I gulped and shook my head. "Uh, thanks, I guess."
Peter stopped at the door and looked back at me. "Anytime."
He winked and was gone, like the Ghost of Relationships Present.
I thought about Peter's visit the whole way to work. I'd considered calling Brendon the moment Peter left, but I decided it was too late and that I could talk to him in the morning.
While I wasn't filled with dread at seeing him anymore, I wasn't exactly buoyed up by hope. I kept rewinding our conversation in my head to see if I'd missed something, if Peter was trying to mislead me somehow. It seemed too good to be true that Brendon and I were just going to go back to the way things were because of an observation his friend had passed along, but I had to try.
My original plan had been to wait until I got the results of the DNA test back, but if Brendon really loved me that much, would it matter? I certainly hoped not. And if it did, maybe he wasn't the kind of guy I wanted around in the first place. This baby was my priority.
I strode into the office with all the confidence and pep of someone with a man and a mission on their mind. Too bad Brendon wasn't there.
I stopped in front his receptionist's desk and waited for the slight girl to notice me. She looked up with a big smile.
"Hello, Ms. Frayser. How can I be of assistance?"
"I was just wondering if Brendon's working from home again today?" I asked, praying to every god there was for her to say no. I didn't think I could wait until the end of the work day to talk to him.
"He's at the Fifth Avenue Store until after lunch," she replied. "I can get a message to him, if you'd like?"
I shook my head. "No, that's okay. Thank you!"
I was already off, racing back toward the elevator like a marathon sprinter with gold in my sights.
It took far longer than I would have preferred to reach Lock Knocks, but soon I stood in front of the large glass doors, short of breath, already searching through the glass for Brendon's silhouette. I pushed my way inside, trying to skirt carefully around the customers milling around one of the new displays at the front of the store.
Should I do an announcement for him like he was a lost child? Should I run around screaming his name until he heard me?
Luckily, I was saved from having to do anything of the sort. I stumbled into the baby section and there he was, standing amongst the cribs with Jessie at his side. Their heads were bent in conversation, and Brendon was pointing animatedly at the cribs around him. As I got closer, I could pick up their conversation.
"....most important, don't you think? Comfort, yes, but safety is really the name of the game here. That being said, is there a different option for side sleepers versus back sleepers? Is there a distinction among infants?"
I couldn't help but laugh, and doing so caught the attention of the store manager and the man of my dreams.
Chapter 28
Brendon
Never was there a more humbling moment in my life than having to enter Lock Knocks as a customer while I tried to navigate the ins and outs of baby supplies.
I owned a whole chain of children's stores—how had I not realized how much there was to know about babies? I could tell I was making Jessie nervous with my ceaseless questioning. She clearly thought I was grilling her because it was some sort of test, and she was anxious to pass.
"Babies sleep on their backs," she said. "It's where you want them to sleep and naturally where they want to sleep."
"I see." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "If I want the best crib, should I just get the most expensive one or are there options you would recommend that are better than the best?"
Jessie opened her mouth to speak and then looked behind me, her mouth widening into a smile. Because her mouth was open it came out more like a grimace, but I didn't miss the relief in her expression all the same.
"Aurora," she chirped. "It's great to see you."
My heart started beating double time but I kept it together externally, even though every hair on my body was standing to attention. I turned to look at Aurora and a bolt of lust dove straight between my thighs. She looked positively radiant, her hair tucked back in a loose bun and her expression bright and clear. The world ground to a halt around me and it wasn't until her and Jessie started speaking that I remembered where I was.
"Jessie," I said, interrupting her just as she was about to go into her vacation plans for the following week. "Could I have a moment alone with Aurora?"
Jessie nodded enthusiastically. "Holler if you need me!"
She practically sprinted down the nearest aisle, desperate to get away from me and all of my questions. I knew how nervous I made her so it probably wasn't fair to be asking her everything, but I also knew she was the most knowledgeable and I didn't want to take a chance on any second-rate advice.
Aurora stepped closer, wringing her hands in front of her as she gazed up at me through her lashes.
"Hey," she said in a small voice.
"Hey."
"I'm sorry," she said. "For not telling you sooner. And for everything else. At first I was scared that telling you about the baby would ruin everything, and then I was scared that it would ruin everything if the baby wasn't yours. It seemed so much simpler to wait until I got the results to tell you, but it wasn't the right call."
I took a step closer and rested my hand on her cheek. Her skin was soft against my palm, and she leaned into my touch with a tiny contented sigh.
"I'm sorry too," he said. "I never learned how to take curveballs well because I've never really had any. I've always been able to plan within an inch of my life until you came along." A small smile flitted over my lips. "I understand why you didn't want to tell me. I know we both could have handled it better, but we're here now, aren't we?"
She nodded, covering my hand with her own. "Where is here?"
I dropped my hand to her waist and tugged her into my side, smiling down at her. "Here is where you belong," I murmured, tapping my chest just above my ribs. "You and our baby."
She closed her eyes so I wouldn't have to see the flicker of pain that crossed them. I knew what it was from.
"Hey." I tilted her chin up until our gazes were locked. "This baby is our baby. I don't care if I'm the father or not, I will love this baby just like it's my own. All that matters is that we're together, and that we're going to be a family together." I held her stare to drive home my point, so there could never be any confusion about how much she meant to me. "All I want is to be with you, Aurora."
I felt her melt into me, like she was finally releasing a knot of tension that had been holding her rigid for days. It was the same knot I'd only released myself yesterday afternoon, when Peter came around to try to knock some sense into me. I was still moping when he left, but soon afterward I realized just how goddamn stupid I was being.
Aurora let out a breath and then smiled up at me, eyes wide and dark. "That's good to hear," she said, breath tickling against my lips, "because these pregnancy hormones are making me incredibly horny."
The front door slammed back on its hinges and I had to put out a hand to stop it from careening into Aurora's face as I pushed her through the doorway. She laughed, facing me, and continued pulling at the buttons of my shirt.
"Just rip them off," I growled, lips against her throat. "Let's not fuck around here."
Aurora didn't need telling twice. She ripped open the shirt and the errant buttons skittered over the hardwood. Some sort of primal satisfaction rippled through me and I slammed the door closed, pushing her deeper into the depths of my apartment.
I kissed back up to her mouth again and lifted her into my arms until she wrapped her legs around my hips. I held her ass in my hands and carried her toward the bedroom, so swollen with need that I wanted to cry out in pain. Our intermission may have been brief, but I felt it like it was a lifetime prison sentence. How many hours had I spent lying awake in bed, dreaming of her plump lips and the look of pure ecstasy that washed over her features as
she came? How many times had I masturbated to the thought of her, only to finish feeling unsatisfied and frustrated? No more. Never again. Aurora was mine and I wouldn't ever let her go.
I walked into the bedroom and let Aurora drop onto the bed, my shirt hanging open at my sides.
She bounced where I dropped her and giggled, but her expression soon fell away when I slid the arms of my shirt down and away. Her gaze raked hungrily over my chest, and she threw off her clothes with a kind of urgency I’d never seen before.
My pulse sang in my ears, urging me forward. I unzipped my pants and slid them down my thighs as I crawled up the bed.
"I'm going to treat you like a princess for the rest of your life," I told her, kissing up her calf to her knee. I continued up, feathering my lips over her thighs. "No, not a princess." I hovered just over the cleft between her thighs, letting my warm breaths fall over it. "A queen."
Aurora's breath hitched and she made a soft moan. It was more than I could handle. I dove into her sweetness, parting her folds with my tongue and finding her sensitive nub with my lips. It was an open-mouthed, passionate kiss. Her taste was exquisite and I devoured her.
"Oh my god," she breathed. "Oh my god!"
Her chest rose and fell erratically and she gripped the sheets. I tossed her thighs over my shoulders and groaned as her soft flesh opened for me. My tongue swirled and stroked, pulling her closer and closer to the brink of ecstasy. I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. I wanted her to feel it. So I gave her my all, and was soon rewarded with a high, keening wail and a few curses to accompany her shaking thighs.
I didn't let up, determined to squeeze as much pleasure from her as possible. Her fingers tangled in my hair and tugged, the sensations beginning to overwhelm her. I ignored the pull and sucked on her clit hard while I thrust two fingers inside of her.
She exploded again, half jumping off the bed with the force of it. Her inner walls squeezed on my fingers as waves of pleasure washed over her, and only when they subsided did I finally draw back to look at her face.
Aurora had never looked more at peace. I wasn't even sure she was in the room with me. Her expression was so dazed and distant. She looked like she was going to drift away at any moment, and I covered her with my body just to keep her flat to the mattress.
"Kiss me," she managed to murmur. "Kiss me hard."
My cock throbbed insistently, reminding me just how much I'd been neglecting it this whole time. I slammed my mouth over Aurora's at the same time as I slammed my cock into her tight pussy, bottoming out with a loud, fleshy smack. She cried out against my mouth and I slammed in again, picking up the pace until the beast inside of me was satisfied.
We were so close to each other. Our chests were mashed together, hips interlocked and legs interwoven. I didn't want a single hair's breadth between us and pushed down hard, kissing her with brutal, uncompromising lust. She whimpered and moaned into my lips, scratching a passionate map onto my back. We were lost in the moment, lost in each other. My short, hard thrusts built my climax slowly. So. Slowly. It was exquisite torture. Part of me yearned to pull back, to toss her legs over my shoulders and jackhammer into her for all I was worth, but I needed this proximity. From the sounds she was making, she needed it too.
"God, I love your cock," Aurora moaned.
My balls tightened and the base of my spine tingled with the weight of my release. I went mad when she talked to me like that, when she exposed the delicious little minx hiding just beneath the surface. It was a side of her only I got to see, and just knowing that was enough to make me close to shooting.
I growled and kissed down to her neck, burying my nose and lips against the base of her throat.
She was my everything. She was my salvation. And, in this way, she would always be my undoing.
Pleasure of the purest form rocketed through my body. I groaned and tensed, and something about that action sent Aurora careening. Her pussy gripped my cock in an iron vice and I lost it, cumming hard. Our sweat-soaked bodies stayed glued to each other as we both shook and breathed. I was sure that I'd fucked a hollow in the bed that we'd have to climb out of, but when I rolled to the side I found everything was exactly as I'd left it.
"That felt like someone pulling off duct tape," Aurora mused. "I half expected us to be fused together at the end."
I laughed and turned my head to look over at her, noting the perfectly messed up hair and the big, dreamy eyes. She looked perfect. She was perfect.
"Not this time," I replied. "No saying we can't try for it again though."
Her lips curled into a grin. "Promises, promises, my king."
"Your king?" I grinned incredulously.
She shrugged. "Every queen needs a king. And you said..."
"I know what I said. And I meant it, too. I just didn't expect for it to feel so good to hear you say that."
"Don't get used to it," she said with a sly wink. "The last thing I need is for someone at the office to hear me calling you that."
I folded an arm behind my head and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Wouldn't be so bad. In fact, I think I quite like it."
I didn't see the eye roll that elicited but I knew her well enough to know it was there.
"I've created a monster."
"No, baby," I said, hauling her onto my chest and banding my arms around her waist, "you've only set one free."
Chapter 29
Aurora
I felt like I was floating on air.
Everywhere I went, everything I did, was tinged with a feeling of happiness and certainty. Certain in my love for Brendon, certain in his love for me, and certain in the future we were going to have together. I didn't have to hide the pregnancy anymore and it felt like there was nothing more between us to cause problems. I felt free.
This new openness about the pregnancy couldn't have come at a better time, as I started to show soon afterward. Brendon was delighted. Anytime we were alone he'd find some reason to rub my belly, or to put his face to it and talk to the perfect miracle growing inside. His behavior filled me with warmth and hope for our future, and I should have known that so much light and hope could only mean I was due for a little trouble.
I was on a mission. Even though I'd only lived in my apartment for a few months, I'd somehow accumulated year’s worth of clutter and grime. I had no idea how. Maybe it was some combination of the age of the building and the size of the apartment, but one weekend I decided to tackle it before I got too big to take care of it. I tied a bandana around my head to get me in the right frame of mind, then dove into the fray. Two hours in, I was covered in dust, sweat, and other grime that I chose not to think about.
Just as I was wondering how on earth I had let it get so bad, a knock on the door brought me from my reverie. My heart leapt at the thought of Brendon dropping in on me, even though I was disgusting right now. I walked over to the door with dreamy thoughts of a shower for two, but was immediately doused by the cold, bitter spray of reality.
Nolan looked rough. I wasn't sure what he'd been up to since I last saw him, but by the looks of him it didn't involve much sleep. I struggled to feel pity for him, which was odd since all I used to do was make excuses for him. Funny how things change.
"What do you want?" I asked, skipping straight to business. I still had two sets of blinds to clean and I wasn't in the mood to waste precious cleaning time on my lousy ex-boyfriend.
Nolan's neutral expression deepened into irritation. "New York has made you cold."
I laughed bitterly, which probably only made me seem colder. Good thing I'd stopped caring about what Nolan thought of me a long time ago.
"New York hasn't made me colder, sweetie," I drawled. "A fresh dose of reality has just made me wiser."
"I disagree."
"We could debate this all day, or you could just tell me what you are here for. If you're here for the results of the test, I haven't gotten them yet. I told you I would let you know when I did."
Nol
an screwed up his mouth in a classic sign of repressed anger and nodded toward the apartment. "Aren't you going to let me in?"
"No." I folded my arms over my chest. “Why are you here?"
"Well, I thought I'd check if the results had come back in person," he said. "I don't want to find out that I'm a father over a text."
I snorted. He hadn't ever wanted to be a father before, so I didn't know why he was taking it so seriously now. Well, I did know. It was about control for Nolan, always had been. It was the same reason he'd helped persuade me to drop out of college as soon as I started having problems, instead of encouraging me to keep going like a good boyfriend would.
"No results yet," I repeated, and started to swing the door closed.
Nolan stuck out a hand to stop it. My pulse jumped and I tried to push the door closed regardless. He was much stronger.
"I'm not finished." His voice was harder now. Colder. There was something in his eyes that made me wish I wasn't alone, and that scared the crap out of me.
"What is it, Nolan?" My voice shook a little but I tried to keep it together as much as I could. If I showed fear, that would only push him further. He was like a predator in that way.
"I just want to make sure you remember our deal," he said.
"I remember it."
"And you're going to remember to honor it?"
I swallowed hard, unable to form a response right away. I wanted to tell him to go screw himself. I wanted to scream at him for daring to intimidate me in my own goddamn apartment about my own goddamn baby. I channeled that rage to pull me out of my fear, to help bolster my confidence enough to say the words I needed to say.
"Even if the baby is yours, I'm not going back to Bridgefield with you. I'm sorry, Nolan."
And I was. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I knew he wasn't a psychopath. In his own twisted way, he cared about me. If the baby was his, I knew that he would care about it too. Refusing to go home with Nolan was bound to hurt, but there was nothing I could do. How could I go back to a place that had made me so miserable for so long? Back to people who didn't understand me? Didn't try to understand me?
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