Chapter 24

Ian

The whole time I was kissing Abigail, all I could think about was that I loved her and she was carrying my child inside her. It was a heady feeling. I was hard, yes, but I also felt more connected to her than I ever had before. I wanted to take care of her, I wanted to pleasure her, and I wanted to make sure she knew how special she was to me.

I knew I shouldn’t have run off like that when she told me she was pregnant. I’d finally left Zach’s and come straight home, relieved to have fixed things with him but anxious to see what was waiting for me back at the apartment. In part of my mind, I imagined Abigail had run off, that she’d decided she didn’t want anything to do with me anymore, and that she’d gone to Brittany’s or back to her parents’ or somewhere else.

Clearly, I wasn’t mature enough to have a baby with her if I couldn’t even have a conversation with her about having the baby. I had been hurt, but that was no excuse. I knew she hadn’t exactly planned this either, and I could only imagine she was feeling hormonal and lonely at the moment.

I should have been there for her, and I hadn’t been.

When I got back to the apartment, the scene that greeted me was almost worse than I’d expected. I almost wished Abigail had packed her things and left. Seeing that she’d been crying, that Brittany was the one she’d had to rely on, hurt me even more. I felt terrible.

I was only grateful that she seemed to have forgiven me.

“I really am sorry that I ran off before,” I whispered against her lips, nuzzling her chin.

“I really am sorry that you had to hear it from Zach first,” Abigail responded.

“I’m also really sorry that I got you pregnant in the first place,” I said. I still wasn’t sure how it had happened. It had to have been a broken condom, but how could we not have noticed?

That was a stupid question, though. With as mind-blowing as our sex had been, we were both pretty out of it afterward. I had a sneaking suspicion it had been while we were at the gym. We were in such a public place that I’d just tied off the condom and quickly fixed my clothes. It could easily have happened there.

I kissed the tender skin beneath her ear and then nibbled lightly on her earlobe, making her moan. Her legs spread open on the couch, but I wasn’t going to take her here again, not tonight.

Tonight, I wanted to show her how special she was to me. She was the mother of my child, my love.

I stood up, pulling her up with me, and led her toward my bedroom. Our bedroom. I was getting ahead of myself, maybe, but if she was going to have a baby, we were going to need a nursery, so it only made sense for her to move in here with me. I’d broach that subject another time, though, when we’d both had time to think all of this through.

For now, I slowly stripped off her clothing, kissing each new piece of skin that I uncovered. First, her collarbone. Then her breasts and her belly. Then her thighs and the soft skin in between them.

She ran her fingers through my hair, and I looked up at her from my position on my knees. There was something deep in her eyes, but she didn’t need to give voice to it. I already knew. It was, “I love you.”

I stripped off my own clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor. Slowly, I walked her back toward my bed. Our bed.

The air in the room seemed to sizzle with the strength of our feelings for one another. She was mine and I was hers, and we loved one another.

I stroked my fingers down her body, leaving a trail of goosebumps in the wake of my roving digits. Abigail trembled, her breath catching on the tiniest of needy whimpers.

I knew exactly what she was asking for. My mouth sucked a mark in the side of her neck, claiming her, while my fingers slid into the slick space between her legs. Her knees fell open wider, her heels pressing into my lower back, urging me closer.

I palmed myself a couple times, already well ready to slide inside her, but I still hesitated. “Should I grab a condom?” I asked.

She giggled. “I’m already pregnant,” she pointed out. Then she turned serious. “I’m clean. I get tested.”

“I am, too,” I told her.

She didn’t say anything else, but I took that as her agreement. I slid inch by inch into her pleasure spot, groaning as she clenched around me. It was so incredibly intimate like this, nothing between us, not even a thin piece of latex. I could feel so much more, her wetness and the texture of her silken skin.

I gave one quick, experimental thrust, and Abigail gasped, her head falling back and her hands twisting in the sheets. Another quick thrust and she was coming, her back arching helplessly.

I gave her a moment to recover, watching as she caught her breath and pried her eyes open. She blinked up at me, a lazy smile spreading across her cheeks. “That’s a little embarrassing,” she said. “But I needed that.”

I kissed her soundly, delving into her mouth even as I began to use my rod to delve into her other cavern. “Not embarrassing,” I said as we broke apart. “God, you’re incredible.”

Abigail flushed all over with pleasure, her smile turning a bit shy. She whimpered as I changed the angle. I tangled my fingers in hers, pushing her back into the soft sheets.

“Do you think you can come again?” I asked.

“Probably,” she said, turning her face into her arm. “Fuck, that feels so good.”

I slowed down, letting her feel the drag of my member against her folds. I came nearly all the way out of her before thrusting fully back in. My hands stroked her skin, tweaking her nipples and dragging down her sides. I pulled my fingernails lightly across her belly, and she shivered.

“Please,” she whimpered.

I smiled benignly at her, picking up the pace a little even while I still reveled in the feeling of her tight walls around me, her soft skin tugging at my skin as I pushed into her and slowly withdrew.

I could tell she was close to coming again from the way her whimpers increased in frequency. Her hands grabbed at me as though I were the only thing anchoring her to consciousness. She clenched tighter and tighter around me until she was practically a vise that I was pushing into again and again. But it felt so good, squeezing bolts of pure lust right back into my core.

I flicked her nipple and then captured her mouth in another kiss, this one steamy and passionate, absolutely filthy with the strength of my desire for her. She came hard, holding me close, our bodies sticky with sweat as they moved against one another’s.

The third and final time she came, I was about ready to finally come as well. There wasn’t much build up to it on her end; she was already sated from the first two orgasms she’d had. Even though she moaned out my name and her fingers on my hips urged me to keep thrusting into her, to keep using her, she was basically spent. Her body sagged back against the bed as she smiled beatifically up at me.

I lowered my mouth to her skin, kissing her all over, teasing her with my tongue and tasting the sweetness of her. She was everything I could ever hope for, and she was the mother of my unborn child.

With that thought in my mind, I came.

Afterward, I managed not to collapse on top of her, but it was a near thing. At the last second, I rolled to the side, pulling out of her with a groan. We were both utterly spent, and we stared up at the ceiling, our fingers still twisted together on top of the sheets.

I smiled up at the ceiling. “We’re having a baby,” I said, my voice quiet, reverent.

“We’re having a baby,” Abigail echoed tiredly. She rolled onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow and staring down at me, her fingers tracing aimless patterns on my chest. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Takes two to tango,” I pointed out. “Anyway, once I got over the initial shock, I’m kind of excited. Nervous as anything, but excited.”

A slow smile broke across Abigail’s features. “Me too,” she admitted. She flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling again, and I knew she was picturing life with our little one, just like I was.

“What do you think it’ll be?” I asked. “A boy or a girl? I know we’re not going to actually know for a few months, but don’t you have some sort of mother’s intuition?”

“I didn’t even know I was pregnant until yesterday morning, and that was only because I missed my period and I was afraid I might be,” Abigail groused. But she smiled. “I think it’s a boy. Don’t ask me why. I just think it is.”

“A boy,” I said, grinning as well. “We can teach him how to play catch, and to skate and ride a bike.”

There was a pause. “You know, you don’t have to be okay with all of this,” Abigail said after a moment. “I’d love to have your help with everything, but if you don’t want to, I’m the one who’s stuck carrying the thing, and I can raise him on my own.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, pulling her over into my arms and holding her tight. “I want to be there for you, and for it. Him.”

“Good,” Abigail said, breathing out a long sigh of relief. She relaxed against me, and I kissed her shoulder blade.

“You don’t have to worry,” I murmured.

“I do,” Abigail said. “I start a new job on Monday. What if they get mad when they find out I’m pregnant?”

“You didn’t know you were pregnant when you accepted the position,” I pointed out. “And the person who interviewed you, that was a woman, wasn’t it? I’m sure she’ll understand. Anyway, they can work you hard for months before you have to worry about anything. And if they fire you, I’ll personally hand-deliver your resume to all the local businesses in the city and we’ll find you another perfect job. I promise. Unless you want to be a stay-at-home mom. That would be okay, too.”

Abigail smiled. “What if you want to be a stay-at-home dad?” she asked. “Someone’s got to earn the money around here.”

I laughed. “As much as I’m excited for the little one, I don’t think I have what it takes to be a stay-at-home dad,” I told her. “But we’ll see. We’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t know,” Abigail said. “You do make a pretty good cook.”

“We’re going to make a great team,” I said, already envisioning it.

“Is Zach really okay with everything?” Abigail asked worriedly. “You should have heard some of the things he said.”

“He was just upset. We had a long talk,” I told her, again tightening my arms protectively around her. Zach had confessed some of the mean things he’d said to his sister, and I’d just about punched him. Fortunately, he’d agreed that he deserved a good punch or else I actually might have done it.

I shook my head. “He thought he was losing his best friend,” I explained. “And on top of that, he felt like he was losing his little sister, like you were all grown up and you didn’t need him anymore. I told him that was ridiculous and reminded him that we’re right here, just an easy walk away from him. And I reminded him that with the baby, we were going to need him more than ever. We’ll need Uncle Zach and Aunt Mikayla.”

“Plus Auntie Britt,” Abigail murmured sleepily.

“Plus Auntie Britt,” I agreed. “And your parents and my parents, the grandparents, I’m sure they’ll want to spoil the baby rotten as well. This kid is going to have so much love in its life, it’s not going to know what to do with it all.”

“Good,” Abigail whispered.

I kissed her again. “Get some sleep,” I told her. “Mommas deserve it.”

“I’m not a momma yet,” Abigail protested.

“Well, get some sleep anyway,” I said, amused at the almost petulant, pouty way she’d said it. “You’re my girl, and you deserve it.”

“Your girl,” Abigail echoed. “I like that.”

“I love you,” I said quietly.

“I love you, too,” she echoed as we both drifted off to sleep.