Chapter 26 Penelope #2
“Hey, I like that name.” I smiled over at him, while stirring in the tomatoes I’d cut.
He smiled back. “Your son will appreciate me stepping in and stopping you from naming him something so preppy, trust me.”
Rolling my eyes, I just kept stirring. “Fine, let’s keep going.”
“Besides, have you tested his full name if you do Cruise?”
I nodded and said, “Cruise Pruitt,” right as Jameson said, “Cruise King.”
We stared at each other, and Jameson’s face flushed.
“Sorry, of course you’ll give him your—”
“No!” I interrupted him. “I just didn’t realize you’d be okay with me giving him your—”
Jameson watched me with a familiar look, the same one I’d seen that night he’d devoured me on the table in the hotel. “I am.”
I decided to drop it, because asking if he was sure, or worrying that I was pressuring him, would just be a waste of my time. He said he was okay with it, so I believed him.
“Cruise King sounds a little ridiculous.” My laugh broke up the awkward silence, and Jamie seemed to move down the line, hiking his leg up so his foot was resting on the edge of the cupboard. He was barefoot and it was doing things to me.
“Connor King is kind of cool.” Our eyes met as he glanced toward me.
I just stared, wondering how I’d gotten here with him helping me pick out baby names.
It made me feel untethered and old insecurities flared, making me want to keep my call with Luke a secret, but a bigger part wanted him to know.
He was my husband now; it wasn’t like he could run from me.
These rings on our fingers were like boomerangs, eventually he had to come back to me.
“Luke called me today.”
Jamie froze, his pencil mid swipe on the pad of paper and then he gently set it down before getting to his feet.
I focused on the meat mixture and continued to stir. “He texted a few times from an unknown number first, and then called.”
“Did you talk to him?” Jamie drew closer, pulling me away from the pan, flicking the burner off.
With my hands on his chest, his on my back, my gaze had nowhere to wander. So I nodded.
“He asked how I was doing, and I just exploded on him. But after I screamed at him for like five minutes, he offered to give me money. Says he knows he’s not ready to be a dad but wants to help pay for a few of the baby’s things. Said he got a big payday from a job they recently did.”
Jameson’s eyes stayed firm and steady on mine, only dipping to my lips every few seconds, his hands on my hips and back, firm and unyielding.
“Did you—” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Did you accept?”
Stroking my hand up to his jaw, I said, “No, I didn’t.”
“How do you feel about his call though…with him wanting to be involved? If he keeps pushing, will you let him?”
“I don’t want to…is that the right thing to do?
I don’t think Luke will be safe for the baby, at least not for a long time.
I remember how horrible his father was, and how he himself had started acting toward the end…
If he did, then it would need to be set up so I didn’t have to interact with him, and way down the line, after the baby has grown a bit. ”
My lip was pinned between my teeth as my gaze snared on Jamie’s chin. “Does that make me a bad person?”
His arms engulfed me. “No, babe, it doesn’t. It makes you smart and protective.”
I smiled into his shoulder.
“Are you going to leave, now that I mentioned Luke?” I asked as Jameson pulled back.
“What?”
“It’s just…after I started dating Luke, you left and stayed gone for nearly three months. Then you came back, but you were never at the club, you were always gone or on those extended trips. You hadn’t been doing that until I started dating Luke.”
Jamie’s dark brows came together. “But we’re married now, you honestly think I’m just going to take off because he called you?”
Stepping back, I let out a sigh at the ruined dinner. “We haven’t consummated the marriage. It can still be annulled, I figured that’s what your plan was—once enough time had passed for your club to accept me.”
Jameson’s face became blank, as if I’d stunned him.
“You think I want to annul this?” He waved between us with his hand, then scoffed. “Fucking hell, Penelope.”
With a step in my direction, he placed a hand on the counter. “To be clear, I want to fuck you. I think about it nearly every waking moment of the day. I have wanted to fuck you for a very, very long time. I am, however, nervous because I don’t know if I’ll hurt the baby if I do...”
Oh.
My face heated the smallest bit, but I felt it in my chest more than anywhere else.
“I—” My mouth opened, but I wasn’t even sure what to say. My mind was stuck on a loop of Jameson King telling me he wanted to fuck me, and had wanted to for a very, very long time.
So, instead, I rushed over to my purse and pulled out the pregnancy book I’d been reading religiously. Flipping it open to the back, closer to where the thirty-eight-week pregnancy symptoms were located, I found the chapter on intercourse. There were pictures and everything.
“We can have sex!” I held up the book, like it was a prize, and realized I needed to calm the hell down. “I mean, if you want to look at these images, and this part here, it talks about the most comfortable kind of sex we can have, but it’s actually good for inducing labor…and helping me to relax.”
Jamie gently took the book and began scanning it. The heat trapped under my chest grew more and more intense. God, had I basically just begged him to fuck me?
“So,” Jamie drawled, “I can set you up on all fours and slide inside you from behind. Or...” He looked over at the couch. “I can prop you up, with your leg adjusted just right, and fuck you right there on the couch?”
My thighs were getting slick.
“Shower sex is very popular it seems.” He flipped the page and then smirked. “On your back, with your legs bent at the knee, feet planted on the comforter. Seems we have a few positions we can try.”
“What about after you have the baby, how long for that?”
“I haven’t read that far yet.”
“Well then, we can hold out if you want to, until after, so—”
“I don’t want to,” I demanded sternly. “I don’t want to hold out, I want you.” I stepped closer, wetting my lips. “Please, Jamie.”