He thrust hard inside her, filling her up in a way nothing else ever could. She bit her lip against calling out. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him away. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten she was delicate.
She gripped the table and tilted her pelvis back.
He slapped her ass, sending a thrill up her spine that made her groan.
“Hold still.” His voice had taken on a desperate tone.
He was as on the edge as she was.
They were in the same place. He was standing there with her, looking at a future where they weren’t together, where his lies had pushed them both over and she hadn’t trusted him enough to hold on.
This was why she was happy with the way he’d chosen to fuck her. She wasn’t sure she could have handled looking him in the eyes.
“You feel so good.” He thrust in and dragged that big cock of his out again. “Not one thing in this world ever fit me the way you do.”
He fucked her hard, giving her what she’d been craving for months. She needed this. She couldn’t get through the days without this. She held on to the table and rode the wave. When he reached from behind and his fingers found the piercing that sat against her clitoris, she screamed out his name as the rush took her.
She felt him come, his body stiffening and then relaxing.
For a moment there was nothing but the sound of their breathing, the sweet languor of her body after orgasm. It had been so intense, and now the comedown was every bit as fierce as the high.
“Let’s go to bed. That’s where we need to be.” Henry’s hand started to move up her body, sliding over her belly. He stopped and suddenly stood up. “Nell, I’m so sorry. Was I too rough?”
She forced herself to breathe. The moment was over, and she was faced with all her problems again. They hadn’t gone away and she’d known they wouldn’t, but somehow she’d thought if they could connect this way again, things might become clearer.
The only thing that was clear was how her world had turned upside down.
“I’m fine.” It seemed to be the only thing she was capable of saying these days. She was fine. She wasn’t going to fail again.
God, had she thought that? She hadn’t failed. Her body hadn’t failed. She wasn’t less of a woman. She knew those things and yet there was a part of her that still managed to feel them.
She was going to be alone. She was going to be her mother, all alone and trying to raise a child when the world saw her as something not normal, as something of a fool.
“Baby, I was too rough. I don’t know what I was thinking. Hell, I wasn’t thinking at all. I was being a selfish ass.” His hand ran down her back. “Let me get you in the bathtub. You can soak and I’ll call Caleb again.”
She pushed herself off the table, feeling infinitely older than she’d been before. She pulled up her skirt, settling it around her again. Normally she would simply walk around naked, but it didn’t feel right now. There was a distance between them, and it wasn’t all about his lies. It had been growing since before she discovered he wasn’t who she’d thought he was. “I’ll go take a shower. Don’t call Caleb. I’m fine. Every single thing I’ve read tells me sex is safe during a pregnancy. I’m not fragile.” The sound of a knock at the door startled her and reminded her that the world was still turning outside. “I’ll be right there.”
“Hush. They’ll go away,” Henry said, his voice going low.
She pulled on her blouse, buttoning it with shaky fingers. “Not if they’re looking for you. Isn’t that what you said? Those men were looking for you. The one you killed today was looking for you. We’ll be lucky if they don’t come in with guns blazing.”
She felt apart from herself, like she wasn’t real. The sarcasm coming out of her mouth wasn’t her style and yet she couldn’t stop the bitterness from bubbling over.
“Hey, Henry!” a familiar voice called. “Do you answer your phone, man? I’ve been calling for an hour.”
Henry’s jaw had turned to granite. “Go away, Max.”
“He can’t,” another voice said. Rye Harper had apparently accompanied his brother. “Rach told us both not to come home until we fixed the barn door. If you’ll let us use the drill, I promise I’ll make sure it gets back to you.”
“Hopefully in one piece.” Max’s face suddenly appeared at the window, his hand over his eyes to block the sunlight so he could see inside. “Put your shirt on, dude.”
“Damn it.” A hand came out and pulled Max away. “Never mind, Henry. You two have a good afternoon.”
“But he promised,” Max was saying. “And Nell’s already knocked up, so I don’t know what the big deal is.”
Well, that had gotten around pretty fast. “What did you promise Max?”
She straightened her skirt. Her body hummed pleasantly, but she didn’t think she could stand spending the next two hours with Henry hovering over her, apologizing for treating her like a woman and not some sickly patient. Telling her nothing had changed, and she should ignore the fact that she’d seen him standing over a dead body like a lion looming over his kill.
“I promised him I would help him fix his barn door. But he can do it himself,” Henry swore. “We’re going to make you comfortable and I’m going to behave like a good husband. I’m going to tell you everything.”
She didn’t think she could stand listening to him tell her his story either. She needed time. Maybe if he’d been willing to take her to bed and distract her, she might have been talked into it. But she
