Page 71 of Lake + Manning (Something in the Way 4)

Piper turned back. “That’s your husband?”

“Has he been working out more than usual?” Val asked.

Kara shook her head with a dreamy sigh. “He’s always been like that . . . so Manning.”

I breathed through my nose. Basically, at forty-three, Manning looked better than ever. And I was an obese pig. “Maybe we should end the party early.”

“No,” some of them wailed.

Piper stuck out her bottom lip. “You haven’t even opened your presents.”

As if heaven itself had taken pity on me, the house shuddered ominously and the air conditioning kicked on. “Oh, thank God,” I said.

Our landline rang, and Manning walked back through the living room toward the kitchen, Vega once again glued to his heels. “No, thank me,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes on his tight, jean-clad ass. Trust me, I will later.

When I broke from my trance, everyone was staring at me. “Did I say that aloud?”

“Get it, girl,” Roger said, winking at me.

“Don’t worry,” Kara added. “I was super . . . excited . . . during my first pregnancy.”

“I wasn’t,” Val said. “I practically moved Corbin into a hotel until it was over, he was so annoying.” She smiled a little. “In a sweet way, though.”

“Robby, too,” Tiffany said, reentering the room. “I hated him, except when I was horny.”

“Same here,” Val agreed.

Ugh. The thought of Tiffany and Robby or Val and Corbin or basically anyone in this room having sex was even less appetizing to me than chocolate shit in a diaper. Manning, on the other hand—I could’ve eaten him up like a slice of French Silk pie. Literally. I was so hungry.

I stood. “I’ll be right back.”

In the kitchen, Manning sat on a stool, his elbows planted on the island next to his hardhat as he rubbed a hand over his messy hair. By the distant look on his face, I’d caught him zoning out—and it wasn’t the first time lately.

“Hey,” I said. Vega blinked at me from where she lay by the kitchen table. “Who was on the phone?”

“Nobody.” He straightened up. “I’m sorry about the air conditioning.”

“It’s okay.” I smiled sweetly while I threatened, “As long as it doesn’t go out again.”

He held an arm open to me. “Come over here.”

“No. I’m disgusting from sweating all afternoon. I need a cold shower and a nap.”

“Shower sounds good,” he said, beckoning for me. “Can I at least get a kiss?”

“Why?” I crossed my arms as best I could over my balloon boobs. “I wish you would just go away until after the birth. I’ve never felt more unattractive.”

“Aw, Lake.” He chuckled. “My love. My wife. You’re lit from within. You must know you’re as beautiful as ever, and that I’ve never loved you more.”

My irritation fizzled into tears. I covered my face. “I know you’re only saying that to make me feel better.”

“Birdy, please.” He got off the stool, came around the island—he had to get behind me to touch me, my stomach was so big—and moved my limp curls off my neck. “You’re carrying my child. How many times do I need to tell you how sexy that is to me?”

I sighed as my skin cooled. “That feels nice.”

“Why don’t you put your hair up?” he asked. “Or at least change into a tank top?”

“I wouldn’t subject my friends to that.”

He raked my hair away from my face, holding it off my shoulders. “You know, you were making some . . . noises . . . while you slept last night.”

“I slept last night?”

He laughed, but only for a second, his voice turning serious as he lowered his hand over the crotch of my jeans. How he could reach that far, I had no idea. “I did an Internet search and guess what? Just like at thirty-three weeks, we’re allowed to fuck at thirty-four.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, skeptical. “You have the biggest dick I’ve ever seen.”

“Lake, mine is the only dick you’ve ever seen.”

“Of course,” I said. I’d forgotten for a moment that Manning had rewritten history, removing any other ‘mutt’ who’d ever come ‘sniffing around’ as he liked to say.

“Some people even think,” he added seductively, “it could induce labor.”

“Oh, God,” I moaned, resting my head back against his shoulder. “You’re making me wet.”

Manning licked and sucked my neck in a way that instantly made me shudder. “If your friends weren’t in the next room, I’d take you in the shower and fuck you right now.”

I turned around and sobbed into his chest. “Don’t say that. I’m so horny.”

He laughed, wrapping his arms around me. “I would. I’d do it. Except for the sex in the shower part. We can wait until after. I don’t want you to slip.”

“I’d bounce right off the floor.”

“Hang on a little longer,” he said. “As soon as they go, my sperm is going to ripen the hell out of your cervix and possibly stimulate birth.”

---