Page 157 of Gracefully Yours

Daniel slid in behind me, wrapping his arms around my belly, like he was protecting her—keeping our daughter safe in there. He kissed my shoulder, and I could feel him hardening against my back.

Skin to skin, he held me like that, my back pressed up against his front, until I was writhing, skin itching, desperate for him.

“Daniel,” I moaned—practically begged. I didn’t even have to say the words. He already knew what I was asking.

Grabbing my leg, he pushed into me from behind, one arm still wrapped around my belly as the other went to my hip. The angle was almost torturous, how tight I felt as he pushed into me, inch by inch, but I reveled in it.

It wasn’t frantic, rushed sex, but slow, gentle lovemaking. And yet still, every touch, every kiss, every brush against my heavy, sensitive nipples made me almost come out of my mind with pleasure. If I hadn’t already known that there was no one else in the world for me, no one else that could make me feel like this—I did now.

And when we both came, and he wrapped his arms around me, bringing our fronts together, I couldn’t help the outpouring of love that I felt for him.

My best friend turned fake husband turnedreal.The only man who’d ever been for me. Who’d ever known me, inside and out, and made me feel like I was home.

It felt like the entire world faded away, leaving only the two of us in our bubble of happiness and love.

Breathing out, I looked at him,reallylooked at him. His structured jaw, those brown eyes, his dark, almost black hair, brushed away from his face—he was so handsome, always.

“Thank you,” I murmured, resting my head against his chest.

“For what?”

“For this. For our happily ever after.”

“Baby, our story’s just beginning,” he said, kissing my forehead.

CHAPTER39

Daniel

DECEMBER

“Daniel.” Her hand tightly gripped mine, jolting me awake from sleep. Not that I’d been sleeping much these days anyway, with Charlotte being so close to her due date. I was constantly on alert, ready to go at any moment.

My eyes popped open. “Everything okay?”

“I think my water just broke.”

“You’re sure?” I’d already started mentally preparing for what I needed to do.

“Unless I just peed myself,prettysure.” Her nose scrunched, and I flipped on the light.

“But you’re not due till next week.”

She laughed. “You try tellingherthat.”

I leaned down to kiss her belly, trying not to freak out. The best thing to do was stay calm. That was what we’d practiced in all of those classes.

“Get dressed, and I’ll grab the bags.”

They’d been by the front door ever since she’d hit thirty-eight weeks. And they’d been packed for another week before that.

She waddled up to the door in a loose, flowy pink dress and a long chunky gray cardigan.

“Forgetting something?” I raised an eyebrow, looking down at her bare feet.

“Oh, shut up,” she huffed, sitting in a chair by the front door. “You know I can’t bend over to get them on.”

She chucked a pair of socks at my face—pink ones, with little cats on them. Kneeling before her, I pulled on her socks, and then a pair of loose, fuzzy boots.

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