Consent (The Loan Shark Duet 2)

“Oh, wow.” She utters a delighted giggle. “I felt him.”

My throat tightens with an unknown emotion. “The baby?”

“He moved.” She stares at her stomach in wonder. “It felt like butterfly wings.”

We laugh together as I splay my hands over the tight skin of her belly while she cups her hands over mine. I’m unable to process the wonder unfolding beneath my palms. She’s a miracle, and she makes my life happier for this incredible gift.

“Do it again,” she says, lifting her hands to give me access.

I plant kisses all over her belly, starting with her navel and ending on her pubic bone.

She says my name like it’s a happy word. A ten-megawatt smile burns on my face.

“Did it work?”

“Yes.” She laughs again, her eyes filling with reverence. “Oh, my God, Gabriel.” She takes my hand and moves it back over her stomach. “Can you feel it?”

“It’s too early, beautiful. Tell me what it’s like.”

“It tickles inside.”

A happy glow transforms the pale face with the dark rings. It’s a beautiful moment I don’t deserve, but I take it greedily. I’d stay on my knees forever to be part of these magical milestones Sylvia wouldn’t share with me. For another moment longer, I hold her to me, pressing my face against her warm skin, inhaling the raspberry fragrance I associate with her. I’m reluctant to let go, but she’s probably tired and weak from the bout of sickness. Tearing myself away, I run a shower. There’s enough space for us both to stand comfortably, but I sit on the bench and drape her over my body, unwilling to break our contact. She lets me take care of her, washing her body and hair.

When we’re both dry, I carry her to our bed. My only intention is to hold her while she rests, but when her hand wraps around my shaft, my willpower dissolves. I roll over her, keeping my weight on my arms, and kiss her lips. She gasps as my cock sinks into the heat of her pussy, and then there are only moans as I make love to her, slowly and reverently.

Comes morning, I force myself to leave our bed. Valentina is sleeping, and if I stay another second, I’m going to wake her with my cock in her pussy. Again. We made love until late, and she needs her sleep. I can’t act like a goddamn horny teenager around her all of the time. The problem is I want her more than ever. With enticing curves and pretty features, she’s always been my perfect little toy, my pet, but now she’s a goddess. When I fell for her, it was for her strength and loyalty. This time round, I’m smitten by her unconditional love for the life she carries and her uncomplaining nature in dealing with the pregnancy curveballs.

Some women get sick, some feel tired, some have backache, and some develop cravings, but Valentina has everything. This pregnancy came at her with the full-blown force of a hurricane. I’m in the shower when she storms into the bathroom and vomits her guts out.

I’m out in a flash, wrapping a towel around my waist. I let her finish before helping her up.

She wipes the back of her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Tangling my fingers in her hair, I push her cheek against my chest. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. We’re in this together, baby.”

She puts an inch of distance between us and gives me a grateful, guilty kind of smile that shatters my heart, because I don’t deserve one drop of her thankfulness and especially not her guilt.

She touches her wild morning hair. “I must look a mess.”

“You’ve never looked more beautiful.”

This time her smile blinds me with its radiance. She cups my cheek on the scarred side of my face. “You’re sweet.”

“Sweet?” I advance on her, trapping her against the vanity. “Is that how you’d describe me?”

“Like sugar.”

“Sugar, eh?” She shrieks when I catch her around the waist and lift her onto the counter. “You’re doing serious damage to my reputation.”

“Just a big, old, fluffy, sweet bear,” she taunts.

“Old? Fluffy? Now you’re asking for it.” I tickle her sides, inviting more shrieks and a wild bout of screaming.

“Stop,” she says through tears of laughter, trying to catch my wrists.

I catch hers instead and pin them to the mirror above her head. I want to look at her. She’s insanely gorgeous when she wakes up and even more so when she’s happy. Laughing tears cling to her eyelashes, making them appear darker. Traces of the same wetness run over her flushed cheeks. Silky hair tumbles in curls over her shoulders. Her breasts are firm, their new weight pulling them slightly down. Under my unabashed scrutiny, her nipples harden, pulling her areolas tight. I’m standing between her legs, her knees brushing up against my hips. My cock stirs. My breathing quickens. The mound of her shaved pussy presses against my dick where it rises under the towel. I rip the towel from my body and cover the taps to protect her back before bending her knees and placing her heels on the edge of the countertop. She’s spread wide, and it’s all for me.