underwear I was wearing as he carefully pulled my dress back down.
"What? Why? Why are we stopping?"
Jude laughed, kissing my forehead after he'd stood from the couch. "Because the last thing we need is to miss your shower, and me meeting your family."
Ugh. I pouted, which made him laugh. He wrapped me in a hug.
"I know you're right," I said, my head resting in the center of his chest.
He smoothed a hand down my back and leaned his head down. "We can wait a bit longer, love. We have forever."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jude
Seven weeks later
"This is not going to work," Lia said between helpless bouts of laughter.
"You doubt me?"
She tried to turn, which was quite a feat in her current condition—one week past her due date. "Yes!"
"What a terrible mistake on your part," I whispered in her ear once she was comfortably on her side.
On my knees over her, I marveled at the expanse of naked skin in front of me. My hands coasted over her stomach, and I smiled when I felt the hard press of an elbow or knee. When I dropped down to kiss that very spot, I caught her mouth curving in a smile.
Since the day I arrived, it had been like this between us.
Peace, sublime and sweet happiness that rolled from day to day, all wrapped up in a mind-blowing amount of time in bed.
She kept me up later than I was used to, chatting happily about her days, hearing about mine, and most nights ended with us on the couch, her head in my lap, where I could trace my fingers along the gentle lines of her face and body into the soft length of her hair.
We went out to eat, wandered the sights in Seattle, and she shrieked with laughter when I almost turned us into oncoming traffic given that Americans drove on the wrong side of the bleeding road. We talked about her upbringing and mine.
Together, we pieced together our home in the bright apartment and planned for a future one after her initial one-year lease was up. At Lia's insistence, I didn't pay more than half of the rent, but I told her I got to make the deposit on our next home.
And now, a week beyond where our little watermelon was supposed to make its appearance, we were quite preoccupied with hastening their entrance into the world.
Spicy food hadn't worked.
Neither had long walks.
And so far, the sheer maneuverability of sex was becoming an issue, if that was supposed to help.
I kissed the side of her breast, and Lia stretched herself out fully with a soft sigh.
"Still doubt me?"
"Entirely." She exhaled. "I'm huge."
"You're perfect," I murmured into the slope of her shoulder, just as I eased behind her. "Lift your leg over mine, love."
"Shit."
I froze. "No leg? Shall we try standing in the bathroom like last night?" My thumbs coasted lightly over her chest because I knew how sensitive she was, but she smacked my hands away. My eyebrows lifted. "Or not, that's fine."
Lia looked over her shoulder at me, eyes wide. "Either I've lost all bladder function and I just ... peed a little, or my water just broke."
Blinking, I glanced down. "You ..."
Lia sat up. "I think maybe I should put some clothes on." Then a brilliant smile dawned on her face. "And maybe you should too, champ. Nice work." She held out a hand for a high five.
I flew out of bed, stark-bollock naked, and grabbed her hospital bag from where it sat just next to the door. "What clothes do you need?"
Lia scooted to the edge of the bed, a small smile on her face. "That blue shirt on the dresser is fine. And the soft black shorts in my top drawer, please."
I tossed them at her and barely glanced at what I pulled over my own body.
Lia paused once, a strange expression on her face. "Oh, hey there."
I froze as I was shoving a phone charger into the side of her bag. "What?"
She grimaced. "Contraction. Weird."
It was that grimace that kicked my heart into a gear I hadn't previously known existed.
Through any doctor’s appointment I'd attended with her, the birthing class—which was terrifying—and all the books she read from, I'd never fully realized how bloody terrible it would be not to bear a single bit of this pain for her.
And with the realization came sheer terror at the reality of this new life we were bringing into the world.
Lia cupped the side of my face and smiled. "It'll