Chapter 19
"Ow." Tawny woke with a jerk and clutched her stomach, rubbing the spot where her ribs had just smarted.
Luke shot up like lightning, and even though she was still groggy, he grasped her hand and tugged it toward him. "What? What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "Nothing, nothing. The baby is kicking, that's all."
"The baby..." He glanced down at her tummy and, as if their son knew, he kicked again.
"Can I?" Luke's hand hovered above her stomach and she nodded, pressing his palm to her and guiding him to the place where the little foot was drumming against her.
"There he is," she said. "He was tired of us sleeping, I guess."
Luke smiled up at her, then leaned in and dropped a deep, passionate kiss on her lips. It was almost...loving.
She swallowed hard, her heart stuttering. God, she was crazy about him. "I should probably get going anyway. I have a lunch date with Suzette."
Luke glanced at the clock. "It's nine thirty. There's plenty of time for you to stay here and maybe you and I could...make up for lost time." His hand trailed from her stomach to the underside of her breast and she shivered with a little thrill of pleasure.
“I would love to. But I do have to shower and get dressed,” she said, taking another glance at the clock. Might be a nice way to start the day…
"You do that. I'll go for a quick run and when I get back?” He dropped another kiss on her lips, then moved to her throat, nibbling at the sensitive skin until her heart pounded and her head swam.
“Okay, okay.” She pushed him away with a laugh, half wanting to let him convince her he should skip his run altogether, but knowing if she didn’t shower now, she never would. "Go for your run. I can't let you distract me."
He rolled his eyes, and when he stood from the bed to dress, she laid back and watched him, studied the way the muscles of his ass flexed as he bent over for his clothes, the way his defined back practically rippled when he put on his shirt. Was there anything he did that wasn't completely and totally sexy?
Already, she was regretting telling him to start his day, and as he turned around to face her, she glanced away if only to prevent herself for following her instincts and sinking to her knees in front of him, taking him in her mouth and--
"Alright. I'll be right back." His voice broke through her fantasy and she gave him a shaky nod as he disappeared through the door and she rushed for the bathroom.
Turning on the spray of the water, she wondered if she ought to just let the cold water run down her back and cool her off.
Pregnancy hormones. It's just pregnancy hormones messing with me. The book said that in the third trimester I would be...
A complete horn dog? Okay, the book hadn't said it quite like that, but it was definitely the gist of things.
She just had to take a deep breath and focus. So she did.
And when she got out of the shower?
She was still about as pent up as a long-term convict.
So she dressed and walked back into the room, thankful that Luke would be here soon to ease the ache of longing, but when she opened the door, she found brown eyes staring back at her instead of Luke's cool, blue ones.
"Rex," she said with a grin.
He waved, a slow grin tugging at his lips in return. "Hey. Just came from the bakery and thought my brother might want some breakfast. There’s more than enough for all of us, though.”
"Oh, that's sweet."
Thank god she had gotten dressed before coming out of the shower. Her cheeks flushed at the thought.
It was out of the bag now, though. Whether they were or were not an item had been questionable for the past eight weeks and now, it was official.
She dug deep and couldn’t find an ounce of regret about it. The only thing she regretted was letting Luke go before getting in one more romp, because now they had company.
There was always tonight. Or tomorrow, she realized with a start. The thought warmed her from the inside out. She sat down across from Rex at the little table in front of Luke's kitchenette and he slid a toasted bagel toward her.
"Is this--?"
"Everything. Luke loves them and mentioned you do too. In fact, he talks about your cravings more than you probably do."
She laughed. "That's sweet." She spread butter over the bread, then crunched into it. Okay, this wasn't sex, but it was almost as good. Her mind drifted back to Luke’s magic hands and she shivered.
Almost.
"I swear, I've never seen him this excited and keyed up. Except, you know, when he talks about his bike shop." Rex shrugged and took the butter from in front of her.
"Bike shop?" she repeated.
"Yeah. He never shuts up about the place. He went to every race he could just to save up for the damn thing. I can't blame him, though, it’s a solid idea. There are no custom shops in the city. Not to mention it’ll get him the hell out of Alhouette.”