by L. P. Maxa
She pursed her lips. “Maybe I should call Benson? He’s so good at it, you know?”
I gasped playfully, tickling her ribs and making her squirm. I knew she was kidding, but his name on her lips wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Ever. “No more rubdowns from Benson.” I put my hands on her shoulders, kneading her tight muscles. “I’m the baby daddy. I do the rubbing.”
“Your rubbing is what made you the baby daddy in the first place.” She smiled, resting the ice cream carton on her belly. Our daughter kicked, making the carton wobble. Clearly, she didn’t like being used as a table.
“What can I say? I give great rub.” I winked, putting the lid on the ice cream and sticking it back in the freezer. “Come on, baby, let’s go back to bed.”
Time stood still, my words hanging in the air between us. I didn’t mean them to sound the way they did, like she was mine, and her bed would always be mine too. I didn’t mean to call her baby.
But it hadn’t felt wrong, those words I’d so casually spoken. Then again, nothing ever felt wrong when I was with Ems. Not moving here to take care of her, not making her laugh, holding her hand, kissing her bump, or lying against her while we slept. Even in the beginning when I was unsure and she was so upset, even when we argued. Everything with that beautiful ballerina had always felt right.
I stepped closer, my hands cupping her face as I cursed Brody in my mind. “Ems?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m in love with you.”
Her lips parted on a shaky exhale. “What?”
“I’m in love with you.” I dipped down, softly kissing her lips for the first time in what felt like forever. That felt right too. Like coming home.
Her thighs wound around my waist as I kissed her again, deeper this time. She tasted like sugar, like perfection. Her tongue was cold from the ice cream as it tangled with mine and my hands moved to her hips, helping her hop down off the counter. Her fingers tugged at my hair, dragging my lips back to hers. I lifted her in my arms, carrying her down the hallway and back to the bed we’d been sharing. I laid her down, kicking the door shut behind me.
“Kase.” She took in a shaky breath.
“I’m here, Ems, and I’m not going anywhere, ever.” I knew she was scared, afraid that we were about to ruin everything we had. She’d told me once that she kept her expectations low so she wouldn’t get let down. “Expect the world of me, Ems, because I’ll never let you down.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Kase. I won’t survive you walking away from us.” She swallowed thickly, her blue eyes watery with unshed tears as her fingertips trailed lazily up and down my bare back. Touching each other was second nature, even when she was nervous she held on to me. I was the person she drew strength from. I was the person she wanted when the world felt out of balance. Even if I was the one causing it.
“Emmie James, we both know I keep my word, always.” I kissed her lips sweetly. “Please let me love you.”
She took in another deep, shaky inhale, but nodded.
“Use words, baby.”
“Love me.”
I smiled as I rose up on my knees, pulling her boy shorts down her long, toned legs and then taking off my briefs. Her eyes were on me, watching my every move in the dimly lit room. She was propped up on a pile of pillows, her hair spread out like a fan of gold.
I’d never had sex with a pregnant chick before and I was a little apprehensive. I wasn’t sure how to work around our daughter. No. Whoa. That didn’t sound okay. I didn’t know how to work around her belly. “Uh, Ems? How would you be the most, uh, comfortable?”
She pulled her bottom lip through her perfect white teeth, her hands resting on her stomach. “I don’t know. I figured you would know how this was supposed to work.”
“Me? Why would I know how to bang a pregnant chick?”
“Porn?”
“You think I watch pregnant porn? Are you serious right now?”
She covered her face, giggling, the sound making me smile. We’d made a big jump from let me love you to pregnancy porn fetishes. But she was laughing, and I was enamored. This was us honestly doing our best to figure out our life together.
I lay down beside her, helping her roll onto her side, making sure she had all the pillows she needed. I swept her long hair off her shoulder, placing soft kisses on her neck, her shoulder. I slid my palm down her side, over her hip. Curving around to her center, rubbing her clit and loving the soft gasp that escaped her lips. “You need to tell me if I’m hurting you or if you get uncomfortable. I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby.”
“Kase. I have wanted you since the second you got on your knees and spoke to our daughter through my belly.” Her fingers tangled in my hair, tugging gently. “Stop worrying about me. Stop overthinking this. Just, um, fuck me. Please.”
I couldn’t help the smirk on my face as I leaned down to scrape my teeth along the column of her slender neck. “In love.” I slid my fingers farther south, slipping two inside her wet pussy. “In lust.” She arched her back as I used my thumb to press on her clit. “Completely fucking into you, Ems.” I pushed up her leg, making room for me. My dick had been begging to get back inside Emmie James since the moment I put him on a plane and flew him to another country. Slowly, I inched inside her core, letting my forehead rest against her back as I tried to gather an ounce of control.
“Fuck, Ems, you feel so good.” I moved gently, her pussy tight around my cock, the pleasure already off the charts. I wasn’t sure how long I’d last. She felt too perfect bare. I’d never fucked like this before. The emotion. Nothing between us. It was all so overwhelming.
I picked up my head to watch her face, her body, needing to make sure that she was okay, and I wasn’t hurting her. Her lips were parted, soft moans escaping. Her hands were fisted in the sheets, her sexy spine was bowed. Her hips were dancing with mine, meeting me, making my every smooth thrust hit a little bit harder.
Emmie James was more than any man deserved. I’d been her first, and I was pretty damn positive I wanted to be her last. My gaze traveled up and down her beautiful body, enamored with the way she moved. I could watch her forever.
“Kase.” Her hand came back, winding around my neck, pulling me closer.
The sound of my name whispered in the dark by the girl I’d fallen in love with was the best sound. Her soft voice alone had the power to unravel me. Goosebumps covered my legs, my balls tightened to the point of pain.
“Ems, baby, fuck.” I wasn’t making sense. I couldn’t form a complete sentence. “Ohmygod.”
She cried out my name, her pussy taking my dick in a viselike grip, tearing my orgasm from my body as she came.
Pregnant chick sex was fuckin’ awesome.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Emmie
I woke up with my head on Kase’s bare chest.
He’d told me he was in love with me, and then he’d kissed me. After that, he did lots of other stuff to me, and believe me, I wasn’t complaining. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about what this morning would bring.
Maybe he’d been in the heat of the moment. Maybe he’d wake up and think we made a terrible mistake. I took a deep breath, trying to gather all the strength I had inside me. If he changed his mind, I would be okay. I had to be. Our daughter mattered more. She came first. And as long as he never changed his mind about her, we would all be fine.
“I can hear you freaking out, Ems.”
His voice was always rough first thing in the morning, and I usually loved to listen to him talk before he fully woke up. This morning, though, I was terrified to hear what he had to say.
“Hey, Em, I made pancakes, you guys want…” Cash was frozen in the doorway to the room Kase and I had been sharing. “Uh, I can see his dick.”
I lifted my head, looking down, my cheeks heating instantly.
“Stop looking at it, dude.” Kase moved the blankets, covering himself before rolling to me, burying his
face in my neck. “And yes, we want pancakes. But Ems doesn’t get syrup, she ate a carton of ice cream in the middle of the night and washed it down with a can of whipped cream.”
“This isn’t a bed-and-breakfast. Put some pants on and feed your girls.” My gaze flew to Cash’s. He winked before closing the door.
Your girls.
I got out of bed, pulling on a tank top and some yoga pants, which was basically my uniform at this point. I put my hair up, stepping into the adjoining bathroom to brush my teeth. I couldn’t stay in bed with Kase. I couldn’t breathe him in while he told me he’d made a mistake. I rinsed my mouth, then swiped some lip gloss on, buying time before I had to face him.
“Ems?”
“Yeah?” My heart was pounding.
“You coming?” I poked my head out of the bathroom to find Kase at the door, his hand held out, waiting for me. My eyes darted to his face. He was smiling. “Or were you planning on hiding in that bathroom for the rest of the day?”
“I was waiting for you to tell me that we’d made a mistake. That it was late and we weren’t thinking clearly. That we can’t complicate what we have. That it’ll make things too hard.” My body was shaking, and I could feel the tears coming.
He crossed the room, taking my face in his hands like he had last night. “It was late, and we weren’t thinking clearly.” I bit the inside of my cheek, trying like hell to fight back the waterworks. “If we had, we would’ve brought the whipped cream back to bed with us.” He kissed my lips, his hands sliding around my hips to squeeze my ass before pulling away. “I’m in love with you, Ems. I meant it last night and I mean it this morning. I know it seems like it all came out of nowhere, but it didn’t.”
I let him pull me out of the bedroom and down the hall, too bewildered to respond. He was in love with me, and that was that.
Was I stuck in a twilight zone? He hadn’t even asked me how I felt.
How did I feel?
I was so used to holding back my feelings for Kase that I was having a hard time trying to bring them to the surface. I’d been on edge, afraid that he would break my heart since day one. But he hadn’t, not once. He’d been present and supportive. He’d given me everything I needed. All I had to do was ask. He was gorgeous and funny, and he called me out on my bullshit. He stood up to my family, over and over, protecting me and fighting in my corner. He’d kept every promise he’d ever made to me since the moment I met him.
Expect the world of me, Ems, because I’ll never let you down.
Would he keep this one too?
“So you two are boning then.” Jett pushed the chair next to him out and Kase helped lower me into it before going to make our plates. “No one sleeps butt-ass naked if they haven’t used their dick.”
Kase piled two plates high with pancakes, pouring syrup on one but not the other. “Is it really any of your business?”
“Yes. Us against the world. You knocked her up. You’re part of our fucked-up shit now.” Jett shoveled pancakes into his mouth, rudely talking around them. “But you’ve gotta be honest about said fucked-up shit.”
“What’s fucked up about it?” Kase sat next to me, lightly slapping my hand away when I reached for the second bottle of syrup that was on the table. “It’s not like we haven’t boned before.” He rubbed my belly, grinning sarcastically. “And can we stop calling it that?”
“No. And right. But now the stakes are higher.” Beau walked into the kitchen, going to the counter to make himself a plate. “You had that whole friends and co-parents thing going on.”
“Where the hell did you come from?” Kase leaned back in his seat, looking toward the front of the house. “Cash, did you ring a fucking dinner bell or something?”
Jett held up his cell phone, waving it back and forth. “Mass group text.”
I narrowed my eyes, reading the message as best I could. “Made pancakes, also, I think Kase and Emmie are doing it.” I sighed, glaring at Cash. “Really?”
Whatever was happening between Kase and me was new. Like brand new. What we needed was to talk, to be alone and figure out where to go from here. But instead we were having breakfast with my cousins, discussing our sex life like it was as casual as the weather.
Cash shrugged, putting a tall whipped cream topper on his pancakes. “We wanted to make sure you were okay, that’s all.”
Kase rested his arm on the back of my chair, a wicked grin on his face. He waited until Cash took a big bite, then nodded at the can. “I’d be careful with that whipped cream, bro.” He gestured to me. “My girl has a sweet tooth, you know what I’m saying?”
Cash choked, spitting food all over Beau’s plate.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Kasen
Ems got up and walked out of the room without saying anything to anyone. I heard the back door open and close, and the rest of the table went still.
“Did you hurt her?” Cash was glaring at me. “I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”
“I’d never hurt her.” I took our plates to the sink, rinsing them off, and then loaded them in the dishwasher. The kitchen was silent. No doubt, everyone was shooting daggers into my back. I turned around, leaning against the counter. “I told her I was in love with her.”
My sister gasped dramatically, then rolled her eyes. “Of course you’re in love with her.”
I looked around the table. Beau, Jett, Devin, and Cash were all smiling. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re such a dummy.” My sister got up and wrapped her arms around my waist, squeezing me tight. “We’ve known for a while now that you’re in love with Em. We were waiting for you to figure it out.”
“You fell in love with your kid first, but Emmie was pretty quick after that.” Beau balled up his napkin and tossed it into Jett’s syrupy plate. “Hell, you told us all to fuck off at Thanksgiving when we were giving Emmie a hard time, and you hadn’t even decided yet if you were going to stick around.”
“That was the moment I knew you were here to stay.” Cash was leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head. “And then after you took that punch from Uncle Smith? The way you carried her in the house, the way you worried over her? I knew then that you were in love with her.”
“You protect her. You stand up for her. You wear that apron and bake her cookies.” My sister patted my chest, then started cleaning up the mess her husband had left making pancakes.
“Go talk to your girl, little fucker.” Jett jerked his thumb in the direction of the backyard.
I found Emmie on the back patio, sitting on a porch swing, her legs kicked out in front of her. “Don’t be that girl, Ems.” I smiled as I sat beside her, demanding that she talk to me, like I always had.
She rested her head on my shoulder. “I think I’m in love with you too.”
“Then why do you sound so sad?” I put my hand on her thigh, placing a kiss on the top of her head.
“You have my whole heart, Kase, and as much as it pains me to admit it, you always have.” She put her hand on top of mine, threading our fingers together. “You were my first everything, and even though I tried not to, I fell for you a long time ago.”
My feelings had tumbled like a downhill fall, gaining speed until they crashed into me, taking over my heart. But Ems? Apparently hers had been a steady descent down a rocky slope, with her hoping and wishing that she didn’t break an arm on her way to the inevitable.
“Well, we’re here now, having a baby and in love.” I took our joined hands and brought them to my lips.
“Please don’t hurt me.” Her voice came out small and soft. “Please don’t say these things to me unless you truly mean them.”
I put my finger under her chin, making her see the truth in my eyes. “I don’t lie to girls, Ems.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “I love you. I’m here. I won’t break your heart.”
***
When I guided her back through the kitchen, we saw the house was still full of Emmie’s family. The
y were posted all over the living room, something about a rainy day movie marathon. I didn’t mind, not really. Cash and Katie moved the coffee table and made a big pallet on the floor. Ems and I were on the couch. I was lying behind her, my hand on our daughter.
Last night had changed us, but only that we were both being honest about our feelings for each other. We’d been terrified to ruin the normal we’d found, the safety we’d found in being friends and co-parents. But this? Being in love with the mother of my child? Brody was right, it was better than I could have ever imagined.
I smiled when I felt the baby kick. I’d miss this when she was out in the real world.
“Hey, have y’all picked a baby name yet?” Katie leaned her head back, looking at us.
Ems snorted. “No, but your brother has given me a long list of stripper names to choose from.”
I tickled her ribs, which backfired because her tight ass wiggled against my dick. I groaned, putting my palms on her hips to keep her still before I lost control and simply carted her back to bed. “You could pop at any second, Ems. We really should pick a name.”
“I’m not a bag of popcorn.”
I put my lips against the shell of her ear, going out on a limb and playing with our new normal. “You could shoot her out of that perfect pussy of yours any second. We should pick a name.”
She sighed. “Ugh, now I want more popcorn.”
“Now I want to eat that pussy.” I kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulder, watching in fascination as goose bumps broke out on her flesh.
Ems rolled onto her back, pinning me with her beautiful blue eyes. “I think I have her middle name picked, want to hear it?”
I pouted, playfully, because really the person birthing the kid should probably get final say. “Why do you get to pick her middle name?”
“Because you get to pick her last.”
My heart fluttered in my chest, and I melted like fucking butter. “Are you serious?”
Ems nodded, smiling sweetly, her fingertip trailing lightly across my jaw. “I thought we could make James her middle name.”
