by Melissa Blue
So good.
She moaned and closed her eyes, but that didn’t stop him. He kissed her, slipping his tongue just as deep. He filled her slowly until her pussy spasmed around him. He broke the kiss to bury his face in her neck as his thrusts turned jerky.
They just breathed afterward. Him looming over her and her limbs trembling from the orgasm. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she pushed at his shoulder. He hadn’t fallen fully on the bed before she was out of it, headed for the shower. She had to get away from him before she lost herself completely.
*****
Iris hadn’t settled behind her desk before her office door flew open and Ashley crashed in. Her friend’s face was bright with excitement.
“Oh, thank, God. I thought you were going to take another day to get settled.”
Iris adjusted her chair. Someone had been in her office, likely their boss, to find this or that. The small thing annoyed her. This was her space. “I told you I’d be here today. I’ve been going stir crazy at Porter’s. I’m sure I’m going to be snowed trying to play catch up.”
“You shouldn’t. I covered all of the important things that couldn’t be ignored. I’m actually here to help you catch up.”
“You’ve been in my office?”
“Was that a problem?”
Not if you weren’t territorial, but with this one thing Iris was. “You know I’m finicky about work.”
“I know. I tried not to screw up the filing system only you understand.”
She breathed out. “Thank you for covering for me.”
“It was nothing. I’ve hidden in your office over the years a million times or another, and I’m a quick learner.” Ashley fell into the chair across from her. “Figured it’ll be good practice when you take your maternity leave. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive three months without you. Who am I going to share office gossip with?”
“Me. I’m going to take six weeks and be back.”
Ashley opened her mouth to reply, but Iris’s cell rang. She held up her hand to answer Porter’s call.
“Good news, bad news,” he started as a greeting.
She relaxed in her chair. She’d expected a different kind of conversation after she ran for the hills after sex that morning. “Bad news.”
“I’m having to go New York earlier than I expected.”
“Again?” she asked before her brain could catch up to her mouth. Where he went and why didn’t matter. He’d asked to be there for the birth of their child. They’d agreed he would be.
“All right,” she said before he could answer. “I’ll see you at the next appointment.”
He was quiet. “Don’t you want the good news?”
She did, but only because his voice was the best thing to have rumbling in her ear. “Go for it.”
“It’s the twenty-first century.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Email exists. Facetiming. Skype. You can keep me updated on Junior’s progress. I’m going to be gone for a month.”
That sounded like an emotional trap but she felt warm anyway. “You’re not going to miss much in thirty days.”
“I didn’t see you for eight hours and you grew a stomach. A month? You might start to waddle.”
Her heart kicked into overdrive. Why did he have to be so charming and sweet at times? She tilted her head and glared at the ceiling. “None of that has anything to do with J—” She was not going to join the Junior bandwagon. Freud could have his field day since her father was one, but her son wouldn’t be. “Jonas.”
“Jonas?” he sounded affronted.
She bit her lip to keep the laugh in. “You don’t like it? I was really starting to warm up to that name. Bartholomew Jonas Hicks.”
Ashley slapped her hands over her mouth, but the loud laugh escaped anyway. Iris waggled her brows at her friend.
Seconds ticked by then finally Porter said, “I only like the last part.”
She unleashed her laugh. “That’s your last name.”
“I love it. The rest can go.”
“Fine. I liked Augustus better anyway.”
He groaned into the phone. “Iris...”
“Porter.”
“I’m heading out now. Email me when you get a chance and let me know how Junior is doing.”
“You meant to say Pythagoras? Something like Theodore for a middle name so he’s Pythagoras T. I know how much you love math.”
He hung up on her. She leaned back in her chair and laughed.
Ashley looked at her with a bemused expression. “I see the week together went well.”
She was still chuckling. “What do you mean?”
“He makes you happy.”
The laugh died on her lips. “He’s fun to poke at. He has a healthy ego and sense of humor.”
“Hmm-huh.”
“Don’t say it like that. It’s nothing. I’m just trying to get along with him.”
“In his bed? Because you have a I’ve-been-naughty smile.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.”
Ashley put up her hands. “Fine, you can teach me payroll since you’ll be gone for three months after the baby.”
“It won’t be three months. Like I said, I’m only going to take the six weeks.”
Ashley inspected her nails and blanked her face when she looked Iris in the eye. “You haven’t told Porter, have you?”
“Why would I?”
Ashley pursed her lips then nodded. “Right. I’m going to let you get to work.”
That should have been that, but a knot formed in her stomach. No matter how many times she told herself she and Porter were just…
Fuck if she knew.
That was the problem.
Iris + Barry
AUGUST
Email from: nodramaprincess
email to: phicks
I’m only eating six times a day. Small meals. Who cares if two of them are fried? I work out, and I don’t have to worry about how much I’ll weigh at the end of this thing. My current trajectory is at least a ton.
As for the picture of my stomach, see Abbot attached.
Email from: phicks
email to: nodramaprincess
Abbot? I know you’re just pulling my chain here, but Abbot? That’s the kind of name where you invite people to beat you up on the playground because clearly there is no God and your parents hate you.
As for the picture. Cute. Your belly button’s popped out. Are you waddling yet?
Email from: nodramaprincess
email to: phicks
Fine. Carrington Hadwin Bellamy-Hicks.
As for my belly button, I’ve cleaned it obsessively. I figure I won’t ever see it again like this. I’ve also started a routine with cocoa butter to stave off the stretch marks. It’s not working, but my sister swears it could be worse. I could have stretch marks on my vagina. I doubted this until I did a Google search. It’s not a well-documented phenomenon, but all you need is one.
Email from: phicks
email to: nodramaprincess
I’m fine with the last two names if that’s what you want.
As for vagina stretch marks. Would you taste the same? That’s the important thing.
******
It only took Iris thirty minutes to call him after his last email. Porter settled on the patio of his longterm rental, a beer near the legs of the chair and his feet propped on the low table. Upstate New York, in the late summer was hot as shit, but the enclosed glass patio gave him the view of the stars that twinkled back at him. He turned up the floor fan as he waited for the third ring.
Then he answered, “Iris.”
“Porter.
“Do not send me dirty emails. I didn’t think that needed to be said when the last three weeks we kept it clean.”
She sounded prim and aloof and so fucking sexy. He shifted his dick with one hand. “Why not?”
“Because that cute belly you’re so fond of makes
it hard to masturbate. I can’t see what I’m doing anymore. I can’t see anything. Do I have feet? They are like atoms now—a theory someone told me is true.”
He swallowed the laugh. “I would think by now you wouldn’t have to see anything to know what you were doing. Speaking from experience your clit is in the same place and requires the same attention.”
She muttered something he couldn’t hear then said, “Missing the point. No sex talk. Not while my walking vibrator is on the other side of the damn country.”
He pulled his phone away to glare at it. He took a deep breath before he said into the mouthpiece, “Walking vibrator?”
“You know what I mean.”
She had the tendency to put her foot in her mouth but this was something else. “Nope. Explain it.”
She sighed. “You’re my fuck-buddy, but it’s complicated because you’re also my breathing coach. The guy I can bribe into rubbing my feet. It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen you. I’ve sent a million photos of my stomach and I’m starting to think you’re getting a breeder kink.”
Just like that his anger dissipated, but not the unease. Still his laugh filled the quiet. “The mouth on you.”
“I want it on you and that’s why we can’t talk sex. There’s another week to go before I can jump you.”
He thought about that. The chain of emails they’d sent had well over one hundred replies. There wasn’t much she could really tell him about Junior. She was fine and so was he. Two more months and then he wouldn’t be able to ask after her under the guise of worrying about Junior.
Whatever truce they had would be gone, along with the sex. Porter reached over to turn up the floor fan.
“How about this...” he said.
“No,” she shot back without a hint of trepidation. “I am not doing phone sex with you.”
His mouth lifted. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I wasn’t going to suggest that.”
“What were you going to suggest?”
“I could order you one of those vibrators you can sit on. Looks like a saddle.”
“I didn’t think this conversation could fall any deeper into smut. I was wrong. So very wrong.” She went quiet. “But would get it for me? Overnight it?”
“If I do that I’m going to ask for a different kind of picture from you.”
“An impasse, and we’re back at square one. No sex talk.”
He huffed. “I’ll keep it clean.”
“I’m glad we came to this understanding.”
The line went quiet again. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the chair. Fuck, he missed her. It hurt the way he did. Nothing in New York smelled like her, and he craved that small connection.
“How are you, really?” he asked.
“Is this your way of asking if I’m ready yet? The answer will be no. Ashley doesn’t care. She’s already set up my baby shower at work. It’s tomorrow.”
“Just for work?”
“I have my sister, Eva and Ashley. That’s my circle. They’ll all be there. I really don’t know my mother’s side of the family. My father’s...he, uh, he burned a few bridges there and I don’t know them that well.”
His heart ached at that. “What do you want?”
“What do you mean?”
“For your baby shower. I’ll get you something.”
“You do know a baby shower isn’t for me, but for Fairfax.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “I know the point of a baby shower. I was wrangled into Eva’s since Ashley threw that one too, but Eva’s sister Lauren got something that was just for her. Eva cried really hard over it.”
“So you want me to cry?”
“I want you to know you’re not just a baby receptacle.”
She didn’t say anything for a long minute but he sat in silence, waiting for her reply.
“Okay,” she said softly. “At the end of the day my back hurts sometimes, especially if I’ve been sitting most of it. Get me a gift certificate for a massage.”
“Done. I’ll call Ashley so she can get it for me, but that’s my gift to you.”
“I gotta go, Porter.”
He opened his eyes. The stars were just as bright. “See you soon.” I miss you so damn much.
She hung up without another word. He stayed outside, letting the cold from the fan creep in and eat at him. It was better than the alternative of letting her words do the dirty work.
Rachel + Joey
I’m home.
Iris was fine until she received that text. It was 4:55 and by now she’d start throwing things into her purse to leave with Ashley who was always ready to walk out of their workplace’s building at 4:59. Her friend’s motto being they stop paying her at five, not five-o-one.
I’m home.
Porter was at his home and every cell in her being wanted to be there with him. She wanted to greet him by jumping on him as soon as he cracked open the door. There were two problems with that.
A month had passed and her jumping days were on hold. Her stomach was now bigger than her boobs and that seemed to be an impossibility within itself. She still had so many more weeks to go.
The other was that she was falling for him. Hard. Stupidly. Up to her damn eyeballs. She didn’t know how her emotions had gotten out of control or how it was possible when she didn’t allow herself to revel in mushy feelings. Iris wanted to believe the swooning over Porter would pass. She’d see him and the whole absence makes the heart grow fonder would wear off.
Or she’d have the baby and her brain and body would be hers again. She wouldn’t cry at the drop of a hat. Her libido wouldn’t make her brain numb. She wouldn’t anticipate, with girlish excitement, a call or a text or an email from Porter.
I’m home.
She wouldn’t sit at her desk and ache.
“Fuck me.”
Ashley walked into the office on the tail end of the statement and her brows shot up. “Are you talking to my brother on a phone I can’t see?”
“To myself.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She tilted her head and really looked at Ashley. A thought flickered like a light bulb above her head. “I take that back. I need a girl’s night. I’m sure Eva would love one too. Has she left the house other than going to school or doctor appointments?”
“I don’t believe she has.” Ashley dug into her purse for her phone. “I’m sure she’d be up for it.” Her friend narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure? Porter’s home.”
“Ashley, this feels like you’re getting in the middle.”
“This is me wondering why the guy you’ve been sleeping with is suddenly a subject we can’t talk about, even though I’m sure you still want to sleep with him. I’m being my nosy girlfriend self. You’re the one who is touchy.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Iris snapped then pushed out a breath. “Sorry and I just proved your point.”
“You did, but you’re also hitting that grouchy phase of your pregnancy.”
“Am I?”
“Don’t you remember it with Eva? Grady’s house was like a wasteland because she yelled at everybody and then cried because she yelled.”
Iris thought back. “I think I blocked it out, but my sister was the same every time.” She palmed her stomach. “So let me apologize in advance for the next few weeks.”
Ashley grinned. “You can—”
“Nope,” Iris said, already knowing her friend would suggest something with Porter to make it all better. They were best friends for a reason, and for long enough they could practically read the other’s mind.
“I tried.” Her phone buzzed. “Eva says she’s already in the car. At your place or mine?”
Victor would be there and Victor would probably let it slip to Porter. She shook her head. Ashley would likely send Victor a text letting him know exactly where she was and Victor would still tell Porter.
This was a mess. He was right. Dammit. Friends
and family intertwining was a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
“My apartment,” Iris answered. “That way if I fall asleep mid-sentence I’m already home.”
Ashley sent off another text. “I promise I won’t get in the middle for a few hours.”
Iris shook her head again. “Why even lie? You can’t help it.”
“You have to be fair. I’ve been doing really good.” Her friend’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “I haven’t pointed out the obvious for once.”
Iris wasn’t falling for that bait. She wouldn’t. “Come on. Let’s not keep Eva waiting.”
Ashley smiled. “Okay.”
Fuck. Iris was so screwed if that was her friend’s reply. In their friendship “okay” was the word for I’ll let you live in denial for a while.
*****
Eva pulled her legs underneath her and smiled. She’d lost most, but not all, of the baby weight. Her face was still a bit round, her middle doughy and it made her even more beautiful in that girl-next-door way. Her brunette hair was up in a messy ponytail, that she pulled at anxiously.
“So...” Eva said over the sound of the movie. “Are we not talking about you and Porter?”
Ashley shoved popcorn at Eva then slipped from the couch to lounge on the floor. “We are not. We are all acting like all of this is normal and we’re used to it.”
Eva pursed her lips then nodded as though that made sense. “Okay.”
There was that word again. Iris glared at Ashley. “Why are we friends?”
“Because you love me and I told you all the dirty details when Vic and I hooked up.”
“I thought you didn’t want to know...” Iris grinned. “...that your brother does this one thing with his—”
“No!”
Iris cackled. “That’s what you get for being pushy.”
Eva said, “Cover your ears, Ashley, I want to hear this.”
Ashley popped up from the floor. “I’m going to the restroom. You’ve got three minutes.”
Both Iris and Eva watched Ashley disappear down the hallway.
“What do you want to know, Eva?”
“The usual. Is his walk indicative of his third leg? Does he have one hell of a mouth?” She pursed her lips. “Do you love him?”