16. Will

16

WILL

W e ride straight to my hotel room. Tomorrow I'll arrange to pack up Stella's belongings and get them sent here. She told me she has a week left on her contract, and I call Maxine to tell her I'll be working remotely for a week. My clients will have to wait.

I'm not leaving Stella's side until I have her safely back at Wild Heart Mountain. I'll arrange to get the bikes shipped back, and I'll hire a car to drive us and her stuff back. I don't want her riding all those miles in her condition.

We park the bikes outside the motel, and I take her hand to lead her to my room. I can't believe I've finally got Stella beside me, and I grasp her hand firmly. The ring presses into my flesh, and the warmth of her skin sends heat skittering through my body.

Even before we get to my room, I'm hard for her.

I've spent six months fantasizing about Stella, and now that she's in my room I can't wait any longer. As soon as we shut the door behind us, I pull her close.

Her baby mound bumps against me and I run my hands over it, enjoying the new shape of her body.

"I missed you." I breathe in her scent as I nuzzle my face into her neck.

"I missed you too." It comes out as a sigh, and she sags against me. I hold her cheeks in my palms and notice the dark circles under her eyes and the creases that weren't there before.

She's been carrying this load all by herself, and now I'm here to unburden her.

I kiss her cheeks and her lips and trail my mouth down her neck. Stella gives a little sigh of pleasure that I feel all the way in my dick.

"Come here." I lead her over to the bed and she sits on the edge, her legs parted to accommodate her baby bump.

I kneel before her and nestle between her thighs. I'm not sure what the protocol is when you're pregnant. I want her like crazy but don't want to cause her discomfort.

"Are you okay to make love?"

She smiles shyly up at me. "I don't know. I haven't tried it."

Relief floods me at those words. I haven't been with anyone either and I hoped she hadn't, but it's good to hear the confirmation.

"Tell me if anything feels uncomfortable. "

She traces her fingers down my arms, and the hairs stand to attention. "I will."

Her touch fires my desire, and I slide my hands around her waist and draw her into me. Our lips collide, and six months of longing pours into the kiss.

My body aches for Stella and so does my heart. To hold her in my arms again touches a place deep inside of me. Since I lost my parents and then my sister, I've been lost. But with Stella, I'm home again.

My hands slide under her jacket, and I slip it off her shoulders. Her arms pimple with the sudden cold and I run my hands over her skin, warming her up. She's wearing a t-shirt that strains against her chest, and I slide it over her head and feast my eyes on her perfect swollen breasts.

They're larger than when I first met her and just as perfect.

I cup them in my palm and run a finger over her nipple. Stella sucks in her teeth and jerks back.

"They're a little sensitive right now."

I pull away from her breasts and move my hand down to her waist. I've been dreaming about her breasts, but I'll have to wait another few months to play out my fantasies.

Stella reaches forward and hooks her thumb under my t-shirt and pulls it off my head. Her fingers trace over my skin, and I suck in a breath at the sensation.

She reaches my belt and undoes it in a flurry of need. We pull at each other's clothes, discarding them in a pile on the floor .

I roll with her onto the bed, the baby bump not stopping me from entwining my body with hers.

"It might help if I go on top." Stella rolls on top of me, and I lie back as she climbs over me.

The sight before me is a vision. Stella rising above me, her baby bump and swollen breasts lending new curves to her voluptuous body.

"I've missed this so much," she moans as she slides me between her folds.

I let Stella guide me, and her gaze finds mine as she sinks onto me. I groan in pleasure as she engulfs me in her sticky heat.

My hands find her hips, needing to hold onto her, and I grind her down on me until I fill every inch of her.

It's better than I remembered, it's better than I've fantasized about. It feels like coming home.

"Stella…" This is better than anything I could have imagined, and I can't find the words to tell her how much she means to me.

Stella leans forward, and her hair trails down my chest.

"I love you," I whisper.

"I love you too."

Her hands clasp the headboard and she grinds into me, moving her hips in a hypnotic sway. I watch my woman bring herself to climax, and when she comes down I take her hips and lift her up and down my shaft until I too fall into oblivion. To a place where nothing else matters but the feel of her wrapped around me .

Afterwards we lie in each other's arms, talking about everything we've been doing during our time apart.

I order takeout and we lie in bed eating straight out of the cartons.

Stella rubs her belly and swings her legs out of bed. "I need to stretch my legs."

She pulls on a robe and paces the room with one hand protectively on her baby bump. "It gets uncomfortable sitting in one place for too long."

"You want to go for a walk?" It's nearly midnight, but if she wants to walk then that's what we'll do.

"The baby's always active at night."

We pull on our clothes and head out into the night. I keep my arm around Stella and we walk a few blocks, talking about our plans for moving to the mountain.

I tell her about the MC and the other old ladies and how they'll be able to give advice and help when the baby comes.

"There's a medical center in Hope that might have work, but you don't need to work if you don't want to. If you want to stay home and raise our kids, that's fine too."

"Kids?" Her eyebrows raise into the air.

I place a hand on her belly and feel the life growing in there. "We're not stopping at one. I want a large family. We're starting our own empire here. Let's make it a big one."

Stella smiles a tight smile and doesn't say anything. She stops walking and turns to me. We're next to a small park, and her face is half in shadow from a large tree that we've stopped under .

"I need to tell you something."

My heart sinks. She's changed her mind; she doesn't want to come back with me. She really does want to raise the baby on her own.

"What is it?"

She opens her mouth to speak when a movement from the park catches my eye. I pull her toward me and put my finger to my lips to silence her.

A man walks down the pathway in the center of the park. His steps are quick, his hands are in his pockets, and he glances furtively around him from under a hoody. The tree shields us from view, and I pull Stella further into the shadows.

As the man in the hoody reaches the end of the path, another man steps out of the shadows. They nod to each other, and without speaking the man in the hoody sticks his hand out. They shake hands, exchanging something. The man steps back and blends into the shadows, while the hoody man jogs out of the park.

I pull Stella away from the park and back towards the hotel. I've got my phone out, and I note the name of the street as I put in a call to the police.

"Drug dealer," I mouth to Stella. "Get inside the motel and don't come out until I knock."

She looks like she wants to say something, but she doesn't argue.

Once she's safely inside, I call the local police and tell them what I saw. I tell them exactly where they can find the dealer. They promise to send someone, and I hope they get the fucker .

When I get back to the hotel, Stella's on the bed rubbing her belly thoughtfully.

"I hope they get that scum," I mutter.

She nibbles on her nails. "Why are you so tough on drugs?"

I pace the room, the anger raging inside me. "Because they destroy lives."

She looks upset, and I sit on the bed and take a deep breath to calm the rage. "Sorry, I'm not angry at you. I lost my sister to a drug overdose."

Her face floods with sympathy, and she takes my hands. "I'm so sorry."

There are tears in her eyes and that means something to me, that she feels my pain.

"After our parents passed, I went into the military. Cara was away at college, and I thought she was okay. She was my older sister and always seemed to have it together."

I run a hand over my face at the painful memory. Cara was bubbly and outgoing. I didn't understand until it was too late that her attitude hid an internal struggle.

"Her roommate told me that it started with smoking pot at frat parties. But after my parents died, she got into harder stuff. She was prescribed anti-depressants, and when they stopped her prescription, she found other ways to procure what she needed to numb the pain.

"Her roommate found her one night passed out and couldn't revive her. The ambulance was called, but she was already gone. She had a combination of alcohol and Fentanyl in her system. "

I take a deep breath as the memory of that call floods my brain. I was posted in Afghanistan and didn't hear about Cara until two days after she died. I came straight home, not believing that my bright sister could go out like that.

"The police found a stash in her room. Someone sold a vulnerable woman that shit, and I will never forgive them for it. Drug dealers are the scum of the earth. They should all be locked up with no chance of parole."

My fist slams into my palm, and Stella jumps. She's got her knees pulled up to her chest, and she's gone pale.

I'm an idiot for getting angry and scaring her. I run my hands down her arms. She's cold, and I need to get her into bed. "Are you okay?"

Stella bites the end of her fingernail, and when she looks at me there are tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry about your sister."

She's whispering and pale, and I'm suddenly aware it's almost 1:00 a.m. and she's pregnant, and I should be looking after her and not bringing up things that happened in the past that I can't change.

"Let's get some sleep."

Stella doesn't say a word as she changes into her pajamas and uses the bathroom. By the time I'm finished brushing my teeth, she's lying on her side. I snuggle into her, annoyed at myself for keeping her up late.

I have to take better care of my future wife.