Page 21 of His Perfect Woman

It was too late to try and hide it now. I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms. “I told you I was serious about having a baby on my own.”

“You weren’t kidding.” He smirked as he walked around the future nursery, glancing over the clothes, toys, and other mementos I had been collecting for when I became a mother.

“I was planning to paint and decorate once I actually got pregnant and knew the gender,” I explained.

He picked up a stack of papers and cards that rested on the edge of the open trunk. “And you’re already shopping for nannies, I see.”

“Never too early to start. Good ones are hard to come by, but I definitely have no intention of quitting my job. I couldn’t afford to anyway.”

He brushed his fingers over a stuffed bear and turned back to me. “Holy shit. This is all...so real.”

I wrinkled my brow and waited for him to elaborate. But my gut twisted with suspicions about how he was feeling. Leave it to a man like him to impulsively agree to something only to realize later, when it got too real, that he had acted rashly.

“Not in a bad way,” he quickly added. I exhaled with relief. “I just...I guess I never realized just how badly you wanted this. It seemed like...I don’t know. Like a thing you were checking off your list.”

I laughed. “That’s a horrible reason to have a child.”

“But people do it for that reason all the time...and worse ones.”

“I really am ready to be a mother,” I said, running my hand along the blank walls, imagining what colors I might paint them later on. Maybe I could hire an artist to come in and do a mural, depending on the theme. “I’m going to put a rocking chair over in that corner. And I’ve picked out a crib—it’ll go over there by the window.”

We both stood side by side and stared at where I’d pointed like we could see a movie reel of midnight lullabies and bedtime stories projecting across the wall. Suddenly, Lucas turned to face me and I couldn’t help but meet him in the middle.

“I want to give you all of that, Vic,” he said in a deep, serious tone that made my heart swell. “But I don’t just want to give you that, I want to be a part of it. I’m sorry for what happened today, I really am. Maybe I needed to be reminded of the other side of this...outside of all the PR shit. Real marriage or not, we’d be a family.”

“I thought we already were family,” I said softly, noticing how the space between us was suddenly shrinking.

“We are. And we’ll continue being one,” he whispered, brushing his hand along my cheek.

My eyelids grew heavy, forcing shut as my chin tilted up towards him. It wasn’t exactly my plan for him coming over that evening. I wanted pizza and movies. And yet, it seemed inevitable. We drifted closer, and soon his tender lips were pressed to mine.

12

Lucas

The space between our bodies was sucked up like the room had turned into a vacuum, catapulting us together with what felt like no air to breathe—unless it was coming from her sweet mouth. Our lips sparked together and I made no secret of how badly I wanted her. She was so intoxicating, and finally being able to touch and kiss her like that—it was a whole vortex of newness, wrapped up in my old best friend.

I kissed her neck and slid my hands under her t-shirt, sucking in her exhale as I brushed my fingers along her bare skin. She leaned deeper into the kiss, wrapping her hands around the back of my head.

A groan escaped my mouth as I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. My cock twitched from the surprise of meeting her exposed, hardened nipples, just waiting there for my hands. I rubbed each one and felt her tongue plunge deeper into my mouth, her body going limp in my arms as if I was chiseling away at her ability to stand.

With her shirt out of the way, I moved to the hem of her pants. My hands slipped beneath it, smoothing across her silky thighs and down to the folds between her legs.

“Oh, god, Lucas,” she whispered against my lips. I swore I would never take it for granted—her saying my name like that. I had tried to imagine it in so many fantasies, and my brain felt like it might explode every time I got to hear it in person.

“Does that feel good?” I murmured.

Her head rolled back as she relished in my circling fingers. “So good.”

She spread her legs wider and reached down to wrap one hand around mine, guiding my touch where she wanted it to go. I could feel how wet and open she was—another part of her that was just waiting for me.

“Fuck me,” she exhaled, pushing into the bulge in my pants.

“Victoria Sloan...you are one very bad girl talking to me like that,” I teased, sliding another finger inside of her. I could feel her legs start to shake. “A bad girl who is very, very wet.”

“You made me that way.” She grinned, rocking into my hand.

“I haven’t even started yet. Not really.”

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