by V. Theia
December 14th
Shoveling snow from the walk way outside of his house gave Hawk time to think with the repetitive, laborious work. He didn’t like time away from his little bit of a thing. Some would accuse he was obsessed for being glued to her side and if he gave fucks away for free he might listen to their opinion.
He was still getting used to husband status, being the man Gia chose. Being a normal, sane lover and not a fucking creeper stalking her.
So, for a few minutes each day he took himself off to give Gia time away from his overbearing love. He was still the man with rudimentary social skills, but his Gia loved him for himself.
Especially in these latter months of her pregnancy when she was hot and cranky. The summer had been hard on her. Hawk didn’t know if he’d survive not being able to do a thing for Gia in her uncomfortable state other than fetch and carry and give her whatever she needed when she needed it.
He didn’t like being helpless. It made his inner monster howl demanding he fix it and make things better for her immediately.
Yet he couldn’t wait to get home to his little bit. Even when he was away from their house for just an hour he couldn’t wait to see her flushed cheeks and popped belly and rub her swollen feet and run her a bath.
He was being over-fucking-bearing and couldn’t seem to stop himself.
She said she didn’t mind.
That she loved him close by. And after waiting ten years for him to get his act together she didn’t want him anywhere else but right at her side.
But he wasn’t taking chances on her growing sick of him.
Hawk might not be the brightest bulb in the pack, most of the time if a person was happy or sad just from their facial expressions he couldn’t determine, but he sure as hell had clued in to every nuance of his Gia’s body language and this morning she was cranky as fuck and everything he tried to do to help the situation only made it worse.
He’d grabbed his jacket, shoved a beanie hat over his long hair, got the shovel out of the garage and decided to clean the walkway for a few minutes.
He didn’t want her to slip, so he’d salt it next.
Didn’t matter that he hardly let her drive anywhere in this shitty weather.
Not if he didn’t want to stroke out with worry.
On top of all the new emotions Hawk was experiencing, worry was forefront in his mind, especially now she was close to giving birth.
With Rider in the same boat, that jackass was no help whatsoever.
He’d told Hawk he was the one to knock up his sister, so he could deal with her moods and all that came with it. Asshole.
Puffs of white came out of his mouth as he methodically made piles of snow alongside the thirty feet long pathway leading to their new house until he reached the roadside.
It was so fucking cold out his balls had crawled back up into his belly.
When he was done, he went over it again, nothing was too much to make sure his wife was safe coming out of the house.
Maybe he could talk her into staying in bed … he mulled over it for a minute, humming with such a good idea that he didn’t hear her behind him until she almost gave him a heart attack.
“That smile either means something good or you’re being a bad boy. Which is it, Colton?”
“Jesus, Gia.” She was standing on the top step of the porch, snowflakes drifting over her hair, with bare feet and only one of his hoodies to keep her warm, he dumped the shovel in a bank of snow and crunched his boots up the steps to try and hustle her back inside.
“Let’s stay here for a few minutes. I love to watch it snow.”
Seriously. She was going to make him stroke the fuck out.
He could handle emotions better now than he could before, at least with her. But he never said he was good at it. Most days he struggled, questioning if he was saying, thinking and doing the right thing as a husband.
With Gia radiating happiness he figured he wasn’t doing too bad as a fucking inept monster.
“You’re trying to kill me. It’s too cold out here for you.”
She burrowed in and sort-of happy sighed laying her ear on his chest. Hawk inhaled. “Not when you hold me.”
His brows fell over his eyes. She knew he couldn’t refuse her anything.
Fortunately, their porch had a roof, so he got her back under it and onto the swing he fitted just for her to enjoy in the hot summer nights.
She curled up on his lap. Even pregnant she was still so tiny, and both arms curled around her, his face found her hair for a slow inhale of coconut.
“Guess what?” She said.
“I’m gonna guess it’s not that you want to go back inside and stay there until after the baby is here…”
That earned him a poke in the ribs.
“I finished the Christmas tree!”
“Which one?”
It was a serious question. Hawk only wished he was joking.
Ever since they moved to the new house, which was twice as big as her old place, Gia decided that each holiday would be marked by decorating within an inch of its life.
Every room.
Every. Fucking. Room.
The bathroom didn’t get left out.
Nor did the utility room.
Not to mention how she embarrassed their dog in those silly outfits. She’d cleaned out Amazon.
Every place had a bit of festive cheer strewn about with Gia’s unique flair for interior design. Every room was in shades of silver and reds.
Garlands.
Lights.
Ornaments.
It glittered from all corners.
“The one in our bedroom.” With a little burrow she had her cheek nestled in her spot against the side of his neck. Giving the swing a push off with his foot he set it in motion hoping it would lull her into having a nap.
Weekends had become quiet for him now. No longer did he hang around the club in hopes a party would dampen the noise in his brain.
Now he savored the quiet times with Gia like a drug addict would that first hit of molly.
“I can’t wait for Christmas. Are you excited, Colton?”
Hawk reckoned her definition of excitement and his differed quite a bit, but he found himself nodding and giving her an agreeing sound to which she cuddled him tighter.
Long as he could love on his wife he was happy, excited even.
All the other added nonsense with the holiday was new to him, and he’d do anything she wanted if it made her smile to pick out 500 trees, and to have things hanging all over the house.
It would take him until June to pack it away in the storage shed out back.
“What do you want for Christmas, Colton?”
She’d asked the same question all month.
He gave her the same reply.
“You.”
She hummed, played fingers through his beard, using it as an anchor to pull him down for a kiss.
“You have me, silly boy. What else do you want?”
For you to live through giving birth.
Hawk cursed internally for putting that dreaded thought back in the front of his brain.
Wasn’t like it didn’t plague him on a ride or going around with Capone to check their gambling outlets, or to visit the fight club. Or worse, when he was laid next to a sleeping Gia in their bed. The thought was there, and nothing would shift it.
No emotion had truly touched Hawk for years. Not since he deadened himself inside.
After reading too many articles of modern-day woman dying while giving birth he was just one huge fucking emotion now, it was one rollercoaster he couldn’t avoid.
Not as though he could un-fuck her and un-impregnate her for fuck sake.
“Hey, what’s the scowl for?”
She was looking up at him, she danced those skinny fingers of hers over his forehead until he took them to his mouth for a kiss.
“You are all I need, little bit. You and our baby.” Don’t die. Please, don’t leave me. He added
on silently. “Did you write your letter to Santa?”
She flashed him a grin he felt in his lower stomach.
How much sex was too much sex for a pregnant old lady? He’d had her twice this morning and now he felt the burning to go again.
She was so beautiful, he ached to possess her, to love her.
The man loved her. The monster fucking worshipped her.
He would have asked Lawless, but that shithead was messing with him lately sending him videos of women screaming in labor. He should punch that fucker.
“I may have text him a list of things I wanted.”
She’d text him days ago.
And he was still re-reading it and getting hard as a fucking rock because of it.
“Your list was filthy, little bit. I don’t think he can fit all those sex toys on his sleigh.” But Hawk had been busy ordering online.
She giggled, lighting him up inside. Cold fingers found their way under his jacket and shirt, laying on his waist.
That was it.
He stood, Gia in his arms, he strode along the porch, knocked the door open with his hip, kicked it closed, he carried a humming Gia right up the stairs, never stopping until he made it to their spacious bedroom.
She wasn’t lying.
There was the fucking tree luminous in the far corner. Gold and silvers, white lights. Gifts under the bottom. His little girl had an eye for design.
Killer would be in those if they left her in the room alone. Their dog was a menace and then she gave the sad eyes thinking all her chaos would be forgiven.
Jesus, he was such a fucking walk over, he thought, because he did fall for it.
It was just like Gia crying. He hated her tears.
“It’s only 2 pm, baby. Are we having a special yuletide nap?”
The way she slithered down his body until she landed on her toes, his Gia didn’t have sleeping in mind.
But then, neither did Hawk.
He was a filthy fucker. Figuratively. Literally. Need crawled through the front of his stomach, to cover Gia and pump all his love into her. He wanted to cover her in his need and love until she was sticky.
Sick monster he was.
And she loved him.
Loved him and his sex.
Showing Gia with his body just what she meant to him took over his mind and his sexy little bit of a thing with her poked belly and heaving tits displayed, sprawled on their bed, watching him disperse with his clothes with a smile on her lips.
“You can sleep after.”
“Colton…” she breathed, reached out for him.
Suddenly the air in their room became thick and he had less than a second’s worth of patience before he prowled over her, split her legs and….
“Baby, put some Christmas music on the iPod.”
Jesus Christ. His eyes narrowed.
He had his hands between her thighs, feeling how soaked she was coating his fingers and she wanted him to move?
He was not strong. Not where Gia was concerned.
He grunted, lowered his head on a slow inhale, snatched a dirty, fast kiss from her then rolled off the bed to do her bidding.
His cock ached, demanded satisfaction.
“Fucking to this shit, Gia? And people think I’m the monster.” He deadpanned making her giggle.
Spread out like his own Christmas buffet. This was their first, and therefore going to be their best.
Hawk would give her anything she desired, even if he had to break his back to get it for her.
Kisses peppered over his face, he closed his eyes, savoring each one.
His dream had come true to slay his nightmares, and that dream was running her fingers over the groves on his abs, so fucking close to his groin his cock dripped and hardened further.
“Gia…” desperation-soaked voice.
“I know exactly what you want for Christmas, baby.” She told him. But it was the same time her fingers wrapped like a boa constrictor around his shaft, driving up and down so hard, so tight, he leaked and saw fucking stars.
Oh, Jesus. Oh, fuck.
He pumped into her hand. Doing his own exploring by parting her sex, rubbing his fingers either side of her hard, little button.
His mouth watered. That’s what he wanted for Christmas, his filthy mind whispered. His Gia, soaked, humping her hips and her little clit rolling on his tongue.
He just had to get in place.
“And I’m going to get it for you,”
“What?” His brain was liquid. His hearing stopped functioning. All Hawk could think about was getting his next fix. He found the nook in her legs where his shoulders fit, and he pushed her legs up, careful not to squash her round belly.
With his first lick Gia’s back concaved, she grabbed his hair and moaned.
“Oh, god… please.” He really fucking would. “Christmas,” she told him. “I know what you want and I’m gonna get it for you.”
Please don’t die, little bit. Don’t leave me. That’s all I want.
“Okay, little bit.” He rasped, not sharing his fears.
Christmas would mean nothing without her. Her splashes of rainbow colored his very fucking existence and he’d fight the devil himself if anyone dare try to take his little bit from him now.
Even if he didn’t voice them, his wife would know he was worried about something and that he needed to work through it. Even if it made him an overbearing dickhead, worse than normal. She understood him, by some miracle and he loved her all the more for it. Gia was a miracle and a blessing and a gift because, with their love she gave him peace.
She would know he worried, not like he hid it when she had all the aches and pains, or her crying jags for no good reason and those fucking Braxton hicks. Who the fuck said a woman had to practice labor first? It was absurd. And almost gave him an embolism in the middle of the night.
There was time later when he rode to the club for him to brood and worry alone without worrying her in return.
He pushed her golden legs wider, moaned when her scent coated the inside of his throat.
He loved her. So, fucking hard. So, much.
He ate her like the monster he was. With fever and obsessed love.
Until the last Christmas playlist song tapered off and left their room in quiet panting breaths.
December 15th
“Mom, will you tell dad he’s being unfair.”
“Ajax, you’re being unfair.” Repeated her mom giving Gia a smile across the kitchen table where she stood with a sheet pan of cinnamon and apple scones in front of her.
Annie Marinos baked all year long, but holidays were her time to go crazy churning out sweets like she was part of Santa’s diabetes assembly team. With her hair as dark as Gia’s tied back in a red ribbon and her leggings donned with candy canes her mother was Mrs Claus.
Or a close second.
Swiping a cookie, she instantly regretted stealing it when it burned the inside of her mouth. Swallowing fast she lay the rest on a napkin.
“Just like your father, he can never wait a minute for cooling either.”
“What’s this, pick on Ajax day?” The man in question strolled into the kitchen holding an empty plate and mug which he rinsed and placed into the dishwasher.
He kissed the side of her mom’s neck, hands on her waist, pulling her back into his chest as he made his wife giggle. She’d always loved seeing them show affection, and if truth be told Gia had been a little envious of that kind of love. Same went for Rider with Zara.
But now she had Hawk and she was determined for him to have the best first of their Christmases. You only got one go at any first things and he’d been alone for so long she was aching to fill him up with good memories.
If only her father would agree to her request.
“Dad. Please.”
He looked up and arched his brow.
“You know you’re going to say yes, Jax.” Putting dough onto a fresh cookie pan Gia’s mom gave a look that she could only descri
be as encouraging.
Her dad sighed, hands on his lean hips. For a man in his sixties he was still incredibly handsome, and he kept himself fit. Her best friend called him an older version of George Clooney.
“Why can’t he fly? We only just got in from Texas, mikrí kóri.”
It came as a surprise to both her and Rider when her parents arrived in town a month ago, deciding to rent a house not far from either of their homes and stay for six month while both new grandbabies were born.
Gia was thrilled.
Rider? Not so much. But he allowed their parents as much time as they wanted with Harper. Her mom was in heaven. It would be a miracle at all if they returned to Austin.
Hawk didn’t say much, but she knew he wasn’t excited to have her father close by. Much to his word, her dad hadn’t interfered in anything. Yet.
“He doesn’t like to fly, and I can’t drive to get him, Hawk would have a fit.”
“That boy of yours is protective.” Her mom smiled. Dad grumbled and rubbed over his face stubble but otherwise didn’t chime in about Hawk. It was progress.
“I’ll pay for the gas.”
“You won’t pay for fuckin’ gas.”
Gia smiled and threw her arms around her dad’s waist. She knew he’d given in. Two people he couldn’t say no to and both were in the kitchen.
“Now remember, dad. It’s a surprise. No gossiping to Uncle Jed.”
He complained to himself about his daughter walking all over him.
Gia grinned. Then grinned bigger when she heard the rumble of an SUV engine pulling in outside. Hawk coming to collect her. She pointed a finger. “Not a word, do you hear? Or you won’t babysit until this baby is twenty-five.”
He looked like she’d kicked him.
Whatever could be said about Ajax Marinos and the hard, unforgiving man he was known for, he loved being a pappoús. Her father was very much the traditional head of the Greek family. Meaning he was stubborn as hell most of the time and paternal grandparents held a special place in Greek culture. Watching him being a hands-on grandfather with Harper was both shocking and a joy. Rider could just be as stubborn and as yet wasn’t seeing how hard their father was trying to be different.