The Brightest Stars ✨

Chapter 23

When Gabe returned from Saturday morning practice, Natalia had been so engrossed in staring at herself in the full length mirror in the bedroom that she had not heard him creep into the room.

"What are you doing?" His casual voice broke through her trance-like perusal of herself and Nat almost jumped out of her skin.

She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment and she rushed to cover herself up with the open robe that had been anchored at her arms by the sleeves.

"Nothing," she lied, badly.

Fresh out of the shower, she had been gazing at her changing body with trepidation and scorn. She was getting ready to go for Afternoon Tea with Gabe's mother. She felt like a toy whale; stuffed overzealously and bursting at the seams, her skin barely able to contain her.

Nothing fit her and she didn't look good in any of the new maternity outfits in her closet. She wanted to cancel their outing, lie in bed and feel sorry for herself.

This was the heaviest she had ever been. Her breasts, which had already been veering into the too-generous territory, were now overflowing every bra she owned. Her areolas were larger than a chocolate digestive biscuit and the same colour. Her thighs were rounder, her belly was large and stretched — soon she wouldn't even see her own toes.

Her face was puffy, with a double chin jutting out of her side profile. Even her nose had spread across her face. Her lips felt like a braised and bruised piece of fruit. One thing though, her skin was glowing but that hardly made up for the rest of what was going on with her.

And she knew that her body was changing for a wonderful reason, she was growing a baby. A new human, and that she was hardly the first or the last woman to ever undergo this change but damn, she felt bloated and unattractive. It was only the fourth month. How was she meant to endure this for another five?

"Mmm..." Gabe said eying her sceptically through the mirror.

He came up behind her, his body heat warming up the air molecules around him. He was always blazing like a furnace. His large, warm hands settled on her hip and he pulled her back into his chest, hard.

Natalia fell back against him with a little thump and a gasp. His warm breath and the bristles of his beard were at the sensitive shell of her ear, making her shiver against him.

"Let's try that again, Sweetheart. What were you doing?"

"Nothing, God, Gabe, you're so..." Natalia tried to extradite herself from his arms, growing frustrated at his prying.

How would he ever understand? He was painfully beautiful. He'd never had a hair out of place a day in his life. His body was carved out of stone and covered in soft, tanned skin. Even the soft downy hair covering his body was of a perfect shade and thickness. He looked perfect any time of the day but especially in the morning.

"Look in the mirror, Natalia. What do you see?" His question hung in the air. She didn't answer or meet his gaze in the mirror. Her eyes were defiantly downcast. How did he have such an uncanny ability to know what was going on with her?

He cupped her breasts in his large hands, so that she could feel his grip and the calloused pads of his fingers over sensitive nipples. He rubbed and plucked at the rising tips, sending frissons of pleasure through her despite her dark mood

"You're so beautiful." He pulled her back against his body and with a surprising jolt she felt his erection nestled like a barge against the soft curve of her back. "I want you all the time. You feel that? That's what you've done to me from the first time I saw you."