BEST FRIEND’S BROTHER

He was gentle with her because she was pregnant, but there was no hesitation in his movement as he pulled her down on top of him, feeling the lush resistance of her ripening flesh against the sudden hard throbbing of his.” Maybe I think I can change your mind,” came his soft groan as he tangled his fingers in her French plait and brought her mouth down to his.

He kissed her, and that was all he did. He didn’t grapple with her clothing or try to explore the contours of her body. Just lay there with his fingers nonchalantly threaded into her hair, his lips alternatively sweet and soft and hard and hungry. It was both passive and seeking. Innocent and immensely experienced. It was a slow, drugging seduction and it was entirely new to her. And Sasha was completely unprepared for its impact. With Kaleb everything had always been so hot and immediate. As if the world would end if they didn’t join their bodies together as quickly as possible.

She lay dazed and unfurling on top of him, feeling the honeyed pulsing of desire as it stealthily invaded her body.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Kaleb knew that he had to stop. This was unlike anything in his experience. More beautiful than anything he’d ever felt. And in a minute he’d….

Sasha blinked as he tore his mouth away to somehow gather her up into his arms and gracefully maneuver them both to a standing position, and only when she felt the ground beneath her feet did he let her go.

“Sasha-”

“You’re out of breath,” she gasped.

“So are you.” He paused, still disorientated by that kiss. “And your hair is all over the place.” She brushed a damp curl off her cheek, feeling the sweat as it pricked her forehead. She brushed a few strands of dry grass from her sleeve and began to walk towards the house.

He walked by her side across the springy turf. “Can I come to the clinic with you when you go? And see the scan? I want to see the baby’s heart beating.”

Suddenly she felt weird, “Really? You want to come?”

He tensed, hoping she wasn’t going to exclude him from that, “I do. I really want to come… If you’d let me,”

A smile broke out on her lips and suddenly he was smiling too, and if this had been a normal relationship she would have flung her arms around him and he would have picked her up and twirled her round like a carousel. But it wasn’t a normal relationship. And Sasha realized that they had avoided discussing some very practical issues.

“People are going to start noticing soon,” she said.

“Hasn’t anyone noticed already? Especially Tilly… I used to think nothing could go past her.”

Sasha smiled. “She hasn’t really figured it out, but she knows something is up with me. If she suspects pregnancy, which I’m sure she doesn’t, she hasn’t said anything. What do you want me to say, if anyone asks?”

Kaleb studied her. She was asking his opinion and yet he didn’t count, not really. She’d made love to him and was carrying his child as a consequence. Then she had lain kissing on the grass with him-but now he offered to do the decent thing and live with her she didn’t want to know.

“Kaleb?” She butted into his thoughts. “What do you want me to tell people?”

He felt the anger rising up inside him, and he turned his face away, so that all she could see was a shadowed profile etched softly against the dusky evening light. “That’s entirely up to you.”

She wished he would help her out. Did he enjoy seeing her have to ask these humiliating questions? “So if I tell people that you’re the… father-you won’t mind?”

“Why should I? They’re going to find out soon enough,” he said flatly.” Because as soon as the baby is born I shall be applying for custody.”

“What?” asked Sasha as she willed herself to stop shaking long enough for Kaleb to repeat what he just said. She took a great gulping breath of air which steadied her voice. “You are going to fight me for custody of the baby once he or she is born? But you can’t do that,”

But she knew she was wrong. Who says he couldn’t do it? He could do any damn thing he wanted. He was rich. He was powerful. He was influential. What judge was going to look at him and compare him favorably to her -a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

Struggling to start her own business, finish her masters and to bring a baby up at the same time.”

Sasha groaned. She knew there was also a current backlash against working mothers. The belief that women who put their careers before their babies are uncaring? This could be used against her, and although she knew that she wouldn’t put anything or anyone before her child, there was still a big swing in favor of fathers at the moment. Fathers were clamoring to be heard-saying that they were just as capable of bringing up a child as the mother. What was she going to do?

Kaleb was staring at her with a stubborn look on his face and suddenly Sasha felt too weak to fight or argue with him.

“I think I’m ready to tell my family that I’m going to be a father. I don’t know if your parents know yet, but you should invite them to dinner here this weekend. We can tell them together,”

Sasha resisted the strong urge to punch him in the face, “You’re not taking my baby away from me.” she said,

He frowned, “It’s my baby too, Sasha. Our baby”

She shoved him with both palms on his chest, but she felt so weak that she made no impact on his stamina. He didn’t even move an inch. “No, Kaleb. It’s my baby, and I’m letting you be involved. No one is going to take my baby away from me and until the baby comes, stay the hell away from me!”

She breezed past him and grabbed her bag before he could stop her, then she practically ran out of his house to her car, telling herself that she mustn’t cry. She had to be stronger now. For herself and for the baby, but when she got home and finally shut the door behind her, she slipped onto the floor and burst into tears.