by A. K. Evans
If there had been any hope for me to keep even a crumbly wall up around my heart, it was gone in the next instant.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
Even whispering, there was no missing the strain in his voice. For a long time, he kept his hand right where I placed it while his eyes remained riveted to my stomach.
The baby kicked and moved around a few more times before Roscoe lifted his gaze to mine. His eyes were wet.
I offered a sympathetic smile as my heart hammered in my chest. I expected him to be mesmerized, but I didn’t expect him to get this emotional.
Without taking his eyes off my face, he brought his second hand to my stomach and waited for more movement. Our baby did not disappoint.
“I was so stupid,” he finally declared.
“What?” I asked, feeling horrified.
“I could have missed out on this, Sienna,” he explained. “Some idiotic idea I had in my head about how my life would or should be might have meant that I’d never have experienced this. I can’t even describe what I’m feeling inside right now.”
I placed my hand on top of his, which was still resting on my pregnant belly. I wanted to tell him that I could describe it perfectly for him because I felt the very same thing.
It was love.
Love for this little miracle that we’d created together.
But I didn’t tell him that. He was already so emotional, and if he hadn’t come to that conclusion on his own, I didn’t want to make it so he struggled to allow himself to become fully immersed in all of this. If and when he was ready to share it, I’d be waiting.
Until then, I’d simply be grateful for the fact that we were here. Considering where we were just a month ago, this was something I thought I’d never have.
Roscoe and I were getting along and even laughing with one another. There was, if nothing else, a mutual respect for each other that didn’t exist just a few weeks ago.
So, I squeezed his hand and said, “You don’t have to describe it to me, Roscoe. I already feel it myself.”
Several moments of silence passed before he announced, “I want to go.”
“You want to go? Go where?” I asked.
“To the appointments,” he clarified. “I don’t know when the next one is, but I would really like to be there for it and all the future appointments.”
My fingers gripped his hand a little tighter. “Of course. I’d love for you to be there,” I told him. “My next appointment is next week.”
He smiled at me as he swiped at his eyes. “Okay. We’ll go together.”
And just like that, the remaining walls crumbled.
Whether Roscoe and I ever became more than just parents to this baby or not didn’t matter. The simple fact remained that I loved him now for reasons that had nothing to do with a superficial crush. What I felt for him wasn’t about him being a handsome guy with a great body who was fantastic in bed.
He was so much more than that.
He just hadn’t had the opportunity to show it before now.
Roscoe
I never thought I’d ever find myself in a place where my cock would feel like it was ready to explode from the sight of a pregnant woman, but here I was feeling like a teenage boy who was struggling to find a way to hide his erection.
Sienna had just stood up and taken off the sundress she’d been wearing. We’d finished eating lunch together just a little while ago, and since we’d gone back to her place earlier in the morning for her to grab her suit, apparently, today was the day for swimming.
We’d managed to find a special waterproof cover for her cast, and she’d been using that when she showered. Her cast never got wet, and we figured it would work just as well with swimming.
I didn’t know what to expect seeing her in bikini for the first time, but this wasn’t it.
Her body was still so petite and slender everywhere. The only spot with evidence of her pregnancy was her stomach and her notably larger breasts.
God, she looked unbelievably sexy.
When she looked down and saw me staring at her, she said, “The top doesn’t fit like it used to.”
I could hear the embarrassment in her tone, and I hated it. Especially when I was fighting a raging hard-on. It had been so long since I’d had sex. And though I’d missed it, I had no desire to go find it somewhere else.
I wanted it with her again.
But I needed to put in the work if that was ever going to happen.
So, I stood and promised, “You look incredible, Sienna. I swear I’m not feeding you a line of bullshit. You look amazing, and I want to say I’m even more attracted to you now than I was back in January.”
Her lips parted in shock.
“Your boobs look fantastic,” I assured her as my eyes dropped to them.
What could I say? They were gorgeous.
“Thanks,” she rasped.
“You need help with covering your cast?” I asked her.
“If you don’t mind, an extra pair of hands would be great,” she replied. After I helped her do that, she asked, “Are you coming in?”
I nodded. “Yeah. You go first, though. I want you to have the pool to yourself for a few minutes.”
She grinned and cocked an eyebrow. “Spoiling me might not be a wise idea,” she teased.
Shit.
I wanted nothing more than to spoil her, to treat her to copious amounts of orgasms. But with her being pregnant, I wasn’t sure she was interested. I’d read that some women found themselves completely uninterested in sex while pregnant and others felt as though they couldn’t get enough.
Based on the way things were with her, I had a feeling that Sienna was in the former category. Of course, that could have had nothing to do with the actual pregnancy, and everything to do with how she felt about me.
On some level, I did feel her softening toward me, and that felt good. I just wanted to feel even better, and I hoped I’d get there soon.
“I’m okay with it,” I assured her. “Go ahead. Enjoy yourself.”
As she turned to walk toward the pool, I sat back down and didn’t even attempt to hide the fact that I was staring at her ass. Alright, so maybe the pregnancy was showing a bit there, too.
I fucking loved it.
How the hell was I supposed to get into the pool with her when she was wearing next to nothing, and pretend I wasn’t the least bit affected by her?
I didn’t figure it out, and I knew I wouldn’t. Because as she took the steps down into the pool, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I grew more and more turned on as her body began to disappear beneath the water.
And at the point when she looked over at me and smiled like she’d just been handed the world, I felt that same thing happening in my chest that happened a few days ago when I first felt our baby kicking and moving inside Sienna’s stomach.
It was a feeling I couldn’t quite put a name on at that time. I didn’t understand it then beyond recognizing just how profound the feeling I got from it was. But I got it now.
I knew exactly what I was feeling now.
I was falling in love with Sienna Baxter, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
By the time she made it off the stairs and had taken a few steps forward, only everything from Sienna’s breasts and up was exposed.
“Oh,” she moaned. “I feel like I’m thirty pounds lighter in here.”
I let out a laugh, that thing in my chest swelling.
Yeah, I was definitely falling in love with her.
“If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to do this every day that’s left before the weather gets too cold to swim,” she announced. “It feels so nice. Between the weightlessness and being able to just move my body, I think I’ve fallen in love with your pool.”
I reached down, discreetly adjusted my cock, then stood up again. No way could I continue to sit here and be so far away from her. I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it aside.
Instead of fo
llowing her lead and walking in by the stairs, I made my way to the deep end and dove in. Without coming up for air, I swam across the pool to where she was. Only when I could reach out and touch her did I resurface.
“I would have died being underwater that long,” she said as she allowed one arm to fall around my back near my shoulder.
It seemed like it was so effortless for her, so I followed her cue. With her body beside mine, I slid my arm around the back of her waist and tugged her toward me.
She didn’t struggle, protest, or tense up. I took that victory in stride and said, “You can come out here and swim all day every day for as long as you want. And if you want me to join you, all you’ve got to do is ask.”
Sienna cocked an eyebrow. “It’s that easy?”
“Yes. Anything you want, all you’ve got to do is ask,” I answered, my voice having dropped a bit lower.
“Anything?” she asked.
“Anything,” I promised.
For the next few seconds, I watched as her chest rose and fell with her shallow breaths. Her eyes searched my face for a bit, and I was on edge, waiting for her to ask me to do something for her.
Finally, she asked, “Is there a limit?”
“A limit?”
“To the number of things I can ask you to do for me,” she clarified.
I shook my head and smiled at her. “What do you need, baby girl?”
“I was trying to decide between asking you if you’d cuddle on the couch with me tonight or asking if you’d give me a back massage,” she shared.
My body tensed as my arm tightened around her. Had she been having back pain and not telling me about it? Fuck. I would have given her a massage a long time ago if I had known.
When I spent too much time beating myself up about not recognizing the physical toll this pregnancy had to be taking on her body, Sienna added, “I understand if the cuddling is asking too much, Roscoe. I get that it’s not where we are or where we’ll ever be, but I’ve been craving a hug for a long time.”
“Come here,” I demanded, though my voice came out husky.
I turned her body to face mine and wrapped my arms around her. Sienna’s belly made contact with my abdomen first, but I was still able to pull her close and give her what she needed.
Maybe it was because we were in the water—I couldn’t know for sure—but Sienna wrapped her legs around my waist at the same time she draped her arms over my shoulders. The second our bodies were connected, she sighed with relief.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized after a few minutes of silence passed.
She pulled her head back from my neck and asked, “For what?”
Our faces were inches apart when I replied, “For not giving this to you sooner. Sienna, baby, this is new for me. There’s so much stuff happening and changing in my life, in both of our lives, and I’m really trying to do the best that I can. I don’t want you to be disappointed, but I’ve never done this before. It would really help me out if you could just share these things with me from here on out.”
“Roscoe, you’re doing a fantastic job already,” she insisted.
“None of the books I’ve read said anything about this,” I explained. “I guess they assume that fathers who are reading those books are either dating or married to the pregnant woman.”
“Yeah,” she murmured. “Probably.”
I could have sworn I heard a twinge of disappointment in her tone.
At that, I loosened my hold on her and pressed my fingertips into the muscles lining her spine at her lower back.
The sexiest moan I’d ever heard escaped from the back of her throat.
“Feel good?” I asked.
Her hands had framed my head at the base of my skull, and her eyes were closed. “Yeah,” she breathed. “It feels so good.”
Slowly, I walked backward until I reached the ledge at the side of the pool. I sat down on it, which meant that Sienna’s ass landed in my lap. I was sure she could feel my cock beneath her, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Hopefully, it just made her realize how sexy she was and how I attracted I was to her.
Her eyes opened a moment later, and I could easily tell from the look in them that she had felt it. What I couldn’t figure out was whether she thought that was a good thing or not.
And because I didn’t want her to not get the massage she probably desperately needed, I brought my hands to her hips and urged, “Turn around and let me give you a real massage.”
Something swept through her face, but before I could tell if it was relief or disappointment, it was gone.
Sienna turned her body around and sat on the ledge between my legs. Then I started at her shoulders and began massaging her. If I thought that not having her ass in my lap would help with my erection, I was wrong. Because having my hands on her body and listening to her moan was the alternative. And that did nothing to help out my predicament.
In fact, I didn’t get any relief until two hours later when we finally went inside to shower. She used the shower in the guest bedroom, and I used the shower in mine. And then I stroked my cock until I came, all the while recalling the sight of her in that suit, the feel of her body pressed close, and the sounds of her moans.
The relief I received was short-lived, though. Because after we had dinner, I gave Sienna something else she had needed.
I cuddled with her on the couch. And having her ass pressed against my cock while my hand rested protectively against her stomach didn’t help.
No matter what, I wouldn’t get the kind of relief I was truly hoping for, so I decided right then and there that I liked being like that with her a little too much. And I promised myself that I’d give that to her every night for as long as she’d let me.
My only hope was that she’d still want me to give it to her long after the baby was born.
Twenty
Sienna
I needed to get out.
Luckily, I had the perfect excuse to do so.
It had been more than a week since Roscoe and I had whatever it was that happened between us in his pool and on his couch. And while we hadn’t had what we did in the pool again since that day, Roscoe had cuddled with me every night since then.
The first night was nice.
I mean, he’d given me precisely what I needed, and he’d done it marvelously. I had to assume it was the pregnancy hormones making me feel the way I did, but I was struggling for days to think of anything but sex. Specifically, sex with Roscoe.
Unfortunately, he’d given me no indication that it was something he was interested in pursuing or having with me again. Sure, he’d talked once or twice in conversation about it, but not as it being something he wanted to do in that moment. I was relatively certain that ship had sailed.
When the next night came along and he cuddled with me on the couch again, I went from feeling like he was simply being a good guy giving the mother of his child some comfort to something else. I just couldn’t work out what it was.
Because on one hand, I’d felt it.
I’d felt him.
In the pool and on the couch.
He’d been turned on. The evidence was there. But when he made no move to do anything about his obvious arousal, I had to wonder if it was simply a natural reaction between a guy and a girl.
Roscoe had indicated that he thought I was sexy. Of course, I didn’t know if he was simply trying to make me feel good about my changing body or if he actually meant it. He insisted it was how he really felt, but if that was the case, why didn’t he do something about it?
Night after night since that first night, I was getting something I’d been craving for a while. And while I got that, my mind started messing with me.
Roscoe said he wanted to be a good dad. He never said he wanted to be a good boyfriend. His life, at least until I had moved in with him, had been all on his terms. He did what he wanted, partied, and enjoyed himself.
It began to hit me that with the exception of the night that
he’d left me to presumably go and see Maria, he’d been spending every day and every night with me. He wasn’t out looking for his next conquest. It left me feeling utterly confused and even a little worried.
So, I needed to get out so I could get some advice.
And tonight was going to be that night.
But I needed Roscoe’s help first.
“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked as I walked into the house. I’d been outside swimming—something I’d found I was really enjoying now that I no longer got the exercise from my job.
“Sure, what’s going on?”
“Would you mind taking me home to my apartment after I change out of this suit?” I asked.
Roscoe immediately grew alarmed. “Take you home?” he repeated. “Like… you want to go there permanently?”
I shook my head. “No. I mean, unless that’s what you want. Is it what you want?”
“Absolutely not.”
I nodded my understanding and explained, “I’m going to go get changed first, but then I’m going to call Addy. I need her to come over to my place to help me with something, and since my car is still at my apartment, I wanted to know if you’d take me. If not, I’m sure I can call her and have her pick me up here.”
“I can take you home, but what do you need help with?” he asked. “Is it something I can help you with?”
I bit my lip. “It’s a girl thing,” I shared.
His brows pulled together. “A girl thing?”
I nodded.
“I’ll take you home if you want, but you can just have her come here, too,” he offered. “She’s my sister, so I’m completely okay with her being here.”
“Well, I kind of need to go back to my place anyway because my dress for the baby shower tomorrow is there,” I told him.
The crease formed between his brows again. “Is that what you need Addy for? To help you with the dress?” he asked.
God, this was mortifying. “No. Yes. Well, sort of.”
“It’s fine. You don’t have to explain it to me. I realize it’s not really any of my business. I can take you whenever you’re ready to go.”