Have My Baby (Crescent Cove 1)

It was so weird to laugh about something that potentially had a big effect on my life too. If she got that sissy she wanted, it’d be via my girl parts. And I didn’t mind that thought.

One bit.

“Good to know.” I brushed a kiss over Laurie’s forehead and sneaked a glance at Seth. “We’ll see how that whole ordering thing works out.”

It was a dangerous thing to say. To pretend we were a little happy family. A happy, normal family, who wasn’t playing house for the sole purpose of procreation.

But right now, with Seth’s gaze hot on mine, and his hand on the small of my back, it certainly didn’t feel like we were playing.

Nor did it when we tucked a freshly clean Laurie in her bed—Seth had waited in his bedroom, as requested—and she asked me to read her story. I figured she’d want her dad to read it to her since he was right there, but nope, she pushed the book into my hand then patted both sides of her bed so we could sit on either side.

My voice was trembling as I started to read about Mr. Peppermint’s pushy poodles. The story was lighthearted and fun, and Laurie giggled as the pushiest puppy fell face-first in a puddle. But by the time the puppy was plopped in the kitchen sink to get cleaned up, Laurie had fallen asleep, her cheek smushed adorably into the pillow and her damp golden ringlets draping like spun gold across her face.

I touched them without being aware I intended to, cupping her soft skin in my hand. Watching her chest rise and fall with her even breaths.

“You love her too,” Seth said, and there was more than certainty in his voice. There was awe. Gratitude.

Even relief.

I nodded. “Yes. Didn’t you know that?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he adjusted her thin blanket. He wouldn’t look at me. “Different seeing it.”

He brushed his hand over her hair, nearly bumping my hand. The ink that swirled up his forearm caught my eye, and following the path higher to where it disappeared under the sleeve of his T-shirt was an imperative. I’d studied his tattoos so many times. The snow leopard one, and most of the others too. Hell, I’d been there as he added to the collection over the years. But it was so much different when I could touch them.

Touch him.

“Different seeing this too,” he added huskily. I didn’t need an explanation of what he meant.

He was reading my desire as plainly as I was sending out those signals. Because he could read me. He’d always been able to, and I’d finally dropped my shields when it came to wanting him. Now he was getting the whole story.

Or a lot closer to it.

In silent agreement, we eased back from Laurie and rose, trooping silently out of her pink bedroom. Seth stopped to turn out her Winnie the Pooh light, leaving her cheerful carousel nightlights to illuminate the room in case she had a nightmare. He never wanted her to wake in the dark.

He quietly shut the door behind us, then he reached for me. Hands grasping my face, he brought his mouth down hard on mine. Lips that were soft in contrast to his rough touch teased me into responding. Encouraging me to keep up. I went up o

n my tiptoes, clutching his shirt, my nails digging into skin. He made a hungry noise in his throat and nudged me into the wall, hiking up my leg to wrap around his hips. He shoved my panties aside and slipped his fingers inside, burying my moan under his insistent kisses. His daughter was feet away from us, safe behind the door, but God, his bedroom was just down the hall.

We couldn’t wait. Just could not.

We’d spent so many years stuck in the space between friends and more, and now that we’d moved forward, there was no slowing this train. It was ride it or…

There was no ors left. Sweet mercy, I wanted to ride.

I reached up to tangle my fingers in his hair as he pushed his fingers deeper into my pussy. I couldn’t keep from crying out and he kissed me harder, so hard that I couldn’t breathe. My head was spinning from lack of oxygen and I was wet, so wet. His thumb brushed my clit over and over while his fingers pumped, and God, I was shameless about rocking into his movements. I couldn’t get enough.

When he moved his head, I chased his mouth, my teeth scraping his lips, our noses bumping as I sought his tongue. I needed it almost as much as his touch, working its wicked way on my body. He was turning me inside out, owning the parts of me only he knew. They were his.

I was his.

“Goddammit, not like this. Not this time.” Abruptly, he yanked back his hand and I whimpered, dropping my head to his shoulder to breathe. I was so close. A heartbeat away. I was throbbing so hard, and I could hear him licking his fingers. Jesus. Then he fisted his other hand in my hair and tugged it back, offering me his fingers while his wild eyes settled on mine in the dim light of the hall. “In my bed. Not against another wall. Not again.”

Consumed with my taste on his skin, I nearly didn’t hear him. He watched me suck on him and growled, backing me into the wall again. Bending his knees, he drove up his hips and the rigid column in his jeans rubbing against my clit was almost enough to push me over. Almost. I gasped, dizzy, still holding onto his hand as I licked his fingers. I couldn’t stop. And he thrust up against me again with only the thin barriers of my panties and his jeans between us, hitting the angle just right. So good. I dropped my head back, closing my eyes as flashes of light went off at the edges of my vision.

It wasn’t an orgasm but it was the next best thing. I couldn’t stop shaking. If he’d shoved me down on my knees and told me to deep-throat his cock, I would’ve done it without blinking. Anything he wanted.

I wanted it too. Any way he could give it to me.