Work Text:
She decides on a late Tuesday night, in the centerfold of the autumn season, that Rey is done with her career.
She is done with the long workdays.
She is done with the emails that never seem to quell.
She is done with everything.
Her entire life has led to this job. It pays well. Her benefits are incredible. It’s a career that any woman with her upbringing would be happy to have.
And Rey was happy.
Until the exhaustion hit.
Until she realized that there was no real meaning to it.
That it was getting her nowhere.
Bringing her no joy.
She currently lives in a city with no soul. With no family.
Rey never particularly liked living here.
It was just…convenient.
Like her college.
Like her job.
Like how life has been for the past ten years.
So alas, on this fateful Tuesday night, Rey sends in the email declaring her two weeks notice.
And she buys a one-way plane ticket to somewhere far away.
___
She’s lucky enough that the building doesn’t need proof of income.
Rey lives her first week in the quiet and forestry town, relaxed and bored. Just how she wanted it.
She watches TV all day.
She goes shopping for whatever the hell she wants to go shopping for.
She eats when she wants to eat.
And while her week of essentially vacation is nice and all…
Rey has become bored.
It’s in her nature to be a workaholic. To never stop. It practically runs through her veins.
Her fingers and hands buzz in wasted energy.
Her heart trembles, caught by the onslaught of inactivity.
Her skin feels gray and useless, but that may just be the lack of sun in her new city.
She tries to go out and meet people.
Maybe go on a few dates.
Who knows.
But as one week turns to two, and then into three, Rey has had enough of sitting around.
There’s a strange urge within her that’s never awoken until she moved to this new city.
Not an urge to work, though.
She sits on her couch, twiddling her thumbs and watching TV.
For the first time in her life, Rey so desperately wants a baby.
__
It feels so random and out of the blue, but the sensation never leaves.
Maybe it’s because she’s turning twenty-nine next year and her body clock is ticking.
But it’s all she begins to think about.
Rey does the dishes after dinner.
Baby.
She goes out and picks out a new coffee table.
I want a baby.
She thanks the server for her lunch.
I need a baby.
She’s becoming one of those women whose stares linger a tad too long at the passing stroller or at the mother holding her infant in the elevator.
It’s obsessive in no way than anything has ever been to her.
And the worst part is, there’s nothing she can do about it.
Her savings are dwindling, so there’s no way she can even afford a child.
She lives in a cramped studio apartment.
And she’s currently missing the most important thing necessary for a baby anyways:
A father.
___
Time ticks on, and so does she.
Rey ends up getting a barista job nearby and only works twenty hours a week.
It helps with rent and it feels good to be useful for the first time in months.
She likes work.
Sort of.
But if she didn’t have to, she wouldn’t mind.
People come and go.
She learns the in’s and out’s of the coffee world.
She signs up for a few baking classes.
It’s winter now.
Sometimes it’s hard to get up so early when the rain beats against her window.
I wish I could just sleep in forever.
Sleep in while wrapped around another, their body heats intermingling.
Yes, a little family would be nice.
But she has work now.
A tiny apartment to pay for.
She needs to take care of herself and her future before anything can happen.
That’s what Rey continues to tell herself.
Even as the winter grows colder and darker.
___
It’s in January when she meets him for the first time.
She’s seen him once in a while, but never spoken to the man.
He’s tall and large, hounded and serious like many of the businessmen around this part of town.
He always carries a leather briefcase and a pen in his breast pocket.
Her co-workers usually greet him and make his coffee.
They know the man. She doesn’t.
But it’s just Rey at the till and espresso machine this morning when he comes in.
The giant stranger doesn’t smile, but he does nod in greeting.
“I’ll have an Americano with an extra shot,” he orders with a low voice.
A very low voice.
It doesn’t even sound real to Rey, if she’s being honest.
“Of course,” she replies back, charging him and marking a cup.
He watches her scribble the order onto the paper, her eyes flickering up to his when she asks, “name for the order?”
“Ben.”
“Ben,” she repeats. “Got it.”
The marker etches those three letters into the side, softly yet pungently.
“I’ll have that right out,” Rey manages to smile.
Ben watches her make the simple drink, never once looking at his phone or anywhere else. It’s odd but endearing.
He thanks her, taking the coffee and smiles, much to her surprise.
Odd.
__
Ben comes to the coffee shop a lot more often after that.
She doesn’t always speak to him, but when he does, it’s quiet and polite.
He is, after all, a very serious man. With a very serious job.
“I think he wants to ask you out,” Rose, her manager, tells her.
Rey stops chewing on her pastry.
“Huh?”
“Ben. The regular who gets the Americano-“
“-Americano with an extra shot.” Rey finishes. “Yeah, I know.”
“He always asks about you when you’re not here.”
She gulps.
“Um. That’s…weird.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t treat me any differently compared to everyone else at the shop?”
And it’s true. Ben doesn’t flirt. She has no idea where Rose is getting this idea.
“It doesn’t change the fact that he asks us about you. ”
Also true.
Rey goes back to eating, wondering what she should do given the possibility Ben might actually ask her out.
Not like it’ll happen.
__
Okay, so it does happen.
And only a few days later.
She agrees, playing it cool.
He doesn’t blush or stutter. So she won’t either.
He picks her up the next night, driving to the other side of town for Italian food.
Ben’s energy is…strange.
She doesn't know what to talk about, since they’re practically strangers, besides the coffees she’ll make for him.
His suit is nice and grey and pressed, much like what the men she used to work for wore.
They eat somewhere very fancy.
He lives alone with no family, too. Ben is thirty-eight.
Rey would have never guessed his age in a million years.
“Do you like where you work?” She asks while they sip their wines.
Ben shrugs. “It’s work.”
“How long have you lived here for?”
“Thirty-seven years.”
“Do you want children?”
His hand holding the glass pauses, lips about to meet the rim.
“Children?”
“Well, seeing as you’re nearly forty without any, I was just curious-“
“Yes.”
Rey pauses, taking in his serious stare and burning eyes.
“That’s great.” It is. Even though she might be asking too early, since this is only a first date, it’s a necessary question for her at this point.
Because her obsession still hasn’t stopped since that day.
“I’m assuming you’re the same, then?” He asks.
Rey grins.
“Oh yes. Very much the same.”
__
Besides breaking a lot of other first date rules, Rey decides to break yet another.
She lets this man, who she hardly knows, take her to his house outside of downtown.
It’s grand and quiet; vast and empty. Like a ghost lives alongside him.
He makes her coffee, for a change.
She lets him roll her stocking down her legs.
He carries her over to one of the many leather couches littered around his house.
She presses her tongue into his mouth, no longer hesitant.
And he fucks her, bent over said leather couch.
Rey would never admit it, but it’s the best sex she’s ever had.
No less, first date sex.
Ben drives her home that night because she has an early shift in the morning, as does he.
“How does Friday sound?”
Rey nods, giving him a quick peck to the cheek.
“I’ll see you then.”
He drives off into the darkness, leaving Rey with wobbly legs and her hair mused.
__
Winter continues.
He picks her up.
They go out for dinner and maybe a movie.
Then, he takes her back to his place.
And Ben fucks her silly.
Rey gets used to the routine.
Her favorite nights are with Ben.
Even though they don’t talk much, seeing as neither of them are very chatty, it’s a comforting peace.
A comforting silence.
Rey goes on birth control, even if her instincts scream otherwise.
“Ella quit,” Rose says suddenly one Monday morning.
She looks up to her manager, arms are crossed. Stress is taking over her face.
“That sucks,” is all Rey replies back with.
“I need you to pick up some closing shifts.”
Rey frowns.
“I don’t want to do that.”
Her manager sighs. “I know. And I’m sorry. But we’re too short staffed and you’re the only one here not already over your hours.”
As much as she likes this coffee shop, the last thing Rey wants to do is pick up more hours.
She left her old life, her old work, to not do this again.
But Rey gives in.
“Fine. But I need Fridays to always be open.”
“For date night?” Rose says, already aware.
“Yes.”
“I can work with that.”
__
Even though Rose is a very good friend , she is not a very good manager and unfortunately does not keep her word.
Rey is pushing to around forty-five hours a week of work now.
She hardly sees Ben.
She’s constantly tired.
And she’s, quite frankly, over this capitalistic shit.
Again.
He finally secures a night two and half weeks later, taking them out to burgers.
“You’ve lost weight,” he notices.
“Maybe,” she responds, taking a bite. He’s right. With work being so overwhelming as of late, she’s too busy to eat. Too anxious.
It’s an old habit from earlier in her life.
“You’re too skinny, Rey,” he continues.
“Mhmm.”
“I hardly get to see you anymore.”
“I’m aware.”
“Why are you even working at that coffee shop?”
She shrugs. “It pays the bills. I can’t just… not work.”
“Sure you can.”
Rey snorts. “And what, live with you and become your little housewife or something?”
The idea sounds silly out loud, but why does it make her crave it?
“Yes.”
It’s that same tone. That same seriousness.
She straightens up in the booth seat, completely unsure how to answer.
“I want to order another side of pickles,” she whispers. She might be blushing.
He nods.
“And…French fries, too.”
“I’ll go get those now.”
Ben reaches down into his pocket and retrieves his wallet, ready to go back and order.
“Anything else?”
Her breath quickens. This man really will give her whatever she wants.
She knows this.
So she might as well throw caution to the wind.
“I want a b-baby.”
He doesn’t smile. Hardly reacts.
“Let me go get your food first.”
She watches him walk over, like nothing is strange and this is all normal.
And maybe it is.
__
When he fucks her that night, it’s like something within Ben has been unhinged.
She gasps, holding onto his shoulders for dear life, as he thrusts too quickly and too roughly.
Rey doesn't complain though.
It itches an animalistic urge within her, like it’s been buried for too long and needs to be resurfaced.
His hands circle her waist, holding her steady.
They’re sweating and crazed. Like how sex should be.
She relishes the moment he comes inside her.
How hot and satisfying the feeling is.
They don’t talk usually.
Ben pulls out and thrusts his finger into her cunt, preventing anything from trickling out.
He doesn’t say anything.
But his actions say more than words ever could.
__
They really should talk, Rey realizes a week later.
She hasn’t seen him since that night. Work has just been too busy.
He texts her a few times, but he’s busy as well.
Working adults, both of them.
Yeesh.
She’s finally able to call him while he’s at work, staying late.
“Have you been thinking?” Rey asks.
“What for?”
“About…what I said last week.”
He hums, his voice soothing and dark. “I did wonder why you enjoy eating such an absurd amounts of pickles, but I-“
“Ben.”
“Yes. I did think. But there’s not much to think about.”
“I doubt that.”
“I’m a man who knows what I want and you’re a woman who gets what you want. I think there’s a clear answer here.”
There’s no way it can be this easy. This simple.
…right?
“Quit your job, Rey.”
She gulps.
“We’ve been dating for two months.”
“And you’re fucking miserable there.”
“You’re miserable at your job too, and I’m not asking you to quit.”
“That’s because I need to provide for you. And I’m willing to do that.”
Rey scoffs. “You know you sound like a sexist movie character from the nineteen-fifties right now, right?”
“Move in with me.”
“Two months, Ben,” she repeats. “Two.”
“You think I’m crazy.”
“I think you’re insane.”
“Aren’t you the one who asked me to give you a child just last week? You’re aware that’s much more of a commitment than living with me?”
She tries not to groan.
“That was just hormones-“
“No,” he stops her. “I don’t think it is.”
Her phone is hot against her cheek, his voice melting though the speaker and edging into her brain. She doesn’t understand his end goal. She doesn’t know any kind of man that would ever agree to this. She doesn’t-
“I’m not quitting my job,” she pauses, “- yet. ”
Ben hums, somewhat satisfied.
“But…I’m going to go off of birth control.”
His next hum is truly pleasant. She can hear it even through the phone.
“I’ll give you whatever you want, Rey.” It sounds like he means it. “Just promise to be mine.”
Ben hangs up.
__
His words bounce around in her head for a bit.
He’s unreadable in so many ways.
She’s too busy to meet him for dinner that Friday, and it’s almost the tipping point for Rey.
Almost.
She blazes through her shift, swearing and cursing only in her mind, pissed and peeved at this whole stupid concept of money and work and just exhaustion.
But nevertheless…
Ben lives in a house that is worth 2.4 million dollars.
It’s a four bedroom, with a backyard and a nice garage. There’s an elementary school just a mile down the road.
It’s like everything is taunting her at this point.
Her stupid YouTube ads for strollers.
The clearance section at Ross which is jam packed with maternity clothes.
Her fucking uterus, for god’s sake.
She finally calls him late on a Sunday, fully aware he shouldn’t pick up, but absolutely will.
“Hello?” His voice is like gravel. “Rey?”
“Hey.”
“Is everything alright? Are you in trouble?”
He seems actually concerned. Huh.
“No, no. Nothing wrong. Sorry I’m calling so late, and on a work night no less. But…”
She sighs.
“God, this is so embarrassing.”
He’s silent over the phone, and for a minute, Rey fears he’s fallen right back asleep.
“Can I come over? I’m about to start my period, and I’m kind of losing my mind-“
“No.”
Her heart drops.
“Shit.” Backtrack, backtrack . “Ben. I’m so sorry, I really didn’t mean to call this late-“
“I’ll come to you. It’s too late at night for you to Uber.”
“O-Oh, okay then.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen. Let me brush my teeth.”
A loose curl wraps around her finger, twisting over and over again.
“Sounds good.”
—
Rey discovers soon that Ben…can cook.
It surprises her.
She doesn’t know why, but it just does.
He feeds her a lot more often. They’ve moved Fridays to pretty much any day now.
They don’t really talk about stuff besides work and the news and other topics they have in common.
They only talk about everything else once he’s inside of her.
It might be a kink, Rey also discovers, as he fucks her from behind and she screams into his silk sheets. That must be the reason he’s okay with impregnating her.
It definitely sounds like a kink, just by what he whispers to her.
“Pretty cunt,” he growls. “Such a fucking pretty cunt, perfect and ready-“
He keeps one hand secure on her neck while the other kneads at her ass, encouraging.
“You’re gonna take it all, aren’t you? Nice and deep. I’m gonna fuck that baby into you-“
His words only encourage her moans, drowned out by the sound of his hips slamming into her thighs.
She gets fatter as the month goes on.
In all the wrong places, of course, but places that were perhaps, a bit too skinny beforehand.
It might be because she’s officially off birth control as well.
Her face clears up. And so does her chest and back acne.
How long does it usually take to get pregnant?
At what point of my cycle should I try to get pregnant?
How to tell if it’s you or his sperm count?
Her Google search history becomes sort of obsessive. Embarrassing, even.
But so does he.
Ben rubs her feet. Sets up bubble baths. Books her a back massage.
Hell, she’s at his place more often than not, that she’s practically moved in already.
Buys her favorite groceries. Orders some vanilla candles. Eats her out when she politely asks.
She can’t put her finger on it. Or him, really.
Rey isn’t all that…special.
She’s average, at most. There’s nothing extraordinary or spectacular about her life. About her personality.
She doesn’t get it.
Honestly.
—
Rey moves in at the end of February.
It’s just easier at this point.
Plus, Ben’s going to be gone for four weeks on a business trip and needs someone to water the plants while he is gone, despite the fact that there’s not another single living thing in his house.
Well, except Rey now.
It’s her place, just for this time. Ben’s extremely busy overseas and hardly calls. It sucks but she’s busy at work anyways.
In the middle of the second week is when she gets sick.
Not the flu sick, but like…icky stomach sick.
Aka the worst kind.
First things first, she takes a test.
Negative.
Oh, well. It was worth a shot.
But her stomach ache doesn’t go away for the rest of the week.
She doesn’t tell him.
But she does end up going to the doctor. For the first time since she moved here, actually.
“Oh you’re definitely pregnant.”
Rey blinks.
“But…my test said I wasn’t.”
Her doctor shrugs. “False negatives happen. They’re not common, but do happen.”
The conversation ends there, in her mind. The doctor says some other things, but Rey ignores them all. She’s already made a decision.
She made the decision a long time ago.
__
Ben returns in late March.
She isn’t home when he arrives. She’s at work. Even though she doesn’t need to be.
Still.
They greet each other with hugs, rather than kisses because even by this point, they’re practically strangers.
Maybe not…strangers.
Rey doesn’t know what they are.
He cooks, despite being exhausted from jet lag.
Even when she offers.
“No offense,” he says over the sizzling on the stove, “but you can’t cook, Rey.”
She pouts.
“Yes I can. I made us that chicken bake, remember? You said it was good.”
“I lied.”
“You never lie.”
“I know. But I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“I think you’ve hurt them more now.”
“Apologies. From now and therefore on, I won’t lie to you.”
“Thank you.”
“Then that chicken bake was horrendous.”
“Fine. I’ll work on my cooking skills.”
“Or just let me cook for you.”
He flips the steaks over, sprinkling some spices over the meat. They smell amazing. Better than anything she could do, for sure.
“It’s going to have to be a lot of food then. And you’re already busy enough.”
“I don’t care. What I do care about, though, is that you’re not starving.”
“It’s going to be double what I eat already.”
That gets him to finally look at her, an eyebrow raised.
“...may I ask why it would be double? ”
She sighs dramatically, toying with him at this point.
“You left me to fend for myself for an entire month. I’m compensating.”
“Hmm.”
Rey grabs plates and helps them dish up.
He continues to eye her, dark, purple bags brushing above his cheeks.
“You don’t look thinner.”
She scoffs. “Gee, thanks.”
“Your ass is still perfect. And your face is still round.”
“You think I have a perfect a-”
“You’re pregnant.”
She stops right before the table, their dining room table, frozen, her back to Ben.
“That’s what you meant. About eating for two.”
A deep breath leaves her chest.
“Maybe it was.”
He circles around her, removing the plate from her hands and gently setting it on the bar counter.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
He lifts her easily, laying her gently on the oakwood table, her back pressing into the cold wood.
“Why, may I ask, did you choose not to inform me then?”
He’s already unbuckling, popping the buttons on his shirt.
“Because.”
She whips her own sweater off, following him.
“I knew this is how you would react.”
She pulls him down for a kiss, their mouths hot and hungry.
The food now long forgotten.
__
She quits a week later.
Says it for health reasons.
Which is…kind of true.
She still messages Rose.
A month passes.
Her morning sickness only gets worse.
And without doubt, Ben is always there with her, holding her hair back or getting her a glass of water. No matter how early in the morning.
She learns how to bake complicated things.
But pretty much stays away from the stove.
That’s Ben’s place. Not hers. Just as he does not touch her cake pans or frosting spatula.
They’re both getting fat, honestly.
They don’t really care.
The weather warms up.
They go to the park.
He tells her that it’s the same park his parents used to take him to, too.
Spring comes.
He lets her decorate the house.
Says that it always felt cold and boring.
She doesn’t go overboard or anything, but she does add some color here and there.
She sleeps in every single morning.
One Saturday morning she wakes up with him below the covers, nestled quietly between her thighs and sucking a pattern onto her stomach.
She thinks about how it all came to this point.
How less than three months ago, Rey was living alone in a shit box of an apartment. Bored.
And now she’s coming on this strange man’s tongue, her hands fisted in his hair as he rings every last drop of pleasure from her.
In a home.
That’s slowly becoming their home.
__
Summer is hot and sticky and moist.
She’s round, at this point, her due date only two months away.
Her back hurts. Her feet hurt. Everything fucking hurts.
“This sucks,” Rey groans. They’re at Ikea shopping for nursery items. They’re late too the game, but they still don’t know the gender. Their choice.
“Do you want me to push the cart?”
She shakes her head. “No. Because I can do this.”
She leans down and sits her poor, huge, and sore boobs on the cart’s handle, sighing in instant relief.
“Just to check with you again,” he starts, “you did want this, correct?”
Ben asks her this every once in a while now. It was asked a lot at the beginning.
“I did.”
“Okay. Good. I mean, it’s not good that you’re in pain-”
“Ben.”
“Sorry.”
He’s lost a lot of his pungent bravery since everything, she’s noticed. He’s a bit more weak, naive even. Like this whole concept and maybe Rey herself, scares him a bit.
“I’m going to go over to the restrooms. They feel like they’re going to leak any minute now.”
He follows her and her cart full of stuff that he’s going to buy, all the way until she’s about to close the door on the single, family bathroom.
“Let me help you out.”
She raises a brow.
“With what- oh. ”
She lets him continue to follow.
Locks the door.
And to no one’s surprise, she’s already begun to leak, twin wet spots on her padded bra.
He bends, cupping her left nipple in his mouth and sucking greedily. She has to bite down a moan, fearing it’ll echo much too loudly.
It was gross, only at first.
But now it's an instant relief for her.
And the best fucking thing in the world for Ben.
She looks down with hazy vision to see he’s hard through his jeans, lapping and catching anything that might drip.
He reaches down her leggings, thumbing her clit.
She’s wet. Because when he does this, she always is.
They can’t take it anymore.
Ben lifts her to his waist, belly sort of in the way, but not enough to hinder either of them.
He has to muffle her with his hand, a scream threatening to leave her as he sets her down on his cock.
“I’m n-not too, ah, heavy, a-am I-? Too m-much?”
His head twists violently.
“No, Rey,” he responds.
He also responds by lifting and dropping her faster, hitting a spot that makes her eyes water and toes curl.
“I can never have enough of you.”
__
Rey has lived here for a year now.
Her life from before is only a memory.
Hell, even her life before Ben is hazy.
She already realized months ago that she was stupidly in love with him.
Hasn’t had the gut to admit it though.
It’s ironic how she’s literally going to be pushing this man’s child out of her, yet she can’t muster the courage to tell him how she feels.
Maybe it’s because she isn’t sure how he feels.
Their whole relationship feels like a deal sometimes.
He cooks for her.
She helps clean the house.
He pays for everything.
She lets him feast on whatever part of her he wants to.
But then there’s other things, too.
Like when she listens to him complain about the dicks he works with and provides solace.
When he remembers that she likes the TV’s volume set only on even numbers.
When they fall asleep in each other’s arms it's always the best sleep they’ve ever had.
Maybe it is love, whatever they’re doing.
It was never part of Rey’s plan, of course.
It’s a silent love, perhaps.
One that doesn’t require a voice or any words.
She waits for November on pins and needles.
There’s nothing in the world that she’s more excited about.
Except maybe the look on Ben’s face when they hold their child for the first time.
Is that love? Or just a fantasy?
“That crib isn’t going to build itself,” he reminds her at dinner.
The box sits in the living room, untouched. They’re just both so lazy nowadays.
“I know. But I’m too big to build anything now.”
“That’s true.”
“What if we hired someone? There’s got to be some strapping strong man in this neighborhood who could do it for us.”
“No way.”
She tries not to giggle. “No way?”
“Nope.”
“What, you don’t want another man in your home? In your space?”
“That’s not it.”
“Is it a ‘bro code’ thing or something of the sorts?”
“No.”
“Then what on earth is your-”
“Because it’s my job, and nobody else’s. Nevertheless, some other man’s. ”
She realizes then and there why there’s such a sting to his voice.
About what exactly she’s suggested.
Rey sets down her fork and rounds the table, gently sitting the best she can on his lap.
“Ben. Are you…jealous?”
He huffs. “What would I be jealous about?”
“I don’t know. But it sure sounds like that. I don’t mind. Actually, I kind of like it.”
“You do?”
“Yup.”
“I’m not…” he trails off. “I’m just angry. At things that have never happened.”
“Oh? About work? Or-?”
“About you, Rey. About what…you could potentially do after all of this.”
Ah.
“You think I’m going to leave you after the baby is born.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“And to think, we’ve spent this much time together, and you still don’t know what I want, Ben.”
“But I do.”
“What do I want then?”
“You wanted a baby.”
“I did. I still do.”
“But you never wanted me.”
Rey thought she was going to be the hormonal and sappy one. Not him.
“Whatever happened to that dominant and terrifying man I fell for all that time ago?”
“You didn’t fall for me,” he sighs. “You just wanted what you did, and so did I.”
“And what is it that you wanted then?”
He’s silent.
“I wanted…”
A gulp.
“I wanted to provide. To help take care of someone who would stay. To make all this bullshit I put up with at work to have some meaning back at home.”
“And who says that it’s impossible to fall in love with that kind of thinking?”
His eyes dart up to hers, quick and terrified.
“I’ve gained more than what I ever wanted. I do love you, Ben. I’m not leaving anytime soon, especially if you keep cooking for me like how you do.”
That earns her a slight laugh.
“I think I’ve loved you since the day I first saw you in that coffee shop.”
“That’s romantic. Our kid is going to love that story.”
“Maybe we should leave a few key details out when telling them.”
“Hmm? Like what?”
“Like when I got off almost every day at the mere thought of you being pregnant. When I jacked off in the shower and it felt like a waste.”
“Yes, we should leave that detail out.”
“It still feels like a waste.”
“You’ve already knocked me up, Ben.”
“And I’ll do it as many times as you want.”
“I suppose you should marry me then.”
“Done.”
This man. My god.
“What am I going to do with you?”
He smiles, his grin toothy and crooked.
“Whatever you want.”