The alarm clock sprung to life, its melodic tune slicing through the pre-dawn darkness like a knife. Leah stretched out in the bed, a low groan escaping her lips as her swollen belly shifted. Thirty-six weeks and counting. It felt like a lifetime and a blink all at once. Setting aside her thoughts on the pregnancy, the woman reached over and silenced the alarm before turning her attention toward her husband.

Leah took a moment to admire Jared as he slept. They’d been married nearly a year now, but her heart still skipped a beat every time she laid eyes on him. She couldn't believe she'd found such an incredible man. He’d been everything she ever wanted, and it was thrilling to know that in just a few weeks, they’d be starting a family together.

In so many ways, she and Jared were total opposites. Leah was the wild child who just had to stand out. She sported tons of tattoos and a pink pixie cut hairdo. Jared was the straight-laced guy who was happy to blend into a crowd. Punk rock dominated Leah's playlist. Jared played a banjo. Despite their many differences, they were content and had a perfect life.

Well, almost perfect.

“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Leah purred, giving her husband a gentle nudge as she kissed his forehead. “You know what day it is.”

“Ungh,” Jared groaned, stretching as he blinked his eyes a few times, a smile growing at the corners of his lips as he spotted his wife. “Hey, you.”

Leah grinned at her man, leaning in and pressing her lips against Jared’s in a tender good morning kiss. Jared draped his arm around her, letting his hand roam up and down his wife’s back and ass as they kissed their hellos.

“How’d you sleep?” Jared asked a moment later.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” Leah smiled, running her hands over her belly. “Little Junior here decided it was time for a round of gymnastics at two in the morning, and I was up twenty-seven times going to the bathroom. On the bright side, I’ve only got another four-ish weeks of this, and then the baby can keep us both up all night.”

“That’s the spirit,” Jared chuckled, giving her one more quick kiss.

Climbing out of bed, the couple started in on their Saturday morning routine. Jared headed to the bathroom to get showered for work, while Leah padded to the kitchen to start working on breakfast. As the woman fried the bacon and eggs, she reflected on their daily routine. Jared had been working these long Saturday shifts since before they met. Part of Leah felt like she should be able to just accept it as their reality.

By the time Jared emerged, dressed in his crisp work uniform, breakfast was on the table. They ate in relative silence, with the only sounds being the clinking of forks and the soft murmur of their occasional conversation. Leah watched him, memorizing the way the early morning light caught the stubble on his jaw, the way his brow furrowed slightly as he concentrated on his food. These stolen moments before he left for his twelve-hour shift were precious.

“Thanks for dinner, babe,” Jared smiled after breakfast. “You definitely know how to make the most of the time we have.” The man leaned in, giving his wife one final kiss. They said their goodbyes, and Jared headed off to work.

As the door clicked shut behind him, the silence of the tiny home settled around Leah. It was a familiar silence, the soundtrack of her “Lonely Saturdays,” as she’d jokingly dubbed them. She cleared the breakfast dishes, a small sigh escaping her lips. She didn't really resent Jared's job. It was just... lonely. But her job at the clinic didn’t have any weekend hours, and Saturdays were mandatory for Jared, so realistically, there was little she could do about it.

Heading back to their bedroom, Leah stripped off her nightgown and made her way into the attached bath. A moment later, the woman was in the shower, hoping that it would help her reset and make the most of her time. As the water cascaded down her pregnant body, she made a mental list of all the things she could set out to accomplish with the house to herself.

After her shower, Leah dried off and went in search of an outfit. Still wanting to feel Jared’s presence, she grabbed one of his baggy old shirts and slipped it on, pairing it with some of her comfortable sweatpants. Looking in the mirror, she realized that she might not win any awards for her outfit today, but it wasn’t like anyone was going to see her anyway.

As she made her way down the hallway toward the living room, Leah glanced into the spare room she and Jared were transforming into the baby's nursery. She let out a sigh. There was so much to do. Furniture needed assembling, walls needed painting, and she still had to put away all the gifts from her baby shower a couple weeks earlier. Maybe this was her project for the day, she decided.

A few hours later, Leah was feeling rather accomplished. The room had a fresh coat of pastel green paint, most of the furniture was put together, and she even managed to sort through most of the gifts. She brought the painting supplies out to the garage and was just heading to the kitchen to fix lunch when she was startled by a knock at the door. The woman frowned. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Changing course, she approached the front door cautiously and paused to listen. A second later, there was another knock, followed by a voice calling her name. Recognizing the voice coming from outside, Leah grabbed the knob and swung the door open.

“Carter?” The woman asked, clearly perplexed.

“Hi, Leah!” Carter smiled back.

Carter was Jared’s best friend. He and Jared had known each other all their lives. He was also the reason Leah and Jared met. Initially, Leah had been dating Carter. Since the two men were so close, Jared was always over at Carter’s house, and Leah got to know him pretty well. That was probably all the farther it ever would have gone, until Carter and Leah had a major fight.

After their fight, Jared wanted to help his buddy mend things with Leah. He went over to Leah’s apartment to see if he could talk her into reconciling. The plan backfired, though, and during their conversation, Leah realized that she wanted a guy who would be there for others, like Jared, and wasn’t perpetually hyperfocused on himself, like Carter. Jared also realized that he was falling for Leah.

At first, Jared refused Leah’s advances, citing his friendship with her boyfriend. Even after she formally broke up with Carter, he turned down her requests to go out for nearly a month. But eventually, he gave in, and almost immediately, the two started dating.

Naturally, the fallout between Jared and Carter was nothing short of spectacular. Carter was irate that Jared would date his ex and even tried to insinuate that Jared had been planning this from the first time he met Leah. Somehow, Jared convinced Carter that this wasn’t the case, and over time the two managed to mend their friendship. Carter had even been Jared’s best man at the wedding. Since then, Carter had become a regular fixture in their lives, popping over to visit from time to time.

“What in the world are you doing here?” Leah asked. “It’s Saturday; you know Jared is at work all day.”

Carter laughed. “I know, I know. I’m actually here to see you. I’ve got this really cool invention that I’ve been working on, and I wanted to show it to you. Could I come in?”

Leah rolled her eyes. “Typical Carter,” she thought to herself. Carter was a certifiable genius, always working on some idea or invention. Coupled with the fact that he was one of the most self-absorbed people she knew, it wasn’t shocking that he would need to find someone to admire what he’d created.

“Yeah, sure. Come on in,” Leah said, stepping aside so Carter could enter the living room. “But what sort of invention is so amazing that you had to pop over here on a Saturday to show it to me?”

“Just… this!” He said with dramatic flair, holding up a cube-shaped device, each side roughly four inches long. He held it out to Leah, gesturing for her to take it. She eyed the box inquisitively. It appeared to be made from some kind of plastic. It was dark colored, and there was a single, round button on top. Deciding it looked fairly harmless, the woman took it from him.

“Whoa,” she said, hefting the object. “This sucker’s heavy.”

“It’s got to be,” Carter chirped. “It’s full of a ton of electronics and transmitters, not to mention the battery. Go on, put it on the coffee table and hit the button.”

Leah looked at the device in her hands once more before shrugging and placing it on her coffee table. Leaning down, she firmly pressed the button. At first, nothing seemed to happen. She glanced at Carter, a questioning look on her face. He just grinned and nodded. Leah looked back at the strange device. Just as she was about to question Carter about its purpose, a faint hum emanated from the cube. It was almost imperceptible, a low, resonant vibration that tickled the air. If the room hadn't been so quiet, she might not have even noticed it. Leah watched the humming box for a few more moments, then turned her attention to Carter, her brow furrowed.

“A humming box? You made a special trip for this?” She asked, perplexed.

Carter chuckled. “No, the humming is just a side effect. That means it’s starting to work. You need to wait a bit for it to truly start working its magic."

“I see,” Leah sighed. “So, how long will it take? I was just about to make some lunch, and then I had a few things in the baby’s room I wanted to finish up. If it's going to take some time, could you possibly bring it back tonight, when Jared is home? I’m sure he’d love to—”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Carter said, cutting her off. “It won’t be long now. Just bear with me a little longer. Any news on the baby?”

“Not really,” Leah replied. “Things are going about as smoothly as they ever are. Some days I feel like…”

Leah’s words trailed off as her eyes momentarily fluttered and lost focus. A split second later, the woman blinked a few times, shaking her head a little.

“Sorry,” she continued, regaining her composure. “I don’t know what that was all about. Pregnancy does weird stuff to your head sometimes. Anyway, as I was…”

As Leah looked over at Carter, her voice trailed off again. This time, however, it wasn’t a flash of disorientation that she felt, but rather a flash of arousal. As she looked her ex up and down, memories of their time together as a couple came racing back into her mind. Most days, she never gave a second thought to those days. For some reason, though, right now as he stood before her, it was as if every fond memory was being cast into the spotlight. The butterflies in her stomach when they first started dating. Their first kiss. The first time they made love. They were all right there, reminding her of exactly how much she loved Carter.

“Hello? Earth to Leah,” Carter said with a smirk.

“Hmm? Oh, right, sorry,” Leah replied, unable to shake the memories and the feelings they were evoking. “That pregnancy brain. It’s a hell of a thing,” she added, doing her best to laugh off her distraction.

“I’ll bet. Well, anyway, I guess I should get going. I’ve got—”

“No, wait!” Leah blurted out, cutting the man off. Carter looked at the woman smugly, and almost immediately her cheeks went crimson, realizing how desperate she must have sounded. “I, uh, I mean, it’s almost lunchtime. Maybe you should stay and have lunch first.”

“Well, thanks, Leah,” Carter grinned. “Maybe I will stay for lunch. Lead the way.”

As Leah led Carter to the kitchen, her mind was racing with questions. Why did she practically beg Carter to stay longer? Why were all these memories from the time they were together bouncing around her mind like they were yesterday? Why was she feeling so turned on all of a sudden?

Leah thought to herself, "That question was easy to answer," as she guided Carter to sit down and began preparing their lunch. She was getting turned on because Carter was so fucking sexy. After all, there was a reason that she had been dating him for over a year. Everything about him was a turn-on, from his shaggy dark hair to the earthy cologne he always wore to the tattoos she remembered admiring on his chest every time they fucked.

Every time they fucked. Just thinking about their sex brought Leah to a new level of arousal. Jared wasn’t unpleasant in bed, and Leah definitely enjoyed sex with her husband. But as she stood there making sandwiches, memories of Carter's blinding, white-hot fucking filled her mind. Part of her hated to admit it, but there was just no comparison to Jared. Carter was bigger. He was more aggressive. He wasn’t afraid to grab her hair or call her a slut. Just thinking about how he used her in bed made Leah’s knees weak.

As she turned with their lunch in hand, Leah’s eyes met Carter’s. Almost instinctively, she gave him a flirty little smile as she strutted over to the kitchen table. She knew she should keep it cool around Carter. After all, she did break up with him and wind up marrying his best friend. At the same time, it wasn’t like a little harmless flirting was going to hurt anyone.

“So,” Leah said with a smile, handing Carter a plate with a sandwich, “got any big plans for the day?”

“Honestly, I was just going to go back home and tinker in my shop,” Carter replied, pausing to bite into his sandwich. “I mean, unless something more fun comes up.”

“Oh, yeah?” Leah asked, her arousal continuing to build as she watched him eat. “What kind of fun were you looking for?”

“I don’t know,” he grinned. “Maybe the sort of fun that involves a hot pregnant babe.”

Leah licked her lips. “Now, now,” she said in a mock-scolding tone. “You need to behave, mister. I’m spoken for.”

“Where’s the fun in behaving?”

Leah laughed at Carter’s comment. Back and forth, the two kept flirting. All the while, Leah found herself becoming more and more aroused. Hot memories from her time dating the man kept racing to the front of her mind, each one turning her on a bit more. From the time they decided to fuck in some bushes at the park and nearly got caught to the time they snuck off during that wedding and Carter ate her out in the church restroom. Each memory had significance, and each one reminded her exactly what she was currently missing out on.

By the time lunch was done and they were making their way back to the living room, all Leah really wanted was for Carter to just take her, then and there. That would make it so much easier. If Carter initiated, then maybe it wouldn’t be her fault that she cheated on Jared. If it was even cheating at all. Sex with Jared, she decided, was just so… disappointing. Would it really be cheating to let herself have the kind of fun she’d been depriving herself of for over a year?

“Don’t tell Jared I said this,” she told the man, “but we really did have a good thing going back in the day.”

Carter smiled. “You know what I miss?” He asked. “You know—about us?”

“What?” Leah inquired, clasping his hand in hers.

“I miss the way you’d show off for me. Like the times when I came home and found you waiting in the living room, wearing nothing but that sexy black lace lingerie, with that bright red lipstick you love. Whenever I saw you like that, I always knew exactly what it meant.”

“Yeah, that someone was about to get some head,” Leah laughed. Just then, an idea popped into her mind. “Wait here,” she told him, before darting down the hall and vanishing into her bedroom.

Leah’s heart was racing as she tore through her closet. What was she doing? Was she really going to do this? What about Jared? For a brief moment, she tried to talk herself out of it. The problem was, for every reason she had not to give in to her current desires, ten memories popped into her mind reminding her why this was exactly what she wanted right now, why it was exactly what she needed.

Finally, she found what she was looking for. Tucked in her lingerie drawer, Leah pulled out a set of black lace lingerie. The same set she used to wear for Carter. Sliding her sweatpants to the floor and throwing off her husband’s T-shirt as though it were riddled with disease, the woman quickly slipped into the sexy attire. It definitely didn’t fit like it used to. Her tits were bigger now due to the pregnancy, and her massive pregnant belly kept her from pulling the panties up as much as she used to, but when she looked in the mirror, the vision brought her memories to life.

Dashing into her bathroom, Leah opened her makeup drawer and found the final piece of the puzzle. Looking into the mirror, she took her bright red lipstick and applied it to her lips with the precision of a surgeon. Once it was applied, she gave herself a little wink as she blew a kiss into the mirror. It was perfect, just like she remembered.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Leah composed herself and went to her bedroom door. Turning the knob, she opened the door slowly before stepping out...