"I'm pretty sure I'm marrying you because you knocked me up," I say.
Caulter chuckles low under his breath, before he brings his mouth down on mine, his way of reminding me exactly why I'm marrying him.
As if I'd ever forget.
His lips are the most familiar feeling in the world, yet a thrill rushes through me all the way from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, every time he touches me.
The way he touches me now is nothing like the way it was in the beginning. Back then, sneaking around with Caulter was itself an aphrodisiac. He was a bad boy, off-limits to a good girl like me, the relationship made even more forbidden when we found out our parents were getting married. Back then, there was a sense of urgency in every furtive coupling, each liaison made even more exciting because there was an expiration date on what was happening between us.
I was certain it was simply a summer fling – something dangerous and exciting and rebellious that would end when our parents got married.
But it wasn't.
It was more than that.
It did end at our parents' wedding, actually. For a little while. I didn't see Caulter for a year after that. I didn't think I'd ever see him again, in fact.
But then he came back.
And now, when he kisses me like this, his lips soft against mine, his touch the most comforting thing I know, it's somehow more exciting than before. His tongue seeks out mine with the kind of familiarity that comes from certain knowledge of exactly what I want. It's the kind of familiarity that develops over time with someone.
And it only makes me want to be with him even longer.
I hear a moan escape my lips as Caulter's hands slide over my arms and find the small of my back before he releases me. Heat pools between my thighs, every sensation heightened now because of the pregnancy.
I'd always heard that pregnancy increased sex drive, but I never believed it.
All of those rumors are definitely true.
"You're flushed," Caulter notes as he looks at me, a knowing smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"Hormones," I say. The pregnancy hormones are out of control. I thought the second trimester was crazy, but the third trimester is even more intense. I find myself wanting to rip Caulter's clothes off all the time, on edge almost immediately at the mere thought of him inside me.
Caulter has been very obliging, of course.
"I love these hormones of yours, you know," Caulter whispers, his breath warm against my ear. The heat from his mouth sends a shiver down my spine. When he trails his lips lower, touching the sensitive place below my ear before moving down my neck, the shiver turns into a very visible shudder.
"Why am I not surprised?" I ask.
Caulter laughs. "If I had known how hot this would be, I would have tried to knock you up a long time ago."
"Classy," I say, the word more of a murmur than anything coherent as he slides his hand over my chest, cupping my breast through the fabric of my shirt.
"What's that, Princess?" Caulter asks. He runs his thumb across my nipple. It comes to attention underneath my bra, the response immediate. "If you think that was classy, you're going to love your gift."
I inhale sharply through my teeth as he slides his finger underneath the top of my bra. "We said no gifts," I remind him. "The wedding…and the baby…"
"Yes?" he asks, looking at me as his finger continues to work its magic, stroking my nipple. He loves to tease me, knowing that my breasts are even more sensitive as the pregnancy goes on.
"We agreed…those were our gifts…" My breath is short, my words punctuated with little inhales as he continues to touch me. He smiles knowingly, aware of the fact that I'm wet for him, knowing that if he reached between my legs right now he'd find I'm ready.
"We needed a new piece of furniture in the bedroom anyway," he whispers, taking his hand away from what it was doing and threading his fingers through mine.
"Oh no," I groan. "What did you buy?"
"Come here," he says, leading me toward the bedroom, where he gestures toward a modern-looking cream-colored leather chair with bronze decorative studs that dot the length of the edge. "You got a…chair?"
Don't get me wrong – it's a pretty chair. With long, lean lines and modern curves, it's elegant-looking but…it's kind of an odd surprise gift.
Caulter just smiles, pulling me toward it. "It's not just any chair," he says.
"What, it has magical powers?"
He raises his eyebrows. "Maybe," he says. "Come here and I'll show you."
I laugh. "Show me what?"
Caulter reaches for my shirt, raising it over my head before I can object, then drops to his knees. He slides his palms over my stomach, pausing to tenderly caress my pregnant belly. He kisses my stomach, grinning as he looks up at me. "Have I told you today how sexy you are?"