in bakeries.
 

Her cupcakes however, looked like they’d exploded out of the cups. Each one was melted over the edges of the pan while the tops stood up in a puffy mass. They looked deformed.

“Is everything okay in here?”

Raina turned to see Nick dropping his briefcase into one of the kitchen chairs.

“Uh, I’ll leave you guys to it.” Sam, the traitor, retreated back down the hall leading toward his rooms in the basement.

Raina turned around to see Nick eyeing the exploding cupcakes with barely concealed horror.

“Um, did your muffins get attacked by aliens?”
 

Raina’s shoulders sagged. “They’re supposed to be chocolate cupcakes. I don’t know what happened.” She sank down onto one of the bar stools next to the island and covered her face with her hands. “What kind of mother am I going to be? I can’t even follow a stupid recipe.”

Nick walked forward hesitantly. “It’s okay. Maybe they just need a little icing. Or something.”

Raina lifted her head and glared at him. “They look awful. It looks like the batter crawled into the oven and died.”

Nick pulled one of the cupcakes loose. The bottom was charred black. “See, I’m sure they’re fine. I’ll taste it.” He bit the top of the cupcake and then stilled. His face twisted before he shuddered. He looked like he was on the verge of throwing up.

Raina jumped up and grabbed a paper towel. She held it out to him. He spit the cupcake remains into it. “Um, it’s not that bad. Maybe you just left out an ingredient. Like the sugar, maybe?”

Raina stared at the remaining cupcakes. “You don’t have to be nice. You definitely don’t have to eat these to spare my feelings. Geez, we’ve only been married a month and I’m already poisoning you with my terrible cooking.”
 

It would have helped if she hadn’t decided to finally answer one of Steven’s calls while she was baking. He’d started calling a few weeks after she’d gotten married. She’d ignored him, hoping he’d go away, but he’d been calling intermittently since then.
 

The good news was she’d finally told him to stop calling her. The bad news was she’d been so distracted that she’d messed up the recipe. Not that she could tell Nick any of that.
 

Nick pulled her into his arms. “Hey, it’s not as bad as all that. I’m hardly poisoned. And I didn’t marry you for your baking skills.”

“Oh right, you married me for my DNA,” she mumbled.

“No, I married you because I adore you. I knew you didn’t feel the same way, but I didn’t care. I figured if this was the only way I could have you, it was still better than what I had before—watching and loving you from afar. “

Raina looked up at him, stunned at the tenderness in his eyes. “Oh, Nick.”

He covered her lips with his finger. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m not pressuring you to feel the same way, remember? I just want you to get used to me loving you. Because I plan on doing it for a very long time.”

Raina allowed him to pull her back into his arms and snuggled deeper into his embrace. Nick made her feel like she could tell him anything and he was always quick to defend her, even when she was criticizing herself. It was such an unexpectedly lovely feeling to have someone be her champion, but sometimes it felt like she was doing all the taking and not giving enough back.
 

Especially since every time he told her he loved her, it was getting harder and harder not to say it back.

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OVER THE PAST few weeks, Nick and Raina had finally fallen into a comfortable rhythm. He rose at five a.m. so he could have an hour to work out before waking Raina briefly to give her a kiss goodbye.
 

She usually didn’t get up until after eight, then spent the day catching up on all the movies she hadn’t seen and books she hadn’t read.
 

“You know, this vacation thing is pretty nice. I wonder why I haven’t done this in so long,” Raina said to Sam one morning over eggs and toast.
 

Sam looked up from his protein shake. “Because you’re a workaholic, that’s why. You and Alexander have that in common.”

She’d been working nonstop since she was fifteen and had assumed that she’d be bored with so much time on her hands. She was surprised by how much she was enjoying herself. But the biggest surprise of all in the past few weeks had been Nick.
 

He returned home around six and changed out of his suit and tie. She’d only seen him in casual clothes a few times prior to their marriage. Even though they’d spent a fair amount of time together at Jackson and Ridley’s house, he was always coming straight from work. It was strange to see him wandering around in gym shorts with bare feet. It was like seeing him go from Superman to Clark Kent. It didn’t diminish her attraction for him at all. Rather, it felt like she was seeing a side of him that few people did.
 

 
After he’d changed clothes, he’d cook them dinner. Sometimes it was complicated and fancy like salmon-stuffed crab cakes with herbed dressing. Other days it was refreshingly simple like a tossed salad with grilled chicken.

But no matter what, they always ate together. She’d tell him about her day buying baby clothes and decorating the nursery and he’d share funny stories about his clients. They talked about everything from politics to popular music. He’d walked in on her one night jamming in her pajamas to the latest boy band and hadn’t stopped teasing her about it since.
 

She’d come to look forward to those conversations each night.
 

“Don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling him by his last name? I mean, we’re all living together now. One big happy family,” she teased.

Sam slurped up the last of his shake. “This is the happiest I’ve ever seen you.”

Suddenly self-conscious, Raina shrugged. “Well, I’ve got no reason to complain. I’m on vacation and I’m living with two sexy men. I’d say I’m doing all right.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Being happy isn’t a crime, Raina. You don’t have to pretend like it’s no big deal. Whether you’re ready for it or not, I think you’ve found your soul mate.”

“You know why we got married, Sam.” Raina stabbed her fork into what was left of her eggs.
 

“I know what you told me and I also know that you feel more for him than that. We’ve been friends too long for you to fool me. I wasn’t sure about him in the beginning, but I’ve seen the way he treats you. The way he looks at you. For what it’s worth, you’ve got my blessing.” With that, he kissed her on the forehead and went back downstairs.
 

Raina decided to put her earbuds in and listen to music while cleaning up the kitchen. After the embarrassing dancing incident, she was leery of playing her music out loud anymore. She was just lucky Nick hadn’t thought to videotape her.
 

After everything was pristine, she went upstairs and flopped down on her bed.
 

It was time to see what other popular culture she’d missed out on. She scrolled through the list of movies available to rent. She’d already watched a lot of them but was hoping to find something different this time. There were several horror flicks available, but she figured they might not be the best choices. She was supposed to be relaxing, after all.
 

Finally she gave up and clicked on an old romantic comedy she’d already seen. She laughed along with all the hijinks and sighed at all the sappy romantic spots. It was completely unrealistic but it was the perfect diversion for a lazy afternoon.

She woke a few hours later, slightly disoriented and with an urgent need to use the bathroom.
 

“It’s no wonder with all this water I’m drinking. I feel like all I do is take vitamins, sleep, and pee.”

Still a bit sleepy, she stumbled into the bathroom and sat on the toilet. When she looked down, she blinked twice before standing and yanking her shorts back up. She went to the sink and took a few deep breaths, trying to hold back tears. It took a few minutes of deep breathing before she felt calm enough to move.

Then she reached beneath the counter and pulled out the box of tampons sitting next to her hairdryer.
 

NICK PULLED INTO the driveway and grabbed his briefcase. He was running late and had little time to think of what to make for dinner. Raina had been pretty tired lately and he wondered if she was pregnant already.

Just the thought brought a smile to his face. It was hard to believe, but he was more than ready to be a father. He couldn’t wait to see Raina swell up with his child.
 

He opened the door and stopped when he saw Sam standing there. It was still a little weird to have another dude living with them, but he’d come to appreciate that Sam was there to look out for Raina when he couldn’t. “Hey. Everything okay?”