Chapter 8: The Confession to Shane
Astrid climbed the stairs to her apartment slowly, her key already in hand. The afternoon with Dina lingered on her skin like a warmth she couldn't quite shake, a humming under her breastbone that made her feel both guilty and gloriously alive. She let herself in, expecting the quiet stillness of an empty house, but the living room glowed with the soft amber of a single lamp.
Shane sat on the couch, his big body relaxed into the cushions, a glass of water on the side table untouched. His dark eyes found hers the moment she crossed the threshold, and there was something in them she couldn't read. Whatever he'd been doing, he'd been waiting for her.
"Hey," she said, her voice coming out softer than she intended. She set her purse on the console table, the weight of the afternoon still pressing against her ribs.
"Hey yourself." He didn't move, but he patted his thigh, a silent summons she knew well. "Come here."
Her pulse quickened. She walked to him slowly, her hips swaying with the extra weight of her belly, and when she reached the couch he reached up and caught her hand, pulling her down into his lap with surprising gentleness. Her belly pressed against his torso as she settled across his thighs, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her secure.
"So tell me," he said, his lips brushing her temple. "How was your afternoon?"
Her breath caught. She looked at his face, searching for accusation or hurt, but found only a calm, steady warmth. His hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw.
"I saw the way she looked at you," he murmured. "At dinner, the way your hands lingered on hers. I'm not threatened, Astrid." His voice lowered, dropping into that rumble that always made her shiver. "I'm grateful."
Something in her chest loosened, a knot she hadn't even realized she was carrying. "You're not... you're not upset?"
"Why would I be upset that my wife found someone who sees her the way I do?" He kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose. "Someone who understands what this is like. What you're carrying, not just the baby but everything else. The fear. The loneliness. I can't be pregnant with you, sweetheart. I can only hold you while you carry it."
Astrid's eyes burned. She blinked rapidly, pressing her forehead to his. "Shane."
"I mean it." His hands slid under her blouse, calloused palms warm against the skin of her lower back. That familiar broad touch, steady as ground. "Tell me everything. I want to know what happened today. Between you and her."
She drew a shaky breath and began. She told him about locking the deli's door and pulling the blinds, about the way Dina's belly had pressed against hers, about the taste of her and the sound of her moans as Astrid had gone down on her. She told him about the things they'd said afterward, the confessions of loneliness and fear, Leo's cautious distance, Dina's hands on her face and the way she'd looked at Astrid like she was something precious.
Shane listened without interruption, his hands moving in slow circles on her skin. When she finished, his eyes were dark, his pupils blown wide, and his cock was hard beneath her thigh through his jeans.
"Fuck," he breathed. "Astrid."
"I know." She wriggled on his lap deliberately, rocking her weight against him. "I know what it looks like."
"It looks like my wife getting what she needs." He ducked his head, pressing his mouth to her other ear, his voice rough. "And I'm going to make sure you know exactly how much that turns me on."
His mouth found hers before she could answer, deep and demanding, and she melted into it. Her fingers twisted in his shirt, pulling him closer, and his hands came up to cradle her belly as he kissed her like he wanted to devour her. When they broke apart, both breathing hard, he shifted her in his lap, turning her to face him more fully.
"I want to be inside you," he said simply. "Is that okay?"
Astrid nodded, already reaching for the button of his jeans. "God, yes."
She fumbled with his belt with eager fingers, and when she finally freed his cock, thick and hard in her hand, she moaned at the familiar weight of him. Shane pushed her skirt up her thighs, and she wasn't wearing anything underneath, and the low sound he made when he discovered that sent heat cascading through her.
"Already so wet," he murmured against her mouth. "Is this from earlier, or from me?"
"Both." She stroked him as she positioned herself over him. "I didn't touch myself after. I wanted to wait for you."
"Jesus." He gripped her hips, helping her guide him to her entrance. She sank down slowly, the thick head catching at her opening and then pushing inside with a slick, yielding stretch. They both groaned as she took him inch by inch, her pregnant belly pressed against his chest, until he was buried inside her to the hilt.
"Fuck," she breathed. "You feel so good."
"You feel better." His hands moved to her ass, gripping the full curves. "Ride me, sweetheart. Take what you want."
She did. She braced her hands on his shoulders and began to move, rocking her hips in a rhythm that made his cock drag against her inner walls just right. Her belly rolled between them, huge and heavy, and he loved the weight of it against his body. He loved the way she moved on him, taking what she needed without shame, her head thrown back and her mouth open on a soft cry.
"That's it," he gritted out. "Use me, Astrid."
She leaned forward and bit his lower lip, tugging, and the possessive snarl it drew from him made her clench around his cock. He gripped her harder, one hand sliding up to palm her breast, thumbing her nipple through her bra until she cried out.
"Shane," she gasped. "I'm close."
"Let go," he said. "Come for me."
She did, shuddering around him as waves of pleasure crashed through her, and he followed right behind her with a guttural groan, his cock twitching inside her as he spilled deep. She collapsed against his chest, panting, and he held her through the aftershocks, his hands stroking her hair, her back, the curve of her belly.
When she finally lifted her head, her eyes were soft and glazed. "I love you."
"I know." He kissed her forehead, still inside her, still holding her close. "I love you too. And I'm not going anywhere."
They sat there, tangled together in the warm glow of the lamp, and Astrid let herself believe it.
They stayed tangled together for a long moment, the only sound their breathing and the soft hum of the apartment settling around them. Astrid rested her cheek against Shane's shoulder, her body still humming with aftershocks, and she felt him soften inside her and slip free with a wet, intimate pull. She shifted off his lap with a small wince, settling beside him on the couch, her head on his chest.
Shane's arm came around her, his fingers tracing lazy circles on her shoulder. The lamp cast their shadows long across the room. He was quiet for a while, and she felt the change in him before she heard it, a tension that hadn't been there a minute ago.
"Astrid," he said slowly, his voice careful in a way it almost never was. "When you told me about today, about Dina... how it felt when she touched you. How you touched her."
She lifted her head to look at him, a flicker of worry crossing her face.
"I want to be there," he said. "Next time. I want to watch."
She blinked, processing. "Watch?"
"More than watch." He turned to face her fully, taking her hand in his. His dark eyes were earnest, holding hers without flinching. "I want to be with you. Both of you. Together. I want to see what she does to you, and I want you to see what you do to her. I want to be inside you while she kisses you. I want to taste her on your mouth while I'm filling you up."
Astrid's breath caught. Her cunt clenched at the image he painted, still slick with him, and heat rose in her cheeks.
"You're serious," she managed.
"Dead serious." He stroked her knuckles with his thumb. "I know what you two have. I felt it that night at dinner, when you held hands. And I saw how alive you looked when you came home today. I don't want to take that from you. I want to be part of it."
She shook her head slowly, something between wonder and disbelief. "You're not jealous?"
"I was, for about five seconds," he admitted with a dry smile. "Then I thought about how many nights I've been on the road, how many games I've missed, and how I'd feel knowing you had someone who understood what you're carrying. Someone who could hold you when I can't. And I realized the only thing I'm jealous of is that she got to taste you before I did."
Astrid laughed, a broken sound that was half sob. "God, Shane. You can't just say things like that."
"I can and I do." He tilted her chin up with two fingers. "Tell me the truth. When you were with her today, did you think about me at all?"
Her eyes went wide, confession pooling in them. "Yes," she whispered. "I thought about how I wanted you to see me like that. The way she was looking at me. I wanted you to know someone else wanted me like you do."
"That's what I'm asking for," he said. "I want to see you how she sees you. I want to watch you fall apart, and then I want to put you back together."
Her heart pounded hard enough to feel in her throat. The thought of it, of Dina's soft hands and Shane's broad ones, of both of them surrounding her, pressing against her heavy body, made her clench her thighs together. It terrified her. It made her wetter than she'd been all afternoon.
"What would Leo think?" she heard herself ask, the rational part of her brain surfacing for air.
Fuck, the threesome. Shane pressed his forehead to hers. "Leo doesn't have to know everything. That's between you and Dina. And if she's not interested, then we don't do it. But I think she might be. I saw the way she watched you. The way she watched me watch you."
Astrid's mouth went dry. "You want me to ask her."
"I want you to do whatever makes you happy." He kissed her, soft and slow. "But yes. I want you to ask her. And if she says yes, I want to be in that room so I can watch my wife be worshipped the way she deserves."
She broke away from him, her breathing ragged, and when she looked at him her eyes were bright with something dangerous. "Shane, I..."
"I know." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "We don't have to decide tonight. Sleep on it. Talk to her when you see her next. But I want you to know it's real. I'm offering. With no strings, no conditions. If you want me there, I'm there. If you want it to stay just the two of you, that's fine too."
She stared at him, this husband of hers who kept surprising her. She'd spent months feeling like her body was a problem to be managed, a vessel carrying something precious and terrifying, and here he was telling her she could have both hands on her, two mouths, two cocks if she asked for them. That her appetite wasn't a burden.
"Show me," she said, her voice dropping low. "Show me how you'd watch me."
Shane's pupils blew wide. He pulled her back into his lap, his hands sliding down to grip her ass, and his cock was already thickening beneath her again.
"I'd have you like this," he murmured. "Dina on her knees in front of us, your legs spread over mine. She'd taste you while I filled you from behind. And every time you moaned, every time your body tensed, I'd know exactly what she was doing to you. I'd know because I'd feel it around my cock."
Astrid moaned, grinding down against him. "Fuck."
"And when you came," he continued, his voice a low rumble against her ear, "I'd watch your face. The exact second it happens. And then I'd fuck you through it, both of us bringing you over the edge again and again until you couldn't speak."
She was already reaching for his cock again. "Are you going to make me come again thinking about it?"
"Yes." He gripped the base of his erection, guiding her up. "I'm going to fuck you until you can't think about anything else. And then tomorrow, you're going to call Dina and ask her the question you already know she'll say yes to." He positioned himself at her entrance. "Because I saw the way she looked at you, Astrid. She wants you just as much as I do."
He pushed inside her in one smooth thrust, and she cried out, her head falling back. He held her there, buried to the hilt, one hand on the swell of her belly and one twisted into her hair.
"Tell me you want it," he growled. "Tell me you want her here, in our bed, with us."
"Yes," she gasped, clenching around him. "God, yes. I want her. I want both of you."
He began to move, slow and deep, and Astrid let herself be carried away by the fury of it. By the wanting. By the image of Dina's dark hair spread across their pillows and Shane's hands on both of them, and she knew with a certainty that burned through her that it wasn't a question of if anymore.
It was only a matter of when.
A sharp knock cut through the room, three quick raps that shattered the haze between them. Astrid froze, her fingers still wrapped around his cock, and she looked toward the door with wide eyes. She met Shane's gaze, cheeks dark with heat, and pulled her skirt down with clumsy hands.
"Expecting someone?" He was already tucking himself back into his jeans, his voice edged with a growl that wasn't quite annoyance.
"No. No one." She smoothed her blouse over her belly and stood, knees slightly unsteady. "Stay here. Don't move."
The knock came again, harder this time, and she crossed the living room with her heart hammering. She didn't have to look through the peephole to know who it was. Her hand shook as she turned the lock and pulled the door open.
Dina stood in the doorway, key in one hand like she'd been holding it for a long time, her other hand pressed to the underside of her own pregnant belly. Her dark hair was windblown and her eyes were bright, almost feverish, and beneath the sleeve of her coat Astrid saw the edge of the same red sweater Dina had worn earlier at the deli.
"I couldn't stop thinking," Dina said, the words tumbling out before Astrid could speak. "I drove home and Leo was there and he asked about my day and I couldn't say a single word. I kept tasting you. Kept feeling your hands on me." Her voice cracked. "I know this is insane. I know you probably need rest, and I wasn't going to come. I swear I wasn't. But my car just... drove here."
Astrid stood in the threshold, the night air cool against her flushed skin. Behind her, the couch creaked as Shane rose. She heard his footsteps cross the room, felt his presence warm at her back.
"Come in," he said, his voice low and unreactive, and when Dina's eyes flicked to him over Astrid's shoulder, the panic in them softened into something else. "Please."
Dina's gaze dropped to where Astrid's blouse was still untucked, where her skirt was twisted. A flush crept up her neck. "I'm interrupting something."
"You're not interrupting anything that wasn't already waiting for you." Shane wrapped an arm around Astrid's waist, pulling her back against his chest, and Astrid felt his cock hard again against the small of her back. He pressed his mouth to her temple and murmured, "Tell her what we were talking about."
"Dina." Astrid reached out and caught her hand, drawing her over the threshold. The door clicked shut behind them. "We were talking about you. About what I want."
Dina's breath came short. She stood in the warm glow of the lamp, her coat still on, her belly round and heavy between them, and she looked from Astrid's face to Shane's with something like wonder.
"I need you to know this is real," Astrid said, her voice steady now despite the wild beating of her heart. "When I was with you today, I wasn't just thinking about you. I was thinking about him. About the way he looks at me when he wants me. And then he asked me if I wanted him there. With us. And I said yes."
Dina let out a shaky exhale. Shane watched her, his dark eyes roving over her body with an open, patient hunger. "I'm not asking for anything you don't want," he said. "But I want it. To watch you together. To touch both of you."
"And is your wife okay with that?" Dina asked, but her hand was reaching for Astrid's again, lacing their fingers like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"I asked her for it," Astrid said. "I told him how you made me feel. And he said he wanted to see it. See me the way you do."
Dina stepped closer, close enough that their bellies nearly touched, that their joined hands pressed between their bodies. She looked at Shane over Astrid's shoulder. "I don't know how to be with a man the way I used to."
"Then learn with us," Shane said simply.
Dina's eyes went liquid and she nodded once, there in the door of the living room. Astrid reached up and cradled her face, threading her fingers through Dina's dark hair, and kissed her there with Shane watching. It was different, this time, being seen, knowing his eyes were on where their mouths met, his hand sliding up under Astrid's shirt to rest on the skin of her lower belly.
Shane moved behind Dina, his hands finding her hips, and when he pressed his chest to her back, she shuddered, leaning into him while Astrid kept kissing her. There was a groaning tension as he worked the coat from her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. He found the hem of her sweater and drew it up slowly, exposing the pale curve of her belly, and Astrid looked down at her, at the skin she'd kissed and touched that afternoon, now being revealed to her husband in the warm dark of their living room.
"Okay?" Shane asked, his voice rumbling low against Dina's ear.
"Okay," she breathed. "God, yes, okay."
Shane guided them toward the bedroom. Dina went without hesitation, and Astrid followed close behind, her pulse loud in her ears. When they reached the bed, Shane drew down the sheets and eased Dina down onto her back with a care that made Astrid's heart ache. He turned to Astrid and kissed her, slow and thorough, and then he helped her strip off her clothes. He knelt between Dina's thighs and looked up at them, his own arousal barely hidden.
"Show me how you touch her," he said to Astrid.
Astrid crawled onto the bed, her belly brushing against Dina's, and pressed her mouth to Dina's for a long, slow kiss. She tasted salt and want on her lips, and she said against her mouth, "Is this okay? Both of us?"
"Yes." Dina's voice was already wrecked. "Please. Don't stop."
Astrid straddled Dina's thigh and leaned down to kiss her neck, her throat, the hollow above her collarbone. Shane leaned in, his mouth joining Dina's while Astrid's hand slid lower, finding and stroking her, and every movement was in view of her husband. He groaned as he watched, low and reverent, his own hand slipping to stroke under his still-open jeans.
The night opened out wide before them, tender and filthy and unbroken, the three of them together on the bed.