CHAPTER 18
Noelle
“Noelle?” I heard him repeat my name, but I was too dazed and too much in shock to respond to him immediately. Seeing Tank again, after all these months, had brought back all those memories and feelings which I thought I’d managed to get over.
He was still as hot, and the way he was looking at me now could make me melt. He was angry and disappointed and curious…all at the same time, and I just couldn’t get the words to come out of my throat.
“Noelle…you have to tell me what’s going on!” he was scolding me, and came even closer. I could smell him, he was close enough to touch, and I had never been tempted to fall into someone’s arms like this before. I knew I’d feel relieved, I’d feel safe in his arms…but he didn’t want me! He never wanted me for anything more than one night.
“What do you want me to say?” I snapped at him, realizing that any second now, the tears were going to start gushing down my cheeks.
Tank was quiet, he was glaring at me, his gaze drifting to my belly from time to time as he stared at me.
“I want you to tell me if I’m the father,” he said, in a quiet deep voice. The silence in my apartment, between us, was deafening. I could hear the clock ticking on the wall, and I could have sworn that he could hear my heart beating in my chest too.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I could have just lied to him, and told him it wasn’t his. That would send him away. But did I really want him to go away? Hadn’t my heart leaped at the sight of him at my door, at the sound of his voice over the phone?
“Noelle?” he came even closer to me, and now he had placed a hand on my shoulder. His touch was electrifying, and it seemed to weigh my shoulder down. I couldn’t believe that Tank was touching me, that I was so close to him again. I had only been fooling myself all these weeks by pretending that I had managed to move on. That I would be able to live my life without seeing him again. I opened my mouth and let the words pour out.
“Yes, it’s yours. The baby is yours,” I said and hung my head down. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see the look of horror and disgust on his face. I didn’t want to see just how badly he regretted sleeping with me.
We were both silent again, till his grip on my shoulder became tighter. I felt the pinch on my skin, and I looked up at him instinctively.
He wasn’t horrified like I’d predicted, in fact, there could have been a smile on his face.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Noelle? Why did you keep this from me?” he asked, and he placed his other hand on my other shoulder. We were inches away from each other now. I was so close to just falling into his arms.
“Because you didn’t want me. And I was afraid of how you would react if I told you. If you didn’t want me, why would you want my baby?” I could hear the cry in my own voice. My eyes had filled with tears already, and they were threatening to roll down my cheeks.
“That was a lie, Noelle,” he said, in a deep, gruff voice and I jerked my head to look up at him again. That smile on Tank’s face had stretched wider. He was grinning, his eyes were lit up.
“What?” I asked, and slowly, he pulled me closer to him by my shoulders.
“I was lying when I said that you weren’t the right kind of woman for me,” he told me, and I stared at him with my brows knotted. The tears were gushing down my cheeks now, but I didn’t care. I didn’t know whether to believe what he was telling me.
“I don’t understand,” I said, and Tank smiled more.
“I don’t expect you to, and I’m sorry for hurting you. But believe me, Noelle, I told you that so that you would hate me. So that you never had to get involved with all the messed up things in my life. In some messed up way, I was trying to keep you safe,” he continued, and I shook my head. This was crazy. This couldn’t actually be happening. I had to be dreaming.
“Noelle…” he breathed my name and pulled me to him. I fell on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me, and I could feel myself sinking into him. I had fantasized about being in his arms, I had fantasized that he would hold me close to himself and promise that he’d make everything all right. I just never thought that fantasy could ever come true.
As he held me and rocked me gently, I felt like I was finally home. I had no idea just how much I’d missed being in his arms. He gently kissed the top of my head.
“This is the best thing you could have ever told me, Noelle. That I’m going to be a father,” I heard him say. I moved in his arms to look up at him. Even though he was smiling, I was still finding it difficult to forget about everything and just pick up where we’d left off.
“So, you want the baby?” I asked, and Tank peered into my eyes, his hazel eyes bright and excited.
“There is nothing I want more than to have a child with you,” he said and then as fast as he had started smiling, he was frowning again. My heart dropped. Had he changed his mind so quickly?
“Fuck. This gives them the bloody leverage that they needed,” he said.
***
“What are you talking about?” I asked him, as he stepped away from me. I could see the panic in Tank’s eyes when he ran a hand through his hair. I wanted him to hold me again.
“Tank?” I begged him to explain, and he finally looked at me again.
“Noelle…I’m sorry that you’re involved in this because of me,” he told me, and I shook my head in confusion.
“Involved in what?” I asked.
Tank seemed to take in a deep breath, and he clenched his jaws before he spoke again.
“The reason that I forced you to stay away from me all those weeks ago, was because I was afraid that the Dragon Knights were going to come after you because of me,” he revealed, and my lips parted in shock. What he was saying was making very little sense to me.
“They wanted to come after me?” I asked in a small voice.
“They were tailing us, watching you. That’s how they knew we were at the restaurant together. I saw them there that night, which is why I brought you back to my place,” he said, and I noticed how he had his fists clenched angrily. I gulped, trying to assimilate the information he had just given me.
“They wanted to hurt me because of you?” I asked, and Tank glared at me, searching my eyes for a reaction.
“I knew they were going to use you, to hurt me, to trap me…to do something. I didn’t want them to find out that I cared about you,” he said, in a deep quiet voice. He cared about me? That was all that seemed to matter.
I stepped towards him, my hands shaking as I drew closer to him.
“And you broke up with me to keep me safe?” I asked, and Tank remained silent for a few moments.
“I thought I was keeping you safe, but the truth is that you’ll never be safe as long as you know me. I know that now,” he said, and his gaze dropped to my belly. I reached for him, for his shoulders…just to touch him again. I wanted him to know how safe I felt with him. That I had never felt more like myself, or safer, than when I was with him.
He caught my hand and lifted it to his lips and kissed my fingertips gently.
“Did he realize you were pregnant? ” he asked and looked at my belly again. “Do they?” he asked, and I gulped. My throat had run dry, I was slowly beginning to understand what he was talking about.
“Yes, he saw…he knows,” I replied and with one pull, he yanked me to himself, and we were hugging again. He stroked my hair, kissed my forehead, and I placed my head on his chest. I wanted to hear his heart beating.
“Now they know that I will always care for you…I will always care for our child,” I heard him say.
“So they will use our baby and me against you,” I added in a quiet voice, and he kissed the top of my head again.
“I’m sorry, Noelle, I should have stayed away from you. I shouldn’t have asked you out on a date. I don’t know what made me think that I could have a normal life with you,” he said, and I drew away from his chest, to look up at his face. I wanted him to see it in my eyes…how much I disagreed with that statement.
“Tank, I have never wanted anything as much as I’ve wanted to be with you. Please don’t say that…meeting you has changed me, it’s made me stronger and even though it hurt me to stay away from you, I never regretted my decision to be with you,” I told him and Tank stared into my face, searching me with his deep hazel eyes. Despite everything he had just told me, despite the fact that I should have been afraid for my life at that moment…I actually felt happy. I actually felt at peace to be in his arms.
Tank’s hands drifted from my arms towards my belly. Slowly, he stroked my stomach, where he imagined his baby to be, and a glimmer had entered his eyes. When he looked back up at my face, I could see that his anger had vanished, and there could have been a glint of happiness in his eyes.
“Noelle…I promise you that I will do everything to make sure that you and our child are always safe,” he said.
I nodded my head.
“I know you will,” I replied.
“I don’t want to push you away. I want us to be together, it’s the best way for me to take care of you…of you both,” he continued, and I nodded my head.
My heart was already leaping out of my chest with happiness. I didn’t care what the future held for us. I didn’t care who came after us. At that moment, all I really cared about was that we could finally be together again.
“I’ve been miserable without you, Noelle. You’re the only woman for me,” he said, and Tank leaned over to take my lips into his.
I melted in his arms, my body sizzling with desire for him again. I kissed him back with force, he nibbled on my bottom lip, our tongues crashing against each other hungrily. When he finally drew away from me, we were both panting, we both knew what we wanted.
My eyelids were heavy with desire, and he was glaring at my face.
“I want you, Noelle…I need to have you,” he growled, and I felt goosebumps erupt on my arms. Those words alone were enough to make me come.
“But I don’t want to hurt you,” he added and his gaze drifted down to my belly again. He made me smile.
***
I rolled my t-shirt up over my head and threw it on the floor. I knew he could see my pebbled nipples through the material of my bra. He was watching me with his eyes narrowed, looking over my body. I undid my jeans and then pulled them down too. Tank hadn’t made a single move in my direction. His gaze fell on my panties, on the spot between my legs. His mouth parted like he was in awe of my body. Like he had never seen a woman naked before.
I stood in front of him, offering myself to him again and when my eyes dropped to his pants, I could see that his cock was growing.
“Take those off too, Noelle,” he said, and with the knots tightening in my belly, I slipped my bra and panties off too. I was completely naked in front of him now, my skin covered in goosebumps, my nipples hard and aching for him, my pussy throbbing for his touch.
Tank’s eyes were darkened, just like his face, and he hadn’t looked away from me for a second. Then he started undoing his own pants, and I watched as he took his cock out. His enormous throbbing cock, which I wanted inside me.
I gasped with desire when I saw it, and a thrill ran down my body. There was still a few feet of distance between us, and I didn’t know what he wanted me to do. I could see it in his eyes that he was at war with himself. He wanted to fuck me, but he was afraid of hurting the baby. I had never seen him look lost and confused before.
Tank stroked his cock, pointing it at me and I watched as his biceps bulged and moved with every stroke. He had begun to breathe hard.
“I want you to touch yourself, Noelle,” he grunted, and I reached for my breasts. I pinched and tugged on my nipples, just like he would have if his hands were on me. My nipples were aching for his mouth, and the more I touched them, the more my pussy throbbed.
He had started stroking his cock harder, his eyes focused on what I was doing to my breasts now. Then he looked at my pussy again.
“Touch your pussy,” he commanded, and I brought my fingers up to my lips, licking them seductively before they traveled down to the spot between my legs.
My pussy was already hot and wet and sticky with its juices. I rubbed my clit with my glistening fingers before gently, I touched the folds of my pussy and gasped.
Tank gulped, his neck growing dark red with every stroke of his cock.
He was standing with his legs parted, his hands working on his cock as he watched me pleasuring myself.
“Rub yourself harder,” he said, and I did as I was told. I played with my clit, slowly bringing myself closer and closer to the height of an orgasm. My fingers slid a couple of inches into my pussy, and I parted my mouth wide as I started breathing hard. I wanted more than this, I wanted Tank to do this to me, but he was keeping his distance.
He had his jaws clenched, his eyes narrowed and focused on my body as he stroked himself. His cock looked like a weapon of destruction to me, as he made it stand erect, throbbing with desire.
“Three fingers,” he growled, and I slipped three fingers into my pussy. I gasped again at the sensation. I had never touched myself like this before, and it was becoming too much to bear. I didn’t want me to bring myself to an orgasm. I wanted him to do it. I wanted him to be inside me when I came.
“Fuck, Noelle, you are so gorgeous!” he growled, and before I knew what he was going to do, he had taken two large strides towards me and caught me by my waist. He tipped me back as he took my mouth in his again.
This kiss was wild and rough, lips sliding over lips, his hands on my breasts, his fingers teasing my nipples painfully. I rolled his t-shirt up so that I could touch his chiseled torso. He was hot, emanating heat, and perspiration covered his muscular back. I felt small and delicate in his arms, and it sent shivers down my spine to know that I was also carrying his child.
His hands roamed all over my body, touching all the places he had commanded me to touch. He squeezed my ass, teased my clit and slipped two of his large masculine fingers into my pussy. I writhed in his arms, wanting more. I wanted him to take me. I wanted his cock inside me, and now I could feel it throbbing and digging into my thighs as he pressed himself close to me.
When he pulled away from me, I could barely speak. I had no breath left in me.
“Tank please…please…I want you inside me…” I begged desperately. My body was on fire, and if he didn’t do something about it, I felt like I was going to explode.
He was breathing hard as well, but he looked calmer. His eyes had become softer, and a smile was lingering on his face.
“I’ve waited so long to hear that,” he said, in a deep guttural voice and then he reached for my hand. He was leading me towards the couch in my living room, and I couldn’t wait, I wanted it now.
Tank sat down on the couch and then stretched himself on it. I watched his dripping hot naked body for a few moments, still in disbelief that I was going to have sex with a man who looked like this. That I was pregnant with his child!
He was watching me too, his eyes searching mine, and then he smiled and reached for my hand.
“Come here to me, my princess,” he said and pulled me towards him.
***
Tank knew what he wanted to do, I was only following his lead. He settled me on his belly. Our naked bodies touching, pressing against each other. My pussy grazed the hardness of his belly as I sat on him, and he reached for my waist.
I couldn’t help but run my hands over his chest, over the ridges and muscles of his abs and I could feel the color rising in my cheeks because I couldn’t stop myself from admiring just how hot he was.
He was looking at me, brushing my hair away from my face, touching my breasts, squeezing my ass. It was like we were discovering each other all over again. His hand stroked my belly gently from time to time like he couldn’t believe that I was carrying his child. Every time he did, I saw a flicker of a smile on his face. I knew he was happy. I couldn’t believe that the news had made him happy. I hadn’t expected this reaction from a man like him.
Then, after we had been exploring and touching each other for several minutes, Tank started rocking me. I reached for his cock behind me, stroking it gently and feeling it throb and grow in my hand as I did. He grunted and moaned, rocking me so that I gently bobbed over him.
I could feel my pussy throbbing too, I knew I was leaving a trail of my juices on his belly, and he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, it seemed to turn him on even more. I stretched myself, throwing my head back so that my hair fell like a waterfall on my back. He reached for my breasts, cupping them, squeezing and them pinching my nipples.
His hands…large and warm…traveled down my growing body, over every curve of my flesh. He murmured something under his breath, but from the glow in his eyes I could tell that he was admiring me.
Then his hands traveled down to my pussy, he touched me, and I moaned. He was testing me for my wetness.
I pressed the palms of my hands down on his chest, trying to tell him what I wanted and he grabbed my waist again.
Gently, he lifted me up, only a few inches in the air and he looked straight into my eyes as he brought me back down.
My lips parted, and a wild cry escaped my lips when I felt his cock graze the folds of my pussy. I clutched his chest harder, feeling my nails digging into his flesh as he settled me further down. His cock slid in, inch by inch till he was deep inside me. I moaned, and he moaned too.
I was sitting on him, on his cock, with my legs on either side of him.
“Ride me, Noelle, make yourself come,” he grunted, and he didn’t have to ask me again. That was exactly what I wanted.
I moved my body, up and down his cock, my ass banging against his stretched out legs as I used him to pleasure myself. He held on to my hips loosely while I bounced on him. My breasts bounced with me, my hair flew everywhere…and all I could feel was how deep his cock was inside me. How I was using it to stroke that spot which was going to make me come.
Tank has his teeth clenched, his eyes focused on my nipples. He was watching me move, watching me bounce and everything about that moment was too hot to handle. I felt myself release, almost too quickly but now that it had risen up in me, I couldn’t stop it anymore.
My orgasm came like a wave, washing and crashing over me and I screamed out his name. My toes curled, and I could feel my body shaking as I exploded over him. Tank growled and came too, and I didn’t stop bouncing. Harder and faster, trying to make sure that not a single muscle in my body was left out. I wanted every cell, every nerve of my body to feel the pleasure of the orgasm.
Tank shot inside me. Just like the time he impregnated me, this time he exploded inside me, and I could feel him depositing his seed. He growled and shook, making my body shake as well as he emptied himself.
I was exhausted, and I crashed on him, laughing because I couldn’t believe how happy I was. Tank wrapped a strong arm around me, pinning me down to his chest. I could feel his hot breath falling on the top of my head, as he tried to catch his breath.
He kissed my hair, weaving his fingers into it and we lay like that on the couch in each other’s arms.
“We’re having a baby!” he exclaimed, after several minutes of silence had passed between us. I looked up at him, into his eyes, admiring his handsome, sharp face.
“You’re going to be a dad,” I softly told him with a smile, but he still looked like he was in complete disbelief.
He leaned over and knocked his forehead against mine, smiling at me. I couldn’t remember him smiling this much or this often when I knew him last.
“There is no other woman I would want to be the mother of my children, thank you, Noelle. You are the perfect woman for me,” he said and allowed his fingers to gently trail down my back, leaving goosebumps on the way.
“And I promise you, we will figure this all out,” he said with honesty in his eyes.
A few hours ago, I had been so alone. I thought I was going to have to spend my life by myself as a single parent and be forever heartbroken over Tank. And now, I was lying in his arms, naked and exhausted from making love and he was happy to know that he was going to be a father.
It didn’t matter to me what world he belonged to, or what he was involved in. All I wanted was for us to be together.