Sitting on the couch with a cup of tea cradled in my hands, I stare out the window at tourists walking below. Wondering if any of them are pregnant, and what their lives are like. Do they have a significant other, a baby room?

Looking at the ice bobbing in my tea, I reflect on what the ladies said to me in my room. I reached my lowest and just needed time to process everything that was happening to my life. Raven was kind and understanding, Alessandra encouraged me things would get better if I let them, and Jillian told me to forget Kane and tug my big girl panties up.

It was kind of like a bad cop, free spirit, good villain kind of chat. Either way, I can’t believe they came up here for me, it feels nice.

The door to the suite opens, and Mac walks in. Setting the cup down, I turn to talk to him. I feel like an idiot the way I broke down yesterday, but I just needed some time to process what was going on. The jaws of life devoured my soul and every time I think I might have escaped, something or someone around me has become a victim. Kane was an asshole to me and might have dumped me off like an unwanted step-child… but I could still be carrying his child.

Mac struggles through the front door, two bags in each hand.

I stand, hand on my belly.

“What’s that?”

“You’re out of your room,” he says with an exhausted voice, but lightened eyes. I look to the wall, a guilty feeling surfacing. He really tried to help me yesterday. I know it doesn’t seem like much to him, but his effort means so much to me. Nobody would have tried like he did.

He tosses the bags on the couch, grasps the back of the couch with both hands, and takes a deep breath.

“What’s all this?” Peeling a bag open, I casually glance inside.

“They’re for you,” he points.

I frown, surely, I didn’t hear him right.

“For me?”

Pulling the plastic open wide, my lips part. Books?

Reaching in, I grab them, pulling them out.

What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

Baby Names Today.

The Perfect Baby Room.

My glossy eyes dart to his, my hormones about to open the floodgates.

“You got these for me?” Disbelief painting my voice.

“I don’t know if you already know the shit, or already read the books but I didn’t see you come here with much of anything, so I thought maybe it’d give you something to do while you were stuck up here. Keep you out of my fucking hair.” He shrugs, reaching for the other bag.

I can tell he’s trying to not care, but he does. He fucking cares. Gatz, Kane, nobody has gone to this length for me and the baby.

He pulls out a pack of baby bottles, and a baby blanket with black glasses printed on it, and even some maternity shorts.

“Are those…” I point at the shorts in surprise.

“Shorts, yeah. I held my hands up to tell the lady about the size of your waist, so I’m not sure if they’ll fit, but it’s better than you walking around in your underwear or the same ol’ sweatpants all the time.”

Taking the shorts from him, I rub my fingers on the material of the shorts, it’s soft and elastic.

Shifting my eyes to him, I find myself becoming more and more attracted to him each day we’re stuck in this place together. My cheeks blush, my thighs clench as a racing thought to flirt with him crosses my mind. Testing the waters to see if he finds me attractive.

“You don’t like me in my panties?” I tilt my head to the side.

Hooded eyes fall on my ass, and my nipples perk from the sudden attention. “You keep walking around in those panties and I have a feeling we’ll be crossing a bunch of lines we won’t come back from, Pocahontas.”

I laugh. “In your dreams.” I don’t want to come off too interested, then I’d be just like one of the girls from his club. But Mac is a catch, and as horny as my hormones have had me… I’d be lying if I said the thought of us blowing off some steam together hasn’t crossed my mind a couple of times. When he’s near, I’m suddenly aware of the feral attraction clawing to get out of me. There’s a need inside of me that sees everything in Mac, and I’m terrified he sees me just as another chick.

The baby kicks, causing me to jerk forward. The movements are getting so strong I swear I’m going to pee myself sometimes.

“You okay?” Mac eyes me warily.

Grabbing Mac’s hand, I press it to my belly. The baby rolls under his touch, my stomach visually moving. Mac’s eyes search mine in confusion before lighting up. “Do you feel that?”

He nods silently, his face in awe and confusion. Like he’s realizing for the first time there’s an actual life inside of me. Taking my hand off his, he leaves his palm on my belly. The dark look in his eyes, the pinch of his eyebrows… I wish I knew what he was thinking at this exact moment.

Swinging dilated pupils my way, we sit there in silence as the baby and Mac get acquainted through my skin. The firm press of his palm and the heartbeat skipping in my chest is all I can focus on through the passing seconds.

Mac clears his throat, breaking the moment. He pulls his hand from my stomach, and a shiver bumps its way up my back. Leaning over the couch, he hands two blankets to me.

“Check out this baby blanket, it’s muslin, or some kind of soft shit, I don’t know.”

It’s as if getting too close scared him, making my assumption that Mac has a hard time feeling, accurate.

“Yeah, they’re soft,” I agree. One has little green and purple long neck dinosaurs on it, and the other pink and peach feathers.

“I figured you’d like the feathers, being Indian and all.” He rubs his chin looking his purchases over. Silently laughing, I run my fingers across the feathers, the stories my grandmother used to tell me about our descendent tribes. It seemed so much easier back then.

“I also got you this.” Pulling from his back pocket is a pretty pink iPhone. Taking it from him, I’m in awe of its slick screen and matte pink backing.

“It’s under my name and all, so nobody can trace… but me,” he winks, bragging about his tech skills.

Placing everything back in the bag, I realize Mac got a lot of things, the phone had to have cost him.

“How much did you spend on all this?” I can’t help but ask.

“Doesn’t matter. Oh”—he reaches in the bag and tosses a thing of pills at me—“fucking take those, they’re important. All right?” I look the label over. Prenatal vitamins.

Closing my eyes, I control my breathing and reopen them. This man is breaking through my lust for him and lacing it with something so much more.

“You didn’t have to do this, Mac.” I try my best to hold the emotion back in my voice, but I can’t help it. I’m overwhelmed, nobody has done anything like this for me and the baby. He may not know how to interact with people, but he does when it counts.

He shrugs. “It’s no big deal. If it makes you stop sulking around the place, it’s fucking worth it.”

Dropping the pills on the couch, I wrap my arms around him and hug him hard. He tenses as if he’s not used to someone hugging him. I’d do anything to hear this man’s story one day.

“Thank you,” I whisper into the soft skin lining his neck. He smells minty, and his body is so hard and warm against my skin I feel safe. It’s so fucking good to touch another human being, that I don’t want to let go.

The soft inhale behind my ear doesn’t go unnoticed, his hand palming the dip in my lower back. I’m suddenly aware of every nerve ending in my body from the simple contact and have to pull myself away before I do something we both aren’t ready for.

Letting go, my face is flushed, and my breasts feel heavy with want. I turn away from him not wanting him to see lust stinging my face.

“I love reading,” I mutter, grabbing one of the books. Sitting on the couch, I run my thumb through the pages of hidden knowledge of having a baby.

He grunts in response.

“I’ve read the hotel pamphlet about a million times since I’ve been here and memorized the room service menu.” I laugh awkwardly. The unmistakable tension fills the gap between us, something happened between us and neither of us know what to do with it.

“Well, I gotta do some work, so you just sit there and… I don’t know.” He runs his hands over the back of his neck, seeming out of character. Maybe I shouldn’t have hugged him, I came on too strong. Wait, did he say work?

“Work?”

“Yeah, I hack shit on the side when I’m not doing club business,” he mumbles.

“Or when you’re not strutting around pregnancy stores.” I smile, trying to ease the tension between us. Our eyes lock, and his bee-stung lips smirk in the cutest way.

“Shut up.” He flips me the bird, marching to his room.

“Is that why they call you Mac, because you’re the geeky computer guy?” I can’t help but ask, he’s full of mystery and sin I can’t help but drown in curiosity. His steps slow, but he doesn’t stop all the way before he picks up his pace again and heads into his room.

I bite my bottom lip, my finger tapping on the cover of the book he got me.

I’m going to learn Mac’s story, even if it kills him to let me in. There’s a lot more to Mac than the brooding biker, and he proved that today.

Sitting on the couch, my laptop straddling my knees, I hack and transfer funds for one of my clients. My focus on the firewall, and the music Simone has playing in her room.

Something from Selena Gomez, “Marshmallow Wolves” or some girly shit. I’ve tried to keep my distance since yesterday, something happened. Something I don’t fucking understand. Yeah, I got baby shit for her, she needed it obviously but when I felt the baby kick. Something instinctive burned deep inside of me. I suddenly wanted to be more than an asshole, but the idea of it scares the shit out of me. My story isn’t beautiful, and sad to say it’s made me into the person I am today. What if I let her and this baby in and she decides she can do better?

Tapping my finger on the mouse anguish crashes in my chest like a hostile storm.

“What do you think?”

My eyes slip up my screen to Simone suddenly standing in front of me. She’s wearing a tight black tank top, her breasts nearly spilling from the top, and the new maternal shorts I bought her. With her round ass faces me, you can’t even see her belly bump.

Her thick hair spills down her back, her hooded eyes fluttering with black as night lashes peeking over her shoulder. Drinking her in inch by inch, my shaft tightens into a hard rod.

I suddenly don’t care about boundaries or pasts. All I want is to touch her, and now.

Setting my laptop to the side, I saunter to her. My head lowered, eyes only on her. The way her hair is a sexy mess, I think about it splayed across my pillow. Her brown glossy eyes dilated with lust, I wonder if they’d roll into the back of her head when I sunk into her to the hilt. I wonder a lot of fucking things that’ve never crossed my mind before.

Stepping up behind her, my fingertips trace her bare shoulder. Her glowing tanned skin practically begging me to do despicable things to her. Brushing her hair to one side, I run my nose up the nape of her neck, the smell of her coconut skin forcing me to inhale deeper.

She’s so clean and pure but fucked up in the head all at the same time.

“These shorts look hideous on you,” I whisper into the back of her ear. Her breath hitches, her shoulders rising. I offended her.

Clutching the waistband, I jerk them down her legs and they slowly descend down to her ankles. Grasping her jaw, her lips parts, her head turning just slightly to where our eyes catch.

“Only a complete moron would tell you to put more clothes on, I never should have bought them,” I admit. She leans into me, and I clench my jaw to keep from throwing her on my bed and diving my tongue deep into her mouth.

“Are you coming onto me, Mac?” Her voice laced with a husky sultry tone.

Dropping my hand from her shoulder, my fingertips teasingly caress the round of her ass cheeks poking out of her dark red panties. She has the thickest, sexiest ass I’ve ever seen.

“You’re the one dropping your pants, baby.” My finger slips beneath the lace of her panties and her chest rises from her weak attempt at controlling herself.

Clearing her throat, she eyes me with clearer eyes.

“I believe you did that.”

“If I did it, I’d be pulling these off too.” I fist her panties, the material rising up her ass crack giving me a full view of her round backside. Fuck, I could lose my dick in between those butt-cheeks all fucking night. I wonder if this is her normal ass, or from the pregnancy. Either way, I hope she keeps it.

She sighs, her body shivering from my touch. I want her, I want her so fucking bad I can close my eyes and taste it. So why haven’t I had her?

“I- I think we should slow down,” she whispers, but I don’t think she means it. Not by the way her head lolls to the side for me to scrape my teeth against. My cock twitches from the rejection, and I suddenly wonder what the fuck I’m doing with this woman.

“Simone, I’ve been trying to slow myself down with you since I met you,” I confess, and my chest burns realizing I’ve been holding back. I never hold back, every woman wants me.

She turns, her eyes wide and lips swollen.

I can’t help it, I push for more and press my lips to hers. It’s not sweet, or gentle. In fact, it’s downright rude and commanding. I take her taste and fill my mouth with it. Her hands come up, hesitating against my chest and I swirl my tongue inside her mouth. Her supple breaths brush against my face as I take what I fucking want. Grasping her ass cheeks, I pull her onto me, grinding the wet spot on her panties against the bulge in my jeans.

She moans, her eyes popping open, and her hands make contact with my chest. Shoving me back. Rejection like a fucking atomic bomb lands right in my lap.

Flicking my lips, the taste of her still drenching my tongue, I shift my raging hard-on to one side trying to calm the throbbing some.

“I’m sorry, I just…” The back of her hand rests on her mouth as she stares at me with earnest eyes.

“Tell me you want me,” I demand. I need to know it and now.

“I do, I just—”

“Got it,” I cut her off. She’s not like a club chick ready to drop to her knees and suck my cock. She’s a woman who takes her time, gives a man blue balls until she gets to know them.

If I want to fully taste Simone, I’m going to have to hammer my walls down and let her in.

Guilt that I’m trying to fuck my deceased brother’s girl tries to surface and has me suddenly feeling like a prick. These fucking feelings are giving me a headache. My eyes flick to her, feelings of guilt, but the wanting to pursue her conflicting with each other. It’s all so new to me. I care too much what she thinks, and it makes me anxious.

Sitting on my bed, I grab my laptop, deciding it’s night of porn and lotion.

I want Simone, but she comes with so much of the unknown I need a fucking map to decipher any of this shit going through my head.

Bending down, she pulls her shorts up, humiliation staining her face as she leaves the room.

Collapsing onto the pillows behind me, I exhale.

“Fucking Pocahontas is doing my head in.”