“Oh my God,” Ella moaned, causing her stomach to shudder. “That is so sexy. Did his voice go all deep and growly?” Fanning herself, she said, “I love it when Declan gets all dominant with me. I try to act like I don’t, but I melt when he orders me around.”
They all stopped to stare at the visibly flushed Ella. Looking intrigued, Suzy asked, “Did you just have an orgasm or something? Because it looked that way to me. Just sayin’ . . .”
Ella flushed an even brighter shade of red before brushing her hand over her face. “Maybe a little one.” Looking mortified, she added, “When I went for my checkup this week, the doctor told me to abstain from sex right now because of the Braxton Hicks contractions I’ve been having.”
Ava looked at her brother’s wife in concern. “Are you okay? Are they worried about the baby?”
Ella shook her head, not appearing worried, which helped Ava to relax slightly. “No, they say it’s common. But . . .”
Beth put an arm around Ella, before finishing her friend’s sentence. “You’re so horny you’re about to explode, huh?” Next to them, Claire nodded in understanding. Apparently, along with pregnancy came a huge rush in horniness. Ava would have thought it would be just the opposite, but maybe it was better than eating a jar of pickles every night.
Always the blunt one, Suzy deadpanned, “Well, that sucks. I mean, like, you can’t do anything or just the main event?”
“I’m really not sure,” Ella admitted. “I was too embarrassed to ask for specifics. It doesn’t matter anyway. With the doctor saying that, Declan would cut off his hands before he would touch me down there now. He’s terrified that something will happen. He won’t even let me . . . help him out. I put my hand on his . . . you know last night and he jumped out of bed like I’d just violated him or something. Apparently, he thinks that if I help him come, the baby will explode out of my vagina at the same time.”
Everyone started laughing at Ella’s description. Only Ava shifted around uncomfortably. Hearing Ella talking about sex with Declan was a little disturbing. She liked to pretend that both Brant and Declan lived with their wives without actually doing anything sexual. It was right up there with talking about sex and your parents. Of course, Emma was constantly referring to how freaky Brant was in bed. Ava was certain that one day her eardrums would start to bleed and might never stop.
Desperately needing a change of subject, she was relieved when Ella turned to Suzy and asked, “How did the home study go last night?” Ava knew from Emma that Suzy and her husband, Gray, had suffered multiple miscarriages and were now in the process of adopting a child. She remembered everyone wishing Suzy good luck when they’d had lunch together yesterday.
Suzy groaned before putting her hands around her neck as if she were choking herself. “I think it went okay in the end, but it was a long evening.” Looking across the room at Gray, she said, “I love that man, I really do, but I wanted to tape his mouth shut last night.”
“Oh no,” Claire whispered, “not the jokes again.”
“Oh yeah. Like we hadn’t discussed that very thing an hour before.”
“Like dirty jokes?” Ava asked, seeming to be the only one not privy to what Suzy was talking about.
Suzy shook her head, saying, “No, not really. The thing about Gray is that when he gets nervous, he tends to start cracking stupid jokes. Apparently, it runs in the family, because his mother says Gray’s father does the same thing. I mean, we’re sitting at the table answering all these serious questions about our views on child-rearing and I swear out of nowhere, he looks at the woman and says, ‘Knock, knock!’ We both just stared at him until the woman put her pen down and asked, ‘Who’s there?’ Then he says, ‘Little Old Lady.’ And then she of course stares him down some more before saying, ‘Little Old Lady who?’ And he says, ‘Wow! I didn’t know you could yodel!’” By this time, everyone was laughing, even Suzy. She gasped out, “I thought I would die, right there on the spot. The woman just looked at Gray like he had two heads, before picking her pen back up and acting like the whole thing never happened.”
“Suz,” Claire said, giggling, “that’s completely adorable. He was probably just trying to loosen everyone up. Although it’s hard to picture Gray doing that, because he’s always so suave.”
Ava, feeling an inexplicable need to defend the man she barely knew, spoke up. “Everyone handles stress in different ways. It sounds like he tries to inject some humor into uncomfortable situations. The jokes probably pop out before he even realizes what he’s doing.”
Smiling at her husband, who was now looking at Suzy with so much love in his warm gaze that Ava was envious, Suzy said softly, “I know. He’s a little unpredictable, but he’s mine.”