Winter

by Michelle Love

  “So, you’re like three months, already? We only have six months to get prepared for this. Is it a boy or a girl?” he asks as he’s getting pretty keyed up.

  “I have no idea. The test doesn’t tell you all that,” I say with a laugh.

  “You’re going to be a mom, Gia!”

  “You’re going to be a dad, Ryker!”

  His eyes dart back and forth then he’s asking, “What should we name it?”

  “We should find out what it is first,” I tell him and find his expression is priceless and I really wish I could’ve gotten a picture if it.

  “Gia, you aren’t messing with me, are you?”

  “I’d never do such a thing! How could you even say such a thing?” I huff and cross my arms over my chest.

  “Sorry, baby. Now it makes sense. All your bitchiness!”

  My eyebrows raise to new heights. “My what?”

  “Oh, shit!” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I always say the stupidest things. I think it’s the shock that had me saying such a dumb thing. I meant, that’s how come my poor wife has been having a hard time and I’m going to rectify that.”

  “I’d love it if you’d spoil me a bit. I’ve been feeling so tired and moody.”

  “I know!”

  My ire grows again. Then I laugh. “Ryker, you have little to no filter. Do you know that?”

  “Did I say something wrong again? Damn, baby. You need to teach me,” he says with a laugh.

  As we pull to a stop, the paramedics get out and he wiggles his finger at me and gives me another kiss. “I love you, Ryker.”

  “And I love you, Gia.”

  RYKER

  Sliding my fingers through her hair, I watch Gia as she lies back on our bed. “Swear it to me again, Ryker.”

  “I swear to you I’ll never leave you or our baby behind for any reason in the world. Other than God…”

  She places her finger on my lips. “I know about the one way out, you’ll have no control over.”

  “You’re a hero to me, baby.” Pushing her hair off her neck, I lean in and graze my lips over the column of her throat. “You looked like a warrior angel, sent to rescue me, earlier today.”

  Her hand moves over my shoulder then up to my cheek. “Ryker, if you knew the anger that was coursing through me when I saw those men surrounding you, you’d probably be afraid of me.”

  I have to laugh. “I am, a little.”

  “You never need to be afraid of me,” she says with a giggle. “I’ll never turn my powers of destruction on you.” She kisses me, sending me to the state her kisses usually do. A state of bliss and happiness.

  When our mouths part, I find her looking at me. Moving my hand over her pink cheek, I whisper, “You’re my world. I can’t believe I ever thought, for one second, that I could live a year or more without seeing your sweet face. And now that you’re going to be bringing our first child into the world, I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I can’t go a day without seeing you both.”

  “Are you saying that Mars is off the table for you, Ryker?” Her eyes dart rapidly as she searches mine.

  “I’m saying, you and I will make that decision when the time comes. I won’t be forcing anything on anyone. And my place is with you and our children. I’ll never leave you. Not ever.” Pulling her close, I kiss her again and feel her body warm under my touch.

  The long, hot bath we took has left us smelling of lavender and coconuts. Her skin is smooth and soft beneath my hands that roam all over her body. Cupping her ass in my hands, I roll over, pulling her on top of me.

  Her stomach is still flat as she’s not eaten nearly enough in the last three months. A thing I know is my fault. I’ll have to make sure she eats well from now on.

  As her body moves over mine, my cock stirs and thickens, filling with a need for her. Her hands move through my hair as our kiss deepens. Her legs move to straddle me as she settles onto my erection with a groan, “Ryker.”

  When her mouth leaves mine, so she can sit up and move her body up and down my cock, I find her tits bouncing. I have to touch them and move my hands up the sides of her waist, making a trail to them.

  Her stomach may still be flat but her breasts are already blossoming. They were never small but now they’re getting even bigger. “I love the way these feel.”

  “Wait until they’re full of milk.”

  “Are you going to one of those stingy mothers who never let Daddy’s taste what’s baby’s?”

  She nods and I groan as she also makes a little swirling action that makes my dick hit a very deep spot inside of her. “I bet I can talk you into giving me a taste, every now and then.”

  With a smile, she leans over, her tits dangle near my face. “You can have a taste now. If you’d like.”

  Pulling one into my mouth, I run my hands to her waist to hold her, lifting her some to help her make longer strokes. When her body tenses, I release her scrumptious tit. “What’s wrong?”

  “It hurts a little. They’re pretty tender. But do it anyway. I think the long period of keeping myself away from you has a lot to do with that too. Limber them up, hubby. I sure don’t want them to go unused until little junior arrives.”

  “Can do, Momma.” I pull one back into my mouth, being very careful to be easy with her. When she moans, I know I’ve found the perfect amount of suck, lick, and nibble to satisfy her.

  All I really care about is making her happy, pleasing her, worshiping her. With a sense of that, I roll her over on her back and change things up. She smiles and runs her hands over my cheeks. “I love you.”

  “I know,” I say and give her a deep thrust that makes her eyes close. “And I love you.”

  One of her feet move up the back of my leg then the other does to and she wraps her legs around me. Her arms move up my neck, holding on to me as I make deep strokes.

  Our bodies move up and down together until we’re both shaking and breathing hard. When her body lets go, mine does too. Our sounds fill the room, making me think we’re going to have to learn how to do this much quieter, once our little one comes along.

  With a long sigh, I move my body to one side of hers, not wanting to leave my weight on our baby that’s nestled inside his mommy. I stroke her stomach as I kiss her neck. “I can’t wait to see him or her.”

  “Six months isn’t a terribly long time to wait.” Her hand covers mine as I caress her tummy.

  “You say that but it sounds like an eternity.”

  She wiggles and moves around to face me. We hold one another as we look at each other. “I hope he has your eyes,” she whispers.

  “I hope she has your hair.” I push a lock if it off her face.

  “I hope he’s blessed with your plump lips.”

  I smile at her. “I hope she’s got your thick and lustrous eyelashes.”

  The way her hand feels as she gently touches my cheek, has me feeling sleepy and all too soon I’m taken over as we lie in our bed, basking in the glow of our love and how it’s created another person, neither of us can wait to see.

  GIA

  Waddling to the kitchen, I find our new cook, Consuela, making some oatmeal. “How did you know I was craving that?”

  She laughs. “You really don’t know the answer to that?”

  “I really don’t.”

  “Around nine, every evening, you get hungry. It’s either soup, oatmeal, or cereal. And I’ve figured out that you have a pattern. One night it’s the soup, the next it’s the cereal, and the one after that is the oatmeal.” She taps the wooden spoon on the side of the small pot she’s making it in. “After six months of making sure you eat right, I think I should be acutely aware of your eating patterns, Mrs. Crawford.”

  Sitting at the table, I pop a strawberry from the bowl of mixed fruit she’s already placed on the table, into my mouth then take a drink of the milk she’s put there too. “You do know me better than I know myself.”

  “And I love being able t
o help you.” She places a bowl of the piping hot food in front of me. “Now you let that cool while I make you some wheat toast.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The sound of footsteps comes down the hallway and into the kitchen Ryker comes in. “Sorry about how late I am.”

  “The drive from Orlando is a long one.” He leans over and gives me a kiss then rubs my tummy.

  “I missed dinner, due to a long meeting about that damn fiasco I was involved in,” he says as he sits down next to me. “Is there enough of that for me, Consuela?”

  “Of course,” she says then brings him a bowl too and a glass of milk. “Let me get you some toast, Mr. Crawford.”

  He takes a couple of blueberries out of the bowl and eats them as he looks at my stomach. “You know, if he’s not out by the end of the week, he’ll be making his debut appearance on Saturday with the doctor’s help.”

  “I know that, Ryker. I was just at the doctor’s yesterday. It was me who told you that.”

  “What I meant to say is, maybe we should stay in a hotel in Orlando. We’d be much closer to the hospital and you just said it yourself, the ride from Sebastien to Orlando is a long one.”

  Consuela sits down a small plate with our toast on it and I look up at her. “How do you feel about having yourself a little vacation while we stay in town? We wouldn’t need you to come back to work until we come home from the hospital.”

  Ryker claps his hands and gives her a smile. “I’ll pay for you and your family to go wherever you’d like. And I’ll send you there on the jet. I want you to know we really appreciate how well you’ve taken care of us both, and the baby.”

  She looks giddy as she smiles at us. “Oh, my! My husband and two daughters would love to see New York. It’s Christmas in two weeks and they’d love to see the tree and shop in the fancy stores.”

  “A New York holiday it is for you four then,” Ryker says with a huge smile. “Let them know that you will be going tomorrow. I’m going to take Gia into town with me in the morning. You can take off now, let the maid clean the kitchen up. And you’ll have a hefty bonus in your account too.”

  “We really do appreciate all you’ve done,” I tell her as she hops around with sheer delight.

  “I can’t wait to see their faces when I tell them the good news!”

  I get to eating my oatmeal and smiling away as I do. It makes me feel so good to get to do something for her for a change. The woman came in and took over the role of chef and chief nutritionist, like a boss.

  Turning my attention to Ryker, I ask, “About the meeting, what was it all about?”

  “The CIA had to get all of my information about what happened with the Mars mission. They’re putting together all the evidence they can find on the people who were actually involved in that. Americans were the only ones involved. Corrupt politicians, mostly. A few ranking military people too. The thing is, the other countries are now thinking about doing no more business with the U.S. because of that.”

  “None?”

  “Well, space business. That would put us having to figure out how to manufacture the boosters here. A thing I’m not looking forward to as I don’t trust the American companies that can do that. Not anymore, I don’t. They found out, it was several engineers from the main company that makes things like that, who fixed the boosters on the shuttle to blow up.”

  I shiver with the thought that my husband could’ve been killed. “So, what does that mean?”

  “It means, I might need to see if Damien would build a facility here to make the boosters. I have no idea if he could pull that off or not. It means our race for space may be more of a crawl behind all the rest of the world. Thanks to greedy people, here in America.”

  My heart goes out to him. I know he’s had this passion forever. “Things are falling apart, aren’t they?”

  He nods and takes a bite of his oatmeal. “If the space industry, here in America crashes, do you know what that will mean for Apollo Engineering and the companies that have joined us as affiliate partners?”

  “Bankruptcy.”

  He nods and I find myself not so hungry any longer. The houses, the cars, the money, all would be history. All because of some greedy individuals.

  “I’ve made wise investments for us, personally. We’ll be fine, no matter what. I’ll have my investment broker do the same for your family. The businesses might go under but we won’t.”

  “What about all the employees?”

  He shakes his head. “I can’t take care of everyone, baby. They’ll be on their own to figure things out.”

  With a nod, I put my spoon down and feel more than a bit sick. “When will we know about what the other countries will do?”

  “I’m not sure. The government is scrambling to get every last person who was behind the scam. So far, only the people who were actually at the facility have been captured. But they know there’s more behind it. Quiet individuals who cannot be trusted.”

  “This is not good.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  RYKER

  Arriving at the office after getting Gia squared away at the hotel, I find several members of my staff waiting outside. “Are we having an outside meeting I wasn’t invited to?”

  The receptionist, May, asks me, “Do you have something you’d like to tell us, Mr. Crawford?”

  “No, not really.” I look around at the eight people who are the first to arrive each morning and start to wonder about what’s going on inside the building my grandfather purchased when he began this whole business. “Would anyone care to let me in on why you’re all out here?”

  Tony, the maintenance man, steps forward. “The CIA and the FBI are in the building. We all stepped out because they’re going through everything and making us feel like criminals.”

  My eyes just about pop out of my head as I turn and haul ass inside to see why they’d be doing such a thing. I’m stopped as soon as I enter the door by a man in a dark suit and glasses. “Sorry, no one is getting in here today.”

  “I’m Ryker Crawford. I own this place. I just had a very long meeting with the CIA only yesterday. Why is this happening?”

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.” His answer infuriates me and I storm back out.

  “You all should go home. I have to make a visit to my lawyers,” I shout as I go past the waiting employees.

  “Are we getting paid for today?” one of them shouts.

  “I sure as hell hope so. But I can’t make any promises.” I get into my car and head out, hitting the call button on the computer screen to call my lawyers.

  “Davenport, Davenport, and Stephenson,” the receptionist answers the call.

  “I need to speak with any one of them.”

  “No one’s come in yet,” she lets me know. “If you’ll leave your name and number, I’ll have the first one to walk through the door give you a call.”

  “They have my number. Tell them Ryker Crawford needs to talk to them as soon as possible. It’s of the utmost importance.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Just as I end that call, I get one from the hotel I just left Gia at. “Hello?”

  “I’m looking for Ryker Crawford.”

  “You got him.”

  “There’s a problem with the credit card you left when you checked in earlier. Can you come back and give us a different one?”

  “I’m pretty busy. My wife’s in the room. She has all the same cards I do. Can you go up and let her know about the problem?”

  “Of course. Thank you, sir.”

  Shaking my head to try to clear it, I decide to drive over to my lawyers’ offices to meet them all in person. Something has to have happened to make the FBI join forces with the CIA and be looking at everything I have.

  Making a quick call to my accountant, I try to figure out why that credit card isn’t working. “Stimson’s Accounting.”

  “Hi, I need to speak with Roger, please.”

  “One moment, sir,” his
secretary tells me.

  “Roger Stimson here.”

  “Ryker Crawford here. I’ve had one of my credit cards turned down. Have you stayed up on all the bills?”

  “Yes, sir. Which one did they turn down?”

  “A platinum Visa.”

  “There’s no reason anyone should ever turn that one down. There’s no limit on it.”

  “Can you check into that for me? I’m pretty swamped today.”

  “Of course, I’ll get right back to you, Mr. Crawford.” I end the call.

  And right away, another call comes in and I see it’s Gia. “Ryker, you’re never going to believe this.”

  “Try me.” I tap the steering wheel as I sit at a red light. My nerves are shot!

  “Our card was declined here at the hotel. The manager came up here with a credit card reader to get another one and every single one of mine was declined. Even the debit card from the bank. Ryker, what’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure, baby. You don’t need to worry about a thing. You rest and relax.”

  “I can’t. They said I have to leave the room. The bellboy is being sent up to get our bags.”

  “What the…” the light turns green and I have to make a U-turn to go back to the hotel to straighten this shit out. “I’m coming. Wait in the lobby if they make you do that. The bastards!”

  “You sound pissed. Watch your speed, baby. Everything will be okay. You’ll see.”

  “I hope so. Sit tight. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  Ending that call, I make one to our bank in Orlando. An automated system answers the call, so I push zero to try to get to talk to a real person. Instead, I get this, “Hello, your phone number has brought up your account with The National Bank of Orlando. Our records indicate your accounts have been frozen. For more information, you will need to go into the local branch. Thank you and have a nice day.”

  How in the hell can anyone have a nice day after hearing that?

  Pulling up to the hotel, I stop as the valet comes to get the car. Rushing inside, I find Gia is sitting in the lobby with all of our things on a luggage cart. Heat flows through me as I hold out my hand to let her know to stay put and walk past her, to the front desk. “I need the manager out here now!”