As she stays occupied with the bundles, I gaze from her to the other miracle in my life, and mouth, Thank you.
His smile becomes intimate as he leans close to kiss me, but hovers an inch away. Neither of us move until we start to laugh. He suddenly presses warm lips to mine, inspiring tingles in all the right places. Our mouths sensually open as we both want more.
“Tonk, you dog!”
We separate and look over as he greets his friend, “Allen!”
“You got the girl! I remember when he first saw you. I’m Al, Tonk’s best friend in the whole world.”
“Oh, come on!”
“I am!”
“When did you start going by just Al?”
“It’s got a better ring to it. Al’s your buddy. He’s your pal! It’s light and airy, like me!” He points at himself, eyebrows wagging. “Look at these flowers? You do this, Tonk? I need to take lessons from you.”
“I’m Stacy,” I smile as we shake hands.
“And who’s this happy baby?”
“That’s my daughter, Celia.”
“Hi Celia! How’re you today?”
Her head swings from me to him, to the flowers, and she says, “Mah.”
I gasp, heart jumping into my throat as Tonk and I lock eyes. He’s just as excited as I am. “Did you hear that?” I ask him just to make sure I wasn’t crazy. “She called me Mom! Her first word was Mom.”
Tonk kisses the top of her head, his eyes on me, so smooth and sparkly they look like dark caramel. Kissing me, he escalates the warmth in my heart to another level, pulling back to smile, “Happy Mother’s Day.”
CHAPTER 12
STACY
I t’s almost June, and I feel like I’m ready. There have been many times when I almost told him I was, but then I worried about crying during it, or stopping him, or just plain having my past experience taint our first one.
Daniel is on a date as we get ready for bed, and Celia fell asleep tucked into the back of the couch, so the apartment is quiet.
He opens the refrigerator for my glass of water from the purifier—one of the few luxuries he likes to have. The Ciphers are funding his schooling and lifestyle, and Tonk never takes it for granted.
“Al has a dodgeball game planned for next weekend. He knows a lot of people. Would that be something you’d be interested in?”
“Let’s put Celia’s crib outside of our door for a little while tonight.”
Tonk’s pour freezes, little drops splashing into my glass. He locks eyes with me, his color deepening. “You sure?”
Biting my smile, I nod. “You look awfully cute in those boxers.”
He returns a sexy smile and puts the pitcher back in the fridge as he says, “I was thinking about what color panties you were going to sleep in tonight. Which ones are you wearing under those sweats?”
“Red.”
“No way.”
“I bought them when you were at class two days ago.”
He blinks at me, and walks my glass over. I take it and he pulls me in for a kiss, our tongues licking and teasing with a new feeling behind them—anticipation.
“Stacy,” he rasps, gazing at me with a frown, “If you need more time.”
I kiss him quiet, and slip my fingers into his soft hair, caressing his scalp as his hands slide down my back. He’s never let himself explore me. His palms slide flat, and then firm fingers give both my cheeks a squeeze, pulling up as our kiss deepens. He starts massaging, inspiring an ache between my legs. I get closer to him, press my breasts into his hard chest and feel the length of his bulge push into the soft cotton sweats I seem to live in when we’re at home.
Tonk’s fingers travel over the hem, tracing all the way around and I put a little distance between our stomachs so he can. Instead of going straight down the center of me, he slides his hands down my thighs and holds them, licking my tongue and pulling back to gaze into my smile. “I love you.”
An inhale of relief takes me over and I tell him, “I love you, too.”
He smiles, kissing my nose and glancing to my daughter. “Wait here. Or do you want to pick her up while I…”
“Sure.”
He strolls to the bedroom, his calf muscles so sexy as they tense with each barefooted step. I love his back, too, so smooth.
Lifting Celia when she’s sleeping is one of my favorite things. She always smacks her lips like she’s thinks it’s dinnertime, and then goes back to sweet repose. Hugging her close I murmur, “He loves me, Celia. How did we get so lucky?”
Tonk pulls the crib out, glancing over his shoulder. “We’ll bring it back in after.”
I laugh, “I know. You’re so cute right now.”
He grins and situates its position, muttering to himself, “This is good,” before he pulls her blanket back so I can lay her down. I feel his hand rest on my back, and slide all the way to my inner thigh. Covering Celia up I turn and hug him. He embraces me, lifts me off the floor and carries me into our room, shutting the door with his foot, super quietly.
We kiss for a long time, and then he slides my tank top up over my head. I’m not wearing a bra, so my breasts hang freely for him to see for the first time. All of this will be very new to both of us and I’m nervous.
Blinking at my nipples, Tonk traces circles over them. “They’re beautiful.”
I decide I want to do the same to him, and trace his. I’ve not dared before because I didn’t want things to escalate. As I touch him, he closes his eyes, and the dark skin tightens under my touch. “You’re sensitive here,” I murmur.
“Mmhmm.” Our gazes hold as we touch each other. Tonk explains one of his philosophies. I love hearing these,
