Page 65 of Seven of Hearts

I moved down to her hips and thighs, at least what I could reach as she straddled me. Leah let out a soft groan, leaning forward to rest her head on my shoulder as I massaged her lower back.

“That feels so good,” she murmured.

I didn’t rush it. In the middle of life upheaval and uncertainty, this was where I felt the most at peace.

I slid my hands up her waist, pausing to grab a little more lotion before massaging it into her breasts.

Leah’s smile widened against my neck before she slowly sat up to give me more room. “You’re gonna make me horny again.”

I grinned. “That’s not a problem.”

Her eyes fluttered closed. “Feels so good.”

“Good. I want you to feel good.”

I moved my hands back to her belly and rested them there. If she had let me, I would have used up that whole damn jar of lotion in one night, just for a continued excuse to touch her.

A skittering sensation danced against my palm. Leah must have felt it too, because her eyes popped open and met mine. She sat in stilled silence for the longest moment until it happened again.

“Oh my god,” she whispered in shock, as if speaking at a normal decibel was going to scare away her muscle spasm. “Do you feel that?” She pressed her hand on top of mine in an effort to keep my palm right where it was.

“Yeah?”

“That little flutter?”

We were both silent, waiting to feel it again. Then, it happened.

Realization dawned on me. “Is that . . .”

“That’s the baby kicking!” she whispered.

I let out a slow breath staring at our hands. “Holy shit.” I looked up at her. “What does it feel like for you?”

She laughed as tears of joy dotted the corners of her eyes. “Like...I don’t know how to describe it. Like that DVD sign on a dormant TV screen, where it floats around and bumps a corner, and then I don’t feel anything and it’s a little bump on the other side. That’s a weird comparison.” Her smile was blinding as she grabbed my hand and moved it to the lower part of her bump. “Wait for it.”

I felt it again, that little thump. My throat tightened. “He’s not a little baby bumblebee anymore.”

She giggled. “Nope. I guess that means you’ll have to find something else to call me. Honeybee doesn’t quite fit anymore.”

“Nah. It fits.” I tucked her hair behind her ear. “You’re sweet. Optimistic. A hard worker. Pretty cute too, but you have a sting and you’re not afraid to use it. I like that about you.”

Leah laughed as she shook her head. “The app on my phone says the baby is the size of a coconut this week.”

Shit...She meant the brown, husky coconuts, right? The small ones. Not the giant green ones. Did she mean the giant green ones? If the baby was that big already, it meant we didn’t have much time. There was no way. She was only twenty-two weeks. But that was over halfway.

“Hey,” Leah soothed as she cupped my cheeks. “Where’s your head at?”

I couldn’t land on what to start with. It was a jumble of to-do lists to get everything in order so the panic would subside.

“We don’t have enough time to get ready,” I said between shallow breaths. “I’ve missed so much time already.”

Leah’s hands were soft and steady as she ran her fingers through my hair. “I promise we have time to get everything ready. We can game-plan tomorrow. And what’s important now is that, no matter what happens between you and me, you will have all the time you want with this little guy from this day forward.” She pressed her palm to my cheek. “And I believe that you’re going to be a great dad.”

I couldn’t quite put into words what I felt for Leah. But as she soothed my stormy seas, I knew that I wanted her to be a part of “this day forward.”

“But there is something that you can stress about for me,” she said.

“Anything,” I said, because I was a glutton for panic.

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