I pulled the bill of my hat low and turned away, the giant bag at my side hiding most of my body from anyone who might get a glimpse inside the SUV.
The door opened and the cacophony of “Sean! What’s next for you?” “Sean! Are you going to marry your girlfriend before your baby is born?” “Sean! When can we expect another tour?” filled the interior of the car before the door shut, muffling the voices. The SUV started moving right away and the din of questions fell behind us.
I let myself turn to Sean and found him slumped back against his seat, his eyes closed, his guard down. Either he hadn’t seen me, or he was so used to being surrounded by people that he didn’t notice one extra person in his car.
As I turned my body to face him, the bag beside me crinkled loudly, startling him. “Geez!” he hollered as he sat up and looked at me. “Libby?” He quickly scooted toward me and threw the bag to the ground.
I eagerly reached out as he enveloped me in his arms.
“You scared me,” he chuckled close to my ear. “You were going to wait at home for me. Oh, you smell good,” he practically moaned. “I hate the smell of airplanes.”
“You could always get a private jet,” I joked as he burrowed his nose into the space between my neck and my shoulder.
“Too pretentious.” He pulled back to look at me, his eyes tired but full of love. He placed his hand on my abdomen and rubbed his thumb back and forth. “How’s my little girl?”
“Giving me heartburn.”
He let out a genuine laugh. “I love you,” he said, almost on a sigh before pressing his lips to mine.
When he tried to pull back, I wouldn’t let him. I was pregnant and lonely and I wanted to kiss Sean. I mean really kiss him.
He let out a hum of surprise but dove in willingly, quickly working up to the kind of passionate kiss I’d imagined he was capable of. I got out of breath very quickly, which I would love to blame on the baby, but I was fairly certain it was all Sean. Loving him this much after I’d been shoving down all of these feelings for so long was a new kind of euphoria.
He backed off a little, his fingers trailing down my neck, skimming along the chain of my mother’s necklace.
“So,” he said in between kisses. “As much as I would like to keep kissing you”—he kissed me again—“I feel the need to point out that we’re not alone in this car.”
A large part of me wanted to say So what, but I forced my brain to plug in and placed a hand on his chest so I could pull back. “Right.” I cleared my throat. “That’s probably good to remember.”
Sean grinned. “He’d probably appreciate it,” he said with a nod toward Tucker, who was studiously facing forward, his expression blank.
I gave a mock sigh. “Fine.” I adjusted in my seat, uncomfortable. “That’s probably best since pregnant bodies were not meant to make out in the backs of cars.” I arched my back, trying to stretch it out.
He reached behind me and rubbed at the knots in my mid-back. I relaxed, letting my head hang forward. “You don’t need to give me more reasons to let you stick around. I wasn’t planning on letting you go anytime soon.”
“Good.” I could hear the grin in his voice.
“I feel bad making you rub my back when you’re the one who’s exhausted.”
“Yes, well. For some reason”—he leaned in and dropped a quick kiss on my neck—”I’m much more energized than I was a few minutes ago.”
We both chuckled into the darkness and then talked quietly about the last four weeks, as if speaking too loudly would shatter the quiet comfort we had found together.
♪♫♪
Over the next week we settled into the space of our new relationship. So much of it was familiar and unchanged, but everything just seemed…brighter? Being with Sean, choosing to be in a romantic relationship with him, made me shockingly happy.
Two months ago, he’d confessed to adoring me for a long time. At the time, it had been a beautiful word, perhaps even an exciting sentiment. But being actively adored by Sean was an unprecedented experience. He was thoughtful and gentle, and the love that poured off of him was almost tangible. I worried sometimes that I wouldn’t be able to reciprocate enough, but eventually realized