Well Suited (Red Lipstick Coalition #4)(45)

The door had been opened for PDA. And PDA had led to kissing. And kissing had led to heavy petting, which had led to Katherine naked in my bed.

And the world was suddenly full of possibility.

Subsequently, I couldn’t keep my hands off her. And she didn’t seem to mind.

Even now, her feet were in my lap, and my hand absently stroked her leg as Billy and Jeanine got into a screaming match over a spilled daiquiri. And by spilled, I meant Billy had dumped it down Jeanine’s back and into the hot tub.

Katherine shook her head as she wound the yarn around her needle. “I’m not big on immature displays, but Jeanine deserved that.”

“If they don’t get kicked off the island this week, I’m gonna be convinced this show is rigged.”

“It’s scripted. They’re all scripted. Reality TV is anything but real. Everyone knows that.”

I chuckled, my hand shifting over the delicate bones on top of her foot. “It’s so much more fun to imagine it’s real.”

“But it’s not,” she insisted, twisting the yarn again.

“So you’ve said.” For a moment, I watched her fingers, the click of the needles and quick motion of her hands as she assembled the tiny sole of the shoe. “How long have you been knitting?”

She gave me a blank look. “You watched me start twenty minutes ago.”

“No,” I said on a laugh, “I mean, when did you learn?”

“Oh. A few months ago. We have a knitting circle at the library, and I was the only one who didn’t know how. I’m glad I learned though. It’s coming in handy.” She held up her work in display.

I picked up the bootie she’d just finished, which sat on the coffee table. “This is the tiniest shoe I’ve ever seen.”

Katherine smiled. “I know. There’s a little sweater I want to make, too, and a hat and blanket to match. I decided on white since we don’t know the sex of the baby yet.”

“Just a few more weeks.”

“I’ll never understand people who want to be surprised by that information. There’s already enough we don’t know and can’t control. Why wouldn’t you want to know everything you could?”

I shrugged. “Some people like the anticipation, I guess. The mystery.”

She made a face. “Lawless. I’m stressed just thinking about it. I would like to have a name chosen and color-coded clothes, all washed and folded and put away before the baby comes.”

With a smirk, I said, “Funny, I would have figured you wouldn’t label the baby with pink or blue.”

“I’d rather not spend my free time correcting people who guess incorrectly.”

“Fair enough,” I said on a laugh.

The credits rolled on Love Cabana, and I picked up the remote. “Did you want to watch another?”

She sighed, bundling up her yarn and needles. “No, thank you. I’m—oh!” With a gasp, she folded forward, her hand flying to her stomach.

I was on my knees at her feet within a breath, searching her face for signs of distress, but there was only wonder. “What’s the matter, Kate?”

She said nothing, just gasped again, her face lighting up with a wondrous smile. “The baby. I think…oh!” she said again, giggling.

Her hand shot out and grabbed mine, pressing it to the hard curve of her stomach.

“What am I—”

“Shh, wait…”

The silence was thick with anticipation, her hand on top of mine. The only sensation was the steady rise and fall of her bump as she breathed and the feel of her warm hand over mine.

I was about to give up when I felt it.

A thump against my hand, so fast, I wondered if I’d imagined it. “Was that—”

“Uh-huh.” She beamed, nodding.

Another thump, this one harder, and we both laughed.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, laying both my hands on her stomach. “I can’t…this is incredible.”

But no more movement came, to our disappointment. I leaned in, angling for her lips, my hands still cupping her belly. And I kissed her, the magic of the moment filling every mingling breath, every flex of our lips, every sweep of our tongues.

She broke the kiss with a smile.

“Come to bed, Kate,” I whispered, even though she didn’t have on her lipstick tonight, her lips a dusty shade of rose, naked and natural.

Damn the rules.

“All right,” she said. “But only if you’ll stay all night.”

My smile was boundless. “Your room or mine?” When I stood, I offered my hand.

She took it, answering, “Mine.”

It was safer, I knew. One less variable for her to factor in or plan for.

“Anything you want, Kate.”

She had just started to really show, opting for dresses with high waists and flowing skirts, and once home, she almost always stepped straight into leggings and T-shirts. Tonight she was wearing a Team Tommy shirt from a library fundraising publicity stunt we’d come up with after he and Marley Monroe broke up. He’d sold the T-shirts. She had written a breakup album about him that went platinum.

To be honest, I hated the sight of my brother’s name stretched over the swell where my baby was.

I pulled her into me, smiling down at her, ready to get her out of that T-shirt. Not only so I could get to what was underneath it, but so I could throw it in the fireplace.