“You feel so good, Jess. So fucking good.” Her head fell back again, mouth open and eyes closed like she was in a dream. “Take what you need.”
“Please, Hawk,” she cried as she moved up and down, the motion causing his whole body to tingle. Hawk’s hand slid around her back as he pressed her closer so his mouth could wrap around her breast. His free hand went down to the place where they were connected, applying pressure to her clit.
“Fuck,” she moaned. Her movements were erratic, her cries coming faster until Hawk felt her clamp down on his cock. As soon as that happened, the overwhelming sensation of falling over the edge slammed into him, and Hawk’s own orgasm had him seeing fucking stars.
Jessie’s body fell against his as the two of them worked to catch their breaths.
“I don’t want you to go on your trip.” Jessie’s lower lippopped out in a pout a moment later as she laid her head on his shoulder.
“I can tell Seb to tag someone else in. I know it’s only a night, but I don’t want to be away from you. Nash has been working on everything with me. He could go. He could take the lead?—”
“Don’t you dare. I know how much this project means to you. I won’t mess that up just because I’m feeling clingy and needy and your baby is making me big and emotional.”
“Jessie,” he growled, feeling her skin pebble beneath his touch. “When will you believe me? Nothing is more important than you.”
“I believe you,” she whispered. “But you don’t need to give up everything for me, Hawk. I’m a big girl. I’ll put on my big girl pants and survive just fine while you’re in D.C.”
“How about you don’t put any pants on, and we do a spicy video chat while I’m gone?”
Jessie rubbed her face against his chest, her laughter shaking his body. “Well, now I’m happy you’re leaving.”
Twenty
Elite training procedures and hand-to-hand combat scenarios are performed inside a secure, simulated, environment—with the ability to shift from natural to industrial landscapes for optimal scenario development dependent on individualized needs of the trainees in attendance…
Hawk had memorized the spiel. Inside and out. Front to back. And he’d been home late every fucking day that week because of it. Jessie was asleep on the couch each night before he walked through the door. And now he had to leave them.
It’s just one night.
Yeah. And one night was one too many. It would be so easy to tell Seb someone else on the team needed to travel with him, but truth be told, Hawk knew none of the other guys would want to leave their families either. When the fuck had that happened? There was a time when Gunner and Hawk lived for the thrill of picking up a government contract and working off grid for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. Gunner had been the first to fall in love. The first to become a homebody. One by one, he’d watched his buddies fall in love. And still, he never thought that life was meant for him.
Thank God for Jessie. For their baby. Because everything felt warm and right when he was with her. And he didn’t want to think about that ache in his chest that he’d lived with for years, waiting for her to come along and soothe it.
Jessie twitched in her sleep, her hand lifting from his chest to rest on her belly. It was a new week in the pregnancy. His favorite day, because the app he used to track and learn about the pregnancy changed the fruit size of the baby.
Careful not to disturb Jessie, Hawk reached behind to grab his phone off the night stand. A quick tap of his thumb and the app was pulled up in front of him.
Twenty weeks.
A little banana.
Fuck. He didn’t want to get out of bed. Hawk’s eyes bounced to the clock at the top of the display. There was just over three hours before he had to be out the door to meet Seb at the airfield.
“Happy halfway day, Mama.” Jessie stretched as Hawk’s lips brushed against her temple. She kept her eyes closed as he kissed down her body until he lifted the shirt she was sleeping in, kissing the swell of her belly. “Hey, Bee. Happy twenty weeks inside your mama. Just twenty more to go.”
She smiled as he made his way back up to the pillows. “What’s he the size of now?”
Hawk grabbed a package of butter crackers off his nightstand. Jessie mentioned they were helping her stomach more in the morning than the plain crackers, and he’d stocked their room with them.
“The app said she’s a banana this week.” He handed her the open packet.
“Our own little banana bee. So cute.” She took a bite of the cracker, smiling up at him.
Hawk let his fingers run through her hair. Every morning should be like that one. Warm sunlight streaming in thewindow. Their baby between them. Jessie smiling up at him. His chest tightened with emotion. Fuck. He was absolutely gone for this woman. “The cutest. I’m so excited for your appointment next week. I can’t believe it’s time to see her again.”
“And we’ll finally be able to find out which one of us is right.”
Hawk chuckled, pushing up from his elbows to sit beside her. “Maybe we should wait. Have something to look forward to with the birth.”
