Chapter 10
Of all the things Sierra had compromised on during her pregnancy, the advice from her prenatal group to buy slip-on shoes was not one of them.
As a woman with a healthy respect for fashion, she’d rather go barefoot than buy a pair of Crocs, Birkenstocks, or any other slip-on shoe designed solely for comfort. It was her uncrossable line.
Still, she wasn’t a martyr. Instead of her cowgirl boots or her heels, both of which her swollen ankles had revolted against, she’d committed to sneakers, and up until today the white Nikes had been working with her corporate-chic style.
Now, she glared down at them accusingly, their tongues stretched up mockingly, their laces as loose as possible without popping out, and wondered how the hell she was going to tie them.
She’d sat on the bed and tried to do it normally, by leaning over her big belly – and hadn’t even been able to reach past her shins.
She’d tried to lift one foot onto her other knee – with laughable results.
In a desperate last attempt, she’d tried to lie on her bed and raise her foot up in front of her – and she’d almost peed herself.
Tears swam in her eyes as she seriously considered the benefits of Crocs.
She didn’t care how comfortable they were, she hated everything about them.
The foamy feel, the design, the holes. They were an assault on the senses, and the fact that she was even thinking about them made her feel legitimately lost and, worse, unlike herself.
Hating how useless she felt, she picked up her phone and dialled Benji. He answered on the first ring. ‘Hi, baby.’
‘Benji …’ She trailed off as her self-pitying tears threatened.
‘What is it, Si?’
She could hear the concern in his voice, and as much as she hated scaring him for nothing, she couldn’t quite moderate the despair in her tone when she replied, ‘I can’t put on my shoes.’
‘Okay. Don’t cry. I’m gonna come home and help you, ’kay?’
‘Stop smiling,’ she sniffled. ‘I can hear it over the phone.’
Benji managed to catch his chuckle, but she could hear the laughter in his voice when he replied, ‘Yes ma’am. Give me a few minutes.’
‘Okay.’
‘Hey, Si?’
‘Yeah?’ she replied glumly.
‘I love you – even if you can’t put your shoes on.’
And because that had a smile threatening to rise when she didn’t want it to, she replied, ‘I love you too – even though you did this to me.’
‘I’d do it over again too. You’re mine for better or worse now, Princess,’ he teased. Mav shouted something in the background, and Benji ended the call with, ‘Be there soon.’
When he entered their bedroom only ten minutes later, Sierra was lying on her back, her legs dangling off the bed, her pregnant stomach protruding. With effort, she pushed up onto her elbows and then held out one hand so that he could pull her into a seated position.
‘I’m living my nightmare,’ she said as he gave her a quick kiss and then knelt on the floor by her feet. ‘I’m seriously considering Crocs.’
Benji quickly tied her laces and then shimmied between her knees until her stomach touched his. His hands came to her hips. ‘What’s wrong with me tying your laces?’
‘You can’t come home every time I need to put on shoes!’
‘Why not?’ Leaning down, he trailed feather-light kisses over her stomach. ‘It’s a five-minute drive.’
‘It’s unreasonable.’ She let her head fall back with a sigh. ‘Why couldn’t I be one of those super fit pregnant ladies? You know the ones who go into labour on the treadmill …’
‘I’m guessing it’s because you’ve never frequented a gym before.’
Sierra rolled her eyes. ‘I never had to before! I’ve always been barn fit.’
‘Barn fit?’
‘It’s a thing,’ Sierra insisted. ‘When you work with horses, you’re constantly lifting things or walking or riding. Just my saddle weighs thirty-five pounds. And it was enough. Before.’ Sierra flopped back onto the bed. ‘And now that I can’t ride, I’m going crazy. I feel like I just sit all day.’
The white ceiling glassed over as tears filled her eyes again, but this time Sierra stubbornly swiped them away.
She hated being self-pitying, maybe even more than she hated being bored.
‘I know I only have two months to go, but I really can’t wait for this kid to arrive.
’ Her hands instinctually rose to rub her belly.
Benji hauled himself onto the bed beside her.
He propped himself up on one elbow and used his other hand to tip her face towards him.
‘Why don’t we go to the lake for the night?
Get you girls outside and in the fresh air.
We can pack a zillion blankets and’ – he sighed dramatically – ‘we can even take the pillow.’
Sierra brightened at the idea. ‘After work?’
‘Yeah. We’ll pack some food, head out around six and mosey back tomorrow morning in our own time.’
‘That sounds really nice actually.’ But because they had a business to run, she added, ‘Check Mav doesn’t need you in the morning first.’
He kissed her once, gently, replied, ‘I already did.’
When they arrived at the lake that evening, Benji walked around the hood of the truck so that he could help Sierra down from her seat.
She had changed into sweatpants and one of his ancient Wrangler shirts, but the look did nothing to detract from how sexy she was.
She’d tied her long hair up into a high ponytail that swung with each step and had left her face bare but for the lip gloss she was addicted to.
She raised her arms in the air and stretched like a cat waking up from a long nap.
That same punch of love he hoped he’d never get used to hit him as he watched her and, helpless to resist, he went to her, wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck. ‘You’re so beautiful, Sierra,’ he whispered as he inhaled her perfume.
‘I’m lumpy,’ she argued immediately, but one of her hands came back to his neck, keeping him close.
‘You’re pregnant,’ he corrected. His hands moved over her stomach, soothing, before he shifted, stroking them down to her full hips. He gripped her there, pulled her back into him so that she could feel how hard he was for her. ‘And so goddamn sexy.’
She pressed against him, welcoming him as she hummed with pleasure.
Her fingers at his nape sifted through the hair there.
‘You make me feel so loved, Benji.’ Taking one of his hands off her hips, she guided it to her sensitive breast. ‘So wanted.’ She sighed when he cupped her, moaned when he ran his thumb over her peaked nipple beneath the fabric of her clothes.
‘You are loved,’ he reminded her as his need for her shifted from that constant simmer to a raging inferno. ‘You are wanted. Always.’
Wanting to show her, wanting to take that edge of restlessness away for her, he stepped back, lifted her shirt up and off. ‘In the lake.’
She raised one eyebrow. ‘You want to … In the lake?’
‘To start.’ He grinned when she turned to contemplate the perfectly still surface of the water under moonlight. ‘It’ll be gentler on you than in the bed of the truck,’ he explained.
He stripped down to his jeans and knelt on the floor so that he could help her out of her sweats. Sierra put one hand on his shoulder and stepped out of the baggy pants. ‘The water at night kinda scares me,’ she commented. ‘It’s so dark. Can’t you imagine something with teeth swimming towards you?’
‘The only thing you need to worry about eating you is me.’
Sierra giggled, and the sound, so light now, so free, pulled a grin out of him.
Benji removed his jeans, and when she would have walked gingerly down to the water, he scooped her up and with one loud whoop, charged into the lake.
He didn’t stop until the chilly water was up to his chest, and even then, he didn’t put her down.
He let the water take the brunt of her weight while his arms kept her close.
Sierra didn’t shiver or whine. She sighed and dipped backwards until her pregnant tummy popped out of the water and her hair splayed like a fan over the surface. ‘Oh, God, the cold feels so good.’
He supported her weight as she floated, her eyes closed, her hands gently treading. Despite the cold water, watching her made his blood blaze.
Benji knew that she thought he was lying when he told her that he found her pregnant body beautiful and sexy.
But he wasn’t trying to appease her – or not only.
For him, it was the most erotic thing in the world to see their child, half of him, growing in Sierra Hunt.
It was proof that he, the white trash kid her brother had befriended, hadn’t just been a passing amusement to her.
It was his reminder that they’d have their daughter binding them together. Forever.
With their differences at the forefront of his mind, he gently tipped her back into a seated position. Sierra roped one arm around his neck to steady herself. She smiled up at him, but when she saw the look on his face, the smile faltered. She reached one hand up to touch his cheek. ‘What’s wrong?’
He’d planned to wait, to give her time to adjust to motherhood before adding to her stress …
And even that wasn’t entirely true. The truth was that he was terrified she might say no, terrified that when they’d spoken of marriage previously, it had been the new fears surrounding her pregnancy guiding her words.
But just then, with the moonlight kissing her skin and the stars shining in full force above them, he wanted to know, ‘Would you marry me?’
Sierra jerked in his arms, almost dunking them both.
‘I know I don’t have much, compared to how you were raised,’ he began. ‘But soon I’ll have enough to buy us a house – a nice one. Or maybe build one on the ranch, if you want to stay close.’
‘Benji—’
Panicked, he just kept rambling. ‘I’ll love you always, Si. I’ll be there for you until the day I die, and I promise—’
‘When?’
Benji could only stare at her blankly.
‘Benji,’ Sierra repeated slowly. ‘When should we get married?’
‘You … You wanna get married?’ he asked. ‘To me?’
She laughed, and when he shifted her, guiding her legs around his waist, she replied, ‘To be completely honest, Benji, I’ve been waiting for you to ask for a really long time.’
Benji stared at her for a long moment. ‘I’m sorry … Are you saying yes?’ he felt compelled to clarify.
‘Yes!’
His heart bloomed, unfurling from its protective huddle to fill his chest. He laughed loudly. ‘Yes?’ he demanded. ‘Yes?’
Sierra threw back her head and shouted, ‘Yes!’ to the night sky.
Benji’s hands dropped to hook beneath her silky thighs. He held her close as he spun them around in the water, making her laugh, and when he finished the second circle and stopped, it was Sierra who kissed him.
She took him down to the deep, dark depths of his own need in seconds, her tongue sliding against his, her hands gripping his hair.
He wanted to claim her, to seal the promise she’d made to him.
He wanted to brand her from the inside out all over again.
But conscious of her needs, he didn’t succumb to the urge.
Instead, he slipped one hand between her legs and gently stroked two fingers through her.
Even in the water, she was slick and hot.
‘Can I make you feel good, baby?’ he asked.
‘Please,’ she whimpered and ground against his fingers. ‘I need you, Benji. I always need you.’
He brought one arm to her back, holding her close as he teased her. The water caressed them as he hiked her higher so that he could draw one hard nipple into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the small peak.
Sierra moaned her approval. Her fingers kneaded his shoulders. She sighed his name as he moved to her other side. ‘Benji.’
Hearing it – his name on his woman’s lips – unleashed him. He released her breast with a loud pop, demanded, ‘Say it again,’ as he gently slid two fingers inside her and began to move.
Sierra grinned wickedly even though her eyes remained closed and her body kept grinding against him. ‘Say what?’ she teased.
Benji stopped moving abruptly. He withdrew his fingers, making her groan in frustration, and when she opened her eyes to pout at him, he leaned forward and bit her bottom lip. ‘Say it,’ he demanded.
She brought her lips close to his ear, whispered, ‘Benji.’ And never one to be handled, she added, ‘Please make me come now,’ knowing that the request would drive him wild.
This time when he speared his fingers into her, she gasped and rocked against his hand.
Her body, so familiar, slid against his in the cool water even as everywhere they touched sparked impossible heat.
And, still, through the carnal lust, he had the singular, coherent thought: This woman is going to be my wife.
And it was more erotic than anything he had experienced before.
‘I’m so close,’ she murmured, and the hint of a whine in her tone told him that she was struggling to get there.
Benji knew her better than anyone. And he knew what she needed – always. So, he shortened his movements, quickened his strokes, and said, ‘Feeling your pussy take me drives me crazy.’
‘Yes,’ she whimpered.
‘You like that, Si?’ he asked. ‘You like knowing you drive me wild?’
‘Yes.’
‘As soon as you come, I’m going to lie you down and eat you out.’ She started panting in sync with every thrust of his fingers. ‘I’m going to suck your clit until you’re screaming my name.’
‘Yes. Oh, God. Benji.’
‘And then I’m going to fuck you until you’re ruined for anyone else.’
She cried out as the orgasm ripped through her. Her back arched, her hands gripped his shoulders, her hips stopped moving even as she pulsed around his fingers, drawing him in, keeping him close.
And when the water started to chill instead of cool, and they climbed out of the lake and went to lie in the bed of the truck, he kept every promise he’d made.