Page 39 of Twin Babies For The Grump

But I can’t think of anything to say. So I grab hold of her and kiss her instead. It’s a crash of lips against lips, mouth to mouth. There are no words to describe the whirlwind of emotions cutting through me, but I hope that the kiss conveys at least a little of it.

Her arms loop around my neck, one of them tangling in my hair. The other hand settles on the back of my neck, then fists up into the back of my shirt.

I back her up as we kiss until she’s pressed to the side of the island counter.

“Pregnant?” I ask, breathless when we part.

Tess’s face is red, her eyes glassy with emotion. I kiss her again, not even giving her a chance to answer. I place my hands against her cheeks, fingers to her skin, tongue in her mouth.

It’s only when I pull back for a breath that she says, “Pregnant. I wanted to wait— I just thought that it might be better to tell you after Grapefest.”

“You weren’t going to tell me until next month?” I ask, aghast at the thought. The idea that she would make me wait that long, but also that she would deal with all the early doctor appointments on her own—it’s appalling.

“I didn’t want to put more on you,” says Tess. Her hands slide over my neck and settle on my shoulders. “And I didn’t want to give the reporters something to think about, you know. There are a few of them that will take anything they can to try and turn it into dirt for the festival.”

“I don’t care,” I tell her, hefting her up onto the counter, and settling between her spread legs. “They can talk about it all they want. The only thing that I’m concerned with is you. Shit, you can’t keep living on your own, not if we’re expecting.”

“Oh,weare expecting?” Tess says it with a smile. “Both of us now?”

“You’ll move in with me, won’t you?” I ask her, ignoring the joke.

Tess falters for a moment. “Do you want me to? You’re just getting settled in here, I don’t want—”

“We can turn the spare room into the nursery,” I say, eagerly. I didn’t think that settling down was going to be an option, that it was something that I wanted. Even before I moved here, it was just an idea of something that could happen in the far future, pushing it further and further away because I simply couldn’t imagine living that kind of life.

But now that the options are presented to me, Iknowthat this is how things were always meant to be.

I knew that the buyout on Bale Enterprises was fate, but I thought that it was just to get me out here, running the vineyard. I can see now that it’s more than that. I’ve always been meant to come out here, to find this connection with Tess, to settle down, to start a family.

And I have my proof in front of me now, warm and soft and flush-faced. The most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen.

I can’t keep my hands off her, kissing her, shoving my hands under her shirt. The fabric bunches up around my wrists, but she catches on quickly enough, lifting up her arms so that it can be pushed off her and tossed aside.

Her bra is unclipped, hitting the counter next to her. I press my open mouth to the long line of her neck, to the underside of her jaw. Tongue and tooth and passionate kiss, and I say it again, “Move in with me, Tess.”

“I will,” says Tess, “I want to. Just after the Grapefest, okay? After it.”

“After it,” I say, not wanting to agree but knowing that she’s right, and that’s going to be for the best. I kiss her again, nipping at her lower lip, licking at the edge of her teeth. “After it, you’re going to move in with me.”

“I will,” she insists, hands dropping to grab at the hem of my shirt. The electricity in the air feels like it has hit a totally new high, this constant hum in the background. I want her, and I want her now.

She pushes my shirt off, and my hands drop down to her slacks, undoing the buttons, tugging them off her hips. Her panties come next, and my pants, and then I’m kissing her again, groping her breasts, hands running over her sides, then down the curve of her thighs, spreading her legs further around me.

I pull Tess to the very edge of the counter. As soon as I can get my fingers on her slit, that’s where they go, pressing up into the warm, wet heat of her pussy.

One finger and then two of them, palm grinding firm and steady against her clit. Her hips jerk, her lips part. The flush on her face is gorgeous. So is the look in her eyes.

She’s pregnant. She’s mine.

I kiss her again, tongue in her mouth, swallowing back her soft whines and the low, desperate mewls.

Her arms loop around my neck again, one leg hiking up around my hip, pulling me closer to her. “Owen,” she says, in between desperate kisses. “Owen, come on. Don’t tease me.”

“I like to tease you.”

“Not today, not today—”

“Not today,” I agree, after a moment, pulling my hand free. I take hold of my shaft instead, stroking myself twice and then lining myself up with her glistening wet opening. “I just want you today.”

---