Free Extra Time by Michelle Betham Page B

mock surrender. ‘Amber, baby, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. But this is so crazy, sweetheart, you have to see that. The Amber I knew, she didn’t want to be a mom. She didn’t want any of that, and I’m just finding it strange…’
    ‘And you think I’m not? You… you think this is something I’m handling okay, do you? This fucking weird and sudden alien need inside me to…’ She looked at him, pushing both hands through her hair. ‘I don’t have a lot of time left, Jim. I don’t have time to sit and think about this, to weigh up every pro and con a million times over until I’m 100 per cent certain that this is what I really , truly want. I don’t have that luxury. I’ve got to make that decision soon – we’ve got to make that decision soon. Before it’s too late. Because…’ She stopped talking, looking away for a second.
    He walked back over to her, tilting her chin up so she was looking straight at him. ‘Because, what?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she sighed, letting him pull her closer.
    ‘You really want this, huh? Me and you, making babies?’
    ‘Only you could make that sound like the most erotic thing in the world.’ She smiled, her breathing suddenly starting to speed up for some reason.
    ‘And, isn’t it?’ he whispered, his mouth almost touching hers now. ‘I mean, surely, the act of making babies is one of the most erotic things in the world.’
    She felt her stomach flip over what felt like a thousand times as the warmth of his body engulfed hers, the heat between them palpable. ‘I don’t know,’ she said quietly, quite surprised that she could actually string a sentence together right now.
    ‘Do you want to see just how erotic it can be?’ He smiled, his mouth still not quite touching hers as he spoke, but almost. Maybe this was the right way to go. Yeah, he was definitely coming round to the idea. After all, giving Amber a baby might mean she was distracted from anything else that was going on, and that, as far as Jim was concerned, wouldn’t be a bad thing. He loved her beyond words, he loved her more than he could ever explain, and that’s why he needed to protect her. He needed to do that. And anyway, why wouldn’t he want a baby with the most beautiful woman he’d ever set eyes on? Why wouldn’t he want to make her happy? Anything she wanted – if he could give it to her, then he would. He would do that in a heartbeat.
    She could feel his breath on her face, his hand stroking the small of her back, pulling at her dress, and already her heart was beating out of her chest, hammering hard inside her. This was crazy! What had started out as a sensible conversation about starting a family had suddenly turned into a sex-fuelled encounter that was only ever going to end one way.
    She closed her eyes as she felt his hand slide her dress up over her legs and she couldn’t help but take an almost involuntary sharp intake of breath as his fingers began stroking her inner thigh. Already she could feel that familiar tingle between her legs, and a part of her just wanted him to take her there and then, to do it quickly, because she was finding it hard to control herself. Her skin was breaking out in tiny goose bumps, her head was starting to spin, her legs growing weaker by the second as his mouth finally covered hers in the lightest, most beautiful of kisses.
    Oh God, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take of this. She wanted to strip off her own underwear and just make him take her now, right now, because she was physically aching for him. Were these intense, crazy feelings she had for this man ever going to fade? Yeah, of course they were. In time. Which is why she should be making the most of them while she was still feeling this way, feeling this excited, this turned on. Because nobody knew how long it was all going to last.
    ‘You sure this is the way you want it to go?’ he whispered, his hand on her cheek, his mouth still close to hers as he spoke. ‘No