Temporary Duty Page 8

  He crawled back over to me, clearly intending to take up the same position again. I pushed myself up on my elbows, though, and shoved at his shoulder.

  “Lay down on your back.” I sat up, yanking my dress out from under me so that I could move.

  Kade quirked an eyebrow at me. “Are you okay? Were you getting uncomfortable lying flat?”

  I smiled and shook my head, pushing on his chest to make him lie down. “No. I was enjoying your mouth on my boobs. But now I want . . . more.”

  He laced his hands behind his head, his eyes alight with anticipation. “Have at it, sweetheart. Have at me.”

  My fingers fumbled with the remaining buttons on my dress, until it was unfastened low enough for me to strip the whole thing off. Kade’s mouth and eyes went wide.

  “Holy. Fuck.” He breathed the words. “Sit up a little bit, beautiful. Let me see you.” When I rose up on my knees, swaying a little to keep my balance, his gaze devoured me.

  “Pretty sure you’re going to kill me, babe. You’re so fucking hot. So fucking sexy.” He began to sit up, reaching as if to touch me. I swatted his hand away.

  “It’s my turn now.” With as much grace as I could muster, I swung my leg over his huge, muscle-hard thighs, sitting with only my belly between me and that gorgeous dick that curved proudly upward. I took a second to consider strategy and then lowered myself, wriggling my bump between his legs and taking his erection into both my hands and my mouth.

  “Fuck—oh, babe—fuck!” Kade’s hips canted up, surging further into my mouth. I moved up and down, keeping one hand low to pump him, sucking his thick girth and pausing to swirl my tongue around the head.

  “Mmmmm.” I met his eyes, taking in the smolder as he watched me suck him off. “So good.” I licked one stroke up the length of him, fondling his balls at the same time. “I remembered this so well. The feel of you on my tongue and deep in my throat. When I thought of this, I got wet for you every time.”

  “Leah.” His fingers caressed the top of my hair. “Come up here. I want your mouth. I want to touch your tits again. Don’t want to come too fast, and your sweet mouth is driving me fucking insane.”

  I gave him one final hard suck, one more swirl of my tongue on the head, before I sat up, flattening my palms on his chest. Reaching behind me, I unhooked the pretty bra and let it fall down my arms, tossing it to the side of the bed.

  “Now this part is trickier.” I shot him what I hoped was a flirtatious glance from under my eyelashes. “Getting off my panties isn’t as easy as it used to be. I may have to ask you to look away while I do it—being graceful is basically impossible.”

  “Maybe I should help you instead.” He raised himself up and hooked a finger underneath the elastic, tugging it down. “Lift up, babe.” When I did, he guided the panties down my legs as far as he could. I shifted from side to side until I could kick them off as Kade lay back again.

  “Thank you for the help.” I dropped a chaste kiss on his cheek. “You know, that night we were together, the first thing that I really noticed about you was your dimple. When we were in bed the first time, kissing that dent on your cheek made me wild.” As if in response, Kade smiled, bringing out the dimple. I touched my tongue to it, drawing a circle there before I sat up again to survey the rest of his body. “And do you know how much I love your pecs? They’re like the stuff of a girl’s wet dream.” I curved my body forward to drop a kiss to the center of those bunched muscles before I moved to one side and caught the small nub of his nipple between my teeth.

  Kade’s jaw was clenched. “Killing. Me.”

  “Okay, okay.” Leveraging myself up again, I sank my teeth into my lower lip, grasped his cock with one hand and rubbed the tip of it over my throbbing pussy. “Oh, God. That feels so good.” I pressed his leaking head against my clit. “Right there.”

  “Leah.” With a swift action borne of desperate need, Kade thrust upwards and into me. I gasped and arched backward, seating myself more securely on him. The incredible sense of fullness and connection nearly drove me out of my mind. He was so large, so deep and so part of me that I felt like a completely new being.

  His fingers dug into my hips, and out of instinct more than anything else, I began to move, wriggling a little and then experimenting with lifting my body up and lowering it again. Within a few seconds, I found the exact motion that brought me intense, blinding pleasure.

  “Fuck, babe, you’re so fucking tight. So wet for me.” Kade trailed one hand from my hip to my center, his thumb finding my clit and pressing hard against it. I made some kind of noise, a cross between a moan and a gasp as the orgasm swept through me, wracking my body. I ground down on Kade, focused only on prolonging that spasm of ultimate fulfillment.

  He groaned, shouting my name in a sort of awed hosanna. His hips jerked up, spilling everything he had into me, even while my channels tightened on his dick.

  An unfamiliar sensation gripped my middle, and my bump tightened into one impossibly hard muscle. I gasped, more in surprise than in pain, spreading my fingers over my belly.

  “What’s wrong?” Kade sat up, his cock still inside me. His arms circled me, and concern was etched on his face.

  “I don’t . . . I think it was maybe a contraction.” I sat still, frowning.

  “Are you okay? Should we call the midwife? Or should I just take you to the hospital?” Kade’s face was filled with alarm, and panic threaded through his voice.

  “I don’t think so.” The muscles were relaxing again, leaving only bliss in the wake of the contraction. “I can text Gwen, but I’m not in pain, and it’s passing. Maybe it’s just something that happens.”

  Kade lifted me off him with tremendous care, easing me down onto the bed. “Stay here a minute. Let me grab my phone.”

  He threw off the covers and strode out of the room, leaving me to admire the flex of muscles in his ass while he walked away. In a few seconds he was back, frowning in concentration as he stared down onto the screen.

  After a minute, his forehead smoothed out. “Okay. Phew. It’s normal, or so it says here.” Kade cleared his throat as he read aloud. “‘The body releases oxytocin when you orgasm, and it can make your muscles contract. Also, your partner’s semen contains prostaglandins which can trigger uterine contractions.’”

  “That makes sense.” I curled my legs up under me and yawned. “It was only that one, and it didn’t hurt or anything. And nothing else felt off.”

  Kade climbed back into bed, pulling me against him. “At least I know I made you come, huh?”

  I smiled sleepily. “True. Can’t fake that, can I?”

  “Babe, are you falling asleep?” Kade sounded incredulous.

  “I think so.” I yawned again, buried my face against his chest, and dropped into blessed oblivion.

  Chapter Five

  Kade

  In the past month, I’d learned a lot about pregnant women—more than I thought I’d ever want to know. I’d done a lot of reading on line, I’d bought magazines and books from Leah’s bookstore, and I’d watched videos. I’d also had first-hand experience, watching Leah deal with her body’s new dimensions and demands.

  One thing I knew was that pregnant chicks needed a lot of sleep. They could drop off at a moment’s notice, including while they were eating, in the middle of a sentence, or apparently, right after sex. I made this last observation as I lay next to Leah in her bed, watching her sleep after we’d made love.

  The setting sun was sending brilliant final rays across her room, illuminating her blonde hair and making her translucent skin glow. I stared at her face, fascinated; her eyes were closed, the lashes sweeping over her cheekbones, and her mouth was relaxed, the lips slightly parted as her deep, even breath flowed in and out. She’d tugged the sheet up to her hip before dropping off, but her tits were still bare, rising and falling in time with her breathing. They really were enormous, but only in the most sensual way. Her nipples were wider and darker, and I’d noticed how much more s
ensitive they were. I was pretty sure I could’ve made her come only by sucking her sweet tits.

  Below her breasts, her belly was hard, with tight skin. Even as I watched, it rippled and shifted as the baby within her turned, moved and kicked. I spread my hand over Leah’s bump, resting it there. The rippling slowed, and I hoped it was because my daughter knew I was close. I hoped that on some level of consciousness, she knew that her parents already loved her . . . and each other.

  I sighed and tucked an errant strand of hair behind Leah’s ear. I’d never been a guy who bought into love at first sight. I still wasn’t a believer, to be honest, but I had begun to believe that fate was real. When I thought about the minuscule chance there’d been that seven months before, Leah and I would have sex, use protection and yet still manage to get pregnant, it shook me up. The idea that if one of my swimmers hadn’t gotten past the goalie and collided with her egg, I might never have seen her again made me downright nauseated.

  This girl . . . this woman . . . the mother of my child . . . in the span of four weeks, she’d become the sum of my world. She was the first thing I thought about when my alarm went off in the morning and the last thing I thought about at night before sleep overtook me. Each day, I couldn’t wait to see her again. And it wasn’t purely a physical attraction, although we had that, for sure. We talked for hours, we shared our backgrounds, our interests and our hopes for the future.

  Leah had told me about growing up in the foster care system, about parents who’d abandoned her when she was a toddler. She’d shared horror stories that she’d told with an ironically humorous twist, and I knew it was so that I wouldn’t feel sorry for her. She’d confided in me about her lonely college years, working two jobs and taking extra classes to finish early so that she’d be able to earn her degree before her scholarship ran out.

  In turn, I’d told her about growing up on the beaches of SoCal, with two doting parents and an adoring younger sister. I’d choked up when we talked about my dad dying suddenly of a heart attack when I was a junior in college. I’d shared my plans to retire after I put in my twenty years in the in the Army, and I’d shown her pictures of the farm I’d bought up in Minnesota, not far from my cousins, where I hoped to rebuild and restore classic autos.

  She didn’t have many friends to speak of, outside of Cassie, who was more of an acquaintance, but she told me stories about her co-workers and her classmates. I made her laugh when I described the antics of my fellow company commanders and some of the guys in my platoon. I couldn’t wait for her to meet them all.

  Leah had already met my mom and my sister via video chat. She’d given me permission to tell them that we were having a baby, and I had a hunch that she’d been pleasantly surprised at their excitement and joy. My mom was already making noises about coming out to Virginia when the baby was born, and Leah seemed okay with that.

  She moaned a little in her sleep now, her lips curving into a small secret smile. Her hands shifted to brush over her boobs, making her nipples go turgid and hard again. My dick began to stiffen.

  Leah rolled onto her back, resting the back of one arm over her forehead. I couldn’t resist bracing myself up over her and covering one perfect nipple with my mouth, sucking with quiet precision while fingers circled the other one.

  “Mmmmmm.” She hummed, but her eyes stayed closed and her face relaxed. I knew I should have let it go at that, but the pulsing beat between my legs wouldn’t let me. Slowly, I slid the sheet lower and lower, until the tops of her legs and that enticing pussy were bared to my view.

  I hadn’t really gotten a chance to enjoy her the first time. Oh, yeah, I’d had a great time, and I’d come hard, thrusting up into her tight grip as she rode me after she’d sucked me nearly to oblivion. But I hadn’t been able to drive her absolutely fucking wild, the way I wanted to do.

  Easing her legs a little further apart, I settled myself between her creamy thighs. She kept herself shaved close, and it only took one questing finger to part those silken folds. She was wet . . . God, she was so fucking wet. I nearly shot my load at the sight of her sex, pretty, pink, swollen and slick. With that same finger, I circled her clit, rewarded by her sharp intake of breath. Emboldened, I lowered my mouth to take the small bundle of nerves between my lips, suckling and then stroking with the tip of my tongue.

  “Kade . . .” Leah’s voice sounded drugged with sleep. “God, oh my God.”

  “Just relax, babe.” I licked her all the way up, and she raised her hips, pushing her center further against my face. Her hands found my head, and her fingers threaded through the short hairs on my head, holding on tight.

  Her breath was coming in short pants as she chanted my name in the midst of several other nonsense words. Finally, when I was sure she was teetering on the edge of insanity, I thrust two fingers into her and pressed my tongue against her clit at the same time.

  Leah screamed, and it was my name on her lips as she came hard against my mouth. I stayed with her, kissing, licking and stroking, until her hand clumsily pushed me away.

  “Too much. Oh, my God, Kade.” She grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly. “See what you did? Again?”

  I chuckled and dropped a gentle kiss onto the rise of her bump. “It’s like a little hug for the baby every time you come, baby.”

  “Hmmmm.” She smiled, but her eyes stayed closed.

  I crawled back up to lay next to her. “I was doing a little more reading while you dozed. Did you know that when you get to the end of your pregnancy, one of the best ways to induce labor is by having sex?”

  Leah opened one eyes and stared at me. “You think when I’m nine months pregnant, looking and feeling like a beached whale, that having sex is going to be the first thing on my mind?”

  “If you’re overdue and ready to pop, yeah, I think you’ll be okay with it.” I kissed her lips, teasing my tongue against her mouth until she opened for me. “By that point, you might be begging me to make love to you.”

  One side of her mouth curved into a smile. “You might have something there. It definitely sounds better than induction.”

  “Thanks, I think.” I raked my fingers through her hair, letting the strands sift over my skin. “Leah, you’ll come back with me, right? You’ll move down to Fort Lee with me? Please say yes. I can’t leave you behind. It would fucking kill me, babe.”

  She opened her eyes and stared at me. For one horrible moment, I thought she was going to tell me no.

  And then she smiled, her green eyes filling with light and hope and something I could almost believe was love. She laid one hand against the side of my face.

  “How could I ever say anything but yes, Kade?”

  * * *

  I spent the following day floating on air. I’d stayed that night with Leah, reveling in holding her in my arms as she fell asleep and feeling the baby move between us as we cuddled in the early morning hours. I’d set my alarm early enough to get back to the barracks and into the bathroom before the rest of the guys were even awake; although I was sure Eric probably suspected that I hadn’t slept in my bed, it was none of his damn business.

  The next night, I insisted on taking Leah out to dinner. It was one of her longer days, when she had classes in the morning and then worked at the bookstore until seven, and I knew that by the time she got off work, she would be famished. I met her at the mall, and we drove together to a nearby diner.

  She was lighter nowadays, happier, more open and willing to talk to me about everything happening in her life. She chattered away as we drove, and I was content to listen to her talk about her classes and the customers at the store.

  “I told my boss at the bookstore today that I was giving two weeks’ notice.” She slid me a sideways glance.

  “Good.” I squeezed her hand. “I know we need to figure out how to make everything else fall into place, but if there’s anything I can do to help, just tell me.”

  “My adviser at school says I can keep taking online courses, if I’m willi
ng to come up to the college for finals. I think I can manage that, right?”

  “Sure, you can.” I was relieved that she was embracing the transition. “And you know, if you want to keep your hand in with the paralegal work, I bet I could help you find a place near Fort Lee that would be glad to have you.”

  Her smile dimmed a little. “I guess so. But maybe I wouldn’t look for it until after the baby came. There wouldn’t be much point in starting to work just in time to have to go on maternity leave.” She blinked at me. “Unless you think I should. I mean, maybe it would be a good idea to have my foot in the door.”

  “Leah. Beautiful.” I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “I only suggested that because I hate to think of you giving up something you’ve worked so hard to achieve. I don’t care if you don’t work. Or if you don’t work until after you get your degree.”

  She sighed. “Okay. Thanks.”

  We were silent until we reached the diner. Once the waitress had taken our orders, I leaned across the table to link Leah’s hand with mine.

  “Listen, babe. Don’t do something or not do it because you think it’s going to make me happy or unhappy, okay? We’re going to work all this out. It might take some time, and we might have bumps in the road, but we’ll get through it together.”

  Her answering smile was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen in this world. “Okay. I’m not used to having anyone else to consider when I make decisions, you know? So it might take some time for me to adjust. I guess part of me feels like I’m giving something up by sharing the load.”

  “From now on, Leah, you’re not alone. I promise you that.” I kissed her fingers where they rested on the back of my own hand, staring into her deep green eyes and feeling that I could easily get lost in their depths.