“Hey, baby girl,” I say softly. “It’s me. Your dad.” The word settles warmly in my chest every time. “I know you can’t see me yet, but I’m here. I’m going to be here for everything.”
Natalie’s hand drifts down, resting lightly on my shoulder.
“We put up your first tree tonight,” I tell her. “Your mom picked where your ornament goes. It’s front and center. She’s got excellent taste.”
Natalie lets out a shaky laugh.
“I can’t wait to meet you,” I say. “To hear you laugh. To watch you grow up. You’re going to have the best mom. She’s smart and strong and funny. You’re going to learn all of that from her.”
“Jake,” Natalie whispers, her voice caught somewhere between laughter and tears.
I stand slowly, and she steps into me like she belongsthere. I wrap my arms around her. She tucks her face into my chest.
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “For the tree. For the ornament. For…everything.”
“Always.” I press a kiss to her hair. We stay like that for a long moment, her heartbeat steady against my chest.
“Come to bed,” she says quietly.
I pull back just enough to see her face. “You sure?”
“I don’t want you to leave.”
She takes my hand and leads me down the hallway. The bedroom is dim, just the faint glow from the living room spilling through the doorway. She turns to face me, her fingers sliding under my shirt, palms flat against my stomach.
“I really missed you this week,” she whispers, her voice low and wanting.
Heat rushes through me. “Nat?—”
Her hands move to my belt, and I go still, letting her take the lead. She unbuckles it slowly, eyes locked on mine, and there’s something deliberate in the way she moves. Like she’s been thinking about this, wanting this. She pushes my jeans down, then my boxers, and when her hand wraps around me, I let out a rough exhale.
“Sit,” she says, nodding toward the bed. I do, and she drops to her knees between my legs. The sight of her there, hair falling over her shoulders, lips parted, damn near undoes me before she even starts.
I cup her face, thumb dragging across her bottom lip. “Open for me.”
Then her mouth is on me, warm and wet and perfect, and every coherent thought I had dissolves. She takes her time, her tongue working me over in slow, deliberate strokes that make my thighs tense.
I thread my fingers through her hair, needing to touch her. “Fuck, Nat.”
She hums around me, and the vibration sends a jolt straight through my spine. I’m already close, tension coiling through my balls, and when she looks up at me, eyes locked on mine while she takes me deeper, I nearly lose it.
“I’m not going to last,” I warn, voice strained. “But when I come, I want to be inside you. I missed feeling you wrapped around me.”
Her eyes flash up to mine. She pulls back off me and drags the back of her hand across her lips. She stands, stripping off her clothes with quick, efficient movements, and then she’s climbing onto the bed, onto me, straddling my hips.
I reach for her, hands sliding up her sides, thumbs brushing the curve of her belly before moving higher. Her breasts are fuller, heavier in my palms, and when I thumb her nipples, she gasps.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” She leans down, kisses me hard. She positions herself over me, sinking down slowly, and the tight heat of her makes me groan into her mouth. Her cunt grips me so tight I can barely breathe, every inch of her pulling me deeper.
“Jesus, Jake,” she gasps, head falling back. “You feel so good.”
I grip her hips, guiding her rhythm, watching the way her body moves above me, the way her hands press against my chest for balance.
“I’m close—Jake,” she whispers, and the way she says my name, breathy and desperate, sends me careening toward the edge. I slide one hand between us, finding her clit and the pressure makes her shudder. She cries out and her rhythm falters.
“Come with me,” I say roughly. “Let me feel you.”
When she lets go, our eyes meet and it feels like everything. I see it all. Me, her, this future we’re building. And I know, deeper than I’ve ever known anything, that this is it. She’s it.
