Chapter 30 Nora
NORA
Ibring the small, fancy dessert plates out with the lemon squares I made earlier, dusted with icing sugar the way Peter likes them. It’s ridiculous I remember that, but I do.
Nate’s mum smiles at me like I’ve passed another invisible test I didn’t know I was sitting. “You didn’t have to do all this,” she says, but she’s already reaching for her fork.
I smile because this is the role I know how to play. Growing up, I learned quickly that love was conditional. I behaved. Didn’t take up too much space. And if I was good enough, quiet enough, useful enough, maybe I got to stay a little longer with a foster family.
Nate’s family took me in without asking too many questions. Treated me like I belonged. Yet I still find myself trying harder than I need to, going out of my way for small praise and approval, afraid their love might be taken back at any moment.
I peek at the slimming friendly recipe books on the table. Margaret is just trying to help in her own way. But my throat closes up, making it difficult to breathe. If they knew the truth about what we’re doing, I’m not sure they’d be so welcoming towards me or Evan.
What we’re doing is trying to build a family that can never exist in the same room as this one.
I already lost one family when I was little. I don’t know if I could survive losing another.
Evan finishes dessert and clinks his fork against his plate. “I love these lemon slices you make.” He beholds me like he’s still hungry, like he wants to kiss me right here at the table.
“I know you do.” That’s why I made them, I want to add. But not in front of Nate’s parents. Stay quiet, be the good girl, make myself small.
“They really are delicious,” Peter says as he polishes off the last bite.
“I have more if you want to take some home with you,” I say, already rising from my seat, eager to please them even more.
“That would be lovely, dear.” Nate’s mum dabs her napkin to her mouth. “We really should get off. It’s getting late.”
Chairs scrape as everyone stands, and I package two extra lemon slices carefully into an airtight container.
“Make sure there’s some left for me,” Nate says. “Need to keep my figure.” He chuckles while patting his stomach. He’s just big built, like he’s stopped working out and his body has grown softer over the years.
“You should join the gym,” Margaret says, then turns to Evan. “Do you still go to the gym?”
“Yeah, most mornings, Mrs. Harrison.”
“Can’t you take him with you?”
Even slides his chair under the table. “He won’t go. I already tried.”
“Thank you again,” his mum says, squeezing my arm. “You’re such a good wife to our Nathaniel.”
I give Margaret a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for stopping by. It’s been lovely.”
Nate stands behind his mum and raises an eyebrow as if questioning my words. But he also presses a kiss to his mother’s cheek as she turns around to hug her son. “Bye, Mum.”
I hug his father, then hang back as Nate and Evan say goodbye, and I wave from the doorway until the car disappears down the road, and the night closes in around us.
Nate enters the house. “Lovely?” He gives me that look again. “That was painful.”
Evan chuckles. “Your husband sat through dinner with blue balls.”
I laugh, closing the door behind them and locking it for the night. “That was a good save, Ev.”
Nate laughs. “Right. I actually don’t think my parents would have minded me wanting to take my wife to bed, but with you here, Ev, they might have thought it a bit weird.”
“Right. Is this why we need to talk? Get our story straight the next time your parents come around?” Ev says.
“We should talk.” Nate takes my hand and leads me back to the kitchen table.
The only sound is the chairs scraping against the floor. Nate steeples his fingers and clears his throat. “Nora and I have been talking, and if we get pregnant—”
“When,” I say firmer than intended.
“Yeah. I mean when. We want to be honest. We want our kid to know where he or she came from.”
I reach for Evan’s hand. “But we want to check you’re all right with that.”
Nate clears his throat again. “We don’t need to go into details. As far as anyone needs to know, we did this through IVF or your original idea of a turkey baster. Whatever you’re comfortable telling people.”
Evan nods and lets out a huff. “Right. No need to tell your mum I’ve been railing your wife.”
Nate bursts out laughing. “Imagine.”
“I’d rather not. I’d like to keep my nuts, mate.”
“I just don’t want to live a lie where we pretend the kid’s mine and go back to normal.”
“We want you to be involved as much or as little as you want.”
Ev lets out a long sigh and rubs his temple. “I just didn’t want to be something you only reach for when it’s convenient.”
My chest aches. I squeeze his hand, as if I can reassure him he’s more than a donor to me.
“You’re not.” Nate moves closer, hand settling at Evan’s back. “My parents made it painfully clear tonight that we don’t have this figured out. But at least we can get our story straight.”
Evan nods and pulls his brows together. “I’d love to be involved, but you guys are the parents. I don’t want to take anything away from that. This is your dream.”
My throat constricts with the ball of emotions there, and I rise from the chair and kiss Ev’s cheek, then clear the table, needing a moment to compose myself and get my emotions in check. I wash the pans in the sink while Evan and Nate talk about work.
I rinse the rest of the plates and load the dishwasher, and Evan comes to help.
Nate wraps his arms around me from behind and kisses my neck. “Right. Where were we?”
I splash water at him before reaching for a towel to dry the suds off my hands.
Evan dries the pans that didn’t fit into the dishwasher.
Nate nibbles my ear, his erection grinding against my bottom. “Do you know how hard I’ve been since I watched you last night?”
My clit tingles and I let out a moan. “I’m wet, too.”
Evan drops the tea towel on the worktop and pushes his glasses up his nose. “How wet?”
“Tell me what you need, dimples.” Nate holds me tighter, my back against his chest.
A moan leaves my lips. “You. Both of you.” I reach for Evan and pull him closer.
“Ev. I think my wife needs you to touch her pussy.”
I’m already delirious, sandwiched between the two men as Nate fondles my breasts and Evan’s hand slips under my dress, his fingers climbing higher up my inner thigh.
“I want you so bad.” Nate’s hand mirrors Evan’s as he slides under my dress from the back and massages over the damp gusset of my knickers.
“You’ve made a mess in your knickers, doodles.” Evan strokes the gusset too, both of them rubbing together so I don’t know where one hand stops and the other begins.
My breath comes out in short bursts, my body tingling with their touch.
Nate’s hand slides backwards until he’s teasing the elastic at the base of my spine. His lips don’t stop kissing my neck and I can’t stop moaning with euphoria as I gaze into Evan’s eyes.
It’s surreal to be pleasured by one man while admiring another, but when Evan peers back at me, all I see is pure adoration, lust, and the same deep need I saw last night.
Ev moves my hair from my other shoulder and kisses me there while stroking my seam.
Nate slides his hand down the back of my underwear and burrows between my cheeks, finding my tight, sensitive hole, hot and needy.
“Oh gosh. Nate. Ev.” I moan from deep in my throat, loving their hands on me, their mouths, and the heat from their bodies.
Nate gently circles me there. It’s not the first time he’s touched back there.
We’ve done anal before but not for a very long time.
Not since we started trying for a baby. It seemed a waste.
But now. This is purely for my own pleasure.
He doesn’t need to perform anymore. He can just pleasure me how I like, and right now he’s reminding me how much I like to be touched here.
“I want to fuck you here,” he says against my skin, his finger prodding at my neglected entrance. “I want to be inside you while Evan fucks a baby into you.”
“Yesss,” I shout, rocking my hips back to meet more of his finger, then forward to rub against Evan’s palm, needing more friction. “I want that too.” I can barely speak through the tingling sensations firing all over my body.
Nate removes his hand and spanks my bottom lightly. “Upstairs. Clothes off. Both of you.”
Evan’s the first to move, taking my hand and leading me to the bedroom. My legs tremble up each step, my heart pounding at what I’m about to experience. Can I even take both of them at the same time?
In our bedroom, Nate closes the door behind him. The soft click louder with nothing but our jagged breaths filling the space.
Evan stops near the foot of the bed, hands hovering awkwardly at his sides, like he isn’t sure where he belongs.
Nate steps closer behind me, his presence warm at my back. His hands find my waist and he tugs at my dress, lifting it over my head.
None of us speak. There’s a quiet understanding that this isn’t just about a baby anymore. This is about the three of us enjoying each other, and I need them both.
My dress falls to the floor. My pulse beats loudly in my ears, but neither man rushes forward. They just peruse me like they’re waiting for permission.
“You good?” Nate asks.
I nod, my throat tight. Words seem impossible. I turn my body to him and take his hand, then reach back blindly until Evan’s fingers lace with mine in the dimly lit room. “I want this,” I whisper past the growing lump. “I want us.”
Evan exhales behind me, the tension leaving his body as he settles against mine.
“We’ll go slow,” Evan says, kissing my shoulder. He moves the hair from my neck and kisses me below my ear, sending tingles down my spine.
Nate follows the wet trail Evan left behind and kisses along my skin, inches from Evan’s lips. He kisses my neck. “As slow as you need,” he whispers against my ear.
Their reassurances wash over me, calming my nerves, their kisses like promises of safety.