by Amy Brent
At the sound of her haughty voice, my heart fell. Was this the stupidest thing I’d done yet?
“I guess I could’ve told them you were busy.”
“Okay, good. You can tell them that,” she said simply.
“Hey,” I protested. “That’s not fair. You’re not actually busy.”
“How do you know that?” she countered.
A pause.
“I just do, okay? Now, I know it was kind of a jerk thing for me to do, but can you just cut me some slack here? I was afraid that if I just asked you in advance like a normal person, you’d either say no immediately or say yes, then bail at the last minute.”
There was another dangerous silence. I could almost hear her efficient brain clicking along. As much as what I’d done was wrong, we both knew I was probably right. Kathryn was probably in no mood to see my parents, and I could hardly blame her. Not after everything that had happened between us and how complicated things were now. Even I was a bit nervous.
“They’re really excited to meet with you,” I said truthfully. “Unlike me, they seemed to be able to forgive you for the whole secret investigator thing immediately. In fact, they were the ones who kept pestering me to get back in touch with you.”
“So that’s the only reason you’ve been trying to talk to me,” she concluded.
“No!” I sputtered quickly. “Not at all. I was just saying that to—”
“Okay. Fine.”
“Woo!” I said.
“But I don’t like this,” she said, and I could almost see her glaring at nothing in particular. “And I don’t think this is fair since we haven’t even talked things through yet.”
“I know,” I said guiltily. “About that, I just wanted to say—”
“You want to do this over the phone?!” she asked incredulously.
“No!” I protested quickly. “I just wanted to say that we can talk right after lunch. Scout’s honor.”
“You haven’t proven yourself on that front yet,” she said dryly.
I managed a nervous laugh. “You’re right, and I’m sorry, but I promise, we’ll get to talk after you see them. If you really want, I can reschedule it—”
“No. It’s fine,” she relented. “I’m just nervous. That’s all.”
“I am too,” I said. “I am too.”
Once I hung up, I realized I hadn’t confirmed exactly when I was going to pick her up, which was supposed to be in ten minutes. But I figured it had basically been implied.
So, I drove up to her apartment, and waited.
And waited and waited.
I called her.
“Are you coming?” I asked with more worry than irritation.
“Be right there,” she said. “I was just trying to decide what to wear.”
“I would say wear what you usually do, but—”
“Shut up,” she said with a laugh, hanging up.
I smirked. As much as I’d have loved for her to wear one of her ridiculously sexy dresses, those were definitely not appropriate to see my parents in.
***
A few minutes later, the inevitable moment had arrived. We were on their doorstep, and the door would be opening any second.
“Oh, hello there,” my mom said, looking nervous and happy all at once. She was wearing an apron with a bunch of balloons in flight on it, a perfect metaphor for what I felt like doing right now—flying far, far away. How could my parents meeting Kathryn—my mistress, my baby mama, my not sure what else—possibly go well?
We all stood there awkwardly for what seemed like a full minute. Inside my head, the same vicious voice from before kept at it: There’s no way they’re going to accept this; they probably think you’re a fool for trusting Kathryn after all she’s done.
But when my mom quite unexpectedly threw her arms around Kathryn in a warm embrace, all my fears melted away.
“Are you okay, dear?” she asked, her sweet face peering into Kathryn’s pale one with concern as she drew back.
Kathryn nodded, brushing some stray tears away as she visibly relaxed. What a relief this all was. Sure, I’d known I was crazy afraid, but until now, I hadn’t even realized how much. I could only imagine how scared Kathryn had been.
My dad approached from behind the door and put his plaid-covered arms around Kathryn too. Right now, this all felt surreal. It was working. Mom and Dad were accepting Kathryn, the woman I loved. This was all going how it was supposed to.
I gave Kathryn another reassuring pat on the shoulder, not wanting to remove my hold. I wanted to cover her in my arms and let her know I would never let anything bad happen to her. Everything was going to be all right.
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” my mom said, taking Kathryn by the arm and leading her into our house. “Just hormones. That’s all. It’s perfectly normal.”
She let out a little laugh.
“I remember one time when Joe brought home my favorite s’more ice cream. I was so touched that I bawled for nearly an hour after.”
We all laughed, although my dad sardonically said, “Don’t remind me.”
Only a few steps into the kitchen, Sally trotted up, her bushy golden tail waving back and forth. At the sight of Kathryn, she got up on her haunches and placed her paws on Kathryn’s belly, snuffling her nose into it.
“Down, girl,” I said, giving her an affectionate pat, “and be careful. That’s my baby in there.”
We all laughed again, although mine ended first. As easy and casually as I had said it, I was still riddled with nerves. We hadn’t really established anything, including what place I’d have in the baby’s life.
Lunch passed pleasantly enough with conversation that was determinedly not baby-related. Any time one of my parents would shrewdly try to bring up the subject, I would give some vague answer before quickly changing the subject, shooting Kathryn a shy smile. I figured it was the least I could do for her in the awkward circumstances I’d basically forced her into.
For Kathryn’s part, it seemed as though she couldn’t tell whether she should smile back or glare at me outright. Maybe she was wondering what I was thinking. Was my reluctance to talk about it due to me trying to be fair to Kathryn, or was I just skirting around the issue altogether?
An hour or so later, we walked out of the house, waving back at my still-smiling parents. All I could do was stretch my arms out in relief.
“See?” I said, opening Kathryn’s car door for her. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”
As I got in beside her, she said, “I guess not.”
“You guess not?” I said.
She turned away from my quizzical look. “We can talk about it at your place.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” I muttered.
I knew what had just happened was difficult, but did she have make it any more unpleasant than it already was?
At my place, I headed straight to the wine cupboard, which I ransacked for a good minute before I popped my head out.
“So, the whole pregnancy thing—”
“Means you should be presenting me with every wine bottle in the house,” Kathryn said sweetly.
I froze for a minute, caught her cheeky smile, and tossed an empty paper wine bag at her. “You almost had me for a second there.”
She laughed, settling on the leather couch in the living room.
I soon came in, armed with two martini glasses filled to the brim with a mysterious bright red liquid.
“Fruit juice,” I said with a sigh. “I figure if you’re going to suffer, I might as well, too.”
“How gallant of you,” she said, smirking and patting the space beside her on the couch.
I shook my head. “I set us up upstairs.”
Accepting my proffered arm, she allowed herself to be led down the hallway and up to my bedroom.
There was nothing noticeably different about the room, but in the bathroom en suite, the difference was obvious.
“You goof,” she said, aiming a
grin my way.
I’d flung a few of my silkiest pillows into the bathtub once again.
“What can I say?” I said. “I’m a sucker for a good idea.”
So, together, with an almost caretaker-like carefulness as I helped her into the tub, we settled in.
There, flopped side by side, sipping our fruit juice, we each waited for the other one to say something first.
The longer we waited, the more nervous I became. This was it, yet I still couldn’t seem to get the words out. Was I really going to back down now?
A glance over found Kathryn’s expression enraged.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” she snapped.
I carefully placed my martini glass on the wide bathtub ledge.
“Right now, you look like you want to crush that glass and stab me with the pieces,” I said with a half grin.
“Doesn’t seem like something to be smiling about then,” she said darkly.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “This talk is long overdue. I’ll admit it.”
Another silence. She looked like she was wondering what exactly I was expecting her to say. Was she supposed to fill the silence again? This was clearly on me. All that mattered now was what I said next.
“I guess I’m just trying to put this off more because, really, I’m terrified.” Some nervous laughter that didn’t sound like mine trickled out of my lips. “Kathryn, the truth is—”
My gaze drifted away, settling on my hands.
“The truth is, what you said in bed the other night freaked me out. It freaked me out because I feel the same, and I thought it was too much to expect you to feel the same thing too, to experience such an intensity so soon. And then, there’s the feeling itself. It’s so big and unknown and terrifying. Yes, it’s terrifying.”
I closed my eyes and straightened my shoulders, as if there were finally a weight off them for the first time.
“Mark had already teased my admission about loving you out of me, and it had felt right. But when you said it, I don’t know. I don’t know how to express how I feel about you.”
My eyes opened and sought hers out. There was an extra luster in them, as if she were both the happiest and saddest person I’d ever seen.
“I—love you,” I said with considerable effort, “but the word is terrifying. The implications are even more terrifying. You have to understand, I’ve never felt this way before.”
My words echoed through the room like they echoed through my mind. They had been clear enough. It was just that my mind couldn’t seem to accept them—to accept that they were real.
When my outstretched fingers found hers, everything suddenly made sense.
“I understand,” she said, sounding for the first time like she did. “It’s been the same for me too. This has been scary to say the least. This whole baby thing was a shocker. Everything changed in an instant. Anyway, we can go slowly. I’d like that.”
“Then I guess there’s just one more thing to do,” I said softly.
My lips sloped to hers.
Chapter 37
Kathryn
When his lips kissed mine for the first time with love, it was singular. Every bit of his feeling seeped into me.
Love wasn’t even strong enough a word for the feelings that were radiating between us right now. Our lips met as if it were our first kiss. Our hands swept over each other with the slowest kind of adoration. Eric’s hands settled on my ass and lifted me up. He swept me from the tub and into the shower. When his hand reached up to the showerhead, surprised laughter gurgled out of me.
“What are you doing?” I glanced down at our clothed bodies.
“Good point.”
Pressing me to the side of the shower with the palm of his hand as his lips whirled around mine, his other hand got to work on my dress. First, one strap. More kisses. Oh, did this feel good. Then, the other strap.
I got to work on his buttons, each one seemingly more problematic than the last. As I did so, unbuttoning one blue button after the next, my whole attention was concentrated on this, on the man before me.
It seemed incredible that Eric Black, the same Eric Black I’d read about in the tabloids, I’d chuckled about with Sadie a time or two in the past, this Eric Black was the one who was now ravishing me. The one who’d said he loved me. The Eric Black.
But, as I stripped off his shirt and took in his adoring eyes, I realized he was so much more than that. He wasn’t just the archetype of an attractive man. He wasn’t just sexy and great in bed. He was caring, fun, and, most importantly, we worked together. For whatever reason, whether it was physical or emotional, we did.
Together, we stripped off his pants.
We were now both in our underwear.
“I don’t know about this,” Eric said, uncertainly. “We haven’t known each other for all that long.”
Laughing, I ripped off his black and teal boxers.
“That’s more like it,” Eric said in a low voice.
Next thing I knew, my bra and panties were coming off. With our clothes scattered around the bathroom, we faced each other, and Eric shut the shower door.
“You’re so dirty, Kathryn,” he said in a low voice, his hand snaking down to my ass. “We just have to clean you up.”
Then he turned on the water, and everything began.
The droplets were warm, but Eric’s caressing hands around me were warmer. They followed the path of the hot beads, starting at my cheeks and rolling down my sides before dropping onto my chest. They paused there to whirl around my erect nipples. Then, down over the sweep of my hips to finally settle between my legs.
One hand then took its own path. When he pierced me with one finger, I groaned.
My hands went on their own exploration of the perfect muscles on his chest. The taut skin rippled under my touch. But I wasn’t here just to enjoy his shapely physique. No, my hands stroked down until they clutched what they really wanted.
When they clasped his raging erection, our eyes met.
“So hard,” I breathed with pleasure.
He responded by smacking a kiss onto my lips and then my throat, pushing me back against the shower wall.
“I fantasized about doing this to you, you know,” he growled as he jerked his fingers inside me harder.
Out of the path of the showerhead, the only thing rolling out of my lips now were moans.
“And how’s the reality of it?” I groaned back.
Looking down at me with satisfaction, Eric slipped his fingers out and replaced them with what we both really wanted.
As his dick entered me, he managed to moan out, “Way fucking better.”
His cock proved the truth of his words. Already, tendrils of desire were swirling from my pussy through the rest of me.
The hot water droplets were spilling down my legs, but I hardly noticed them. The real wetness was what Eric was sucking out of me.
He held me to the blue-tiled wall with the flat of his palm as our bodies shook together.
He leaned over to pepper kisses on my lips, to tug, knead, lick, and flick anything to fuel more of the desire my body felt.
Suddenly, he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back into the stream of the shower so that it was spilling down my back.
“No!” I squealed.
My whole body was now aching with want, but Eric wasn’t finished with me yet. Slipping his hand behind my head, he pressed his lips to mine as he enclosed himself within me once again. This newfound insertion shook me.
My knees practically bent out from under me. I was so close.
Eric thrust into me with all the wanton heedlessness we both felt. In and out, round and round, faster and faster.
I almost felt like he couldn’t go any deeper and harder, and yet, somehow he did. We were both yelling, our want building. Our bodies rammed together in a final ceaseless dance destined for our climax.
When he spanked me, my orgasm spilled down my body al
ong with the hot beads of water, shaking with me, until it reached my pussy.
The world was one wet black cry.
Desire peaked. Algorithms of want and pleasure crashed repeatedly into each other. Our bodies spilled onto each other and finally collapsed. The heap on the ground was us. I didn’t even know where my limbs were until Eric started stroking them.
“At least this time, cleanup will be easy,” he said with a little laugh.
After we had toweled off, we settled on the bed. Everything felt so clean and fresh and new. I felt tired and invigorated all at the same time.
My head was nestled in the crook of Eric’s arm, and although I couldn’t see his thoughtful, caring gaze, I could feel it.
“Why don’t your sister and you get along?” he asked suddenly.
My head was positioned on his chest, so I craned my neck to look up.
“Sorry,” he said, smiling uneasily. “It’s just something I’ve been wondering about all this time. You don’t have to tell me if you’re not comfortable, though.”
As I gazed at the soft corners of his worshiping eyes, I realized I was truly comfortable. I was more comfortable than I ever felt with anyone.
“It’s not a story I like sharing,” I told him. Closing my eyes didn’t help things. It only gave me more space to urge myself to back down, to not tell him. Now that things were finally good between us, it seemed crazy to now reveal one of the most shameful things I’d ever done. What if it changed his mind about me?
Opening my eyes, I took a deep breath. Yes, this was exactly when I was going to reveal it, right here, right now.
I craned up my head so I could lose myself in his eyes and the love there. Like this, cradled by the father of my child, the words spilled out.
“Sarah and I always had an on-and-off relationship growing up. She was always the star of the show, the super-popular, super-talented older sister. I was a bit more all over the place. Didn’t really know what I wanted, or even who I was. Sure, I was a bit of a snob near the end of high school, but that was because I wasn’t sure where I stood. Sarah seemed to have it all figured out, and, over time, I came to resent her for that. So, when she started bringing over her perfect fiancé, Stan, the resentment just grew. They seemed so happy together, so easy.”