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Jang Uk was tugged out of sleep and automatically turned towards Cho Yeong, his bleary eyes managing to make out the darker shadow of her form lying beside him and realized in that same instant that she was awake too, although how he knew it, he couldn’t have said for sure. He reached out to touch her shoulder.
“Yeong-ah?” he asked, his voice slightly fuzzy from sleep. “What is it?”
Cho Yeong turned her head towards him, although it was too dark to see her features. “It’s nothing, Uk-ah. I woke up because I had a startling dream, that’s all.”
It was a simple explanation—and entirely plausible, too, since he knew how often Yeong have dreams and nightmares about certain things. Her divine powers reaching dimensions that even he wasn’t able to fathom. And yet there was an odd intonation in her voice, the faintest indication that something was not quite right.
He turned on the light with a quick wave of his hand so he could see her face. “Buin?”
Her only response was to shift closer to him, nestling her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her automatically, turning his head to brush a kiss against her hair, but other than that, he said nothing more. He knew better—now—than to try to force a conversation and by now, he also trusted that she would tell him when she was ready to.
Jang Uk could feel the growing bump of her belly against his side and his thoughts drifted naturally to their unborn baby. He wondered rather idly if the baby would be a boy or a girl. He and Yeong had both agreed that they didn’t really care whether the baby was a boy or a girl, as long as the baby was healthy, and the birth didn’t cause Yeong too much pain. But once in a while, he pictured a little boy with Yeong’s chin and eyes or a baby girl looking like a miniature version of Yeong.
“Jang Uk?” His imaginings were interrupted by the sound of Yeong’s soft voice.
“Hmm?” He turned his head to look down at her.
“What if—what if I’m a bad mother?”
He wanted to laugh but one look at her face had him forcibly swallowing it back. She was—incredible as it seemed to him—serious, the expression on her face one of open vulnerability that he rarely saw.
“Yeong…”
“I’ve never been good around children, and I never know what to say to them. You saw how awkward I’ve been with Danggu and Choyeon’s twins. Other little girls seemed to spend their childhoods pretending their dolls were their babies, but I never did that. I don’t have memories of me playing dolls when I was little; the only toy I knew was a sword. I never--”
Jang Uk frowned at the mental image of a little Yeong having to wield and practice a sword for her to survive, interrupting her uncharacteristic flood of words.
“Cho Yeong.” He touched a gentle finger to her lips, quieting her as he met her eyes directly.
“Yeong-ah, love,” he began softly, seriously, “You are going to be a great mother.”
“How can you be so sure? I- I’m not like Kim Dojoo or Choyeon-ah. I’m too rational and I don’t coo over babies or—” She broke off, her voice clogged with tears.
“Darling,” he began, the rarely used endearment getting her attention and emphasizing his sincerity. “I’m sure of it because I know you. You don’t have to be like Kim Dojoo or Choyeon to be a good mother. You’ll be a good mother because of the way you care.”
He gave her a smile that was half-tender and half-teasing, “I can’t claim to know everything, but there are two things I do know about, more than anyone else -- loving you and being loved by you. I’m an expert at what it’s like to be loved by you,” he finished with a quirk of his lips.
“Oh, Jang Uk…”
He shifted to place his hand gently on her belly. “This baby is going to have a lot of cousins if Danggu and Choyeon continue their twin streak, a favorite halmeoni, a nervous wreck of a father,” he said with a quick smile, “and most importantly, this baby will have a wonderful mother.”
He moved down the bed until his head was level with her stomach. He pushed up her night jeogori to bare her stomach and pressed his lips to the firm skin.
“Do you hear that, aegi-yah? You are going to have the best Eomma in the entire Daeho. She’ll boss you around—” he gave Yeong a teasing wink before he went on, addressing her stomach, “and she’ll take care of you and teach you and protect you.”
His voice softened, became somewhat husky with emotion, as he went on, not looking at Yeong again as he spoke softly to their baby. “And while she’s doing all that, she’ll also love you, love you with all her heart, and that, is an awful lot. Your Eomma has the kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, you see. So, you and I are very, very lucky because we’re the ones your Eomma loves the most.”
He stopped then as he heard Yeong make a sound that was half a sob, half a gasp, and then she was reaching for him, pulling him up, so she could kiss him fiercely, as if to demonstrate the truth of his words, the boundless depth and strength of her love.
And he fell into the kiss, caught and held, enthralled really—as always—by her passion, as he cupped her face with his hand, one hand sliding back so his fingers could tangle in her hair.
She broke off the kiss with a gasp, drawing back, and he opened his eyes to meet hers, soft with love and dark with arousal.
“Make love to me, Jang Uk,” she said, her voice a little breathy, husky with arousal.
His lips curved into a slight smile, even as his body reacted, hardening with a speed that almost surprised him even the ice stone in his chest reacted strongly to her. He could never get enough of her, had never heard anything as sexy as those five words from her lips. “As you wish.”
And then he did what his wife wanted, stripping her jeogori off her body slowly, kissing and caressing her skin as he went, pausing to pay homage to every additional inch of her body he bared with his lips, tongue, and hands.
He touched her, loved her, until her breath was coming in gasps and her skin was heated and flushed and slightly damp with perspiration. Until she was entirely bare to his gaze, and he paused in his touches to stare at her, his eyes caressing her as much as his hands and lips had.
“Oh, Yeong, you’re beautiful,” he breathed, the words falling from his lips without conscious thought. She flushed, her hands automatically moving to cup his face, one corner of her lips quirked upwards, and she huffed out her breath in a half laugh. “Thank you, I think.”
But then all amusement faded from her face as he moved to cup one enlarged breast in his hand, his fingers tracing around and over it, before he palmed it, appreciating the fullness of it.
“Of all the changes to your body, I think this one is my favorite,” he rasped out, trying to sound teasing. Her only answer was a moan as her back arched, pushing herself more firmly against his hand.
And he gave up on further words, his lips fastening on the hardened peak of her nipple. He swirled his tongue over and around it, savoring the taste of her, and then suckled it, lightly at first, and then harder, until she gasped and flinched slightly as he suckled too strongly. He immediately stopped, pulling back just enough to scatter soft, apologetic kisses across her breast. He moved on to pay the same attention to her other breast, careful this time not to suckle too hard. He moved further down her body, exploring the changes in her body first with his hands and then with his lips, the taut curve of her stomach. He kissed her stomach again but this time, his intent was sensual rather than simply loving, focused on her and not on their unborn baby. He dipped his tongue into her belly button as his hands ventured lower to caress her hips and her thighs that fell open at his touch. He could smell the familiar musk of her arousal as he turned his head to pillow his cheek lightly on her stomach, feeling a rush of awe even in the midst of his arousal at the thought that a baby—his baby, their baby! —was inside her stomach.
“Yeong,” he murmured softly against her skin.
His hand caressed her thighs and then slipped between to cup the hot, wet center of her—and she gasped, a quiver going through her entire body. She was so wet, so responsive, so uninhibited in her passion—and he loved it, could never get enough of her. And so, he showed her, kissing her, licking her, with all the knowledge and all the confidence that came from years of loving her. Until her head was moving restlessly on the pillow, until her hips arched up and a sharp cry escaped her lips, as her pleasure ripped through her. He looked up to watch her as she came—and she was so beautiful with her head thrown back, her hair spread out on the pillow, her skin flushed. It was the most erotic, arousing sight in the world.
He hastily stripped out of his night clothes with hands that trembled slightly with the force of his lust and impatience and then he stretched himself alongside her, his lips finding hers. And then it was her turn as she kissed him, her hands greedy and knowing as they skated across his shoulders and then down his chest. He felt her pushing lightly and he gave way, rolling onto his back and taking her with him as she sprawled over him in wanton abandon.
She pressed herself against him and he groaned at the feel of her breasts against his chest. Her lips scattered kisses across his chest as she moved over him, her teeth lightly grazing one flat, male nipple. Causing lightning to sizzle through his body to his arousal. His hips bucked, his erection brushing against her, and he gave a guttural groan and abruptly knew he couldn’t take this anymore. Swiftly, his hands lightly grasped her hips, guiding her until she was straddling him. And then she paused, and his eyes flew open on a gasp.
“Yeong-ah… jebal…” he rasped out, the words barely recognizable as his throat seemed to have closed up from sheer lust so powerful, he was nearly in pain.
The ghost of a smile—the smile of a siren—curved her lips and the sight of it sent another bolt of lust streaking through him. Slowly, slowly, with excruciating slowness, she lowered herself until the tip of him just barely entered her—and he lost control, his hips surging up until he was fully inside her. And his eyes nearly crossed from the dizzying pleasure of it, of finally, finally, being inside her, surrounded by her wet warmth.
His hands tightened on her hips as she rose up and then lowered herself, the movement of his hips automatically finding and matching the movement of hers, as they fell into the rhythm of this familiar, endlessly exciting dance of lust and passion and pleasure. He kept his eyes open, drinking in the sight of her above him, the look on her face. She was his master, his lover, his dream…
His hands moved to cup her breasts and just like that, her body was tightening around him as spasms of pure physical pleasure shook her, captured her, her head falling back with a cry. And he didn’t know if it was the sight of her or the feel of her that pushed him over the edge, but his hips snapped up in one last, final thrust as he exploded his seed inside her with a guttural shout, he knows the whole Jang household would hear.
And he knew no more, returning to some semblance of consciousness some endless time later to an awareness that she was slumped above him in a breathless, boneless heap of feminine curves. Something inside him—his very soul—seemed to purr its satisfaction at the feel of her above him, the familiar—and oddly unfamiliar—warm curves of her body draped over him. Lying as she was, he was conscious of the changes in her body from pregnancy, the new curve of her stomach, so she didn’t feel entirely like his Cho Yeong. And yet, no matter the slight changes, his body, his soul, recognized her and luxuriated in her closeness. She was still—and always—his. He let his hands stray up her back in an idle caress and felt her turn her head to kiss his chin lazily.
“Am I too heavy?” she mumbled half-sleepily.
The ghost of a smile curved his lips as his fingers tightened slightly on her skin.
“No, stay,” he murmured. “I like feeling you on top of me.”
He felt her smile against his shoulder. He slid one hand up to tangle in her hair, turning her head so he could kiss her, softly, tenderly. She let out her breath in a soft sigh as the kiss ended.
“My husband…” she breathed.
Warmth filled his chest at the unusually sentimental words. He was hers, had always been hers. It amazed him, humbled him, to think about the depths of her love, her loyalty. He cupped her cheek in a caress as he met her eyes.
“You’re the most loving person I’ve ever known,” he told her in a whisper.
Her eyes softened, getting just a little teary with emotion, and he quickly added, “And I should also mention that this baby will have the sexiest mother in the world.”
She choked on a laugh. “Honestly, Jang Uk!”
Her soft laugh was swallowed by his mouth as he kissed her.
“I love you,” she said quietly against his mouth as she drew back.
“And I love you.”
Her response was a yawn and he chuckled softly, kissing her forehead. “Go to sleep, Yeong-ah.”
“Hmm, jal jayo seobangnim.”
“Have a sweet dream this time, my love.”
He turned off the light with a wave of his hand and let himself sink further into the mattress, relaxing against her, as he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep, to dream of their baby. Because after all what happened and what’s about to happen in the future, they knew they loved each other.