TENACITY

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

"I'm not going to say no Lexi," he told her with a sigh, "and you know it."

She did, if her beaming smile was anything to go by. "I'll go get it. Meet me downstairs?"

"Alright." He smiled when he saw how excited she was, whether for the blanket or for the rooftop picnic as a whole, he didn't know. He just knew that he loved seeing her this happy.

What he didn't expect was her grabbing his shirt and yanking him down to press a kiss to his lips. He dropped the bag to the ground, pulling her closer by the waist to deepen the kiss. Then he was tilting his head at a different angle to get better access to her mouth as they both fought for dominance.

In the end, he let her lead, and was surprised when she slipped her tongue through his lips. He moaned, and she smiled into the kiss, tugging at his hair.

Trey was elated, because it'd been months since they'd kissed like this, since they'd gone beyond pecks and short kisses. He ached to lay her on the bed and worship her body. Knowing he wouldn't be able to due to the plans they had for the night, he decided to pull away.

They were both panting when they separated, Lexi looking at him with surprise etched on her features, as if she couldn't believe what she'd done. Trey smiled. "Go get the blanket. I'll be right down."

She nodded quietly, a light blush coating her cheeks as she scurried out of the room. Trey let out a laugh, looking down at the front of his pants. Maybe he should've told Lexi to give him a few minutes to fix himself.

Sighing, he added their combs and hairbrushes to the pack, shouldering it as he went out of the room. He'd just have it suck it up, and hopefully, he'd calm down before they got there. He wanted to spend a wholesome night with her, not one with him thinking of nothing but how she'd feel beneath him.

*

The short journey to the new house was filled with light conversation and banter. He'd held her hand throughout, only pulling away to switch gears, then taking her hand again. She'd kept his hand—clasped with hers—on her bump as they'd talked, and more than once, he'd been distracted by their babies kicking nonstop.

At one point, he'd asked, "Is it uncomfortable for you?" while switching gears. Then he'd clasped her hand again, glancing at her before returning his attention to the road ahead of them, only to have them kick again.

"What?" she'd asked, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear. It'd been pretty useless seeing as she'd wanted the windows down. The cool night breeze was blowing her hair in different directions.

"The babies kicking all the time," he'd clarified, "Is it uncomfortable? Are you okay?"

She turned to him with a smile he didn't see because he was focused on driving. "I'm pretty sure they're being more active than usual because they feel their dad's presence," was her reply as she patted the hand on the bump. 

Trey had smiled but cast her a look that said he was still concerned. "Maybe," he'd murmured, only half agreeing to her theory. "But the question is how it makes you feel."

She'd sighed then. "It is uncomfortable when I'm trying to sleep, and they have no intention of doing the same. But I like it, because it tells me they're still alive and kicking."

Trey had squeezed her hand, passing her a smile, then refocusing on getting them there in one piece. "We'll be alright, no matter what."

They hadn't dwelt on that much, but had moved to lighter topics, tossing a few baby names here and there as they argued over what names were suitable. It spanned the rest of the drive, seeing as they had varying opinions on what to name their babies.