27. Elyse
CHAPTER 27
ELYSE
" H ow many of these did you pee on?" Bel asks as I stare down at the newest set of tests.
"All of them," I reply, keeping my gaze on the tiny digital screen.
Bel comes to stand beside me. "Why take more than three if they all tell you the same thing?” The new set of tests, all five of them are laid out in a perfect line, next to ten other tests I took previously all flashing their readings.
All positive.
Fifteen tests in total that all say the same thing. I think it’s time to accept the truth.
I press a hand low to my stomach. Still flat, but soft as I've been gaining some weight back with regular meals and less stress.
Bel plucks one of the tests off the counter, by the clean white end. "Fifteen positive tests later… Are we happy?"
To be honest, I'm not sure what I feel right now. Having a baby wasn't something I planned...hell, I didn't think I'd live to be old enough to have children. But when Sebastian wants something… I’m not surprised it happened. A part of me wants to hold onto a grudge, to lay blame and be upset. I'm still in school, and have so much life left ahead of me.
It's not the baby's fault, though.
Bel screeches and hops up onto the counter of the bathroom sink. "I can’t believe I'm going to be an aunt. Should I be the crazy one, or the cool one?”
There's a soft knock on the door and then Sebastian steps in. His eyes skim over Bel, then me, and back to the tests.
"What's happening here?"
Whenever he walks into a room he seems to suck the air out of it. Leaving me feeling pressurized and waiting to pop. I clear my throat. "I think your shot worked..."
He steps closer examining the tests, before wrapping his arms around me hugging my back to his front."Looks like it did. I'll let Dr. Brooks know he needs to brush up on his delivery skills. Or find us a doctor to bring in."
I blink the heaviness of this all finally hitting me. "Bel, can we have a minute?"
She hops off the counter. "Sure. I'll go find Drew. He's getting things ready for the graduation party. I'll just meet you guys there.
With a wave, she saunters out and closes the door behind her.
Sebastian pulls away slightly, his gaze pulling at the fragile seams of my heart. His thumb strokes the edge of my jaw and I’m encompassed in warmth. "Are you happy?"
Am I? "Bel asked me that, too, and I don't know. I've spent so long just trying to survive, trying to keep myself safe, that I hadn't considered ever having freedom let alone a future.”
He cups my cheeks with both hands. "I understand that, and I’m sure it’s shocking, but I won’t lie to you. I'm happy. All I've wanted since I met you, is to make a family with you, and build a future together."
I shake my head and try to step away, at least long enough so I can think straight around the desire compelling me to drag him to our bed.
"You don't think we are rushing this? That things are moving too fast?"
Pulling me closer he shakes his head. "No, it's not too fast. I've put my life on hold for too long. Needing justice for what Tanya put me through. Wanting security and ... you. I've been waiting for you. Now that all that is behind us, what more is there to wait for?"
My heart aches at his words, my body folding into his almost involuntarily. "Sebastian," I whisper. "Neither one of us had good parental role models. Can we do this? Should we do this? I don’t want to fuck up someone else’s life.”
His full lips tip up into a soft gentle smile that I've been seeing more and more on his mouth lately. "We will not fuck up our kids life. There will be mistakes and errors but we won’t fuck them up. As long as the baby is safe and fed I don't think we can screw it up, right?"
I shrug. "Are you asking me? Because I've never even held a baby let alone fed one. Sometimes I don’t think I can even take care of myself."
He rolls his eyes. "Then we take classes, we read books, we experience it all together, and figure it out as one.”
I nod. What he's saying is true. "Well then we’re doing this. It’s happening.”
He scoops me up under my thighs and hikes me up around his waist. I wrap my arms and legs around him, letting him carry me into our bedroom.
"Ely, you've made me the happiest man in the fucking world. Let me show you just how much." He gently sets me on the end of the bed and presses me down to lay flat, with his hand spread wide across my belly. "Lay down, let me love you."
When I move to sit up, my mouth popping open to continue talking he flips my skirt up to expose my black cotton panties. His jerk of the fabric makes me squeal until he tugs the material off my ankle and tosses it away. Dropping down to his knees I still, my head tipped up so I can watch him.
He scoots forward, heedless of his pressed slacks, until my knees bracket his wide shoulders. Then he stares at me like I'm a feast and he's a starving man. I gulp and continue watching him, needing to see how much he wants me. He never hides it now.
The darkness in his eyes, the way his fingers tighten on my skin. All of it explains how much he wants me, and just how much he held back before we resolved the dangers in our life.
Dragging me to the end of the bed and he lifts my legs to sit on his shoulders. "Let me give you a reward, Ely. My Little Prey. I want you to scream my name as I make you come, do you understand?"
I nod once, twice, again and again, frantic now as my body ramps up needing his touch to satisfy me. “Please. Sebastian. Please.”
He winks at me from his lower position. "Oh, you know how I love it when you beg me." For a flash of a second I'm back in a dingy motel room, but I shove down the memory, refusing to be triggered by my lover, a man I know would rather die than hurt me like that.
I spear my fingers into his hair and pull him close to my body. He takes the hint and the first brush of his tongue on my sensitive, overheated flesh is heaven. Pure bliss.
I tighten my knees around his head, and he shoves his hands under my ass to hold me up against his mouth. No matter how many times he touches me, kisses me, makes love to me it's always like the first time. It's elemental, raw, so intense I feel like I could crawl out of my skin if he doesn't take more, use more of me.
His tongue delves inside me, and he uses it to fuck me deep with the length of him, then pulls out to nibble at my clit and suck the little bud between his teeth. Gasping, I arch into him, encouraging his every move. How does this feel even better than it had before? Every single time he takes me to the edge of sanity and drags me back with pleasure.
Always back to him; he'd never let me stay there, drifting, without him.
He hums against my skin, his noises of pleasure almost animalistic as he laps at me.
And when he takes me over the edge of my orgasm, I scream out his name just the way he likes.When we are both satisfied, our clothes in piles around our bedroom, our bodies wrapped in a blanket on the floor, I roll to face him. "What was that?"
He mirrors my position and looks into my eyes. "What?"
"I thought I heard something. A shuffle, maybe?"
"Bel is probably around somewhere, and if you know Bel is here then Drew is also somewhere."
I shake my head and sit up, clutching the sheet to my front. "No, it was closer, like in the room? Could we have a mouse?"
He snorts. "We better not. I pay an exterminator a small fortune to maintain the properties. If we have a mouse then I’m getting a fucking refund. As you well know, my closet would take a hit."
My neck gets hot at the reminder of how he had to replace nearly his entire wardrobe after I took a knife to it.
There it is again. Another scuffle. I jerk my gaze towards the closet. "Is there someone in the closet?"
Fear spikes inside me, making warning bells go off in my mind. Almost like he senses it, Sebastian draws me into his arms. "Relax, Ely. It's nothing. A surprise, one second. I'll show you."
He peels himself out from under the covers on the floor, stands gloriously naked, and crosses the room to the closet. I don’t know what to accept so I remain laying there with baited breath. When he opens the door a streak of brown bolts out of the small room and right at me.
I’m only halfway to my feet when a heavy weight slams into my shins.
It's...a dog.
"You had a dog in the closet?”
He shuts the door and stands watching me as the puppy wiggles his little butt, his front paws up against my knees, his wet little nose gleams in the overhead light.
"Okay, what’s the catch? You hate dogs, so why is this little cutie in your possession?”
He settles back in our makeshift bed. "I don't hate dogs. Besides, you like them...and whatever you like I will learn to tolerate but I'm warning you, if he eats my shoes or pisses in the house he's going to be an outdoor dog."
I kneel down and tug the ball of curly brown fur into my lap. "You are so stinking cute!!. What's your name?"
Seb rests back on the pillows and watches us with a smile. "He doesn't have a name. I figured you could give him one.”
I cuddle him to my chest and let him lick my face. "I'll call him Osiris. That's a good name for a dog."
"Whatever you want Ely. I’m happy with whatever you choose.”
“Two firsts in one day. A baby and a puppy.” I whisper while I scratch the dog's long floppy ears.
"Wait, I have one more present for you."
I pick up the puppy by the belly and roll to face Sebastian. "I don't need presents, I've told you that before."
"But I enjoy giving them to you, so you'll take them and be happy about it."
I narrow my eyes. "That sounds an awful lot like an order..."
"Do I need to get back between your sexy thighs and make you see things my way?" He asks, pinning me with a look that says to test him.
A smile splits my lips before I can even try to school my features. "What is the present then?"
He reaches up under the bed and tugs out a stack of papers, then plops them right on my chest.
"A stack of paperwork, my favorite thing."
This earns me a little swat on the hip, which the puppy immediately jumps into thinking we’re playing. I scan over the paperwork, skimming the text to be sure that what I’m reading is really real. "An animal shelter, Sebastian? That’s not a present.”
"It’s yours. You can deal with it yourself, or focus on school and the baby and hire people to handle it until you are ready."
Tears burn my eyes, and I stare up at the ceiling to try and drive them away.
He levers himself beside me, scooting closer. "Are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you. If you don’t want it you can sell it.” There's an edge of panic to his tone that I don't think I've ever heard before.
"No, I love it. It's ok. I promise. I'm just overwhelmed."
This time he drags me into his lap, ignoring Osiris as he thinks we are playing. "You mean the world to me, Ely. And I intend to spend my life showing you in every single way I can how much you mean to me."
I kiss him gently. "You already do. All I need is you."
When he kisses me back, it's hotter, darker, deeper, and he shows me again and again how much he loves me with his body, his mouth, his teeth, his hands, and his words.
I've never felt safer in my life.