Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
She opened her mouth to say... She wasn’t sure what. But he ground hard against her and circled her clit once, twice, a third time, and the only thing she verbalized was a breathless shriek as she came again.
Aaron flipped her onto her stomach and lifted her hips to drive into her. He moved like a man possessed, the dreamlike feeling of their encounter up to this point fading away in the feel of his cock filling her completely as he chased his own pleasure.
As he marked her as his own.
The next month passed in a blur of peaceful contentedness. Aaron came home every day to Becka. She shared his bed and gave him precious tidbits about herself and her past as they settled into what could be their life together. But she still held back part of herself, and the closer they got, the more that denied bit made him crazy. He’d promised her time, though. He’d honor it, damn it.
She met him at the door one night, looking nervous. She wore a pair of brightly colored leggings and one of the slouchy shirts she’d become fond of since moving in with him, and she was all but wringing her hands.
Aaron dropped his briefcase and carefully shut the door. “Is everything okay? Is it the baby?”
“What?” She shook her head and gave a rueful smile. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have ambushed you at the door with this. I, ah...” She stared hard at the wood floor beneath their feet. “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I meant to mention it to you last week, but you kind of distracted me with ice cream and that thing you do with your tongue.”
Despite her obvious nerves, he grinned. “I seem to remember you liking that thing I do with my tongue.”
“I do.” She twisted a lock of blue hair around her finger. “I know it’s last minute and I completely understand if you can’t come. It’s at one at a clinic close to my apartment.”
He stepped closer and framed her face with his hands, guiding her to meet his gaze. “Of course I’ll be there. I have a meeting, but I can reschedule. One of the perks of being the boss.” She looked so unsure that he smoothed his thumbs over her cheekbones. “Unless you don’t want me to go?” Aaron wanted to be in that room with her more than anything, especially since he’d missed her appointment last month. He’d only known about it because Becka mentioned it in passing, giving him a rundown as if it hadn’t occurred to her to bring him and his presence there was no big deal.
It had stung. Fuck yes, it’d stung.
But ultimately having him there was her choice. If he’d learned anything in his time with Becka, it was that he couldn’t badger his way into anything when it came to her. She’d just dig in her heels and set her jaw in that way that would be adorable if it didn’t signal the start of a knock-down, drag-out fight.
She pressed her lips together. “I’d like you to be there. It just feels like a big step.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, minx, but having a baby is about as big a step as two people can take. We’re already there.”
“Correction—we’ll be there in just over five months.”
He bit back a sharp response to that. Her insistence at holding off talking about anything resembling the future was the one black spot on their time together. “I’ll be at the appointment. Do you want me to pick you up or meet you there?”
“Might as well meet me there.” She huffed out a breath. “This is silly, right? I shouldn’t be so stressed out over a doctor’s appointment.”
It was a big deal. This would be the appointment with the ultrasound, the halfway point through the pregnancy. It was also the appointment when they’d get a good idea if the baby was progressing as it should—or if there were glaring problems.
Aaron pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “No matter what happens, I’m there.” Maybe if he said it enough times, she’d actually start to believe him. Maybe. He didn’t know what the right words were. Hell, he didn’t seem to have right words when it came to Becka. He wasn’t walking on eggshells, but he was aware that one wrong step might fracture the careful peace they’d formed around themselves.
Not for the first time, it registered that things couldn’t last as they stood now.
But as he looked down into her worried expression, he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Not yet. Tomorrow after the doctor’s appointment would be more than soon enough. They could have tonight. The real world—the future—had waited this long. It could wait another eighteen hours or so.