Alaska

Chapter Twenty-Eight

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Twenty-one weeks...

Lexi's eyes fluttered open and she lay for a moment, thinking.  She was lying down, curled up in between the many blankets in the luxurious hotel room.  As soon as her mind registered this, she quickly remembered the night she had shared with Ashton just last night.  She turned and found him sleeping beside her, his bare chest rising and falling as he breathed soundly.

Quietly and carefully, Lexi scrambled out of bed and on her way out, she grabbed the white dressing gown hanging from the bathroom door and draped it over her half naked body then made her way outside.  She headed to the balcony from the living room and her face winced at the sudden blast of sunlight that showered her when she stepped out.

It was a beautiful late morning.  The sky was a periwinkle blue and the sun was blasting its warm rays down upon Pennsylvania.  Lexi watched over the stone banister as a pair of children chased each other around the rock-lined pool below, just where Ashton and her had been standing the night before.

Her mouth split into a dreamy smile as she remembered the intimate moment with Ashton.  She never would have expected sex to have felt so romantic, it was nothing like the night she had spent with Ryan.  Ashton was gentle and kind and it was exactly what she had dreamed of when she was younger and innocent of the knowledge.

Despite her feelings for Ashton having been accumulating for many months, after last night they had reached a point that felt maximum.  Her love towards him was peaked to such an extent that she felt dizzy.  The mere thought of him made her heart pound hard and she began feeling a growing sensation of needing to be with him again.  His promising words on remaining close when Lexi's baby was born was something she never would have imagined he'd say and it was a promise that had caused Lexi to fall further.

Her old feelings towards Ryan were nothing compared to the emotion she felt for Ashton.  Ashton wasn't just an attractive boy that made her stomach butterflies flutter.  He was true and kind and he was there.  She never imagined that love could feel so good.

And yet a distant thought remained in Lexi's mind.  A thought that was suppressed and ignored, but all the same, it was there...  Alaska's good deeds towards the community of cancer was very admirable and it was impossible to think badly of her, but Lexi couldn't help but feel jealous towards her.  She was a girl with cancer and managed to create a campaign that stretched to other states.  She had changed Ashton and was looked up to by so many people...  And there was Lexi with her pregnant belly at sixteen, accomplishing nothing more than an English course.  It was irritating and felt like Ashton had moved a step lower in standards.

"Good morning," came a voice.

Lexi turned and beamed when she saw Ashton standing in the doorway, the thought zooming out of her mind immediately.

"Hi.  How was your night?" Lexi asked, amicably.

Ashton raised a flirty eyebrow and his mouth stretched into his familiar sexy half smile.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" He laughed.

Lexi chortled and she moved in to hug him.  Their lips grazed each others and then Ashton held her in a deep embrace.  They stood there for over a minute until a hard knock reverberated off their stomach walls and they snapped back.  Lexi's hands flew to her belly and she massaged it tenderly, her smile appearing again.

"She can feel you hugging me," she said.

Ashton simpered and with slight hesitation, he reached down and planted his hand over Lexi's, rubbing it lovingly and they both enjoyed the feeling of Lexi's daughter kicking and moving around inside her belly.