Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (12 page)

"Paul doesn't think I'm beautiful. He won't touch me he's so afraid he'll hurt the baby. I’m not that fragile, damn it."

"Shh baby.” He took her hand and led her to the bed. "Paul is an idiot. Sex is perfectly safe, even if you've been having a little trouble here and there."

“I know. I asked the doctor and he said it was okay. But Paul still won't. . ."

He kissed her, running his hands lightly over her sensitive breasts. Sierra moaned.  She wanted him inside of her so badly that she could no longer stand it.

"You have to get a little inventive sometimes. I promise I'll be gentle.  Here sweetheart, lay on your side.  Would it feel better if you faced towards me or away from me?”

She looked up at him.  “I don’t know.  I think anything would feel so good right now.”

He chuckled.  “We’ll try from behind.  If it doesn’t feel as good as you think it should, let me know and we’ll try something else okay?”

“Mmm.  Thank you.  Luke. . .”

“Shh baby.  It’s okay.  I want this as badly as you do.  You are so beautiful I can hardly stand it.”

Luke positioned himself behind her and entered her slowly.  They both let out a quiet moan.  She turned her head to give him access to her mouth.  It reminded her of the night that she’d teased Paul about knowing how to fuck, but thoughts of Paul were soon gone from her mind. 

It felt incredible, but Sierra felt as if she wasn’t feeling the full depth of Luke’s manhood.  She whispered into his ear what she was too embarrassed to say aloud.  He gave her a quick kiss and then moved to her other side.  He tipped her head so that she’d look in his eyes, and kept his eyes locked on hers as he reentered her.

He closed his eyes briefly and then opened them.  “Is that better darlin’?”

She swallowed hard.  “Oh yes.  Much better.  Not that it didn’t feel good the first time.  But. . .”

He smiled.  “I know baby.  Believe me, I know.”

There were no more words as he started to move.  She let her eyes drift closed briefly.  It felt so good, but she opened them again and looked up at him.  He took her hand and twined their fingers together.  She moved her hips to meet his thrusts and when it still wasn’t enough, when she still couldn’t get enough of the feeling of having him inside of her again, she brought her leg up over his.  Their upper bodies weren’t touching, but their lower bodies were locked together with no space between them.

She came quickly to orgasm and was almost disappointed.  She didn’t want the moment to end.  He saw the disappointment that she tried to hide in her eyes and brought his other hand between her legs, stroking her womanhood lightly with his fingers.  She gave him a grateful smile and then captured his mouth with hers.  She almost bit his tongue the second time she came it was so intense, but managed to hold back.

He reached his own climax moments later and withdrew from her with a quiet sigh.

He reached out and gently stroked her hair.

She closed her eyes as he moved to run his fingers over her lips.

The moment was broken when they heard the chime of an alarm coming from the pocket of his jeans. "Shit," he said. "I didn't know it was that late. I set the alarm so that I'll realize it's time to pick up Alexis if I'm involved in my writing."

She sat up, reality setting back in as she reached for her clothes.

He was fully dressed by the time she'd slipped her feet into her sandals and gave her a quick kiss as he headed for the door.

"I probably shouldn't call you again.  But do you want to meet here, say once or twice a week?"

She licked her dry lips, her heart beating fast as the thought of other such meetings. "Yes. That would be. . ." She laughed then, she'd wanted to say nice, but it was hardly a "nice" thing they were doing.

He gave her a wink. "Yeah, so I'll see you. . . Does Wednesday sound okay?"

"Great."

And then he was gone, hurrying to his car to pick up his daughter.

She felt a stab of guilt at the thought of his little girl, his wife. Surely they didn't deserve this she thought.

But it's not like she was planning to try to steal him away from his family. She wanted, well she just wanted him, and refused to let herself think about where all of this would lead, much like she had when they'd been together before.

She returned home, showered and threw her dress and under clothes into the washer.  She thought she could smell the slightest scent of Luke's musky cologne on them. It was so different from the clean barely there scent that Paul favored.

She had pulled her clothes from the dryer and was hanging them in the closet when her cell phone rang.

She glanced at the caller id, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw it was Paul. She had been thinking for a moment that it was Luke calling to tell her that he'd changed his mind about seeing her again.

"Hello."

"I didn't wake you did I?"

"No Paul, you didn't."

"I wanted to remind you that I'm going out for drinks after work. Didn't want you to worry. I'll bring home something to eat so don't worry about dinner. What sounds good?"

"Whatever you want Paul."

She was annoyed with him for calling, though she had forgotten that he was going out after work.

"You okay Sierra? You're not having any problems with the baby are you?"

She bit back a nasty retort, instead saying "No Paul. I'm fine and the baby's fine, kicking the crap out of me like usual."

"Oh. Good. I'll pick up Chinese then. Unless you're in the mood for something else?"

She was a little tired of it, but she wanted to get him off of the phone, wondering with a stab when her husband had become such an annoyance to her.

"It's fine Paul. Go back to work."

"Okay. I'll see you about seven then.  I love you Sierra."

"I love you too, Paul." She held back her sigh until she shut the phone.

She flopped back on to the bed, resting her hand on her stomach.

How was she going to face Paul when he came home she wondered?  Would be able to see that she'd been with another man?

Of course he wouldn't be able to tell, she thought with a groan. He was perfectly oblivious to her sexual needs as it was. She told herself that maybe she wouldn't have jumped into bed with Luke as soon as she'd been given the chance if only Paul cared a little bit more about what she wanted, what she needed, rather than thinking of nothing but their child.

But there was a little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she couldn't be certain that she wouldn't have ended up back in bed with Luke, even if Paul had been paying more attention to her.

"Screw it," she muttered aloud, meeting a defiant pair of green eyes in the mirror. She would give up seducing her husband, at least until after the baby was born. And so what if her needs were being taken care of elsewhere? She was only human right? Yep, she thought to herself, human and pregnant.

She had to pee again.  Her back was aching almost constantly now and she was so ready for it all to be over with.

She wanted to hold her son in arms, wanted her body to be her own again, and wanted her figure back.

And maybe Paul would chill out at least somewhat after their child was born. Or at least she hoped so. She couldn't take much more of his constant nagging at her, to make sure she ate right and that she wasn't doing too much around the house.

He was like a mother.  More of a mother than her mother had been, since her picky mother had never nagged at her to eat her vegetables, when she barely touched them herself.  An occasional salad was enough for good old Mom she thought.

She sighed again, figuring that it might be a good idea to get in touch with her mom again.  She hadn't been good about keeping up with anyone lately.

She'd been too down to want to talk to anyone.

She figured that e-mail would be a safe form of communication and went to the dining room that since they never used it, had been converted into a computer room.

She logged onto the net, sending off e-mails to her mother and her grandmother.  She was in a fairly good mood, chatting with Ashley through instant messaging when Paul walked in that evening, carrying with him the takeout bags that comprised their dinner.

"Hey." He came up behind her, dropping a quick kiss onto her head, then leaning down to lift her loose t-shirt and kiss her belly. "How are my two favorite people in the whole world?"

"We're good.”  She told Ashley that she would talk to her later, and then turned off the computer, snapping her laptop closed.

Though she felt the guilt start to overwhelm her when she first looked into those familiar baby blue eyes, she took a deep breath to calm herself, as he helped her to her feet.  The night was normal after that.

He laid his head in her lap while they watched TV on the couch and she stroked his hair. She felt a strange sense of comfort in the fact that she wouldn't have to try to talk him into sex that night as her hormones were quiet for the moment, having been satisfied by her encounter with Luke.

She was surprised when he reached for her that night in bed, though he held her gingerly, as if she and the baby she carried were so fragile that they might break into a thousand pieces if he held on too tight.

"I love you Paul.”

"I love you too, Sierra."

It was almost easy for her to pretend that she hadn't cheated on him that very afternoon, hadn't started an affair that she had no real plans of stopping.

Chapter 20

Sierra met Luke twice a week at his house after that.

He'd replaced the curtains in the living room, and had bought pillows and soft flannel sheets for the bed.

They spent a good deal of their time together making love, though some was spent talking also. They reminisced about old times, people they'd known, laughing about the party that had brought them together.

When they were together, they could almost shut the outside world out. Though her pregnancy was more and more obvious as time went by and he always had to leave to pick up his daughter, they didn't discuss any plans for the future.  Paul's name was never mentioned nor was Kimber's.

She was about a week before her due date when she met him on a Tuesday, having a doctor's appointment at their usual Wednesday meeting time.  She'd been having contractions since early that morning.  They weren't strong yet and they were still far apart so she figured she had plenty of time before she was in real labor, so she decided to keep her meeting with Luke and drove to his house as usual.

She had no contractions on the way there and didn't have another one until they were lying together on the bed, him wearing only jeans by that time and she clothed only in panties.

His head was between her breasts when she felt the contraction came on and she winced.  They had grown stronger now.

He looked up at her his eyes full of lust.  "You okay baby?"

She nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

He took one look at her face and said "Sierra, you aren't in labor are you?"

She started to shrug her shoulders and then nodded. "Yeah, I think I am."

"Was that your first contraction?"

He looked worried now, pulling his t shirt over his head and then reaching over to help her with the catch on her bra.

She pulled her t shirt over her head, slipping her feet into her sandals. "No."

"Oh baby." He grabbed his keys off of the table. "Why didn't you tell me? We gotta, you gotta. . . Shit. Let me think."

"I wanted to see you one more time before the baby was born.  It's probably gonna be a while before we can. . .”  She wondered if they would meet again at all.

He kissed her quickly. "I can't take you to the hospital obviously.  It wouldn't be a good thing for your husband to be trying to kick my ass when his kid's being born.  And you can't drive yourself so we. . . Damn. Give me your keys. I'll take you home.  You can call your old man once we get there."

"Okay.” She let him help her to her feet.

She was finding it hard to think of anything at all at the moment, bracing herself for the next contraction.  She was glad that he at least hadn't lost his head, as he deposited her into the passenger seat of her car, quickly going around to the drivers’ seat.

She was sure he was speeding, but was glad when they pulled into her drive a few minutes later, luckily having met no cops on the way.

He stopped the car, and came around to help her up to the porch. "Babe?” He let her squeeze his hand as she felt another contraction come on.

"Yes Luke?"

"Should your car be in the garage?"

"Oh, yeah.”

"Do you have an opener love?"

"No." She slumped down onto the porch steps, wondering how she was going to survive labor. "It's manual.  You have to pull it up. Paul never got around to replacing the lock."

"Okay." He moved to raise the garage door and quickly pulled her car into the garage.

"Okay, Sie," he said when he’d returned to her. He took her keys and unlocked the door, leading her over to the couch. "I hate to leave you, but you'd better call your husband now, so he can get you to the hospital. Good luck baby." He gave her a quick kiss.

"I love you Luke."

"I love you too, Sie," he said softly, his hand on the door knob.

He looked so sad, so lost at that moment that she felt tears cloud her vision. And then he was gone.  She felt herself wondering if she'd ever see him again.

She wiped her eyes, grabbing her cell phone from her purse, and dialed Paul's cell with a shaky hand.

"Babe, is everything okay?"

She wanted to laugh at the wonders of caller id, but stopped herself.  ”I'm in labor Paul."

"Oh," he said, then as if she didn't already know "But that baby's not due for another week."

"Yeah, but babies have been known to ignore due dates at times Paul. I'm in labor. I promise you."

"Shit, let me tell my boss I gotta leave. Then I'll call the doctor; let him know we're on our way. Hold on baby, I'm on my way."

She wasn't sure if he was talking to her at that point or the actual baby, but she put it out of her head, closing her eyes as she lay back on the couch, awaiting her next contraction.

Paul arrived fifteen minutes later.  She thought that he looked so out of breath, he could have run the whole way there.

"Let me get your bag and then we'll go. Isn't it exciting Sierra? We're gonna have a baby.  I love you so much."

Then he was rushing up the stairs to retrieve the bag she packed from the closet. He helped her to her feet, pulling her into his arms briefly. "You've made me so happy Sierra. Now let's get you to the hospital so we can meet our son."

He looked so happy at that moment that she could only nod at him.

Her labor was relatively short, twelve hours total, and she was able to calm down once was an epidural was administered.

She was so tired by that point that she could hardly able to keep her eyes open, but was still able to offer Paul a weak smile as pressed the baby into her arms.

They had decided to name him Nathaniel Joshua.  Sierra couldn't help but think he was beautiful.

He had her darker blonde hair and Paul's blue eyes.

It was rather exhausting as the nurses helped her through the truly unique process of getting her child to accept her breast.

Paul never left her side.  She thought that it hurt him almost as much as it hurt their son when they could hear him crying down the hall as his circumcision was performed.

They were released three days later.  Sierra was glad that Paul was taking another week off of work to help out.  She was so tired that she could hardly stand it.

Though he kept annoyingly close at all times, scrutinizing her as she changed diapers and bathed their son with a wash rag.

At least he changed diapers, though.  He made sure that he was involved in everything as much as possible, though at the moment she was the only one able to feed their son as she had been feeling much too lazy to pump her breasts, figuring that Paul was getting plenty of bonding time in with their son.

Two days later, she had lain down with Nathaniel on the bed, propping his little body on a pillow as she nursed him, while Paul had run to the store for groceries. She had fallen asleep, when she awoke to Paul's angry voice.

"Sierra damn it, what the hell are you doing?"

She sat up, still half asleep, wondering what he could possibly be talking about.

The baby was sleeping peacefully on the bed.  He still hadn't been letting her do anything around the house so she couldn't be behind on chores.  And it wasn't as if the house was on fire. "What?"

"The bassinet is there for a reason Sierra. I told you not to fall asleep with the baby in the bed.  It's dangerous."

"Really Paul? He's fine. I've been so tired lately. I was having quite a nice nap when you so rudely interrupted."

He snorted, as if she was lying about her lack of sleep. "Don't let it happen again okay?"

She stuck her tongue out at his back as he turned to go down to put the groceries away, muttering under her breath "Uptight asshole."

When she tried to move Nathaniel to the bassinet, he woke up with a yelp, as is wondering why his mother had deigned to interrupt his nap.

She looked down into her husband's eyes looking out at her from her son's tiny face, and shrugged her shoulders at him, whispering "Sorry baby.  Mama doesn't understand it either, but Daddy insisted."

She breathed a sigh of relief when Paul went back to work, beginning to wonder if their lives would ever go back to normal again.

If he would let her return to work when the time came or if she'd be stuck at home taking care of the child she adored more everyday but still couldn't see herself giving up her career for.

She felt that she shouldn't have to, was angry that she was starting to feel more and more that she'd never lived up to Paul's lofty standards as a mother and as a wife.

She could understand why he wouldn't make love to her at this point so soon after birth, but wondered whether their sex life would ever be the same.

She could easily imagine Paul wanting more children, though they hadn't yet discussed it.  But she didn't want to have sex with her husband only to get pregnant.  She wanted to have sex with her husband because she wanted to, because HE wanted to.

She was chatting with Ashley on the computer one afternoon when Nathan was about a month old, having found out that Ashley was pregnant and that her boyfriend was freaking out because they'd only been together three months, when there was a light knock at the door.

She glanced at her son sleeping peacefully in the bassinet, and then got up to go to the door, wondering who it was.

Paul's mother was supposed to be coming to town for a few days, but wasn't scheduled to arrive until this weekend.  They were supposed to be going to visit her parents two weeks before she was going back to work, but other than a few neighbors and friends from work who'd stopped in at times, Sierra had few visitors.

Sierra peeked out the peep hole; her heart feeling like it was stuck in her throat when she saw it was Luke standing on the other side of the door.

She threw open the chain lock, glancing back only when she'd realized that the noise might startle her son, and seeing it hadn't, turned the dead bolt and stepped back to let Luke into the house.

He had a small box of chocolates in one hand and a gift bag in the other.

She wanted to throw herself into his arms, wanted for him to be coming to tell her that he was here to take her away from everything.  From what was turning into a dissatisfied (at least on her part) marriage at best, or what was a downright unhappy one at worst.

"Hi."

"Hi.” She felt like an idiot when there was so much more that she wanted to say to him.

“How have you been?"

"I've been. . ." She couldn't take it anymore and she crossed the floor, throwing her arms around him and kissing him with so much passion that she felt herself go weak in the knees when he responded in kind. "Oh Luke, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too Sie but. . ."

"No buts today babe." She moved her hand to the crotch of his jeans. As she rubbed him through the fabric, she could feel him grow hard.

She moaned as his hand moved to cup her breast, forgetting that she wasn't wearing a bra. It was something which for some reason drove Paul nuts, but bras drove her crazier at the moment.  Her breasts were still full as she weaned her son, and she found them to be totally uncomfortable.

Luke didn't seem to mind though, as he took her hand and led her to the couch, where he stood for a moment, slipping off his shoes.

She slipped her shorts and panties off, leaving them to lie beside the couch.

He didn't bother to do anything more than pull his pants down part way before he was inside her.  They were both too conscious of her sleeping son in the other room, knowing that he could wake up any minute.

He rode her hard and fast.  She bit into the thin material at the shoulder of his t shirt to keep from crying out as she came.  Why couldn't Paul make her come like that she wondered for a moment?  Then all thoughts were shut out of her head as she felt Luke's release inside her.

He kissed her as he moved to pull his pants up, then reached down to hand her her shorts.

She accepted them from him without a word, looking into his eyes and knowing that he hadn't come here to ask her to run away with him at all, probably hadn't been planning on fucking her on the couch that her husband had picked out.

"Luke. I'm sorry. If only I hadn't been so young and dumb."

"I know darlin’, I know."

He pulled her into his arms.  She felt her feet leave the floor he was holding her so tight.

"You came to say goodbye didn't you?"

"Yes baby, I did. You and I both know that we can't do this anymore, as good as it feels." He grinned but it quickly faded. "We had something special Sierra, but we gave it up honey, both of us did.  And we have to move on now for good. I still love you.  Maybe I always will, but I've got a wife now and a little girl whom I love more than anything. I can't give that up."

She nodded, biting her lip. She wanted to tell him that she'd always love him too.  That even if he wasn't willing to give up his family for her, she was willing to give hers up for him (or her husband at least).  But she couldn't get the words out, and figured maybe they were better left unsaid at this point.