Rattling, I beloved her. It hit me in that second, that I’d by no means instructed her. I made a decision to do it once I formally proposed. I used to be assured she felt the identical, and hopefully the romance of all of it would make up for the hasty “engagement” earlier than we left Atlanta.

After a number of hours of meet and greets, going over contracts and different paperwork, and excursions; we had been lastly carried out for the evening. Sienna seemed useless on her toes, and I chastised myself for letting her include me within the first place.

By the point we reached the resort, she was out like a lightweight. It was ten thirty east coast time, and I felt the pressure of the lengthy day, too. I carried her to the bed room and undressed her earlier than tucking her into mattress. Then I stripped and climbed in, pulling her gently into my arms and wrapping myself round her.

I considered her bout of illness that morning and the way drained she had been these days. The final week had been exhausting, however she’d appeared much more drained than I’d anticipated. I’d additionally observed that she tasted totally different than she had the primary few days after we first slept collectively. I hadn’t actually thought a lot about it on the time, however now…

Hugging her somewhat tighter, I positioned my hand flat on her easy stomach and smirked. If I used to be proper concerning the timing, I knocked my girl up the primary time I fucked her. The picture of Sienna, spherical with my child and her bare physique pressed to mine, put me in a painful state. However, I began operating by way of recipes in my thoughts to calm my raging libido down and ultimately, I succumbed to sleep.

10

Sienna

I’d tremendously loved the previous few days. It wasn’t simply because I used to be getting an insider’s view of how a actuality tv present works. It was additionally seeing Owen in his aspect. Not that he wasn’t once we had been at Saphyre, but it surely was totally different seeing how different extremely profitable cooks interacted with him. The 2 different judges had been consultants in their very own rights—an award-winning pastry chef and an Italian chef who was a family title—however they appeared to defer to Owen. The identical was true with the producer, director, and the contestants.

It was due to that deference that it took me a few days to note the best way one explicit contestant handled Owen. Liz Fields seemed and acted like she was at a magnificence pageant as a substitute of a aggressive cooking actuality tv present. I figured it was simply her “branding,” the best way she hoped to face out towards all of the competitors. It wasn’t my factor, however I didn’t decide her for it—till I noticed how she at all times stored her give attention to Owen. How she smiled at him. The best way her eyes drifted alongside his physique and stuffed with female appreciation. The simpering voice she used when she talked to him. The snide appears she gave me when no one else was wanting.

Owen didn’t pay any particular consideration to her. He handled her the identical he did every other contestant. I knew he wasn’t desirous about her, and I shouldn’t really feel threatened by the crap she was pulling. However I’d been extra emotional than standard. I couldn’t appear to atone for the sleep I’d misplaced the week earlier than, and it had left me feeling overly delicate. Or at the least that was what I used to be telling myself as a result of I didn’t wish to admit that I used to be only a possessive bitch when it got here to my man.

As every episode was filmed, I silently cheered for anybody however Liz to win. When it got here time to get rid of a contestant, I stored my fingers crossed hoping they’d say her title. Six episodes down, and my needs hadn’t come true but. However immediately was a brand new day—or it virtually was since we’d headed to the studio earlier than the solar had even risen within the sky as a result of they had been doing a breakfast themed problem this morning.

Once we’d arrived, Owen had gotten me settled on the sofa in his dressing room. It was comfortable sufficient that I fell asleep for a few hours. After I woke again up once more, I stretched and felt higher rested than I had in a very long time. The nap was precisely what I’d wanted, not that I used to be going to inform Owen that since he’d needed to discuss me into mendacity down as a substitute of becoming a member of him on set. If I let him understand how typically he was proper about stuff like that, he’d at all times be bossing me round. Properly, greater than he already did.

I paused in entrance of the mirror and stuck my make-up earlier than I headed out in the hunt for Owen. Because the purple mild above the doorways to the set weren’t lit up, I opened them and walked inside. A fast scan of the area confirmed he was precisely the place I anticipated him to be, within the thick of issues. He was at a piece station with the eight remaining contestants surrounding him whereas he set a wonderfully baked quiche on the counter.

“The key to a fantastic quiche is the elements you select to fill it with,” he defined. “You should utilize absolutely anything you want; greens, cheeses, and meats.” He gestured in direction of a bowl of tomatoes set off to the facet. “Should you’re going to make use of one thing like tomatoes in your quiche, I’d advocate that you simply seed and drain them first. My private desire is to peel them as effectively.”

I smiled as I moved nearer, noting how a lot of the contestants had been paying shut consideration to each phrase out of his mouth, nodding occasionally. My smile was wiped from my face once I observed that Liz was standing proper subsequent to him, so shut that her arm brushed towards his.

“You additionally wish to ensure that to have a great steadiness, with flavors that complement one another.” He sliced into the quiche he’d made and lifted a chunk onto a plate. “This explicit mixture is my fiancée’s favourite. Asparagus and bacon, with parmesan cheese. I’ve added some inexperienced onion and nutmeg for an additional little kick. If I’d needed one thing somewhat milder, I might have gone with leeks as a substitute of the inexperienced onions. Swiss cheese would have labored effectively instead of the parmesan, too.”

Liz’s eyes lifted, and I knew she noticed me when she stepped even nearer to Owen and smiled up at him. I rolled my eyes, refusing to play her silly sport once I awakened from my nap feeling higher than I had since we’d arrived in California. I wasn’t going to let her damage it for me. As a substitute, I continued ahead and took a deep breath, hoping to catch the scent of that quiche as a result of it was certainly one of my favourite breakfasts.

Catch it I did, however I rapidly wished I hadn’t when my abdomen promptly turned. I bit my backside lip as saliva began to pool in my mouth. “Please, no,” I whispered softly. I hadn’t vomited once more for the reason that day we’d flown in, however I’d been queasy extra typically than I appreciated to confess. I figured it was resulting from me being exhausted and didn’t point out the difficulty to Owen. If I had, he wouldn’t have let me raise a finger the entire time we’d been right here and possibly would have pressured me to see a health care provider. Not that I had an issue with medical professionals; I simply most well-liked to make use of ones I knew. I additionally didn’t like going to them for each little factor, and if I didn’t maintain a few of what ails me to myself, that’s precisely what Owen would have me doing.

Liz’s smile bloomed at my apparent misery, but it surely was wiped from her face when Owen noticed me, took inventory of the look on my face, and rushed in direction of me. “What’s fallacious, child?”

“I don’t really feel so good,” I admitted softly. The quiche scent wafted my manner once more, and I slapped a hand over my mouth.

Owen swept me off my toes and carried me again to his dressing room. He headed straight for the lavatory, and it was a great factor as a result of as quickly as we obtained there I dropped to my knees and dry heaved. “Poor child,” he murmured, rubbing my again with one hand whereas he held my hair up with the opposite.

One benefit to having not eaten something but immediately was that it didn’t take lengthy for the nausea to go. Then mortification crept in whereas I washed my face with the towel Owen handed me earlier than brushing my enamel.

“I can’t consider I virtually made a idiot of myself in entrance of that girl,” I grumbled round my toothbrush. “Are you able to think about how superior she would have felt if I’d puked in entrance of everybody?”

“Girl? What girl?”

Rattling. I hadn’t stated something to Owen about how a lot Liz was getting on my nerves, and now I’d blown it.

“Miss Prepare dinner

ing USA, Liz.”

He tilted my chin up with one lengthy finger. “Has she been messing with you, child?” His forehead was furrowed and his eyes sparked with irritation.

I shrugged. “It’s simply been little stuff. Nothing to essentially fear about.”

“Why didn’t you inform me about it?”

“I didn’t wish to put you in a tough place since we’re right here so that you can work.”

He dropped a fast kiss on my lips and rubbed his finger over the ring I used to be carrying. “As a lot as I meant it once I instructed you ways attractive it’s when the green-eyed monster will get maintain of you, I don’t like the thought of anybody hurting you in any manner. Particularly if she’s crossing the road whilst you’ve obtained this in your finger. It takes a set of brass balls to tug that form of shit when a person like me holds your destiny in his arms.”

I used to be torn between eager to level out the ring was there however I wasn’t actually engaged to him and leaping him in gratitude for the thread of fury in his tone as he talked concerning the contestant from hell. He didn’t give me the prospect to resolve between the 2, although.

“Have you ever been nauseous any of the opposite mornings?”

I grimaced, nodding. “It hasn’t been this dangerous, apart from that first day when it was in all probability simply from touring. I’m unsure why it’s lasting this lengthy, particularly not immediately once I’m lastly feeling rested.”

“I can consider one more reason you’d be sick within the mornings.” His hand slid all the way down to my stomach and a delicate smile graced his face. After a second, his implication hit me.

“A child?” I gasped. Closing my eyes, I pictured the calendar in my head. When realization dawned, they popped again open. “Oh my goodness, my interval is late. Like later than late. How did I not discover?”

He grinned down at me. “I’ve been conserving you fairly busy.”

“Yeah, however—” I couldn’t fairly wrap my head across the concept of me being pregnant. With Owen’s child. Owen—the person that I beloved. With the best way my coronary heart stuffed on the concept, there was no denying that I beloved him. However I used to be additionally scared to dying about how he was going to react to this example.

Supply: www.seynovel.com