“Be sure to use gentle, slow movements, focusing on each other’s pleasure like I showed you both. Okay?”
They nodded.
“Always start with soft touches to warm up the body, then gradually increase pressure as desired. Pay attention to your partner’s response and adjust your movements accordingly. Sound good?”
They nodded again.
“Good, because communication and consent, whether you’re married or not, are key throughout the process.”
“Thank you so much, Tiffany,” Jacey said, her round cheeks rosy. She looked happy. “You’ve been amazing. This is exactly what we wanted for our honeymoon.”
“It was my pleasure.”
“Thank you for the recommendation of what oil to get from Peace, Love, and Harmony. It smells amazing and is so silky.” Lance put his arm around Jacey, standing the same height as her five-foot-four frame. “I want nothing but the best for my girl.”
“He’s a smart man.” Jacey laughed.
“You’re very welcome. Harmony will see that you’re taken care of. You two have a great time on your honeymoon. Be careful and take care of each other.”
“Always.” Jacey waved as Lance led her out of the room and down the hall toward the front.
I walked toward the back to do inventory of my supply stock. The storage room had a door that led to the back parking lot. I always kept it locked when I wasn’t getting a delivery. I smelled the smoke before I saw the flames.
Oh my God…fire!
Coughing and choking on the growing smoke, I whipped open the back door at the same time that the sprinkler system and fire alarm came on. I could hear people running and screaming out of the front of the building. This wasn’t just my place of business. It was my home, and, currently, Trixy’s.
I stood just inside the doorway and shielded my eyes when I saw a movement in the parking lot. A woman hurried across the lot and scrambled into a car. For a moment, I thought she was a customer escaping the fire, but then I got a closer look at the driver as they sped off. There was no mistaking who it was…
Bud Grant.
Fury filled me. He was the only person who used to have a key to my home and business. I’d made him give them back after the divorce, but he’d obviously made a copy. I couldn’t prove it, but I’d bet my life he’d had his latest bimbo set fire to my place.
My attorneys had been foiling his attempts at framing Matt for his so-called neck injury. That had to make him angry. but I’d never known him to be so reckless. Almost as if he were desperate, but why? I had a lot of insurance on this place. Is that what he was hoping for? My inheritance wasn’t enough?
What kind of trouble had he gotten himself into this time?
Well, I had news for him. He wasn’t getting one more cent from me. The wailing sirens grew closer. Someone could have been seriously hurt or died. I’d no sooner had that thought than a piece of the ceiling came crashing down, knocking me to the ground.
“Help,” I called out, cradling my stomach.
My head pounded something fierce; I could barely see straight. Who was I kidding? I was sure everyone had evacuated out front, as planned. No one was in the building to hear me. I was five months pregnant, and my stomach was already growing more than average because of the twins.
The twins!
My eyes welled up with tears. What if the fall had hurt them? The ceiling had hit my head and knocked me down hard. I’d tried to protect my stomach, but it had still hit the ground fairly hard. I coughed, finding it hard to breathe even with the door open.
I was going to die never having met my babies…our babies.
As the world around me faded to black, all I could think about was Matt.
“Tiffany, it’s Dr. Joy. Can you hear me?” She patted my cheeks.
I stirred.
“That’s it. You can do it. Come back to us now.” Dr. Joy had a way of being comforting yet direct. When she told you to do something, you did, no questions asked.
I stirred again, but all I wanted to do was sleep.
“Come on, lass,” said a deep voice close to my ear that even in a smoke-induced coma could stir me to life. “Open those beautiful blue eyes of yers, love.”
That had me blinking them open and then slamming them closed against the light. “My head.” I lifted my hand and felt a bandage wrapped around my head.
“That would be the concussion you suffered.” Dr. Joy spoke as she checked my vitals, and the sounds of beeping machines went off around me.
The memory of what happened came flooding back, and my hand slid to cover my stomach. “Our babies?”
“Are just fine.” Matt’s hand swallowed mine as he covered my stomach.
“Your sons are both doing great,” Dr. Joy said.
That had my eyes blinking open wide, pain be damned. “Sons? As in both boys?” I stared up at Matt in wonder mixed with a bit of horror.
Matt’s face was beaming. “Aye, lass. No wonder yer belly’s so big.”
I leveled a glare at him.
