One More Chance (The Alexanders 6.50)

Raina glanced over her shoulder before answering. “This situation cannot continue. We have to do something.”

Suddenly she was ashamed that she’d spilled such intimate details. If Jackson was telling people these sorts of things she’d be mortified. What was between them was private. It was something they would have to work out together. It wasn’t his fault if he didn’t find her pregnant body sexy. He was probably trying not to hurt her feelings by commenting on the weight she’d gained. He knew she was sensitive about it. It just seemed so unfair that her twin hadn’t gained very much and she felt like such a cow. Then again, Raina had always kept her we

ight low from her years modeling while Ridley loved to cook. And the evidence was on her hips and thighs.

“Never mind, Ray. I shouldn’t have even said anything.”

“Screw that! This is war. What he’s doing is just… it’s cruel. If your libido is anything like mine, you want it now more than ever. He needs to be taking care of you in every way.”

Her face burned at her sister’s frank talk. “Raina, this is ridiculous. I’m hardly going to force him to … do it.”

Raina got up and walked out of the kitchen. Puzzled, Ri was about to go after her when the timer went off for the brownies. They’d cooled and she was cutting the first piece by the time Raina came back carrying a small cardboard box.

“Found it. Everything you need to fix this is in this box.”

Munching on the chewy brownie, she leaned over and peered into the box. Lace in every color of the rainbow was jumbled together in a heap.

“Raina, I couldn’t fit into that expensive lingerie you buy even when I wasn’t carrying forty pounds of baby weight.”

“It’s pregnancy lingerie. It’s designed to highlight and conceal all the appropriate areas. I did some pregnancy modeling, remember? Whoo, you don’t even want to know how crazy Nick went for some of this stuff.”

Normally she would be mortified at hearing anything about her brother-in-laws preferences in the lingerie department. But in this particular case, she could only hope his brother shared his interests.

“I’m not sure I can pull this off. You know how to be a sexpot. I don’t. I just don’t … feel sexy anymore.”

Raina smirked. “Trust me, it’s all in the attitude you project. Pretend you feel hot and you will be. All you have to do is wear something skimpy, give him the look and you’re in business. Men are simple and they can’t say no to sex.”

Ri couldn’t help laughing at that. “Way to generalize, sis.”

“Am I wrong?”

Ridley sighed. “I guess not. Ok, show me what we’ve got.”

?

Ridley pulled out a box of pasta and a jar of canned sauce. Gone were the days when she had the energy to cook everything from scratch. Her shoulders drooped. Honestly, they'd been ordering out an awful lot lately since she hadn't felt up to cooking. But since Raina had offered to keep the boys for a while, she could at least make dinner before she attempted to twist herself into one of the lace nightmares in Raina's box of horrors.

She glanced over at the box sitting on the floor next to the couch. Taking it upstairs and out of sight would have required energy she simply didn't have so she'd settled for draping a throw blanket over it. Jackson would have laughed but it seemed a little inappropriate to have racy lingerie just sitting out in plain view.

Even though there was no one there but her. Ridley had to laugh at herself.

She looked in the refrigerator again and noticed they didn't have shredded cheese. She could always shred some but how long would that take? Her feet were starting to hurt and it was going to take her awhile to get cleaned up and into the lingerie. With a sigh, she gave up and pulled open the freezer. Her mother-in-law kept them stocked with casseroles so she could always just reheat one of those.

Thank God for Julia, she thought.

Once a chicken casserole was in the oven, Ridley made her way upstairs. She set the box on the bed and then went into the ensuite bathroom to start the tub. After a nice relaxing bath and then putting on her favorite scented body lotion, she would be set. Maybe some of the issue was that she hadn't had the energy to primp much lately. She had one particular body lotion Jackson used to go crazy for but she hadn't used it in a while. Ridley smiled. Perhaps Raina was right. She just needed to feel sexy again and then they'd be back on the horse.

She took off her clothes, making sure not to look at herself in the mirror, and stepped into the bath. The water wasn’t as warm as she’d like, one more thing she’d had to give up with pregnancy, but the scent of the body oil she'd drizzled over the water wafted up to her nose, wrapping her in a soft, inviting haze. Ridley couldn't hold back a little moan when the water rose up to her neck. She lifted her foot, trailing her toe over the tub spigot. It was so nice to get off her feet and relax. She took her time, washing with her loofah sponge and then got out and slathered her entire body in the vanilla scented lotion Jackson loved.

Then she walked in her bedroom, eyeing the box on the bed like it was filled with poisonous snakes. It was time.

The first thing she pulled out had so many snaps and ribbons that Ridley wasn’t entirely sure how to put it on. She set that one aside. The next was fire engine red and although it would look great on her skin tone, she wasn’t sure she had the confidence to carry off red right then.

Baby steps. Let’s start slow, she thought.

When she saw the petal pink babydoll, she smiled. It was a little sweeter than she’d expect her sister to go for so it must have been something that was sent to her. Raina was always getting sample clothes from designers hoping she’d highlight them on her fashion blog. It was a nice perk but usually wasn’t something that benefited Ridley since she and her sister had completely opposite taste in clothes.

But it was coming in handy now.