Rescuing Harlow by Aubree Valentine
Chapter 5
By the time Harlow made it out the back door of the winery, she had two text messages waiting for her. One from her sister making sure that Harlow knew their conversation was far from over. The second was from Zane, telling her to avoid his parents’ house and come straight to his place where he had a slice of pecan pie waiting for her.
Zane was kicked back on the sofa flipping aimlessly through tv channels when she walked in. The look on his face said that he was just as exhausted as she was.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
He huffed and shrugged his shoulders. “Both of my brothers showed up for dinner.”
“Okay. That’s a good thing, right? I know it’s been a while since Shelby’s been home. I’m sorry I missed it.”
“Oh, I thought it was great. Right up until my mom started in on Shelby about a job opening and how he should think about coming home.”
“Oh dear.”
“Yup,” Zane said, popping the ‘p’ on the end. “And I lost my cool. Said some shit that I probably shouldn’t have then walked out the door like the asshole that I am.”
Harlow walked over to where he was sitting, crawled up in his lap and ran her hand over his cheek. “Zane, honey, you’re far from an asshole.”
“Got a nice little therapy session from my brothers. Told them about the baby. Just Shelby and Hudson and told them not to mention it to anyone else until we were ready to tell everyone else.”
She laughed, “That’s actually kind of funny.”
A smirk played on Zane’s lips. “You think so?”
“Yes. Because my sister apparently has a sixth sense. That and my poker face sucks. One minor bout of morning sickness and she figured it out. So, I snuck out while she was closing for the night to avoid having to talk about it.”
Zane rested his forehead against hers. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”
“We are. I really don’t want to tell anyone else, our parents especially, until we’re a little further along though.”
“Sounds fair to me,” he nodded. “Your pie is on the counter and Mom sent you a plate of leftovers too, if you want them. I may have done a little groveling after Shelby and Hudson left.”
“Told you. You’re not an asshole.”
“You keep telling me that I’m not an asshole. I’ll keep telling you that you’re pretty.” Zane said with a smile.
It was a line he had been using on her since they first started this whole friends with benefits thing back at around Junior Prom.
My God, had they really been doing this for that long?
Sometimes it only felt like yesterday when Zane found her crying into her milkshake at the local diner after school.
Harlow could still recall how he told her that Tommy Castle could fuck right off and that he was a fool for letting go of the prettiest girl in school. She shook off Zane’s comment but then he turned to her with a serious look on his face and asked her to go to prom with him instead.
That was it. They’d been together ever since…well, mostly. They did take a break once when Harlow briefly dated a guy her sister hooked her up with and again when Zane thought they should actually see other people. Somehow, they both came back to each other.
Zane could keep telling himself that he wasn’t, but the truth remained, he really was one of the good ones. Harlow knew it, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Harlow let out a yawn and snuggled against his shoulder. “As much as I’d love that slice of pie, I think I’m going to go to bed, if that’s okay with you.”
He nodded. “Sounds good to me. Are you sure you’re not hungry? You need to eat.”
She tried to fight back the giggle. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she broke the news to him, and Zane was already showing his protective side. “I’m fine. I promise that I ate today while I was at work. Not hungry right now, just tired.”
Zane effortlessly stood up with Harlow still in his arms, “Off to bed it is, then.” He carried her across the open space to his bed and sat her down. “Give me a second and I’ll grab you a t-shirt to sleep in.”
Sure, Harlow may have had her own drawer and space in Zane’s closet, but she always slept in one of his shirts – or nothing at all. It was the way Zane preferred it and Harper never once complained.
Ignoring his instructions to wait, Harlow quickly stripped from her clothes and tossed them on the floor. By the time Zane turned back around with a shirt in hand, she was laying back on the bed complete exposed with a saucy smirk playing on her lips.
“‘Low…” Zane’s voice cracked, and he raised a questioning brow.
“I felt a little...warm.”
He tossed the shirt on the end of the bed and pulled his own over his head before slipping his shorts down to the floor. “Warm? Harlow the way your nipples are pebbled, begging for me to suck on them, I don’t think it’s warm in here.”
“I need you,” she whimpered as he crawled up the mattress, spreading her legs and settling between her thighs.
“I’ve never been able to deny you. You know that, right?” He kissed her forehead and brushed back her jet-black hair.
She responded with a moan as she stretched, pressing her full breasts against him and raising her hips to try and draw him closer.
“This is okay, right?” he mumbled against her exposed neck.
“Always.”
Zane chuckled and pushed himself up on his hands. “I meant, with our little bean growing inside you.”
Christ, the thought of Harlow growing their child still terrified the fuck out of him but damn if the thought didn’t turn him on even more too.
“You do realize that we’ve had sex before we even knew I was pregnant, right?”
“I suppose you're right,” he replied before pressing a hard kiss to her lips. “Then I guess you won’t mind if I do this…” Zane nipped at her skin and licked his way down her body.
“More. Please,” she was already pleading, spurring Zane on and making him crazy at the very same time.
He answered her plea by lifting her legs over his shoulders and burying his face between her legs. This...this was one of her weaknesses. Zane knew he could take her breath away and drive her wild. Judging by the sounds she was making and the way she held his head in place, he was already well on his way to doing just that.
