Chapter 17
Back at the house, the events of the day seemed to have sparked something in Colin she hadn’t seen before. He was being incredibly attentive and protective of her. She attributed it to his having been frightened by almost losing the baby, but as the evening rolled on, he opened up a bit more about his thoughts and feelings.
“I’ve never thought much about having a family. I just assumed it wasn’t for me. I don’t like getting close to people. They always let me down in some way,” he said.
“Don’t you get lonely, though?” she asked.
“Sometimes. I mean, I’m rarely alone, but the people around me are people I pay to be around. My guards, a cook, a housekeeper . . . even you. Instead of going out and finding a true partner, I decided it was better to just pay a woman to have a baby for me and then disappear.”
“Well, that’s what I signed up for. I can hardly hold that against you.”
“That’s the thing, though, Ashley. I picked the wrong woman to pay to have my baby.”
“I think it’s a little too late to change your mind now,” she replied, feeling incredibly hurt by the statement.
“No. You don’t understand. I didn’t pick the wrong woman because I think you would be anything but the perfect mother for my child. I messed up because I fell for you instead of keeping it professional. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I was smitten. I just kept trying to fight it.”
“Colin,” she began to say.
“No. Let me finish. Almost losing you today just about broke me. I’d have jumped off that cliff in front of a crowd and shifted to save you. All I could think about was how I was going to lose you.”
“Are you sure you weren’t just afraid to lose the baby?”
“I’m positive,” he said. “I’ve done nothing but fall even harder for you every moment I’m around you.”
Ashley couldn’t believe what she was hearing from him. It was so unexpected and yet, she couldn’t really say she felt any different. She had been trying to resist him, as well, without much luck. When he came closer, pulled her to him, she didn’t resist. Leading her up to his room, he lay her on his bed, being incredibly gentle compared to the first time they had been together.
He slipped his arm around her waist, resting it on her growing baby bump and nuzzling her neck as he spoke softly in her ear.
"Been a bloody long day, hasn't it?"
She groaned faintly in agreement, nuzzling back closer to him. They might both be emotionally and physically tired, but the bulge pushing into her backside told her he wasn’t too tired to pursue more than a nap. Her hormones were raging, had been for quite some time now, and all she could think about was how good it would feel to have him inside her again.
She sighed and snuggled back against him, feeling warm, protected. He had saved her today, kept her from what would have been a very nasty landing that she shuddered to think about now that it was over and she could fully contemplate it.
Colin was humming. She realized it quite suddenly. There was no tune to it, but she felt the vibration of his chest against her back. She didn't want to chance stopping him; enjoying both the sound and the sensation of it. He stopped on his own, though, after a moment. Hoping to start him again, she reached back to stroke his leg, essaying a small questioning hum of her own.
"Hmmm-mmmm?"
His hands cupped her behind and fastened tight.
"Mmm-hmmm," he said, in what sounded like a combination of invitation and satisfaction.
She didn't reply, instead making a slight clenching movement with her buttocks. His hand moved away from her rounded belly, relocating to her leg, where it slid downward and into the waist band of her pants. He seemed so tentative now, perhaps holding back because he was afraid of hurting her pregnant middle. Ashley reached back and grabbed the roving hand, bringing it round and placing it on her breast, as an indication that she wanted more than just a cuddle and that it was okay for him to pursue that. His silent reply was to move it back down, slipping it further into her waistband.
"God, you're beautiful," he murmured into the curve of her neck.
The next words were a mumble against her skin, but she thought he'd said, "slippery." His fingers had reached their goal, and she arched her back, trying to squirm away.
He had resumed the humming, pausing momentarily to murmur, "I love you so much.”
"I love you too," she said, squirming as his hand was now firmly between her legs, massaging her rapidly dampening folds.
Colin was, of all things, singing now, if one could call it that. Or chanting, at least, the words to a very bawdy Scottish song, about a miller who is pestered by a young woman wanting him to grind her corn. Whereupon, he does. She couldn’t make out all the words, but she could pick out the parts about ground maize.
“I’ve never been serenaded by bawdy pub songs before sex. It’s a huge turn on,” she observed, chuckling.
“It’s the secret of my people, our ability to woo women with dirty limericks set to music.”
“How about if you sing less and grind more corn?” she replied.
“I could certainly stand an ear,” he told her, nuzzling close to her face, and gently biting on her earlobe with a knowing laugh.
Rather than encouraging him any further, she reached back and massaged the growing bulge she could feel against her. He made little noises of pleasure in the back of his throat as she massaged him until he was pulsating against her palm.
"Oh, God," he said.
Ashley moaned as he pressed his growing erection into her and began rolling her over, lifting her ass up toward him. It was a thrill ride now as she arched her back and jerked at his touch, shuddering against his heat. Trembling and moaning, she melted back against the bed, her legs still locked around his hips. He raised her upward, shifting her so she sat atop him before pulling her downward again into a kiss as his hands found their way to her breasts, followed quickly by his mouth. She moaned, her protruding belly pressed against his concrete abs as if completing some ancient cycle of life symbol.
Her head lolled to one side as she lost herself in the sensations of having him suckle her aching breasts. They had grown considerably with the baby and he seemed to be appreciative of that fact. She ran her hands beneath him, cupping his tight ass cheeks with her hands as he pulled at her nipples with his teeth, between licking and sucking at them with his tongue. Her pussy dripped across his hardening penis as she grew more aroused.
Pulling away from her breasts, he brought his mouth up to hers, kissing her deeply, passionately. There had been none of this in their first tryst. They had been all ache and lust, not this deep connection that there now seemed to be formed between them. They were lost together, in a place where neither of them existed beyond the other.
Finally, Colin pulled away, bringing his large, calloused hands to her breasts, and kneading them as he used them to pull her upwards into position above his now stiff cock. She sank down upon it, enjoying the way it pushed apart her now swollen folds and pulsated against them as they enveloped it like a form-fitted glove. Slowly, she slipped further down until her clit was resting on his skin before pulling herself slowly upward again, leaving only the tip inside.
“God, you’re beautiful to watch. I love seeing you slip up and down my cock like that,” he mumbled.
“Even with my fat belly?” she murmured, her eyes still closed, focused on how he felt inside her.
“Especially with your fat belly. I love seeing a part of me growing inside of you. We’re going to have such a beautiful baby.”
“Mmmm,” she murmured, increasing the speed at which she rode him and grinding her hips into his each time she reached bottom.
His hands stayed on her breasts, cupping them, and kneading them as she moved up and down the length of him. Their bodies seemed to just blend together in a perfect symphony of pleasure until she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one as he suddenly forced her upward and off of him, repositioning her on all fours and entering her from behind.
His hips bounced off her ass, as he made slow, deep strokes inside of her. She clutched the sheets below, moaning and whimpering as he brought her to climax and she almost folded from the weakness it left behind. It was followed by several more waves of ecstasy before he joined her, gushing into her center with a final stroke before collapsing against her back.
Colin pulled her softly sideways, cuddling up against her back with one hand on a breast and the other on her belly. She pushed back against him, eager to get as close to him as possible and closed her eyes, content for what might just be the first time in her life. This was perfect. She couldn’t imagine wanting anything more than this.
Earlier today, she had seen her life flash before her eyes, but not her future. Instead, the past had come rushing up toward her from the jagged rocks that threatened to seal her fate. Now, there was a new life flashing in front of her, one filled with love and adventure. A life with Colin and their child, not his alone, but theirs that they had created together before there was a contract.
Her eyes shot open for a moment as she considered that he might have been aware of that. Getting her pregnant before the contract was in place negated it somehow, didn’t it? Had Colin known? Had he deliberately given her an out to make another choice if things went south? She wasn’t even sure that made sense, but she couldn’t help but ponder it for a bit before falling asleep.