Chapter 9 - Asher
ASHER
My arm lying above my head is sore, and I begin to move on the sofa, my eyes heavy as they open. It takes mere seconds for me to realize that Gracie is still in my hold, and we must’ve fallen asleep.
My other arm is wrapped around her waist, and my hand has gravitated to her still-flat belly at some point. The corner of my mouth tugs because underneath my palm is a baby. One that was not on my holiday wish list a few weeks ago.
Gracie begins to stir in my arms and yawns as she wakes. “Did I fall asleep?” she mumbles groggily.
“Mmm-hmm,” I answer her and begin to sit up, and she follows.
She rubs her eyes and latches her view onto me. “You too?”
I glance at my watch and it’s almost eleven. “Yeah.” With you in my arms.
“Oh. Well, I should probably get home.”
I snicker as I stand because of every ridiculous word in that sentence. “It’s fine. You can stay here. I have to get up early for practice, but you can sleep in.”
She stands and wiggles her finger side to side. “No. I’m at the boutique tomorrow. There will be no sleeping in, as it will only tip off my mom. I so much as sneeze and she is diagnosing me with health options.”
Rubbing the back of my neck, I have to point out the obvious. “I guess we wait for our parents to find out. Probably at some point we should at least mention one another’s names to them to ease them into this before we drop the big baby news.”
Her head nods as she yawns again. “You are totally right.”
“Come on, let’s go to bed.” I indicate with my head. “I’ll give you a shirt if you want.”
A droll smile ghosts her lips.
“What? It makes sense,” I justify.
Her head tilts to the side. “This is totally not a smart idea, but fine, sure.”
Do I need to spell it out? I step closer to her, and her lips part when I extend my hands and plant them on her cheeks, my thumbs drawing circles on her soft skin. “I’ll make it easy for us. I’m going to kiss you now.”
I pull her to my mouth. It’s the instinct of my body; logic was buried deep a long time ago.
But Gracie doesn’t pull away, even when my tongue seeks entrance, and she eagerly meets me.
The way her lips are equal parts soft and firm have me wanting more.
Kissing her is a reminder of that night, but I want to kiss her again in this moment too.
Maybe I need to know every little thing about her inside and out.
She’s the mother of my child, after all.
This woman isn’t just anyone; she’s turned my world upside down since the moment I met her.
We have a road to discover, but I’m going to wheel us forward a bit.
And I wasn’t going to wait to kiss her again.
I barely create a little space as my breath catches in my throat. It's a whisper of air, but the distance between us feels too far. I sense a measured rise and fall of her chest as her breath is audible and warm.
"Was that okay?" I murmur.
"More than." Her soft cracking voice confirms my thought.
I lean in, and she meets me halfway. There is a strong magnetic force between us. I feather her lips with mine, only to kiss her fervently. My hands don’t need a map and find their own way to her lower back to keep her steady, and her arm encircles my middle.
What was supposed to be a simple kiss has turned into a moment where I'm lost. When we part again, our foreheads press in a gentle meeting. This isn't me. I'm not used to this delicacy.
Standing back, I peer down and search her eyes for what she is thinking in this moment. My thumb glides along her swollen bottom lip while I take pleasure in throwing her off her axis. I’m quite confident this isn’t how she thought tonight would go.
“I take it you still find me attractive then,” she rasps, fighting a smile.
Grinning, I admire her ability to be unreadable because I have no clue if she is playing with me or if she actually had doubts.
“I would say so,” I confirm.
She squints one eye at me. “Not just because of the baby?”
“Not because of the baby. Although I’m the one who put a baby inside of you, and when you start to show, I might enjoy you a little extra.” The image is sexy as fuck and causes a wild and protective surge.
Her laugh feels good. It’s light and swims through me. “Now let’s go to bed,” I direct.
“Lead the way.”
Which is what I do. We spend the next few minutes getting ready for the night. I always have extra toothbrushes from my travel kits from hotels, and I give one to Gracie along with a t-shirt. Letting her have a few moments, I wait in my bed and sit against the headboard.
I never sleep with a shirt on, and I enjoy the idea of Gracie struggling because our bodies are too close.
It’s not that I’m a presumptuous arrogant ass, it’s more that it can’t be denied the mood when we are around one another or the tension between us which most definitely isn’t negative and can be popped with physical touch.
I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t love to go down on her because my cock already imagined it this morning in the shower, but I’ll follow her lead.
And that leads straight to Gracie appearing from the bathroom and lifting her leg slightly as she leans against the door frame. She is displaying my shirt with her legs bare. Fuck me, I’m on Santa’s naughty list, and if there is a Hanukkah equivalent, then I just went on that list, too.
“This is comfortable, but I have one problem.” She slowly strides toward me as I sit up taller and adjust my legs that are splayed out long in front of me.
My cock is about to be as hard as titanium, and the way she nibbles her bottom lip is a tantalizing tease. “Oh yeah? What might that be?”
She arrives at the end of the mattress only to begin crawling across the bed with her sweltering eyes that have me at her mercy. “It covers too much skin.” Her sensual tone is pure sin. She throws her leg over one side of my lap to straddle me, her arms looping around my neck.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Sure, we feel things, and no, it isn’t exactly clear where our lines are. But right now, in this moment, we both want one another. Sexual attraction has always been us.
“I’m kind of thinking you could keep me warm. Baby, it’s cold outside.” She pouts her lips, and I smirk at the way this creature on top of me can take action when there is something she wants and throw in a little holiday cheer in the process.
“Well, good thing I can take care of that little problem for you before we sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”
Her thighs clench my hips, and she begins to circle on top of me, in particular my cock. She moves to rest her palms against my bare chest. “Oh dear, you deserve to be relaxed and rested for tomorrow. Big game?”
My arm encloses her waist, and I press her against my body, feeling the curves of her breast underneath my chin as I peer up and the heat of her pussy on top of my groin. “Practice where I won’t go easy on them before I drive down to a winery.”
“So stressful, a winery. I hope not with a beautiful woman.” She is being playful.
“Don’t worry. Just my parents and one of their favorite spots, Olive Owl.”
Instantly her body freezes, and her face becomes crestfallen. “Wait. What?”
Now I’m confused by her change in mood. “Uh, I had a few hours to spare, so I’m driving down to Olive Owl to see my parents. My dad wants to pick up a tree on the first day of Hanukkah. That’s just how they roll.” It should be a quick forty-minute drive tops down to Bluetop, another small town.
Her tight uneasy chuckle under her breath is alarming. “Funny thing. Totally not. You see, I’ll be there tomorrow.” My forehead creases, as she isn’t making sense until she swats my shoulder. “Olive Owl is owned by the Blisswoods, and guess what…”
“What?”
“My brother. Remember I mentioned him once or twice? He’s pretty much my mom’s age, which is why the stepmom thing gets kind of weird.
” She shakes her head to stop her from going off track.
“Beside the point. My brother is married to a Blisswood, and he runs the winery too. Hence, why I’ll be there tomorrow, as I was going to see him and my nieces. ”
She peels herself off of me and bluntly pulls the duvet to snuggle under because our little predicament has ruined our mood.
“This means you and I will be in the same spot at the same time as my mom and dad and your brother. I need to mention you to my parents, and then when we’re ready, we’ll inform them in a few weeks that they will be grandparents.”
She blows a raspberry and sinks into my bed as though this has always been her bed. “We’re adults, we can handle it. Just two people who know one another at the same place and harboring the same secret.”
I join her lying down to stare at the ceiling. “Now my stress level is elevated, if I’m honest.”
“It will be fine, I’m sure.” She hooks her leg over my hip as she moves to her side and scoots into me. “As much as destressing by fucking each other’s brains out would be the best solution, I think I just want to sleep now. Talking about our family felt like a cold shower to the mood.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
Wrapping my arm around her and pulling her closer, I at least take pleasure in the fact that I have her in my arms for the rest of the night.