Chapter Nineteen King and Ingrid #2
I nod, rising, realizing that I now look like I’ve been out in a very specific rain storm, bands of wetness on my scrubs at the knees, the chest, the back, and now my butt as I maneuver back to my feet.
“Marina and I have been getting closer, too. When we went to Madge’s the other day, it was.
.. It was like having a real friend again.
Like when you’re teenagers and you giggle and shop and whisper? ”
King nods. “I get it. She’s like that. She’s full of life, and when she’s with Kevin—”
“They shine.”
“They shine.”
When I’m with King, I wonder if I shine? My heart twinkles, and that’s probably en route to shining, right?
“Let me get towels. Take it easy. I— Oh, hell.” I slip getting a towel from the sterile white shelving unit in the corner, startled by a loud cry of “What’s up, Doc?”
“That’s the ringtone I use for Kev. I’ve been sitting around on my butt a lot more than usual,” King explains as I retrieve the phone.
I answer the phone, holding my breath.
“King? Ingrid?”
“We’re here!” King shouts. I hurry back, towel and phone outstretched. “Are you okay? What happened to Marina?”
Kev’s voice is odd. Grave, but like he’s happy, too. Like he’s going to pop if he doesn’t tell someone something.
“Marina fell and hit her head. Fainted. She was hungry.”
I look at King. Does that mean she isn’t getting enough sex? I want to ask, but I’ll have to hold off. “Sorry to hear that.”
“And when she was on the floor, one of the moms in the Mommy and Me Swim Class found her and realized there was blood on the tile. A good amount of blood. So. That was scary.”
King looks at me, stricken. “Oh, God, Kev. From her head?”
“No. From a subchorionic hemorrhage."
“Hemorrhage?” I gasp.
Wait. My brain ticks back over thousands of pages of nursing notes.
“I’m getting dressed. We’ll be right there. Hey, oh, God, hey, I’ll set up that meal train thing!” King sounds distracted and distressed, and it’s only when I put my hand on his arm that he stops frantically trying to maneuver his wet body up on one leg. He looks up at me.
I wait for Kev to say it.
“That might be good, because Marina needs to be off from work for a few weeks. Maybe months.”
“What caused it, do they know?” King asks, looking between me and the phone.
“Yep. Pregnancy. Ultrasound already confirmed that there’s a separation between the uterine wall and the placenta, probably caused by strain. Marina helped someone at senior swim get out of the pool, probably lifted too much, too fast. Plus—not eating enough.”
King and I exchange a look. “Would a meal train help, or does she need... Other food?”
“The meal train would have to be for Kevin and our daughter,” Marina’s voice, tired but ecstatic, crackles over the speaker. “I’m eating for two, and one of us is half-human. I don’t always remember to eat regular meals, so baby has been missing nutrients.”
“They’ll probably put you on bed rest and progesterone for a while. Get your nutrition. I’ll bring over dinner for you guys tonight.” I don’t want to hear the intimate details right this second.
“Daughter? How far along are you? They can see it’s a girl?” King asks in awe.
“Seven weeks. I thought I had spotting. I didn’t know the little one was hurting.” Marina’s voice dips into the coo of a lullaby, and I know she’s speaking to her belly. I can picture how her gorgeous face must be glowing.
She and Kev won’t be alone anymore.
Kevin answers as Marina’s voice trails off into some ancient Slavic language, something like a cooing lullaby.
“Rusalkas are always females. We’re not sure about half-rusalkas, but Marina is almost positive it’s a girl.
I’m a girl dad. Oh, God. Man, I’m going to be a dad.
We have to call my parents. Oh, keep him in that pool, Ingrid, and remind King to do his heel lifts and thigh clenches. Bye!”
With that, he hangs up, and King and I stare at each other.
“Clench your thighs,” I deadpan.
A wicked gleam suddenly sparks in King’s eyes. “How about I make you clench yours?”
“King! We’re in a public place.” Relief washes through me. My friend isn’t dying. She’s not even sick. She’s going to have a baby. Her family is getting bigger. At least, I hope so.
“She’s going to be okay, right?” King slips back into the water and holds out his hand for me to join him.
“It’s usually a good outcome.”
“So, we should celebrate before we make dinner for them?”
“We’re still in a public place.”
“It’s not public right now. Lock the door and jump in here with me,” King urges. “I need a hug. That was scary.”
“It was.” I put a hand to my heart. “I don’t have a swimsuit. The therapists have some trunks and workout clothes for patients, but—”
A pair of wet green shorts lands at my feet. “I don’t have a swimsuit, either.”
“You’re going to get us in so much trouble.”
“I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
With a groan, I kick off my shoes. I don’t believe him for a second.
Idon’t touch Ingrid until she begs me. I sit on the steps of the warm, rippling therapy pool and put her on my good knee, the other leg out straight as she rocks her mound on me. “I could help?” I whisper.
“If I get fired...”
“I’ll take care of you until you get a new job.
” My hands take that as a yes. First, they glide up her curves, slipping over the soft, slight rolls that lead from her hips to her breasts.
My fingers sink into the pillowy thickness and latch onto her nipples as she groans, grinding herself against my knee.
One of her hands reaches back, and Ingrid finds my cock. It’s not difficult, being fully erect for her, practically leaping into her hand.
Ingrid turns, takes charge, grabbing my head and fitting our mouths together as her hot, soaking pussy moves from my knee to my thigh, and my fingers plunge into her.
“I want you in me,” she whispers between her mauling kisses.
“I want to fill you. All the way. Do you want that?” I ask, leading her to the edge.
“I want that. Want every drop of you.” Her hand finds my knot and grips it.
“Stop, or I’ll come.”
“I’m going to drain the pool and run the sanitizing cycle. We do it after every patient anyway.” She strokes me harder, moving again, straddling my hips, letting her sweet, soft mound kiss my crown.
I look up at her, mouth wrapping around a nipple, sucking in as much of the wet, crinkled skin around it as I can, fingers on her clit as her slipperiness soaks my cock and fingers.
“Like that?” I ask, losing track of everything but her and the urge to bury myself inside.
“Love it.”
I switch sides, tusks scraping across the melon-sized breasts I’m devouring. “These are my third favorite things to kiss on you,” I sigh.
“What’s first?”
“Your mouth. Then your sweet pussy. Then these. These are paradise. All of you is paradise. And better.” I hug her right, too tight, stealing her breath.
“What’s better than paradise?” Ingrid gasps. She fights for breath when I release her, and her pussy holds over my tip, then slowly sinks down.
The noise she makes when she stretches around me, the struggling, lustful grunt... It's a heady, heavy sound, a sound that makes me wish for two good legs so I could stand behind her, bend her over, and sink into her until my knot disappears, trapped in her spasming heat.
I can’t think straight, but sometimes my best answers come from not being able to think straight.
“Having you in my life. Having you in my arms, sharing all the little things with you. Sex feels incredible physically, but knowing you run to my arms when you need me is even better. Do you get that? You, being in my life, is like the best thing I’ve ever felt. ” I lean back and look up at her.
She’s so fucking gorgeous, naked and wet like this, riding me, moaning on me...
But I’m equally excited about going home and trying to make something to take to Kev and Marina, equally excited to think about her curling up under my arm while the dogs sit on my lap like overgrown puppies.
Ingrid’s eyes open, and she sees me gazing up at her, worshipping her. “The paramedics called Kevin her rock. I lost my rock a long time ago when my parents split up. When careers took my family around the world and made me wonder if I was left behind.”
“I’ll try so hard to be your rock, baby,” I whisper, letting the weightlessness of the water propel me up into her, letting me carry her effortlessly, slotting us together deeper than before.
Her eyes are shining. She glows. My star.
“You’re not my rock. You’re my mountain. Bigger. Stronger. Safer. And a little harder to climb,” she ends her beautiful speech with a giggle.
I didn’t know you could fall in love with someone more each time you see them. I thought love was the destination, and when you got there, that was it. That was love.
With Ingrid, it’s better. Always pulling me higher, showing me it changes, gets deeper, that there’s more.
“You’re my star. Always making me reach higher. And the mountain and the star, they could touch one day,” I whisper, not caring if that’s poetic nonsense or just crazy talk.
Ingrid bites her lip, and her head rolls back, long, wavy brunette hair kissing the water. My fingers fly over her clit as I bury my tip inside and my face between her breasts, sighing when I feel her come apart around me.