Page 53

And somehow, the world is even more right than it was thirty seconds ago. It’s more magnificent. More exciting. More… everything.
His fingers graze my ribs when he removes my top. When he palms my breasts, his touch is both gentle and electric. He pays them extra attention.
“They’re different. Fuller. How did I not know?”
“You? What about me? It’s my body and I missed all the signs.”
He lightly pinches a nipple. “What signs?”
“Nausea. Weight gain. Boobs. I was probably in denial.”
He nuzzles himself against my stomach, lowering my waistband and then touching, feeling, kissing his way around my bump. “This is the sexiest thing I have ever seen.”
I giggle. “You won’t be saying that when I’m as big as a bus.”
“You’re wrong.” He raises his head. “I’ve always thought you were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. You growing larger with my children will only amplify that.” He kisses me just below the belly button. “And I promise to let you know it every goddamn day.”
He slips a hand beneath my panties and lets his fingers do the rest of the talking. And, boy, what he says is amazing. The sensations coursing through me are inexplicable. It’s like a sunrise, when you see the tip of the sun and it gets brighter and brighter and fuller and fuller and then, just as it rises above the horizon in a fiery ball of light, it’s like an explosion of nature.
And exploding is exactly what I’m doing right now. After only seconds of his fingers on me.Inme. I’m reeling. I’mwinding up and down and in and out and back and forth and through. I’m rising and falling. Rolling and swelling. Dying and living. It’s the most intense sensation I’ve ever experienced.
“I take it back,” his low voice rumbles against the skin of my neck. “Thatwas the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I can’t laugh. Can’t speak. Can’t respond in any way. I can just…feel.
“Wow,” I say when I regain my ability to use words. “You think you could do that again?”
“With pleasure.”
His clothes, along with the rest of mine, are in a pile on the floor quicker than I can pull back the covers.
His erection is hard against my hip, and I reach between us to stroke him.
He groans. “I’m assuming it’s okay to go without a condom?”
I smile. “I doubt you could get me anymorepregnant, Asher.”
He studies me for a second, then shakes his head with realization. “It was that night we lost the condom, wasn’t it?”
I nod. “Pretty much.”
“And the birth control pills?”
“I never missed one, but the kind I took weren’t as effective as regular ones.”
“Oh, right. Because they gave you migraines.”
“Youwerelistening.”
He kisses my collarbone. “I’m always listening to you, sweetheart.”
I sigh. Nobody has ever called me that. I neverwantedto be called that. The way he says it, it’s sweet and sexy, and so completely honest.
He moans as my hand works him harder. But then, he brushes it aside. “It’s been a minute since we’ve done this, soI’m not going to last long. I swear I’m going to make you come a dozen times today. But, Al, right now, I just need to make love to you.”
Asher is the only man who has ever said he wanted tomake loveto me. Others have said they wanted to sleep with me. Have sex. Fuck. But nevermake love. Maybe it’s because he’s older. More sophisticated. A dad.
I look into his eyes knowing it’s none of those things. He says it because what he does to me is so much more than just sex. The way he looks at me. Touches me. Speaks to me. He loves me with his eyes. His hands. His words. Every part of him is invested in these moments. And as he enters me, softly, slowly, gently, it’s like our very souls are connecting.