Page 75 of Bar Down Baby!
True to his word, barely a minute later he dropped my handsand gripped my hips, thrusting up into me, feeling so wildly good while he released inside of me.
He gasped, tilting me sideways until I fell giggling onto the bed.
“No more road trips,” he panted against my forehead.
“It’s your job.”
He groaned and pulled me closer.
“I think I should quit and do this all day. It’s the selfless thing to do.”
“Very selfless. Should probably keep your job though, since I’ll get worn out eventually. A girl can only take so much.”
“I should be more embarrassed about my pitiful stamina, but it’s not my fault you look like that.”
He kissed me, a long press of his mouth, his tongue slipping into my mouth and tasting like me. I was breathless again when he finally pulled away.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Stop being coy, you just made me come in like seven seconds—I’m putty in your hands, Hannah Harvey.” He kissed me again, then kissed my forehead, both cheeks, all over my face until both of us were laughing.
CHAPTER 23
DON’T THINK I FORGOT ABOUT KARAOKE
Josie usually had karaoke parties at her apartment, and I liked it that way—nobody was really a stranger, and because there wasn’t a crowd, there was no reason to get too embarrassed. Only Josie’s birthday is in December, so she decided to have a combined birthday karaoke celebration at Podunk, a dancing bar where they did karaoke with a live band one Saturday a month. Admittedly, it was awesome, and the band was so good that even when the singing wasn’t, the music was usually still exciting enough to get up and dance.
By some miracle, Barry was both not traveling and had no game during the party Saturday night. I debated not inviting him even though he was free because I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. At this point, though, we were well pastwrong ideaterritory and I didn’t even know how to begin to untangle the mess we found ourselves in. He was still sleeping in my bed, still making me orgasm any time I felt even a little horny (it was like a sixth sense he had, almost eerie, really), and had now started giving me these long, toe-curling kisses in the kitchen that I couldn’t even pretend I wasn’t also starved for.
I told myself it was the hormones. Really, it washim.
Of course, I invited him, because I was weak, and since Barry followed me basically everywhere, he was all too excited to get dressed up and go out with me. He didn’t seem concerned about not knowing anyone at the party, only excited that I had a reason to wear the green plaid maternity dress his mom sent me—justbecause every girl should have something to feel pretty in especially when they’re lugging around a baby in their stomach.
I strapped a belly band on and one of the new nursing bras that was already too small for my big-ass boobs, larger by the day, I swore. The dress did look pretty, though, and I pulled my hair into two braids with thin green ribbons at the bottom of them to hang over my shoulders. Barry made me pose for pictures for multiple minutes in the baby’s room before we left, swearing I was going to want them one day when I realized I looked really beautiful pregnant and indeed not a swollen monster like I felt. He then propped up the phone on the ledge of the wall and set the camera timer so that we could stand in front of the old crib together.
Then we really had to go or else I would miss Josie singing “Lips of an Angel,” and it was always my favorite one.
We walked into the Podunk twenty minutes later, his hand on my lower back. He looked hot, to the surprise of no one, trading his usual sweats and team shirts for dark jeans and a sweater I’d never seen but would probably be stealing to wear myself. It was superbly soft and smelled like his cologne, which I desperately liked. My sense of smell had become so sensitive, and something about the scent of Barry Wright just really worked for me.
“Hannah!” Josie cheered as soon as she spotted us, jumping up and down. We shuffled through the tables toward the group. They’d pushed together three square tables and laid out a pretty good spread of food. Marcus still brought his empanadas, even though we weren’t at Josie’s: one tray of sweet potato and one ofpicadillo, both of which I would be eating probably until I felt sick. I’d brought a Ziploc bag to steal some for leftovers.
“Happy birthday, you look so pretty.” I hugged her tightly. Her long hair was down, curls bouncing over her shoulders and down her back.
“GoodGod,your baby daddy is hot,” she said into my ear, sounding shocked even though she’d seen him many, manytimes. I couldn’t blame her. “And I like this dress, do a little spin.”
I acquiesced, spinning to show off the dress, and she cheered again. Marcus pulled me into a hug and then executed a solid bro hug with Barry, and some of Josie’s other friends I recognized stood to join in on all the hugging, too. They were all justthrilledto meet Barry, two of them a little starstruck, the other two—like me—knowing nothing about hockey to begin with and not recognizing him. My people.
Even if they didn’t know who he was at first, as soon they heard he was, one, the father of my baby, and two, a professional hockey player, all attention was on him. They peppered him with questions while some guys sang Matchbox 20 and then Creed with all their might on the stage.
Barry took it all in stride, easily answering every query as if these total strangers weren’t being invasive as hell. I drew the line when Marcus asked Barry if I was a good kisser.
“Okay, I’m thirsty,” I said, standing from the table and already pulling on Barry’s arm.
He followed, his hand on my waist to navigate me through the growing crowd of people. It was so warm, and the fact that I knew exactly how those fingers felt inside of me did nothing to quell the simmering want that had been set loose in the last week since we started having sex, as if I was in heat or something.
We ordered a couple pitchers of water, a seltzer for Barry—he had a game tomorrow night and didn’t like to drink anything before game days, or honestly throughout the season—and a soda for me. Standing at the bar while the bartender got our drinks, Barry stepped very close to me, lowering his head to my ear to speak even though it wasn’t even that loud.
“Have I told you I like the color green on you?”
