Page 60 of Trash the Dress

Zander watches my every move. His muscular thighs are spread wide, and I can see the bulge behind his jeans. I’ve never felt more beautiful…more desired than I do with this man. Any doubts or insecurities I’ve ever thought about having fade away in his eyes.

This is exactly how every woman should feel when she’s with the man she loves.Adored. Cherished. Loved.I’m not sure how I got so lucky as to find this man…to have earned his love and affection. But here I am, basking in the glow he emits.

“Come here,” he says huskily and crooks a finger.

He pushes his jeans and boxers down and waits for me to straddle him with a hungry gaze in his eyes. His tongue darts out to lick his bottom lip.

I don’t waste any time. I settle both legs on either side of his hips and slide my center down his length. We both hum a sound of satisfaction as our bodies are united. He grips my thighs as I take control. He watches me. His gaze is on mine, not my body like he’s just as hungry for my soul as he is my body.

The intensity sends chills all over my skin and he pulls me close to kiss me. As I move, he moves underneath making each connection stronger. I feel myself tightening around him as we work together, and when we finally fall off that cliff, gone is everything but the feeling of him all around me.

His touch is the only thing grounding me in this moment. It’s my turn to take his face in my hands and kiss his lips. He tucks my hair behind my ear as it falls forward.

I take his hand and place it between my breasts where my heart is still racing. “I hope you never give mine back either, Zander. I’m giving you everything I have to give.”

He kisses me and leans me back slightly before kissing my swollen, pregnant belly. “It would seem we’re on the same page, then,” he says as his dark eyes stare into my blue ones.

Long after Zanderand I made love, picked up my meter and strips from the pharmacy, and then ate a late lunch, he went on in to work at the bar. He made it clear he’d stay home if I wanted him to, but I assured him I’d be fine.

I worked on answering some emails and preparing clients for my upcoming maternity leave. A little before eight, a knock sounds at the front door. My nerves already have their little shields in place because who would this be?

I walk to the front door and open it. My mother stands on the front porch. I’m speechless. “Uh, what are you doing here? How did you know where I was?” I rush out all at once.

She smiles kindly. “That man of yours loves you very much.”

“Zander?” I ask as I put my hand to my chest.

She nods. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I say and open the door wider to let her in.

Once I close the door behind us, I start with more questions. “When did you talk to him?”

“This evening. Don’t be mad at him. He was trying to help,” she says.

“I’m not…I’m not mad, just a little surprised.”

She sets her purse on the kitchen table. “I’m so sorry, Scarlett.” Her eyes shimmer in the light with unshed tears. “We didn’t handle the news well. We were shocked. We never wanted you to face what we did,” she says.

“What do you mean, Mama? You and Daddy had me after you were married. I don’t understand.”

She swipes her tears away. “Your dad and I were very much in love, that’s true. But what you don’t know is we got pregnant with you by accident.”

My heart almost skids to a complete stop. What am I hearing right now?

“So, what? You didn’t want me? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” I stammer as my stomach threatens to empty its contents.

“I wanted you from the moment I knew you existed. But your dad and I weren’t married. Far from it. We loved each other, but we had no plans for the future. We were in college, but just barely. He was a sophomore, and I was a freshman. And my parents, well, to them having a baby out of wedlock was unthinkable. An embarrassment.”

I swallow hard as it starts to dawn on me. My mom isn’t the Goody Two-shoes I always believed her to be.

“What happened, Mom?”

She smiles sadly. “Your dad talked about giving you up for adoption to appease my parents. He didn’t think he was ready to be a father because we had nothing. But I refused. We made you together, and we’d raise you together.”

“Dad didn’t want me?” I ask as an unexpected wave of tears wash over me. The man I always looked up to, who treated me like his princess didn’t want me? What is she even saying right now?

“Of course he did, sweetheart. Men can sometimes take a few minutes longer to catch up to us. Our maternal instincts kick infrom the moment we know, men don’t have the same thing until they are holding you in their arms, and then some of them still don’t. And your dad was still a kid, and he was in a state of panic. So was I. We were much younger than you and Zander are now,” she says with a kind smile.

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