“The tea is caffeine-free,” he informed me as he poured a mug of the brew from the porcelain Noah’s Ark teapot that Annie had given me when she found out I was pregnant. He added cream and sugar, as if he knew how I liked it, before patting my bare tummy and saying, “We don’t want to get Peanut all riled up.”

I looked up at him and smiled, “I love peanut butter toast. My dad used to make it for me whenever Mom was gone and he was stuck cooking.”

“I love it, too.” He gave me a crooked grin. “It was a special treat in our house because our meals were always much more formal. Once in a while, Seth and I could talk Mom into letting us have it, though. A couple of times we even had it for dinner.” He smiled at the memory before adding with a slightly disapproving tone, “Bread and peanut butter are about the only edible things you had in that kitchen.”

“Are you going to give me a hard time or finally feed my grumbly tummy?”

“I don’t want you to choke, so I’ll untie your restraints. Tonight is your night, though. It’s not about me. I want to pleasure you beyond reason.” I watched his gorgeous lips move as he talked. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. “Did you hear me, Abby? I mean it. I’m not going to be satisfied until you are completely incoherent from ecstasy.”

I nodded my head in understanding. The man of my dreams wanted to completely rock my world. What choice did I have but to let him?

19

“Wait, WHAT?” I leaned forward as if that would somehow help me make sense out of what Courtney had just told me. She and I were sitting at our usual booth at Joe’s for girls’ night. Thankfully, Seth hadn’t arrived yet. I couldn’t imagine what he would have to say about what Court had just shared with me.

Courtney repeated the words she had just uttered, but more slowly this time, as if she was speaking to a small child. “When I walked into the kitchen last night, Sam had his penis in a bucket of ice.”

“That’s what I thought you said.” I shook my head. “Why would he do that?”

Court shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me. I thought maybe you two had some kind of kinky ritual going on. That’s why I hightailed it to my bedroom and hid out in there all night.”

For the first time since finding out that I was pregnant, I really wished that I could have an alcoholic beverage. I didn’t have any reason not to believe Courtney, but what she was saying didn’t make any sense. “But we didn’t even have anything with ice. We had decaf hot tea and peanut butter toast.”