29. Chapter 29
Mason
After one too many times of almost being kicked out of a store, Sophia was banned from entering dressing rooms with me. I didn’t know what it was about fluorescent lights and full-length mirrors, but Sophia always took that as a challenge to fuck me so hard I could barely walk out of the store.
She rapped on the door, separating her from devouring me like a starving wolf.
“Come on! It can’t be that bad!” she pleaded.
And that was where she was wrong. I turned to the side and pressed the emerald silk to my skin, examining my body from every angle.
I tried not to look at myself in mirrors too much right now.
That wasn’t my idea, but more my therapist’s.
I was the healthiest I had been in years; I wasn’t starving myself to be perfect, and I also had a whole human growing in me, a human I made with the tallest man I’d ever met.
Which, I should have known, was a terrible fucking idea.
“I look like I’m smuggling a beach ball!” I called back.
“... But it’s a cute beach ball!”
I rolled my eyes before reaching for the door handle and poking just my head out .
Sophia stood inches away from the door, looking perfect as always. Her make-up was flawless, her smile bright, and she didn’t even have a hair out of place. How the hell was I supposed to feel comfortable in my skin when my girlfriend was literally prettier than Aphrodite?
“You’re not helping,” I warned.
“How can I help if I can’t see?” She tapped the tip of my nose, and I thought about biting her.
Part of me considered texting Lucian and asking if we could just wear sweatpants to our date, but I knew he never left the house like that and that he’d also be fine if that were what I wore, which would leave me underdressed.
“You could have told me I’m huge.” I grumbled.
Sophia’s smile morphed into a challenge as she tipped her head to the side. “If I said that, would it make you feel better?”
“... No.”
“Would it help you pick something?”
I shot her a glare, and she reached out to cup my chin, softly squeezing my cheeks.
“Honeybee, I’m talking to you,” she sang. “If I told you that, would it help you in any way, shape, or form?”
“No,” I huffed.
She stayed cheery as she brushed her nose to mine before softly kissing me. “Do you want to know what would help?”
I knew what she was going to suggest, so it was no use making her say it. “What? If I let you come into the dressing room so you can eat me out?”
“Mason!” Sophia gasped as she pressed her fingers to her lips. “That’s a fantastic idea, and I’d be more than happy to–”
I pushed the door open before stepping out.
Sophia wasn’t one that could be argued with, and I didn’t want to deal with punishment later.
Once we were done clothes shopping, all I wanted to do was get lunch from the Mexican place up the street, go home, and fall asleep while reading, even if I had already finished every book on Sophia’s shelf. Sex wasn’t on the menu.
“See?” I gestured to my rotund figure .
Before I got pregnant, I once had a designer tell me I was a dream to dress. I was naturally thin, and my measurements aligned perfectly with the hourglass goal most starlets my age had. And, even if my boobs were small, they were perky and round. But now? Not so much.
“See what? That you’re literally hotter than the surface of the sun?” Sophia circled me, her gaze gorging on every inch of my body before she cupped my ass. “Have you seen your butt recently?”
An embarrassed flutter pirouetted in my chest, causing a shy smile to threaten my lips as I swatted her away.
“We. Are. In. Public,” I warned.
“But we could be in private,” she suggested, pointing toward the dressing room.
I swore to God that she was worse than the men.
“Sophia. I said no,” I reminded her.
“But you didn’t say Trust!” she pouted.
Apparently, everyone in our house needed a lesson on how to act respectfully in public and how not to objectify me: Starting with Sophia.
But, as my lips parted, Cameron rounded the corner.
“There you are.” Cameron smiled as he got closer to us. His copper hair was slightly damp and slicked back.
“Cam, can you tell Mason she looks nice?” Sophia ordered.
“Can you tell her not to fuck me in public?”
“One thing at a time.” He scratched at his beard, fighting a chuckle. “Sweetpea, c’mere. Let me get a better look at you.”
Cameron extended his hand, and I hesitated before taking it. With our fingers connected, he raised my arms and guided me to spin around for him. I felt a little self-conscious as Cameron rested a hand on my stomach after scrutinizing me. He never touched me like this in public.
“You got somewhere to wear that to?”
Nerves clogged my throat as I shook my head.
“Good, you shouldn’t leave the house dressed like that,” Cameron admitted .
Even if he said what I was thinking, hearing it from someone else didn’t make me feel any better. God, why did Sophia have to be right?
“What! Why not?” Sophia protested.
“ Because if I catch her all dolled up like this, I’m bound to throw her over my shoulder and carry her away like a caveman.”
“Oooh… What else would you do to her?” Sophia chirped.
“You’re both terrible.” I scrubbed my face as Cameron’s warmth started to seep through the silk. That’s when I realized he’d yet to move his hand.
“You think we’re bad?” Sophia scoffed. “Lucian is bound to rip–”
“Soph, can you give us a second?” Cameron asked.
Her brow furrowed for a moment, and Cameron took a deep breath.
“Please? I just want a second with the mother of my child.”
“Fine, I’ll go look for another dress for Mason to try on.” Sophia sighed before pointing at me. “But you have to put it on and show me, and you can’t say no.”
“That’s fine,” Cameron agreed.
And with that, Sophia gave us the privacy Cameron so desperately wanted, but there was one problem.
“I can answer for myself.” And I was a little irritated that he agreed to something for me.
“I know, and I’m sorry.” He breathed, pressing his forehead to mine. “I just needed a moment… bein’ with you calms my nerves.”
I placed a hand on either side of his cheeks before kissing him deep and slow. When he pulled away, I brought him down to kiss his forehead too.
“I’m like the human equivalent of Xanax.”
Cameron’s chest shook with suppressed laughter. His breath warmed my nose as he did. “You’re something else, Pretty Girl.”
At first, his comment made me smile. Then, a chill ran down my spine as the pet name fully registered. Pretty Girl was what he called me on his birthday. The night he should have been too drunk to remember. The night he told me about his secret identity.
My gaze held his until my skin started to crawl, forcing me to look away. Did he remember that night? Should I ask? Would that make this more awkward ?
A nervous squeak bubbled out from my lips, and Cameron chuckled again.
“Once we’re done here, why don’t you and I go get lunch? Maybe go get you a few new books after?” he offered.
My heart skipped a beat at the thought. Cameron and I didn’t get much alone time, especially not out in public.
“Just us?” I clarified.
And he nodded. “I know it’s crazy because I see you every day, but I’ve been missin’ you.”
I bit my lip as a rush of warmth hit my chest. After thinking about everything I had left to do today, I nodded.
“Just let me find something I actually look good in.” I gestured to the skin-tight dress.
He stepped back and looked me over once more. “Sweetpea, you are so painfully beautiful that you put a sunrise to shame .”
After Cameron’s sudden proposal, I had to find a casual outfit that fit without swallowing me whole like his shirts did. I settled on a pair of jeans a size up from the last ones I got and a beige long-sleeved sweater that tied just under my breasts.
For the first time in a few weeks, I felt good. Absolutely fucking massive, but good.
After our lunch, we dropped Sophia off at the house, and Cameron and I went to a bookstore, where we walked through the aisles together. His hand rested on the lower part of my back, and I savored the way his warmth helped ease the constant ache I had almost grown used to.
“Can you grab that for me?” I asked, pointing to a book on the lowest shelf.
It felt a little rude asking almost seven-foot-tall Cameron to pick up something from so low, but I also had a feeling I’d get stuck down there if I tried to do it.
Cameron didn’t argue or even question me. Instead, he just crouched .
“This one with the purple cover?” He questioned, and I nodded.
He picked it up, turning it over in his hands. His honey eyes skimmed the cover before his nose wrinkled.
“I thought we were in the romance section?” he mumbled, running a finger over the alien on the cover.
My face transformed into an inferno as I looked down.
“We are,” I squeaked.
“... Is this one of those kinks, like the knife–”
I snatched the book from his hands, holding it close to my chest. “I’m not talking about anything sexual in a bookstore.”
My chest tingled as I glared at him, trying to look more angry instead of I-wish-the-earth-would-swallow-me-whole embarrassed.
Cam held his hands up to his chest. “Just tryin’ to figure you out.”
I huffed and stomped my foot.
“Fine, I’ll drop it.” He sighed. “I think it’s a series… Do you want the rest of them?”
I studied him for a moment before nodding.
Once again, he bent down, grabbing three more books before standing, taking them in one arm, and extending the other toward me. I held the novel in my arms a little tighter.
“Give it here,” he ordered.
“No, you’re going to kink shame me again .”
He rolled his eyes, “I ain’t. I just don’t want you carrying it.”
“Why?”
His chest swelled with a breath as he used his free hand to scrub his face. “Because I’m tryin’ to be a gentleman?”
“I don’t need a gentleman.”
“If you’re gonna be a brat, I’m gonna treat you like one,” he warned.
I crossed my arms over my chest, a little thrilled by the idea of a challenge.