32. Lee #2
“Wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I did.”
I looked him up and down. “I don’t like none of y’all.”
“You smiling like you like us.”
“I don’t.”
Van looked me over. “You look pretty.”
I looked away. “Thank you.”
“Real pretty.”
“Don’t do too much.”
He smiled, and I walked away before I ended up standing there grinning at him.
The shower ended up being more fun than I expected. We ate tacos, played games, took pictures, and laughed until my stomach hurt. At some point somebody put a sombrero on me, and I spent the next thirty minutes refusing to take it off because it looked cute with my dress.
The gifts were ridiculous. I got a stroller, a swing, more diapers than one baby should’ve been capable of using, clothes in every size, blankets, bottles, a diaper bag, a baby monitor, and stuff I hadn’t even thought about buying yet.
Every few gifts, somebody complained about the same thing.
“You need to name this baby,” Wren said, holding up a blanket. “I wanted to get his name on this.”
“I know. I still ain’t picked one yet.”
“You need to.”
“I’m working on it.”
Nina looked at my stomach. “He almost here.”
“Don’t say that. I still got time.”
Mama held up another gift. “I would’ve got this monogrammed too.”
“All of y’all would’ve had my baby walking around looking like a luggage set.”
They laughed, but by the end of the night I had heard enough about that damn name to know I probably needed to figure one out.
People started leaving a little after nine. Trevon and a couple of the men began carrying gifts out to cars while Anika tried to organize everything, and I slipped outside for some air.
I found Van near the side of the house stacking empty boxes and walked over to him.
“You tired?” he asked.
“Very, but I had fun.”
He smiled. “Good.”
I stood beside him rubbing my stomach. There was something I had been wanting to ask him since the gender reveal, but every time I thought about it, something else happened. Tonight felt like as good a time as any.
“Can I ask you something?”
“What’s up?”
“You wanna be his goddaddy?”
Van stopped messing with the boxes and looked at me. “For real?”
“No, Van. I ask everybody.”
He laughed. “I’m making sure.”
“Yes, for real.”
He watched me for another second before smiling. “Yeah. I’d love to.”
I smiled back. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yep. Congratulations. You got a godson.”
He laughed, and I pointed at him.
“Your first duty starts right now.”
“Damn, I just got the job.”
“I need a name.”
“That’s your job.”
“Now it’s ours.”
“How did I get dragged into this?”
“You said yes too fast.”
Van shook his head, but he leaned back against the house and started helping anyway. We went through names for a while, and most of his suggestions were terrible.
“Legend?”
I looked at him. “You cannot name my baby Legend.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Legend.”
“Yes, it is.”
“What?”
“I just don’t like it.”
“Aight. Amir?”
I thought about that one. “Maybe.”
“Carter?”
“No.”
“Myles?”
That one made me stop. I said it again to myself. “Myles.”
Van watched me. “You like it?”
“I don’t hate it.” Actually, I kinda did like it. The baby moved under my hand, and I looked down at my stomach. “What you think? You a Myles?”
Van laughed. “I think that’s a yes.”
I rubbed over the spot where he had kicked. “Myles.” The more I said it, the more I liked it. “Okay. Myles.”
Van nodded. “Myles.”
“Look at you doing goddaddy work already.”
“I need a raise.”
“You don’t get paid.”
“Then I quit.”
“You can’t quit. We just established you family.”
The words were out before I thought about them, and Van looked at me at the same time I looked at him. Neither one of us said anything for a second before he smiled.
“You said it.”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“I’m not.”
“You about to.”
“I was just standing here.”
“Mhm.”
His eyes moved over me again, and I caught him this time.
“You keep looking at me.”
“I told you already. You look good tonight.”
“Thank you.”
“I like the dress.”
I glanced down at it. “Anika picked it.”
“She did good.”
He kept looking at me, and unfortunately my pregnant ass had reached the point where it didn’t take much. I stepped closer and slid my arms around his waist.
“Can you load all my stuff up and take me home?”
“Yeah.”
“And do that thing with your tongue?”
Van stared at me for a second before he started laughing. “Lee.”
“What?”
“You’ve got no shame.”
“I’m pregnant. Shame ain’t helping me.”
He shook his head, still laughing. “Yeah. I can do that.”
“Good.”
He leaned down and kissed me, and apparently neither one of us knew how to leave a regular kiss regular anymore. I pulled back before he could make the situation worse.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Kiss me like that when I already told you I’m horny.”
Van smiled. “I just kissed you.”
“You know what you doing.”
“Do I?”
I looked toward the house and then back at him. “If you don’t stop, I’m gonna sneak you in Anika's bathroom and make you do the tongue thing before we leave.”
His eyebrows went up. I expected him to laugh.
Instead, he leaned close to my ear. “Well, sneak me then.”
I stared at him. “You playing.”
“Nope.”
I looked toward the back door again. Nobody was paying us any attention. That was all I needed. I grabbed his hand, and Van laughed under his breath as I pulled him around the side of the house.
“Where we going?”
“Shut up.”
We slipped through the back door and waited just inside until Anika disappeared toward the living room. As soon as she was gone, I hurried him down the hallway. He was still laughing under his breath when we made it into the bathroom, and I shut and locked the door behind us.
“You better be quiet.”
Van leaned back against the counter, still smiling. “You’re the one who dragged me into somebody’s bathroom.”
“And?”
He looked at me. “And you’re telling me to be quiet?”
His smile disappeared when I stepped closer. “Still think I’m playing?”
“Nah.”
I kissed him before he could say anything else. His hands slid around my waist, careful of my stomach as he pulled me closer. When his mouth moved from mine to my neck, I bit down on my lip before I made enough noise for somebody to hear us.
“Van.”
“Mhm?”
“We cannot get caught in here.”
He lifted his head. “Then be quiet.”
I stared at him. “Oh, now you funny.”
He kissed me again, and I reached behind me one more time to make sure the door was locked.
After that, he didn’t waste much time. Van lifted me onto the bathroom counter, pushed the hem of my dress up around my waist, and pulled my panties down.
“Open your legs,” he said quietly.
I did, shifting closer to the edge while he moved between them. There wasn’t much room in that bathroom to begin with, and with my stomach in the way, there was even less.
Van took his time anyway, and by the time his mouth finally touched me, my fingers were already gripping the edge of the counter.
“Oooh,” I whispered, letting my head fall back against the mirror.
He looked up just enough to check me. “Right there?”
“Right there.”
That was all the direction he needed. He kept his mouth on me while his fingers worked too, and I had to keep reminding myself where the hell we were because every few seconds another sound tried to come out of my mouth.
“Van.”
“You like that?”
“Shut up and keep going.”
He laughed against me and did exactly that.
It didn’t take long before my whole body started tightening.
I bit my lip trying to keep quiet, but a moan still slipped out when I came.
My hands went into his hair while I rode it out, shaking hard enough that for a second I forgot we were locked inside my sister’s bathroom.
When Van finally stood back up, I was still trying to get myself together.
“You good?” he asked, already smiling.
I smoothed my dress back down and looked at him. “I hate you.”
“Nah.” He helped straighten the part of my dress I couldn’t reach. “You love me.”
He was joking, but hearing him say it made me stop. Normally, I would’ve laughed it off. Instead, I heard myself say, “Yeah.”
Van stopped smiling. “Yeah what?”
I could’ve played it off, but I didn’t. “I do. I love you.”
He just looked at me.
“Don’t make me regret saying it.”
He reached for my face and kissed me, softer this time. “I love you too.”
I smiled against his mouth. “You better.”
He laughed and kissed me again, but somewhere outside the bathroom somebody called my name.
I pulled back. “We really finna get caught.”
“Probably.”
“This your fault.”
“You dragged me in here.”
“Details.” I rolled my eyes.
I fixed my dress one more time and reached for the door, still smiling like an idiot. Apparently, I had gotten a baby shower, picked my son’s name, gave him a goddaddy, and told a man I loved him all in one night.
Cinco de Mayo had got completely out of hand.