I felt a tear of happiness streak down my cheek as a sound graced my ears.
Rubber tires on cement was heard off in the distance. I picked up my head and wiped at the tear on my face as Carter’s SUV came into view. I could see his shocked face through the windshield.
But the kids were already throwing their doors open.
“Miss Nattie! Miss Nattie! You’re back!”
The came running up the porch and I sprang up from the rocking chair. I fell to my knees and wrapped them up tightly in my arms. Tears fell from my eyes as I kissed every single one of their heads, feeling them bury into me as I fell over onto the porch.
“Guys. Guys. Be careful with Natasha.”
Oh, that voice.
That beautiful, rumbling, commanding voice.
“Are you staying?” Clara asked.
“Can we fire our nanny now?” Nathaniel asked.
“Will you come to my basketball game this weekend?” Joshua asked.
“Basketball? When did you start playing basketball?” I asked.
“A few weeks ago,” Carter said.
I looked up and saw his beautiful green eyes. Twinkling at me as he held out his hand. I reached up for him and he helped me to my feet as the kids slid from my grasp.
His touch still sent shivers up my skin.
Now that I was standing in front of him, I had no idea how to speak. I lost all forms of communication as I stared up into his eyes. Tears continued to brew and fall and his smile soon morphed into a curious concern.
He cupped my cheek and I nuzzled into it before he engulfed me with his arms.
“You’re back,” he said.
“I’m pregnant,” I said.
He whipped up from my shoulder before his eyes dropped to my stomach. I had no idea how else to say it. So it… slipped out. I felt like I had been put underneath a microscope. The kids were rushing into the house as we stood on the porch, Carter’s eyes taking in his fill.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m sorry. I’m… I… I uh…”
“You’re pregnant,” he said.
“About three months, according to Clark.”
“Clark?”
“The doctor I was with in Africa,” I said.
“You’re pregnant,” he said.
Then, I saw a grin bloom across his cheeks.
“Holy shit, you’re pregnant!”
He wrapped me in his arms again and picked me up. He swung me around and I closed my eyes, clinging onto him for dear life. He peppered my neck with kisses and cheered in my ear. My heart felt like it was floating on cloud nine as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I rose up and our foreheads connected, his breath pulsing on the tip of my nose.
I had missed that sensation. That feeling. That smell.
I had missed everything about Carter.
“You’re coming inside with me,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. “I like the sound of that.”
Carter held me with one hand while he picked up my backpack with the other. The kids were sitting at the table, waiting for someone to get them some food. He sat me on the couch and tossed my backpack into a corner, then proceeded to get his hungry kids a bite to eat.
Then he sat down beside me and pulled my legs into his lap.
“Surprise?” I asked.
He threw his head back and laughed, filling the room with the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
“You really are something,” Carter said.
“Are you upset?” I asked.
“Do I look upset?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“No,” he said. “I’m not upset.”
“I don’t have a place to stay right now, but my next stop is to go talk to my previous landlord. Maybe I could get an apartment in the same complex I was at. It was a pretty safe side of town.”
“Or you could take me up on the offer I tried before you left.”
“Offer?”
“To move in, remember?”
I had tried to block that moment from my memory. Allowing it to fade away as if my feelings for Carter could.
“Either way, it’s in the past,” he said. “And I think that with this new journey we’re about to find ourselves in, it’s best if we stick together.”
“We?” I asked.
“Yes, ‘we’. That’s my child you’re carrying. Do you think I’m going to let you sleep alone in some apartment while you’re pregnant?”
“So… you’re going to do this with me?” I asked.
“Natasha, what did you think was going to happen?”
“I don’t know. I guess I was bracing for the worst.”
Carter gathered me in his arms and my face fell into the crook of his neck. I breathed him in as the children ate, their minds preoccupied with their food. I nuzzled into him and felt his scruff against my skin. How soothing such a rough feeling could be if it came from the right person.
“Move in with me,” Carter said. “You can have any room in the house. Any section of the house. But we should be together through this. I want to come home to you, Natasha.”
“What if I’m too tired to nanny?” I asked.
I felt his lips plant into my forehead, pressing a kiss into my skin.
“I’m not asking you to take care of the kids. I’m asking you to be with us,” he said.
“Then how will I afford things? My stuff’s in storage and I’m still paying the insurance on my car-”
“I don’t think you understand me,” he said. “I’m taking care of you.”
“Yes, physically. But not monetarily.”
“Any way you need,” he said.
I rose up and hooked my eyes with his before my face grew stern.
“You’re not paying for my life. That life is mine,” I said.
“And I would never take that independence away from you. But you’re going to be the mother of my child, and I want to take care of you. I want to make sure you’ve got everything you need. That means paying for medical bills, paying for things our child needs, and taking on your bills so you can be around us without having to kill yourself at a job somewhere.”
“Carter, I don’t know if-”
“Will you move in with us?” he asked.
I looked up and saw the kid’s attention trained solely on me.
“They’re looking at us,” I said.
“I don’t care,” Carter said. “Answer the question.”
“With them listening?” I asked.
“Why not?”
My eyes fell to his as my hand cupped his cheek.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll move in with you.”
“Then we’ll take everything else one step at a time,” he said.
Twenty-one
Carter
I was elated. Natasha was back and she was carrying my child. I cleaned the kids up from their snack and put them to bed, making sure Natasha stayed resting on the couch. She looked exhausted, which was normal for the stage of pregnancy she was in. Luckily, she had me. I had encountered every twist and turn there was to encounter with my late wife when we were having our children, which meant I could help her through the uncertainty and the questions she would have later on down the road.
And once I had the kids down for bed, I picked up her backpack and helped her off the couch.
“Come on. Let’s go pick out your room,” I said.
I walked her through the house and kept tossing doors open. But with every room she found there was something wrong with it. It was too big or it was too small. ‘Shouldn’t this be the nursery?’ or ‘It won’t have enough room for my furniture’. We made our way upstairs and I shied her away from the room across the hall from the kids. Her place here was no longer to run after my kids and be a nanny.
Her place was resting and being with us in any capacity she wanted.
We got down to the end of the hallway and I had no other rooms to show her. But her eyes were settled on the door to my room.
I grinned down at her as she looked up at me, her eyes filled with questions as they twinkled with the light of the hallway. I reached behind her and shut off the light so the kids could sleep easier, then I threw open the door to my bedroom.
“What do you think about this room?” I asked.
“Well,” she said, “it is a bit big.”
“What else?” I asked as I led her in.
“The bed is massive. So it’ll probably be more comfortable than the other beds.”
“And the closet space is to die for,” I said as I shut the door.
“The walk-in closet is nice. But only one side of it is taken up, which is odd.”
“Or convenient, depending on how you look at it.”
“The bathroom is my favorite from the rest of the ones in the house,” she said. “I love the walk-in shower and the double sinks. But do you know what my favorite feature of it is?”
I dropped her backpack at the entrance of the closet before I turned my body towards her.
“What's that?” I asked.
“There’s a certain someone that comes with the room.”
I strode for her and took her in my arms. I pulled her against me, listening to her gasp. I could feel the pressure of her tightening stomach. Her belly button that would grow and morph as the child within her became healthy and strong. I danced my lips against hers, feeling how her body caved into mine.
I settled her back down onto the bed as our noses danced together.
“I think that certain someone enjoys having you here, too,” I said.
“I think I’ll take this room,” Natasha said with a whisper.
“I was hoping you would say that.”
My lips dipped to her neck and she sighed into the room. My skin began to crawl as I felt her hands rush up my shirt. Feeling her fingertips on my skin again was electric. My cock was aching behind my pants as I toed out of my shoes. Her hips were rolling and her nails were digging in. Oh, her skin was sensitive. I could nip at her and she would tremble against me.
I was going to have some fun with this.
I lifted her shirt and unhooked her bra from the front. Her breasts came spilling out onto her body and I groaned at the sight. My tongue darted out and wrapped around her nipple, causing her to whimper as she twisted her hands in my hair.
She pressed my face into her breasts and I peppered her skin with kisses.
My hands slid her shorts from her body. Her womanly scent filled my nostrils. I could feel the animal inside of me erupting. The man that had missed this woman for the past two months. My nips became nibbles, and my nibbles became love bites. I marked her tender breasts, taking in the way she moaned and gasped at my tongue.
I sucked on her tits, pulling them between my teeth and watching her breasts bounce whenever I released.
I slid between her thighs and nuzzled against her clit. It was swollen so big it was peeking out from between her dripping folds. I took off her pants and her underwear, discarding them off to the side.
Then I threw her legs over my shoulders and slid my tongue up her slit.
Her hands curled into the tendrils of my hair as my tongue devoured her pussy. I swallowed down her arousal, taking in all she had to give me. I drank from her fountain of youth, filling my body with an energy I hadn’t felt since that dinner she told me she was leaving.
That dinner that left me as empty as the moment my wife had died.
She panted and rocked against my tongue. My hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her closer. I breathed in her scent and memorized her taste. I thrusted my tongue into her pussy and allowed her to ride my lips. She was bucking ferociously against me and I loved it. I loved feeling her grow wanton for me as she lost control of her body.
I heard her choking on her pleasure as my tongue pressed into her clit. I flicked it at a frightening speed as her body began to quiver. Her heels pressed into my shoulders and her knees fell off to the side. She was opening herself to me. Giving me access to whatever I wanted.
And I was going to use it all.
I slid my finger into her pussy before traveling down to her puckered little asshole. I worked one knuckle in, hearing her hiss out into the room. I sucked her clit into my mouth and worked another knuckle in, smiling as a whimper fell from her lips.
I pressed the rest of my finger in as she shook, then filled her pussy with my thumb.
“Oh. Holy. Shit. Carter… oh, fuck. Don’t stop. Holy hell. I don’t… know what… yes. Yes. Yes! Fuck that hole, Carter. Don’t… stop!”
I pressed my tongue deep into her clit and fucked her holes with my fingers. Her juices sprayed onto my face, running down my chin and neck as she came. I smiled into her, feeling the way she jerked and moaned as her nails raked against my scalp.
The way her asshole clenched around me made my cock drip from its tip.
Her back fell to the bed and I slowly worked my fingers out of her body. I wiped them on the sheets next to us, then I began kissing up her skin. She was jumping with every touch and wheezing from the air she was trying to gasp. My tongue licked her lips and she sucked on it, pulling me in for a kiss as she tasted herself on my skin.
“Oh Carter,” she said breathlessly. “What the hell was that?”
“The beginning,” I said. “It was the beginning.”
I grabbed her ankles and flipped her over, causing her to squeal. I ran my cock up and down her asscrack, then slid into her pussy. I lifted her hips as I groaned, feeling her walls massage my cock.
She was having to readjust to me again.
And fuck, was she tight.
Her arousal was already dripping down my balls. I worked my cock out and slammed back into her, watching her jolt with my assault. I pounded into her, punishing her for leaving and simultaneously racking her body with an ecstasy I knew she couldn't find anywhere else. I reached down and fisted her hair, pulling her lips up from the bed.
I wanted to hear the filthy words dripping from her lips.
“Fuck, Carter. I missed you. I missed this. I dreamt about you… every night. I… can’t… oh, Carter. Yes. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”
My eyes whipped open as the words fell from her lips. Effortlessly. Fluidly. Shivering me to my core and bringing tears to my eyes. I released her hair and fell to her back, propping myself up as my lips made my way to her ear.
She shook with the ferocity of her second orgasm as I pressed a kiss to the shell of her ear.
“I love you too, Natasha. I love you so much.”
She collapsed to the bed in a fit of sweat, but my body wouldn’t stop. I slid effortlessly into her, feeling her body shaking as my hands founds hers. Our fingers laced together as I slid against her body, rolling my hips and feeling her pussy pull me deeper in. Her legs were wrapped around the back of mine and I rolled us over, her back pressed deeply into my chest.
I cupped her tits and massaged them slowly as I thrusted up into her body.
Her body was weak against mine as I filled her with my dick. My girth was stretching her further as her tits jumped in my hands. My lips nipped at her neck and her hair fell into my face. Her hands were twisting up in the sheets she could find as the back of her head fell into my shoulder.
“Shit. I’m so… fuck, Natasha. You’re back. I can’t… believe… you’re back.”
I thrusted into her one last time before my cum shot into her body. Her pussy throbbed around me as Natasha moaned out into the room. She was exhausted, her body spent and weak against me. Her arms and legs were flailing with my assault as I rode her through her orgasm. Threads of cum fell from my cock, filling her and leaking down her ass crack. I could feel our juices leaking down my balls. Painting my body in its mark as my lips placed open-mouthed kisses along her shoulder.
I rolled us over to the side, my cock still sheathed within her warmth.
I massaged every inch of her body I could find. Her waist. Her thighs. Her arms. Her shoulders. I massaged her breasts and her
calves and her stomach that was tight underneath my ministrations. I slid my cock from between her legs and she shivered, then pressed her body harder against me.
“I’ve got you,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She somehow found the strength to turn around in my arms and looked up at me with those big eyes of hers. I smoothed some of her sweaty hair away from her forehead, then captured her lips again in a kiss. A soft, sensual kiss that ushered in a moment where it was only the two of us.
The two of us and the child we had created together.
“I love you,” she said breathlessly.
I smiled into her lips as our noses nuzzled together.
“I love you too,” I said. “And I’m so glad you’re back.”
Twenty-two
Natasha
I ran into the arms of my best friend and we jumped around in a circle. I hadn’t talked with her since before I had left for Africa. I had been able to shoot her a quick email telling her I had arrived safely, and that was the last time we had any sort of contact. I embraced Emma tightly, picking her off the ground as she laughed heartily in my ear.
“This won’t be so bad if you’re back every couple of months,” Emma said.
“Oh, we have so much to talk about,” I said.
I ushered Emma into our favorite sandwich shop and we stood in line. The place was loud and it wasn’t the time to have the conversation with her I wanted, so I let her talk my ear off. She was filling me in on the past couple of months and how things were going with her at work. She kept talking about office gossip and all the things that had happened around town.
But I was anxious to sit down and talk with her.
We carried our trays to a booth and sat down. I got up to get us some napkins while Emma got our drinks. My hands were shaking with nervousness. I had no idea how she was going to take the news that I was pregnant or the decision I had made in light of that development.
I could only hope she supported me instead of chastising me for it.
“So, how’s Africa?” Emma asked.
“It’s good,” I said. “The area’s really cleaned itself up. A lot of the rebel forces were pushed out of the area, and you can see the relief on everyone’s faces. Mothers aren’t rushing their children inside before the sun goes down and they feel freer to do things the way they want to. Like cook outside and hold celebratory fires and dance and play until the sun sets.”
5+Us Makes Seven: A Nanny Single Dad Romance Page 13
