Our bodies took over, as if on instinct, knowing precisely how to feed our irrepressible desire for one another. Even though we’d been together on-and-off for a long while, the heat between us was still searing.
“Come, Tasha,” he whispered huskily in my ear.
His fingers glided through my wet folds, playing me perfectly, knowing me so well.
Mere seconds later, I was clenching around him and shrieking as my orgasm slammed into me. His thrusts became fiercer and strained as he lost his rhythm as he chased his own orgasm.
A grunt in my ear and a couple of rough jerks let me know he’d found it.
As I melted into him, he tutted at me. “We’re not close to being done yet,” he told me, pushing us back down into the bed, surrounding me.
I shrieked with excitement as he pulled me underneath him, tugging the covers up over us and shielding us in our perfect little cocoon of sheets and covers.
***
Cole perched on the edge of the bed.
He was already dressed and ready to go.
I was almost there, too, with just one more thing to figure out.
I held one up in each hand.
An off-the-shoulder black sweater and a silver, silk shirt with flared sleeves. “So, which one?”
“Either one is gonna look amazing on you.”
I rolled my eyes. “How do you know that?”
“Because that body of yours will see to it.”
Damn him and his compliments. I shook it off, knowing that he was just deflecting my question. “Just pick one, smooth talker.”
He chuckled and slid off the bed, approaching me. He made a show of thinking it over as he looked between each top I was holding up, scrubbing his hand over his chin.
And then he poked the top with the flared sleeves. “This one. I like the sleeve things. Plus, the shape of it will help hide your bump like you want.”
I frowned. “Like we want.”
He shrugged.
“Cole?” I pressed. “I thought we determined it was better to keep it a secret for as long as we could, so it didn’t rock the boat with the club and everything?”
“I don’t give a fuck anymore. They can suck it up. The more you’re showing, the more real it feels. I’m happy about this, Tasha. I want to shout it from the rooftops. I want everyone to know. I don’t want to hide the best thing that’s ever happened to us anymore.”
Well, that was unbelievably sweet. “You’re sure?”
He eyed me. “Unless you want to keep it under wraps?”
“I don’t want to make things more difficult for you.”
“You won’t. You’re not. Besides, Mason and Luce already know and they reacted just fine.”
And Slade. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. He’d want to know why I’d neglected to tell him and it would quickly unravel the real plan for the mission that Slade and I had agreed upon.
“True. Go for it then. We’ll tell them all.”
He smiled and stroked my hair. “Good. You never know, finding out you’re pregnant might have them calling off the whole Nik mission and finding another way to take a shot at him.”
Oh no.
So, that was part of his reasoning for wanting to get it out in the open now? He thought he could make the club call off everything? Slade had warned me about this, about Cole getting to a point where he’d turn against the plan, the idea of putting me anywhere close to within Nik’s reach. And he’d clearly been right.
“We need to end him and the Strikers to ensure our family’s safety, the club’s, the town’s,” I reminded him.
“We can find another way.”
There wasn’t another way.
I knew the rational part of him had to recognize that.
But he wasn’t thinking with that right now.
It was all about his heart. And his fear of losing what he loved, of losing the chance of having a family of his own at long last.
“We’ll see how things play out. Okay?” I said, trying to appease him before he flipped his lid and his temper exploded everywhere. The last thing we needed was him losing his shit and storming downstairs to confront Slade about it.
“All right,” he gritted out, his reluctance to drop it clear.
I moved his hand to my belly and his gaze softened, the tension starting to leave his body, bit by bit.
“Let’s get through tonight first,” I urged him. “I need you with me, cool and collected.”
He turned me, holding me against him, my back to his front. His hands rested on my belly again. “It’s all gonna be okay. You’ve already made peace with them. This is just gonna solidify that. And I’m gonna stay calm, no rage. I swear it.”
“Good,” I said, reaching up and stroking his cheek.
“We’ll handle it like we handle everything else. Together.”
“Together,” I affirmed.
17
~Cole~
“YOU’RE SERIOUSLY CLAIMING you cooked this?” I asked my little sis, as I took in the real impressive steak dinner in front of me.
“Yes,” she said, rolling her eyes at my disbelief.
I eyed Mason across from me who was already tucking into his dinner just like Natasha was. For the last week, her morning sickness had subsided and she’d become ravenous. “Mason?”
He looked between me and Lucy, then confirmed, “She cooked it.”
“See?” she said.
“You know what she’s like when she sets her mind to something. A real stubborn ass,” Mason said.
“Just like her brother,” Tasha piped up.
I grinned and rubbed her back. “Thanks so much, baby,” I joked.
“Any time,” she responded with a giggle.
Fuck, she was cute.
She’d been all lighthearted and giggly for the last hour once we’d settled into the night with Mason and Luce. She was… happy. I hadn’t seen her this way for a long time. So content and carefree. Although she’d been nervous about coming here and spending the evening with them, I think the atmosphere of a warm homelife had helped her a lot.
Despite the weirdness and some uncomfortableness for me with my little sister and my best friend
