My First Half (Cate & Kian Book 1)

by Louise Hall

  “I invited Fabrizio to stay with us over Christmas. His family are all back home in Italy so he would have been stuck in a hotel all by himself.” Fabrizio was one of Kian’s teammates at Rovers. “Unfortunately, Mum thinks teen pregnancy is contagious so she doesn’t trust the two of us in the same house together. He’d have to have really amazing sperm to get me pregnant while I’m upstairs in my bed and he’s downstairs on the sofa.”

  “What’s Fabrizio going to do now?” Liv asked, licking the back of her spoon. “Mm, so good.”

  Sinead sat down opposite them at the kitchen table. “You know Mum, she’s got such a big heart, she couldn’t bear the thought of him spending Christmas all alone in a hotel so he’s staying with her and Aunt Sadie and I’m staying here, in Remy’s old room since they’re with Vincenzo’s family this year.”

  Sinead looked shyly at Cate. “I’m sorry for being such a bitch. I know we can’t be friends again but I was there that night. Alice told me what she was going to do. He’s telling you the truth.”

  “Why should I trust you?” Cate asked warily.

  “You might not be my friend anymore but you’re married to my brother so that makes you my sister-in-law. That little baby you’re carrying is going to be my niece.”

  “Or nephew,” Cate added, putting her hand protectively on her belly.

  “My brother is convinced you’re having a girl,” Sinead smiled genuinely. “My point is that since my Dad… well, I’ve only got my Mum and my brother left.”

  “Hey,” Liv said softly, putting her arm around Sinead. “We’re your family as well.”

  “I’m sorry as well,” Cate said. “I know what I did must have really hurt you.”

  “He loves you, you know,” Sinead said. “As much as I hate to admit it. You should have seen him last night when he didn’t know where you were.”

  “It’s true,” Liv said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad you two are talking again but I still call dibs on being godmother. I’m not the one who called you a gold-digging whore.”

  “Liv,” Sinead and Cate both cried in unison.

  “What?” Liv said, holding her hands up. “Too soon?”

  Cate went upstairs to find Kian and when she did, he was sat on the mattress on the bedroom floor looking incredibly smug. “What have you done?” Cate groaned.

  “I was hanging clothes up in your wardrobe and I found this,” he grinned, holding up a folded pull-out from a magazine.

  “No,” Cate yelled when she realised what it was. “Give me that.”

  She straddled him and tried to take it back but he held it just out of her reach. “Kian, it’s embarrassing.”

  “I like it,” he said, kissing her pouty lips. “I like thinking about you up here all alone with just my Torso of the Week for company.”

  “I should have ripped that to shreds,” Cate said, kneeling up to try and reach his hands.

  Kian pulled his t-shirt up and over his head. “Thought you might want to see the real thing.” He took the palm of her hand and pressed it over his heart, she could feel the beat pounding against her skin. Her breath caught in her chest.

  “You’re a jerk,” Cate panted a little.

  Kian tossed the pull-out to one side and wrapped his arms around Cate. “I like knowing you were thinking of me,” he kissed the tender spot behind her ear. “I thought about you all the time.”

  “Kian,” Cate closed her eyes as he popped open the top button of her shirt. Her nipples tightened inside her bra. “My family’s just downstairs.”

  “Don’t care,” he whispered, popping open another button.

  He trailed his lips down her sternum to the lace edging of her bra.

  Cate felt him thicken against her stomach. “Mm,” he groaned, pushing her shirt open. He cupped her breast, lifting it up and roughly running the pad of his thumb over her nipple. Cate dug her fingernails into his shoulders.

  He traced the lace edging of her bra with his nose and then took her nipple through her bra between his teeth.

  She could feel his heat through the thin fabric. He teased her with his tongue and then sucked down hard.

  “Mm,” Cate cried, throwing her head back. She bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from being loud.

  “In the shower,” Kian said thickly. He tugged her into the bathroom and locked the door behind them. With the shower pounding down hard behind them, the steam filling the small room, Kian stripped Cate down to her underwear.

  She thought about all those months ago, when she’d stood right here in her underwear trying to look sexy.

  “What are you laughing about?” Kian said, nuzzling her neck.

  When Cate told him, Kian’s eyes lit up. “Show me them.”

  “No,” Cate said.

  “Come on,” Kian nudged her. “I want to see them.”

  Eventually, he persuaded Cate to show him some of the poses she’d tried. “I look ridiculous,” Cate said, kneeling on the closed toilet seat. “You promised you wouldn’t laugh.”

  As Kian watched, Cate arched her back, pushing her breasts forward. She mussed up her hair and tried to pout.

  Kian couldn’t help it; he bit down on his lip to stop himself from laughing.

  “I knew it,” Cate frowned. “I knew you’d start laughing at me.”

  She struggled to get down from the toilet seat.

  “I wish I had my camera,” Kian smirked.

  Cate scowled at him. “Come on angel,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “It was funny. Do I need to put the pasties on again?”

  “You brought them with you?” Cate asked.

  “Never know when my wife might want a little show?” He joked.

  “Yeah,” Cate scowled.

  She heard Kian leave the bathroom and when he came back, he was wearing the red glitter pasties on his nipples.

  “I can’t believe you brought them?” Cate smiled a little.

  “There’s my girl,” Kian smiled, kissing her lips. He reached for her wrists and gently guided her back to the closed toilet seat.

  With the shower still pounding down behind them as a soundtrack, Kian did a little sexy dance for her. At the end, he leaned forward and made the tassels spin around.

  “That’s brilliant,” Cate said, a full smile on her face now. “Will you teach me how to do that?”

  “Course,” Kian smiled. “Angel, I don’t want you posing and trying to pull sexy faces for me. That’s just fake bullshit; I want you just as you are. Although…” he looked down at her bra and pants. “Perhaps in a little less clothing?”

  “Where do you want me?” Cate smiled.

  “Hold on to the basin,” Kian said. He ripped off the pasties and put them at the side of the sink.

  “I love that you put those on for me.”

  “I love you,” Kian said softly. He stroked his hands down her back, over her hips, up her ribs to the front fastening of her bra.

  As he peeled away the cups of her bra, his eyes were drawn to her breasts, which were still covered with tiny pink marks.

  Cate looked at him through the mirror. “You don’t need to mark me. I’m already yours.”

  “I got a little carried away,” he replied, tracing each of the little marks. Cate felt her skin pebble under his touch.

  “Forgive me?” He asked, rubbing his thumbs over her tight nipples.

  “If you keep on doing that…” Her voice trailed off as he pinched one of her nipples. “Yes.”

  He dropped to his knees behind her, slowly easing her panties down her legs. She felt him trail kisses up the backs of her calves, behind her knees and the backs of her thighs. When he got to her bottom, he gave it a little bite.

  “Hey,” Cate jumped.

  “Couldn’t resist,” Kian replied.

  He kissed up her spine to her neck. Cate felt his rock-hard erection digging into the small of her back.

  “Watch me,” Kian ordered.

  She watched transfixed as he bathed his th
umb in her wetness. “So beautiful,” he murmured, circling her swollen clit. Her hips moved with his hand. He pressed two fingers deep inside her, enjoying the sounds they made. Her wet heat surrounded him, enticing him deeper. He pressed his thumb down on her clit and she gasped. He could feel her heartbeat thundering through her body.

  He felt her legs start shaking and wrapped an arm under her breasts to stop her from falling. He crooked his fingers inside her and whispered softly in her ear, his tongue stroking the metal studs, “come for me, angel.”

  Cate fell apart in his arms, against his hand. He stroked her though it, dragging out every second of her climax.

  He lifted her in the shower and she pressed herself against the cool tiles, open and waiting for him. His cock was so hard he could cut diamonds with it. He wanted to fuck the shit out of her but she was pregnant. He stroked her round belly; he couldn’t risk hurting the baby so he’d have to restrain himself. He lifted up her thigh and wrapped it around his waist. She watched him, her eyes cloudy with arousal as he slid the tip of his cock inside her. Ugh, she felt so good. He slid inch by inch inside of her. She gripped on to his shoulders.

  As if she knew what he was thinking, Cate leaned forward and sucked on his Adam’s apple. She fluttered her hands down his back to his arse and pressed the palms of her hands on his buttocks, pushing against him. “You can go harder.”

  Kian shook his head, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  He looked down at her pregnant belly. “The baby.”

  “She’s protected,” Cate said. “If it hurts at all, I’ll tell you. I promise.”

  “I fucking love you,” Kian gasped.

  “I love you too,” Cate laughed. “Now do me properly.”

  After he came, he buried his face in Cate’s neck. “Fuck, I needed that.”

  “Me too,” Cate grinned.

  She leaned her head back under the shower and rinsed her hair. “I can do that,” Kian volunteered, when she reached for the shampoo.

  “No,” Cate laughed. “If you start running your fingers through my hair, I know what will happen and I’d kind of like to be able to walk normally tonight instead of like John Wayne.”

  Kian laughed. “It’s my own fault for picking such a fucking sexy wife.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Cate grinned as they stood in the bathroom, drying off. “Now that we’ve nearly finished the chart at home, we could make a new chart for places outside the home. Like… Mum’s house, tick.”

  “Travelodge on the motorway?”

  “We haven’t been very adventurous so far,” Cate frowned. “I wonder if I’ll always be like this or if it’s just the pregnancy hormones?”

  “I guess we’ll find out in a couple of months,” Kian said, kissing her forehead.

  “Will you still want me if I’m not…”

  “Completely sex mad? Cate, I don’t just want you for your body, you know. Although it is a very sexy body.”

  “What if I become one of those women who always say they’ve got a headache?”

  Kian wrapped his arms around her, “then I’ll buy you bucket loads of paracetamol.”

  “I’m being serious,” Cate scowled. “What if this is just a phase and after the baby’s born, I stop wanting to have sex or what if… I look so ugly down there that you don’t want to have sex with me.”

  “Angel, I love you,” Kian said. “Stop freaking out. As long as my cock fits inside you, I’ll have sex with you.”

  “Such a romantic,” Cate pouted.

  “Angel,” Kian said, pulling her on to his lap. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. Yeah, there’ll be lots of sleepless nights and dirty nappies but you’re not doing this on your own, we’re a team.”

  “Plus, if we want some alone time,” Kian slid a hand under her towel and stroked her nipple. “We’ve got lots of babysitters.”

  He rubbed her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. “There are so many things we can try when you’re not pregnant.”

  Cate slapped his hand away. “If you don’t stop, we’ll never go downstairs.”

  “And that would be bad because…?”

  Cate pulled away, “they’d probably send up a search party. You really want to get caught in the act by one of our Mums.”

  “Ugh,” Kian shuddered. “Spoilsport.”

  CHAPTER 39

  When Cate woke up on Christmas Eve; Kian was already up and dressed. He had a training session that morning.

  “No,” Cate pouted, already feeling his absence. “Come back to bed.”

  Kian knelt down at the side of the mattress and kissed her forehead, “I’ll be back soon.”

  “Not soon enough,” Cate grumbled. She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting the duvet drop to her waist.

  Kian looked down at her full breasts, which were barely concealed by the thin cotton vest. He felt his cock twitch inside his trousers.

  “No fair,” he laughed, tweaking her nipple.

  Reluctantly, he extracted himself from Cate’s grip. “Huh,” Cate frowned, falling backwards on to the mattress.

  She pulled the duvet up to her chin. “No sex for you, mister.”

  Kian grinned, “Yeah, yeah.”

  He gave her one last kiss and then stood up. “Go back to sleep, I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Cate looked at the clock on the bedside table above her head. “Ugh,” she groaned. “I promised Mum I’d help her with the food for the party tonight.”

  After Kian had gone, Cate pulled on a pair of black yoga pants and a black hoodie and went downstairs to the kitchen. “Morning sweetheart,” Irene gave her a hug. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m OK,” Cate shrugged. “What can I do?”

  A little bit later, Liv emerged, looking hung-over. “Coffee,” she grunted.

  Cate handed her a mug and Liv sat down at the kitchen table, hunched over her coffee with her hood pulled up over her head. “Someone’s in a good mood this morning,” Irene laughed, as she walked back into the kitchen.

  “You really want me to answer that?” Liv snarled. Her eyes were still bloodshot. “Need more coffee.”

  “Morning,” Erin said brightly. “Sorry, I’m late.”

  “Nonsense,” Irene looked pointedly at Liv. “You should go back to bed, Erin. You didn’t finish work until 4 this morning.”

  “It’s fine,” Erin smiled, pouring herself a mug of black coffee.

  “Where’s Ben?” Liv asked. “Why hasn’t he been roped into this?”

  “Ben’s got his own tasks,” Irene said. “He’s shovelling the driveway. You’re more than welcome to join him, if you prefer. I imagine the scraping of the shovel against the concrete will do wonders for that hangover of yours.”

  When she turned her back, Liv gave her the finger. “I saw that,” Irene warned.

  “You were meant to,” Liv mumbled.

  They spent the morning cooking and once Liv’s hangover wore off, it was actually a lot of fun. It was strange with Remy not being there; she was spending Christmas back home in Italy with Vincenzo’s family.

  Irene put the Christmas CD in the player and they all sang along.

  “Erin, your voice is amazing,” Cate said, bumping shoulders with her sister-in-law.

  “No, it’s not,” Erin blushed bright red.

  “Don’t be so modest,” Liv said. “You’re so doing karaoke tonight.”

  “No,” Erin covered her face with her hands. “I could never do something like that.”

  “We’ll all do it,” Liv said. “Cate, Sinead and I will be your backing singers.”

  “I couldn’t,” Erin looked to Ben for support.

  “I think it’s a great idea,” Ben smiled. “Cate’s right; you’ve got an amazing voice. What if we make it a competition – you, Cate, Liv and Sinead against me, Kian, Ryan and Fabrizio?”

  “Mm,” Liv said, taking the idea seriously. “Who’d judge it?”

  “I’m sure Mum and Jean wouldn’t mind doing i
t.”

  “You’re on,” Liv offered her hand. “With Erin here, we’re going to crush you.”

  “May the best men win,” Ben grinned, shaking Liv’s hand. “Game on.”

  As soon as Ben left the kitchen, Liv was on her phone trying to work out which song they should sing. “This is bad,” Erin said, covering her face with her hands. “I really don’t want to sing in public.”

  “We can’t let Ben win though, you know that right?” Cate frowned. “We’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “Liv and her big mouth,” they both said in unison.

  Sinead stumbled sleepily into the kitchen. “What the hell, Liv? You said it was an emergency.”

  “It is,” Liv said, filling Sinead in.

  “Ooh, I like it,” Sinead said, rubbing her hands with glee. “We’re going to win this thing.”

  “Guys,” Erin pleaded, “it’s supposed to be fun.”

  “It will be fun,” Liv grinned, “when we beat the boys, it’ll be a whole lot of fun.”

  “Mum, we’re taking a break,” Liv called as she led the three of them upstairs to her bedroom.

  “I’ve got the perfect song,” Liv beamed, she passed them her phone.

  “I don’t know,” Sinead shook her head. “Isn’t it a bit cheesy?”

  “Mum, Jean and maybe Sadie are the judges,” Liv reminded her. “I guarantee they’ll love it.”

  “I think it’s sweet,” Erin nodded, “it kind of sums us up, doesn’t it?”

  “That’s exactly what the Mums will think,” Liv said. “Erin, you’ll be doing most of the singing so I’m going to need you all morning. Cate and Sinead, let’s run through it a couple of times and if I’m happy, you can both go.”

  “Yes sir, sir,” Sinead replied, saluting Liv.

  Later that afternoon, Irene found Cate curled up on the sofa in the basement with her eyes closed.

  “Cate,” Irene gently rubbed her arm. “Sweetheart.”

  “I’m awake,” Cate said, bolting upright. She forced herself to get up and picked up the duster.

  “Why don’t you go and have a nap?” Irene said, taking the duster from her hand. “It looks good here.”

  “Isn’t there anything else you need me to do?” Cate stifled a yawn.