Chapter 15

Spring quickly became summer as work on the penthouse continued. One morning in August, the bulk of the remodeling complete, Niles and CC packed all his belongings and hired movers to bring the boxes over from the Sheffield mansion. Fran bade Niles a tearful goodbye, and the children went through a box of tissues as they watched him leave with Miss Babcock. Maxwell clapped Niles on the back and wished him and CC well, but Fran would forever after accuse Max of sniffling in his office in the hour after Niles officially moved out.

As they merged their books on newly built wall-to-wall recessed shelves, Niles wrapped his arms around CC's expanding waist and kissed her ear. "I love the way our books look together," he said.

CC grinned. "Me, too. What's for dinner? Your baby's hungry."

"Both my babies are hungry, I think," he laughed. CC's morning sickness had finally stopped, and she was gaining weight on schedule with Dr. Rivera's charts.

The summer heat gave way to the cool winds and glorious leaves of fall, and in October, Niles made one too many comparisons of CC to, variously, a pregnant werewolf, a vampire who had had way too much blood, and a witch who had swallowed a pumpkin. She kicked him out, and he spent the night in the bed he'd left behind at the Sheffields'.

When Niles came home after work the following day, contrite and exhausted from sleeping alone on his lumpy old mattress, CC accepted his apology and promptly called him a name much ruder than any he had thought of for her. He released a long-suffering sigh and took her in his arms.

By Christmas, CC felt as wide as she was tall, though Niles wisely refused to even countenance such a possibility. He had insisted on hosting a family dinner at their home, and CC had agreed without too much argument. Together, they had decorated for the holiday, though CC spent a lot of time on the couch watching him set up the tree they had chosen. The Sheffields and the Fines and CC's brother Noel and his partner all came, and the penthouse rang with laughter and good cheer. CC and Niles showed off the nursery, which they had spent the preceding month finishing.

After their guests had all gone home, CC and Niles sat together on the comfortable sofa they'd put in the nursery. Candles lit the room. Niles leaned against the arm of the sofa, and he cradled CC beside him, one arm around her shoulders and his other hand on her belly. When the baby kicked, it was always like the first time he'd felt it, and he laughed in delight. She wasn't as enamored of the feeling, sure that her insides must be black and blue with bruises the baby had wrought.

As the new year settled into its second month, CC began seeing her obstetrician once a week. The pregnancy, perfectly on schedule, according to Dr. Rivera, was wearing on CC's body. As an older first-time mother, she knew intellectually that her exhaustion was to be expected, but she couldn't help hoping more each day to just get the birth over with so she could reclaim her body.

Niles's new burst of energy didn't help; he had remained committed to the lifestyle changes his cardiologist recommended, and had lost a few pounds and regained the vigor of a man twenty years his junior.

"You know," he said conversationally early one morning before they needed to get up to head to work, "Dr. Rivera said orgasm can induce labor."

CC groaned. "God, Niles, I'm too tired to walk, much less make love this morning."

He slipped his hand under her nightgown and whispered in her ear, "But you're so sexy like this." He dipped his fingers between her legs. "Let me convince you?"

"I'll always let you convince me," she said, moving against him. "It's not that I don't want you—"

He interrupted her. "I know. Just relax, let me…" He trailed off, stroking her with purpose.

Within minutes she was gasping his name as her muscles clenched around his fingers.

"Christ," he breathed, "you're even more sensitive than you were last time."

"And endorphins are a hell of a thing," she said, her voice low. She pushed him back, straddling him and tossing her nightgown to the foot of the bed. Niles placed one hand under her belly to help manage the weight of it, and palmed her breast with the other.

CC moaned at his touch, and after a moment of fumbling to free him from his pajama bottoms, she began to move. She slid slowly up and down his cock at first, then quickened her pace until she felt herself about to fall into oblivion again. "I—" she gasped.

"Right there with you, baby," he said, and the last word came out as a growl. He brought both hands to her belly, helping support her as she let her head loll back and he reached his climax.

Breathing hard, CC shifted onto her side near him and rested a palm on his chest. "I am too old and too pregnant for this," she said, but her contented sigh suggested that she didn't believe the words.

"Oh, much," Niles agreed, and shifted onto his side so he could slide a thin pillow under CC's belly.

She smacked him and closed her eyes. "You shower first," she ordered.

Niles rubbed her abdomen tenderly and kissed her nose. "Any contractions?" He asked hopefully.

"Nothing," she mumbled, nearly asleep again.