Picture Us (Turn it Up Book 3)

by Natalie Parker

  “Give me a break honey,” he continues to level me with his eyes, and that combined with his low and steady voice, the endearment he just threw my way, oh and the fact he’s almost naked in front of me is bringing down my entire fucking defense. “You think after the night we spent together I can’t tell when you’re turned on?”

  Excuse me?

  “Uh…” Oh look at that, I’ve gone all stupid and wordless again.

  “Annie, your body temperature is up. I know because it’s making your beautiful, flowery pheromones float right on over to me, and it’s either because you’re afraid you’ve got a losing hand and will have to lose another piece of clothing yourself, or that you’ll win and see me completely naked in front of you… again. I think either possibility has you all worked up,” he enlightens me, drawing those last few words out like ice melting slowly, drop by drop into a bucket. That I need to douse myself with. Pronto.

  “I’m… fine,” I say, uncomfortably shrugging again.

  “You sure as hell are,” he agrees. “But you told me earlier you’re feeling things pretty strongly lately, and I know one thing you’re feeling right now. So, if I win this hand, you let me make you feel better. What do you say?”

  No.

  “Okay.”

  What?! Fuck! It’s okay, I can get out of this. I have two pair. That’s not a bad hand and this dude’s been losing this entire game. I have a pretty strong chance here. I lay down my cards and watch with bated breath as he raises a sexy eyebrow at me and lays down four of a kind.

  Oh, fuck me. I mean… you know.

  “Oh, oh… oh my God, Tyler… mmmm…” Annie whimpers breathlessly beneath me. Her skin is practically on fire as I nip along her jawline and gently bite down on her earlobe. I’ve got her lying back on her couch as I kneel over her with my hand in her panties. My fingers glide through her wetness as they pump inside her. She’s panting and writhing as she arches her back up into me and reaches her hand down between us in search of my cock. I catch her hand with my own and bring it back up away from the red zone.

  “This is for you,” I whisper in her ear before giving the back of her hand a kiss, never once stopping the rhythm she’s enjoying so much. And yes, in case you’re wondering, that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. Committing to raising a child with Annie? That’s a walk in the park compared to denying myself entrance to her tight heat again. And if you thought my dick was pissed off before, he’s down there plotting my murder now. I’m fucking certain my hand remembers touching Annie before and sent a memo straight to him, letting him know what he’s missing out on while nothing but the thin layer of my boxer briefs separates him from the Promised Land. He’ll have to deal because I have something to show Annie right now.

  “Oh God, Ty, oh fuck!” Annie cries out as I gather both of her hands in one of mine and hold them above her head as I work her pussy harder.

  “That’s it, good girl. You’re getting close,” I spur her on, breathing against her cheek. I want her to enjoy this, but I do need her to get there before I go off in my shorts like a teenager. It’d be worth it, but still. “You feel so gooood,” I moan against her throat as I change the angle of my hand and move it a little faster. That does it. She breaks into a million pieces as her head tilts back and she lets out a strained cry several times in a row, riding her orgasm out on my hand. I’m panting along with her as she comes down, kissing down her cheek to her neck, trying to sooth her through the aftershock.

  She looks up at me with those glassy bourbon eyes as she catches her breath.

  “What was that?” she asks, looking up at me. “I mean, why didn’t you…?” She lets the question trail off and hang in the air.

  “That was me showing you that from now on, I’m putting you before getting off. That your needs, and when the time comes, our child’s, are going to come first. You seemed a bit uncertain before so I thought I’d give you some proof. More symbolic than anything, but so be it,” I explain, looking her hard in the eyes as she returns my stare with a look of confused wonder.

  I right her panties and ease up off of her as she stretches her legs out before pulling her sweater back down over her hips. I can tell she’s processing what I said as she continues to look at me, her expression curious but sated as I pull up my jeans and wrestle my angry, raging hard-on into them. A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth.

  “Are you sure?” she asks, drawing the question out slowly. I nod as I fasten my jeans. I meant what I said to her.

  I throw my shirt on over my head before sitting down and leaning over her again. “I’ll take a kiss though,” I tell her. She hesitates, a heavy load of thoughts and emotions flashing in her eyes before she makes a decision. She sits up and delivers to the fullest, her hands on my face and her sweet lips pressing against mine. She’s truly making it special, and I swear it’s like our gender roles are reversed. It only lasts a couple of seconds, but I don’t push for more because it’s the best kiss of my life.

  What just happened was only the first step. Annie said she confided in Mayzie because she wanted to talk about the pregnancy with someone who knows and loves her. I want to be that for her, and I will, but Annie isn’t the type to just take someone at their word. She has to see it, and I’m fine with showing her.

  When she walks me to her door, I give her hand a squeeze.

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I tell her as I turn towards the street, because I will. We’re going to talk every day from now on.

  Once I’m home, I shuck off my coat and head straight to the shower. I’m not looking forward to spending anymore of today’s waking moments alone. My mission is to crash so that I don’t have to dwell on it. I shed my clothes and start the water, waiting impatiently for the steam to start billowing over the curtain before stepping in. I have a serious smurf-balls situation to address, and besides, I just want to get lost in a fantasy before I lay down in my empty bed and pass out. The quiet steam-filled cubicle is the best place to transport. After slathering some soap all over my chest and up and down my arms, I lean a hand and my forehead against the wet tile and reach down to grab onto my cock which is hard to the point of aching. It’s heavy in my hand as I give it a squeeze, already breathing a sigh of relief. I give it a few strokes from the base to the tip, squeezing hard and releasing. It glides easily through my hand with the lather as I pull and thrust my way towards relief. As the warm water pours down my back, I take myself back to Annie’s couch with her beautiful body underneath me, and mentally replace my fingers with my dick. The rest of the memory stays the same as I replay her moans and breaths, as well as the look of ecstasy on her face as her lips parted on a sigh and her thick lashes fanned against the skin of her cheeks. I let myself go, allowing the steam to fill my lungs as my groans echo around me.

  I feel the pressure build as I keep pumping into my hand, imagining its Annie’s pussy while in my mind, I make her feel amazing. My balls tighten and start to throb and when I feel myself there, I squeeze extra hard to simulate the way her walls tighten on me and start to jack harder. I moan out her name as it’s just her and me in this quiet, steam filled cocoon. I jerk and shudder, groaning out my release as it hits the tile wall, Annie’s name leaving my lips on a sigh.

  My shoulders rise and fall hard with my breaths, my forehead still resting against the tile, my eyes still closed as I picture her bringing me down with that kiss.

  14

  “YOU – KNOCKED – HER - UP?!” Juan shouts each word, aiming a jab to my body with each one. Some I dodge, some he lands. I don’t answer as we shuffle around each other and I use one of my gloves to wipe the rivulet of sweat off my forehead before it could drip into my eye.

  Since realizing my feelings for Annie and then having her give me some life changing news before I could tell her, I’ve cranked up the volume on my workouts, and while I’ve burned off a lot of tense energy, it’s done little to clear my head.

  “You’ve got” - jab- “to be” - I w
eave from his hook- “SHITTING me, Papi!” Jab-jab-punch! I duck the last one.

  “I’m in the fucking twilight zone,” he continues to rant, pretty much to himself, as we continue to spar around the ring of the gym. He tends to get into the trash talking when we do this. “First, you tell me you’re turning in your player card…” he says between jabs and heavy breaths. “But nooo that wasn’t enough, you had to take it further and really leave your mark on her by-,”

  “Enough!” I bark as I deliver a body blow to his stomach and send him flying back against the ropes. I rest my gloves on my hips as I start to pace while we both catch our breaths.

  “So, what are you going to do?” he asks, still hanging back on the ropes after a few minutes of silence.

  “I’m going to see it through,” I shrug, coming to a stop in front of him.

  “What do you mean ‘see it through’? What are we talking about here? The pregnancy? Are you going to try to be a dad?” He fires questions at me as he pushes to stand all the way up.

  “No trying. I’m going to be a dad,” I tell him with my hands still on my hips and my breathing still slightly labored. “And I’m going to support her through this.”

  “And how do you feel about her? Does this change things? I’m only asking because some guys might feel some resentment towards the woman. They see it like she’s the one who took their freedom away.”

  “Yeah well, those guys are childish assholes and I’m not one of them,” I say, walking over to lean on the ropes. “No, if anything’s changed it’s that my feelings are stronger now.”

  “Seriously?” he asks, sidling up beside me.

  I let out a breath, nodding.

  “I love her.”

  Juan doesn’t say anything, just stares at me, probably waiting for me to tell him I’m joking. After a few seconds he finally sighs.

  “Does she know?”

  I shake my head. “She was afraid to get close to me before all this happened, and now she’s dealing with this.” He looks down and nods. “As it was, I knew it was going to take her some time to come around to the idea that I could be with only her, and now… I feel like I need to get her to trust me on a whole other level first.”

  I’ve got a lot of ground to lie. It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of patience, but I’m up for it. I’ll work as hard as I need to and wait as long as I need to for Annie to let herself love me back. I’ll do it all for her and the little heartbeat we created.

  We’ve reached the ten-week mark and have just finished another ultrasound. This time, the little white blob seems to be developing something resembling limbs, and there’s definitely two sections representing a head and a body, but otherwise, nothing definitive. Which is fine. It’s still early, and I have to admit it’s kind of cute.

  We’re just walking out of the office and still pouring over our ultrasound photos when I hear a semi-familiar voice.

  “Tyler?” she calls out from behind us. We both turn, and the first thing I notice is a very protruding belly underneath a sweater. When I pan up to the stethoscope hanging around her neck, and then to her face, it takes me just another half beat to place her. “And Annie!” she exclaims, when she sees her. And then I recognize her. Remember how I used to crash with my coworker Jack before his band got big? Well, he was living in his sister Sarah’s pool house at the time. The very sister who I keep forgetting is an obstetrician, or something of the like.

  “Oh my God, Sarah!” I greet her as we walk up to each other.

  We take a few minutes to catch up with her, and she tells us that she’s carrying not one baby in that globe of a belly, but two.

  “Almost seven months,” she says with a huge sigh, resting her hand on her belly. “I can’t wait to be done. But fancy meeting you two here…” she says, waiting to see if we’ll fill in the blank.

  “Oh yeah, Annie’s pregnant,” I offer, as something that feels like a proud smirk spreads across my mouth. I put a hand on Annie’s back, silently sending the message that she’s pregnant by me.

  “Oh my God, congratulations!” She says to me with a bright smile, but I can tell she’s uncomfortable, physically, because she wraps her arm under her belly. It looks heavy. “I didn’t know you guys were together,” she muses, looking between the two of us.

  I smile and tighten my hand on Annie’s hip. I don’t know if Annie wants me to say anything, so I just give a subtle nod. She may need some time to warm up to the idea, but in my mind, we’re together.

  Sarah’s eyebrows go up and while her smile doesn’t disappear, it becomes somewhat vacant.

  “Gotcha,” she says, deciding she doesn’t need an explanation, but she gives me a quick glare that I know is because she knows my history.

  After she asks to see our ultrasound pictures, we make small talk for another couple of moments before she asks Annie, “Have you been talking to Mayzie?” Her voice has just a hint of seriousness that I barely pick up on.

  “Yeah, we talk every couple of days and she might come over on Friday. Why?” Annie responds, looking a little bit wary. Sarah shrugs innocently and puts her hands behind her back. We’re approaching Thanksgiving weekend and Mayzie and Jack get to come home off of the tour for the four days.

  “Nothing,” she tries to look casual. “She good?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Everything is good as far as I can tell. They’re just crazy busy with the whole tour life, you know?”

  “Yeah,” Sarah lets out a breath and resumes her smile. “Yeah I get it.” Whatever she was getting at, she’s letting it go and Annie seems to reluctantly let her.

  “Ooh, I have to see a patient,” she realizes, looking at the clock on the wall behind us. “You guys call me if you have any questions or need anything, okay?”

  “Thank you so much Sarah,” Annie says, as she waddles away.

  “Any idea what that was about?” I ask Annie.

  “I’m not sure,” Annie looks absently in front of her. “Hopefully everything is going okay on the tour and there’s not something Mayzie’s not telling me.”

  On the way home from the doctor’s office, a video chat goes off on my phone. I pull it out of my purse and see that it’s my sister, Amy. I scrunch my forehead and chew my lip, trying to decide whether or not to take it. It’d be kind of awkward in the car with Tyler right here when no one in my family knows yet.

  “Who is it? Are you going to take it?” Tyler asks, not taking his eyes from the road.

  “It’s one of my sisters…” I absently murmur.

  “One of them? How many do you have?”

  “Two. They’re twins, two years older than me. The other one is Autumn.”

  “You’re shitting me,” he answers with an amused chuckle as he maneuvers the car through traffic.

  “Nope. And they don’t know yet,” I say with a big sigh as I glance over at him.

  He shrugs in response. “It’s up to you.”

  I mull back and forth before sending Amy to voicemail.

  “I’ll call her later,” I tell him, slipping my phone back in my purse.

  “’Kay,” Tyler shrugs. “So, the three of you all have A-names, huh?” He gives a faint smile of amusement.

  “Yeah,” I let out a cynical chuckle. “Don’t ask what made my parents think that was such an awesome idea. And no, if this baby is a girl, we’re not doing that.” I say, turning a serious gaze on him.

  “Fine, it doesn’t have to start with an A. Although we could do that for the middle name.”

  “We could,” I agree, raising an eyebrow and a shoulder.

  “Probably don’t have to worry about it anyway though,” he backtracks. “I have a good feeling we’re having a boy,” he finishes with a cocky smirk.

  Oh, I bet he’d just love that.

  I hear my phone ping in my purse, indicating a text message, and I fish it out once again.

  Amy: I know you’re there! Pick up so we can engage in your weekly pestering!

  Annie: Not now, fuck
off.

  It’s true, Amy and Autumn love to gang up and lovingly pick on me, either by video chat or text convos. It started pretty much at infancy and has never ceased in adulthood. I swear if they don’t join forces and torture me at least once a week they go through withdrawals.

  Autumn: Oh, is that any way to speak to your loving, nurturing older sisters?

  Amy: And why not? What are you doing?

  Autumn: Are you with someone? WHO??

  Amy: She’s not helplessly surrendering like usual, it HAS to be a guy!

  What the fuck? I’ve contributed exactly one brief response to this whole interaction, how the hell are they piecing all this together?

  Autumn: Agreed. Who is he, Annie? What are you guys doing?

  Oh… no. This is their version of waterboarding and I cannot fall victim to it, not at this moment. They would have a frickin’ field day with this info and I can’t take it. Not right now. I type out a final response, furiously drawing my eyebrows together as my thumbs beat the hell out of the screen.

  Annie: Nothing, no one, none of your business. Leave me alone assholes!

  With that, I open my purse and hurl my phone into it with enough force to make a professional pitcher cry with envy.

  Tyler’s eyebrows go up and I cross my arms with a huff. My sisters tend to bring out the indignant seven-year-old in me.

  “You guys are close then, huh?” Tyler chuckles, and I roll my eyes.

  “They live closer to our parents, and every so often they like to team up and torture me.” I shake my head as I think of the fifty-six text messages and eleven missed calls that will be making my phone threaten to self-destruct when I get home.

  I quietly mull over the possible ways I can tell them they’re going to be aunties, and in the end decide to tell them with the rest of the family where my mom and dad will be there to diffuse any terrorizing from them.

  My next trip home should be fun.