Snapshot

37. Winnie

“Okay, but don’t forget Mom is going to be here later today. You promised her you’d be home for dinner, Elijah.”

He huffs a breath in my ear through the speaker. “Yeah, I fucking know. I’ll be there. Bye.”

The phone beeps, letting me know the call ended, and I roll my eyes and lower it. A second later, a text comes through.

Elijah: I love you.

I lock my phone and drop it to the counter, only to pick it up and shoot off an I love you too. I don’t get Elijah. He’s not been home hardly at all, and when he is, he is constantly picking fights with me. I don’t know what is going on, but he’s pissing me off. Still, he always manages to tell me he loves me.

Sweet, but still a dick.

I’m in the middle of shoving a piece of toast into my mouth when a knock sounds on the door. I glance at the time on my phone and frown. Mom’s not meant to be here for another few hours. She knocks again, and I hurry around the living room to pick up the pillows and blankets I was using. Swallowing the rest of that piece of toast, I grab the other and tear a bite off, carrying the rest to the door with me.

I’m breathing hard when I open the door. “Mom, you’re early.”

Stopping, I come face-to-face with a huge bouquet of flowers. I can’t see who is holding them, but they’re pretty.

“I think I’m going to have our daughter call me Dad, if that’s okay with you.”

I swat at Reese’s arm and tug him inside. “What are you doing here?”

Reese and I agreed the only time he would come by my place is if he was picking me up or dropping me off. I can’t have him sneaking around with the chance of Elijah coming home. I’m doing my best to warm Elijah up to the idea of Reese being in the picture again, and by warming him up, I mean asking him to come to a game with me and him saying fuck no. So it’s not really working, and Reese definitely shouldn’t be here right now.

But he walks across the room without a single care in the world. Carrying the flowers, he glances around, looking for a good spot before he sets them on the counter. “These are for your mom.”

God, I love this man. “She’s going to love them.”

He spins to me, and my heart skips a beat. Like he can hear it, he smirks, and I wonder if I’ll ever get used to how hot he is. I sort of hope not.

He saunters across the room and engulfs me in a tight hug, but not too tight because he’s still so worried about hurting us. He calmed down after my first appointment last week, when the doctor said everything was okay, but he’s definitely more cautious than he needs to be.

Reese kisses me, and I tug on the hair under his hat, holding his mouth to mine. He grins against my lips but doesn’t pull away.

“I missed you too.” He chuckles and lowers to his knees. The soft material of my shirt tickles against my skin as he drags it up and kisses my belly. “How are my girls today?”

“The same as this morning when you dropped us off.”

Reese mutters something to my stomach about her mom being snippy. I push my shirt down while also tugging him to stand, which he does.

“I see you’re eating, so you’re probably not hungry. Are you tired? Thirsty?”

He turns, but I grab his arm.

“I’m fine, but why are you here? Elijah could be home any minute.”

“My shower is busted. I was hoping to use yours.”

I cross my arms and drop my weight to one hip. “You couldn’t use the showers at practice?”

He drops his head and gives me a crooked smile. A look he knows I can’t deny.

Rolling my eyes, I kick off and head for the bathroom. “Fine, but when Elijah kills you naked, I don’t want to hear it.”

I deny Reese when he asks me to shower with him, much to his displeasure, but I need to get the apartment clean. Thankfully, Mason went home for Thanksgiving and offered to let Mom use his bed. Elijah bought new sheets and a blanket just for her. We did offer to go home for Thanksgiving, but she insisted she wanted to come and check out our place. My FaceTime calls haven’t been enough to satisfy her need to know everything going on in her children’s lives. I still haven’t told her about her grandchild growing inside me. After our first appointment and hearing the heartbeat, I got really excited and decided I wanted to tell her in a special way. So I made up one of those first-time grandma boxes to give her while she’s here.

I fall onto the couch and let out a deep breath. Cleaning is exhausting, and I didn’t even have to do a lot. I bet if I complain about my feet hurting, Reese would rub them. He’s been at my beck and call since we got back from the games. It’s nice, but he’s also exhausting me by checking in every three minutes.

Closing my eyes, I drop my head to the back of the couch. It doesn’t last long, though, because the door handle jingles. Shooting up from the couch, I stare at the handle for another second, making sure I didn’t imagine it, but then it twists, and I take off for the bathroom.

I barge in and slam the door behind me, breathing hard as I flick the lock.

When I open my eyes, Reese is grinning at me, a cocky eyebrow arched in question.

“Work yourself up thinking about me in here alone?”

“Shh!” I rush forward to throw my hand over his stupid mouth. He grips my wrist and tugs me into the shower with him. I gasp but bite it back to not alert anyone, and he grins beneath my hand.

“Elijah came home, so you need to shut up.”

“Win?” Elijah calls from the hallway. “How many times have I told you to put the peanut butter away when you’re done. We’re going to have ants.”

I roll my eyes.

“He’s right, you know?”

“Shut up,” I hiss before yelling out to Elijah. “Okay, sorry!”

“Whose flowers are those?”

Reese smirks.

“Uh, Mom’s. I had them delivered for her.”

“Kissing ass already, eh?”

I roll my eyes and wait for him to walk away, but instead, he drums his fingers against the door and tests the handle. “Open up. I have to piss.”

Is he fucking kidding me right now? Reese is grinning as he rinses the soap from his head, not at all fazed that my brother, who hates him, is home, and he’s somehow going to have to sneak out without getting caught.

If I make Elijah wait, he’s going to be standing there when I’m “done” and will for sure see Reese. If I let him come in to pee and can keep Reese quiet—task impossible—then maybe he will go to his room after and I can quickly shove Reese out.

“Uh, yeah, okay. Just unlock it and come in.”

Reese’s eyebrows fall, and he leans forward. I lower my hand from his mouth, trusting him to whisper.

“You realize I’m taller than your curtain, right?” He flicks his eyes to the rod, and I follow. Fuck, he’s right. “He’s going to see the top of my head.”

The door clicks, and I know he’s unlocked it.

“Coming in.”

I shove on Reese’s shoulders, but he doesn’t move. “Get down,” I hiss.

He rolls his eyes but lowers himself onto his knees, and I realize the mistake I’ve made as soon as he looks forward and his eyes blaze. I cross my legs and do my best to scowl, but it’s a lost cause. I can’t say no to Reese any more than I can say no to mint chocolate chip ice cream. Which I’ve convinced Reese is my craving, and he has a tub delivered every few days. I don’t think cravings happen this early, but the less he knows.

“Mom called. She should be here soon.”

Oh, great. Even more people to hide Reese from. I think Mom is actually going to be rather excited about us, but it’s only going to make it harder to tell Elijah. I’m hoping Mom can help dampen the blow by telling him with me. I know he will feel betrayed if everyone else knows besides him, and right now, pretty much everyone does. Reese is lucky Elijah doesn’t run in the same circle as him because he can’t keep his big mouth shut.

Reese leans forward, nudging his nose against my center. I gasp but am quick to cover my mouth. He grins and looks up with fake innocence, then hooks his fingers into my leggings, and for whatever reason, I don’t stop him from pulling them down my legs.

The toilet flushes as Reese lifts one of my legs, draping it over his shoulder, but he hesitates, I assume waiting for the door.

“Winnie,” Elijah growls. “I told you to stop fucking wearing my clothes. If you can’t fit in your own, that’s not my problem. Lay off the ice cream.”

Then the door slams.

Reese blows a sharp breath against my pussy, and I shiver. “He took my clothes, didn’t he?”

I peek outside and slap a hand to my face. “He did.”

“Fuck.”

Fuck is right—my hand comes down hard on top of Reese’s head, but he doesn’t seem to notice. His eyes are closed, and he laps at my pussy like a starving man, not wasting another second.

“Reese,” I whisper-moan. My hips start to buck, but he pulls off to lick two fingers and then shoves them inside me. For Reese not having experience outside of me, he’s so damn talented with his fingers. And tongue. And dick. He’s just overall sexually talented.

He brings me to the hilt, sucking, some biting, and fucking me with his fingers. All I can do is hold on to him and the wall and pray I don’t fall, which Reese would never let happen, anyway.

He groans, and I swear he pushes even deeper. “Fuck, Winnie.”

Slapping a hand to my mouth, I mask any noise that might come out as my climax takes me to ecstasy. Wave after wave of pure bliss crashes over my body, leaving me weak and boneless.

I fall against the wall and sigh, and Reese chuckles, climbing up my body before pressing a deep kiss to my lips. I’m too tired to kiss him back, but he doesn’t seem to mind and kisses me enough for the both of us.

“How I missed hearing you come.”

“You heard me come yesterday after practice, Reese.”

“Still.”

Right, still.

“I’ll check the coast, but you need to sprint to my room.”

“Aye, aye.” Reese makes a little salute, and I swat him. “It’s not time for jokes, Reese Abraham Larson.”

He narrows his eyes at the mention of the middle name he hates.

“Whatever you say, Winnie Rue Lewis.”

Asshole.

I crack the door open and stick my ear out. The TV blasts from the living room. I wait for another moment, then quietly close the door.

“He’s playing a game, so we should be good. Just head right to my room.”

“Oh, what game?” He grips the handle but I shove him off before he can open it.

“Stop it. It’s not like he’s going to invite you to play.”

He rolls his eyes and brushes by me and walks right out the door without even looking. I could thump him for that, but there’s no yelling, no one screaming from a broken bone, so I guess it’s fine.

I look out, just in case he’s walking by, and when I don’t see anything, I slip from the bathroom, towel tight under my arms and my wet clothes tucked under.

Leaning against my closed door, I breathe out a long, relieved sigh. Reese is on me instantly, inhaling my air and eating at my lips a second later. He drags his hand up my thigh, over the towel, and pauses when he hits the bump from my clothes. He steps back and gazes at me, tilting his head. He scans all over my body with an expression I can’t get a read on.

“Fuck, I can’t wait for you to get bigger.”

My eyebrows shoot up my forehead. I look down at what he’s seeing, noticing the clothes look an awfully lot like a pregnant belly.

“Yeah?” I ask, sort of embarrassed.

He steps closer, drags his nose up my jaw, and nods. “Mm-hmm. Maybe after this one, I’ll pump you full of my cum until another one pops out.”

I shouldn’t like what he’s saying as much as I do. “How many kids do you want?”

“I don’t know. A lot.”

A lot. What the hell could that mean? A lot to me is, like, four. That would be a lot, but I think I could do four. Especially since I’m starting a lot earlier than I thought I would be.

“Like, uh, four?” I ask, hopeful he doesn’t say something crazy like eight or more.

Reese snorts and kisses my jaw before pulling back to grin at me. “I’m just playing, Win. Not about you being pregnant. I would love to see you swollen with my babies all the time, but I know it’s not easy on your body. I want as many kids as you will and can give me.”

I smile, and he brushes his fingers over my cheek. “But it doesn’t mean I’m not going to be pumping you full of my cum any chance I can.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

Reese is lucky I like my lounge clothes oversized and I still have a pair of his briefs he sent me home with that first night. My biggest pair of sweatpants are still way too short, but at least they fit around his hips. I still have his sweatshirt, which I don’t like lending, but he promises I’ll get it back.

He falls to my bed, and I groan. “Reese, you have to go home.”

He grabs my pillow and curls into it. I think he’s trying to give me puppy-dog eyes, but it’s not working in his favor. At all. “Let me stay. I’ll be very quiet and no one will know I’m here. Just bring me a plate of dinner when you come to bed.”

As tempting as that is—and it is because I much prefer sleeping with Reese than sleeping without him—I know my mom is going to want to see my room, and if she finds Reese lying on my bed, she’s going to flip, which will in turn alert Elijah, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I don’t want to spend it in jail or the hospital.

I open my mouth but am cut off when Elijah calls for me, followed by, “Mom’s here!”

Fuck.

Reese smiles like he just won the lottery.

“You need to be quiet. Okay?”

He makes a motion of zipping his lips and falls back, tucking both arms under his head as he closes his eyes.

“Winnie!” My mom’s sweet voice singsongs, and my stomach pinches.

Here goes nothing. Let’s see if my poker face has gotten any better.