Pregnant Pause [H.S]

Chapter 10

World's

For once, I was home from work before Fitz. Exhausted from the day and eyes burning from too much screen time, I declined Niall's video game invitation and passed out instead, shutting myself in my room and flopping face-first onto the bed.

Some point in the future – maybe thirty minutes, maybe three hours – my eyes fluttered open to feather light kisses peppering the back of my neck. I blinked a few times, inhaling deeply but careful not to move. Fitz was draped over my back like a blanket, and her lips felt so nice that I rounded my neck, burying my head into the pillow to expose more skin to her.

"Mm," she sighed, that hum I so adored. Realizing that I was awake, she nipped my skin with her teeth.

I turned my head, letting my cheek rest against the pillow.

"That you, Horan?" I mumbled. "Better run for it – if Fitz sees us like this..."

"You're funnier every day," she said dryly.

"And yet, your amusement decreases at a frighteningly exponential rate."

Her head moved to my shoulder, and she planted a kiss on my cheek. "Yes, it does," she murmured.

"Did you just get home?"

"No. I let you sleep and made dinner instead. There's a plate for you in the fridge."

I nodded in gratitude, shutting my eyes. "I just want to lay here a bit longer."

"Tired?"

"Mm."

"How come? We went to bed early last night."

"Dunno. Work makes me tired."

"You're only sitting at a desk."

"Not true," I said into the pillow. "I spent half the day guarding my files from Beckett. He's dying for projections on the new product so that he can devise a sales strategy in advance of our next company meeting."

"Why?"

"To make himself look good. If he's not promoted by the end of the calendar year, I reckon he'll blow up the building and assassinate the prime minister."

Fitz chuckled gently in my ear. "Maybe he needs a girlfriend."

I groaned. "I wouldn't wish him on any woman."

"Well," she sighed, "I'm glad you're not like that."

She gave me room to roll onto my back but continued to straddle me, sitting up straight as I shoved a pillow under my neck to prop it up.

"You'd be the only one," I said, bending a knee and letting it rest against her back.

"What?"

I shrugged, sliding my hands from her hips down her bare thighs and back up. Fitz's dress code at work was much more casual than mine, and in the warm summer weather, she'd opted for a sleeveless blouse tucked into her shorts. As always, I delighted in running my hands over her smooth thighs.

"My father would love it if I was more like Beckett."

She sighed again, giving me a look. "I know you hate when I say this, but you don't have to spend your whole life pleasing him."

I did hate when she said those things, but everything else about that moment was peaceful and serene, and I was wary of ruining it by snapping at her. Even after all this time as a couple, there were times when Fitz and I were suspended in a terrifyingly fragile balance, tiptoeing around one another.