Aidan pulled up to look at me, balancing on his elbows so that his thumbs could wipe away my tears. “Back at you, babe. I love you more than you will ever imagine.”
I attempted a bit of deflection. This was getting heavy. “So do you want to heat up these sheets with me?” I asked with a small smile.
He sat looking at my face for a few beats of my heart where I couldn’t read his expression, but the vibe he gave was that he saw my change of topic and was deciding if he should call me on it.
He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. Just as I parted my lips to deepen the kiss, he pulled back. “I absolutely want that if, and only if, that is truly what you want. Did we hit all your concerns? Is there anything else you want to talk about, or do you have another topic change in you tonight?”
I shook my head, meeting his grin. In this position, I felt surrounded by Aidan. And in actuality I was. But it was more than that. It was like he’d cushioned all of me. I didn’t know how to explain it except to say I felt safe, the most at ease I’d been since before we conceived Mia. Like it was the two of us again and we were here for each other. Why had I allowed that distance to get between us? We were better together. I remembered his words earlier when we were taking the family picture.
“Aidan Edward Russo”—I pecked his lips—“I’m wrapped up in you too, or in us. And while I’m not where I want to be confidence wise, I’m ready to work on getting there. So yes, I want to burn up these sheets while we keep noise to a minimum, not only because I want to keep Mia asleep as long as possible but also because I have to face your mother tomorrow.”
“You’re in?”
I gave him a scalding look. “More like I’d like you to be in… me.”
He burst out laughing, letting his head drop to my shoulder as his weight settled on me. “Jesus, that was bad, Gracie.”
“But truthful, Russo.” I gave a playful slap to his butt. “Let’s get this party started.”
Chapter10
Hair Trigger
Aidan
Candlelight danced over Grace’s tearstained cheeks. I didn’t love seeing her cry, but there was a lightness to her that I hadn’t seen since prepregnancy. Heck, since before we started trying to get pregnant, when we’d thought everything would just happen the first time with no worries. How naive we’d been.
“So, Ms. Russo, this is a go?” I leaned down to press a kiss to the crook of her neck. She’d loved that before, and I was assuming it hadn’t changed.
She immediately tilted her head to give me more access as murmurs of pleasure fell from her mouth. Hmm, I’d say we were on the right track. But…
“Words, Gracie.”
“Get going, Russo. I already said yes.”
Sassy Grace was back. I liked it. That was a good sign.
I pulled back, rolled to the side of the bed, and stood up. Grace gave me a noise of protest, which only made my cock get more interested in the night’s schedule. Part of me was kicking myself. Why hadn’t we just made out over the past four months? Sex didn’t have to always be the finish line, and that might have helped us connect when that distance had crept in. Hindsight and all.
She propped herself up on her elbows, looking at me standing to her side. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Need to grab some stuff and need you to shed those pajamas. The tank is optional, as we discussed.”
I headed into our en suite, steps from the bed, grabbed what I needed, and kept talking to her. “I’m glad to do it for you or”—I made it back to the bed, noting her pants kicked to the floor—“you can take care of it.”
“Done.” She smirked. “What did you need to get?”
I held up the lube and a hand towel. Even in the low light from the flame, I saw her cheeks get rosy again. “Gracie, we talked about this. Whatever you need, I’m here for it. I just want you to be comfortable.”
I tossed the two items on the mattress to her side, climbing back next to her because I couldn’t take one more moment that she wasn’t in my arms. Damn, I wanted her to know how attracted to her I was. I couldn’t care less if she leaked or if we needed to find ways to make sex comfortable. She was nothing but arousing to me, and I had a feeling we just needed to go ahead with this and her confidence would follow as she saw that I was anything but turned off by her. Maybe I just needed to make her laugh.
“Didn’t you tell me one of the romances you read for book club had an adult breastfeeding scene? Want to do a little role playing?” I grinned, pressing kisses to her neck as I worked to fight back my laughter, knowing what her reaction would be.
I wasn’t disappointed.
“Aidan.” She squirmed under me. “No, I mean, just no. Lisa Kleypas’s books are amazing, but a big hell no.”
“No kink shaming here, babe. Promise.” I was rewarded with her muffled laughter as she pressed her face into my chest, trying to keep from being too loud.
