Maybe Baby (40 page)

I held it to my face, “Umm, just right,” I said, breathing in his scent and smiling. “And you
don’t
stink by the way. You have a very
sensual
scent.” I turned presenting my back to him so that he could unhook my bra. He slid his hands around me, cupping my breasts and massaging them with his fingers.

He pressed up to me and I could feel his erection on my backside. I was on my knees on the bed, he stood next to it. I turned to face him, letting my hand drop down to his crotch, feeling his bulge. He pulled me into a kiss, our lips and tongues in sync. I moaned against him. He pulled away.

“Baby, come on. You need your rest. My parents are probably right outside the door listening to make sure I keep my promise.”

I stopped, horrified to think that Trey was serious. He laughed, putting his shirt around me and buttoning it, leaving the top three buttons undone. He pulled the bed covers down, ordering me under them. I obeyed this time, watching as he carefully tucked the covers around me like a papoose. He would make sure there would be no touching tonight.

I lay there thinking about the next day. I still planned on going shopping with Gina and was hopeful that Trey wouldn’t nix those plans. I'd forgotten to mention it to him in all of the confusion of the day. That shower seemed to be taking a particularly long time. I smiled, wondering if he was purposely dragging it out hoping that I'd fall asleep.

Trey had told me he loved me today. It was as if he'd been trying not to. I understood his apprehension after he shared with me his history with Tess. I was sure Landon had already let her know that Trey was to be a father…again.

Part of me could understand Trey wanting to protect Tess’s pride. He'd allowed himself to play the villain in all of this. But I couldn’t comprehend why he hadn’t told his parents the truth. They seemed like reasonable people who would honor his request not to share the information with Tess’s family.

My eyes were getting heavy. I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I nodded off. I could hear the shower still running. I smiled knowing that Trey cared about me and was doing this for me. I allowed sleep to finally take over.

Chapter 40

I awoke the next morning very rested. Trey was lying awake watching me sleep, his head propped up on his hand. “Good morning, sweetheart,” he said, “I have a surprise. I want
you
to come with me.”

He was off the bed, heading for the bathroom before I'd thrown the covers off. I followed. When I went through the door, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Trey had filled his sunken tub with a foamy, vanilla-scented bubble bath. Lit candles circled the tub. He'd cued up soft music. There were two crystal goblets filled with orange juice. A large crystal bowl full of ice had smaller bowls resting in it containing sliced cantaloupe and honeydew melons, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and pineapple chunks. A pile of fluffy white towels lay folded nearby, along with all of the necessary body wash, shampoo and conditioner containers. Bath sponges were ready and waiting. I turned to him, my eyes wide.

Without a word, he slipped out of his clothes and gestured that I do the same. He extended his hand to me, helping me down into the bath. Trey didn’t let me lift a finger as he gently bathed me, touching every intimate part of my body, massaging soap into my shoulders, legs, and feet. He shampooed my hair then lathered it with conditioner. We sipped our orange juice and he fed me fruit slices. He rinsed the conditioner out of my hair and sponged soap from my back. He leaned forward, kissing my neck and shoulders. I turned to face him, wrapping my legs over his. With lathered hands, I washed his member gently; it sprang erect at my touch.

I looked up at him, our eyes locking, wondering if he was going to object to more play. He lifted me up, setting me on the side of the sunken bath and wrapped one of the fluffy white towels around me. He got out, wrapping a towel around his hips before continuing with me. He towel dried my skin gently and took my hand, dropping his towel and led me to the bed. He didn’t let me sit or recline.

“Stand right there,” he instructed, pulling me close. He tilted my chin, lowering his mouth to mine for a long, lingering kiss. His fingers found the top of my towel, releasing it so that it fell to my feet. We faced each other naked.

Trey’s eyes moved hungrily over my still damp body, taking in every curve. He reached out, moving a wet tendril from my breast, fingering it between his thumb and forefinger.

"Love me, Tylar," he whispered.

And I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he carried me to our bed where I loved Trey with everything I had, bringing him within me, and savoring the fullness of our love.

Afterwards, as we still lay together intertwined, I glanced at the clock. "Oh shoot, Gina's gonna be here any minute. We're going shopping."

"Why is this the first I heard of it?" Trey grumbled.

"Oh come on. I can’t shop for you when you’re with me,” I pointed out. He did look genuinely disappointed. “Listen, I can be back whenever you say. Did you have plans for us today?”

“I thought we’d watch some football then go to dinner at Morelli’s.”

“Why don’t you and your dad watch football? We can still go to dinner at Morelli’s. I’ll be back way before then.”

He nodded, “Promise me that you won’t let Gina talk you into another piercing or maybe a tattoo this time?”

“I promise,” I replied, saluting him.

“And don’t forget it,” he warned.

I dressed in jeans, a dark brown sweater, and my side-zippered boots. Trey emerged from his closet, looking impeccable as usual. He wore jeans and a dark emerald green pullover sweater.

“You look very handsome,” I said, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him. He seemed a little pouty still. He put his arms around me, one of his hands gently tugging at my ponytail.

“You know I can’t resist you when you bounce around in a ponytail like that,” he teased.

Smiling flirtatiously, I traced his chin with my index finger. “Maybe I don’t want you to resist me.”

“That reminds me,” he interrupted, releasing his hold, “don’t forget to call your doctor to let her know about fainting yesterday, okay?"

“I'll call her,” I groaned, taking my phone from the nightstand.

I spoke with my doctor’s nurse, explaining about my fainting spell. I answered several of her questions. She promised to get with the doctor and call back.

Gina picked me up at eleven and we headed to the Bristol Mall. It was packed with Black Friday shoppers. I couldn’t pass up a gorgeous pair of silver cuff links for Trey. They were in the shape of sexy, pouty lips. In a music store I bought a CD to replace the Debussy disc that Gina had tossed from his car. Gina rolled her eyes when she saw my selection. I also bought Trey the new One Republic CD to complete his collection. I was glad we at least had a band in common that we liked. Gina bought nearly two hundred dollars worth of CDs just for Ian.

Our next stop was Belk. I wanted to buy a tie for Trey. This prompted more eye-rolling from Gina. I spent twenty minutes, finally selecting the perfect silk tie for him in a rich sapphire blue.

“Doesn’t this match the color of his eyes perfectly?” I held the tie up for Gina to inspect.

“Yes
Tylar,
” she replied, clearly bored with this department. “Let’s do some shopping for you after this, okay?”

Gina directed me to a small lingerie shop at the corner of the mall. It was called “The Sextique Shop.” The shop’s décor was all deep red, purple, and black. The lingerie displayed on the mannequins was borderline vulgar. I was a bit surprised that this sort of underwear appealed to her. She breezed through the store, not stopping to look for anything in particular. At the back of the store, there was an alcove off to the left, separated by a curtain of colored beads. Gina held the beads aside for me to enter.

Holy crow!

There were shelves full of adult toys and gadgets, lotions and potions. I turned to face her, my eyes wide. “What are we doing in here?” I exclaimed.

“We’re shopping for you, girlfriend, well actually, we’re shopping for your hormones,” she clarified, laughing.

“I’m not buying any of this stuff. I’d be too embarrassed, and I wouldn’t know how to use it.”

“They’re fairly self-explanatory,” she replied, undeterred. “Besides, I’m buying. These are my early Christmas gifts to you. Don’t worry, I’ll be tasteful. If you’re uncomfortable in here, go look at some undies,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.

I went back out to the lingerie portion of the store allowing Gina to shop in private. I browsed through racks of edible underwear and panties with built-in vibrators.

Gina came out about twenty minutes later and handed me the gift bag, instructing me not to open until I was home and alone. I noticed that she held another gift bag from the store as well.

“Who’s that for?” I asked, nodding toward the bag.

“A present for Ian,” she said nonchalantly.

“Ian? I didn’t see stuff for guys in there.”

“Ian and I like playing with toys
together
,” she said as if I should have known this about them. She'd provided a lot of details on their sex life; perhaps I hadn’t paid close enough attention. I considered the possibilities momentarily. I looked over at her when I heard her giggle. She was watching me figure it all out.

“You really were a virgin, weren’t you?”

“Shut up,” I snapped, giggling.

Breaking for lunch, I filled Gina in on some of the details regarding the situation with Charlie, my mom, and of course, Trey. I shared with her that he'd told me that he loved me yesterday.

“You mean you didn’t know that until then?”

“Well, I sort of suspected, or maybe hoped…”

She smiled, knowingly.

Gina and I left the mall so that I could make it to the manor by four. Trey had texted me twice while we were out.

“Jesus Christ, he’s high maintenance,” Gina rolled her eyes.

“But so worth it,” I cooed, smacking my lips.

“Eww, you so want to fuck him again, don’t you?”

“It’s been a few hours.”

“Well,” she said, “I’m no weatherman, but I predict you’ll be getting several inches tonight.” We were both still laughing as Gina pulled up the circular driveway in front of the manor.

“There’s your perfect storm now,” she commented, nodding toward the porch. She popped the trunk and I gave her a hug goodbye, telling her to call me next week. Trey helped me with my shopping bags. I made sure the one from the sex boutique was hidden at the bottom of a larger bag. Trey closed the trunk, waving to Gina as she pulled out. I was going to miss her.

“It looks like you did well at the mall,” Trey noticed.

“You're to stay out of these bags, though. No snooping!”

“Please don’t spend your money on me, Tylar,” he frowned.

“Why?”

“You have limited resources. I can afford anything I need.”

“That’s really not the point of Christmas, Trey.”

We entered the foyer. Trey helped me out of my coat, handing it to a waiting Thatcher. I grabbed my two shopping bags from Trey and rushed upstairs to his suite. He could suck the air out of my happy balloon in a nanosecond. I tossed the shopping bags and my purse on his bed, hurrying into the bathroom to pee.

He was sprawled out on his bed when I came out of the bathroom, hands clasped behind his head. His legs were crossed, shoes were off, and he was wiggling his toes inside his socks. It was a relaxation thing for him, I thought; I’d seen him do it before. Right now it was simply irritatingly sexy to me. My lustful thoughts were interrupted when my phone rang.

“It’s the doctor’s office,” I said. Trey sat up immediately.

Dr. Hamilton was on the line and asked a few questions about how I was feeling, what I'd been doing just before the fainting spell, and if I was eating and sleeping normally. She suspected that a sudden drop in my glucose level might've caused me to faint. At this stage of my pregnancy my hormone levels were fluctuating constantly along with increased testosterone production. She said that she'd reviewed my blood and urine test results and nothing looked out of range.

“Thanks Dr. Hamilton,” I said, feeling relieved..

“Everything's fine," I told Trey, getting up from where I'd been sitting on the bed while talking to her. I was feeling grumpy over Trey's comments about Christmas. It would be our first one together. I wanted it to be special for the both of us.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, furrowing a brow.

“I want to know why you said that about me spending money on you for Christmas. That really hurt my feelings.”

“Hey,” he said, walking over to me, “I love that you want to buy me things. You’ve made it very clear, though, that I can’t reciprocate. You hurt me when you traded in your Mercedes without even discussing it with me. Did you ever consider that?”

I truly hadn’t considered discussing it with Trey. It was my gift, I thought, to do with as I pleased. Was that wrong?

“I understand the practicality of trading in the Mercedes. But, had you come to me, I'd have helped make sure you wouldn’t take such a loss on the deal. I get it that you want to make practical decisions. I support that. You haven’t given me a chance, though. I can afford to give you the things I give you. But you won’t let me buy you things, so I have to be concerned with your spending your money on me. That’s all I meant.”

I launched myself into his arms. “I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t look at it from your point of view.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

“So,” he said, “where were you going just now?”

“To get dressed for dinner. We’re still going to Morelli’s?”

“Yes, we are,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “We have some time though. I was thinking that we could shower together?”

“Sure,” I giggled, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 41

Savory Italian flavors enveloped us as we entered Morelli’s. Carmelita greeted us with a shriek, holding her meaty arms out, capturing Trey in a bear hug, and winking at me slyly over his shoulder.