Renewed (Shattered #3)

by Heather D'Agostino

  I sat there stunned momentarily before I placed my hand in his soft sandy hair. "I do get it Nick," I whispered as I dragged my fingers across his scalp. "I love you too, but this baby," I glanced down at my belly "she's going to change the world…I just know it. I have a purpose, and so does our daughter."

  "I know you think that," he mumbled into my lap, "but what if your purpose is to be with me?"

  "I'm gonna be fine," I murmured as I continued to play with his hair. "You'll see…I'm going to keep doing what the doctor told me to do, and when it's time for her to be born…we'll both be fine."

  "I wish I could believe that," Nick muttered. "I really do, but I'm trying to be honest here. I'm scared. Like really scared, and the fact that I'm supposed to be comforting you and you're the one comforting me makes me even more scared."

  “We can comfort each other,” I tried to smile, but I knew it looked forced.

  "I wish it were that easy," he lifted his head to look at me.

  "It is," I cocked my head to the side as he rocked back on his heels.

  "How can you be so sure?"

  “Because I love her so much already…I know we’re gonna be fine. You’re going to make a great dad,” I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. “Now…I need to take a shower. Wanna help me?” I offered a coy smile.

  "You don't have to ask me twice," he smirked as he stood and offered me a hand to stand. "Come on," he tugged gently as he stalked toward the bathroom. Oh yeah…Nick was on a mission. The conversation we'd just had had been pushed to the back of his mind as he stormed into the bathroom and ripped his shirt off over his head.

  ooooooooo

  Nick

  As much as I wanted to come off as unaffected by our conversation, I couldn’t. Leah was making choices that I didn’t agree with. She said she understood, but I don’t think she truly knew the depth of my concern. I had a feeling if our roles were reversed, she’d see things differently. Right now though, I was going to lose myself in any comfort she was willing to give, and it seemed tonight's was coming in the form of a shower.

  I tugged her behind me as I stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door behind us. I ripped my shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor as I pressed myself into her giving her a hard kiss. She yielded to me right away as she leaned against the bathroom counter. Her baby bump created an interesting obstacle between us, but I was getting used to it. When I reached for the bottom of her t-shirt I paused. Leah leaned back and grinned.

  “What are you waiting for?" she teased as her eyes scanned down my body.

  "I'm not sure," I stepped back to admire her as I reached behind us and turned on the shower. When I stepped back into her embrace, I glanced down to notice she'd kicked off her sweatpants. The t-shirt she was wearing was one of mine, and even though it was big, it barely covered her due to the baby.

  “You look so hot standing there,” I smirked as I grabbed the shirt once again. I tugged it up her body as she raised her arms letting me remove it. “Damn!” I muttered as I stepped back to admire her. There she stood completely bare in front of me. Her tits had swelled because of the pregnancy. Now when I cupped them, they spilled out of my hands.

  "You make me nervous," she whispered as she pressed her thighs together.

  "Why?" I reached for the button on my jeans and began shoving them over my hips.

  "You stare at me like that," she looked away. "I know I'm fat."

  "You are not fat," I kicked my jeans off the rest of the way and reached in the shower to test the water temperature. We'd been dealing with the "I'm fat" thing for weeks. She just didn't seem to realize that in my eyes she was beautiful no matter what. "Come here," I reached for her and pulled her into the shower behind me. "Have a seat," I motioned to the shower bench I'd installed several weeks back so she could avoid standing.

  Leah slowly lowered herself onto the seat as I reached for the shampoo to lather her hair. After soaping it up, I rinsed it and moved on to the conditioner.

  "This feels so good. Maybe you could do this for a living too," she groaned as I massaged her scalp.

  “Only for you Baby,” I chuckled as her head leaned into my hand. She was so relaxed at the moment I could probably convince her to do anything. After rinsing her hair, I grabbed her body wash and began lathering my hands. She had one of those fluffy scrubby things, but why would I ever want to use anything other than my hands? I loved touching this woman, and I wasn’t about to give that pleasure up even for bathing.

  Leah jumped slightly when she felt my palms coast over her chest. Her eyes had been closed, and I don’t think she was expecting me to touch her so intimately. I stood behind her, and let my hands skim down her chest stopping to cup her breasts and squeeze them lightly. She moaned and let her head drop back, and it was as if a fire was set between us. My dick hardened even more, now to point I think it might have even been throbbing. I skated my hands down over her belly as I squatted behind her, the warm water doing nothing to slow me down. It ran over my face as I peppered her neck with light kisses. My hands moved over our child and on to more pressing areas, like the one between her legs.

  “Oh Nick,” she panted when she felt my fingers brush over her. She’d been really needy lately, and we weren’t allowed to have sex because of her condition, so I was trying to ease her frustrations in any way I could. My hands had gotten quite a workout lately. When my index finger brushed over the sensitive flesh, she jerked forward and groaned.

  "You like that?" I snickered as I lightly bit down on her ear.

  “Mmmmm,” she nodded slowly as she flexed her hips forward into my palm. "More."

  "My baby's greedy tonight. Did you miss me today?" I pushed another finger in as I twisted them to hit just the right spot. She didn't answer my question so I asked again, "Did you miss me today?" I paused with my assault forcing her to answer me.

  "Yes!" she growled. "Don't stop!"

  "Me too," I sucked her lobe into my mouths as I curled my fingers plunging them deeper. "Stop fighting it. You know you want this," I groaned as I added my thumb to the mix. "Let go!"

  Just as the words left my mouth, Leah released an earth shattered moan and came all over my hand as she squeezed my fingers in a vice grip. Her body trembled in my embrace as she panted trying to catch her breath and recover. I chuckled as I watched the lazy smile form. She turned her head to the side and placed a kiss to my bicep before beginning to turn on the seat.

  "What are you doing?" I asked confused as I backed up to make room for her legs.

  “It’s your turn,” she grinned up at me as I stood and began to back away. I had a painful boner and I knew I was going to need to take care of it. She eyed me as she reached out and wrapped her fingers around it. "Stop backing up, or I can't reach it," she giggled.

  “I can take care of that,” I eyed her warily.

  “I know you can, but I want too. Now come closer,” she reached for my hand that was hanging limply at my side and forced me to stand directly in front of her.

  With her sitting on the bench, my dick was directly in front of her face. I thought I was going to be getting a hand job when I saw her wrap her hands around the base of me, but I was wrong. I almost lost it right there when I felt her sweet mouth descend on me. Her tongue darted out and lapped at the tip almost causing me to lose my balance. I placed one hand on each side of the shower to brace myself as she took me all the way into her mouth. She'd sucked me off before, but tonight she was taking it to a whole new level.

  "Shit Baby! Slow down!" I gasped as she hollowed her cheeks.

  She answered by sucking harder and this time grabbing my thighs to hold me in place. One hand lightly cupped my balls while her tongue began to swirl around the tip. I’d had several blowjobs in my life, but nothing could have prepared me for this one. I’d never seen her like this. It was like she’d been taking classes or something.

  “Whoa…Leah…Baby…that feels…” I couldn’t string more than two words together at the m
oment and as she took me impossibly deeper I tried to warn her I was ready to explode. "I'm gonna… Leah…," I grabbed at her hair and tugged lightly, but this only made her double her efforts.

  "Holy Shit!" I howled as I erupted in her mouth. She continued to suck as she swallowed it all down, massaging me as I continued to twitch in her mouth. My legs trembled as I braced myself on the shower wall. When I felt her release me, I chanced a glance in her direction to see she was grinning at me. She licked her lips as her eyes darted back at my dick. He was still semi-hard but well sated.

  "Where…the hell…did that come from?" I panted as I tried to get my equilibrium back.

  She shrugged and continued to grin at me, "I don't know. I guess it's the pregnancy hormones."

  "That was…I don't know what that was…amazing just doesn't seem to do it justice," I shook my head as I reached to turn off the water. "Let's get you dried off, and then we can snuggle in bed. I don't think I've got any energy left after that for anything else."

  “Sounds good to me,” she slowly rose from the shower bench and stepped out onto the fluffy rug we had in the bathroom.

  After drying off, we both made our way into the bedroom. Deciding to forgo clothes for the night, we climbed into the bed naked and wrapped ourselves in each other’s arms. With the stress of the baby pushed to the back of my mind, I tried to relax and enjoy the moment for what it was…time with my girl.

  Chapter 10

  Leah

  When Avery showed up at my door on Friday morning, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I’d been trapped in this house for so long that I thought I might begin talking to myself. I'd become good friends with the TV guide, and could tell you when every talk show came on during the day. I'd seen every episode of White Collar and The Good Wife that Netflix had. I was even trying to learn how to knit by watching YouTube videos on my laptop. That wasn't going too well. I'd had to start over so many times that my baby blanket was looking more like a potholder. The baby shower was the one bright spot in my near future.

  “So…please tell me you don't have any of those dumb games planned," I looked out of the corner of my eye where Avery was perched on the bed and tried not to grin.

  "Hell no!" she growled as she gave me a look that asked if I was nuts. "You know that is not me at all."

  "Well, after the months I've had confined to this house I'm just thankful to be around other people," I blew out a breath as I flopped back against the pillows on the bed.

  "Yeah…about that," Avery smirked. "I thought that we might give you a little pampering today," she wagged her brows at me. "I brought stuff for mani-pedis if you'll let me touch your feet."

  I ground my teeth together. Avery and I used to paint each other's fingernails all the time, but I never let her touch my feet. I have super-sensitive feet, I mean very ticklish. I don't let anyone touch them. Nick had even gotten kicked in the face when he tried to start tickle war with me when we were younger. I always painted my own toenails.

  I glanced down the bed in the direction of my feet and frowned. I could barely see them, let alone paint them.

  "You're going to have to give in to me," Avery swatted my thigh.

  "I'll try," I sighed as I shifted. "I'm not responsible if I kick you though."

  "Noted," Avery giggled as she leaned over to grab something out of the bag. "Here…I brought you these," she tossed a couple of magazines at me. "Thought you might want something other than Sports Illustrated to read now and then."

  "You know me so well," I laughed. "You wouldn't happen to have any magic shrinking cream in there would you?"

  Avery furrowed her brow, "Shrinking cream?"

  "Yeah…for my fat ass," I grumbled.

  "Leah Carmichael I have heard enough about you being fat. If you say that again while I'm here, I will beat your ass!" Avery had stood and was glaring at me with her hands on her hips.

  "Okay!" my eyes flashed wide. "Calm down!"

  She tossed her hands in the air as she threw her head back and groaned, “I’ve got enough of my own problems, I don’t need you to add to them."

  “What’s wrong?” I patted the spot beside me.

  "I don't want to dump my issues on you," she grumbled as she sat down and buried her head in her hands. "You've got enough going on."

  "No…seriously…what's going on with you? You can tell me," I reached out to touch her arm lightly. "We used to tell each other everything…what's got you so twisted up?"

  Avery lifted her eyes to meet mine as she gave me a pitiful look, "You really want to know?"

  "Lay it on me," I smiled. "I can take it."

  "I figured out why Logan stopped calling me," she bit her cheek as her eyes started to tear up.

  "And?" I pressed her to continue.

  "He's fucking that bitch Becca," she growled. "I saw them practically doing it in the corner booth at Dave's the other night."

  "What?" I gasped as I lifted my hand to cover my mouth. "Why in the world would he want that?"

  "I have no idea!" Avery squeaked. "I thought he wanted me…I was stupid…I just hope he wasn't doing her on the side when we were together," she began to sob.

  “Logan Masters is a dick!” I ground out “and Becca Taylor is a bitch…they’re perfect for each other.”

  “I know,” Avery’s head bobbed as she agreed with me. “I know I’m better off…I just didn’t want it to be Becca. Anybody else I would have been ok with, but her…not so much."

  “You know she’s always wanted to be like us. She’s jealous,” I shrugged. “You had him first. She’s getting your sloppy seconds."

  "You're right," Avery wiped at her eyes and grinned. "I am better off."

  “Speaking of being better off…what's up with you and Cam?" I nudged her in the side.

  "What do you mean," she turned her head so I couldn't see her face.

  "I mean…you came here like two months ago and seemed to be really into him. I heard some of it," I groaned as I thought about the noises that had come through the wall that weekend. "Are you two together now?"

  "We're…I don't know what we are," she huffed and flopped back on the bed.

  "Well, what does he want?" I kicked at her as she tossed her arm over her eyes.

  "Your guess is as good as mine," she mumbled. "I mean…I thought it was going somewhere. We have amazing chemistry. He's great in bed, and he's hot."

  "But?" I nudged her again.

  "He's super serious about everything," she whispered so quietly that I almost missed the words.

  "I thought that's what you wanted?" I was confused as to what the problem was, and it seemed that Avery was just as lost as ever.

  "I do…I think anyway. I mean…we sort of went from friends to messing around. There was no dating, and once we got back home he acted like he just wanted to be my friend. I don't want to be fuck buddies, but he keeps trying to hide me."

  "Hide you?" I cocked my head to the side.

  “Must you keep repeating me?” she muttered. “Yeah…I went over to his house one night to surprise him, and Sarah’s parents were there visiting. They had come to see Aaron. When Cam answered the door, he wouldn’t even let me inside. It was like he wanted to make sure that no one knew about me. The next day he told me he was sorry, and invited me over to make it up to me, or so he said. When I went that night, he was all over me. It was as if the day before had never happened," she shook her head like she was trying to rid the memory. "It's like he's ashamed of me one minute, but then wants me to commit to forever the next minute. He confuses me, and I don't know what I want now," she grumbled.

  “Sounds like he’s afraid of getting hurt,” I assessed.

  "Well, I don't want to be hurt either, but this back and forth is killing me," Avery tossed her hands in the air.

  "He came this weekend with you, didn't he?" I narrowed my eyes.

  "Yeah," Avery nodded. "He was supposed to bring Aaron, but Sarah wanted him for the weekend so he came alone."

  "May
be you two can talk then…figure your shit out?" I smirked at her. "I've still got the earplugs.

  “Ha ha! Very funny!" she grumbled. "He's not sleeping in my bed tonight. He can't expect me just to welcome him in whenever he feels like it. It's his hand that will be doing the pleasuring until he figures out that I'm worth it."

  “Solidarity sister!" I lifted my fist in the air and grinned at her. "We'll have him begging you by Sunday night."

  "We'll see," she joked. "Nick's got him helping with some project that he's working on, and before you ask…No! I don't know what it is. He won't tell me," she squinted at me. "Now…let's eat some lunch, and then I'll help you get ready for the shower. People are going to start showing up in a couple of hours."

  ooooooooo

  After finishing a light lunch, Avery helped me get ready for the baby shower. Even though I was quite capable of taking care of myself, it was nice having someone there who could fix my hair and do my makeup. I hadn’t been pampered in so long that I had almost forgotten what it felt like. Nick had stayed hidden for most of the day, only coming out of the guest room to check and make sure we didn’t need anything.

  When I walked into the family room, the room Avery had chosen to have the shower, it looked like a pink can of paint had exploded. Streamers, balloons, and confetti were everywhere. She grinned at me as she watched my mouth open and close several times.

  "You like?" she waved her arms around.

  "It's…" I stammered as I searched for words to describe how I was feeling. "Ummm…pink?"

  "Well duh," she rolled her eyes. "It's for a girl," she looked at me like I was the crazy one.

  “How many party stores did you raid to get all of this?” I turned toward the table where some confetti shaped like pacifiers was sprinkled.

  "My mom helped," she shrugged. "She's got a lot of connections."