Page 14 of Resolving Rumors

“The marriage part was a panic response to finding out I might have cheated on you and gotten her pregnant as a result. The logistics of that being possible didn’t even set in until much, much later, Vic. One truth hung in the air the minute Justice told me she was pregnant.”

“What was that?” I asked, though I honestly wasn’t sure I could handle anymore truths.

“I knew if it was true and I got another woman pregnant that you would never forgive me and we would be over. That was what made me go through with it before I could even wrap my head around the fact that Brody stood a bigger chance of being the father. Hell, I didn’t even question if she was really pregnant. She showed me an ultrasound photo, but that could have been from anywhere. I was in a panic and thought I lost you completely at that point.”

“I hate this.” I hated it more because he didn’t feel he could come to me before acting on impulse about the impossible situation of having to remain a secret even longer, even if he was right about Justice lying to him about the baby being his.

“You and I both. So, let’s do something different. Can I kiss you again, baby? I need to know your lips are mine again.”

“Do you now?” I teased and turned in his embrace. He wasn’t the only one who needed that reassurance. Maybe I was a fool for thinking we could get past everything. Maybe it would all fall apart again tomorrow. The truth was, I missed Devin. I missed the way I felt complete when we were together.

“I do,” he answered and those two words sent another shiver of apprehension down my spine, but I tucked them to the back of my mind as his lips met mine. I leaned back as he came forward and we never stopped until my back was on the couch and Devin hovered over me, our lips fused, tongues tangled, and hearts on a line that felt too precarious to even think about.

“I love you,” Devin whispered as he pulled back from our kiss. His eyes took in everything as he scanned my face and used the fingers that cradled my face to swipe away a rogue tear that fell. “I love you so much, Vic. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

“I love you too, Devin. I don’t know how in the hell we’re going to get past this, but we need to try.” I didn’t tell him that there was no way I could continue to live with the misery of our separation. I also didn’t tell him that having to keep us a secret any longer would hurt me too. There was no getting around the secrecy until he found out for sure if that baby was his.

“Take me to bed, please,” I whispered. Part of me didn’t want to go there. The other part of me needed it more than my next breath and there was no logic or reason involved. My heart demanded to be close to him while my head worried about the damage it would cause if…

“Are you sure, baby?”

His voice anchored me in the now instead of the ‘what ifs’ that plagued our future. My answer was a simple nod of my head before Devin picked me up off the couch and carried me to my bedroom. Maybe it was a mistake, but there was a part of my heart, or maybe it was my soul, that craved his presence.

His touch.

The closeness we once shared.

“Last chance, are you sure?” The man I couldn’t stop loving asked me as he gently laid my body on the still unmade bed.

“Condoms?” I asked. It wasn’t something we bothered with over the past year of our relationship because we were monogamous and I had an IUD. I could see that the light of excitement diminished from his eyes a bit.

“I was tested after…” I had been too, from the moment I found out they had slept together. “It was only that one time.”

“I…” How in the hell was I supposed to tell him that I no longer trusted his word, despite the fact that I wanted to?

“Do you still have that box in the bathroom cabinet?” I tipped my head up once and he left me there to go to the bathroom. When he came back, he brought the entire box with him.

“Are they expired?” It had been a long time since we’d bought that box and then quickly decided we didn’t want to bother with condoms any longer.

Devin shook his head. “They’re still good.” His eyes moved from the box in his hand to meet my nervous stare. “We don’t have to, Vic. If you changed your mind or you’re worried…” He swallowed thickly as his eyes drifted back to the box in his hand.

“I want this, with us. I guess I just realized that there are lingering trust issues we need to work through.”

“Maybe we should wait on this part until we figure that out.”

I shook my head. “It’s probably the smart thing, but I can’t stand the thought that she was the last person you were with either. You are mine. You were supposed to always be mine. If we’re doing this, then we need to start by reclaiming this.” I waved a hand between us. “The intimacy we lost, the trust, all of it. We need to… I need…” I didn’t know how to finish that thought, but Devin did. He dumped a few of the condoms from the box down beside me and then leaned in to steal a kiss from my lips again.

“I know, baby. You don’t have to find the words because they live in here too,” He whispered as he took my hand and tapped it on his chest, over his heart. “You’re the piece I’ve been missing in here, the one that wouldn’t let this thing beat properly. I need you just as much.”

“Dev…” I whispered, but the rest of his name was lost to another stolen kiss. My free hand wound up and around his neck to hold him close to me. It felt like any minute I would wake upfrom this dream too only to discover that he had never been here making breakfast in my kitchen this morning.

“You’ve been my dream girl since I was 12, baby. Not letting you go now that I have you.”

“I need you inside me,” I urged. “Please.” I don’t remember ever begging Devin before, but it switched him into high gear as he lifted off me and started to remove his clothes.

“Get that robe and whatever you have underneath it off, Vic.” His demand was laced with carnal heat and made me move without really giving the fact that it was an order much thought. I unknotted the robe, and slid it from my body, though it remained trapped beneath me. Then I lifted my bottom and pulled my panties down my legs. Just as I moved my arms to lift the tank top over my head, Devin’s hands came down on mine.

“No, I want to unwrap the final part of my present, baby.” He murmured the words as his fingers traced under the tank top and over my belly so slowly that it felt like the best kind of torture. With each inch of exposed skin, Devin’s eyes grew heavier and darker. When my breasts were finally exposed, he gave up the slow seduction and attacked my left nipple with his mouth while his hand caressed my other breast and pinched that nipple. My tank top was left to linger around my neck and while it was slightly uncomfortable I couldn’t bring myself to finish removing it because my own hands were too busy exploring Devin’s shoulders and then his biceps.

---