by Iris Parker
That was how it would go, no matter what we did together now. All I could really control was how we saw the change in our circumstances. If Alton and I got back together, then drifting apart like that would be slow and heartbreaking. If I remained strong, it’d simply be removal of temptation.
Although….
So. Much. Temptation.
I looked out across the water, staring back at Alton as he chided me for lying in the sun.
He needed to stay on that boat. The key to keeping him away from me emotionally was to keep him away from me physically. Only at a distance would I have the strength to stick to my guns and not get lost in his chiseled chest or gorgeous shoulders or sexy voice or kind smile or—
All I needed to do was apologize for my mistake, tilt the umbrella so it covered me again, and then pretend to fall back asleep.
Simple.
Easy.
No problem.
Except I didn’t.
I opened my mouth to apologize, but it didn’t quite work out like I’d planned.
“How about you come over here and make me go back in the shade?” I shouted across the lake, surprising even myself.
“If you insist,” Alton called, lighthearted and playful. “Viking warriors, to the coast!” he said to Erik and Ezra. The two boys hooted and laughed, then joined Alton in rowing back to the shore. My eyes went wide as the boat lurched, suddenly moving much faster.
As the boat got closer, I could see that it was really Alton doing all the work. His thick muscles bulged as the oars dipped into the water, propelling the boat with each mighty row.
I’d never taken the time to really stare at Alton’s back before, especially not when he was exerting himself like this. I should have been spared for at least a few minutes, until I could see him properly, but that wasn’t what happened. It was so damn easy to lose track of everything else when I watched Alton, and even seeing him from behind was no exception.
His bare back glistened in the sun, exuding every bit as much masculinity as any other part of his body. His shoulder blades rippled below the skin as he pumped his arms, and my heart sped up with excitement. I watched, transfixed as the mounds and planes of taut muscle and sinew all worked together in concert to control the boat beneath him.
He was glorious.
The boys were still pretending to be Vikings when they reached the dock. Alton got out first, and I immediately fell into his eyes. There was no malice or anger to them, only the satisfied gaze of a man about to plunder some new treasure. It occurred to me that I was that prize, and he intended to catch me.
Not that being captured by Alton was a bad thing in the slightest.
But still, some part of me didn’t want to be caught flat-footed, didn’t want to make it too easy. Without thinking I climbed to my feet and set out in the opposite direction, running towards a nearby hill—or at least the closest thing to running you can safely do while pregnant.
Not that I ever had any chance to begin with. Pregnant or not, I was no match for Alton. He overtook me in seconds, grabbing me from behind by the elbow and holding me in place. I tried to break free, a gesture that was even more futile than the first as Alton’s solid body refused to budge an inch.
“Now,” he said, leaning forward to whisper straight into my ear with a gravelly voice. “About that spanking….”
Jessie
I may have gone a little weak in the knees at that, but luckily Alton was already there to hold me up. I looked up at him, my mind swirling with contradictory emotions. Being so close to him scared me for what I might do, but yet the way he was holding my arm felt incredibly right.
“Heidi Mackie would probably never approve of that idea, you know,” I finally said.
“Oddly enough, the subject doesn’t come up in any of the chapters about sex,” Alton pointed out.
“Read those, did you?” I asked. We were clearly venturing into dangerous territory, even if the idea was exhilarating and filled my stomach with butterflies. “I told you that nothing was going to happen, Alton.”
“Is that why you suggested I spank you and then made me chase you down?” he pointed out, his eyes smoldering as he spoke.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” I agreed, blushing with embarrassment. “But I did try to warn you about what a mess I am right now. If I’m this inconsistent about flirting, can you imagine the disaster that’d be waiting for us if it got more serious?”
Alton opened his mouth as if to reply, then hesitated. His eyebrows creased together as he thought about it more, before finally being interrupted.
“Mom, is everything okay?” Ezra asked as he caught up to us. Alton’s uncertain look was replaced immediately by confidence as he shot the kids a grin.
“Brave warriors,” he began, returning to the booming voice he’d been using in the boat during their Viking game. “Ezrik and Erik—”
I giggled, relieved by the interruption. Now that Alton’s attention was elsewhere, I once again found myself struggling to avoid his allure. His warm, glistening chest seemed to call to me, not to mention the way he’d been doing such a great job with the kids all day. And even if he’d been presumptuous and overbearing about it, he’d certainly gone to great lengths to keep me safe and comfortable….
“Ezrik, huh? Is that some kind of new Viking nickname?” I teased.
“Listen not to the woman!” Alton called in a terrible accent that probably missed the Viking era by hundreds of years and just as many miles.
It was absolutely adorable.
“Warriors, we’ve captured a prisoner!” Alton continued, raising my arm—still held tightly—like a prize.
One look at the relief and happiness on Ezra’s face convinced me that I should probably play along. I decided to relax and go along with the charade, protesting and shouting with the best damsel-in-distress voice that I could muster.
My feigned complaints soon became very real, however, when I realized what exactly Alton intended. He was taking me straight towards the lake, my cries for help and mercy falling on deaf ears.
“Oh gosh, Alton, no!” I called with laughter, squirming in a vain attempt to free myself from his rock-solid grasp. He entered the water first, stepping out into a shallow beach-like area that immediately soaked my feet. As Alton waded in deeper, I managed to plant my feet just enough that he paused. We locked eyes, staring at each other as we arrived at an impasse.
“Vikings!” Alton called, breaking his silence as the kids crept up closer.
“Traitor!” I said, turning around just in time to see Ezra and realize what he intended to do. “Vikings—don’t—tickle!” I argued, but it was no use. Within moments I was laughing hysterically, and had lost all ability to resist Alton’s gentle tugs.
Stumbling deeper into the cool water, I splashed around helplessly as it went up to my chest. Alton finally let me go, but I instinctively reached back out to him and grabbed his shoulders as he swam out a little deeper.
“You’re crazy, you know that?” I giggled, huddling even closer to him. His body was much warmer than the water, and the heat felt nice.
“That was okay, though, right? I didn’t go too far?” he asked, his voice suddenly strained with obvious concern.
“Please relax,” I said soothingly. The man was so protective of me that it was clear he was turning himself a little crazy with worry over my wellbeing, and I wished I could do more to reassure him. “I’m not that fragile.”
Alton shrugged a little, a sheepish look on his face, and I could see that his fears hadn’t completely abated.
“I mean yes, I’m freezing now and my teeth are chattering, but I had fun. I need fun, too, you know,” I explained. My arm trailed down the length of Alton’s back before I could stop myself. “Still, I feel so much lighter than I do on the ground. This is great, and the boys clearly loved it. I just wish I were wearing something more appropriate for it.”
“Well, you could take off your clothes,” Alton pointed out.
<
br /> “Alton…,” I said with a frown.
“What? You’ve got a swimsuit on underneath that, right?” he asked, gesturing to the neck strap protruding from my t-shirt. “If you take off the outer clothes, we can ask the boys to put them on a branch while we swim a bit more. There’s still enough sun that they should be dry by the time we leave.”
I thought about it, and had to admit that he had a point. I turned around and shimmied out of my denim shorts and t-shirt, then carefully rearranged my bikini. Alton took the clothes and threw them back to the kids, framing the request to hang them up as a mission for them to undertake.
His elaborate wording worked wonders—although I was pretty sure you couldn’t use forsooth that way—and the boys scuttled off to hang everything up, as if it were a heroic expedition for brave explorers. I giggled, impressed by the skillful way he not only got them to help, but made them happy to do it.
When Alton turned back to me, though, I suddenly felt very exposed in front of him. Most of my body was hidden beneath the water, and he’d certainly seen a lot more than this, but I still couldn’t help but turn bright pink with embarrassment at how naked I felt.
“Still cold?” Alton asked, his warm hands sliding along my back. The warmth made me tingle, jolting me into further awareness of our situation. I nodded shyly as his palms explored further, traveling from below my shoulders to the curve just above my ass. I closed my eyes and bit my lip, everything in me hoping that he’d keep going. Despite my protests, I desperately wanted to feel his fingers slip past the hem of my bikini and touch me more intimately.
But his hands stayed where they were, until a few seconds later, when he pulled them back off of me. I whimpered quietly to myself, just barely avoiding an audible groan of disapproval.
“Want to swim a bit? It’ll warm you up, and the book says it’s good for pregnant women.”
“I’m not a very good swimmer,” I admitted apologetically.
“Oh, you’re not? Can you swim at all?”
“Maybe a little, yes. But it’s been a very long time,” I said, a distant memory of Stephen’s valiant attempts to teach me at college surfacing from nowhere. “As long as my feet keep touching the ground like this, I’m good. Any deeper than that, though….”
“I could teach you,” Alton said, sounding excited by the idea. “It would go fast, I bet. We could come out here every day, it’d be great for you and the baby.”
“Maybe,” I said, trying to remain non-committal as I remembered how exasperated Stephen had looked. I’d been reluctant around water even as a child, and the situation hadn’t really improved even after I grew up.
Alton didn’t push the issue further, however, and we ended up staying in the water for a long time. Splashing and laughing without a care in the world, the afternoon flew by in a blur. Even after getting hungry, I was still reluctant to suggest we stop and eat.
“You look pale,” Alton pointed out after things had calmed down and I’d started to feel tired.
“That’s because you won’t let me out in the sun,” I joked, pointing to the tall trees shading this part of the lake.
“Noticed that, huh?” Alton mumbled sheepishly.
“It’s not every day you find a man who manages to be so sweet and so infuriating at the same time,” I teased.
“What can I say? It’s a gift,” Alton replied as he made his way back onto dry land. Once he was out of the water, he turned back and offered his hand to help drag me out.
Grateful for the assistance, I didn’t think twice before accepting. It was a gentlemanly gesture, although that didn’t stop Alton’s eyes from going wide as I came out of the water and he got his first clear look at me wearing the swimsuit. I blushed, remembering my earlier embarrassment. My belly was so prominent that it seemed to take up all the space between us.
Gesturing for me to wait, Alton hurried over to the spot where we’d left our stuff. He returned a moment later with an extra-large towel, wrapping it around me and patting the water off my skin. Even through the fluffy terrycloth, Alton’s strong hands felt delicious on my body.
I took a moment to let him work his magic, enjoying the sensation. He rubbed the towel against me in gentle circles, running his palms up and down my back. It was like a miniature massage after spending so much time exerting myself in the water, and I didn’t complain when he continued past the point where the water was long gone.
Alton himself was still wet, and I could make out each individual drop of water on his chest as he stood in front of me. He was only inches away from my lips, setting my imagination ablaze as I wondered what would happen if I made a move. Resting my head against his solid frame, maybe even planting a subtle kiss while I was there. Or I could throw caution to the wind and give him a little nibble, marking him as mine as I pulled, sucked, and teased his taut flesh with my teeth.
“Are you okay? You seem tired,” Alton asked, and I struggled to bring myself back to reality. I shrugged, pretending like it was nothing. In a way it was nothing, just a bunch of idle thoughts. The fact that similar ideas entered my head constantly was only a detail, a consequence of that damn muscular chest on full display in front of me. Or his arms, if he was wearing a shirt. Or his neck, his lips, or—
Well, any part of his body.
So maybe it wasn’t quite nothing. I spent night and day trying to shoo away the damn sexual tension, but it never worked for long. The thoughts always crept their way back into my head, refusing to stay away no matter how much I tried to remind myself that it would be a mistake to act on them.
“It’s nothing,” I said, lying to myself and taking Alton along for the ride. “I’m fine.”
“You must be really hungry,” Alton pointed out.
“A bit, yeah,” I agreed, but that was putting it mildly. I was downright famished, although I was still happy that I’d squeezed in a bit more time with Alton before we needed to stop.
As we walked back together, I did my best to ignore the small thread of disappointment that Alton was trailing behind me by a few steps. I knew it was ridiculous to feel lonely when he was still right next to me, but I’d gotten used to the almost constant contact as we played around in the water. Now that we were back to normal, part of me missed that closeness.
I consoled myself by eyeing the picnic basket we’d brought out from the house. It paled in comparison to ogling Alton’s hard body, but my stomach gurgled in approval as I remembered the delicious food Nanette had prepared. The salad and sandwiches promised to be a wonderful meal, but my mind kept wandering back to the amazing looking dessert she’d packed for us. As usual, she had managed to outdo herself in that department.
Nestled beneath a layer of insulation and ice packs were four ant-proof mason jars, each one containing an individual homemade cheesecake. Topped with berries and other fruit, I wondered how I’d been able to resist eating one before we even left the house—let alone for hours as I played in the water with Alton.
Apparently, Nanette had taken my you’re not eating pie every night comment to Ezra as a personal challenge. A skilled baker, she had managed to come up with some irresistible dessert almost every night since we arrived. It always came after a balanced meal, although I did worry that Ezra would be terribly bored of my cooking once we returned to Boston.
For that matter, sometimes I worried that I would be terribly bored of my cooking once we got back. Nanette was practically a wizard when it came to food, and so far I’d yet to find a dish that she couldn’t nail perfectly. One night, I’d jokingly suggested she whip up a quick croquembouche, and she hadn’t balked even at that. Instead she’d just laughed and said she’d be happy to make me a wedding cake, if I promised to invite her to the wedding.
It had seemed like an innocent comment at the time, although suddenly I felt a lot less sure. Had she been trying to imply something was going on with me and Alton? Or maybe even suggest that there should be? That didn’t seem like her style at all, but after spending a whole day s
o close with him I couldn’t help but wonder.
We arrived at the picnic table just as I started to drive myself crazy with paranoia. The only explanation, I reasoned, was that I’d spent so much time near Alton today. I already knew it was bad for me to spend more time with him than absolutely necessary, but today I’d completely ignored that. I needed to find an excuse to get a few minutes to myself, just enough time to clear my head.
“I’ll set the food up for us. How about you use that time to, uh—” I began, stalling out mid-sentence as I realized there was nothing for him to do.
“While I do what?” Alton asked.
Good question.
“I don’t know,” I admitted finally. “Just go do something manly.”
“Right,” Alton grinned. “I’ll go hunt a woolly mammoth, and you set the table. Kind of old-fashioned, but I like it!”
“That’s not what I meant at all!” I protested, but no further excuse came to mind. After a moment Alton just nodded and gave me a big wink, then sauntered off towards the lake.
“You could tell the kids that we’re eating soon!” I called to him a few moments later, happy to finally have found a proper excuse.
Alton stopped and turned, nodding. “We’re eating soon!” he then called out to the kids, who were playing on the swings he’d set up for them a few weeks ago.
“We heard!” Erik answered, his voice clear.
“Erik says they heard,” Alton teased, and I blushed as I realized that they were obviously still within earshot. If I’d needed more proof that my brain stopped working when Alton was near, this was it.
Hoping to clear my head and forget about Alton for a few minutes, I got to work taking the food out of the basket and setting it all out on the picnic table. It was a simple job, and I was finished within a couple of minutes.
Feeling awkward with nothing to do, my mind began to wander—and so did my eyes. After just a few seconds, I couldn’t resist the urge to look back at the lake again. Alton had gone back to swimming while he waited for me, and he was zipping around with surprising speed. In less than ten minutes, his steady pace had allowed him to go out to the middle of the lake and then circle back around to our side, all while managing to look absolutely majestic in the process.