Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
BLUE
Once I’ve helped Bea into the passenger’s seat, I jog around the front of my truck, not bothering to play it cool.
Fuck cool. I’ve never been good at “cool.”
I don’t want to be cool.
I just want her, and she wants me.
She loves me. Beatrice Nix loves me. She said it out loud, those three words a part of me was certain I’d never hear from anyone, let alone someone like her, this talented, brave, sexy-as-fuck woman.
Tonight, she chose me, and I’m going to make sure she never regrets it.
“What are you thinking?” she whispers as I wheel the truck around, heading back across town.
“About you,” I say without missing a beat. “How talented and sexy you are, and how much I need to be inside you.”
She leans across the cab, resting her hand on my thigh as she purrs, “See? I tried to tell Checkers that not everyone thinks pregnant bodies are gross and scary.”
I exhale a ragged breath. “Fuck no. Your pregnant body makes me so hard I can barely sleep most nights.”
“I love how hard you get for me,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to my cheek as her palm skims higher.
I groan, my jaw spasming as she begins to stroke me through my jeans. “You’re going to make me have an accident, woman,” I rumble, fingers tightening on the wheel.
“Never.” She trails kisses down my neck as her touch grows firmer, bolder. “You’re an excellent driver. I always feel safe when you’re driving.”
I take the turn onto the next street, sweat breaking out on my upper lip when she dives deep enough to cup my swollen balls.
I fight a groan. “Should I pull over?”
“No. We can’t.” She rolls her fingers, sending longing throbbing through my core.
“I’m too pregnant to have sex in a pickup truck.
” She kisses my cheek again, her lips curving against my overheated skin as she murmurs, “And I hear the New Orleans police department frowns on people banging on the side of the road.”
She’s right. I drive faster, not fast enough to draw the attention of any of the NOPD, but close.
Still, by the time I park the truck at her place, I’m so hard it’s a structural problem. I shuffle stiffly past the reception desk, my gym bag held strategically at hip level to hide my shame from Clark, while Beatrice chats him up about what he did on his day off, fighting a case of the giggles.
Badly.
“Evil. You’re evil,” I mutter as she loses it in the elevator, laughing until she snorts. “And all this time, I thought you were a kind, gentle woman.”
“Sorry. I’m so sorry.” She hooks her arm through mine, beaming up at me with a smile so beautiful I can’t even pretend to be mad at her. “I’m just happy. And horny. You have no idea how excited I am to get you naked.”
“I might have some idea,” I say, reaching down to squeeze her ass through her dress. “Been dreaming about you coming on my mouth every night.”
“Really?”
“Really. Usually, while we’re at the beach.”
Her gaze darkens as she whispers, “You’re eating my cake by the ocean in your dreams?”
“Is that what that song’s about?”
“Pretty sure it is. And definitely sure we need to make that dream come true. As soon as humanly possible.” The elevator doors glide open. She’s through them a second later, hustling down the hallway with an impressive amount of speed for a woman in a boot.
“Careful. Your foot,” I warn softly, not wanting to bother the neighbors.
Or to wake Clover if she’s asleep. I’m happy to help Clover for as long as it takes for her to heal. I don’t resent the labor of helping a friend for a single second. It’s an honor to be trusted and needed, but right now…
Well, I wouldn’t be upset if she were already all tucked in for the night.
I need to be alone with Beatrice with a closed door between us and the world. I need it so badly, I’m honestly not sure I’ll be able to talk my hard-on down to a respectable level before I have to help Clover to the bathroom or back into bed.
I guess I’ll just have to dig my biggest sweater out of my suitcase, hunch forward, and hope she’s too tired to notice that I’m suffering a crisis of self-control.
Thankfully, however, it turns out the universe has Clover’s back.
And mine.
As we step inside, we’re greeted by a note taped to the mirror above the entry table—
Dear Blue and Bea,
Ihope you guys had a great dinner!
I’ve gone to my friend Cristina’s place for a few days. Her husband left on his deployment yesterday, and she’s so sad about it that the company of a full-grown human who needs help going to the bathroom sounded like a good idea to her.
Silly woman! But by the time she realizes how gross that is, it will be too late. Mwuahahaha!
Anyway, Shelby is dropping me off at Cris’s on her way to work tonight, and Cris will bring me home Tuesday morning. So, I’ll see you gorgeous people then!
Don’t be good while I’m gone, okay? Not even a little bit. I MEAN IT. I expect you two to be banging like bunnies by the time I get back. The sexual tension has seriously gotten to be too much, guys. It’s getting hard to breathe when you’re both in the same room at the same time.
Just fuck and fall in love and get it over with already.
Or at least the first part.
Sex is good for your mental health, and who needs solid mental health more than two people about to be parents for the first time? Additionally, you have a moral obligation to fornicate for all of us who are currently too broken to partake in amorous congress.*
Love,
Clover
*Which reminds me, Cris is taking me to the bookstore tomorrow to buy more historical romances. Let me know if you want me to grab anything for you guys while I’m there. And don’t be mad at me, okay? You know I love you both. I just want you to be happy, and I think you’ll be happiest together.
Beatrice finishes reading the note aloud, her voice hitching on the last line.
She lifts her gaze to mine, an unspoken question in her eyes.
“We’ll text her first thing in the morning to tell her how right she is,” I say, threading my fingers through hers. “She might be asleep now, and I think she’d want us to focus on each other.”
“On each other and amorous congress?” she asks, swaying closer.
“The most amorous,” I agree.
And then I kiss her, and we’re done talking.
Her vest falls to the ground in the entryway.
Her dress joins it in the hall.
She tugs my shirt over my head at the door to her bedroom, and I pop the front clasp on her bra, setting her breasts free. The sight of her nipples already tight and flushed, begging for my mouth, is almost more than I can handle.
My hands shake as I drop to one knee by the bed, reaching for her boot.
“You okay?” she asks as I rip open the Velcro.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” I drag her sock down, careful of the bandage on her foot. “How’s this feeling?”
“It barely hurts at all anymore,” she says, her breath coming faster as I dispose of her other sock and rub my thumbs into the swollen flesh around her ankles. “God, that feels good.”
“You want a foot rub instead? We don’t have to have amorous congress.” I fight to keep a straight face as she shoots a glare my way.
“Are you kidding me?”
“How about a foot rub first, then?” I ask, still kneading at her puffy skin. “It feels like you’re suffering, baby.”
“If you think that’s suffering, you should feel my pussy,” she says, gripping my arms. “Seriously, you should. Right now.”
She tugs me back onto the bed, and I let her, laughing as she pinches my arm, telling me what a jerk I am. But then she’s kissing me again, and all I can think about is how perfect she feels. How soft and warm and mine.
Finally, mine.
“Checkers is out of his fucking mind,” I murmur between kisses. “Look at how sexy you are.”
“You really think so?”
“Of course, I do.” I cup her belly, skimming my palm over the firm roundness, where our baby is growing stronger every day, before gliding my hand up to cup her breast. “I swear to God, woman, I think I’m even hotter for you like this.
One look at this belly, these gorgeous breasts.
” I drag my thumb over her tight peak, making her suck in a breath.
She hooks one leg over both of mine as we lie on our sides, face-to-face, urging me as close as we can get with the baby between us. “But do you think…”
“Do I think?” I prompt after a beat, circling her other nipple.
She bites her lip, a slightly tortured expression on her face as she whispers, “It’s hard to think when you’re touching me like that, but don’t stop. I love the way you touch me, Blue. I love it so much.”
“And I love touching you,” I murmur, my cock about to burst through my zipper. “So that works out.”
“It really does,” she agrees, moaning as I abandon her breast, palm skimming down again, aiming for where I know she needs me. But before I can reach the waistband of her black panties, she grips my wrist, her gaze flying to meet mine. “I remember what I was going to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“Maybe you only think I’m sexy because you’re the father,” she says. “Because you know you’re the man who fucked me bare, came inside me, and set this whole transformation in motion.”
I fight a groan, lids fluttering as the words hit full force, dragging so hard between my legs that my balls feel bruised.
When I’m finally able to speak again, I rasp, “No. That’s not it. But that’s…something.”
“Something?” she asks.
“Something that makes me need your panties off. Now.”
Her eyes flash as I surge over her, reaching for her underwear and jerking them down her thighs. “Wow. I love it when you’re all hot and bothered and desperate to get me pregnant.”
“You’re already pregnant,” I remind her.
“Well, don’t let that stop you,” she says, gasping as I drag her legs farther apart. “I think you can get me pregnant again if you believe in yourself and really try.”
“I’m going to do more than try,” I promise as I shift lower on the mattress. By the time the smell of her hits my nose, I’m growling low in my throat, like some kind of pussy starved animal.
“Yes, please,” she says, her fingers diving into my hair. “I need you to kiss me, Blue. I need it so much.”
I press my mouth to the inside of her thigh, lips open against her hot skin, eyes sliding closed for a beat as I thank every star in the sky for aligning the way it did.
So, I could be the man in this woman’s bed.
So that it’s my name she chants as she bucks into my mouth, squirming on my tongue as she gets closer to the edge.
She’s so soaked, so swollen and ready that by the time I seal my lips around her clit and suck, she’s there.
Her back arches off the mattress as she screams her orgasm to the ceiling, loud and wild.
There’s no hand over her mouth tonight. No Clover down the hall.
Just the sound of her pleasure, uncensored, unrestrained.
And damn, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to my ears.
So good, I instantly need to hear it again.
I slide two fingers into her heat, groaning as her pussy clenches around me, welcoming the invasion. “Ready to go again?” I whisper, as she rocks against my hand, urging me on. “Can you come for me again, baby, or is it too soon?”
The sound she makes as she writhes beneath me, hands shaking as her nails dig into the back of my neck, goes straight to my dick, making it leak inside the prison of my boxer briefs.
“Not too soon, it’s not too soon,” she chants, hooking her thigh over my shoulder, pinning me closer. “But harder, baby. Please, harder. I need you deeper. Harder. It’s okay, I promise.”
I work her with my mouth and hand, giving her the sharp finger-fucking her hips demand, until her entire body starts to tremble.
Quake.
She comes again with a long, tortured sound of pleasure that probably carries to the whole damned building, but I don’t care.
Let them listen.
I’m the man who gets to be inside her the next time she comes, the man in her bed tonight and every night.