by C R Riley
Jaxon nods and rolls over onto his side, then warns her. "Don't dismiss my men again."
"Don't tell me what to do." Johannah pokes him hard in the chest. "I'll do as I please and you'll learn to live with it."
"You are a very frustrating woman." He growls.
That makes her smile. "Your frustrating woman."
"Mine." He tries not to smile, but it can be seen behind the broken mask.
"Completely yours."
"You going to be okay?" Jaxon runs a finger across her cheek. "I was so terrified."
"I'll survive. I think we may need to replace the kitchen flooring." Johannah shakes her head as she thinks about why.
Jaxon puts a finger under her chin, so he can lift it slightly. "Not a problem. We both thought tile would be better in there. This house, you still want..."
Johannah kisses his lips. "Just needs to have a ton of happy memories made in it so that the other ones slowly fade, or quickly fade in this case. Not exactly how I planned my first weekend here."
"Well, that's good to know." He tries to make a joke to lighten the mood. "I'd be worried if you planned out something like that."
She slaps him playfully.
"Tell me of your plans. Let me see if I can make a few of them come true." Jaxon winks. "I bet I can."
"I bet you can too." Johannah flips him onto his back and starts to move over him when her phone rings. "Seriously."
Scrambling across the room, naked as a jaybird. She retrieves her phone off the floor where she plugged it in last night. "Hello."
"Just checking to make sure you are still alive." Kendra's voice echoes in her ear.
"Alive and kicking. You?"
"Alive, kicking, and very satisfied." Her friend sighs very pleasurably. "I was thinking about a few things last night. Trying to make this all make some sense."
"You and me both."
"Paige too, apparently, because I got a wake-up call around six. We both got to thinking and wanted to run something by you. Remember last year when we went to Cabo. They had that incident with that woman we said looked a lot like you."
Johannah drops onto the bed. "Yes. Do you think?"
"I do. So does Paige. The year before there was that whole mix up and you got stuck on a different flight. We requested they notify us if a seat opened up, which it did."
"Oh, my... and the year before that my passport went missing, and I almost didn't get to fly home. We joked about how knowing people in high places sometimes paid off, but I know I had it out the night before."
"You said someone had to have taken it. Broke into our suite while we were all sleeping because..."
"He has been planning this for a long time. Each time we seemed to just be out of his reach. So, he finally came up with a plan he thought would force me to step down long enough..." Johannah shivers.
"For him to get his hands on you when you were incapacitated." Kendra finishes it for her. "He was going to get you to trust him that night we met Jaxon, Austin, and Geoff. But his plan got derailed once again, so he came up with an even better one. Each time it was like something got in the way, but like the crazy madman he was, he couldn't just take the hint and give up."
"He hated to lose, remember that about him. He hated it when we beat him at pool, darts, or cards. His male ego couldn't take us showing him up. What did I ever see in him, Kendra?" Johannah drops back onto the bed and feels Jaxon's hand rest on her shoulder.
"What did I see in half the guys I let myself get involved with?" Kendra counters. "You were twenty when you met him. A baby, really. He was always around. Now that I think about it, it was creepy how he seemed to always be there. Then when he finally asked you out, you had no reason not to go. He made sure of it. After graduation, things changed. You got a real job. He was in graduate school. You grew apart because that is what happens when you aren't with the person you are meant to be with. And he dumped you, remember? Not the other way around."
Johannah's eyes trail behind her until they meet Jaxon's. "I do. And after a while, I remember how I wasn't all that sad about it. I rarely thought about him. Deleted all the emails he sent me without even reading them until he eventually stopped sending them to me. Listen to you giving relationship advice like you are an expert at it. Who would have guessed?"
"Please." Kendra pssst. "I've been doing this relationship thing now for almost a year. You need advice honey; you just need to ask."
Johannah snorts. "I'll do that."
"Good, so now let me give you some of the best yet. Forget about what happened for now. Deal with it later when the details are clearer. Jump your man's bone and ride him for as long as you can. Let him take care of you like only he can and do the same for him. When you can't move, because you've exhausted yourselves, take a break and then do it all over again. Do it in every room of that mansion, including the kitchen. Own that room like it's yours to own and don't let him ruin that dream house of yours. Got it?"
"Got it. Thanks, Kendra. Pep talk now over, and I'm going to do everything you just suggested." Johannah hangs up the phone and tosses it onto the floor.
"What did she suggest?" Jaxon asks.
"That I ride you long and hard until I can't. Then she suggested after I recover, we do it again in every room to christen the place. Pretty much my plan before I got sidetracked. You up for that?" Johannah climbs up the bed seductively.
Jaxon throws back the cover and reveals he is most definitely up. "I believe so. Come here, babe. Let me see if I can buck you off or at least give it you one hell of a ride."
And that is what they do.
She rides him long and hard until they have to stop to catch their breath. Then, after they shower and have a respectable round of shower sex, they head down to the kitchen.
Johannah at first pauses when she recalls Casey's body lying there. But after taking a few moments she brushes it aside and together they whip up a nice brunch. Once they eat in her favorite family room where they can see into the backyard. After making love on the pillow bed, they constructed in the sunlight, they lie there naked and enjoy their little paradise home. Later, while cleaning up the kitchen, they do it hard and fast in that room as well. Her bare ass on the counter while he drives home.
Before the day ends, they have made plenty of well-intentioned memories, which will be a good start at erasing the other ones. Giving them something positive to recall in each room. And as they climb into the SUV with Raphael and Trace. It becomes obvious those two know exactly what took place, while they were working in the basement.
Johannah decides she wants to get to know these men. "You have kids, Raphael?"
"No, ma'am. We are working on it though." He glances in the rearview mirror and smiles. "Leila and I have only been married a little over a year."
"You all find a place yet?" Jaxon asks.
"We have. Since we will be in the D.C. area most of the time, we bought a nice place in Arlington." Raphael sounds pleased about that.
"How about you, Trace? Kids? Home?" Johannah asks.
"No kids. Apartment in Georgetown, not far from the main office."
"How old are you guys?" Johannah leans forward.
"I'm in thirty-one, ma'am." Trace glances over his shoulder. "He's, close to forty."
"Why so many questions, Hannah?" Her husband asks her.
"Figured, I should get to know them. We are after all one big happy family, right? You know Trace, I have a lot of single nice friends."
Raphael laughs while shaking his head. "Trace doesn't need help in the lady's department. He's got that covered plenty."
"You have a few ladies already, Trace?"
"Don't let Evie hear you say that." Jaxon clears his throat.
"Why would Evie care if he... oh. Trace?"
"It ain't like that. I'm not like that. Evie and I may or may not have decided to pursue a relationship. That's all you’re getting from me."
Leaning her head on Jaxon's shoulder, Johannah sighs. "Love is in the ai
r. Thank you."
"For?" Jaxon kisses her head.
"This." Johannah motions. "You sir, were the best birthday present I ever got."
"And I didn't even know it was your birthday. Imagine what I will give you next year when I'm better prepared."
Epilogue
One Year Later
"She is so cute." Johannah holds the two-month-old baby girl in her arms. "Looks just like her mommy."
"And she didn't even ruin my womb." Kendra rakes her fingernails through her daughter's dark curly hair. "But she has her daddy's chin and eyes."
"Tell me, how bad was it really." A pregnant Paige rubs her belly. "I want the truth like only you can give it to me. Not the version everyone else lies about. You'll forget the pain once you hold him. Bull shit. Childbirth is the way God prepares us for parenthood. Who cares. Natural labor is better for the baby, it makes the baby stronger and prepares them for the real world. Lies, lies, lies."
"Who are you, and what have you done with our sweet Auntie Paige?" Johannah stands up and passes baby Wynne over to Paige. "Hold her for a bit and soon you will feel better."
"What happened is that I am growing a large man child inside of me. I feel like a beached whale." Paige smiles down at the baby babbling up at her. "Your mommy made it look way too easy."
Kendra plops down on the sand. She watches the four men out there playing football in the surf.
They have returned to the island where it all began a year ago. Even Geoff joined them and seems to be getting along with her husband, as well as his friends do. It was a little odd introducing them when they first arrived a few days ago. But Geoff made it less awkward by making some comment about some other woman he saw that he planned on getting to know this week. And it wasn't as if Kendra and he ever did any more than kiss. They'd mainly talked about Wes that weekend when everyone thought they were doing other things. After all, they had reputations to uphold.
"A year ago, we were here as single women ready to party it up." Kendra lays back and relaxes.
"We were single women." Johannah points out motioning between Paige and herself. "You were a taken woman in denial."
"I was. I really, really was." Kendra smiles as she lets the sun warm her skin. Of course, she is wearing the same style of swimming suit she was that last time she laid out in the sun, on this very beach. And when her husband complained, she reminded him he is the one who bought it for her to wear so she could relax in the pool at home.
"So, about this labor thing." Paige kisses the baby's face as she snuggles her.
"I recommend an epidural. I got one, and it was easy breezy." Kendra snickers. "Okay, it was easy breezy until the dang thing wore off. Then it was like my vagina decided to get extremely mad at me for having had sex."
"How mad?" Paige makes a face that says she knew everyone else was lying to her.
"Really mad." Kendra decides to be completely honest with her friend. "I called Wesley a few choice names that had him blushing. His mother was in the room. God bless that woman. She told him that every woman gets possessed during the final stages of labor."
That has both women laughing. Wesley's mother is one of the sweetest women either of them has ever met. She is the example of a southern belle, raised in Georgia, smack dab in the middle of the Bible belt. Always wears a smile, has something positive to say, and makes everyone around her feel important. So, her saying that is just funny.
"Oh yeah. She is my favorite person on this planet now. Coached me through each horrible contraction. Never once shamed me for speaking my mind. Even encourage my frightened husband to grin and bear it. After all, it was completely his fault I was in that predicament."
"I bet he was a basket case." Johannah tries to picture Wesley dealing with the loud and obnoxious Kendra, while she was struggling to push out his love child.
"Oh, can I be honest here?" Kendra sits up and glances down at the guys, to make sure they are still busy. "He was a rock star. At first, when I was freaking out and acting like the girl in The Exorcist, he may have gotten a little frightened. But once his mother told him to suck it up and get me through this the best he could, he did. Stripped out of his three-piece suit, which by the way was as awesome as always. The man is a sight that could tempt a nun. Old women well beyond their prime get a little giggly and tingle in all the right places."
"Kendra!" Both women, screech.
"Oh please, your men can cause the same reaction and you know it. So thankful Jaxon has a private beach, that way we don't have to beat off all those who don't respect the ring." Kendra waves hers to make a point.
"So back to my story. He kicked off his shoes even, still dressed in his thousand-dollar slacks. Then crawls into the hospital bed with me. Squeezes that large frame of his behind me. Ordered me to lean on him while he supports me and encourages me through each contraction. Didn't complain when my water broke and soaked his socks and ruined his pants. Grabbed my thigh and pulled them up, while I bore down during the final stages. Then we both watched in awe as our daughter emerged. I was staring at the ceiling mirror. He was leaning over my shoulder, watching while I practically bent in half. Muttering in my ear the entire time how much he loved me. How he was proud of me, how he was in awe that I was capable of pushing a life from my body, looking so lovely while I did. Made me feel like I was doing something no other woman had ever done in the history of mankind. It was awesome, and I'd do it all over again."
"Wow," Johannah utters softly. "I hope Jaxon is like that."
"Like what?" Jaxon is reaching in the cooler.
"How do you always sneak up on us?" Johannah shakes her head, as she recalls him doing that the last time they were here.
"Ninja skills, I have been perfecting them since I was six." Jaxon plops down next to her laughing.
Paige does the pregnancy sway, as she tries to stand while holding Wynne. Once she gets to her feet, she leans forward and lays the baby in Jaxon's arms. "You haven't held her yet."
Jaxon stiffens. He hasn't held her for a lot of reasons. One being he has no idea how to hold a baby. The other reason, because like he has done his whole life, the only person he freely touches or let's touch him, is Hannah.
Paige hurriedly waddles up the sand as Austin rushes after her to help. Not once realizing that she just broke one of the unspoken rules where Jaxon is concerned. They all are very aware of his limits, but her pregnancy brain has made her momentarily forget, apparently.
Johannah starts to rescues her husband. "Oh. Here, let me take her."
Jaxon shakes his head as he stares down at the little bundle sleeping in his arms. Does it feel odd? Yes. Is he completely comfortable about holding her? No. Does he want to hand her over to his wife? Not yet.
"I got her." He whispers as he studies her face. "She's so tiny."
Kendra motions behind her to let her know she is going to give them a few moments. One of those things friends who are so close understands without having to be asked.
"And cute." Johannah slides closer and traces her tiny nose. "Still think you might want to have one of these?"
Jaxon nods. "This isn't so bad. I've never even tried to hold a baby before. Do I notice her? Sure, but it's not really painful. I think it's more like I'm terrified to move because I don't want to drop her." He glances up at Hannah. "Or maybe it's because this last year you've done wonders to me. Helped me face some of my biggest fears. Given me some confidence and forced me out of my comfort zone. Taught me how to deal with everyday human contact, or at least helped me know what my cure is when I get overwhelmed."
"What's your cure?" Johannah leans over and kisses Wynne's tiny head.
"You. You are my cure, Hannah." Jaxon whispers. "I definitely think I'd like to have one of these. When the time is right that is, or as soon as we figure out how to make one, no pressure."
Johannah wraps her arm around her husband's shoulder and lays her head on his. Leaning in she whispers softly in his ear. "And if the time is right now."
> "Like right now? Then I suggest we go and get it on because I'm game for that." Jaxon groans.
"No. Or maybe. But that's not what I meant." Johannah nuzzles his neck. "I meant that we finally figured it out, and you once again have given me a very wonderful birthday present."
Paige and Austin step back under the tent and he snags Wynne from his friend. "I need to practice."
Jaxon gladly hands her to him and then spins around. "You're... you're... Hannah, are you saying you're pregnant?"
She nods her head once. "Seven weeks."
Tears well up in Jaxon's eyes. "Thank you, Hannah."
"I didn't do anything, really. Not yet, at least." Johannah leans forward and kisses his soft lips.
"Not true. You've done more than I could have ever dared to dream possible. And now... now you are taking it one step farther and giving me a gift, I never thought was possible for me."
Hannah smiles at him as she takes his face in her hands. "And you sir, have done the same for me. Showed me that sometimes the best things in life simply walk into your life and change it forever. Taught me that plans are nice, but sometimes being spontaneous is even better. And to never take anything for granted and live life to its fullest always. Because nothing is untouchable if you are willing to just give it your all."
"I love you, Hannah," Jaxon whispers.
"And I love you."
If you enjoyed the story of Jaxon and Johannah, I ask that you consider leaving me a review where you bought this book. I am also on Goodreads and BookBub, if you use those, I'd appreciate it if you'd do the same there. Reviews are how an author gains more readers and gets recommended to others. Then while you are waiting for Book 2, the story of Nathan Kohl to get released. Check out some of my other books I have available, there is a list available in the front or back of this book.
Thank you and Happy Reading!!!!
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