Shawn had left Abrielle with Shayla, telling her he had to go do something real quick and he'd be back.
So while Larielle and Evan were doing God knows what, and Erma was asleep, Abrielle was sitting in her sister-in-law's room watching music videos and listening to Shayla rapping along to some hardcore underground shit.
"Shawn's back," Shayla told her.
"Oh thank God!"
Abrielle hopped up like her seat had caught fire. She was so ready to be out. Shayla was a sweetheart. Her taste in music, though, was questionable for her sister-in-law.
"Damn. You're good company too, Bri."
"Nothing personal. Merry Christmas and goodnight, cuñada."
"Night."
Abrielle left the room and went to her husband. He was smiling as she met him on the foot of the stairs.
"Thank God you are back. I love Shayla. I don't love her music."
Shawn chuckled and took Bri by the hand, leading her down the stairs. "Are you ready for your gift?"
"That depends on what it is," she told him, grinning. He chuckled and kissed her neck, giving her her coat and shoes from the hall closet.
He took her back to the treehouse where it was lit by straight candlelight and the fireplace; and it smelled like fruit. Shawn took her coat off and pulled her to the bathroom so that they could shower.
"Don't fall asleep this time," he told her, kissing her.
She rolled her eyes. "I only fell asleep because you were massaging my scalp and it felt good. Don't be a dick your whole life," she told him, stepping into the water.
He stepped into the water with her and pulled her body closer to his.
"You fell asleep in the shower. Don't matter why," he teased, taking her body wash, lathering his hands, washing her body with his fingers gently massaging her flesh.
She moaned as his hands caressed her breasts. By now, he'd discovered how much she enjoyed having them touched.
When Abrielle returned the favor, he got a little erect in her hand, but not as hard as she wanted. She looked up at Shawn and he didn't look at her.
"Are you okay, Shawn?" she asked, sliding her hands up his body.
"I'm fine, baby."
He was embarrassed because he couldn't get hard. Not this morning, and not now. It wasn't that he didn't want to be able to please her. But he just wasn't up for it tonight. It would make him so happy to give her what he knew she wanted. But he couldn't. He was having hard time giving her a hard time.
Abrielle knew she wasn't going to get fucked tonight because no matter how she stroked his shaft, it didn't get up very much. Hardly at all.
"Bri," he said softly, taking her face in his hands, seeing her trying to mask the frustration. He kissed her softly. "It's not your fault. There is nothing wrong with you. Believe me, you can be as sexy as you want to be."
"Then why are you still soft? You're not attrac-"
He kissed her and took her hands, putting them on the tiled wall under the shower head. He didn't want her to finish that sentence, because it wasn't true. She had gotten him as hard as he had ever been simply by removing her clothes. And they hadn't even been completely off yet. She was sexy, beautiful, gorgeous. All that. This wasn't her fault.
He kissed her deeply, his tongue entering between her lips. He didn't want her to feel he wasn't attracted. She was the only girl who had ever been sexy enough to conjure fantasies and cause the onset of masturbation.
He looked her in the eyes. "Don't take it personal, baby. Believe me, it's not you. You seen yourself before. You seen yourself naked. Baby, I'm lucky to have you ever get naked for my pleasure. And I'm always go wonna please you. But I can't always do it the way you want me to," he explained softly.
She just nodded, afraid saying something would cause her to begin crying. She did believe it was her fault. And he could see that. He turned the water off and carried her to the front, laying her on the bed and licking up her legs before he parted them. She closed them back.
"Mm mm."
"Baby-"
"Not tonight."
Her voice was so low it was as if she hadn't even spoken. Shawn just got up and climbed over Bri, holding himself up by his arms and looking at her. He could tell this was really eating her, and he didn't want that.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't want to anymore. Is that okay?"
"Whatever you want, darling," he promised.
He got up and gave her a towel and asked her to lay down when she was dry. "Shawn," she started softly. But she couldn't think of anything else to say, so she stopped and just lay on the bed, on her side.
Shawn had taken a crash course in pregnancy massage because her midwife had informed him a regular massage was dangerous to the fetus, and Bri laid on her side most of the time anyway.
Shawn took a heated oil and began massaging Bri. She didn't protest as his fingers massaged her skin and he massaged her back. She hadn't complained about it hurting, but he could tell that it did by the way she would be rubbing it, trying to massage it herself when she would stand. He usually would just rub her back when he saw her do it, pulling her into his arms. She didn't even realize half the time that it was what he was doing.
He massaged her feet, looking up at her. She could've been asleep, but he could tell she wasn't. The way her face was, he could see she was thinking. And he couldn't find a way to tell her to stop doubting herself. Not to overthink it. That plenty of men suffered the same problem. Generally not as young as he was and on a more regular basis. But that wasn't the point.
She probably would feel better about herself if she could believe it was Shawn, not her. If it happened more often, she probably would have an easier time of it. But this was the first and only time it had happened with her.
As he watched her sitting there peacefully, he felt guilty that he couldn't give her what she wanted. Like they had made all that progress, and now he wasn't in the mood and couldn't get it up even if he was. He felt like he had let her down in some way.
He started to say something. But what could he say to her? Nothing he said was going to fix it for her. Nothing he would say could make the tension less. It would likely only fuel the fire.
Instead, he just climbed beside her and put his arms around her waist. All the tension seemed to vanish when they felt the baby move. It was the first time for Shawn.
A smile spread across his lips, and Abrielle turned to smile at her husband. "You could feel that, couldn't you?"
"I could."
He kissed her, holding her close to him. Everything just seemed to instantly become better as they lay there in the warmth of that one moment. It seemed that the thought of sex was gone from both their minds and the only important thing was to be close. The intimacy was never an issue. It was always easy to be so close together. Touching in some way. Especially if Shawn had a long day and came home to the comfort of a loving wife. It was something he had never thought he would ever actually want or need. But the closer he got to his wife and the more he loved her, the more he couldn't imagine no longer having her.
Shawn nuzzled her neck, holding her securely in his arms. And she held his hands where they were, threading their fingers. "I love you," she whispered, turning her neck so that she could see Shawn's face.
"I love you too."
She smiled and he moved to kiss her, slipping his tongue past her lips, rubbing her belly and enjoying every second of feeling their little one move.
"So now do I get my gift?" she wondered, sitting up. He laughed. Somehow he knew. She was predictable.
"Look atcho entitled ass. What if the massage was your gift?"
"But it wasn't. So I want my gift now, please," she said, adding a little extra sweetness to her voice and a little pout to her lip. Shawn shook his head and got up to get her the gifts.
She took the first and opened her Enrique Iglesias CD. "Oooh, see, I know stuff too," she told him.
"You asked for it."
He rolled his eyes. She acted like it was some sort of secret that he was going to get her anything that she asked for for Christmas. Or any other day of the year.
"And you got it. Thank you." She leaned over to kiss him. He gave her a little bag and she looked inside. The first thing she pulled out was a little box that said Shawn's Vouchers of Affection. She giggled a little and covered her mouth to hide it. The name was pretty cheesy, but she appreciated it anyway. "Are they all sexual favors?"
"Are all my affections for you sexual?" he countered, raising a brow.
"Yes," she said with a fair amount of seriousness.
He rolled his eyes again as she opened the box and started going through the vouchers that he had actually paid good money to have made up. And to her surprise, all the favors weren't sexual. There were a few for him making dinner, another few for foot rubs, some for him to take her out anywhere she wanted to go, a get out of workout free card (he made very sure there was only one) and a blank one so that she could write whatever she wanted him to do on it. The rule was that she could only use two every week. There were no rollovers and if she didn't use any favors that week, she just didn't use them. Once she had used them all, he got two weeks of Shawn time and she could have them back.
"You put a lot of thought into this," she realized.
Abrielle had never had anybody really put a lot of thought into her gifts. At least, not anybody that liked her. In middle school, she got teddy bears. When she met Daryl, he gave her generic things like sweaters or sneakers. Which were nice. But not very thoughtful.
"I hear it's a good idea to think about what you're going to give your wife before you really do it," he told her, kissing her again.
She looked in the bag and pulled out a sexy maternity negligee. She slipped it on, seeing as how she was naked at the time, and got up, spinning in a slow circle. "How do I look?"
Shawn looked his wife up and down, his eyes landing on her full breasts. She definitely hadn't had those when they first met. And he wouldn't deny liking them. Liking her body period. She was rounding out and gaining curves in places where she was doing alright before. But now, he wanted to feel the softness of her lusciousness all the time.
As Shawn sat there and watched his wife in the piece of lingerie, he began to grow erect. A part of him felt guilty that he couldn't have gotten hard when she was naked in the shower with her hand on his dick. But something about seeing her standing there, leaving something for his imagination to do, her hair hanging loosely over her shoulders, still damp from the shower, her skin glowing... It was sensual. And he preferred that over her just being straight up sexy any day. Any slut off the streets could come and ooze sexy and sex appeal. But the sensual part of it, the intimate part of it... That was what made her different for him.
"You look good, baby," he told her, his eyes darkened by desire, his voice low and husky, clouded with want.
He took her hand and pulled her to him, sitting her in his lap and kissing her, caressing her thigh. His lips brushed the flesh of her throat and chin, giving her tingles of pleasure from his touch.
Abrielle could feel him getting harder and harder beneath her and didn't want to do anything to ruin it, so she continued letting him take the lead, being submissive and taking everything he was giving.
He rolled her onto her back, leaving her sitting up just enough not to put her or the baby in jeopardy, and he leaned over her, kissing her, sliding his hand between her thighs and feeling her already leaking down.
He climbed over her, kissing her neck, holding her like she might disappear and they wouldn't get this opportunity. Lord only knew how badly he wanted to be able to give his wife all the satisfaction she deserved from every aspect of their marriage, including the sexual.
Abrielle decided to just be a recipient to the sex, knowing she could be an active participant another time. But right now. She didn't want to ruin the moment. She was just fine accepting the pleasure.
When they finished, they lay there, her head in his chest. "Wait, I got you one more gift," he told her.
Shawn had gotten Abrielle chocolate covered strawberries. One could never go wrong with giving her eternally hungry ass food. She had told him once that she won a pie eating contest. She'd eaten six whole pies. He'd witnessed her ability to eat, though. As soon as she stopped experiencing the morning sickness, all she wanted to do was eat.
Abrielle reacted to the strawberries the way her husband knew she would: with a smile. But she also decided to share with him. Which, with food, she didn't normally do. If Abrielle saw food, it was hers. Excluding this morning when she gave Sapphire the rest of her plate to push his buttons.
"Look at you, being all not selfish."
She rolled her eyes then and took her strawberry back, finishing it. Just for him making that smart ass comment. Here she had tried to be nice to his ass for once and give him some of her edible goodness.
"I didn't like you," she reminded him. "You can't ask me for my ice cream when I don't like you and don't want to eat after you."
"You mean like the way you drank that Coke behind me?" he reminded her smugly, a smirk on his handsome face.
"Doesn't count. I didn't realize what I was doing. You took advantage."
"I figured ya lul ass might be thirsty, and I gave you a pop."
She giggled and gave him another strawberry, leaning over to kiss him. He put his arms around her, deepening the kiss, tasting the strawberries on her tongue. She felt so secure in his embrace, like nothing could happen and she was on top of the world.
"Damn, and all I got you was a Spanish to English dictionary," she realized, feeling like she had given him the suckiest gift ever after what he gave her tonight. She only expected the CD. And she wished she had found something better to give him now that she knew what he had gotten her.
"It's okay," he told her, kissing her neck and her cheek. "I should prolly try to learn a li'l bit anyway."
"A lotta bit. You're having a Puerto Rican baby. And at the rate Lari and Evan are going, you'll have a Venezuelan niece or nephew. They're going to know Spanish, esposo. And you know what would help, if you did too."
Shawn shook his head. "You got the Shayla/Evan syndrome. You mind your own business, little lady," he told her, kissing her again. She giggled and put her arms around his waist. "You love me?" he asked.
"Yes."
He licked her forehead, and she looked at him like he was strange. "You channeling Sapphire?" she wondered.
He just smiled, laying them down and saying nothing but for her to get some sleep. She laid down, asking herself what the hell she had managed to get herself into. This kid was weird.
As she slept, he just lay there with her in his arms. He loved her so much it didn't even make sense. The way that he treated other women, he couldn't do to her. When he came home, he wasn't the same man he was on the streets. She made him want to be more gentle with her, no matter how tough he was making her.
She was his light. His night and day, his sun and moon. His world. And he didn't want to even take a step without her. She was so important to him. Vital to his survival. When Shawn could think of nothing else, he sure thought of making it home to her.
He looked at her sleeping peacefully in his arms, head on his chest. He stroked her hair. No matter what he did, he wanted her to be happy. If it was the last thing he ever did on this earth, it was going to be making sure she knew she was loved every single day and seeing a smile on her face. If he did nothing else, he would make her happy.