Friends and Lovers (24 page)

“Oh, I don’t know,” she demurred.

“I will,” Wes broke in, taking the heat off of her.

“
You
will?” said Lauren in surprise.

Everyone stared at him.

“Sure, why not?”

“Okay.” Ken stood and carefully transferred the sleeping newborn to his uncle.

Wes looked surprisingly comfortable with the baby in his arms. He smiled down on Robin and said to no one in particular, “Did I ever tell you I delivered a baby once?”

There was a collective, “No.”

“When was this?” his mother asked.

“A few years ago, back in Washington. I was the first to answer the emergency call. The baby was already crowning when the five year old let me in. I found her mom on the bathroom floor, dropped to my knees, and caught the baby just as she slid out. It happened so fast. Just amazing.”

“Don’t tell Sherry how easy that delivery went,” Ken advised. “She’ll be pissed.”

“No problem.” Wes chuckled and stroked Robin’s hair with a finger. He leaned down and told the infant in a confidential whisper, “She was bald. I’m talking
bald
.”

He looked up and found Lauren smiling at him. Wes smiled back and raised his eyebrows. “You ready to hold him?”

“What if I drop him?”

“Sit in the chair,” said Ken. “Trust me, it helps.”

Lauren sank onto the rocker and held out her hands uneasily, and Wes passed the baby into her arms.

He stepped back and smiled down on them both.

Just like that, Lauren’s heart melted and she found her confidence. She stroked Robin’s cheek with the back of her finger and marveled at the softness of his skin. His eyes were moving from side to side as he dreamed. What could a baby this new even dream about? He was two hours old!

Then she noticed his killer lashes. Those lashes were going to draw the women someday. Smiling at that knowledge, Lauren dipped her head and inhaled Robin’s fresh baby scent while it lasted. When she looked up again, Wes was watching her, a tender smile on his face.

“Hey Mom, where’s your camera?” he asked, not breaking eye contact. Lauren felt her cheeks flush with heat.

Their visit didn’t last more than twenty minutes. Ken looked beat and Sherry was still asleep. It was time to give the new family their privacy.

Wes and Lauren got in the elevator with the Dunlops. That’s when Wes’s dad proposed that they should all go out for a piece of pie to celebrate. Wes and Lauren looked at each other, both wishing they could bow out, but a refusal was out of the question. The old man wouldn’t understand their need for a quiet night at home to unwind after the day they’d had. No, he needed to wax poetically over the changes in his family.

Resigned to a longer night than anticipated, Lauren returned Wes’s squeeze of her hand and stifled a groan. She could read resignation in his eyes as the elevator dropped along with their hearts. Romance wasn’t going to be a priority when they eventually fell into bed tonight. Bummer.

* * * *

It felt strange waking up at eight-thirty on a Friday morning, but since neither of them had to go to work there was no reason to set the alarm.

Wes woke gradually and with a lazy smile slid up and over Lauren to nuzzle her neck. She hummed drowsily and wrapped her arms around him, holding him there as he pressed kisses to her shoulder and scuffed her skin pink with his unshaved chin.

He eased back and kissed his way down Lauren’s chest, nursing from her empty breasts while imagining them full and heavy in his hands. Then Wes continued on, tonguing her navel along the way before settling between her legs. Easing her ankles back he dipped his chin and took a luxuriant lick. Lauren squirmed against his teeth, and he planted his hand over her stomach and held her still. Wes ventured forth again and her sex enveloped his probing tongue, anointing it with morning dew. He drew it in and swallowed then returned for another sip. Lauren’s fingers contracted and released in his hair as he satisfied the only hunger worth answering.

Kissing the inside of Lauren’s thigh, Wes looked up at her with heavy-lidded eyes and asked huskily, “You don’t have anything planned today, do you?”

“I’m all yours.”

“That’s exactly what I hoped you’d say.”

Her brows pinched together in question, but before she could ask what he had in mind Wes distracted her with his mouth again. He used his nose to nuzzle her clit as he bored deeply with his tongue, leaving her gasping in no time and fighting hard to hold back her climax.

“Wes,” she begged, “I want
you
!” She pulled at him. “Please, I need you.”

Her urgent declaration made him feel even more secure about his plans for later.

Crawling up over Lauren, Wes claimed her mouth, sharing her intimate taste between them. He could feel her rigid nipples poking into his chest and his naked cock, as hard as tempered steel, left wet swirls on her inner thigh as it sought access to her body.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked, arching her hips in offering, but Wes held back.

He was tempted, desperately tempted. There was nothing he wanted more than to bury himself deep inside her like this. He wanted to experience that friction, bare skin to bare skin, with nothing between them to spoil the natural sensation, but he wouldn’t do that to her without her consent. He had to be sure she was thinking with a clear head. Lauren had a choice to make, accept the risk or play it safe. Personally, he wasn’t put off by the potential consequences of unprotected sex, but Lauren might be.

He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes, his words adding to the gravity of the moment. “It’s just me this time. Nothing between us. Are you sure you want me this way? Are you willing to risk it?”

“Are you?”

He shook his head. “I can’t make that decision for you, and I don’t want my answer to influence you either way.”

She smiled. “You are.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. You would have grabbed a condom if you wanted it. You always do.”

He looked at her expectantly, not confirming or denying what she said.

* * * *

Well, what would her answer be? Her body said
take him now, as is, and don’t look back.
Her head said
are you really ready to play Russian roulette with parenthood
? But her heart said
you love him. No matter what happens, he’ll be there for you.

With love and gratitude filling her heart beyond capacity, Lauren pulled Wes down and kissed him deeply, her legs drawing him against her. He penetrated her, tongue and cock simultaneously, and they both nearly swooned at the naked intimacy they hadn’t experienced together yet.

There was no hurry this time, only tender caresses and long heady thrusts that went on like the cosmos.

Lauren had experienced so many things in Wes’s arms—excitement, comfort, lust, wonder, urgent passion, security, and exquisite release—but only now did she understand how much he truly cherished her. Her body was his temple and he worshipped on his knees, giving everything he had to her.

“I love you so much, Wes,” she whispered then gasped softly as his thrust nudged her forward.

“God, I love you, Lauren.”

Wes kissed her on the forehead, his flickering smile fading against the intensity in his eyes. They were so focused on hers she couldn’t look away. They owned her now.

In one sudden movement he pulled Lauren away from the headboard so he could tip her back without cracking his skull. Then catching her behind the knees he rolled her pelvis up as he surged over her. With one drive he claimed her g-spot and sent shockwaves rippling through her. Wes hit it again and again, relentlessly, and Lauren shook from the impossible pressure swelling inside of her. It spread everywhere, finally spilling out across her skin, giving her a heated flush. Lauren would have turned her face away from the scalding temperatures if she could, but
she
was the actual volcano about to erupt. The powerful pressure reached critical mass, simply too big to be contained.

“Wes,” she gasped, about to burst apart in his arms.

He gave her one last solid punch with his hips then held on as she roared, her body seizing violently beneath him.

“Oh God,” he groaned and shuddered and convulsed on top of her.

Utterly deflated, they collapsed together and fought for air. They were silent, shocked, and maybe just a little terrified of what they’d just unleashed between them.

Reaching for each other, they lay quietly, recovering. After several contemplative minutes Wes gave Lauren a tender squeeze.

“I’m going to jump in the shower. You want to join me?” he asked.

“I need another minute or two.”

“No problem.” He gave her a swift kiss then left for the bathroom.

She watched him go with a wistful sigh. That man had one incredible body. Lauren turned to stare at the ceiling for a moment before slowly tipping her chin down. She looked speculatively at her flat stomach and put her hand on her belly, pressing on it. “Just cool it in there, okay?”

* * * *

Wes was making scrambled eggs when Lauren padded out wearing her soft pink robe. Her hair was still wet. The coffee was already made so she went to work buttering the toast when it popped up.

Wes reached into a cabinet and pulled out another mug. Catching the pot by the handle he poured her a cup and topped off his own. He slid hers down the counter to her.

“Thanks. Why don’t I slice up an orange?”

“Go for it,” he said, turning off the heat under the eggs and tipping the pan over the plates waiting on the counter. He divided them equally and set the pan aside.

Bringing everything to the table they sat down to eat.

Wes looked up after taking a sip of coffee. “I like you in that robe.”

“It’s my favorite.”

“If you’re comfortable in it I’m glad you brought it over. I’d rather see you wearing something you like instead of some lacy, impractical thing you think I’d prefer.”

The robe was just another of the many indications she was at ease with him, here, in his home. And it was sexy, damn it. She never wore anything underneath it and he loved, absolutely loved, how it gapped open when she moved. It was incredibly titillating to get an unexpected flash of leg, breast, or nipple.

* * * *

After breakfast Wes offered to do the dishes so Lauren could get dressed to go out. He was tying his tennis shoes when she found him in the living room.

“All set?” he asked, looking up.

“How should I know? You won’t tell me where we’re going. Is this okay?” She threw out her arms for a vote on her simple outfit.

“You look perfect.” Wes stood and grabbed his keys then urged her out the front door with his hand on the small of her back.

Much to her annoyance, he said nothing in the car. When he ignored her questions, she turned on the radio and sat back, her arms crossed in front of her, out of patience and exasperated by his secrecy. Finally, fifteen minutes later, he flipped on his turn signal and pulled into an exit lane.

“We’re going to the
mall
? That’s what this was all about?” Lauren stared in disbelief at the sprawling complex through her window as Wes searched for a parking space.

“Well, we haven’t been back since we bought the rocker for Sherry so I figured why not? Maybe you’ll find something you like in there.”

Still not entirely trusting his motives, Lauren was quiet on the way in but once the stores distracted her, she forgot her reservations and got into the spirit of shopping.

They strolled casually past one store after another. If Lauren showed an interest in something in a window Wes would stop and wait, but he didn’t seem very open to actually venturing into any of the stores. Turning away from yet another shop with a sigh, Lauren caught Wes looking down the wide corridor and checking his watch.

“Are you late for something?” she asked suspiciously.

“Not yet.”

“What’s going on?”

“Come on.”

Wes threw his arm around her shoulders and hustled her along. Her wariness returned but it turned into blatant alarm when she saw the glittering displays cut into the walls up ahead. When he herded her toward the wide doorway of the jewelry store she felt her heart drop into her stomach.

“Wes…what are you doing?”

Chapter 24

“Relax,” Wes said calmly, easing her inside.

Oh God, what had she done to him? Lauren felt awful. She should have expected Wes to feel this compulsion to do the honorable thing, but it was only once—they had unprotected sex
once
! It wasn’t like she was carrying his baby already. Crap, the last thing she wanted was a guilty mop up afterward. She was thirty-one. It hardly seemed likely he’d knock her up the first time out of the gate. She couldn’t let him do this.

A woman walked over and warmed to Wes right away. “Can I help you find something?” she asked him with a friendly smile.

“Sam Streeter is expecting us,” Wes told her.

The woman looked Wes up and down slowly and nodded. Lauren’s eyes burned into the clerk like lasers.

That got the woman’s attention. “I’ll get him for you.” She went behind the counter and through the swinging door.

Okay, Lauren was back to feeling a little foolish again. What was her problem? Wes obviously knew this person. She needed to take his advice and relax.

A minute later a middle-aged man came through the swinging door and smiled at Wes. They pumped hands like old friends.

“You’re right on time,” said Streeter. Then he turned a warm smile on her. “You must be Lauren.”

“Yes,” she admitted with surprise.

Wes gave her an affectionate squeeze and smiled at Streeter.

“Well, you’ve got yourself a good man here, Lauren. When we were robbed a few months back it was Wes and his partner Chuck who came through for me.”

“I didn’t know that,” Lauren said.

“We were just doing our jobs,” said Wes.

“He’s being modest,” Streeter said. “Those punks had already hit a few of the stores here in the mall. We were the third. Wes and his partner recovered nearly everything we lost before it was fenced. I couldn’t believe it. I told them, you come see me if you’re ever looking for something nice. I’ll take care of you.”