“You’re really pregnant?” I whisper against her lips, not daring to pull back any further. She nods fervently against me and everything bubbles up, overwhelming me. I can’t work out if yelling or screaming or crying will alleviate the pressure in my chest, but Cara’s confirming nod helps just a little.
“My— our baby…?” I ask again, pressing my hand flat against her stomach. She nods again and a bubble of emotion surges up my throat, catching just underneath my tongue.
Me. Me, the fuck up of the family, the drunken failure, the younger brother left to scramble to power in only a year.
I’m going to be a father.
I can’t begin to wrap my thoughts around it and everything else fades from existence in my world. I pull back from Cara for a moment, just to take her in before the glint of tears slipping down her cheeks catches my gaze.
Lifting my hands, I cup her face gently and tenderly stroke my thumbs under her eyes to catch and swipe away her tears.
“I’ve only taken store tests when Sadie was here,” she admits, her voice thick with emotion but it doesn’t matter to me. Box tests, a gut feeling, I don’t care. I believe it, and I believe her and the thought of our baby now existing in this world has my heart beating double time.
I kiss her deeply, tasting the salt of her tears and the heat her teeth have left behind in bites. I kiss her until she trembles for air, then pepper her lips with as many kisses as I can manage in a few moments.
“That’s okay,” I murmur, “I’ll get you an appointment with the doctor immediately and we’ll see. If there’s nothing, that’s okay, we’ll keep trying.”
I’ll get her the best doctor in the fucking city, the best nurses, the best everything. Meeting with Blair is no longer an option. I have to be with Cara tonight, her announcement clouding all other interests as her fingers wrap into my t-shirt. I want to yell and scream and call everyone I know.
Me! I’m going to be a fucking dad!
The excitement bubbles over and I slide my other arm around her waist, scooping Cara up and spinning her around in the lounge as laughter bursts from my chest. She squeals, a grin blooming across her face.
“Cara, this is fucking amazing!” I boast, and when I set her down, my mouth crashes back to hers with insistence.
She’s all I want, she’s all I need in the world and right now she’s all-consuming. All I can see, all I can taste and smell. I need her against me, I need every part of her spread open and connected for me to worship until she knowsexactlyhow fucking amazing she is.
“It is amazing,” Cara whispers breathlessly and my heart soars suddenly as delight settles warm in my bones.
25
CARA
Kissing against the counter only gets us so far. It’s reminiscent of our first night together but the news has changed something in Killian. I notice it the moment he pauses the kiss and briefly touches the counter, before he scoops me up in his arms and sweeps us away up to the bedroom. My heart soars just as high.
I have no complaints, the softness of the bed is welcome when it hits my back and Killian crawls over me seconds later to melt our mouths together and frame my hips with his knees.
I’m pinned and at his mercy yet it’s the safest place for me to be as the ache between my thighs throbs harder as the seconds pass.
His kisses are desperate and yet slower than I’m used to. There’s a heat between us that’s unlike the fire that usually blazes and yet his fingertips scorch my skin just as effectively.
His lips travel a burning hot path down my jaw to my throat as I trace my fingers up the thick lines of his muscular arms, cupping his strong jaw at the end and pulling him back up into a deep kiss that further ignites the desire flooding my core.
Killian’s teeth nip lightly at my lower lip as he pulls away briefly to remove his t-shirt, tossing it away to the floor as I shimmy up onto my elbows and rid myself of my blouse. The air chills my bare skin, goosebumps forming where Killian’s warmth has yet to touch and as I sink back down onto the bed, his hands land on my breasts, squeezing and groping.
Fuck, I never want him to stop.
I grasp his wrists, stroking up his forearms and using them as an anchor to arch my torso into his grip. He slides his left hand around my chest and underneath to unclasp my bra and it joins the rest of the clothing on the floor.
Then his devilishly hot mouth is on my left nipple, onehand on my right while his free hand strokes lava down my abdomen and to my waist, busying itself with my jeans. While there’s urgency in his actions, there’s softness too. His teeth graze over my nipples softer than usual, his fingertips don’t pinch as fiercely and as we rid ourselves of the rest of our clothing, his desperate kisses are less biting.
He’s still powerful, it’s just… different. Like his edges are slightly sanded down for protection.
I want it and yet I want more all at the same time.
Sweat tingles over my kiss-flushed skin as my heart races beneath my chest, pounding so hard that my ribs ache. My core clenches hard as he hovers above me, admiring my naked form in a way that blazes pink across my cheeks, and a knowing smirk graces his flushed lips.
“What?” I ask breathlessly as he continues to admire me in a way that draws on my shyness, and a flush blooms over my breastbone and up my neck.