Chapter 20
twenty
Cordy knew she was too quiet on the drive home, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Reed’s house.
She had to tell Chance. She couldn’t put it off anymore. He’d been so kind to give her a place to stay and partner with her for the class and everything else he’d done. She couldn’t keep taking advantage of him.
And yet, she couldn’t make her mouth form the words she needed to say. What a coward she was.
Okay, enough. She cleared her throat. “Thank you so much for the party. That was amazing. I’m so touched.” She glanced at him. “And you didn’t breathe a word.”
His grin was satisfied. “I was sworn to secrecy by Ruby. Man, I think that party was bigger than most Third Thursdays.”
“It wasn’t that big.” But it had been close. Cordy couldn’t swear to it, but it felt like the entire town was there. For her, her baby, and Reed.
“It was. I told you, you’ve got a lot of people rooting for you. Heck, even the Saxons showed up. What did they give you, anyway?”
Here was her opening. Cordy didn’t want to take it. “They gave me Reed’s christening gown. Mrs. Saxon is going to help me plan that. I think it means a lot to her.”
“Yeah, probably. They’re regular churchgoers.” He didn’t seem to notice her unease.
She wet her lips. “They told me that Reed’s house is empty. And that I can move in.”
As soon as the words came out, the truck got very, very quiet. Chance’s throat worked in a hard, choking swallow.
“I forgot he had a house.”
“I never knew.” Cordy made herself laugh at her silliness. “We always met at my place.”
“Of course.” Something dark and ugly vibrated under the words.
Cordy didn’t understand. He’d never been weird about her relationship with Reed before.
“Technically, it will go to the baby.” She put her hands on her belly. “But the Saxons are happy to let me use it. Mrs. Saxon wants the baby to grow up in Reed’s house.”
“Is that what you want?” He’d brought his tone up to something closer to normal.
“It’s the perfect solution.” Cordy wouldn’t look at him; she didn’t want to see any relief on his face. “I can move once the baby is born, like we talked about. It was nice of you to give me and Iggy a place to stay, but we need to get out of your hair.”
He was silent for so long, Cordy had to sneak a glance at him. Chance looked like he had no idea what to say. Like he’d totally forgotten how to speak. What could possibly be going through his head?
“Right,” he said finally. His mouth quirked in his familiar grin. “It wasn’t so bad having you around. But I’d be a terrible influence on a baby.”
That wasn’t what she’d meant, but she left it alone.
When they got home—no, she had to stop thinking of his place that way—they unloaded the leftovers into the fridge and piled the presents into the nursery. Cordy resolved to sort through it tomorrow. And somehow, without speaking, they ended up together in the kitchen.
“You want anything to eat?” Chance asked as he opened a beer.
“God, no.” Cordy leaned against the counter, her hips pinging with aches. “I ate too much at the party. All I want now is to get this baby out.” She let her head fall back, trying to work out the kinks in her shoulders. “The doctor said sex should help.”
Cordy froze. It had started as a joke, an invitation for him to laugh because sex was funny, but once it was out, it sounded like an entirely different kind of invitation.
“What?” That was a throaty growl. “We’ve been having sex.”
She met his gaze. His expression was so wolfish, so hungry, she couldn’t breathe.
“You’ve been getting me off,” she corrected. “I’m talking about you coming inside me.”
His fists clenched at his sides. She waited for him to give his old excuses— I’m no good for you; I can’t bring you into my mess. Cordy didn’t believe those anymore, but she couldn’t talk him out of believing them.
“Is that what you want?”
Her surprise had her taking half a step back. Was that what he wanted?
Well, yes, he clearly did—a glance at his straining cock proved that—but he was also excellent at denial.
But did Chance want to punish himself more than he wanted her? That was the real question.
Cordy ran her hands over her belly. Her pregnancy was the excuse for all this—Chance helping her, offering her a place to stay, even what he was offering now—but she wanted them to be beyond that.
“I want to touch you,” she said. “Your skin on mine.”
“I want that too.” His voice had never been so raw. Chance’s hands went to his shirt buttons, stripping them through the holes almost too fast to see.
Once he committed, he wasn’t slowing down. Neither was she. The moment his shirt was off, Cordy reached for him. Her greedy fingers slid over his chest, ticked off the notches in his abs, got tangled in the dark hair covering him. She lowered her face and inhaled the scent of his bare skin, so sharp, so clean.
When her tongue swiped over his nipple for a taste, he groaned. “I can’t let you do too much of this, or I’ll explode.”
The thick length of his cock straining at his fly proved he wasn’t lying. After he’d held back with Cordy all the times before, the thought of making Chance come right now was delightfully wicked—a little payback for holding out on her for so long.
She rubbed the heel of her palm into his bulge. He thrust helplessly into her hand, biting his lower lip, his pupils blown.
“It would serve you right,” she said. “If I made you come and never took my clothes off.”
“It’d be the best punishment I’ve ever had.” He shuddered when she squeezed. “But it’s not going to happen.”
Quicker than Cordy could react, Chance caught her up in his arms. He started for the hallway and Cordy waited for him to make a right toward her room… but he took a hard left toward his room.
She swallowed her noise of surprise. Cordy didn’t think of him as a tomcat anymore, but she still had the sense of following something wild and unapproachable back to its lair. She knew without asking he’d never taken a woman to his bed before—she was going to be the first.
Neither of them were virgins, but there was a trembling weight to this. Maybe because they were both plenty experienced in sex, but emotions … these kinds of tender, deep emotions were new. And scary.
“You still okay with this?” Chance’s voice was like black velvet as he laid her on his bed.
Of course, he’d read her hesitation. He was too perceptive to miss it.
“I’m good if you are.” She looked around. His bedroom was neat and quiet, with a thriller paperback on the bedside table and a few sketches of plants on the walls. She recognized the sketches as the work of an artist who had a booth at Third Thursdays.
The room felt like a refuge. Cordy wondered if Chance had made it that way on purpose. There were probably a lot of things he wanted to escape from after his mom had died—did he come into this room at the end of the worst days and lean against the door, finally relieved to be home?
Probably not. Chance wasn’t the type to lean against anything. Still, she felt like he could at least do that subconsciously here.
“This is your room.”
Cordy put layers into that.
I like it.
I’m glad I’m here.
Are you still okay with this?
“Yeah.” His smile was wry. “This is it.”
His words had layers, too.
It is a little weird . I am kind of wound up, but I still want you.
So Cordy put her arms around Chance’s neck and pulled him down to her. He was careful not to bear his full weight down, but his mouth was hungry, his kiss fierce. He helped her get her clothes off and pulled off his jeans, but when she reached for him, he slipped away from her.
“No.” Chance’s voice was dark and stern. “You’re coming first.”
“But you always make me come.”
“That’s right. And I always will.” He slid between her legs. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it fast. And then you can use my cock to come again.”
Okay, well, complaining about that would just be bitchy. And when Chance was true to his word, kissing and licking and driving her to a fast and hard orgasm, Cordy couldn’t do anything except clutch handfuls of his bedspread and hang on for dear life.
Chance knew even if he lived to a thousand, he’d never see anything as gorgeous as Cordy’s face when she came.
Her flushed cheeks, sweat-dewed forehead, half-closed eyes, wet lips open on a silent gasp—nothing would ever come close.
“Okay.” Cordy fought to catch her breath. “I won’t argue about coming first again. But now I get to touch you.”
Chance had known this was coming, but he still felt unsettled. He sat back on his heels. Cordy followed, that gorgeous belly of hers leading the way.
Her fingers were gentle, feather-light as they ran over his bare skin. She stroked him all over with no real destination in mind.
It was so novel that Chance didn’t know what to do. He always took the lead with his other partners because that was what he was there to do—give them their one fabled night with Chance Kessal. He wasn’t supposed to simply sit there and enjoy them touching him.
“I’ve never done this before.” God, had he ever sounded so vulnerable with any one before, much less a woman? Even the first time he’d had sex, he’d been more assured than this.
“Me neither.” A half-smile flitted over Cordy’s mouth. “The condom broke with Reed.”
If Chance had ever had one night with her and the condom had broken, would they be here in this moment with his baby in her belly?
No. Chance had to be honest and admit they wouldn’t. If she’d come to him and told him she was pregnant, he’d have stepped up, helped, and done everything he could, but not like this.
He’d have been there for her on the outside, but inside, he’d have bolted away from any intimacy. He never would have let her in or told her about his father or any of it.
Chance had had to come around to this the long way.
“Then we’re both virgins at this.” He meant it partly as a joke, but it was also more true than he wanted to admit. He’d never made love without a condom before and never made love to a pregnant woman.
Most importantly, he’d never made love to Cordy . Yeah, they’d had tons of sex, great sex, but he’d held himself apart. He’d told himself it was to keep her safe, but that lie was done now.
“How are we going to do this?” Her tone was matter-of-fact, even as her hands trailed fire over his lower belly and thighs.
She was almost touching his cock, but not quite, and he was going out of his mind.
“You on top?” he asked hoarsely.
“I don’t know.” Cordy worried at her lower lip. “It’s hard to balance at this point. Maybe on my hands and knees?”
“No, not if you’re feeling unbalanced. I need you to feel secure.” He thought a minute. “We’ll do it this way. You lie down on your side, and I’ll be behind. You won’t have to worry about your balance or where your belly is.”
Her breathing quickened. She liked that idea. “If you think it will work.”
“It will. I’ll show you.”
Chance helped her lie down and then tucked himself against her back. She gasped at the first press of skin on skin, which echoed through him.
“Like this,” he whispered. He pushed his knees between hers, spreading her for him. They breathed in time, chests rising and falling together.
When the head of his cock brushed her swollen folds, he jerked. Even that slight taste was almost too much. He had to focus, hold back, make this good for her.
“This all right?” His voice was ragged. “It’s not too much for your hips?”
She shook her head. A few strands of her hair caught on the stubble on his chin. “Stop teasing me.”
“Like this?” Chance slid his erection through her pussy, spreading her wetness over him.
Cordy pushed back against him, begging him. “Come on, Chance. Come inside me.”
Jesus, how was he supposed to resist that? He sank into her, breath by breath. It was hotter and wetter than he ever could have imagined; it was all the things he loved about being inside a woman intensified.
“Cordelia.” Her name felt as right on his lips as her pussy felt around his cock. “I can’t last. You feel too fucking good.”
She clenched around him. “I’m so close. Please.”
Damn. He needed to reach her clit, but didn’t have a hand free for it. “Touch yourself.” He thrust deep. “Make yourself come.”
He heard her fingers slide through her folds. It was her goddamn superpower, how juicy her pussy was.
That finished him. His cock jerked as he came hard, hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. Cordy moaned his name, her fingers working between her legs.
He kept her legs wide and his cock deep inside her as long as he could. But eventually, he slipped out and knew he had to let go.
Cordy wriggled over so she was facing him. Her eyelids drooped, but her mouth was wary. “I can go back to my bed. Just give me a second.”
He grabbed her thigh. “Hell no. You can stay here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Unless you want to go.” He knew he had to give her the choice, but his instincts were shouting at him to never let her go.
“I can stay.” She sighed as Chance pulled the blankets over her. “Your bed is so nice.”
“Nicer with you in it.”
As he settled in next to Cordy, Chance wasn’t sure what to do next. Sex and everything that came before it was his specialty, but he’d never stuck around after.
Did they just… fall asleep? Did she want to talk?
Honestly, he wanted to sleep now, with her in his arms. Chance pulled her close, mindful of her belly. And then he waited, fighting waves of sleep. If she wanted to do… whatever, he was ready.
“Chance?” Cordy’s voice was a tired mumble. “You can go to sleep.”
“Oh. You sure?”
She gave a soft laugh. “Yes. Please. We have to get all we can.”
Right. Right, because the baby was coming soon. Somehow, that calmed him enough that when the next wave of blackness swelled, he let it take him down to sleep.