Page 59 of Amor Prohibido

The light double tap on my thigh made me snicker, and his hand withdrew. “What about here?” he questioned, gently settling his palm on my stomach.

I let out a sleepy giggle. “There will be fine.”

Jace rubbed small circles over my belly; his cool palm was soothing against my warmer skin.

“I love this,” he murmured.

“My pot belly or the fact that you’re using mine to warm yours?”

A scoff came through the shadows. “You and I both know I ain’t packin’ no pot belly, sweetheart.”

As if to prove his point, he grabbed my hand and ran it across his stomach. The ridges of his taut muscles had my laughter dying an immediate death. My breath hitched and fingertips lingered after he let my hand go.

“Besides,” he added, “I’m proud of the fact you have part of me growing within you. I love it, to be honest. And your growing belly is a beautiful reminder of that.”

The air thickened with honesty, and I swallowed loudly. “You have to say that.”

“No. Iwantto say that. Because it’s true.”

His palm resumed its lazy circles, cementing his words, etching them deeper into my heart. I relaxed and soon became drowsy with the steady rhythm. I loved when he set his hands on me. While his touch still felt prohibido, I couldn’t ignore the way it made me come alive.

I spent the next few minutes internally debating my next move. I knew what I wanted but following through would be the turning point for us. There would be no backtracking.

I let my eyes flutter closed and took solace in the quiet. That’s when I felt it. Like a series of tiny bubbles tickling their way over my skin, except on the inside.

“Oh my god!” I whispered on an exhale. “Do you feel that?”

Jace pushed up on one elbow, fully alert and urgent. “What? What is it?”

“I think I just felt the babies moving.”

He gasped and pressed both hands to my stomach, moving them around like he was working out the circumference of a watermelon. “Can you still feel them? What was it like? Have they stopped? I can’t feel them!”

I giggled at his eagerness. “It’s stopped now, but it felt like little flutters or scratching against the inside of my belly.”

“Will it happen again?” he urged.

Holding my breath, I paused and willed the sensation to come back. “I don’t know.”

“Oh…” I heard his disappointment.

“Now lie down, you big goon. You’re making me cold.”

Jace huffed but complied, turning me easily onto my side with his big hands so he could spoon me and keep a hand on my stomach. He murmured and nuzzled my neck with his cold nose, making me squirm. My lame attempt to bat him away was met with a low chuckle, then a hum of approval when I wiggled my booty against his crotch.

Heat gathered between my legs, and I became hyperaware of his body reacting to mine. I turned in his arms, coming nose to nose with him, secretly loving how his palm stayed on my skin as I rolled. It splayed along the dip of my waist, then squeezed in warning when I smoothed my hand over his shoulder.

His voice came gruff. “This isn’t why I came here, J.”

“I know. But I want to be closer to you.”

He hummed and drew my body against his. I melded to all his angles and tucked close. Our lips poised mere inches apart. So near, yet so far away.

When I slid my hand to the back of his neck, he raised his head in question. Through the shadows, our eyes locked. We asked wordless questions and searched for answers.

Gently pulling him to me was the initiation Jace had been waiting for. His mouth hovered a breadth above mine, and my lips parted in anticipation.

The first contact was nothing more than a whisper.

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