Chapter 21 #2
“Me, either,” I say, my voice breathier than it was before. “Do you think you might need a shower, too?”
He nods. “Yes. And I think we should conserve water.”
“We absolutely should,” I agree, already aching for him. “Last one naked is a rotten egg.”
“Looks like that’s me.” He finishes with the zipper and guides the sleeves of my dress forward, sending them sliding down my arms. A beat later, the rest of the heavy wet satin joins the party, until my clothes lie in a puddle at my feet, leaving me in nothing but a pair of thong panties.
Archer’s jaw clenches.
I smile.
He nods toward the en suite bathroom. “After you. Don’t worry about your panties. I’ll take care of those with my teeth.”
And he does. He takes care of them, and me, most thoroughly. By the time we finally get the water turned on, I’ve already come so hard on his hand that my knees are wobbly.
But that’s okay, Blue braces me against the shower wall as he tries—and very sadly, fails—to find a manageable way to push into me from behind.
But he’s just too damned tall, and I’m too short, and my belly is too large to make scooping me up in his arms and going at it from the front a realistic option at this point.
I’m about to suggest we forget the shower for now and adjourn to the couch in the bridal suite—or a towel on the bathroom floor, I honestly don’t care—when Archer has a moment of genius.
“Be right back.” He nips my shoulder with his teeth as he rolls my nipples between his fingers, making me moan, then cry out in protest as he slips through the curtain. “Where are you going? You can’t leave.”
“I’ll be right back,” he calls from outside. “I remembered something.”
“Remembered what?” I ask, biting my bottom lip. I’m so turned on, I’m on the verge of slipping my fingers between my legs to take the edge off when he reappears with a small plastic stool.
“The stool at the sink, the one to help kids wash their hands,” he says. “I think it’ll give us just the boost we need.”
“You’re a brilliant man,” I say as he sets the stool on the shower floor. I step onto it, pulse spiking at the feel of his erection bobbing, hot and thick, against the top of my thigh. “Yes. This is perfect.”
“So perfect.” He presses closer, wrapping an arm around me to steady me from behind as he guides his cock into where I’m dying for him.
My head falls back against his chest with a relieved groan as he finally pushes inside me. With the few extra inches of height, everything fits just right.
So damned right…
He enters me in one long, perfect thrust that feels like the missing piece, the sexy cherry on top of this beautiful sundae of a day. I exhale a happy, needy sound, pressing my palms against the slick tile in front of me as I grind back into the solid wall of him.
“There you are, baby. Right there,” he grunts, his voice husky in my ear. “Missed you.”
“Missed you, too,” I pant, even though it’s only been since this morning.
But I want him all the time, every minute of every day. I’m so hot for him it’s ridiculous. But I can’t help it. My body craves Archer like those plants in the garden crave sunlight. I’m sure we’ll eventually calm down and be done making up for lost time, but not now, not yet.
His hands grip my hips, his massive palms anchoring me, pulling me back against him until there isn’t a molecule of air left between us.
He doesn’t go slow this time, not even at first. He fucks me with a rhythmic power that I feel in the hollows of my bones, his chest hair prickly on my back as my nervous system begins to sing.
Steam fills the small bathroom, making my cheeks flush as he bites the cord at the side of my neck.
“Yes, please,” I encourage as he reaches lower, dipping below Bean to where I’m already vibrating.
I groan as he rubs my clit, working me with his thumb as he continues to pump into me from behind, until I’m gasping, spiraling. The tension builds, a knot pulling between my legs, drawing tighter, tighter, until I’m hovering at the edge of the drop.
“Come with me. Come with me, Blue,” I choke out, arching my spine as my heart hammers against my ribs. “Love you so much.”
He groans his agreement as he surges forward, one hand braced against the wall as his cock begins to jerk inside me. I come with a silent, open-mouthed scream, my vision blurring in the steamy haze as the orgasm shudders through me in rolling waves.
It’s crazy intense, even for us, pleasure so complete, we’re both still trembling several moments later.
Finally, he dips his head, kissing my cheek. “Now, I’m going to wash your hair, and we’re going to get out of here before we faint from hunger.”
I sigh as he pulls out, fighting to keep my sex-wobbly knees beneath me. “Sounds good. Do I get to wash you, too?”
“No,” he says without missing a beat. “You can’t be trusted.”
I exhale in mock outrage. “That’s not true. I can be trusted. And I need to make sure you’re clean.”
“No,” he repeats. “I’m serious, Beatrice. If you touch me again, I might have to carry you outside and fuck you in the rose garden.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I tease, reaching for his cock as I turn to face him.
He swats my hand away with a stern look that makes me laugh. I’m beginning to suspect I’m high on post-photo shoot adrenaline and orgasms when he mutters, “I had no idea pregnant women were this horny,” and I catch a major case of the giggles.
“Me, either.” I snicker as he works the shampoo into my hair. “I was fine until you showed up. It’s all your fault.”
“My fault?” He tsks. “Hardly. I’m an innocent bystander.”
“Is that why you’re getting hard again?” I tease, making another play for his peen.
He shifts away. “Back, foul temptress. I’m trying to wash your hair.”
That’s it, the “foul temptress” straw that breaks the giggle camel’s back. I laugh even harder, until I’m afraid I’m going to do myself—or Bean—damage, or at least pull a muscle. I try to pull it together as I take over washing my hair, but it’s not easy.
Everything is funny. Everything is sparkly and silly and right.
Those happy love songs weren’t lying. Love really can be like a perfect summer day, like rainbows and butterflies. Like ice cream.
“Your love is like ice cream,” I say when I finally stop giggling, resting a hand on Blue’s arm as he washes the soap from his chest. “Delicious and perfect, and I could eat an entire bathtub of it and never get enough.”
He glances down at me, his eyes warm and bright. “You should write a song about that. Love like ice cream.”
“Too late. Sarah McLachlan already did, but it’s a good one. I’ll play it for you on the way to dinner.”
“I’d love that. And Bea?”
“Yes?”
“This was a good day,” he says. “One of the best days I’ve ever had.”
I nod, the back of my nose stinging, as I agree, “Yeah. Me, too.”
It’s a perfect moment, one of the most perfect moments of my entire life.
And then, like a wake-up call from the land of not-so-perfect moments, a familiar feminine voice calls from the other room, “Bea? Are you still here? We came by to take you to dinner.”
A beat later, an even more familiar male voice murmurs, “Sounds like she’s in the shower,” and I go deer-in-the-headlights still, my eyes flying wide.
I glance up at Blue, who also looks like he’s just been slapped in the face by a freezing cold dose of reality.
“It’s Baylor,” I hiss. “Baylor and Charlotte!”
Panic sets in, making my pulse gallop and my mouth fill with a sour taste that stings across my tongue. Cursing, Blue lunges for the faucet, killing the water before snatching a towel from the closest rack and tossing it my way.
“Just give me a second!” I yell, my voice cracking with forced cheerfulness as I wrap the towel around me and step out onto the mat. “I’m almost done!”
Meanwhile, Blue is still moving fast. He pops past me to grab another towel from a rack farther along the wall, but his heel skids on the steam-slicked floor.
He lets out a grunt of surprise as he lurches sideways, his shoulder hitting the wall with a thud that shakes the flowers in their vases by the sink.
He tries to right himself, only to slip again, this time hitting with an even harder, thud-duh-dung that makes me wince.
“Bea?” Charlotte’s voice is sharp with worry. “Are you all right? Did you fall?”
Before I can reply, the door handle turns.
Of course, it does. Charlotte is a sweetheart helper human, who thinks a pregnant lady just took a tumble getting out of the shower. I get it, I do. Still, a slasher movie soundtrack screeches in my head as I watch the handle dip and Char peek in, her expression tight with concern.
“Are you okay? That sounded—” She breaks off, her jaw dropping as she sees what’s waiting for her on the other side of the door.
I stand just in front of the shower, clutching a towel to my chest, my hair dripping, and a look of what I’m sure is guilty horror on my face. Next to me, Blue is completely, toweringly naked, one hand still braced against the wall from his near-fall.
He jerks the second towel around his hips a beat later, but it’s too late.
Charlotte lets out a strangled squeak, her eyes going dinner-plate wide before she darts back and slams the door. “Sorry! Oh my God.”
“What?” my brother demands.
“No, Baylor, don’t go in there!” Charlotte cries out, but he doesn’t listen.
He rarely listens before charging in, especially if he thinks someone he loves is in danger. But the only thing I’m in danger of is getting slapped in the face with the consequences of my own actions.
Bay appears in the open door, Charlotte still vibrating with surprise behind him, and the bottom drops out of my world.
I free-fall through space-time, mute with regret, my stomach cramping miserably as I beg the universe to turn back the clock and give me a do-over.
Meanwhile, judging by the kaleidoscope of expressions flashing across Baylor’s face, he’s putting the pieces of this together and flying through the stages of Betrayed Sibling and Best Friend Grief at the speed of light.
I watch him pass over Denial, Anger, Bargaining, and Depression like a stone skipping over the surface of a pond, only to circle back to Anger again at the end.
He’s way better at controlling his temper than he used to be, but when threatened, anger is still my brother’s default setting.
“What the hell, you guys,” he says, his voice rough, raw. “What the hell? Seriously? I guess I know who the father is now, huh?”
“We can explain,” Blue says, while I continue to stand frozen and speechless.
I literally can’t get my mouth to move, not even when Baylor snaps, “This isn’t about you, Archer.
I mean it is, but…” He fixes his wounded gaze on me.
“We’re family. Family, Bea. I thought you said we were going to be honest with each other from now on?
I thought you were done keeping secrets from the people you love.
Seriously, what did I do? What did I do to deserve being lied to and shut out of your life?
And with my best friend? You had to drag him into this weird, secret-keeping thing you’re doing now? ”
I pull in a breath, but once it’s in, it won’t come out again.
It sticks in my lungs, making them burn as Baylor shakes his head slowly back and forth.
“Whatever, I… I can’t do this right now.” He clears his throat as he fixes his gaze on the floor. “I have to go, Char. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”
“Baylor, wait, I—” She breaks off with a sigh.
He’s already gone, and he’s moving fast. Barely two seconds pass before he vanishes, and the door to the bridal suite slams shut behind him.
Charlotte drags a hand through her long hair, her skin looking even paler than usual. “I have to go, too. I don’t want him to be alone when he’s this hurt. I’ll… I’ll touch base with you two later.”
She moves away. The suite door opens and shuts again. And then, the air goes silent, a heavy, aching silence that would probably make me cry if I weren’t still frozen. But I am.
Maybe, if I just refuse to move or speak, I’ll eventually wake up, and this will have all been a dream.
But it’s not, I know it’s not, even before my skin starts to goosebump in the rapidly cooling bathroom. “Fuck,” I croak.
“We really fucked this up,” Blue says.
Forcing myself to inhale, exhale, and inhale again, I finally manage in a steadier voice, “No, I fucked it up. This is my fault.”
It is.
I’m the one who made this all so much more damaging than it had to be.
And as Blue pulls me into his arms, holding me as I start to cry, I know I’m the only one who can make it right.