by Sam Mariano
"And you have this… innocence about you—I don't understand it, but… you do."
Smiling shyly as she opened her eyes, she said, "I don't think I have that. That's been gone for a little while now."
Shaking his head, he said, "You're wrong."
"Well, I like that you think that," she said, wrapping her arms around her neck and hugging him so that their chests were skin to skin.
"You brought me back to life, you know," he remarked.
"Were you dead?" she asked, smiling up at him.
"I was… frozen."
"And I melted you?" she asked playfully, lightly trailing her finger down his chest.
Giving her a wry look, he said, "Well, you're certainly warming me up…"
"That's exactly what I was going for," she said wickedly. Then she took him by the shoulders and turned him around so that his back was to the bed, she nudged him backward, then she pushed him down on the bed.
Lifting an eyebrow, he merely sat back on his elbows and watched her as she let her hair down and completely undressed, down to only her bra and panties.
When she joined him on the bed, Aaron was grinning up at her. "Now what?" he asked, a gleam in his eyes.
"I have to show you?"
"Hey, you started it. I am interested in seeing how this continues."
Chuckling, she climbed atop him and leaned in, bracing one hand on each shoulder and said, "My caveman likes to be dominated?"
"Normally I would balk at you challenging my manhood, but in this position… I'm willing to let that slide."
Her hair fell like a curtain as she leaned in, kissing him lightly on the mouth and then trailing her kisses down his neck, working her way back to nibble lightly on his ear. At his intake of breath, she decided he must like that particular move as much as she did, and she smiled to herself, trailing her kisses lower, down to his chest.
His fingers slid up under her bra strap, sliding first one side down, then the other. Next he reached around her and unhooked the clasp, peeling the bra completely off of her.
Continuing her way down his chest to his stomach, she heard him sigh above her, his hands roaming down her sides around to her breast, lightly brushing his fingertip along the side and causing the goosebumps to rise again.
Not willing to cede her control over the moment, Julie went for his belt, unhooking it and pulling it open, then the pants—unbuttoning and unzipping. Inching down a little, she yanked at his pants, Aaron lifting his hips to comply with her wishes.
When she got them off, her heart was beating a little faster and she was losing patience, but just as she went for the underwear, Aaron caught her around the back of the head and gently pulled her down, giving her a soft, sweet kiss. Leaning into it, Julie contented herself with kissing him for the moment, her breasts pressed against his chest, her fingers running through his dark hair.
Then she felt his hand glide down her hip, caressing her for a second before his hand slid between her legs, causing her to gasp into his mouth and her heart to pick up its pace. Then his fingers moved deftly under the fabric of her panties, rubbing lightly across her opening.
Moaning a little, Julie decided to be impatient, and she reached down to remove what was left of his clothing.
Chuckling quietly, Aaron murmured, "Not so fast," and he stilled her hand with one of his hands, using the other to carefully move her over onto the bed. He came up on his side and leaned in, kissing her until she finally relaxed her head into the pillow, then he moved his hand between her legs again, that time moving a finger inside of her.
"Hey, no fair," she muttered breathlessly as his finger deftly found all the right spots.
"I never said I played fair," he stated, leaning over her and kissing her again, enjoying the way she wiggled against him as he toyed with her.
For a moment, she allowed his attentions, enjoying the sensation of his caress, but as her responses started to get stronger, she finally scooted away from his hand and narrowed her eyes at him playfully. Without a word, she went back to work on removing his bottoms, but instead of letting her he easily wrestled her backward and instead removed hers.
"Hey!" she said, poking him in the stomach and making a grab for his underwear again.
"All right, you win," he said, allowing her to finally pull them off.
"Good, I like winning," she said with a smile, sitting up on her knees and straddling him.
"If this is your idea of winning, I might have to let you win more often."
Smiling, she leaned in to give him a nice long kiss as she lifted her hips, using one hand to brace her weight and the other to guide him to her entrance. Easing herself down slowly, she felt the length of him fill her and she closed her eyes, sighing. When she opened her eyes a second later, he was smiling up at her.
Then she lifted herself, a little surprised at how tight she felt, and slowly eased back down over him. She began to move more quickly, watching Aaron as his eyes closed, hearing his sharp intake of breath. Smiling, she gave him one more kiss before leaning back, tangling her hand in her hair and continuing the rhythmic motion as his hands found her hips, guiding them, moving with her.
She continued to ride him, but as she did she watched him. His eyes were closed, and with every movement she could see the pleasure etched on his face, making her enjoy herself even more.
"God, you are beautiful," he told her.
She might have blushed if her color hadn't been so high from their current activity, and she said, "Thank you. I was just thinking the exact same thing about you."
"Sure you were," he said playfully, his voice rougher than usual.
"No, I was," she said, lightly cupping the side of his face in her palm. "I love to watch you, to see those expressions cross your face. I think watching you might even be my favorite part."
"Well, we can't have that," he stated.
"No, it's a good thing," she said, chuckling.
But he didn't listen; holding onto her, he neatly rolled her over onto her back, bracing his weight above her and spreading her legs.
"Aaron, that's—” But before she could finish, he was between her legs, pushing deeply inside of her and causing her eyes to roll back as she grabbed a fist full of bed sheet.
"That's…?" he prompted with a strained smile, pulling back and thrusting more quickly.
"Perfect," she managed breathlessly.
Laughing roughly, he continued moving until they found the same rhythm, Julie moving with him as each thrust carried them both closer and closer to the edge.
It didn't take long before Julie started to feel that telltale tightening of her insides, feeling each powerful thrust more intensely, and she gasped, "Aaron," pulling him closer to her as she lifted her hips more eagerly to match his movements. Taking the hint, Aaron's thrusts became faster, and as they both rocked together she could feel the bed moving beneath them. For a moment, she allowed a smile, but then the sensation intensified and before she had a chance to comment about the bed, Aaron pushed her over the edge.
Crying out, Julie closed her eyes as she felt pleasure erupt inside of her, pouring through her body until she was limp and out of breath.
With a few final thrusts, Aaron joined her there, groaning as his body stiffened and his release moved over him, then collapsing against her on the bed, gathering her up snugly against his chest.
Julie allowed them both a moment to recover before she said, "So, I just wanted to let you know, you're totally worth the wait."
Chuckling, he said, "Same to you," as he brushed a kiss across her forehead.
He was hot and sweaty, but strangely being held against his body—even though she was hot and sweaty herself—didn't bother her in the least. She liked the feeling of him not letting her go.
"I have never experienced that much pleasure all throughout sex in my whole life. I'm not going to lie."
"Really?" he asked, sounding a little surprised.
"Nope, not at all," she said, shaking her h
ead as much as she could while wedged against his chest. "Was it good for you?"
"Very," he stated, his eyes closed but a smile on his lips.
"I want to do this again very soon," she told him.
"Give me a few minutes."
Giggling, she said, "We don't have to do it again tonight, I'm just saying. I am a fan of this particular activity, and now that we've had our first date I'm allowed to do this. I want to take advantage."
"No," he said, his tone serious and his eyes opened. "We have to go on another date before we can do this again."
Her face fell.
He laughed.
She picked up the pillow on her side of the bed and swung it in the general vicinity of his face. "Don't joke about that!"
Laughing, he caught the pillow and tossed it back over where it belonged. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It was funny."
"It was not funny," she argued, craning her neck just slightly out of his embrace so she could give him a dirty look.
"You look like an angry kitten," he stated. "All puffed up and completely harmless."
Wrinkling her nose up, she said, "Where's my pillow? I want to hit you again."
"Careful, I might like it rough."
Smiling, she said, "Oh, really? I can get behind that."
"Nympho," he said affectionately, pushing her back down into the crook of his arm.
Snuggling contentedly against his side, she said, "You know, it was a bumpy road to get here, but I am so pleased with how things are turning out."
"Once we've moved and Matt doesn't have our new address, I will be, too."
Her jaw dropped and she struggled to look up at him again. "Aaron Turner, is that why you're so keen on getting a new place?"
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Down, kitty. No. I have already given you my reasons for wanting a new place." Placing his hand over her stomach, he said, "Poppy Seed needs a bedroom. You and I barely fit in this apartment; a baby isn't going to fit."
"You are greatly exaggerating. The apartment I lived in with Jack was much smaller than this one and he had a roommate and there were frequently at least four non-residents at the apartment. A baby is very small to begin with; we would all fit."
"We're not really going to discuss this now, are we?" he asked in disbelief.
"No," she said, yawning at him. "Actually, I find that you've worn me out, and I'm much too tired to exert the necessary effort to support my case."
"Good," he said.
They were quiet for a moment, Aaron closing his eyes to go to sleep and Julie gazing contentedly at his chest.
After a minute, Julie said, "You know what, Aaron?"
"What?" he murmured sleepily.
"This is a whole lot better than sleeping in the boat bed."
He was caught off guard by that comment, so he laughed a little, absently brushing another kiss across her forehead. "You know what, Julie?"
Smiling, she said, "What?"
"I think I'm going to be much more supportive of nap time from now on."
Giggling, she threw her arm around him and snuggled into his chest, placing a kiss there. "Good."
"Good night, Julie."
"Good night, Aaron."
And with that, Julie drifted off to sleep in the safe warmth of Aaron's arms, hoping that every night they shared together afterward would be just like that one.
Chapter Twenty Four-
The next couple of months went by pretty smoothly.
Since Aaron threatened Matt, there had not been another flower delivery. In fact, Julie found herself hearing from Matt only once in a while, which may or may not have been because of her chilly attitude every time she was forced to converse with him.
At work, Julie and Aaron both faced new hours, as Leigh had finally pulled Aaron aside one day and told him that she needed to not work with him or Julie for a while, and if that meant she needed to quit, she fully understood. Of course Aaron didn't let her quit, so instead they rearranged the schedule so that Leigh never had to lay eyes on either one of them for more than a couple seconds—and when he could help it, he made sure he was the one that she had to see, not Julie.
Julie's hours were cut quite a lot in working around Leigh, so come February when Flavor finally opened its doors to the public, Aaron gave Julie the position as the regular Monday and Saturday night hostess. Leigh was then able to work both of those evenings while Aaron took the morning shift before running to Flavor in the evening.
With such long work hours, the apartment hunt seemed to be put on the back burner, which suited Julie just fine.
Aaron's family didn't take as much interest as Julie had first expected them to. Considering everyone thought Aaron incapable of having children, she might have thought the news of his impending fatherhood would have prompted more excitement, but she found beyond a congratulations message left on the machine by his sister and the first phone call from his mother, no one seemed to care.
She shouldn't have been so surprised, given her experience at the wedding. Clearly the whole family favored Matt, so why should they care that Aaron was reproducing?
Julie quickly decided that she didn't like Aaron's family at all, and she was glad that he didn't seem to have much to do with them.
It was the end of March when the appointment that Julie had long been awaiting finally arrived—the appointment when they would get to find out the sex of the baby.
Aaron was so excited in the days leading up to the doctor's appointment, and the night before as she snuggled next to him and tried to go to sleep, he was the one that wanted to keep talking—asking questions about baby names and would she really rather a girl or a boy? He couldn't decide which one he wanted— he explained as she glanced over at the digital clock reading 1:38 a. m.—because there were good points and bad points for both. If it was a girl, she would probably be a daddy's girl, which would be good, but he would eventually want to shoot every teenage boy within a ten mile radius, which would be bad. If it was a boy he could do the little league games and also carry on Aaron's last name, but there would be all sorts of other things that might go wrong—he could get injured playing sports, he would be a more reckless driver as a teen, he could potentially take after Matt and—
Finally, just to shut him up at around 2:13, Julie started caressing him and then seducing him for the second time that night just to get him to shut up and go to sleep.
On that day near the end of March, Aaron's excitement was palpable even as the nurse weighed Julie, which was really the least exciting part of the appointment.
As they walked to the room, Julie complained, "I have gained 12 pounds—do you understand how much that sucks?"
"You're supposed to gain weight, that's how we know the baby's healthy. I would rather you gain 50 pounds and know the baby's healthy than have you gain 5 pounds and have to worry that something's wrong."
Gasping, she said, "Bite your tongue! I better not gain 50 pounds in this pregnancy. I'll be huge!"
"Well, I'm still pushing for those twins," he said with a wink. "It would solve all this indecision about having a boy or a girl."
"We’ve already heard the heartbeat, mister. There's only one."
As they waited for the doctor, Julie snatched her camera out of her purse and took a picture of Aaron sitting in the chair looking anxiously at the door as he waited for the doctor.
He scowled when he heard the snap of the camera and said, "Hey, you can't do that."
"I just did," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "When I get the chance, I want to get one of those 12 by 12 scrapbook page picture frames and a baby-themed scrapbook background, and then I'm going to make a scrapbook page from the ultrasound to hang on our wall."
"Give me that then, we need a picture of Mom, too."
She handed him the camera and sat there in her hospital gown, posing with her hands on her stomach and a big smile on her face.
"Do I look fat?" she asked, trying in vain to peer over at the camera. "If I look fat,
take a different one."
Rolling his eyes as he reviewed the picture, Aaron stated, "You do not look fat."
"Before I forget again, we have an appointment to go through a place on Thursday—that's okay with you, right?"
Her eyes widened and she said, "We're going through a place?"
"Yeah, you're going to love it. I've already been through it; I think it might be the one."
"You went through it without me?" she asked, eyes widening.
"Hey, you went crib shopping without me," he accused.
"Only the preliminary round!"
"Well, it was just a preliminary look through the house. If the place was a dump, there would’ve been no point taking you through it, but I think the whole place looks like something you'll love. And if we get it, you can hang your little scrapbook picture on the wall."
"I want to take a million pictures," she said. "We only get to do this once, I want evidence of every moment of it."
"I agree," he said.
"In fact… I was even thinking maybe we could get professional maternity pictures done. I know it's kind of corny, and I want them done when the baby is born, too, so it might be an unnecessary expense, but I would pay for it out of my own paychecks. I was thinking, you know how some couples get the pictures taken of the baby bump and the dad with his arms around the mom, hand on the belly, that kind of thing? It could be a cute idea."
"No, I agree," he said. "We should do that."
Smiling, she said, "I'm so glad you're as into this as I am. I want to do it before my bump gets enormous though, because eventually this fat is going to start spreading to my face. I would prefer to immortalize the glow before I'm the size of a mini-van."
Before long, the doctor made his way in to ask her questions and take her measurements to make sure the baby seemed to be growing how it should be.
It seemed like it took forever for him to tell them he was going to wheel in the ultrasound machine and see if they could bring a visual up, and then he asked, "Did you guys want to know the gender or do you want it to be a surprise?"
"We definitely want to know," Julie replied, and Aaron nodded his agreement.
