“Yeah?” she asked. “Having trouble controlling yourself?”
He did his best to smolder. It came surprisingly easily. “Twenty minutes. See you out there.”
He would’ve smacked her butt, pregnant or not, because that was what this moment called for. Unfortunately, they were still in the lobby.
* * *
Friends,Jennifer told herself while she was opening her suitcase in a room that had—surprise!—a fireplace, a soaking tub that shecoulduse, a balcony, and an endless view over the lake and the mountains. Unfortunately, her body wasn’t cooperating. Her body wanted that filet mignon, and she wanted to eat itslow.
She couldn’t. She knew it. It would be crazy.
There were people at the pool when she got down there. Well, of course there were. It was a resort, it was May, and it was Saturday. No Harlan, though, not yet. She hesitated outside the gate and thought about going back upstairs for five minutes, by which time he might be here, then told herself,No. Remember? This is the new you.
A guy was doing laps in the far lane, and a woman was doing the same thing a couple lanes down, so she headed over there, past the teenage boys who were horsing around and shouting, tried to ignore the dozen or so people in lounge chairs arranged around the pool deck, took a deep breath, untied her robe, put it and her towel on a lounger of her own, and pretended to be casual.
Own it,Harlan had said. She tried. She didn’t instantly slide into the water and into oblivion, anyway. She kicked off her sandals and walked to the edge of the pool, and she didn’t hurry.
Which was when she heard one of the teenagers say, “Check itout.”
Another deep breath.That’s your superpower.Harlan had said that, too. Another boy said something else, and she tried not to hear it. All she wanted to do was to vanish into that water. How long did she have to stand here before she did it?
“Hey.”
It wasn’t Harlan. It was the guy in the corner lane, who’d stopped swimming and pushed his goggles up. He was holding onto the edge, too. And smiling.
“Hi,” she said back, though she didn’t want to. She wanted to ignore him, but wasn’t that worse? Face it, she had no idea how to own it.I’m pregnant, dude,she wanted to tell him.It should be obvious.
Right. She was sliding into the pool. She was disappearing. This was so not fun.
* * *
Harlan camethrough the pool gate after a hasty change and … didn’t stop dead. Instead, he headed over there fast.
“Hey,” he said, and then he got his arm around Jennifer and kissed her for good measure, in case anybody needed telling. The guy who’d been hanging out at the end of his lane decided to start swimming again, which was a wise decision.
“Hi,’ she said. Her cheeks were a little flushed, her mouth a little trembly. “I did that thing you said. Owning it. Man, was that hard.”
“Yeah.” He shot a look across at the boys, and they decided to look away. “That’s a lot to own.”
Because … holyhell.
Her suit was black. Which she’d probably bought to be slimming, or something, but instead was just … whoa. The legs of the bottom piece were high-cut, but the waist was high, too. Except that she’d rolled it down, because it probably didn’t fit over that round little belly. Which was definitely rounder than two weeks ago. Her skin was still white and so translucent that you could see the blue veins at the base of her throat and on her inner arms, her waist still nipped in hard and asked for your hands around it, her ass was still juicy, and her breasts were …
That was the other thing. Probably the main thing.
The top of the suit was sort of a … straight-across deal, and there was only about half as much of it as you’d expect. It lifted her up and put her on display like that was the whole point, because it so clearly was. A little strip of black fabric did its best to cover her, but it wasn’t up to the job, and the wide straps were cut so they nearly fell off her shoulders. That strip of black, though, and the round, white swells of her breasts above it …
Well, yeah. That was a pretty devastating combo.
She said, “I know. I bought this about two years ago, and I’ve worn it about five times. The top was a little extreme before, and now it’s … Well. You can see.”
“Yep,” he said. “I sure can. Let’s slide on in here, baby, because that’s probably enough owning it for now, don’t you think?” It was sure as hell enough of every guy in the place staring at her.
She lowered herself down into her lane, and if he watched her do it, how could he help it? After that, he got in himself, enjoying the brief shiver of cold on his overheated skin.
Meanwhile, she’d hoisted herself by the elbows onto the floats of the lane divider and had her legs kicking, keeping her up. She said, “I, uh, forgot myself a little bit back there. In the lobby. I’m not supposed to kiss you. Friends. And you’re not supposed to kiss me, either. Or call me ‘baby.’”
“You drive a hard bargain,” he said.
