The Rhythm of My Heart (31 page)

I don’t plan to make love to Gracie tonight. We haven’t talked about what happened and we haven’t even discussed the baby, but with her lying here on my bed, all relaxed and sensually inviting, I know it’s going to take everything in me not to.

Letting go of her foot, I move up the bed and lie beside her. We remain quiet while we lazily gaze at each other, our eyes moving over each other’s faces, memorizing every curve, every freckle, and every laugh line.

Slowly moving forward while still gazing into my eyes, Gracie closes the small distance between us and places her lips to mine. I move my hand to her neck, guiding her closer, and then I kiss her back. What starts out as a slow melding of lips and tongue, quickly becomes more as our need to be one again takes over.

Her taste and the softness of her lips are irresistible as I run my tongue along her lips, and then plunge it back into the depths of her sweet mouth. Gracie throws her left leg over my hip in an effort to pull my body closer.

“Cole, I need you,” she breathes. “Please, make love to me.”

While my cock is begging to do what Gracie’s asking, my brain is telling me to talk first; I don’t know what to do. “Don’t you think we should talk about everything first, baby,” I ask, wanting to know how she feels.

She shakes her head “No. We can talk tomorrow. Right now, I need you to make love to me. I need to know you’re really here.”

That’s all the confirmation I need to keep going, so I shift back and undo the belt of her wrap dress. With slow deliberate movements, I part the two pieces of material and allow them to fall away to the bed. The black lace bra she’s wearing barely contains her full, round breasts that have grown since I last had the pleasure of seeing them. I trail a finger from the curve at the top, down over the lace covering her pebbled nipple, and continue down to the burgeoning swell of her stomach.

Splaying my hand tenderly across her abdomen, I caress the place where our baby is growing inside her. Lowering myself down, I pepper soft, loving kisses on her stomach. “Daddy loves you, little one,” I softly whisper, and place one last kiss there before looking up to see Gracie’s eyes sparkling with tears and her face beaming with the most beautiful smile.

I continue moving down and hook my fingers in the sides of her panties, slowly gliding them down her legs and over her feet. Dropping them to the floor, I start working my way back up, kissing the length of her left leg. Gracie’s body trembles under my feather light touches and kisses. When I get back to her stomach, she reaches out and grabs my face. “I love that you’re being so gentle and thorough, but please, baby, I need you.”

Sitting back on my heels, I quickly rid myself of my jacket and shirt. I then shuffle around removing my pants and boxer briefs. The sight of Gracie staring at my throbbing cock while licking her lips has me ready to come right then and there.

I help Gracie up and completely remove her dress. I unclip her bra and toss it on the floor with the rest of our discarded clothes. Pregnancy has most certainly changed Gracie’s body, but in a way that’s more arousing and lusciously feminine than before.

Her breasts are fuller, her body’s curvier, and her skin’s glowing; all of these changes ensure that the sight of Gracie naked before me is more glorious than any great work of art.

As she lies beneath me, and our bodies join as one, I murmur sweet words of love and devotion. We move together in a slow, languid pace, our lips brushing and tongues flicking in a dance as old as time. My senses are overwhelmed by the intense emotions our union is creating; by the sounds that Gracie is giving me in return, I know she’s as close as I am.

The clenching of her muscles around my cock and ragged breaths she expels tell me that Grace’s falling over the edge into a heavenly state of bliss. As I move within her a few more times, the sensual waves of pleasure crash over me and I join her in our combined ecstasy.

When my pleasure-induced haze lifts, I slowly pull out and roll to the bed beside her. Kissing the corner of her lips, I tell her again, “I love you with everything I am, Grace Rivers.” And I’m rewarded with a brilliant smile.

“I love you more, Cole,” she replies, and then buries her face into my neck as I trail lazy fingers along her spine. The love of my life is back in my arms and I’m never letting her go, ever again.

Chapter 38

I stare at her picture beside my bed.

Pregnant...

She’s fucking pregnant with that uppity asshole’s kid.

It should be my baby growing inside her, my cock sinking into her sweet pussy every night.

Doesn’t matter... She’ll be mine... I’ll make sure of it.

There’s no way that cocksucker’s going to have her.

I’ll sort the kid issue out later, but for now, he needs to be taken out of the picture.

There’s no way I’ll sit back and watch him get a ring on her finger.

She’s mine. Fucking mine… and nothing’s going to stop me from making her realize that.

They all think he’s Mr. Wonderful... Mr. Fucking Perfect. We’ll see how wonderful and perfect he is when he’s six-feet under.

Nope. No one’s gonna stop me; no one’s gonna stand in my way. No one gets between me and my prize.

For now, I’ll sit back and bide my time. I’ll make him feel insecure, make him fear the unknown, and when the opportunity comes, I’ll strike.

Yeah... You’ll get yours Dr. Cole fucking Tierney.

Turning to her picture again, I pick it up with my left hand and grab hold of my hard cock with my right. As I look at her face, I tug my length. I study her creamy skin, the swell of her fuckable tits, the sparkle in her eyes, and her smile. She stares back at me.

I quicken my pace and use my thumb to rub the pre-cum around the head of my throbbing cock. I can feel it building.

Those eyes speak to me. They tell me how much she loves me; how much she wants me.

My balls tighten, my grip on my cock tightens, and with one last pull, I come hard all over her picture.

The tension leaves my body as I use my fingers to smear my seed all over her, marking my territory.

I bring the frame closer to my face, and as she continues to stare into my soul, I lick the length of her body and place a kiss on her head.

Let the fucking games begin...

Chapter 39

Grace….

Falling back into our usual routine was incredibly easy. Having discussed everything with Cole about the Miranda situation, I now have a clear understanding of everything that happened. When I asked why he ran to her side when I punched her, he told me that his first thoughts where to placate her, so she didn’t press charges against me. He also went onto to tell me that, in fact, she did make that threat later, and he threatened her, in turn, that he would make a sexual harassment complaint against her with the hospital board. She quickly backed down and walked away with her tail between her legs.

Cole’s obvious joy and excitement about the baby is palpable. Since our reunion last week, we have been together every second. He’s constantly fussing over me, touching my stomach whenever he can, and kissing and whispering sweet words to our little miracle. His possessive and protective instincts have gone into overdrive.

Lying here beside him in bed, his arm wrapped around my stomach with his hand splayed across it, is pure bliss. He sleeps this way every night that we spend together, and it’s the position he stays in all night long. When I roll over or move trying to get more comfortable, he moves with me and his hand immediately finds its place back on my belly. If I didn’t love it so much, it would be very annoying.

Knowing that my full bladder will burst if I don’t get to the bathroom soon, I try to move out from under his arm without disturbing him, but it proves to be a futile effort. His arm tightens around my waist, pulling me back into his chest; after he places a kiss to my shoulder, he sleepily mumbles, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the bathroom, unless you want me to pee all over you,” I reply.

“All right, but hurry back to me.”

As I start to move away from Cole, I feel a sharp jab near my belly button and instantly freeze. “Did you feel that?” I ask Cole.

“Feel what?”

“I think the baby just moved,” I excitedly reply, and Cole’s instantly wide awake and sitting up beside me.

“Where? Quick, move back and let me feel,” he practically yells, and pushes me back onto the bed, so I’m lying flat on my back beside him.

I can’t help the laughter that erupts from me. “Seriously, Cole, I’ll let you feel it; there’s no need to manhandle me.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” he says, as he runs both hands over my stomach methodically, waiting for the next movement. “I just don’t want to miss it.”

A second movement, just above where Cole’s hand is, has me smiling widely. “There, did you feel it?” I ask again.

“Where? Where?” Cole screeches, his eyes frantically searching.

Oh, my God, he’s hilarious.
I’m laughing at him again, and his brow furrows in frustration. “Stop laughing and just show me where, Gracie. It’s not fair that you get to feel it and I don’t.”

I swear he looks like he’s about two seconds away from stamping his feet like a kid who didn’t get what he wanted. However, knowing that this is a special moment, I reach for his hand and place it over the spot where the baby moved. Cole waits patiently for a minute then leans down to my stomach. “Come on, little one. Give Mommy a good kick. It’s your daddy here, and I’m telling you that it’s okay to kick Mommy really hard so I can feel it.”

I shake my head at his words but don’t say anything, as he continues to give our child permission to kick me.

“You can do it, little one. Just kick her or punch her really, really hard,” he implores.

“Cole, I’m right here, you know. Our child isn’t even born yet, and you’re encouraging violence,” I joke in mock sternness.

Cole continues to ignore me, leaning in to place a kiss on my stomach. The second that his lips meet my skin, the baby gives the hardest kick yet.

“Holy shit! Did you feel that, Gracie? He did it; he kicked me. I felt him move,” Cole excitedly exclaims.

The fact that my intelligent, medically trained boyfriend is acting like a child on Christmas morning over feeling our baby move for the first time makes me fall in love with him a little more.

Gazing up at me with eyes full of awe and wonder, Cole’s smile is almost blinding in his euphoric state. Leaving one hand on my belly, he reaches out with the other and takes my hand. Then his expression changes to something more serious and determined.

“Marry me, Gracie.”

I stare at him completely dumbfounded.
Where the hell did that come from?
I mean, we‘ve never even discussed marriage; we’ve only been back together a week. As much as I love Cole, this is too soon; I certainly don’t want him marrying me out of some moral obligation because of the baby.

“Gracie, will you marry me?” he asks again, and I know that I’m about to hurt him with my reply.

Reaching my hand out I cup the side of his face and say, “I can’t, Cole.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head; his shoulders sag with my rejection.

“Why not?” he asks.

“I… I don’t want you to feel like you have to marry me because of the baby. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

“I didn’t ask you because of the baby, Gracie, but of course, it makes perfect sense that we become a real family,” he quickly replies.

“Cole, we’ve never even discussed marriage before. We only just got back together. Now’s not the time to make a decision like that without thinking it through.”

“What’s to think about? You love me, I love you; we’re going to have a baby. We should get married,” he says.

“Listen to me. Yes, we love each other, but you just felt our baby move for the first time, and I think you’ve been so overcome by emotion that you just blurted that out without even thinking about it.”

We remain quiet for a few minutes both lost in our own thoughts. Cole has always been so romantic and thoughtful about our relationship, so with him just asking me without any forethought, it just doesn’t feel right.

“Okay,” He finally says, breaking the silence.

“Okay?”

I can see the disappointment in his eyes when they connect with mine. “Well, I can’t say I’m not upset that you said no, so how about a compromise?”

I study him for a second trying to gage on what he intends to compromise. “What exactly did you have in mind?” I ask cautiously.

He kisses my stomach a few more times, and then raises his face to look at me. “If you won’t marry me… yet,” he smirks and continues. “Then move in with me.”

I go to speak, but he stops me by placing a finger over my mouth. “Just hear me out, okay. I mean you stay here at least three times a week anyway and I’ve stayed at your house this week too. It seems pointless to keep running back and forth to each other. I want to take care of you and the baby, Gracie. I want to come home to you at the end of each day. I want to wrap you in my arms every night and wake up with you there every morning. I don’t want to go a single day without seeing you, I did that for a month and I won’t do it again.”