The sixth chakra is unique in that, when this chakra is fully activated, both sides of the brain function in synchronicity. The left brain’s analytical and logical thinking is balanced with the right brain’s creativity.

“Read it out loud to me.” Silas snuggles his warm chest against my side. He’s holding a cup of coffee on his sheet-covered hip.

One thing I learned about Silas after a night of what seemed like endless rounds of delicious sex was that he sleeps naked. Secondly, he runs hot. His entire body was a cauldron of heat throughout the night. This worked well for me because I run cold. All the time. Plus, I am a cover hog. I like to sleep bundled up in gobs of covers surrounding me. Though I will say, having a heater pressed directly to my back all night? Bliss.

“I swear it says I can have minimal amounts of coffee. My doctor confirmed a cup of caffeine a day was fine for me and the baby. Stop fretting.” I smack at his hand when he tries to read over my shoulder.

He chuckles and kisses my bicep. “No, read me week eleven since we’ll be in that week in a few more days.”

I smile around my cup and flip the page of my pregnancy book farther ahead a week. “Usually I don’t skip ahead. I enjoy reading the new week on the day, but I guess I’ll forgo that rule just this once.”

Silas gives me one of his megawatt smiles, his teeth looking extra bright white against his darker skin this morning. “Much obliged, baby.”

God, I love when he calls me baby. And lil’ mama. And his queen. Each and every time, a small, pleasurable tingle runs up my spine.

Turning the pages, I get to the right spot and settle in. He leans on his side, head in his hand, waiting patiently for me to read “Week 11” of our pregnancy journey.

“Says here our baby is the size of a lime!”

“Sweet and sour. I like it.”

I chuckle and read on. “Baby is fully formed and just over an inch and a half long.”

Silas lifts up his fingers measuring to the amount stated. “Tiny but significant. What else?” His tone is eager, which gives me a little thrill. Silas wants this baby. Probably as much as I do, which makes having a baby out of wedlock a lot easier to swallow.

When I’d thought of my future, there were always children in it. As many as God would grace me with. Only that future included a doting and loving husband and father. A home. A true family. Besides being a baker, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. At least I can feel and sense Silas’s happiness in our little lime.

“Baby has about a one to one head to body ratio, meaning the head and body are about the same size.”

“Say what?” His head jerks back, and he frowns.

I run my fingers down his forearm. “Says it will even out, no worries.”

His expression distorts into one of mistrust. He fingers the book, trying to raise the cover. “You sure you’re reading the book on human babies and not animals?”

I nudge his shoulder. “Stop it. Our baby is fine.”

“Okay, now what does it say is going to happen to my baby mama?”

Scanning the page, I read through so I can summarize. “Fatigue, nausea, mood swings, leg cramps. Oh, and I might get a dark line running down the center of my belly.”

He furrows his brows and tugs the sheet, uncovering my naked body. “Lemme see.” Silas runs a finger down my belly to the top of my pubis and then runs it back up before circling around my nipple until it furls and hardens.

One of his eyebrows cocks up as he leans forward, making his intention known. He sucks a hardened tip into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the tightening nub until it tingles and throbs.

Swiftly, he knifes to the side and puts his coffee on the bedside table and then flops back around, crawling between my thighs and resting his upper body on my lower half. He makes a detour to my belly, where he places a series of kisses in a circle around my belly button, and then he whispers something so low I’m not sure I catch it all—it sounds like “Love you.”

I melt on the spot as he kisses his way up my body until he’s back at my breasts. His hands form around each globe as though they are balls of dough and he’s kneading them. Shivers of excitement race from my chest to center hotly between my thighs.

“Do you have any idea how magnificent your tits are?” He swoops down and locks his lips around one, laving me with his tongue before flicking just the tip until it gets so hot it burns.

I moan and squirm but can’t move much since half of his body is on me. “I’m guessing as good as my ass?”

He stops midlick, runs one of his hands down my side, and tags a healthy handful of cheek, squeezing it hard. “Nothing is as fine as your ass, baby. Nothing.”

Total ass man.

A giggle leaves me as I toss the book to the side. Silas gets to work on my tits, and I enjoy the attention while he gets me ready for some day-starting, mind-melting sexy time.

A girl could seriously get used to this.

He bites down on a nipple, and I cry out, arousal forcing my hips to buck against him.

“Hey, hey, easy.” He kisses his way down my chest again, keeping his thumb and index finger on my nipples, tugging and rolling, ribbons of pleasure zipping along every nerve ending. “I’m getting there. Gonna eat you, and then I’m going to feed you.”

After he takes me there with his mouth, my mind is mush because he was hungry. Fucking starved. And when he said he was going to feed me, it didn’t mean food. No, after he ate me, he got up on his knees, lifted me up so my back was at the headboard, and then my man fed me his massive cock. I took this willingly, eagerly, swallowing down every beautiful inch until he shot off like a rocket in my mouth. Again, I took all he gave me.

Sated, he eased me down and rolled me on top of him. And that’s where I was lying, naked on top of Silas, when it happened.

The door to my apartment opened.

“Child, you are late as the day is long for your shift. Ricky is getting nervous and overwhelmed with the patrons and the…” She turns the small corner and stops, eyes on my naked body slung over Silas. “Lord in Heaven! Praise sweet, sweet Jesus! My grandbaby is gonna have a daddy!” she cries out and raises her face to the sky.

Silas, unable to move because, if he did, my mom would get a crotch shot to end all crotch shots, groans. Me, I act quickly, lean over, and grab the sheet. I fling myself to the side, pulling it over both of us.

“Mama, seriously, whatever happened to knocking?”

“Overrated. My baby lives alone and was, before now, single. How was I supposed to know you’d be busy with your baby daddy? It’s not like you’ve been keeping your mama updated on your relationship status. Forced me to get my information from an alternate source, finding out that my grandchild’s daddy has been sniffing around regular at the bakery. Word is he’s taking your meditation classes too. So when I come up here to find out why my child is so late for work, thinking maybe she’s sick and needs her mama, I find her naked as the day she was born on top of her hunky baby daddy. What am I supposed to think?”

Silas’s body starts to shake, and as my anger rises, his emotions go in the opposite direction, and he busts up in heaving bouts of laughter. “This is too goddamned much. And I thought my family was nutty. Your family takes the cake, baby.”

“No, we make the cake,” Mama clarifies, much to Silas’s delight.

“Lordy be. Mama, get out of my house! I’m naked. Silas is naked. And neither one of us is too comfortable having my mother find us in this particular situation.”

Vanessa Jackson is not about to take lip from her daughter, and I know this the second she puts her fists to her rounded hips.

“Child, you will take whatever I’m giving because I’m yo’ mama. And like I said, if you had been keepin’ me informed, I wouldn’t have had to come up here and check in on my lonely girl, who is the furthest thing from lonely, since she’s got a six-foot-plus hunk of brother lying bare-ass naked in her bed, looking mighty pleased with himself. Speaking of…” She turns her gaze to Silas.

Oh, shit. Here it comes. This is not good. Vanessa Jackson in a snit is all bad.

“You going to be making an honest woman out of my girl and bring up this baby in a family?”

Silas’s laughter cuts out instantly. He sits up, sheet falling to his waist, giving my mother a beautiful expanse of his sexy-as-hell male chest before he swallows and firms his jaw. “Ma’am.” His voice is raw and not from laughter. “My child will have me as a father. Full fucking time. Period.”

“’S’wat I wanna hear. However that comes about, I trust you to see to it and do right by my only child.”

“Yes, ma’am. Working on it. As you can see, things are progressing in the positive.”

She glares. “I don’t see a ring on her finger. I see a naked man happy to be in her bed. You want to stay in that bed next to my beautiful girl, you’ll do something ’bout it now, won’t you?”

“Mom!” I screech, jump out of bed, not caring about my nudity because, well, she’s my mom. She’s seen it all before. I nab Silas’s shirt and tug it over my head, the cotton soft, comforting, and smelling of apples, fresh-cut wood, and leather, the length falling down around me at midthigh. “We’re not ready for that kind of commitment.”

“And yet you’re having a baby with him. You just rolled out of bed naked, a bed you were sharing with him. I’m not exactly seeing a commitment issue here,” she continues, not knowing the full details behind what happened in Silas’s past.

“Trust me, Mama. Silas is committed to our baby. We’re working on us. Okay? Now, if you could please go downstairs and tell Ricky I’ll be down soon, I’d appreciate it.”

My mother sucks in a huge breath, lets it out in a sigh, and then turns around toward the door. “No more secrets from me, young lady.”

“Yes, Mama. We’ll talk more later.”

“I’ll be waiting.” She huffs and closes the door.

I wait a few seconds before walking over and locking it. “I’m sorry about that, Silas. I had no idea…”

Silas gets out of bed buck-ass naked. He pulls me into his arms and holds me. “It’s okay. Am I embarrassed your mother caught us naked in the sack? Yes. Am I cutting and running?” He curls a hand around my nape on one side and uses his thumb to lift my chin so I’m forced to look him in the eyes. “No way. What we got is good. Really good. I’m working on me and setting some demons from my past free and looking toward my future with you and our baby. One day at a time. And for me, last night and this morning were nothing if not phenomenal.”

“For me too,” I whisper, meaning every word with my entire soul.

He rubs his nose against mine and then kisses me softly, biting down on my bottom lip before pulling back. I love feeling the sting of the bite. “That’s all that matters. We know what we’re doing and we’re moving forward, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I nod.

“Okay, I’m going to take a shower. Can I take my girl out for dinner later?”

Him saying it doesn’t make it real. Not until he confirms what it means.

“Your girl?”

He dips his chin.

“Am I your girl? Your only girl. For good?” My voice cracks as I force out those words.

“You carrying my baby?”

“Yes,” I mumble.

“You just take my cock down your throat?”

“Yes.” This time it comes out with more conviction.

“Sleep next to me all night long, giving me the best sleep I’ve had in years?”

“Uh, yeah.” I’m not sure where he’s going with this.

“Then I think you should get that you are my girl and I am your man. We are having a baby together and starting a family. You, me, our baby. We on the same page?”

I swallow and nod my head.

Silas dips his head down only a couple inches from mine. “We on the same page? You, me, our baby?”

“Yeah, Silas.”

“Okay. Dinner tonight?”

“Sounds great.”

“I’m gonna hit the shower now and get to work. As your mother confirmed, we’re both late in starting our day.” He kisses me slowly and sweetly before pulling away and eating up the distance with his masterful thighs and masculine physique. When he gets to the door of the bathroom, the only room in the house with walls, he stops, fingers gripping the doorjamb. “Worth it. You. This. Us. I’m all in, baby. All. Fucking. In.”

I love you, I whisper in my mind when he winks and enters the bathroom. As much progress as we’ve made, I do not think my man is ready to hear that. If he ever will be.

My man.

Silas McKnight is my man, and I am his woman.

Inside, I girly scream…

Yippee!

---

After Silas left and I came down to the bakery, I received a cold shoulder from my mother and a ball of grins from Ricky.

“So, someone’s baby daddy spent the night?” Ricky shimmies across the floor, a bag of frosting in his hand.

“Shut it! Why didn’t you come up and knock instead of sending my mother up?” I growl, not even a little bit of humor in my question.

He snorts. “Because I saw baby daddy’s car in front of the bakery when I arrived at the crack of freakin’ dawn, and the hood was cold. Meaning he stayed the night.”

I couldn’t stop my mouth from falling open in shock. “You knew he was upstairs with me, and yet you didn’t think to call my cell, come up, and knock? Instead, you sent my mother? What in the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was to be lying naked on top of your man when your mother comes barreling in, thinking you’re sick or something!”

Ricky’s mouth drops open this time, and then he falls all over himself laughing. He laughs so hard he starts to wheeze and has to lean against the bakery table to hold himself up. “Even better!” he screeches like a hyena.

“You planned that scene up there?” I point to the stairs leading to my apartment.

“Not at all, but I did think it would be awesomely funny for Mama Jackson to find your baby daddy with you. I thought she’d be excited.” He nudges my shoulder. “Which she is. Came down those stairs smiling like a loon, happy as a clam, ready to serve customers. I’d have sworn you told her you were naming your baby Vanessa if it was a girl.”

The name hit my heart. Vanessa for a girl. Secretly, I wanted a boy, and there was only one reason for that. I didn’t want Silas thinking about the daughter he lost when we were having our child. Though being able to give my mama a namesake gift like that bulldozes me like a ton of emotional bricks. I’d love to give my child the name Vanessa like she and my dad gave me the last name of Jackson.

I shake my head, dispelling the thoughts and focus back on my soon-to-be ex-best friend. “You have no idea how much that sucked up there.”

Ricardo comes over to me and wraps his arms around my chest. “I’m sorry, baby girl. I honestly didn’t mean anything by it. I got so excited when I saw the car outside, I lost my mind a little. I should have been protecting you and the budding relationship, but I figured since he spent the night, things had definitely progressed. So…did they?” He doesn’t beat around the bush at all, wanting to know the details, even though I’m mad at him.

He also knows I can never stay mad at him. It isn’t in my genetic makeup to hold a grudge. I have very little family. When someone lets me in, loves me, that love needs to be treated with care. I know with my whole heart Ricky’d just as soon cut off his own arm than intentionally hurt me.

I blow out a long, frustrated breath. “Yeah, they did. We agreed he’s my man and I’m his woman. Which I think in macho manspeak means we’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Ricky whoops and hollers. “Right on! That calls for a celebratory cupcake!” He dances his way out to the display case. On his heels is my mama.

She doesn’t say a word; her silence says it all.

Concern.

Frustration.

Betrayal.

Apology.

Compassion.

Love.

She opens her arms without speaking, and I run into them, plastering my face against her ample bosom. “Mama,” I whisper.

“Child.”

“I’m sorry,” I croak into her chest.

“Me too. Shouldn’t have walked in like that and caught you unawares. I’ll take more care in the future.”

Tears prick the back of my eyes and clog my throat. “I didn’t mean to keep anything from you. We were taking things really slow, and I…I’m scared.”

“Why you scared, baby? He seems like a good man.”

I sniffle and let a tear fall down my cheek. She wipes it away without even needing to see it. She just knows it’s there because she knows me.

“He is. The best. But, there are things you don’t know about Silas, Mama.”

“Like the fact that you’re in love with him?” She hits the nail right on the head, first try.

I nod into her embrace.

“Love can be scary, child. Especially when you do things a little backward, but you’ll turn it around. Ain’t no man in the world gonna turn down love from my beautiful girl. Just not gonna happen. Get that outta your head right now,” she demands as if it’s her right to do so.

I swallow down the lump in my throat and pull back. “As you may have heard a little on the street, he was married before to a woman he loved for a long time. She was pregnant, and both of them died three years ago.”

My mother closes her big brown eyes and whispers what I know is a prayer. A prayer for Silas’s dead wife and daughter and maybe even one for me too. Then she grabs me around the waist and holds me close once more.

“Sometimes the things we love most in this world come with loss. Like you, baby. I love you more than anything in this world, but I had to lose a lot and let go of a lot to find you and make you mine.” She pets my hair and kisses my temple. “Maybe that’s what God brought you here on this earth to do. For me, your dad, and now Silas.”

“Which is what, Mama?”

“Be the love he earns when he lets go of all the loss.”