He was right, she could admit that to herself, and it was uncomfortable how well he knew her, so she shut him out even more. “I can’t do this, Cedric. You want to know what the doctor said, then here it is: I need rest, I need to stay calm, I need to keep my blood pressure down, and dredging over the past isn’t going to help anyone.”
“It might.”
“And it might not!” Anna responded. “Cedric, I need some space, some time to think. Go to your meeting, do whatever it is you have to do. Right now, I’m going to have my shower.”
But her words didn’t move him, not an inch.
Fine, Anna decided, if Cedric didn’t have the decency to leave then he could damn well stay. The towel still safely around her, she went past him into the bathroom and turned on the shower, praying he’d take his cue and leave, but Cedric clearly had other ideas.
“I’m not leaving till we get to the bottom of this, Anna,” His voice was loud over the water, his stance supremely confident, but so was Anna. Dropping the towel, she shot him a defiant look. Utterly refusing to blush, she pulled the glass door open and stepped into the shower, satisfied that his expensive suit and his Italian leather her shoes would keep him at bay. She registered a furious bellow of rage, but she refused to be intimidated, a strange exhilaration filling her.
So Cedric wanted to be involved with her pregnancy- well, see how he felt at the sight of her almost six months pregnant! Lathering her hair, she closed her eyes, utterly refusing to be rushed, and when his rantings got louder it was easier to sing, easier to turn her back on the fire she had just ignited, than face the explosive truth. But Cedric had other ideas. Aghast, she swung around as six feet five of fully dressed indignation stepped in the shower beside her, holding her shoulders and demanding she face him.
“You can’t come in here.” Anna yelped.
“I’m already in,” he snarled, one hand clutching her shoulder the other forcing her chin up to make her look at him. “You’ll damn well look at me and talk to me,”
“I can’t.”
“You will,” he roared.
“I can’t see, Cedric,” Somewhere between fury and outrage, the ire died in his eyes, the questions that had been so important only seconds before coiling into the air along with the steam as she let out a giggle that was entirely out of place given the circumstances. Even Cedric managed a reluctant laugh as she accepted the handkerchief he pulled from his suit and wiped the rivers of soapy lather out of her eyes.
The bizarreness of their situation finally caught up. Heavily dressed and heavily pregnant, they stood in the shower and when finally Anna’s world came back into focus it was softer and gentler but infinitely more dangerous.
“I let you go…” he began,
“You didn’t let me go,” she reminded him painfully. “You pushed me away, Cedric. Left me wondering what on earth I’d done wrong in loving you, what I possibly could have said that day that deserved such appalling treatment. It should have been so beautiful, Cedric. We could have been there for each other, go through the pregnancy together, but instead you left me to deal with it alone…”
“I’m sorry.” He meant it. And maybe two little words shouldn’t have sufficed, maybe two little words shouldn’t have been able to wipe out months of torture but such was the regret, the honesty behind the words, she knew he meant it, and she was so tired of being angry. The water beat relentlessly on. And when Cedric’s eyes finally opened, slowly working the length of her body, the row, the horrors of the past were pushed aside. Now as his eyes drifted over her he decided whoever said pregnancy wasn’t sexy clearly hadn’t been there, because never had a body looked more ripe or overtly feminine.
The tiny budding breasts were gone now, replaced instead with the heavy ripeness of pale flesh, the pink of her areola circling a gloriously jutting nipple, rivers of water cascading between her cleavage leading his gaze to the naked swell of her abdomen. His gaze was almost reverend as he saw the taut skin, his fingers tentative as they moved to touch it, only this time he didn’t need to ask permission, this time it was Anna’s hand guiding his, watching his reaction as his hand met the soft swell, taking in the emotion on his face as he traced the outline of the tiny life within.
“You’ve got a meeting,” Anna reminded him softly.
“Had a meeting,” Cedric corrected. “I can hardly go in like this…”
“I’m sure there’s plenty more where this came from.”
Her fingers toyed with the lapels of his jacket, her eyes closing in ecstasy as his face moved down to hers. The haven of the dreams that had sustained her didn’t hold a candle to the feel of his heavy lips finally on hers. The water saturating each potent kiss couldn’t dilute the ecstasy, his hand on the small of her back, pulling her in towards him, her swollen breasts pressed against his chest, her full stomach pressing in, the length of his fierce erection against her thigh intoxicating as she pressed harder against him.
It was their first kiss in months, and it was…Amazing. Sweet, sweet memories cascaded in, mingling with new ones that were created here and now, an affirmation that what had taken place before had been real, that the overwhelming beauty she had witnessed once hadn’t merely been seen through the rose-colored glasses of lust, but had been as real and as divine as the dreams that had captured them. The exquisite taste of his mouth on hers, no contempt in familiarity as she explored the velvet of his lips, the sharp taste of his tongue, felt again the rivers of lust rippling through her body, the arousal Cedric so easily instigated.
The fierce desire that had been waiting impatiently in the wings for so long now ran unhindered onto stage, dancing freely, moving instinctively. She remembered, remembered the intensity of his touch, how one brush of his skin on hers could spin her into a balmy orbit, the thrum of pulses like the bass in the orchestra, always there, holding the rhythm, pushing it forward, deepening the intensity as his needy mouth devoured hers as his.