“Yes, the thought of knowing food was on its way was enough to calm me.”
He sits on the end of the bed and pulls out the French fries. The smell hits me and my mouth immediately begins watering. He hands them my way. “Here are your french fries,” he puts a spoon into my frosty, “and the dipping sauce in the form of ice cream.” He looks at me like I'm weird.
“Have you seriously never tried this before?” I grab the fry and scoop a bit of ice cream on it. “Try it, and then tell me I'm wrong.”
He looks at me, slightly exasperated, and does a very unnecessary sigh.
“You’re acting real inconvenienced considering a pregnant woman is willingly sharing her food with you,” I chide him for being a pain in the ass about my delicious food.
He shakes his head with a grin spreading across his lips; my eyes stay stuck on them. I start envisioning all the things those lips have done to me, the way his beard scratches against mewhen he would lean in, even better when he—and now I'm hot and bothered.Awesome.
With that feeling flooding through me, I use it as a confidence booster. “Open,” I demand. Not giving him any space to say no.
He obliges, like the good boy he is, and closes his lips over the tips of my fingers. His eyes meet mine, and I can see the desire begin to burn in them. My whole body breaks out in goosebumps and I can feel my lower half begin to throb. The problem is, I know what his mouth is capable of and I’d do anything to have it on me right now.
He blinks a couple of times, and I see it. I see the second he gets control and pushes himself back.
He plasters on a smile, and it feels a bit too forced. “I have to give it to you, that’s good.” He reaches over and tries to grab another bite as I shake off the feeling of disappointment.
“If you think I am sharing more than that one fry, you are out of your God damned mind.” I go to shove his hand away.
He tilts his head back and lets out laughter, and I swear I feel a flutter in my stomach, but it’s not butterflies. Or gas. Which I have had plenty of as well. My brows pinch together as I try and figure out what that is.
“What’s wrong?” Rhett asks and the flutters happen again.
“Oh my God, I think I’m feeling the baby move. It’s not strong, but I can feel something.” I set down the fries and put my hand on my small bump, hoping I can feel it on the outside.
Rhett’s smile is devastating. It wrecks me to my core. The weight of how good we are together sits between us like a damn elephant in the room that neither of us is addressing.
“Can you feel it?” he asks, leaning forward, pressing a hand against my bump, excitement threaded through his words.
“I don’t think so; it’s really early to be feeling the baby. I think it’ll be a couple more weeks before you can feel the kicks from the outside.” My hand runs over my stomach. “Sometimes thisdoesn’t feel real, but there’s a whole person inside of me right now.”
His eyes soften, and the smile turns gentle. “Our own little person.”
“I hope they’re strong like you.”
His hand is still resting on my belly. “I hope they have your humor and heart.” His fingers move to brush over mine.
I look down, feeling too much that I shouldn’t. “Thanks for coming and bringing me a sweet treat.”
“I meant it when I said you’re not alone; whatever you need, I’ll be there every step of the way.” His hand squeezes the one I have resting on my belly. “Now eat your fries and frosty.”
He is so good at keeping me comfortable that I have to wonder whether he knows I’m feeling too much and is purposefully lightening the mood, or if it is just second nature for him to be so in tune with my needs.
“Well, hopefully the baby is less bossy than their dad,” I say sarcastically as I pick up my snack.
“Yeah, because you are totally the opposite of bossy.”
“Hey! I was raised around you hooligans; I had to be bossy or you would all walk all over me or forget I existed.”
“There is no way in hell anyone could ever forget you exist.”
“Is that a jab about how loud and ‘annoying’ I am?” Not my words, but my brother called me annoying every chance he got when we were growing up.
“You aren’t annoying; you take up space and make sure people know you’re there. That isn’t a bad thing; you’re impossible to miss in the best way possible. The never-ending bright spot.”My cheeks burn with his compliment; we’ve talked a lot like this before, but I feel more stripped bare now, thanks to my dear friend estrogen. She likes to remind me of how his large hands felt on my body, the way it felt when his beard scratched againstmy neck. I’ve got to stop thinking about this. I swallow, trying to force my arousal down.
He looks around the room for a minute. “Well, I guess I should get going.”
