“I just want to feel your body naked against mine again. To know that I’m the woman you want in your arms when you cry out in satisfaction.”
“You’ve always been the woman I want in my arms.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WILL’S STRUGGLE was unlike any he’d known before. His body was on fire for the woman in his arms. After months of sleeping beside her, of denying himself what had always been his for the taking, he was ready to explode with need.
And yet…
“Our lovemaking has always meant more than just sex.” He attempted to explain himself to her. “From the very first, it was a commitment—a promise for tomorrow.”
Becca didn’t say anything. Just nodded, her hair tickling his chest.
“I’m not going to make promises I might not be able to keep. Especially not to you.”
“I appreciate that, Will. But don’t you see, if we both agree that there are no promises attached—”
“What was that?” Will interrupted her to stare down at his hand, where it lay across her belly.
“Shh,” Becca said.
It came again, very faintly. A light tap against her abdomen. From inside her abdomen.
“It’s him!” Will said, his voice filled with wonder, with awe.
Becca giggled. “Or her.”
He continued to look at her belly, though there was no way he was removing his hand.
“Can you feel it?” he whispered. Could the child really hear him, like some of the books said?
“Of course I can feel it,” she whispered back. He could hear the smile in her voice.
“Does it hurt?”
“No, but I gather it might later on.” She stopped as one more little nudge bumped against his hand.
“Right now it just kind of tickles.”
They waited silently for another five minutes, but their baby had apparently decided he was finished entertaining his parents. Will still couldn’t bring himself to break his contact with Becca. With the moment.
Softly, slowly, he ran his hand over her belly—up to her rib cage, down to her hips.
Driven by the need to get closer to her, to the miracle they’d created together, he drew up her gown, lifting it until he had access to her bare belly. He caressed it again, side to side, top to bottom, her soft skin igniting the fires he was trying so hard to quench.
All he was going to do was touch her. It had been so damn long since he’d touched her. Just her belly. His baby. No more.
Just her belly. His palm trailed over it again, feeling the goose bumps as she responded to him. Becca lay perfectly still against him, almost as though she was holding her breath.
Continuing its caressing motion, his palm slid up to her ribs again.
Looking down, he caught a glimpse of the silky white triangle of her panties. He knew what velvety treasure lay beneath them. Knew exactly where to touch her, how to touch her, to have her squirming beneath him, crying out his name as though he were king of her universe.
His palm slipped. Up. Encountering the underside of her breast. It was heavy against the side of his finger. And soft. So soft.
Will, groaning, slid his hand over that breast, cupping it. Just her breast. He’d only touch her breast. It had been so long.
Breasts. Not just one,