Epilogue
SLOANE
NO matter what position I turn to, I can’t get comfortable. My belly looks like a watermelon and feels just as heavy. Even the body pillow Mason bought me isn’t helping tonight.
It’s hot, and the ceiling fan is not helping. The middle of August in Oklahoma is brutal for a normal person, but it’s like the seventh circle of hell for a pregnant lady in her ninth month. I’ve sweated in places that I never thought I would sweat with this enormous belly, and my boobs are huge.
Mason is loving the boobs.
Mr. Harlow told Mason to get me a tower fan for the bedroom because I was turning the air conditioner so low that I was freezing everyone out. But that’s not helping either.
I push all my blankets to the foot of the bed so my skin can enjoy the breeze from the fan, and my spaghetti strap cotton nightshirt can breathe. Even the thin material of the nightshirt feels heavy.
I miss him.
It’s only been five days. He told me it could be about a week, if not a few days longer, before his team would complete this job their on, but this is the longest I’ve been away from him.
I know I’m just being pouty, but he always rubs my back to help me sleep.
I look at my phone to see what time it is, a little after one in the morning, and I wonder where he is and if he is thinking of me.
Wiping a stray tear, I pull my body pillow next to me to rest my belly on and pull my leg up on it so I can close my eyes and pretend it’s him.
I must have finally dozed off because a large, rough, warm hand rubbing my belly under my shirt, as a large body sidles up behind me, pulls me back to consciousness.
He smells funny, like gunpowder and sweat, but under that, the comforting smell that is Mason wraps around me, and I grasp his hand and pull it up to my lips.
“You got back early.” I mumble against his fingers that smell like metal.
Kissing the back of my head, he mumbles into my hair, “I wasn’t wasting any time, I wanted to hurry and get back to you.” He moves his head so that his cheek is against the side of my head. “I was scared to death you were going to pop before I got back.”
“I missed you.” My voice shakes even though I try not to get emotional, something that happens all the time in the past almost nine months.
He rubs his beard against my neck, under my ear. “I missed you too, Darlin’, more than you know.” His breath is hot on my cheek, and his voice is soft. “Come here,” he says, and I roll onto my back to look at him propped up on his arm.
There’s not much light in the room, but the little bit of moonlight that is peeking around the curtains makes me able to see the shadow of his features. He slides his hand across my cheek and wipes the tear that escaped onto my temple.
“How’s my girl?” Then he pulls my shirt up to expose my belly and moves his hand to the top of the firm curve of skin. “And my boy.” Just like he can hear and understand us, our little Beckett shoves his foot into the palm of Mason’s hand, stretching my skin in the process.
Tucking my arm behind my head, I smile and say, “I think he missed you, too.”
Mason holds his hand on my belly, a smile on his face, until Beckett stops kicking him and then he looks at me, “I told Callum that you’re too close for me to take any more jobs, so I’m on paternity leave for the next four months. I’m all yours, Darlin’.”
One of my fears this past week was that I would go into labor while he was gone, but now the smile that spreads across my cheeks is practically involuntary. I put my hand on top of his and say, “Good, because you have to be here when he comes out to say hi.”
A year ago, I thought I would spend the rest of my life running and hiding. My heart was broken because I had no family, and I missed that part of my life so desperately. If anyone would have told me I would be married and about to become a mother in a year, I would have laughed in their face.
Because of the man next to me, I no longer have to look over my shoulder, and I get to feel love and acceptance every day with him and his family.
As gut-wrenching as it was to lose my parents and live life on the run, I know it was part of the next step.
Now, I think I’m the luckiest person in the world.
The calluses of his palm scratch over the skin on my belly as he softly swirls his hand around the large summit that used to be my flat stomach. “A herd of horses couldn’t pull me away.” He leans over and presses his lips to the taunt skin above my belly button, and heat spreads through my center.
With his lips still on my stomach, he shifts his eyes up to mine as his hand slips down to the bottom of my belly. Lifting my leg, I let it fall onto the pillow next to me as he slips his finger into my folds. “My, my, you did miss me.”
Sucking in a breath when his finger shifts to circle over my little bundle of nerves, I breathe, “I know it’s only been five days, but it feels like you haven’t touched me in forever.”
He swirls his scraggly beard over my stretched, sensitive skin, sending more heat to my core, and a moan escapes my throat when he slips a finger inside me. “Mason.”
“Yeah, Darlin’.” He kisses his way over my stomach and nips one of my overly sensitive nipples between his teeth through my nightshirt before his lips are on mine.
“I need you.” I moan into his mouth.
“I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me.”
When he slips another finger in and his thumb swirls over my clit, I need to feel him inside me; I lift my head and grab his shoulders to push him onto his back as I push myself up onto my knees.
Since my belly has gotten so big, I’ve learned to enjoy being on top.
He is unbuttoning his tactical pants and pushing them down his hips; he grabs his hard shaft and pumps the length as he watches me pull my nightshirt over my head to toss on the floor.
I’ve also learned that watching him touch himself makes me wetter.
He grabs my hips as I swing my leg over him. “Come here.” His voice is gruff, and his fingers dig into my skin.
I grab his rock-hard length and hold him at my entrance as I seat myself on him, letting out a breathy moan as my head falls back, enjoying feeling my walls stretch around him, I lean back and rest my palms on his thighs and ride him.
“So fucking beautiful.” He mumbles, his hands still on my hips to help me keep my rhythm with the extra weight. His hips move to meet me with every thrust, his cock head rubbing my G-spot with each pass.
After going without his touch for almost a week, I can feel the pressure of my orgasm moving to the edge. “I’m going to come.”
Lifting my head to see the shadows of his features, I move faster, swirling my hips over him to get the contact I need, but when he pushes the rough pad of his thumb against my clit, I come undone.
I see stars as the pressure pushes out to caress the entire surface of my body and then moves back to my core to pulse around him.
“Fuck, I love to feel you squeeze my cock like that.” He grinds out just before I hear the deep growl in his chest, and then I feel his warmth coating my walls.
We both catch our breaths for a moment before he lifts me off him and pulls me around to spoon me, my back to his front. His chest is hot against me, and his arm protectively covers my stomach.
“I love you.” I mumble as sleep starts to pull me under. Since he is home, I know I’ll sleep much better.
“I love you, too, darlin’.” He kisses my neck and gets comfortable behind me. “You’ve made me the happiest man in this fucking world.”
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Thank you for reading Mason & Sloane’s Story!