The Child Who Changed Them (Parent Portal 5)

“I felt the baby move...” She was looking up at him—couldn’t make herself pull her gaze away from the golden glint in those intelligent green eyes—and didn’t recognize herself at all. The composure, the discipline that had seen her through so many years...that had saved her life and dealt with the pain as her legs learned to walk again...where were they now?

“It was...soft, kind of tickly...nothing I’ve ever felt before...” Her throat dry, she wanted him to share in the experience, too. “Kind of like a bubble that popped, and then...more.”

His palm was hot on top of the thin piece of silk covering her. Radiating heat through her abdomen. And below.

The baby hadn’t moved since she’d entered the hallway. Elaina meant to drop her hand, to back up, but stood there instead, soaking up the intensity in his gaze.

He hadn’t said a word, though she was certain he’d cataloged every one of hers. And when she felt a nudge against the thigh that was almost leaning up against him, she couldn’t pretend that she didn’t know what was happening.

He wanted her.

She’d seen his arousal previously, but this time it was different. It wasn’t just the physical proof. It was a sense, a knowing. Prompted by physical evidence and confirmed by what she read in his slumberous eyes.

Her body responded, as it had quickly learned to do when she saw that look. It fired up, moistened instantly, readying for what she knew was coming—an appeasement to the great hunger he raised in her.

Her lips lifted, met with his, instinctively. Moving as they knew to do with him. Mating in the way their mouths had taught each other. Openly, wetly, tongue to tongue.

Whimpering at the ecstasy of fulfillment after so much unabated hunger, she leaned in, lifted her arms to drape them around his neck, clung to him.

Felt his answering passion, which was almost desperate, as his arms wrapped around her, holding her to him in an iron grasp. He devoured her lips and she took from him. He filled her up and she gave all she had.

It was different, holding, being held, in the home that was her sanctuary. And yet...it was heartbreakingly familiar, too.

She’d missed his touch. Too much.

Missed having the right to touch him, too.

He groaned and the aching sound flowed through her, finding an answering need inside of her that only he could raise. And she thought of the baby moving... She felt him slow down just as reality dawned on her. Whether Greg felt her withdrawal, or she’d been reacting to his, she didn’t know. He didn’t step away. Didn’t abandon her. She kept herself pushed up against him, her pelvis putting pressure against what had to be a seriously uncomfortable hardness, as she continued to hold him.

To ease them both back to the choices they’d made because they knew they were the right ones for their future.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered at his shoulder.

“Don’t be,” he replied, his head bent so that his chin lightly scraped the back of her neck as he spoke. “I’m not.”

She had to let go. And feared that when she did, he’d be gone. Honestly wanting him to leave if that was what he needed.

“We aren’t going to be able to make this work, are we?”

He straightened, still holding her, but moving his lower body away from hers. “I think we just did,” he said.

Hope flared in spite of her recognizing its foolishness.

“This baby needs you in its life as a full-time father,” she whispered, wishing she could wrap her long dark hair around her and hide. She also admitted, “And I can’t stand the thought of losing your friendship.”

“Neither of you are going to lose me,” he said, sounding so sure of himself as he took a gentle hold on her shoulders and bent until she was lookin

g him in the eye. “And did you hear what you just said?”

He was smiling, so she thought back over her words. Repeated them...

“There...” he interrupted. “Friendship. You said friendship. You know what that means, don’t you?”

She knew what it meant to her, but had to stay silent to keep her tears from falling.

“We’re in a relationship!” he told her. “You and me. It might be platonic, and it’s not a marriage, but it’s a friendship. And when I think about everything I could have with you, friendship is number one, Elaina. It means that nothing else gets in the way of us having each other’s backs.”

So she’d been wrong. Staying silent hadn’t stopped the tears. They pooled and dropped to her cheeks as she stood there, smiling at him.