Page 132 of Dirty Like Seth
“Why do you love me?” Even as the words left my mouth, I was afraid to ask. Seth hadn’t told me he loved meyet.
I just knew that hedid.
“Because,” he said, sliding his hands up to cup my face, “when I’m with you, I feel like myself. And somehow, when you look at me, I know that man isenough.”
I slipped my arms around his waist and held him tight against me. “That’s because I love you,Seth.”
Tears sparked in his gray-green eyes. “Why?”
“Because… when I’m with you… I feel like everything’s going to be okay. Even when it’snot.”
“I don’t know how I made you feel that way,” he said. “I never felt that myself, until rightnow.”
“Now?”
“Yeah,” he said, brushing his lips over mine. “Rightnow.”
Then he ran one hand down, over my heart and straight to my belly, where he pressed it, gently. I felt his warmth soak into me, deep inside, and it flooded me withrelief.
I could feel what he was going to say, before he even saidit.
“I’m here, Elle,” he murmured against my skin. “Right here. You need to know that… No matter what happens withDirty.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Elle
It took a few days.Four, actually. It felt painfully long, for me, but we finally got the details workedout.
Seth was going to be offered a new contract withDirty.
And Brody was going to be the one to offer him thatcontract.
Brody had it written up by the lawyers, to our specifications. And on Thursday afternoon, he invited Seth over to his house to take a look atit.
It wasn’t the first meeting they’d had. Seth had already met with Brody once, in person, and spoken with him a few times over the phone since the meeting at the church. But I went with him to Brody’s place, needing to make sure things wentsmoothly.
Maggie was there when we arrived. Brody was on a phone call, and I let Maggie entertain Seth while I went looking forJessa.
I found her on the backyard patio, cutting flowers from one of the big planters she’d had installed. Brody’s place had definitely gained a lot of flowers and various other beautiful things this year. Including, of course, Jessaherself.
She turned when she heard me, sunlight streaming through her brown hair, the sun-kissed highlights gleaming. She looked…radiant.
We used to meet up for drinks in L.A. on a fairly regular basis, at least a few times a year. This year, I hadn’t seen her as much. I’d been busy. She’d had a somewhat rough pregnancy and had been sticking close to home. It felt like it had been ages since I’d been alone with her. It also felt like we’d both been through alot.
We’d bothchanged.
Her, maybe, in more obvious ways. Jessa was a bikini model before she got pregnant, and she looked like one. Now, she looked like a bikini model with bigger boobs, a bigger butt, and an enormous babybelly.
“Wow—look at that baby!” I exclaimed. “I think it’s doubled every time I see it.” Seriously; she looked bigger than she had at the church, only four days ago. I reached toward her as she smiled. “May I…?” I asked, because personally I thought it was fucking weird when people put their hands on a woman’s baby belly without askingfirst.
“Of course.” Jessa took hold of my hands and pressed them on the left side of her belly. “He’s kicking right now.” I met her eyes as I felt the little thudding kicks; I actually felt her belly poke out into my hand where the baby’s feet were jabbing at her. “He must like yourvoice.”
“He? You’re havinga—”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know.” She shrugged. “Brody wants to know, but I want to wait and find out when the baby pops into the world. Maybe it’s silly. It just seems more romantic tome.”
“It’s not silly. But isn’t it killing you notknowing?”
