She asks to be held

I noticed her breasts first.

The soft grey T-shirt was thin enough that the shape of them showed clearly once she settled back against the cushions. Pregnancy had already changed them—fuller, heavier, the kind of soft weight that rested against the upper curve of her belly when she breathed. The fabric clung just enough that I could see the faint outline of her nipples, the way they pressed against the cotton. Not hard. Just there. Unhidden for the first time in months, the same way her stomach was finally unhidden.

She caught me looking.

I didn’t pretend otherwise. There was no point. The heat under my skin had been building since she stepped out of the bathroom, and it only sharpened now that I could see more of her—belly high and firm under the stretched T-shirt, breasts soft and full above it, the whole of her looking smaller and more vulnerable without the baggy hoodie to hide behind.

Jess didn’t cover herself. She just watched me for a second, then spoke quietly.

“Would you… hold me?”

The question was soft, almost uncertain, like she was still testing how far she was allowed to ask for things.

“It’s been months,” she continued, voice low. “Since I’ve felt like I could be close to someone without worrying about hiding this.” She rested her hand on the rounded shape of her stomach. “Every time someone got near me I tensed up. Turned sideways. Held a bag or a jumper in front of me. Even with my friend I was always half-ready to pull away if it looked like she might feel it. I haven’t just… sat against someone and let it be there in ages.”

She looked at me, eyes tired but clear.

“You don’t have to. But if you don’t mind… I’d really like to feel that for a minute. Just someone not treating it like something that has to stay secret.”

I moved closer on the couch.

She shifted carefully, turning so her back was mostly toward my chest, then leaned into me. I wrapped one arm around her, slow and deliberate, and let my hand rest against the side of her belly. The fabric of the T-shirt was warm. Underneath it the skin was tighter, firmer than I’d expected—drum-smooth and alive with the quiet weight of five and a half months.

Jess exhaled like something inside her had finally unclenched.

She settled deeper against me. The soft curve of her breast pressed against my forearm where it crossed her body. Her belly filled the space between us, heavy and unmistakable. I could feel the slow rise and fall of it with every breath she took. The heat of her soaked into my chest and stomach.

“God,” she whispered. “That feels so much better than I thought it would.”

I didn’t answer right away. My cock was already half-hard against the soft press of her lower back, and I was careful not to shift in a way that would make it obvious. The same dark, hungry pull that had woken up with Lisa was awake again—stronger now, quieter, more focused. This belly was different. Smaller. Higher. Still growing. And the girl carrying it was nineteen, exhausted, and currently melting into me like she’d been starving for exactly this kind of contact.

My hand stayed where it was on the side of her stomach. I didn’t stroke. Didn’t squeeze. Just held the warm, firm shape of her while she breathed.

Jess’s fingers found the back of my hand and rested lightly over it, keeping it in place against her belly.

“Thank you,” she said, so quietly I almost missed it. “For not making it weird.”

It was already weird. Just not in the way she meant.

I was sitting on my own couch with a nineteen-year-old’s pregnant belly under my palm, her soft breasts against my arm, and the knowledge that she had nowhere else to go tonight. The addiction that had started the night before with Lisa was settling deeper into my bones with every second she stayed pressed against me.

I tightened my arm around her just enough to let her feel it.

She made a small, contented sound and leaned her head back against my shoulder.

We stayed like that, quiet, while the apartment grew darker around us and the weight of her stomach remained warm and solid under my hand.