“I'll spend the rest of my life making it right.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but stopped when my stomach let out an embarrassingly loud gurgle. My face heated as I couldn't meet Preston's eye for a moment.
“Are you hungry?”
“Always.” I groaned. “No one should be able to eat the amount of food I've been putting away the last few weeks. I feel like a bottomless pit. I had a gigantic dinner: chilli with all the fixings, and still I'm hungry. It doesn't help that all I can think about is double cheeseburgers.”
“Double cheeseburgers?” he asked curiously, cooking his head to the side.
“That's the latest craving. I didn't have many in the early days, but now they are getting vicious.”
“Do you want me to go get you one?”
I sat up straighter. His tone was so sincere, but I wasn't sure, considering it was the middle of the night.
“It's pretty late. You must be exhausted.”
“I'm used to not sleeping much. Plus, I've got a lot to make up for. If you want a double cheeseburger, I'll get you a double cheeseburger.”
I was quiet for a moment. Part of me felt like it was rude to ask, but also, given the absurd nature of our situation, I had every right to demand that man get me whatever I was craving.
“There's a really good burger joint that’s open twenty-four hours, only ten minutes away from here,” I admitted.
His brows rose. “That’s awesome. We didn't get that in Seattle. Is it just a burger, or do you want anything else?”
“Fries and extra pickles on the burger and maybe a milkshake, strawberry or chocolate, I don't know.”
Preston laughed, a warm, rich sound that made my toes tingle. “One double cheeseburger with extra pickles, fries, a chocolate shake,anda strawberry shake, coming right up.” He stood, leaning down to kiss the top of my head, much like Merrick usually did. “Thank you for giving me an opportunity.”
“There's something very bizarre about being thanked for giving you a job to do.”
“Better get used to it.”
“Why the hell are you eating a cheeseburger at three in the morning?” Merrick asked from the doorway of the nest.
“She woke up and had a craving,” Preston explained.
I was sitting in my nest, my food spread out in front of me, happily dancing as I ate the delicious, still-warm fries smothered with ketchup.
“Three a.m. hamburger runs will win you some brownie points for sure.”
Preston laughed. “I have a feeling I'm going to be the snack bitch for a while.”
“But you're a very pretty snack bitch,” I added, taking another large bite of fries.
Preston threw his head back, a deep, rumbling belly laugh escaping him. “You can call me your ‘Pretty Snack Bitch’ anytime you want, darling.”
He gave me a look that I could only describe as adoring, even though I felt possibly the least cute I had ever felt. I was bloated, I was tired, and I was pretty sure I hadn't washed my hair in like three days…
I demolished the burger in record time. The pickles were perfect. I didn’t know how Preston had done it, but he’d procured me the best burger-to-pickle ratio sandwich I had eaten since getting pregnant.
Meaning there were more pickles than there was burger meat.
The baby was making me lose my mind, but I still loved the little parasite.
“I always loved pickles, but now Ilovepickles.” I groaned.
“There’s a jar of the dill pickles you like in the fridge. I grabbed them on the last grocery run,” Merrick said.