Cory pulled out and pulled her to her feet when he knew he’d had enough. He spun her in one quick turn and moved his fingers between her legs. “Jesus, baby,” he rasped just below her ear. Alexis almost handed over the lead. Her own moans absconded as her body relinquished all control. And just like that, jurisdiction had been taken back. As hard as it was and as much as she didn’t want his fingers to stop what they were doing, Alexis turned on him and moved him toward the sofa. Cory complied and sat on couch. He tried to pull her with him by her hand, but Alexis stopped him. She’d planned on doing what he directed her to do, but not on his terms. She was the dominant one tonight, not him.
She wondered how Camille did it and if she was being as seductive as she was. This was a little out of her territory, but she could do it. Alexis could be provocative, too. Cory’s hands held her hips and hers held his. Her hips slid down him, whirled in a circle, and back up. Her arched back pressed her breasts toward him, but not close enough for his lips to latch on. She did tease him with her tongue, kissing and teasing his. Moans slipped from her chest and throat on the brink of release.
“Oh, hell, Cory, flip me over.”
Cory gladly took back control and rolled her to her back. Unlike Alexis, he didn’t move slowly in and out of her. He moved quick, rapid, and deep until her nails dug in his back and she called out his name. Plunging one last time, Cory moaned his own gratifying whimper.
“Jesus, girl.” Their breaths moved in sync as they both calmed and came down together. Alexis smiled to herself, boasting in success. The thought of Camille crossed her mind again while she hoped she compared.
***
Thanksgiving was spent at the McKinley farm with the entire family. It was the first time ever Alexis wanted to go home after the meal. For whatever stupid reason, the morning sickness decided to show back up that morning, and the noise from all the kids running around didn’t help. It was cold out and everyone, including the loud kids, were stuck inside.
Walt sat beside Alexis off to herself in a lawn chair. The picnic bench hurt her back. “You okay, Sputter Bug?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just a little nauseous today.”
“Shouldn’t you be over that by now? When do you go to the doctor again?”
“I thought I was. I go next week.”
“I still can’t believe my baby girl is going to have a baby. Are we planning a wedding soon?”
“Dad.”
Walt read the look loud and clear. He raised both hands and surrendered. “Okay, okay, just asking. It would make your mom very happy.”
Alexis patted his knee and stood. “I’m going to head home.”
“You don’t have to leave. I said I was sorry.”
“I don’t feel well, Dad. I just want to go lay on my couch.”
“Okay, I’ll call and check on you later. I love you.”
“I know. I love you, too.”
Jesus, she was irritable. She snapped at Bernie for no reason, and stopped herself before she did it with Riki. Of course, Riki didn’t want to leave. She needed to eat the pumpkin cupcakes that she helped decorate. Taking some home wasn’t good enough. She had to eat them with Emily.
“You can go, Lex. I’ll drop her off,” Sam offered.
“She’s ready for a nap.”
“Me not tired.”
Travis stopped them next. “Whoa, Cory. I thought we were going to go throw the poles in the pond.”
“Next time. Alexis wants to go.”
“I can drive myself home. You can go, just bring Riki when you come.”
“No, that’s okay. I’d rather come with you.”
Alexis held the irritability as best she could. “Cory, go with Travis. I’m fine. I’m just going to go home and lay on the couch. Go.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Go.”
Alexis was happy to be home alone. She forgot how quiet it was without Riki running around. As soon as she was in comfortable cotton pants and the fire burned warmly, she lay on the sofa and flipped on the Steelers game. Mr. Dog rested beside her and it felt like old times. Just her and Mr. Dog. It wasn’t that she regretted Cory or Riki. She’d just forgotten how quiet it was around there without them. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. Her eyes closed and then opened. Seriously?
Instantly irritated, she heard Cory and Riki on the porch and then the door opened. Was one afternoon too much to ask for?
“Shhh, Lexis is sleeping.”
“Me want her.”
“No, let’s go in the den. We’ll play in there.”
“No, me want Wexis.”
Alexis’s smiled and raised her blanket. “Come here, baby. Wait. Take her jeans off, Cory.” Cory slid Riki out of her jeans and she climbed in beside of Alexis. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going fishing for a little while with Travis,” she questioned as her lips brushed the hair from Riki’s forehead.
“Riki’s belly didn’t feel good.”
“What’s the matter, sweetie?”
“Me belwy not feel good.”
“Let’s take a nap. I bet it will feel better when we wake up.” Riki really didn’t feel good. She didn’t argue the nap at all. Her eyes were closed in two seconds. Alexis dozed off, too, but not for long, maybe twenty minutes. That was Riki’s fault, or her little body anyway. Alexis woke to tingling in her fingers and a numb arm. Riki barely moved when Alexis slid her off her arm and got up. Cory was reclined, asleep, with his arms covered by Riki’s baby blanket in the chair next to them, and Mr. Dog had moved to his side. Traitor. The Steelers were down by three with twelve seconds left in the game. After watching them lose to the Browns, Alexis went to the den and worked for a while.
These hormones were like Jekyll and Hyde. One minute, she was pissed off and the next, this. Cropping photos were doing little to take her mind from it.
“What are you doing?” Cory asked from the door when he woke and couldn’t find her.
Alexis leaned back in her chair and spoke through narrowed eyes. “Working and thinking.”
“About?”
“You waking up before Riki and taking care of me.”
“You need taken care of?”
“I do.”
“Then get your ass over here. I love taking care of you, how would you like for me to take care of you?”
Alexis stood and turned her back to his front. Her arms moved behind her and around his neck where her fingers played with the hair at the nape of his neck.
“What do you want me to do, Alexis?”
“Are you really going to make me tell you?” She replied by pulling out on her pants and directing his hand between the elastic. “Right here.”
Cory obliged and moved her slipperiness between her folds. “Dammit, Alexis. You do crazy things to me,” he admitted in her ear. Alexis moaned and arched her back. This was going to take about sixty seconds.
“What you do, Daddy?” Riki asked from the den door. Cory removed his hand with a contrite sigh.
“Daddy was just helping Lexis straighten up the papers on her desk.”
Alexis pressed her ass against his hardness and spun from his arms. Cory grumbled and let her go. Damn.
“Are you getting hungry, Ms. Riki?” Alexis asked. Again, she refrained from picking her up and took her hand.
“My belwy hungry.”
“Mine too. Let’s go see what Grandma Lola sent home.”
“Her gived us turkey.”
“Mmmm, I love turkey.”
Alexis and Riki were in the kitchen warming up the leftovers from the Thanksgiving feast when Cory came to join them.
“Me get a Christmas tree amorrow,” Riki informed her dad.
“No, not tomorrow, next Saturday,” Alexis corrected her.
Alexis set her plate in front of her and then set one in front of Cory.
“You okay?” she asked with a wink, tousling his hair.
“No. I’m not.” He pouted and she laughed.
&nbs
p; They ate their dinner and talked about getting the tree the next weekend, and about Santa Claus coming.
“Santa bring a baby,” Riki presumed as she dipped turkey in mustard on her plate. Gross.
“No, the baby won’t be done by Christmas,” Cory explained.
“Him have a cook more in Wexis belwy.”
“Sort of,” Cory replied. Of course, that wasn’t good enough for her inquisitive little mind.
“How dat baby get in there?”
Cory looked to Alexis.
“Oh, no, don’t look at me. You’re the doctor.”
“The baby starts out like an egg and then it grows into a baby.”
Riki giggled. “Wexis waid a egg.”
“No. Lexis didn’t lay an egg. The baby is growing in her belly, just like you did.”
“Me was in Wexis belly, too,” she stated matter-of-factly.
“Eat your supper.” No way. Not this day. He wasn’t going there yet. She wouldn’t understand it anyway.
Alexis picked up an ink-pen in the middle of the table, wrote on her napkin, and slid it to Cory.
I’m still wet.
An arrow went through a heart just below the tormenting sentence. Cory wadded the paper-towel note into his fist.
“Really?”
Alexis giggled the same way Riki had and winked with an ornery grin. He tried to see the truth behind the note below the table, but she stopped him. The sexual tension between them grew for the rest of the evening, mostly because of Alexis. She tormented Cory every chance she got, kissing, touching, rubbing, and walking around half naked. She blamed her hotness on the hormones when she removed her bottoms, leaving a long shirt barely covering the pink lace.
It wasn’t until after bath and snack time that Cory finally got even. Riki had just fallen asleep and Alexis was closing the door behind her.
“Jesus, you scared the hell out of me. What are you doing?”
Cory crossed his ankles against the adjacent wall and slid his hands to his pockets. “Go downstairs to the den.”
“Why?”
Cory came to an upright position and took a step toward her. “I’m going to finish what you started.”
Alexis thumbed toward their room. “But the bed’s—”
Cory stopped her words by covering her lips with his finger. “I don’t want the bed. I want you bent over the desk. Be a good girl and do as you’re told.”
No problem. The instant excitement between her legs led the way. The journey to the end was tense, quiet, and a little mysterious. Cory walked a few steps behind with the sound of his feet audibly letting her know he was there. She stopped at the desk and turned to face Cory. The pocket doors slowly closed at his hands and he turned to face her.
“Take off your clothes.”
That was an easy one. One movement with her arms left her with nothing but pink panties. Her thumbs hooked the elastic at both hips and she seductively slid them down. Cory closed the distance between them with a cautious, enigmatic look, no words. His eyes locked with hers as his hands went to her bare shoulders. The grip he held was firm, yet gentle, until he reached her wrists. That’s when he spun her and slammed her hands flat against her desk.
“Don’t move from this position.”
Yeah, like she could move anyway. She couldn’t have had she tried. Her breath caught as soon as his fingers found the pulsating between her legs and she whimpered. His lips trailed her back and he pressed into her backside.
“God, I want to be rough with you.”
He shouldn’t have said that. That made her think about Camille. What did that even mean? Whatever it meant, it excited the hell out of her.
“Do what you want.”
“I am.”
He lied. He wasn’t doing anything he hadn’t already done a hundred times. What the hell did that mean? Alexis obeyed and kept her hands flat against the wood surface while Cory persecuted her with his quick, forceful fingers until she was spent. He let her reach the top and then stopped. Her breathing became almost nonexistent and she barely moved. Only the slow anticipating breaths moved her body. Cory’s hands reached around her and he grasped the edge of the desk with his hands covering hers. Moans escaped at precisely the same time when Cory moved into her. Alexis enjoyed every second, but her mind still focused on what he said. He wanted to be rough. She knew without a doubt that’s what Camille had meant. She could be as erotic as she could be and it wouldn’t be enough, not like Camille.
“Oh, baby, please tell me you’re ready,” Cory begged as he stood to an upright position and held her hips. She wasn’t ready, but it only took a second for her to get there. The hold on her hips and the way he plowed in and out of her mixed with the sounds of raw sex brought her there.
“Yes, I’m ready,” Alexis rasped. Her moans called out in loud erotic pleasure just as Cory’s body dropped to hers.
“Cory?”
Cory took a couple audible breaths and then panted, “Yeah?”
“What did you mean?”
Cory pulled out of her and turned her to face him. “About?”
“Being rough. You said you wish you could be rough with me.”
“I meant because you’re pregnant. I have to be easy with you.”
“That’s all?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Like I just want to make sure you’re okay, satisfied.”
“You’re joking. Of course I am. I can’t get enough of you.”
“But what about if I make it to being fat.”
“You’re not going to be fat. You’re pregnant, and stop thinking you’re not going to make it there. You’re fine. We’re going to have a baby in a little over six months. And yes. I’ll still want to bend you over this desk then, too.” Alexis could only hope he was being honest. It was the only thing she had to go on.
It was unquestionably the hormones. Alexis went back to work after the long weekend, but couldn’t stay focused on the photos in front of her. She even tried working the studio to busy herself. That didn’t work, either. She sat at her desk with a plop and texted Cory.
Alexis—Something is wrong with me.
“What’s wrong?”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “You didn’t have to call me. I didn’t mean anything like that, Cory.”
“You text me and tell me something is wrong, I’m going to call you. Are you okay?”
“Yes, it’s nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know, hormones.”
“Hormones?”
“I was hoping maybe we could run home for lunch.”
Cory’s voice held the smile. “You’re horny?”
“I told you something is wrong with me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re right, it’s the hormones. Come and see me, we’ll take the new car out and christen it.”
“You want to have sex in the car?”
“Yes, I don’t have time to run home. We’ll ride over to the covered bridge.”
“When?”
“Right now.”
“On my way.”
Alexis stuck her head in the studio and interrupted the shoot Bernie was in the middle of. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
Bernie turned with a puzzled look. “Where you going?”
“I have to run over to the Cory’s office. I won’t be long.”
Cory jumped in the passenger side and leaned over for a kiss. A real kiss. The town cop interjected with a horn beep and a wave.
Alexis waved back and put the car in drive. “Geesh, we doing this here?”
“No, drive.”
Alexis drove over to the covered bridge and pulled behind an oilrig. The khakis held closed by a hair tie came off and she moved to Cory’s lap. It was fast and to the point. Satisfaction was granted rather quickly for both of them and they were headed back toward town minutes later.
“Mrs. Martin thinks we need to start correcting Riki’s vocabulary.
”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that, too. Emily’s speech is a lot clearer. Is she older or younger?”
“She’s a couple months older, but she hasn’t had an issue with her letters since she was like two. I’ll start working with her.”
“Me too.” Cory got out at the office and walked to the driver’s side. “You going to be okay for the rest of the day?”
“I think so. Thank you.”
“No, thank you. I love your raging hormones. I might just have to keep you this way.”
“Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“No thank you. I’ll see you later, Doc.”
“You call me anytime.”
Alexis laughed and kissed him. “I love you. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I love you, too.”
***
Cory drove over to the McKinley farm Saturday morning to borrow Walt’s truck. A Christmas tree would never fit in either of their vehicles. Riki was beside herself. She couldn’t wait to pick out a tree and decorate it.
“Him coming now!” Riki exclaimed when she saw the truck coming up the lane.
“Riki, say he is coming.”
“Him is, see?”
Alexis laughed and dropped it. They’d start the English lesson after Christmas. Maybe. What did that preschool teacher know anyway? She was three.
Alexis made homemade pizza while Cory cussed at the real tree, getting pricked by the needles and trying to get the damn thing in the stand. Alexis laughed for the tenth time, hearing him call the tree a bastard again. She laughed again when he chastised Riki for calling the tree a bastard, too.
The plan was purple and silver. Alexis had always wanted a purple and silver tree, but thought it silly to buy decorations for a tree for herself. She got the purple and the silver along with red, green, blue, white, and bright pink. Riki went shopping with her. The silver garland turned into blue, pink, and white and her tree was the cutest tree in Brady County. Hands down.
“This tree is hideous,” Cory whispered while Riki rearranged the red bulbs. They had to be together. Red bulbs clumped together in one place while the rest stayed close with their own kind.
Alexis laughed and elbowed him in the gut. “It’s not hideous. I love our tree.”
“Me wuv it, too.”