We were a couple.
This was completely normal.
“Steady.” His breath caressed the shell of my ear.
Easy for him to say.
The biggest surprise of the afternoon . . . Alistair was a lot better at pretending than I was. He wasn’t overly showy with his affection like Callum, or as nurturing as Mal, he was . . . watchful.
Even now as he tuned into his brothers’ conversation about the charity shinty game coming up in a few weeks, I sensed his attention like I never had before. It hummed between us like a live wire, pulsating shockwaves of electricity beneath my skin. I felt so giddy with it that I had to force myself to make conversation, determined to not be remembered, when this was all over, as Alistair’s weird girlfriend he brought to lunch one time.
“How are you feeling, April? Ready for the baby to arrive?” My words ended on a croak. One of Alistair’s hands was sliding over my bare thigh.
I gawked at him. Then at his hand. Then at everyone else, wondering if they’d also felt the fissure opening up in the middle of the room.
Just me.
“Oh, you know, wonderful, awful. My feet are four times their normal size, and I feel like I’ve swallowed a beach ball.” She shifted uncomfortably. “Why did I have to fall in love with a giant?” I laughed a beat behind everyone else. “Can you believe Mal actually had to lift me out of the bath yesterday? I got stuck.”
“You weren’t stuck; the floor was slippery,” he assured her.
All the while, Alistair’s fingers slipped over muscle and to the fleshy part of my inner thigh, unhurried, like he’d done it a thousand times before.
My eyes soared to his.What the hell are you doing?
“He’s being generous.” April sounded so far away. “I was in the empty tub like a beached whale.”
“I remember that feeling, it’s rough,” I managed to choke out.Was my brain melting?Alistair gently squeezed and my pulse fluttered. Cheeks as hot as the stickiness growing between my legs. “Nothing could have prepared me for being a twenty-year-old with the bladder of a pensioner.”Was I seriously talking about incontinence with his hand so close to my—
“Don’t mention peeing, please, I only went five minutes ago.” April covered her ears like she could unhear me. “Heather, you’re my hero, I don’t know how you did it with two babies.”
Heather laughed. “I tore my arse in half and not in a fun way.”
Mal choked on his water but made no comment. April blinked. “What?”
“Don’t scare her, Heather,” Iris cut in, reaching out to swat her arm. “The risk of tearing can be minimised with some preparation; did I teach you nothing?”
April looked to Alistair, who nodded reassuringly, like he wasn’t etching patterns into my upper thigh with his fingertips. “It’s true. It wasn’t my field of study but perineal massage and pelvic floor exercises can help.”
The words “perineal massage” shouldn’t have conjuredsuch lurid thoughts, but his thumb brushed a slow circle.Stroked. I was certain everyone within a fifty-mile radius could hear my thundering heartbeat.
It was Juniper who pulled me from my stupor. “Thank fuck I have no interest in doing that.”
I gulped down my drink, eyes locking with Alistair’s.
His gaze was steady. Unruffled. This was nothing but a show, and we were the main characters. But I was embarrassed at how thoroughly my body responded to his.
I wrenched my gaze away in time to watch Callum and Juniper fist bump.
“Team no babies,” he said.
She grinned. “Team going on holiday whenever we want.”
“Good, that gives the rest of us designated babysitters for life,” Heather said.
Everyone laughed but me.
I couldn’t stand it, suddenly desperate to make this all stop.
