Page 17

Kelsey

C rew and I had explored a small portion of the Mall of America.

The indoor roller coaster was absolute insanity, and I wished Kylie could have come with me.

I found a restaurant advertised as the “Home of the Juicy Lucy” and decided I needed to try the Minnesota specialty.

When my cheese-filled burger arrived, the waitress warned me not to bite into it right away; the cheese would be molten hot, and it would be best to give it a minute to cool. My weakness was burgers and fries.

I devoured the burger as Crew batted clumsily at the toys hanging from his stroller. As nervous as I had been, I was proud of myself for getting on the plane and making it here alone. The last three months had been baby steps, but the more I accomplished solo, the more confident I felt.

Avery had been on the flight, and we’d connected before and after we landed, but I hadn’t needed help.

The first-class ticket had been a pleasant surprise; the early boarding had helped get Crew situated and acclimated to the chaos of the airplane.

When I had smugly texted Kylie a picture of my spacious seat, she had responded by reminding me that Sam was next-level rich and that the extra cost for the ticket hurt his bank account as much as buying a pack of gum would affect mine.

I disagreed; I had no room in my budget for a pack of gum.

Kylie: If I were you, I’d do my best to climb that man.

Me: Ah, yes. Because a twenty-one-year-old single mother is exactly what every man wants.

Kylie: It doesn’t have to be forever.

Me: Are you forgetting the last time I attempted a no-strings casual thing?

Kylie: Well, now you have an IUD. If you get pregnant on one of those, I’m donating you to science.

Me: Gee, thanks.

Kylie: I want you to have fun, too, Kels. Everything about your life is hard right now. If you get the chance with him and if you want to sleep with him, there is nothing wrong with letting go for an hour or two.

Last night, I made the mistake of watching clips of Sam pitching on YouTube. I had seen how fit he was with my own eyes in person and watched him pitch an entire game last weekend, but once I discovered the reams of content on YouTube, I was sunk. He moved like a machine. His body? Perfection.

Kylie’s encouragement to sleep with him did nothing to erase the images I had of experiencing, just exactly what that body could do for mine.

After I returned to the hotel and Crew had nursed and settled in to sleep, I showered to wash off the grime from traveling.

I stood naked in front of the mirror and inspected the changes that pregnancy had brought to my body.

While most of the pregnancy weight had come off, my breasts were fuller, and my nipples were darker and larger from breastfeeding.

Would a man want to handle breasts that could leak or spray milk at any moment?

My hips were rounder than before, and a few stretch marks crawled across my lower belly.

I had always been confident about my body, and overall, I liked the changes I saw.

But would someone like Sam? He could have any woman he wanted.

While my heartbreak over losing Logan had led me to Tom from California’s bed, I had never worried about whether a man would appreciate my body.

The first month after Crew was born, the only thing I craved was more sleep.

My vibrator had lain dormant in my nightstand drawer since before I gave birth.

The pregnancy hormones had left me in a constant state of arousal, and I burnt out two high-end personal massagers.

I cupped one of my breasts and rubbed my thumb across my nipple, imagining Sam’s large hands on me.

My right hand snaked down between my legs as I found my clit with my index finger, circling the sensitive bud.

I moved to the living room in the suite, afraid that I might wake Crew, and settled on the couch.

I close my eyes, spreading my legs wide, imagining Sam’s mouth replacing my hand as he licked and sucked.

I pressed my heels into the couch and arched my hips plunging two fingers inside my pussy, continuing to work my clit with my other hand.

My legs shook as the pressure built, and I ground myself into my hands, the orgasm erupting out of me.

I lay there breathing heavily, trying to catch my breath, and then startled when I heard the knock on the suite door.

“Who is it?” I called out .

“It’s me, Sam.”

Shit. I jumped up off the couch, stumbling into the bedroom and searching for a t-shirt and bottoms to cover myself up so I could open the door.

“One second!” I shouted at the door, mentally kicking myself for yelling so loud and hoping I didn’t wake Crew up.

When I finally opened the door, he stood there with two hats in his hand, one for me and an infant one for Crew.

“Hey, I wanted to bring these over before bed,” he said.

His eyes darted down my body, stopping longer than necessary when he got to my breasts.

I hadn’t looked in the mirror before I opened the door.

I wasn’t wearing a bra, and he could probably tell.

My hair, still wet from the shower, hung limply down to my shoulders.

If my cheeks weren’t still flushed from the orgasm I just had, they would have been bright red from the embarrassment because I had been mere seconds from being caught.

And damn, the fantasy of Sam was nowhere near the reality.

Sam smelled incredible, better than I imagined.

I squeezed my thighs together, knowing that the next time I touched myself, I’d be remembering the scent of pine and soap.

He wore jeans and a button-up shirt that strained across his chest. I had to tip my head back to look into his eyes, and when we locked eyes, I lost all sense.

His wavy hair was a bit longer than I remembered, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how it would feel to run my fingers through it and tug on it as he ate me out.

My brain was in the gutter, even after an orgasm. If he leaned in, I might just let him. I couldn’t begin to think about what that said about me. As if on cue, Crew started crying in the other room.

“Hey, come on in. I’m going to get the baby. But make yourself comfortable.”