by Cherrie Lynn
“Up,” he commanded, and she was quick to obey. Her shirt came off in his hands, quickly joined on the floor by her bra, the lace sensual against his fingers but nothing compared to her warm skin. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could barely make out the outlines of her face and body. It was hot this way, but it wouldn’t do, not now, not for him. He needed to see her when he loved her. Watch her face, her pleasure, the love in her eyes.
Macy stripped her shorts and panties off and went to work on his clothes, divesting him of everything with an excitingly desperate efficiency. He lifted her in his arms; her legs went automatically around his waist. He carried her to the bed and laid her down before reaching over to fumble for a switch and turning on a single lamp.
Light bathed her gloriously naked body, and she stole his breath as she always did. Her hazel eyes took in his every move as he crawled onto the bed with her, watchful and anticipating.
“You’re so beautiful I don’t know what to do with you sometimes,” he told her, sliding a hand up one smooth naked thigh. She trembled beneath his touch, but kept her legs together. That was fine; he would have a hell of a lot of fun coaxing them apart.
“I really did love watching you tonight,” she said, the words surprising him.
“Yeah?”
She nodded.
“I thought it looked like you were enjoying yourself, but I didn’t know if you were doing it for my benefit.”
A coy little smile curled her lips. “Oh, you know me better than that.”
True. Macy wasn’t one to show things she didn’t feel. Most of the time. “I’m glad you had fun.”
“So, do you think…that’s something you would like to do again?”
He paused, surveying her shuttered expression with the distinct and disturbing feeling that his answer would determine whether he gained entry to the closed gate in front of him. Oh, she was paying him back for the elevator, surely. “Why are you asking me that now, huh?”
A shrug of her slim shoulders. “Curious.”
“I had a good time,” he said, “but no. I don’t need it. If they asked me to do it again, I would decline.”
“Why?”
“Like I said, I don’t need it. It was laid out as a onetime thing and it will remain a onetime thing.”
“You wouldn’t only be declining on my account?”
One corner of his mouth tugged up in a grin he couldn’t quite suppress. Her skin was still tantalizingly soft underneath his fingertips as he caressed it. “No. Why?”
“You looked like you belonged up there. Like you missed it so much, and I realized how I’d made everything about me. How wrong that was of me. I’m sorry.”
Such sincerity rang in her words that he was taken aback. Maybe she wasn’t trying to punish him after all. Always so hard to read, his Macy, and even after all this time, he often got it wrong, not knowing what was going on behind those pretty eyes until she chose to let him in on it. One of the many, many things he loved about her…the enigma of her. Solving her puzzles. Enough to keep him intrigued for the rest of his life.
“It’s okay,” he said, feeling at a loss. “Nothing you need to apologize for.”
“I felt I needed to.”
“I appreciate it. Now, if I don’t get to fuck you soon, I can’t be held responsible if I start crying and begging. Can we hold off on the heavy conversation until after?”
She giggled, and finally, finally , her legs fell apart in front of him. There might come a day when the sight of her hidden slice of heaven didn’t set his pulse pounding and his dick painfully throbbing, but it was not this day. Oh no, this day wasn’t it. And fuck that anyway, because that day would never come.
He leaned in to tease little kisses up her inner thighs, watching her reactions, studying the increasing pace at which her breasts rose and fell. Ghost might not always know what was going on inside her mind, but reading her body was an art he had perfected. She mewled with restless abandon, rolling her head on the mattress while he allowed his fingertips and lips to playfully roam free over her soft planes and curves, taking his time even though there wasn’t much left before the whole crying thing would set in. But it was only when Macy’s legs couldn’t get any wider from her need that he settled between them and locked gazes with her as he locked their bodies together.
This was why he needed to see her. The breathless acceptance and trust and need as she took him inside. As colossal as the pleasure was, it was only eclipsed by the love. Who needed drugs, who needed alcohol, who the fuck needed the stage, when they could have this?
“You’re so beautiful,” he told her, smoothing the hair back from her forehead as he began to move. All games forgotten. Games had their place, they added their spice. But this was everything. She was everything. Her mouth found his, her kiss sweet and greedy, her body moving in perfect sync with his.
And ordinarily he would let it last, let it build until the absolute breaking point, but goddamn, he’d left that point way back on the road to get here. When she’d been so hot and wild riding him in the backseat, and they’d been interrupted. She wrapped him so tightly now, took him so deeply, all his thoughts fractured. He had to come or go insane.
He uttered her name on a growl, shoving his arms beneath her to hug her close. She crossed her ankles behind his back, draped her own arms around his neck, and silently dared him with her body to try and break free. To even entertain the thought of escape was insanity, though. She had him, and she knew it, and he knew it, and it was fucking okay.
“Yes, baby, come for me,” she whispered in his ear, and he was a goner, release jolting down his spine and out his body like lightning. Pouring into her wet heat as he thrust deep and held, giving her every drop she needed, his fingertips biting into her skin as her own clenched on his back. Just as the peak of his bliss was letting him down, hers lifted her up, tiny flutters rippling along his cock as she thrust against him and moaned into his mouth.
“Oh my God,” she murmured as she shuddered beneath him. “Seth, oh, Seth…”
Sweetest music he’d ever made in his life.
She came hard and long, surprising him for the short amount of time he’d spent inside her. But he wasn’t complaining. Especially when she sank her teeth into his shoulder. He always loved that. “Damn, baby girl, you weren’t lying.”
“Huh? When?” she asked breathlessly, still giving little bursts of shuddering pleasure beneath him.
“Horny as fuck.”
“Oh.” She managed a sound that started out as a laugh and ended as sigh. “Yeah.”
He was well enough acquainted with female biology and timing by now that he pretty much knew what that meant… They might have a major life change nine months from now. It was all good. Ghost gathered his wife into his arms and held her, thinking he would never get close enough. But he would damn sure keep trying.
Chapter Nine
Macy let him have his recovery time while they talked and laughed and rehydrated. Then she took him on a long, slow ride that lasted until she collapsed over him in an exhausted, trembling heap, her sweat mingling with his as he held her and stroked her damp hair. Even as she contemplated sl eep right there on top of him, she knew from the spark deep in her belly every time he moved inside her that she wasn’t done with him yet.
“Jesus,” he groaned in her ear an hour later, “you’re gonna kill me, but I’ll die happy.”
Macy giggled and licked her dry lips. They lay with her back to his front, her leg tossed back over his hip, because neither of them had strength enough to move any more than that position required. “Sleep,” she agreed, wiggling free of him before turning and grabbing a drink of water off the nightstand. Once he had a drink himself, she settled on his chest, and he drew the covers up around them.
She was absolutely spent, and more content than she could remember being in a long time. Peace suffused her, but it was fragile, and there were still some things she had wanted to say before hormones had cl
ouded her mind. Macy knew if she didn’t say them now, the moment would pass. She would never say them in the morning once the events of the night were a fading memory in the light of day.
She drew a path on his chest, tracing lines of his ink lightly with her fingertips. “I know you don’t want to talk about Raina, but she told me something I thought was…interesting.”
His chest rose and fell with his sigh. “All right, what?”
“She’s married,” Macy told him, carefully waiting for any reaction. “She’s pregnant.”
“Well, good for her.”
Relief went through her. She wasn’t sure what kind of reaction she’d been waiting for from him, but virtually none was the best one he could’ve possibly given her. “I thought so. She seemed…better. Much better.”
“I knew something had to be going on with her. It would take more than a new hairstyle to change her, and I’m still not convinced it’s possible. She has it in her to be a good person, though. I’ve seen it. I saw how happy it made her when she got pregnant before.”
With him . “I’m jealous of her,” Macy admitted softly.
“Fucking hell, why ?”
She lifted her head and looked him in the eyes, because she needed to see how he reacted to this, needed to know that he was with her, really with her. For some reason, the words came simply, as if these hours with him had removed the cobwebs from her mind and heart so that she could see clearly again. “Because however badly it ended, she still had something of yours that I’ve never had.”
“Baby,” he murmured, stroking her cheek as the incredulousness in his eyes softened. “I love you so much. And that’s something of mine you have that she never did.”
“I know.” She dropped a kiss on his chest. “I guess I’m being selfish. I want everything.”
“I like when you’re selfish over me. And I’ll give you everything I possibly can. That’s all I want to do, Mace, every damn day. Plus, you know…maybe I did it tonight.”
“Maybe,” she said, settling her cheek back on his warm skin and lacing her fingers through his. The thought brought a smile to her face, sent a little flutter of excitement through her stomach.
“She shouldn’t even be a factor,” he told her, sounding the slightest bit troubled.
“I realize that. I don’t even think I knew she was a factor until I saw her tonight. I guess she was kind of a loose end floating out there. I always wondered in the back of my mind what she was doing, where she was, and sometimes I felt some guilt over her. Can’t help it.”
With his free hand, he tickled her behind her neck, while she cringed and giggled and fought him. “Answer me this. If we did it tonight, if we made the kid, or whenever we finally do it, will you chill out? I mean, is that everything? Or will there be something else you need?”
Once she finally subdued him beneath her, his wrists pinned harmlessly at his sides even though he could break her grip with a twitch, she grinned down at him. “Baby number two, maybe.”
“Oh, Jesus. I’m not your fucking stud horse, woman.”
Macy nibbled at the tip of his nose. “Yes, you are,” she drawled. “My big, strong, virile—”
“Maybe you ought to see how baby number one goes before you start thinking about baby number two, yeah?”
“My grandmother had twins. My aunt had twins. Maybe we’ll have babies one and two.”
Pure horror dawned in his expression, and Macy tossed her head back and laughed.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” he asked. “You should have disclosed this information before I signed on. I want out.” Teasingly, he made a move as if to get up, but she fought him back into submission beneath her…only because he let her.
“Honestly, I would probably have a heart attack if that happened. But you never know, right?”
“Eh.”
“Oh, come on, cheer up, you big baby.”
“Thought I was your big stud horse.”
“Prove it.”
He rolled her beneath him so easily a thrill shot down her spine. “Macy, honey, all you would get out of me at this point is a little puff of dust.”
She burst out laughing. “You’d better buck up. Start chugging water, or maybe a protein shake. You’re all mine for the next two to four days.”
“Just let me have some sleep and I’ll be good to go.”
“Quitter,” she teased.
Chapter Ten
Here Macy was again. Every movement precise, she placed the pregnancy test strip on the bathroom counter in front of her and looked up at her reflection in the mirror. But there was one major difference from when she’d been here before. Ghost stood behind her, waiting to see the results with her. And wait they did, the s econds stretching out like years until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Has it been long enough?” she asked nervously, her gaze flickering up to meet his in the mirror. He stood behind her, arms wrapped around her waist. Both of them had agreed not to look at the results until a couple of minutes had passed, then they would look together.
He lifted his left hand to check his watch. “I think it’s been more than enough.”
“I’m afraid to look,” she said. “Do you think we did it this time?”
Seth grinned, nuzzling her neck. “We damn sure worked at it hard enough.”
Macy giggled as his breath and lips tickled her sensitive skin. “We did, didn’t we?”
“And hey, if it didn’t happen this time, we’ll work at it again. It’s not as if we didn’t have a good time.”
“Okay,” she said and took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know. Are you?”
“I don’t know.” Their gazes remained locked in the mirror.
“You said you’ve been feeling tired and a little queasy in the morning.”
“And I have, I’m just afraid it’s wishful thinking. That I want it so bad I’m manifesting it.”
“We could always, you know, look and find out.”
“But I’ll be so disappointed if it’s negative.”
“Don’t be. We have plenty of time.”
“I know. But you know me. I’m impatient.”
They were silent for a moment. Macy swore she could hear her own pulse in her ears. She could feel his against her back, steady and a little fast. He was nervous, too.
“Ready?” he asked. “On the count of three?”
She closed her eyes. “Okay.”
“One. Two…”
All her hopes and dreams centered on this moment.
“Two and a half.”
Macy’s eyes flew open. “Seth!”
“You’re the one who’s afraid to look. I’m ready.”
“Really? You’re totally ready?”
“Absolutely. You’re the one being weird about it.”
“Then look. And you can tell me. You’ll know before I do.”
“We’re supposed to do it together. Do you really want me to look first?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Well hell, let’s go all out. Call Candace and Brian over here. They can look and tell us.”
She rolled her eyes. “Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“We can call your mom and dad, too. They can all come over, and tell us if you’re pregnant or not.”
“Let’s get serious.”
“I’ve been serious. You’re the one stalling.”
“Okay, Mr. Two-and-a-half. I was ready to look.”
“Then look.”
“Count again.”
“All right. Three .”
She gasped, but at the word, her gaze jerked downward of its own accord. So did his. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. They both stared at the test results, the only sound their breathing.
And then all she could do was turn around and collapse against him, feeling his strong arms tighten around her until the breath was chased from her lungs. Even though Macy closed her eyes, the image she’d just seen danced in fro
nt of her eyelids as she felt tears well and spill.
That plus sign had stood ten feet tall in the results window.
She was pregnant.
She was pregnant!
“Are you okay?” he asked, and she heard the slight tremble in his voice. It killed her in the very best way. But how to explain how she felt right now? Like she was 100 percent changed from who and what she’d been thirty seconds ago, and the enormity of it staggered her. Nothing that used to matter before they’d stepped into this room together mattered anymore, except for him and the life he’d put inside her.
But she had time to tell him all those things. “I am. Are you?”
“Baby, I’m fucking fantastic.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Scared?”
“Nah. What’s to be scared about?”
Against his chest, she smiled. Of course he would say that. But she felt how his heart rate had kicked up even more, a strong throb beneath the softness of his T-shirt. His fingers slid through her hair as he held her close.
“Do we tell everyone now, or wait a couple of months?” she asked.
“What’s wrong with it being our little secret for a while?” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head, and she nodded.
“I like that.” Their little secret. She relished the thought of sharing knowing glances with him while they were around their loved ones, giddy with excitement at what they had accomplished while everyone else was in the dark. They would have plenty of time to decide the perfect occasion to let everyone know.
But, God, it was going to be hard to keep this secret! Especially from her best friend who would probably ask right out how things were going in their attempts to conceive.
“Candace will figure it out,” Macy said. “There’s literally no way she won’t.”
“You’re probably right. And if she knows, so will Brian, and then so will everyone else at the shop.”
“And we probably shouldn’t tell our friends before we tell our families.”
