The Baby Bump

by Tara Wylde

  On her thigh, my hand continues sliding higher and higher until, finally, it finds that magical place where her leg meets her body. I rotate my wrist, pressing my palm to her core.

  “Damn, you’re hot.” Even with her jeans between us, the heat radiating from her body is intense. My hand and cock ache with the need to bury myself in her, to feel her clamp down around me like she did last night when she climaxed.

  Lucy’s body jerks, and she growls with frustration as the seatbelt halts her efforts. She unsnaps it and pivots. Her next move has her straddling my lap so we’re chest to chest.

  Her fingers tighten in my hair, jerking me forward as she lowers her head and takes my mouth in a soul-searing kiss.

  Surprised and delighted with her boldness, I grab her ass with both hands, holding her in place, and thrust my hips upward, grinding my cock against her pussy as our tongues tangle together. It feels good—not as good as Lucy surrounding me, but it’s the next best thing.

  The SUV’s tires bump over something, the force settling Lucy even more firmly on my straining cock. My eyes cross as I continue kissing her.

  Something raps on the dark-tinted security glass that divides the driver from his passengers and the intercom crackles to life.

  “Mr. Jakes. Ms. Higgins. We’ve arrived.”

  Startled by the intrusion, Lucy scrambles off my lap and hurls herself to the opposite side of the SUV, crowding against the door. She covers her mouth, her eyes wide and embarrassed above her hand, her face turning the most stunning shade of red.

  Refusing to believe that anything that felt that good could possibly be humiliating—besides, it’s not like our bodyguard could see what we were doing through the darkened glass, and even if he had, so what, he’s an adult—I throw back my head and laugh.

  Lucy makes a small squeaking noise and shoots me an accusing glare.

  “You’re a fast learner,” I tell Lucy between gales of laughter. “Anyone who saw you a second ago never would have guessed that you were a virgin less than twelve hours ago.”

  “Pervert.” Lucy rolls her eyes and reaches for the door handle. “Where are we?”

  “Munsfield Airport.” Laughter under control, I focus on taking long steady breaths and try to ease my arousal. It’s not easy with Lucy sitting in the same car.

  “Really?” Lucy twists and stares out the window. “Why?”

  “Because we’re going on a short, quick trip.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Detroit.” Convinced I can walk without limping or disgracing myself, I unsnap my seatbelt. “We’re going to a baseball game.”

  Ryan

  “Wow.”

  Eyes as big as the flying UFOs Nathan told me about on the short, private flight from Munsfield Airport to an equally small one on the outskirts of town, Nathan looks all around him. “This place is massive!”

  “That it is, buddy.”

  For the first time since seeing Nathan at the airport, I start to breathe easier. When I stepped out of the SUV and spotted him, he looked bad. Terribly gaunt and pale with huge shadows under his eyes. Far worse than when I’d first met him. I actually called Christian, convinced he’d made a mistake when he’d said that Nathan was strong enough to fly and attend a baseball game.

  Christian assured me that he’d given Nathan a good going over just a half hour earlier, and that it was his professional opinion that the distraction from his health problems would be the best medicine in the world.

  He was right. Like always.

  We haven’t even made it into the ballpark, and already Nathan has a little color in his cheeks and his eyes are brighter. There’s no denying that he looks sick, but at least he doesn’t look like death has him by the hand.

  Spotting a couple of people gaping at me and raising their camera phones, I wind my arm around Lucy’s neck, pulling her in close to me and dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

  It’s funny, over the past few years, I’ve started resenting how fans and their cameras always seem to be intruding on my life, but now, since their presence means I can touch Lucy as much as I like according to the terms of our relationship agreement, I’m starting to wish there were more of them around.

  Keegan, the bodyguard Margo found for us, consults his cell phone and glances up at the row of signs suspended from the ceiling. “This way,” he tells us in a voice that seems too high pitched for a man of his size.

  Nathan, who developed an almost immediate hero worship for Keegan, starts to follow, only to hesitate and look in the same direction as the camera holding fans and the rest of the crowd mill. “Don’t we have to stand in line with everyone else?”

  I give him a quick, light punch to the shoulder. “Not when you’re with me. When you’re with me, you get to enjoy the fast track.”

  Nathan starts to follow Keegan, but doesn’t look like he’s convinced. “Will we miss any of it?” Just the thought of it makes his lower lip tremble.

  “No way, buddy. I promise you won’t miss a single second.”

  “Okay.” Nathan follows behind Keegan. “I sure hope you know what you’re talking about,” I hear him mutter as he goes.

  Lucy slips her hand into mine. She tips her head up and smiles at me. With a sudden jolt, I realize it is the first time I’ve seen her eyes light up with genuine pleasure. I wonder if this is how she looked before her high school sweetheart was killed in the car accident that left her scarred.

  The thought triggers a sharp stab of jealously. Melancholy follows close behind.

  How can I, or anyone else for that matter, possibly hope to compete with someone who Lucy not only loved, but lost in such a tragic manner?

  “I can’t believe you arranged all of this.” She squeezes my hand. “I can’t even begin to figure out how you made this happen.”

  She says it like I suddenly came up with the cure for cancer, when all I really did was happen to check the Boston Red Sox’s schedule and realize that they were playing a game in Detroit’s Comerica Park, which is a really short flight from Wisconsin.

  Once Christian confirmed that medically there wasn’t any reason Nathan couldn’t make the trip, and that the outing would do him a great deal of good, I asked Margo to make it happen.

  I look over Lucy’s head, catching Margo’s eye and mouth a quick thank you. She really pulled out all the stops with this one.

  “Oh cool,” Nathan cries out. “We’re really going to be here! This is wild!”

  One of the most impressive things Margo did was arrange for us to watch the game from the comfort of a private box, which includes a row of prime seats right in front of it.

  Jenna, one of the biggest baseball fans I know, grins and hurries up the stairs to the box. She throws a grin over her shoulder at me. “Now this is what I call a smart way to use your money.”

  I stand there, holding Lucy’s hand and watching with sheer delight as Nathan darts from end of the private box to the other, checking out every single aspect of it.

  “This is something he’ll remember for the rest of his life,” Lucy says.

  “Yeah.” I think of the statistics Christian showed me, of all the kids who are just like Nathan, some even considerably worse, who are stuck at home or in hospitals as they fight for their lives. “But it isn’t enough.”

  Lucy releases my hand so she can cup my face between hers. “Don’t ever underestimate the importance of helping a single person. It’s a huge deal. And you are doing more. You’re getting ready to film a kickass promo video that will help people understand the importance of organ and tissue donation, and by doing so, who knows how many lives you’ll save?”

  Lucy’s gaze holds me in thrall. “You’re a good man, Ryan Jakes. Don’t ever think otherwise.”

  She stands on her tiptoes and places a chaste, closed-mouth kiss upon my lips. It’s a kiss that’s meant to soothe, not turn on. Yet, even though it’s completely lacking heat, something inside me shifts and crumbles.

  I swallow and
accept the truth. This fling with Lucy is more than an attraction. I’m falling for her fast. At the current rate things are progressing, there’s a chance that this thing developing between us could turn into a once in a lifetime love affair.

  The thought should scare the hell out of me. It should send me running for the hills, but it doesn’t. In fact, instead of panicking, I feel oddly peaceful as I take Lucy to her seat and settle in to watch baseball.

  In a perfect world, the Boston Red Sox would trounce the Detroit Tigers, making Nathan’s day complete. But the world is far from perfect and it doesn’t matter how hard a sick little boy roots for his favorite team, sometimes they just strike out. Over and over and over again.

  By the ninth inning, with the Tigers leading by a stunning nine runs, it’s obvious that, short of an act from some divine power, there’s no way the Red Sox are going home victorious from this match up.

  Luckily, Nathan, who’s sitting beside me, doesn’t care. He’s having the time of his life. He screamed and hollered when the Red Sox scored their single run, but thanks to the excitement of the hometown crowd, he’s equally happy when one of the Tigers crosses the home plate.

  He’s a bundle of excited energy and, as long as you don’t look at him too closely, you can’t even really tell that this little boy is in desperate need of a new kidney and pancreas.

  “Having a good time, buddy?” Not that I really need to ask – the wide, delighted smile that stretches from one ear to the other is proof enough.

  “The best,” Nathan shouts. “Thank you, Ryan!”

  Nathan’s gray eyes nearly bug out of his head and his mouth forms a perfect O. The change in his expression happens so quickly I panic, convinced that he’s having some sort of episode.

  “Nathan,” I demand. “What’s wrong?”

  Hearing the worry in my voice, Lucy, sitting on my other side, shifts in her seat, leaning so close to me, her soft breasts press against my arm.

  Nathan doesn’t say anything but points straight ahead.

  The enlarged faces of myself, Nathan, and Lucy are plastered across the jumbotron. The words Kiss Cam dance on the top of the screen.

  Nathan tugs on my sleeve. “I know how these work,” he tells me, his voice sounding way too serious for a boy of just ten years old.

  “How’s that?”

  He nods solemnly. “You have to kiss Miss Lucy.”

  “Really?”

  Another nod. “That’s the rule.”

  “Well, I sure don’t want to be a rulebreaker.” I turn to Lucy. “Nathan says the rules state I need to kiss you now.”

  Before she can answer, I cup the back of her head, drawing her close, and plant a kiss on her pretty mouth that makes the crowd go wild.

  As I reluctantly release Lucy’s mouth, I glance back over my shoulder at the private box Margo managed to procure, and where she and Jenna have spent the entire game locked in what’s appeared to be a serious discussion. I’m surprised, since Jenna is a huge baseball fan and has season tickets to watch Anaheim.

  Now they’re staring out the large windows that make up the front of the box. Margo is staring at the jumbotron, which now features a completely different couple. Her mouth is set in a grim line. Jenna is looking down at me. I wave, and she flashes me a wide smile that is as distinctive and wide as Julia Roberts’, and gives me a thumbs up.

  I return the gesture before turning back to watch the last few minutes of the Tigers’ victory.

  Ryan

  Keegan steers the SUV into a short driveway and parks in front of a farmhouse that’s a decade or so behind needing a new siding job. A few of the windows are lit, indicating the occupants are home and awake.

  “Hey, buddy.” I nudge Nathan, who is sound asleep on the SUV’s wide back seat between me and Lucy. It’s the first time he’s been still since we left Comerica Park. He spent the entire flight home talking about the game. It was wonderful to see him so animated. The excitement completely zapped his energy, and he fell asleep as soon as he was buckled into the car.

  He shifts position and mumbles something unintelligible.

  I glance up at Lucy, who is watching me with shuttered eyes. “Suggestions?”

  She shrugs. “This is your party. You figure it out.”

  “Come on, Nathan, we’re at your home.” I give his shoulder a shake. “You’ll be more comfortable in your own bed.”

  The house’s front door swings open and two adults step outside. The woman, dressed in jeans and a gray hoodie, wraps her arms around her middle and leans against the porch railing while the man, barefoot and wearing a Green Bay Packers T-shirt and flannel pajama pants, comes down the steps and walks across the yard toward us.

  I recognize him as Nathan’s father, whom I’d met at the airport just before we flew to Detroit.

  I slip out of the SUV.

  “How’d it go?” Nathan’s father asks.

  “Good. He seemed to have a great time.”

  “How’d he take the Sox losing?”

  I chuckle. “He barely seemed to notice.”

  “That’s good.” The man gingerly picks his way across the gravel and looks in the SUV at his sleeping child. He nods a silent greeting to Lucy. “When he’s here and they lose, he has a complete melt down, he takes it so personally, so I was worried.”

  He reaches out and grabs hold of Nathan, sliding him across the leather seat. Once the boy reaches the edge, his father scoops him up and cradles him against his chest.

  His eyes find mine. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough for taking him to the game tonight. His health means he misses out on a lot of the normal kid stuff, and even though he rarely complains, I know it bothers him. This is huge.”

  I nod and struggle to find something, anything to say. “Next time, you’ll have to come.”

  I hadn’t thought about a next time, but as soon as I hear myself uttering the words, I realize that I’ll do everything in my power to see that Nathan gets to go to more baseball games for as long his health permits.

  “Yeah, man.” His eyes, so much like his son’s, are sad, and I realize that, like me, he’s wondering how much longer his son will be strong enough to enjoy basketball. “That’d be nice. Thanks again.”

  Without another word, he picks his way across the gravel to the soft grass and carries Nathan to the house.

  I turn and watch as he mounts the stares. His wife moves in close to his side, reaching up to stroke Nathan’s cheek before moving to open the front door, letting both of them into the house. She gives me a little wave before following them.

  Pain grips my heart.

  They look so completely and totally normal. Exactly the kind of couple, exactly the setting a director would choose when they needed a happy Midwestern family for some scene in a movie. No one would suspect that a cloud of sadness and uncertainty hangs over them as they struggle to come to terms with the sacrifices needed in order to care for their very sick little boy.

  The more I think about what they’re going through, the more helpless I feel. I’d give anything to provide them with an instant solution to their problems.

  Lost in my thoughts, I barely notice Lucy as I climb back into the SUV until she unhooks her seatbelt and slides across the wide leather seat and curls herself into my side.

  My arms close around her, pulling her even tighter, not realizing how much I need her warmth, her steadiness, until I’m holding it.

  She reaches up and cups my cheek in her soft hand. “You’re a good man.”

  Her words are a balm to my bruised soul.

  I rest my cheek on the top of her head, breathing in her good, clean scent.

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  We don’t say anything else as Keegan backs the SUV out of the driveway and points it in the direction of home. Each of us is lost in our own thoughts.

  Just before he turns onto Lucy’s road, I hit the intercom switch.

  “Keegan?”

  “Yeah.” The SUV’s interco
m system makes his voice sound hollow.

  “Do mind if we make a slight detour? Make a stop before going home.”

  There’s a long pause. “I don’t know how safe that’d be.”

  The only bad things that have happened are a threat on a piece of paper and the violent, meaningless keying of my rental car. “I think it’s okay to chance it.”

  Another long pause. “Okay.” He doesn’t sound convinced.

  “Thanks.” I rattle off the address. Keegan feeds the information into the SUV’s navigation system and then starts driving out of town.

  Lucy tips her head back to look at me. “Where are we going?”

  “There’s something I need to see.”

  Ryan

  “We’re here, Mr. Jakes.” Keegan’s voice floats through intercom system.

  Lucy’s body, still curled into mine, stiffens a little as she turns her head to peer out the side window. Waves of curious energy roll off her.

  My stomach does a little twist as I lean closer to the mic. “We’re not going in. Just pull over to the side of the road for a minute or two.”

  “Sure,” Keegan responds.

  I open the door with shaking hands and get out of the SUV. Lucy gets out of the same door and stands beside me. Together we look at the house.

  It’s not large, just a single floor, three-bedroom, block style home that was an economy special back when it was built in the late ‘50s. A small front yard stands between us and the building. A dense Wisconsin forest is behind.

  “What is this place? Who lives here?” She glances at the mailbox that has the name Bristol on it.

  “It’s where I grew up.”

  The place has changed a lot since the last night I saw it, on the night I graduated high school. Someone added a new coat of bright yellow paint to the exterior. It looks like they were preparing to plant a small garden in the narrow side yard, and a hanging basket full of cheerful mums hangs beside the front door.

  It looks like a nice house. A pleasant, safe pace to grow up. A good, solid place that’d provide shelter from any storms with lots of space for kids to run wild. Just like looking at Nathan’s family one would think they’re a perfectly normal, happy household, looking at this place doesn’t tell the full story.