Soldier's Women (10 page)

Nigel, who’d been thoroughly enjoying his post-coital bliss, suddenly became
pissed off. They’d only just finished having sex and she was already asking him
to leave. Had it meant nothing to her? Obviously she felt it meant nothing to
him, judging by her attitude. Thoroughly frustrated, he didn’t know what he was
going to have to do to convince her that they should be together. If nothing
else, she should want to be together because the sex was so mind blowing. But
then worry began to set in. Perhaps it wasn’t as good for her as it was for him?
That couldn’t be right. He knew she’d enjoyed it just as much as he had. If she
hadn’t, she wouldn’t make all of those noises that drove him crazy.

Instead of arguing with her, he got up and threw on his clothes and left.

Sera breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Nigel lock and then shut her
front door. This was how it had to be. She couldn’t let herself get attached. It
would all work out better this way. She’d already made the mistake of having sex
with him, over and over again. She couldn’t let herself become more vulnerable,
she couldn’t let him tear down all the defenses she’d worked so hard erect. She
was going to have to stay strong, independent, and stick to her original
plan.

The next day, pissed off, Nigel decided to head over to his mother’s house
for breakfast and a sulk.

Irene was practically singing when she answered the door.

“Oh, honey, it’s you. Did you come to talk about anything that happened last
night?”

Nigel was not happy to see that his mother was in a such fine mood. He knew
what was going on in her head. She thought that he’d spent the past few nights
with Sera because he’d headed out after her when he’d overheard that she was at
Fantasia and he hadn’t been back since. Although they had wound up sleeping
together, he had decided to let her cool off for a few days before he went to
see her again.

Irene tried to probe for information.

“How’s Sera?”

Nigel sat down at his mother’s breakfast nook and started digging in to the
plate of eggs and bacon she handed him.

“I wish I knew. I haven’t talked to her in a few days.”

Irene tried not to give away any emotion on her face.

“Does that mean you didn’t go to Fantasia looking for her?”

“Oh, I went
alright, and I dragged her out of that damn club.” He thought about the man
who’d accosted them in the parking lot. He decided not to tell her about that.
It would only upset her. Nothing had happened. Neither one of them had gotten
hurt. There was no need to tell her. “I drove her home and then I went back to
my place.”

He could see that she wanted to know more details. At the moment, he didn’t
really feel up to going over everything that happened. He was still trying to
figure out where he’d gone wrong himself.

He changed the subject. “What’s with the big brown box on your front
steps?”

“Sera made went through several online stores and made a list of things she
wanted to get for her babies. When I found her registry online, I ordered the
crib she wanted.” She paused, an idea suddenly formulating. “You know, I’ve got
a lot of things to do around town today, so I’m going to be kinda busy. I don’t
suppose you can be a dear and drop it by her house, could you? It would be
really nice if you went over dropped it off and put it together. I’ll be that
would really make her happy.”

Nigel looked at his mother in disbelief. He was
beginning to think he wasn’t capable of making Sera happy.

“Trust me. She’s in her nesting mode. She wants to get things ready for when
the babies get here. She might not even realize that she’s stressing about it.
I’m telling you, it will make her happy.”

He decided his mother had a good idea. Bringing over the crib would be a good
excuse to show up at her door and putting it together would be a surefire way of
being let in the house. He could also take food as a bribe.

He finished up what was left on his plate.

“Thank you for brunch. You really didn’t have to.”

“I know, honey.”

“It was really good.”

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“I guess I’m going to take that crib over to Sera’s.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later.”

Nigel put his dish in the sink and kissed his mother on the forehead before
going out the front door. He stooped down and picked up the crib and hauled it
to the garage. After he got it in the car, he got in and headed to the nearest
pizza joint, which was right around the block. It wasn’t long before he had his
order and was back on his way to Sera’s.

Sera was surprised when she heard a knock at her door. She stopped typing and
saved her work before getting up from her computer desk. She pushed her chair
back and got up. There was another knock at the door.

“Coming. Just a minute,” she called as she made her way out of her home
office, located in her living room, and to her front door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Nigel.”

She really shouldn’t have been surprised. Although she had told him to leave
right after they’d had sex the last time, she hadn’t expected him to leave her
alone for days. Was it just pregnancy that was making her so crazy or was it
him? She debated on whether or not to let him in.

“I have something for you.”

“What is it?” she asked through the door.

“I’m not going to tell you unless you let me in.”

She grimaced at his blackmail but finally relented and opened the door to let
him in. Nigel was standing with a big box by the steps and a pizza box in his
hands.

“Hungry?”

Sera’s stomach growled. She always got so involved in her work she forgot to
fee herself.

“What kind is it?”

“I didn’t know what you liked so I got a cheese.”

She grabbed the pizza he offered and carried it inside to the bar that
separated her kitchen from her living room, sitting down to dig in while he
brought the box in.

She was glad he’d brought food. She was a terrible cook.

Nigel didn’t say anything as he brought the box in and laid it down in the
middle of Sera’s living room. He went back outside to his rental car and came in
again with tools.

Seeing that the box that Nigel had brought in had a crib that needed
assembling, Sera decided to get closer for a better look. She grabbed the pizza
box, which she’d been eating out of, and walked with it over to her coffee table
and settled down on her couch to watch him work.

He opened the box and pulled everything out. As soon as he had everything out
of the box, he started sorting the parts.

Sera grabbed the directions he had tossed to one side when he opened the box
and started reading the assembly instructions out loud.

“Please be sure to read all instructions first. Begin by finding part A.”

Nigel was a little irritated. He didn’t need instructions to put a crib
together. It wasn’t rocket science. But instead of complaining, he decided to
placate her by not saying anything.

After putting a few pieces together, he began to feel increasingly hot.

“What’s your air set on? It’s a little hot in here.”

“Listen, Nigel. I’m pregnant. I go from hot to cold and back constantly.
Right now, I’m cold, and this is my house. If I want it as hot as Hades, then
I’ll make it that way. I didn’t ask you to come over.” She paused and decided
that she had sounded a little too harsh and ungracious. How often did men put
things together without being asked? “I’m sorry for sounding so grouchy. I’m not
the most amiable pregnant woman. And, I didn’t say it, but thank you for
bringing the crib over and putting it together. It would probably have taken me
forever. I’m challenged when it comes to that sort of thing.”

“My mother bought it. I just thought I’d help by putting it together.” He
looked at her belly. “It’s the least I could do.”

He studied her for a moment more and then stripped out of his shirt.

Although they’d had sex, she hadn’t actually gotten the chance to really
admire him without his clothes. She forgot about reading the instructions and
eating the pizza he’d brought and stared at his gorgeous rippling abs. As he
turned this way and that, she studied the muscles of his body that were
straining with the effort to construct the crib. Before long, she was getting
hotter and hotter.

He realized when he didn’t hear her reading the instructions anymore that she
was staring. His cock suddenly came to attention.

She noticed him noticing her, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with his
scrutiny, she focused on the crib again.

“You know, I believe you’re putting that together wrong.”

“What?”

He looked down at the crib and examined it carefully. He didn’t see anything
wrong. Then he looked at the box he’d propped beside him on the wall and saw the
picture of the completed crib on the front of it.

“Dammit!” He’d already spent at least thirty minutes putting it together. Now
he was going to have to take most of it back apart. Too irritated to admit she
was right, he came back on the defensive. “Well, if you hadn’t been staring a
hole in me I might have been able to focus better on what I was doing.”

“I wasn’t staring a hole in you. I was watching the crib come
together.”

“Oh, I know what you were imagining coming together.”

Sera looked at Nigel in stunned open-mouthed disbelief. Of all the nerve! He
acted as if the only thing she had on her mind was sex!

“I wasn’t thinking about any such thing. If I had been so focused on your
damn penis I wouldn’t have noticed how you are fucking up the crib.”

“Since you know what I did wrong, why don’t you come over here and show
me.”

Sera hopped up to show him exactly what she was talking about, but when she
did, she got a cramp that ran all the way down the back of one leg.

“Ahh!” she yelped in agony, grabbing the back of her leg as she flopped back
on the couch. She immediately started trying to muscle the knotted muscle until
it relaxed.

“What’s wrong?” Nigel asked, unsure of what had happened.

“My leg. I’m having a muscle cramp.”

Nigel went over to massage it for her, pushing her hands away. He massaged
her leg until the pain was gone.

By that time both of them were really turned on. He lifted her foot and
sucked her toes experimentally.

She giggled at first, but as he continued, she realized it was really
sensual, and then the next thing she knew he was on top of her.

He wedged a leg between her thighs, nudging her knees apart as he stripped
her and himself of clothes. He parted the lips of her sex with the tip of his
cock and began rubbing against her clit, making the muscles in her belly clench
in a spasm of pleasure.

She felt a moan straining against her chest, felt sleep drifting beyond her
grasp. She lay perfectly still, enjoying the pleasure that seeped through her
lethargy, making her heart beat faster, the blood rush through her veins, as
warmth and pleasure.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Nigel was kneeling beside the couch.

Still groggy to a state of near drunkenness, she pushed herself up on the
couch, turning to face him. Still uncertain whether she was dreaming or awake,
she watched him through half closed eyes as he caught her ankles. Spreading them
wide, he bent her knees and hooked her heels on the edge of the couch.

She blinked at him, still dazed with sleep and desire. When she looked at him
again, she saw that he was staring at her genitals.

He lifted a hand, brushed the curls of her bush, ran a shaking finger gently
over the parted petals of flesh.

She inhaled on a gasp as he rubbed his finger lightly over her clit and he
looked up at her, his face taut, his eyes glittering.

Scooping a butt cheek into each hand, he lifted her hips, lowered his head
and opened his mouth over her.

The heat went through her like a shock wave. She cried out, no longer caught
between dream and reality, no longer simmering on the edge of desire, but on
fire from it. She caught his head with both hands, trying to push him away, but
felt desire lance every ounce of strength from her muscles as he sucked her
clit.

“Oh God!” she gasped shakily.

“You want me to stop?” he asked hoarsely.

She nodded, swallowed. “Yes.”

He lowered his head again, ran his tongue along her cleft and teased her
clit.

“Are you sure about that?” he murmured.

“NO! I mean, yes!” she stammered.

He leaned down and sucked her clit again for several moments, sending sharp
arrows of pleasure knifing through her.

She felt her belly spasm, felt her body escalating toward release.

He lifted his head and sat back on his heels.

Panting, almost sobbing for breath, she stared at him in confusion.

“I wanted to taste you.”

At his words, a shock wave of pleasure went through her. The muscles in the
walls of her sex clenched, aching for the feel of him. He was waiting, she
finally realized, allowing her to decide—forcing her to. It was unfair. Her body
was humming for his touch, reeling from the caresses he’d already bestowed,
aching for the feel of him filling her. He’d taken unfair advantage, caught her
while she was sleeping and vulnerable.

She could almost hate him for that ... but she wanted him.

She was going to have a hard time living with herself if she gave in to his
underhanded ploy.

She was afraid she would deeply regret it if she didn’t.

She slipped off the couch, straddling his thighs. “You’re a sneaky asshole,
you know that?” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck and staring him
dead in the eyes.

He caught the back of her head. “No, I didn’t know that,” he growled in
response, opening his mouth over hers and kissing her with an almost angry,
savage intensity that boiled the blood in her veins.

Her head swam dizzily as he twisted, laying her back against the carpet and
following her down. She ran her hand down his bare chest, slipped her fingers
beneath the waistband of his jeans and cupped his sex.

He pulled away and his cock landed heavily in her palm.

She glanced down at it, a little alarmed.

He pushed her back onto the floor, kneading her breasts, tugging at her
nipples with his lips, sucking them.

Gasping, she reached blindly for his cock, stretching, trying to capture it
in her hand once more.

He shifted upward, pushing her thighs apart.

She caught hold of him at last, rubbing the head of his cock against her
clit, searching a little frantically for her opening.

Pushing her hand away, he aligned their bodies and thrust, his cock slipping
in the juices of their bodies.

She gasped, digging her fingers into his shoulders as she felt herself
slipping along the carpet.

He cursed, grasped her waist and thrust again.

She locked her legs around his waist, pushing in counter to his short thrusts
as he slipped slowly inside of her.

They lay panting for a moment when he had sunk his cock fully inside of her.
After a moment, he lifted his head. Sweat beaded his brow. His teeth were
clenched. “Baby, you’re so tight.”