He nodded and she headed off to the house without another word. It took him a few trips but he got all their suitcases into the foyer. He closed the door and decided to go to the kitchen, but stopped when he saw Allie, resting on the couch in the great room. She had taken off her coat, but that was as far as she’d gotten before passing out.
“Come on, Allie, off to bed with you.”
“No,” she mumbled.
He bent down and lifted her in his arms. She didn’t put up a fight. Exhaustion had a deep hold on her. Luke brought Allie to the guest room. Pulling down the blankets, he gently placed her on the bed. He never thought his experience doing this for his daughter would ever come in handy with a woman he was trying to sleep with. Carefully removing her heels, his fingers lingered on her bare feet before tucking them and her beneath the blanket.
Her sigh was such a lovely sound and before he could think about it further, Luke placed his lips upon her forehead and kissed her. “I’m going to fight for you, Allie. Know that. Get ready.”
Mia
A smile came to her face as she realized she was in the safe cocoon of her husband’s embrace. Mia was beyond happy to be home. Being with her husband again brought her a sense of peace she hadn’t had the past week. Ethan grounded her. When panic and anxiety tried their best to dig their claws into her, all she had to do was picture him, feel him, and smell him—especially now that she was pregnant. There were no anti-anxiety drugs to take—it was all her and the tools she’d learned over the years.
She wanted to enjoy more time in his arms but nature called. After she took care of that, she washed her face and brushed her teeth. Even though she didn’t feel too bad, she didn’t want to push it so she decided to go back to the bedroom to lie down.
The doctors still had no idea why her blood pressure was freaking out. Both doctors said more than likely it was the strain of carrying twins, but she couldn’t help but wonder … did her old lifestyle play a role in this? The doctors felt it was highly improbable, but they hadn’t outright said no. So, that guilt had her following their orders.
Crawling into bed¸ Mia snuggled up to her gorgeous husband. She had missed him so much but as she lay against him, she thought about the one rule that ticked her off the most—no sex. So now it was looking like it’d be at least four months without it. She’d been celibate for close to three years in the past, she could do four months, right? She studied his naked chest, still tan from the summer, and found her eyes traveling downward over those glorious abs of his down his happy trail—fuck! Before, he wasn’t right next to her. Damn! This was going to be hard. Hopefully her blood pressure headed down. Maybe it was just all the travel and nerves from performing that caused her episode. She could hope.
She glanced at the alarm clock. Ethan should be waking up in a few minutes to head to practice. Resting her chin on his stomach, she looked up at his sleeping face. The doctor may have said no sex but he didn’t say Mia couldn’t have fun waking up her husband.
Placing her lips against the skin right below his belly button, she slowly kissed her way up towards his chest. She lingered around his nipples before continuing to her final destination—his mouth. She could do this forever. When she reached his lips, Mia found his eyes half-open.
“Good morning, suga,” he said, a smile covering his face.
She returned his smile and kissed him, her eyes not leaving his.
“That was a lovely way to wake up. Do you mind continuing?” he asked, pulling at her nightgown, the skimming of his fingers on her skin lighting her on fire. Mia wanted him to rid her of her clothing and make love to her so badly but …
“We can’t, Ethan.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he attacked the length of her neck with his teeth.
“I can’t have sex. It’s part of my bed rest instructions.”
“What?” He cursed loudly.
“But I don’t think it means this,” she said, sliding her hand down his stomach