Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
BLAKE
“ H ow are you feeling, sugar?”
Harper’s fixing her makeup in our bathroom, and I brace my hands on the counter on either side of her hips and press my lips to her bare shoulder.
She’s in a gorgeous little green sundress that doesn’t have any straps, showing off her toned and tanned shoulders, and fuck if I can keep my hands, or my lips, to myself.
She smells amazing, like roses and clean air. I could breathe her in all fucking day.
“I’m nervous,” she admits, meeting my gaze in the mirror. I wrap my arms around her and tug her against me and press my lips to the crown of her head. “I kind of liked having this secret to ourselves for a while. For the most part, anyway.”
Come to find out, when Harper and my sister found out they were pregnant a month ago, Ava claimed Harper’s test as her own to take the focus off my girl and to buy her time.
I was grateful to Ava for protecting Harper, but for the past month, everyone in their friend group thought that Ava was pregnant.
The girls didn’t spread the news, but still.
Ava finally came over for dinner last night and asked us to set the record straight so she could go to book club without deflecting pregnancy questions.
“It’s time to tell the family,” I remind her, dragging my hands down her sides to her hips. She’s all healed up after the incident at work that left her bruised and beaten, thank fuck. The asshole is serving some time for assault and battery.
“I know,” she replies, leaning back into me, and I’m immediately on fire for her. “I’ve always been so damn attracted to you, but these pregnancy hormones are making me feral , Blake.”
“I can help with that.” Nibbling my way down her shoulder, I gather her skirt in my hands until it’s bunched up around her waist. “We have time.”
“I think we’re already late.”
I grin against her skin and push her panties down her legs, letting them pool at her feet. I brush my fingers through her already sopping wet pussy and growl against her neck.
“Fuck, baby.”
“Told you.” Her breaths are coming faster, and she pushes her ass out, silently begging for more. “I need you to fuck me, okay? Hard.”
“You never need to ask twice. You want my cock, Harper? You want me to fill you up?”
“God, yes.” Her head rolls forward, but I reach around and grip her throat, lifting her chin.
“Keep those pretty eyes on me.”
Her gray orbs flare with need and lust. She loves it when I take control.
“Blake.”
“Mm, yes, baby?” Brushing her hair over her shoulder, my lips wander down her neck, making her shiver. “What do you need? Use your words.”
“I need you.”
“Keep talking.” With one hand, I unbuckle my belt and unfasten my jeans, then work them and my briefs down my hips, letting my hard, weeping cock spring free.
But I don’t slip my dick inside her yet.
First, she gets my fingers, and that has her biting her lip on a moan.
“Tell me,” I demand, my voice hard.
“I need you to make me come. Please. ”
“I love it when you beg,” I whisper against the back of her neck, and she shivers again. Her pussy clenches around my fingers before I pull them free and lick them clean, still holding her gaze in the mirror. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
“Blake.”
I know what she needs, what she’s asking for.
And I’ll happily give it to her, as often as she wants, for the rest of my goddamn life.
“Please,” she whispers, and that’s all I need.
I lift her left leg, and she rests it on the counter, opening herself to me beautifully. I bend my knees, line my cock up with her dripping opening, and slide inside, making us both moan.
“ Yes ,” she sobs, pushing back against me. “More.”
“Hard and fast?”
She nods and reaches back to grab my hip.
“Need to touch you.”
Pulling out, I quickly turn her around, boost her up on the counter and sink back inside her. Her hands glide up my chest and into my hair, holding on while I fuck her, my hips moving fast and steady.
“Fucking perfect,” I say against her lips, drinking her in. “Every bit of you was made for me. Only me.”
“Only you.”
My mouth dives for her neck, and she holds me to her as I increase the pace and intensity. I’ll never get enough of her.
This body that I love so much is already changing. Her breasts are fuller, and her stomach is starting to round ever so slightly.
It’s goddamn magic.
“Blake.” She bites my shoulder over my shirt, and her whole body tenses. “I’m right there. Oh God, I’m right there.”
“Fuck yes. I’m with you, baby.” I grind into her, pushing against her sensitive clit, and as her climax rolls through her, she pulls my own out of me.
“Holy shit.” She’s panting, clinging to me, and then, to my horror, she starts to cry.
“What’s wrong? Oh, God, did I hurt you? Baby, talk to me. ”
“Nothing’s wrong. It was exactly what I needed.” She buries her face in my chest and proceeds to break down as if I hit her dog with my car, and I’m still inside her.
“Help me, Harper.”
“Hormones.” Her voice is muffled against my chest, but I relax a little. “Christ, what’s wrong with me? I’m not a crier.”
“You’re pregnant.”
Now her head pops up, and she glares at me. “I know I’m pregnant, Blake. Trust me, I’m well aware. Shit, I’m sorry I snapped at you. You just gave me the best sex ever”—the tears start again—“and I snapped at you. I’m a monster.”
“Ah, sugar, you’re not a monster. I’m sorry. What can I do?”
She shakes her head, and I slip out of her, then get to work cleaning us both up before righting our clothes, and she hops off the counter.
“Just be patient with me because I don’t mean to be mean to you.”
“You’re not being mean.”
“You should have heard what was left unsaid.” She laughs at that and then boosts up on her toes so she can brush her lips over mine. “I love you, Blake.”
She’s said it a hundred times over the past month, and it never fails to steal the breath from my lungs.
“I love you too. Come on, let’s go have dinner with the family and let my parents get excited about another baby.”
“I like your family,” she says with a smile as she fixes her mascara, then runs a brush through her long dark hair.
She slides her hand into mine as we leave the bathroom.
“I feel bad that Ava took the heat all this time. I swear, I kind of forgot. I haven’t been at a book club meeting all month because it just didn’t fall right with my work schedule, and when she mentioned it last night at dinner, I could have thrown up. ”
Luckily, that’s one symptom my girl hasn’t struggled with.
“She laughed it off,” I remind her. “Ava’s a good sport.”
“She’s the best.” Harper sighs and grabs the dessert she’s bringing for dinner. She’s always mindful to make sure everything she brings for the family is safe for Birdie, and that just makes me fall in love with her more. “I hope everyone likes carrot cake.”
“What’s not to like?”
“Harper, you look gorgeous,” Mom says with a big smile as she hugs my girl to her and winks at me over Harper’s shoulder. “Of course, you always look amazing. Dare I say, green is your color.”
“You’re too nice,” Harper says with a smile. “I hope you like carrot cake.”
Mom takes the cake from me as we walk through the farmhouse that I grew up in, but that Beckett and Skyla live in now, leading us to the kitchen.
“There won’t be a bit of this left over,” Mom informs Harper.
It looks like a normal Sunday family dinner at the ranch. Everyone’s spread out through the kitchen and outside on the back deck. Birdie’s standing on a chair, helping Skyla stir something on the stove, and Bridger’s holding the sleeping baby against his shoulder, rocking back and forth.
Dani, Skyla, and Billie have their heads together, and when they see Harper, they wave her over to join in.
My family loves my girl. Of course, what’s not to love? She fits in perfectly. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to bring into our fold.
“I love her,” Mom murmurs next to me as she slips her arm through mine. “She’s a sweetheart, my boy.”
“I know.” I kiss Mom’s head. “Can I please have Grandma’s ring?”
Her eyes fly up to mine, and they mist over.
Christ, I’m dealing with a lot of emotional women today.
“Of course. It’s yours. Just swing by the house anytime to get it.”
I nod, watching as Harper and Billie cackle together. Bee’s eyes catch mine, and she smiles bigger.
Connor and Beckett come in from outside, along with my dad and Brooks, and since everyone’s in one place, I gesture for Harper to join me. She immediately links her hand with mine .
“We have news,” I say, getting everyone’s attention.
Harper bites her lip nervously, but I’m not nervous at all.
“We’re having a baby.” I grin at the moment of silence, and then it’s chaos as everyone asks questions, and the girls run over to hug us both.
“Wait, I thought Ava was pregnant,” Skyla says, and Harper winces.
“She was covering for me,” my girl admits. “Don’t be mad at her. It was a shock, and so unplanned, and?—”
“No need to explain,” Bee says, shaking her head. “Also, that means we get to be pregnant together.”
“So many babies and weddings,” Mom says, wiping at her eyes. “I’m so glad we moved home. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“Speaking of weddings.” Skyla glances up at Beckett, who nods and wraps his arm around her shoulders. “Should we tell them now?”
“Tell them, Irish,” he says.
“Now you have to tell us,” Bridger adds.
“We were going to have the wedding this fall, but I can’t wait that long,” Skyla says. “So we’re going to have it here, at the ranch, in two months. Charlie swears we can pull it off.”
Charlie is Dani’s younger sister, and she’s a highly sought-after event coordinator in Bitterroot Valley.
“She can,” Dani assures Skyla. “She’s so excited.”
Suddenly, Billie covers her mouth, her eyes widen, and then she dashes off to the bathroom.
My sister has not been as lucky as Harper in the getting sick side of things.
“I’ll go,” Mom assures Connor when he went to follow his wife. “You sit this one out.”
“I fucking hate it for her,” Connor says. “But she doesn’t complain.”
“Oh, she complains,” Dani says with a laugh. “Just not to you. Because even though it’s hard, she’s so excited.”
“There’s a lot to be excited about.” Harper smiles up at me and then leans her head on my biceps. “It’s going to be a busy year.”
You have no idea, sugar.