Make You Mine. Niobia Bryant

she felt.

      Maybe he had a date and just came home to change before he went back out. It had crossed her mind over the last two weeks just how much time he spent away from the house. She knew having an unwanted housemate (who was pregnant with his child) had to be cramping his style.

      Suddenly feeling hungry, Caress threw off the mink throw she had put across her lap and made her way back to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure if it was the baby or the emotional mess that made her crave a snack, but she wasn’t going to deny it. She grabbed a big bowl and heaped it with Rum Raisin ice cream and then added tons of caramel and whipped cream. The very thought of digging into it made her do a little dance. As she slid a big scoop of the cold and creamy delight into her mouth, she did The Wop, an old school dance move.

      A chuckle from behind her made her whirl around in surprise.

      Julius was leaning in the doorway watching her with a huge grin on his face. He looked good in the fitted white sweater he wore with loose-fitting dark denims. The color perfectly emphasized his dark complexion.

      Caress felt a flutter in her chest as she looked at him. “Hey, Julius,” she said.

      “If it’s that good, than I need to try some,” he teased as he strode into the kitchen with that cocky, bowlegged swagger of his that only hinted that he was well endowed.

      Caress picked up the bowl from the counter and grabbed a clean spoon from the drawer to offer to him. “It’s good to me, but I’m pregnant and loving pickles wrapped in cheese right now.”

      Julius stood before her and the scent of his cologne surrounding her caused her pulse to race. He accepted the spoon and dug out a heap to slide in his mouth.

      Caress’s mouth opened just a bit at the short flick of his tongue against the base of the spoon as he ate the ice cream. Her heart was beating so fast and hard that she worried he would hear it. “Is it good?” she asked, immediately hating the breathlessness of her tone.

      Julius nodded and looked down at her.

      Caress’s cheeks warmed and she felt a warm tingle start at her toes and explode deep within the walls of her core. She intensely remembered the last time she asked him that very same question. The memory made her shiver.

      She had been sprawled out before him in the middle of the bed, her hands caressing the back of his head as he used his tongue to give her core that first intimate stroke.

      “Is it good?” she had asked him then too.

      Julius’s eyes dropped down to her mouth and Caress licked them nervously. Anxiously. Expectantly.

      It would be so easy to fling the bowl of ice cream to the floor and strip Julius of just enough clothing to taste his nipples while she rode him on the floor.

      But she couldn’t.

      She wouldn’t.

      Caress shifted past him and used her spoon to put another scoop of ice cream in her mouth. It melted like snowflakes against fire. Considering how hot she felt for Julius, she didn’t doubt it. “You’re home earlier than usual,” she said trying to diffuse the chemistry. Ease the ache. Cool the flames.

      Jesus.

      “I finished selecting all of the photos for my book today and decided to give myself and my assistant a much-needed break.”

      Caress smiled genuinely as she looked over at him as he made himself a bowl of ice cream. “Congratulations, Julius.”

      He glanced over at her. “Thanks. I’m really excited about it.”

      “I can’t wait to see it,” she said with honesty.

      Julius leaned his hard buttocks against the counter as he ate his ice cream. “Traveling to Africa was really a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to go back.”

      Caress slid onto one of the black leather stools beside the island. “I’ve never been farther than New York. I can’t even imagine what being in Africa would be like.”

      Julius pushed off the counter and swaggered over to stand on the opposite side of the island. “I love to travel. I’ve been to Europe, Asia, all over America. It’s good to see other worlds, other people. It helps to broaden your scope of possibilities for yourself. It lets you know what’s possible. What’s attainable.”

      Caress nodded. “For me right now I just want to attain a job and my own place.”

      Julius set his bowl down on the island. “I’m not rushing you, Caress,” he told her in a serious tone.

      “I know…I’m rushing myself,” she insisted with truth.

      The comfortable mood in the room switched.

      Both of their thoughts were filled with the baby she was carrying. Their addition to the world. Both wished it could have been under different circumstances.

      In the silence, Caress’s stomach grumbled loudly.

      Julius made a face before he flung his handsome head back and laughed. “I don’t think that ice cream is going to do it.”

      Caress chuckled as she stirred the concoction that was beginning to melt. “Me either. I guess the baby is hollering for more.”

      “Why don’t I cook us all something?” Julius offered, reaching across the island for her bowl to carry to the sink along with his.

      “You can cook?” she asked.

      “I’m not G. Garvin or anyone like that but I do all right.”

      Caress smiled, admitting only to herself that it felt good to chill out with Julius. She was enjoying just being in his company. But then that made her acutely aware that feeling comfortable like this around Julius was addictive and not a good idea.

      The night between them was a one-night stand—her first, last, and only. It might have lead to other sensual hook-ups but definitely was not the starting point for a relationship.

      And now they were having a baby together.

      It definitely went against the whole equation of dating then marriage then a family. She was a child of foster care and she learned from Tamara that Julius’s familial background wasn’t much better than hers with a daddy who was MIA and a street-loving mother. If anything, they both should have been the poster children for the whole Huxtable scenario.

      Emotions began to swarm her. Mostly the fear of the unknown.

      Their date had been entertaining. Fun. Needed.

      The sex with Julius had been intense. Gratifying. Satisfying.

      But hindsight is 20/20 and she would gladly… gladly give up that night if she had known she would wind up pregnant.

      Gladly.

      Julius heard Caress get up from the island and he looked briefly away from the grilled cheese sandwiches he was making to watch her leave the kitchen. His forehead furrowed at the downward slope of her shoulders.

      His immediate instinct was to go to her, but did she want his comfort?

      Tonight was the most conversation they shared with each other since their initial meeting upon his return from Africa. He knew it couldn’t be easy for her. He knew she had to be scared. She had to be nervous. She had to be stressed.

      None of it was good for the baby.

      As he finished up the grilled cheese sandwiches and warmed up a large can of vegetable soup, he made a mental note to talk to Tamara.

       Or I could just ask Caress myself.

      Honestly, he was holding back from getting to know her even more because he didn’t want to give her the wrong impression. He wasn’t looking for a relationship. He wasn’t ready to be a family man.

      And he had the distinct feeling that she wanted to make sure he understood that she honestly wasn’t trying