Hormonal Hat Trick

Britt

Oh, the tangled web we weave when first we practice to... manage a pregnancy? Let's just say, my streets are echoing with more than just the usual gossip today. Here I am, privy to a spectacle as Britt navigates the tempest of hormonal fluctuation with the grace of a cat on a hot tin roof. And Pru? Ever the maternal figure, she's thrown for a loop, leading to accusations more suited to a soap opera. Accusations that are way off the mark, mind you. But between bathroom dashes and breakouts in tears, it's a day for the books. Hang onto your hats—or should I say, your office chairs—because when hormones are the pilot, you never know where you'll land. And poor Holden? He's about to swoop in and try to make sense of it all. Good luck, my boy, you're going to need it!

Playlist: "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys

"Everything okay, Britt?"

I squirm in my chair, trying to get comfortable. It's a losing battle. "Yeah, I'm good. I might take another bathroom break in a minute here."

Pru drums her fingers on the desk. "Another one? You've already taken three this morning, and it's not even ten."

I grit my teeth. "I'm well hydrated, Pru. Is that a crime? Don't you people drink water up here in Bumfuck Nowhere, or is that a city thing?"

Pru's jaw drops, and my irritation is immediately replaced with guilt. I groan and slump forward, with my head in my hands.

"Sorry, Pru. I didn't mean it. I'm just… I'm having kind of a hard day, and…" My bottom lip wobbles. What the hell is wrong with me? It's like I'm two people at once: the Britt who can tell that I am behaving erratically, and the Britt who can't stop herself from going off the rails. I don't know why I snapped at Pru. I don't know why, ten seconds later, I'm reaching for a tissue as I fight back tears.

Actually, scratch that. It's hormones. Nobody warned me that being pregnant is like PMS times a million, but it sucks.

"Honey." Pru takes a deep breath and steeples her fingers beneath her chin. "I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me. Are you using?"

"Using what?" I sniff.

"Whatever you kids use these days. Bath salts? Pills? I can't keep up."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I sniffle into my Kleenex, so preoccupied with my misery over my body's betrayal that I don't notice that Pru's reaching for her landline. She puts the phone on the speaker setting she usually reserves for conference calls and leans back in her chair, watching me warily.

After a few rings, the person on the other end picks up. Holden's voice is crackly but instantly recognizable.

"Hey, Pru," he says. "Everything okay?"

"That depends. Holden, is there any chance your girlfriend has a drug problem?"

"No!" I screech, totally ignoring her use of a very official sounding label, at the same time that Holden asks, "Huh? What makes you think that?"

Pru flaps a hand in my direction. "She's cranky. She can't sit still. She's in and out of the office. She's blowing her nose."

Holden chuckles. "She's not on drugs."

Pru clearly doesn't believe him. "Listen, I'm not judging. This place makes me want to do drugs, too. Don't think I haven't thought I'd be a little happier with a hit or two of the devil's lettuce, or a nice hash brownie to start the day off, but she's being weird."

"I'm not being weird!" I wail. For no discernable reason, I start crying in earnest.

"See?" Pru points at me. "That's what I'm talking about. Something's up, and I think you had better come get her. This is outside of my pay grade."

Holden snorts into the receiver. "You got it, Pru."

Pru ends the call. "Do you want to talk about what's going on?" she asks me.

"After you just called my friend to tell him that I'm being unbearable at work?" I manage a watery smile to let her know that I'm not taking her criticism personally, even though I totally am. "I'm pretty sure it's hormones."

Pru's mouth forms an O of understanding. "Oh, golly. I didn't think of that… I'm well past my days of getting visits from Miss Flo, and mine were always mild."

I consider telling her that Miss Flo's on vacation for the foreseeable future—at least eight months, plus however long before my period starts up again. I should probably start researching the details of all the weird things I'm about to go through. Usually when I don't know something, I hop on the research bandwagon because I like knowing things. When it comes to pregnancy and childbirth, though, there's a lot I don't know. Details I could glean from talking to Beth, for example, or questioning Nurse Aggie. Or, hell, even asking my own mother.

Truth be told, I've been procrastinating on that front. I'm still not sure how to feel about the fact that I'm going to be a mother. Me. With a baby.

Tierney was supposed to become a mother long before I did.

I can't believe the universe and its twisted timing.

"You poor thing. Off you go. Holden will be here to get you." Pru waves me away. "And if you need to stay home tomorrow, let me know."

"If I could work from home the next few days…" I begin.

Her kind gaze tracks my movements. "Of course. There's no reason for you to be here most days, anyway."

She doesn't add that she'd rather have me stay home than come into the office and torment her with my bad attitude, but it's strongly implied.

I gather up my things and make my way downstairs. It's frigid outside, and the wide hallways of the Miner's Memorial Arena aren't properly heated on off-days. Rather than waiting outside and freezing my ass off, I decide to wait for Holden in the only decently warm place I can find: the empty locker rooms.

After firing off a text to him with my location, I fiddle around on my phone while I wait in a failed attempt to distract myself from my misery. By the time Holden comes to find me, I'm on the verge of tears again.

"Aw, babe." He holds my face in his palms and uses his thumbs to wipe away my tears. "What's wrong?"

"I'm nauseous." I sniff. "And I'm horny. I know those two things don't go together, but that's my life right now. Nothing goes together." My bottom lip wobbles precariously. "I'm such a turn-off. You want to send me back to Minneapolis, I know you do."

Holden seems bemused by my confession, but he tries to be supportive, bless him. "Not true. We got the house together. You love the place now, so there's no sending you back."

I gulp. "Do I?"

"You do. You told me last night." Holden kisses my forehead, then the tip of my nose.

I consider this. I'm pretty sure that everything is terrible. Maybe the Britt of last night missed the memo? "Maybe I lied."

"I don't think so. Lying is bad."

"Maybe I'm bad." I look up at him. "Maybe I'm very, very naughty, and you should do something about it."

Holden's eyebrows shoot skyward. "Okay, I'm starting to see why Pru thought you might be on drugs."

"I didn't proposition Pru." I tug on the zipper of his coat. "I'm your naughty girl. You should spank me, Daddy."

Holden sputters. "Right now? Here? In the locker room? Babe, you don't even know what goes down in here."

There's nothing I can do about my nausea, and my hormones are destined to be out of whack for months. The horniness, however, can be handled, and this is quickly starting to feel like the best idea I've ever had. I step away from Holden and climb onto the locker room bench on all fours. Looking back over one shoulder, I bite my lip.

"I think you'd better punish me," I tell him. "Otherwise, I might not learn my lesson."

Holden hesitates for a moment before unzipping his coat. He hangs it in what I assume is his locker and keeps his back to me for a few seconds. When he turns around again, goosebumps spring up along my spine. His expression has changed, and any doubts I had about his willingness to play along are quickly banished.

"Good girls don't beg to be fucked inside a dirty, filthy locker room, Britt. I'm very disappointed in you." Holden circles around behind me, but he doesn't touch me yet, although I wish he would. "I'm starting to think you might be a little bit of an exhibitionist."

"Mm." I close my eyes. "Maybe."

"The thing is, I think you want to be punished. I think you like being bad."

"Yes," I pant. "You're right. I am so fucking bad. And I'm not even close to being sorry about it."

I don't expect the strike of his palm against my ass, so when it comes, I almost fall off the bench in surprise. He doesn't hit me hard, but even though my pants, it stings.

"Did you like that, too?" Holden asks.

I nod as wetness floods my panties. "Yes. Too much." My arms are trembling. I've never done anything like this before. Not to say that I've never experimented, but I've always been on the other end of this dynamic. The naughty girl talk always seemed icky to me. Not today. My already raging hormones have me keyed up beyond reason.

Holden walks behind me again. He unbuttons my pants and shimmies them down, exposing my ass to the cool air of the locker room. My pussy clenches, desperate to be filled.

Holden's fingers spread me open, and the pad of one thumb grazes my throbbing slit, but he doesn't touch me in any of the ways I so desperately need. "You want it bad, don't you? I bet you're gonna beg."

"Uh-huh," I whimper.

His thumb keeps circling me. "Hm. Then let's make a deal. I'm going to touch you… but you have to be silent. If you make a sound, I'm going to punish you. Got it?"

I nod.

"Good." Holden flicks one finger across my clit, and I jump, but I bite back my cry of surprise. His fingers find the swollen bundle of nerves again and start teasing me. It feels so fucking good, but it's not what I need. I want him inside me.

Holden takes his time. He stokes my clit until all of my limbs are trembling, but he doesn't put so much as a finger inside me. "You're being such a good girl," he purrs. "That feels nice, doesn't it? I bet you want me to fuck you, too. You're so wet." Two of his fingers press against me, but he holds back. "Do you want me to fill you up?"

"Yes!" I fall forward onto my elbows and let my head roll down. "Jesus Christ, Holden!"

He pulls away. "Oh, dear. I thought I told you to be quiet."

"Sorry," I pant. "I'm sorry, I'll be good.

"It's too late for that. So damn naughty." Holden steps in front of me, straddling the bench, and unzips his pants.

I look up at him as he rubs a finger over my bottom lip. He stands there, stroking himself and looking down at me, and I realize he's giving me an out. If we do anything like this again—and I sure hope we do—we should probably negotiate ahead of time.

As a lawyer, elaborate contracts are my thing. If anything, it's a wonder that I've never gotten into kink before.

I lick my lips. "Sorry," I whisper. "I'll try harder. I so want to be good for you."

Holden runs his hand through my hair. His eyelids flutter when I lick my way up his cock and suck the tip into my mouth. Who would have thought that sweet, easygoing Holden would be such a take-charge kind of guy when it counted?

He thrusts into my mouth, and I moan. This is what I needed, and having him in my mouth is just another form of torment. It's hard to complain when my mouth is preoccupied, though. I focus on exploring his length with my tongue.

"That's it." Holden caresses the back of my neck, and I melt. "See? I knew you could do it. Things have been so hard for you lately, haven't they? You deserve something nice. What do you want, Britt? Do you want me to make you come?"

I whine my agreement.

Holden tugs my hair gently and steps away. At this point, I'm pretty much putty. My nausea is gone: I'm nothing but quivering need.

Holden steps behind me, braces his hands on my hips, and pulls me back into his length. At long last, I get some relief, because he doesn't set a steady pace. He's ruthless. In addition to his deep, erratic thrusts, he slides one hand beneath me again, playing with my clit the way he did before. Now that he's inside me, it's perfect. I come so hard that I see stars, and if it weren't for Holden, I'd topple onto the locker room floor.

"Every time I'm in here," Holden rumbles, "I'm going to remember this. I'm going to think about how hard you came for me. About what a good girl you can be."

"Holden—" I gasp. "Holden, please, I want…"

"Tell me."

"Please." I can't make words. I can barely form coherent thoughts. "Please…"

"Do you know how good it feels to be inside you bare, Britt? This is the first time I've ever done this. Your pussy is so hot and wet for me." He grits out a moan. "So I'm gonna fuck you like the filthy girl you are."

He yanks me back one last time, and his cock jumps inside me. His knees give way, and we both have to grab the sides of the bench to keep from falling over.

"Oh my God." Holden buries his face in the collar of my shirt. We're still mostly dressed, and I'm really starting to see the appeal of impromptu sex. We should do this more often.

"Are you okay?" I ask when my thoughts finally come back online and Britt OS reboots.

His hands gently caress the swells of my ass. "Are you? Was that too much?"

"God, no. It was perfect. But my knees…"

Holden pulls out of me, and I realize how much of a mess we've made. These clothes are going right in the wash as soon as we get home.

He helps me to my feet, which takes a little while, since I'm still a quivering mess.

"Do you want to wash up here?" he asks.

"No point." I reach for my coat and hat. "We'll wash up at home. And while we're at it, I can show you all the added benefits of the new shower head I installed last week. Did you know that pregnancy puts three pounds of extra blood inside a woman's body? And that most of that stays below their waist?"

Holden pulls me back for another kiss. "Is that so? You really are a dirty girl."

I squeeze a handful of hockey-toned ass. "You love it."

"I do. I really do." His parting kiss is more tender than before, and I shiver. It's the closest we've come to saying I love you. What's more, I know he means it.

What scares me is that I do, too.