Page 13 of Waiting for Her

Max

It’s been three days since Addison kissed me and everything changed. Three days of me doing everything I can to make sure my girl is rested, fed, and unbothered. But the second I saw the state of her spare bedroom, the one she wants to turn into the nursery, I knew she needed an intervention. The walls were a barren beige color, with old cobweb-infested curtains that looked as if they came with the house and a shag carpet that left me wanting to shut the door and just leave. But Addison had a vision, and so last night I convinced her to sit down and tell me everything she wanted, even the details she thought were too outlandish, or too extravagant. I wanted to hear them all. So we sat on her couch, her computer on my knees and we went through website after website of everything she loved and I made a mental note of every store, every website, and hoped to God my plan would work.

The moment I saw the way her eyes lit up at the prospect of her baby getting everything she wanted, I knew I would do just about anything to make it happen. So once we headed to bed, I pulled her close and told her I was taking her shopping, something she refused at first, comparing shopping to torture, but I saw a glimpse of that sly smile she tried so hard to hide and I knew she was excited, even if she tried to hide it. It wasn’t until this morning that I wondered if maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. My usual chatterbox was eerily silent, picking at her food and barely making eye contact. So I did the only thing I could think of at the time, I brought her back upstairs, ran a lukewarm bath, and told her to rest for an hour or so and to come back down when she was ready to go. All she did was nod, giving me a sad smile before closing the bathroom door and leaving me to stand in her empty room wondering what could have possibly changed from yesterday to today.

It’s been two hours since I left Addison in her room; two hours of me cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the floors, and dusting almost every surface in her living room. A part of my brain tells me to leave her be. She’s probably just taking her time, but there’s this other side of my brain that is sending up warning signals. That part of my brain wins out as I take the stairs two at a time until I reach her closed bedroom door.

“Addison?” I say before knocking softly. “Is everything okay?” I press my ear to the door, listening for any signs of movement.

“I-I’m almost ready,” Addison calls and the second those words hit my ears and the hitch in her voice becomes clear as day, I know she’s crying. She’s trying her hardest to hide the tears from me, but they pierce my chest and linger. She has no idea what those tears do to me. I’ve spent the better part of my adult life trying everything in my power not to see her cry because I know that I would do just about anything to make her stop.

I carefully open the door, peering into the room only to see my girl standing in front of the mirror in nothing but a silk robe, tears streaming down her face. The heaving rise and fall of her chest breaks me, the utter sadness in her eyes causes every cell in my body to react and walk toward her.

“Baby,” I whisper, meeting her gaze in the reflection.

Addison shrugs in defeat, her eyes flicking to the pile of clothes that litter her bed, and all of a sudden, everything clicks into place. I’ve spent the past few hours trying to figure out what’s going on in her head this morning, and it’s been staring at me all along.

“Nothing fits…” she mutters, trying to hold in the tears. “I look like a whale…”

Her hands rub her belly absently, her eyes softening just a tad before they meet mine, and the sadness hits me once more. I have to take a moment and bask in how beautiful she looks right now. Even in the sadness, she still protects her child, even when she’s feeling like the scum of the earth, she still loves that child more than herself. She’s so much stronger than she knows, and I vow to make sure she knows that every day for the rest of her life.

“You do not look like a whale,” I state, walking toward her until I’m a few inches from touching her.

“How can you say that? Have you seen me lately? I can’t even see my toes!” Her voice rises and a laugh bubbles up in my chest because to me the idea of her looking anything less than gorgeous is laughable. But the devastation in her eyes tells me that now is not the time for jokes.

My steps are soft as I make my way toward her, my chest meeting her back, my arms wrapping around her middle, cradling her stomach as my eyes meet hers in the mirror.

“You have to see just how beautiful you are, baby. Because what I see when I look in this mirror is a woman who has been through hell and back and comes out on top. What I see is a woman who protects those she loves with every fiber of her being without a single thought of herself, and most of all, I see a beautiful woman who has been the star of every fantasy I’ve ever had since I was seventeen.”

She shakes her head, my words falling unheard to the ground.

“I feel huge. I don’t feel like myself and when I look in the mirror, all I see is a stranger.”

Her words fill the silence of the room as I begin to kiss down the side of her neck, distraction being my next tactic. She opens her mouth to say something, but her words get lodged in her throat as my fingers take the sash that holds her robe together and gently tug, exposing a sliver of her stomach. My eyes notice the stretch marks that I know make her uncomfortable. I see the way her skin is red and aggravated, yet none of that fazes me. Nothing about this woman could ever make me leave this room right now.

“Max?” she whimpers, her breath hitching as my hands dip beneath the fabric, causing a soft moan to escape her throat.

I know where I want this to go and from the way her body is responding to my touch, I’m pretty sure Addison feels the same. My gaze catches hers in the mirror, her eyes closed and mouth open in a silent moan as my lips find that spot beneath her ear that causes her legs to weaken and her head to fall back against my chest.

“You are gorgeous no matter what you wear,” I whisper against her skin, my fingers softly undoing her robe, watching with rapt fascination as it falls open, giving me a glimpse of Addison in nothing but a white lace bra and panties.

Fucking hell, I knew she would be beautiful this way, but right now, my eyes can’t see anything but her. A meteor could fall from the sky and my eyes would still be focused on the woman standing in front of me.

“You could be wearing a garbage bag and I would still only have eyes for you,” I whisper, my hands cradling her stomach. “I need you to remember something for me, okay?”

She nods, that sadness wavering.

“I need you to remember that you are growing a human inside of you right now.”

Her bottom lip trembles and I pull her flush against me, my chin nestling into her shoulder.

“As much as I find you sexy as fuck right now.”

Her eyes widen but I continue.

“You won’t look like this forever, okay?”

She nods, her shoulders relaxing as my lips travel up her neck once more, sucking, biting, and kissing every inch of her, but it’s not until her head lobs back against my chest and her hips circle under my touch that the temperature in the room changes.

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