“It’s my superpower.” He dragged his hands up my sides. “Making girls want to drop their panties.”

Smiling, I rocked back, watching as he lifted his head. His throat worked as his heavy hooded gaze drifted over me. “You should be careful with that superpower.” Reaching down, I tugged the sweatshirt off. “Use it wisely.”

His gaze dropped to my lace-covered breasts. “I’m so using it wisely right now.” He lifted a hand, hooking his finger under the strap of my bra. He inched it down my arm and then did the same to the other one.

Then that same finger trailed the lace on each cup before his finger sank between my breasts, catching the material there. He pulled me toward him and his lips followed the same path as his finger.

My breath was already coming in short gasps as I reached around and unhooked the bra. I shrugged the straps off so there was nothing between his lips and my skin. His tongue glided over the rosy peak and then his mouth closed over it. My back arched as I gasped.

“Okay,” I breathed as I threaded my fingers through his hair. “I think I’m going to have—” A moan broke off my words as his hand got involved, covering my other breast. “—to research if a woman’s breasts are sensitive during pregnancy.”

His thumb and forefinger did something wicked, and my fingers tightened around his hair. “I’m going to go with yes,” he said, nipping and laving, the sweep of his tongue soothing the sting. “I just saved you precious research time.”

I kissed his brow. “Aren’t you just so helpful.”

He cupped my breasts, lifting them. “You know, I think these have gotten bigger.”

“A little.”

“And these . . .” His tongue danced over the nipple of one breast and then the other. “These have gotten darker. Just so you know, I’m loving this pregnancy thing so far.”

My breath caught. Loving. Love. Totally not the same thing I was feeling, but my little heart just soared with it. Wiggling back, I swung my legs off and stood. Nick reached for me, but I shook my head as I reached down, grabbing my sweats and shimmying them off.

“Fuck,” he grunted. “No panties. Again.”

I gave him a cheeky grin as I placed my hands on his knees, spreading his legs. I knelt between them, watching him as I reached for his belt, pulling it through the loop until it was unhooked.

“Stephanie . . .”

My name sounded like a plea, and I hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet, which made me feel like, well, a goddess. I flicked the button on his jeans and down went the zipper. I gripped the sides of his jeans, and he lifted his hips as I tugged them down just far enough that the part I wanted was accessible.

I didn’t waste time.

Stretching toward his lap, I wrapped one hand around him and took him into my mouth. Nick’s hips surged off the couch as he let out a strangled sound. His hand folded over the back of my neck as I took him as far as I could. He tasted of salt and man, and as I moved my hand, I pressed my thighs together. Never before had I been so turned on going down on a guy, but I was pretty sure if I continued on this path, there wouldn’t be a main event for either us.

With one last lick and a quick kiss, I returned to straddling his lap. With my hand around him, I guided him in, and his grip on my hips was tight as inch by inch I let him in. Maybe it was this position. Maybe it was the pregnancy. I didn’t know, but I felt incredibly tight and my nerve endings were firing all at once at the delicious tug and pull.

Sliding my hands up to his jaw, I pressed against him as I started to move my hips, rocking back and forth slowly. The wool of his sweater teased the tips of my breasts and the rough material of his jeans rubbed my inner thighs.

There was something unbelievably hot about being completely naked while he was still mostly dressed. I think Nick agreed, based on the dirty stuff he whispered in my ear as I rode him.

My hips moved in tight circles over him, and it didn’t take long before I could feel the tension building low in my belly. I reached down, placing my hands over his as I moved against him, our foreheads pressed together, our breaths hot and mingling in the space between our mouths.

“You’re killing me,” he said, his hands breaking my hold, sliding to my rear. “You’re fucking killing me, and I can’t think of a better way to go.”

I gripped his arm and the back of his neck as I picked up the pace. The coil spun tighter and tighter. “Oh God,” I gasped, a strand of hair falling in my face as I tipped my head back.

His lips scorched the skin of my throat. “I can never get tired of this.”

Never. Never was a long time. Never was forever. Never meant love. My heart swelled as a shocking thought whipped through me, and I stilled, my chest rising and falling with shallow breaths.

Would we be here, right where we were, doing what we were doing, if I hadn’t gotten pregnant?

“You okay?” Nick asked, grasping my chin with one of his hands. “Stephanie?”

“Yeah.” I blinked, pushing the thought aside as I started moving again, chasing after the sweet release that I knew was just out of my grasp.

Nick guided my mouth to his and kissed me deeply as the hand along my rear moved down the center, one long finger seeking and hitting a spot that caused my body to jerk and an explosion of pleasure to occur. The release shook me as I tightened all around him. Blood pounded through me as I cried out.

He moved suddenly, and before I could even come back down, my hands were on the arm of the couch and my knees were sinking into the cushion. Nick was behind me and in me, his thrusts powerful and deep. One arm circled just below my breasts and he drew me up and back, sealing me to his chest as his hips ground into mine. He came with my name a hoarse shout.

I don’t even remember moving after that, but somehow I ended up sandwiched between the back of the couch and him. My face was pressed into his sweater and my leg was thrust between his.

“God,” Nick said thickly. “Damn.”

I made a virtually incoherent sound as he managed to fold his hand around the back of my head.

“You still alive?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“And you’re okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

There was a pause. “And you’re not planning on moving for a while, are you?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Nick got his arm around my lower back. “Neither am I.”

I smiled in response, and though he couldn’t see it, the curve of my lips felt forced, because even as my body was relaxed and blissed out, I couldn’t help asking myself that horrifying question again.

Would we be here?

And there was no answer to that question. There never would be.

Chapter 23

“So are you going home for Thanksgiving or not?”

In the middle of shoving what was probably half a pancake in my mouth, I paused and looked across the table at Katie. This morning she was dressed rather calmly . . . for Katie. Her bright purple sweater was as fuzzy as a bear, but it lacked all sparkles. “I don’t know yet. My mom isn’t cooking. She is going to her sister’s house. I’m invited, of course, but since Mr. Bowser wants me in the office on Friday, it doesn’t make much sense to make that drive.”