“But why –?” she began again and he interrupted her again.
“I was impatient to make things more complicated.”
He felt her tip her head back to look at him and when he dipped his chin to meet her eyes, he noted she hadn’t moved her arm from around his back and the fingers of her other hand were still in his hair.
This made him inordinately glad.
As this feeling stole over him, he watched her eyes change, that radiance from earlier in the day came over them but she remarked, “You get impatient a lot.”
“This is probably true,” he agreed.
“It’s definitely true,” she whispered shyly and he grinned.
His head bent further and he touched his mouth to hers.
He only moved away an inch to say, “Then it’s only fair to warn you, after that magnificent display, I’m feeling even more impatient to make things vastly more complicated.”
“Jack –”
He cut her off again by saying simply, “Belle.”
Her eyes skittered to his ear. He felt a mild annoyance that he lost her even for a moment before what she said next, in a voice that was so quiet it was nearly imperceptible, made this annoyance melt away.
“You don’t think I’m a brazen hussy?”
He stared at her long enough for her eyes to come back to his in anxious enquiry and when they did, he burst out laughing.
Her body went stiff but he knew it wasn’t in embarrassment. It was irritation.
Even so, his arm tightened around her, his hand at her ass pressing her h*ps deeper into his and he held her close to him until he controlled his amusement.
When he dipped down his chin to look at her, it was not difficult in the slightest to read that she was cross.
Her next words and the way she uttered them, including using his full name, proved her expression true.
“You laugh at very strange things, James Bennett.”
“I’m not sure you realise how amusing you are, poppet,” he returned.
“I wasn’t meaning to be amusing. In fact, nearly every time you’ve laughed I wasn’t meaning to be amusing,” she shot back.
He loved it as well when her shyness disappeared and her spirit emerged (but not nearly as much as the noises she made when she was reaching orgasm).
He decided for her sake to try to be serious although he found this difficult considering the subject matter.
“All right, love, obviously this means something to you so perhaps you can explain to me how exactly you’ve behaved like a brazen hussy.”
He could barely say the last two words without chuckling but he managed it.
Just.
Her mouth dropped open before she said tartly, “Well, let me see. I had sex with you within hours of meeting you.”
His head dipped close and he brushed his lips against hers before muttering, “Yes, that was nice.”
Her hand left his hair and she slapped his bicep.
“Jack, I’m being serious,” she snapped.
He moved his face away from hers and fought back a grin. “Of course, my apologies. Carry on.”
Her eyes widened at his invitation then they narrowed then she hissed, “Carry on? Do I need to remind you that I also spent the night with you, I was dating your brother at the time and, icing on the cake, I got pregnant. Now, I’m adding ice cream, whipped cream and sprinkles by fooling around with you on your couch.” She emphasized the last three words then, as if his study was open to the public and they were on view, further stressed, “In your study.” She waited for his response to this damning information and when there wasn’t one she finished, “If that doesn’t define brazen hussy, nothing does.”
Jack made a guess and knew, intuitively, it was no risk.
“Have you ever had sex with someone the first night you met?” he asked.
“No,” she answered instantly.
“Have you ever had sex with someone when you were dating someone else?” he went on.
“No!” she responded rather more forcefully.
His hand drifted up her spine and he continued light-heartedly, “Have you ever fooled around on a couch in a study with the father of your child?”
He felt her body tense then relax before she said, “Jack –”
He didn’t let her continue.
“What that means is you aren’t a brazen hussy.” His face got closer to hers and his voice dipped lower. “What it means, my love, is that I’m a very lucky man.”
“Jack –” she began again, he had no idea what she intended to say but he didn’t care.
He again didn’t let her finish.
Instead, he changed the subject by saying, “Thank you, poppet.”
He watched her head jerk and her face grow confused before she asked hesitantly, “For what?”
He moved, using his body to push hers back into the couch so he was mostly on top of her, tangling his legs with hers but protectively avoiding resting any of his weight against their child in her belly.
His lips went to her neck as he tugged down her skirt.
“For letting me make you come,” he answered on a murmur.
Her hands moved to rest against his chest and, even as he felt her tremble, she suggested, “Maybe we should have that talk now.”
His head came up and his hand moved to frame the side of her face.
He watched her a moment and then asked softly, “Do you feel safe with me?”
She blinked then wet her lips but she did not answer.
His thumb traced her lower lip while he muttered, “That’s all right, it’ll come.”
“Jack –” she started yet again but he dipped his head and kissed her, thoroughly. He didn’t break from her mouth until her hands slid from his chest, her arms were tight around him, her body was pliant under his and he knew, at least for that moment, she was his.
Then he rested his forehead to hers, his thumb stroking her cheekbone and he commented, “I think I’m going to very much like Sunday afternoons.”
She tipped her chin up, pressing her own mouth against his.
Jack smiled in triumph against her lips and slanted his head to deepen the kiss when a sharp, urgent knock came at the door.
Both of them froze. Jack with extreme irritation. Belle, he suspected, with something else entirely.
Jack moved first, knifing away from her. He leaned down, pulled her to sitting and fully righted her skirt.
Then he turned to the door, wondering with unamused annoyance if he needed to resort to placing a do not disturb sign on the knob.
He pulled open the door to see his mother standing outside and this surprised him.