April kept starring down at the dress in her hands, her brow scrunched up as though she didn’t know where to put it.
“Are you leaving? Are you going to New York?”
That caused her to look up. “What? I’m not going to New York.”
“Then why are you packing?”
“I’m sorting clothes that I need to put away until after the baby comes,” she said flatly. “And looking through some that Garcia’s wife dropped off, since apparently I can’t keep a secret about anything. I don’t know how you kept me out of the tabloids.”
“Money. Bribed ‘em.”
April laughed softly. “That’s not true.”
“It is. I knew how important it was to you that our relationship not affect your work. Imagine my surprise when you left the job you love.” Samson started to move closer, but the dog barked at him. He stared at it until it hopped in place and then hid behind the chair.
“I can’t work there. Not with you, not if… Not if we aren’t together. It’s too hard.” April covered her face. “I’m not trying to manipulate you. I’m just, you know, knocked up and all that.”
Samson tentatively put a hand on her knee. “You can cry if you want to. I will admit to drinking a lot of wine over the past week. With whatever emotional outpourings that might lead to.”
April arched a brow at him skeptically. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to move in. April, I love you. A baby doesn’t change that.” He reached over and wiped some wetness from her blotchy cheek. “It was never that I didn’t want you. And I would never want to do anything to hurt you or make you leave. It was only that, because I have no relationship to speak of with my father, I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
“Well, you’d better get ready, Samson! Or get out! Because if you want me, the baby’s part of the deal now. I know you didn’t choose it, and neither did I, but this is where we are.” Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, and she sobbed once before spitting out, “Dammit!”
Samson slipped in behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “I just have to admit how I’m feeling about being a father. I’m not ready now, but we have time.”
“Not that much time.”
“Given that we were already moving towards some kind of commitment, or we would have if I’d been able to convince you to live with me, I think we were already on this path. It’s simply new and very, very shocking.” Samson kissed her temple, and April sobbed again, then buried her face in his chest.
“I thought I’d done something wrong. I thought I’d ruined it.”
“No.” Samson cupped her cheek, and she looked up at him again. He found her beautiful, even like this. “You are everything, April. You are my night and my day. You are my lioness and my mouse. You are my person.”
April laughed and leaned up to kiss him. “You finally got it.”
“We may not have had the families we wanted, but that’s no reason for us not to try to build one. That’s what we do every day. We take what’s there, and we make something new and beautiful.” Samson pulled her closer to him. “Unfortunately, you’re going to have to pick up the bulk of the work on this one.”
“I don’t mind. I love her already. Or him.”
“See? You’re already so good at this. I’m going to have to let you take the lead once again.”
Samson watched her distressed eyes slowly growing warm and full. The tears that came now were happy, and Samson and April began to kiss, moving toward one another at the same time. He kissed the salt of her tears from her face and stroked her hair, determined to make sure she knew how precious she was to him.
Fatherhood would come. His own father had grown into it, albeit it had taken him twelve years. Samson fancied himself a quicker study that that, and he had April, who knew how to fight for what she wanted when she had the confidence to do it. He had no doubt that April would fight for him and their child with an unrivaled ferocity.
Samson lifted her onto the bed without breaking their kiss. He couldn’t stop touching her. It had been too long, and he had needed her too much. She pulled her blouse over her head in a fluid motion, revealing breasts that were spilling out of her bra. Samson blessed each with careful kisses, knowing they must still be sensitive.
His kisses descended in a line from her perfect, swollen breasts, to the sweetest little curve rising up from her pelvic bone. They were one now. It had been true before, but now they had to try even harder to make their foundation a strong one. He placed a kiss right at the curve and looked up at her meaningfully.
She unfastened the safety pin holding her shorts together and slipped out of them. Gratefully, Samson began to nibbled and lick along the inside of her thigh. She sighed happily and reached out for his hair. His hands cupped over her buttocks, appreciatively squeezing, and he moved his face closer to her lips.
She smelled different. Good, but more intensely sexual. Her body had been at work, changing and preparing. All Samson could do was worship it. And so he did, spreading her lips with his fingers, and administering broad laps inside. He’d been with her long enough to know that it would drive her the wildest if he alternated his lapping, not letting the sensation become too intense on either side. Just bringing her up to the edge, over and over, moving around, and all the while, gently rubbing her mound where soft blonde hair curled shyly.
Her fingers tightened in his hair and her panting grew higher, more needful. Her body was calling for more, and he gave it, lapping faster, and slipping two fingers inside her to rub at the back of her channel. Soon, her whole body was quivering as she moaned and her thighs clenched against his head as though to keep him at his work.
Samson didn’t slow, falter, or rest until his job was done. She was gasping and sweating and her fingers had clamped down on his hair, and all he could thing was how luscious she was, and how much pleasure he would give her for the rest of her life.