by Leigh Lennon
My mother made enough food to fill us up for the entire day. After she said goodbye, Jack asked Declan if he’d like to play with his dinosaurs. “Ya,” his sweet little voice called, and grabbing him by the hand, he’d pulled Jack toward his room. His voice carried. “I havs to count eberting firs.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, little man.” His affection pulled at my heart, how much Declan meant to Jack already.
“He loves Jack,” Bodhi casually said, scooting into my space, his chiseled arms draping over me.
“And Jack loves him.” I pushed up closer to his body, wanting as much human contact with this man as I could possibly acquire. “Do you think this was Jack’s casual way of telling us to figure out what comes next and what we do with Declan? How we move forward.”
He angled his head to the side, his stare linked with my own. “Knowing Jack, I’d say it’s definitely the reason. Although, he told us last night would not happen, and I distinctively remember my cock inside of you. And, boy, did I love it. I kind of want to repeat it.”
“Typical man, for you,” I teased, socking his arm, but with his rippled muscles, it hurt me more than him. “I’m not sure what to do. I guess if it seems right, we do it, and if it’s something we think could be problematic, I’d say we’d put on the brakes.”
“And Dec?” he asked, a sudden awareness appearing in the dark chocolates of his eyes.
“I liked your response this morning, with my mother knowing. We don’t make a big deal, and if he asks, we say we both care for one another, and Jack, too. I mean, leave it as easy as we can for a four-year-old.”
He bobbed his head up and down, leaning over to give me an unexpected molten hot kiss that sent shivers racing up my spine.
“And if he catches us like this,” I started, drawing away from him, looking over the couch checking for our son, “as intuitive as Declan is, he’ll be sure to have some questions.”
He brushed the back of his hand over my cheek. “Fuck, I missed this, Clara, but…” He paused, finding the correct wording. “I’m still working on proving to you that I can be that guy you can trust again.”
I wouldn’t lie to him and tell him I wasn’t without a little fear. “Do you know the definition of faith?”
He froze, then in an instant his hard exterior changed to amusement. “Are you giving me a Bible lesson here, C?”
“Well, I’m hardly the one to give you a lesson in the Bible. But I can teach you many lessons.” My pitch was full of seduction and innuendo. “Anyway, we’ll save this for later.” I paused because it only seemed right, a shared almost fantasy filling both our thoughts. “So, if seeing was believing, faith would be irrelevant.”
He blinked, then cast a glance my way. “Wow, did you get your degree in divinity while we were apart?” We both had a little laugh. “There’s so much truth in those few words.”
“So, my faith in you is being restored little by little, but every day, I don’t have to see to believe. I just choose to believe, and the rest is up to you.”
“Fuck, I’ve never been hit with so much truth in my life.”
I tossed back my head and giggled like I was a little girl. “Don’t ever forget how smart I am, Bodhi Chambers.”
His eyes were drinking me in, and his body language said it all. “You know, I love our son more than anything in the world, and, fuck, I’m glad he’s back home.” He paused, and there was more. “But hell, right now, all I want to do is continue what Jack, you, and I started last night.”
“You’re not wrong.” As soon as I said it, our little guy ran out of the room, and without questioning, he sat his little body on Bodhi’s and my legs, which were almost glued together. Jack was behind him but didn’t wait for us to ask to join him. He plopped himself on the other side of me, and the four of us watched Paw Patrol together.
28
Bodhi
The week started first thing Monday morning as I’d taken Declan back to my apartment for the night. My mind was clouded by the wonder of this weekend. When I turned the alarm off as it began to yell at me, I took a second to ponder if our time together was my reality or just my dream.
It was a dream, a fucking great one, too, but tangible at the same time. Hell, I was thinking like Jack now—had I ever used the word tangible?
I rolled over, and a little hand scared the motherfucking hell out of me. Declan had crawled into bed with me. He tended to do it a lot, but only with me.
He was still snoozing, and for a little guy, he sure could snore like an old man. We had a little bit of time, and I chose to take a shower first thing, leaving him in the bed to wake on his own.
I grabbed my cell, seeing I already had a message on the phone from Jack.
Jack: Want to do lunch today, just you and me? Clara has to buckle down with her book, so I thought maybe we could hang out.
I’d love it, but would Clara look at this as a betrayal? We’d never set parameters concerning one-on-one time separately.
Me: Is that okay? We never really set rules.
Sitting up in bed, I felt my phone vibrate, and a small smile etched onto my face. Making my way to the bathroom so as not to wake our son, my voice had to be laced with a jovial timbre. I could hear it, as my tone dripped with a syrupy drawl I’d ever only used on her.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” There was a pause on the line, and panic stabbed at the center of my stomach as I fear I’d read too much into this weekend.
“Hey, hon, I was afraid the call didn’t go through.” The panic was replaced in a moment when she called me hon. She rarely called me Bodhi. As a matter of fact, my God-given name sounded foreign on her lips when we were married.
“Your son crawled into bed with me in the middle of the night. There was a small little foot jabbing me to wake up.”
She let out a loud chuckle as it reverberated through the line. “My son? I’m pretty sure you were a willing party in all of the sex we had in order to conceive him.”
I held onto my return laugh by a hair. “You’d be calling him mine if that boney foot of his was about to break your rib.”
“Oh, ever dramatic, Bo. Are you sure you’re not the one with the vagina?”
I couldn’t hold the laughter I’d been trying to contain. I’d missed the fun, the amusement of being this, in her life.
“So,” she roared, the little tickle of delight mixing with her words. “I was calling to tell you I want you to spend time with Jack, just you and him. If we do this, and I still at times have to pinch myself to make sure it’s not a dream, you have to build your own relationship with him. I can’t be the only reason you two bond.”
Her words were like nursing a broken heart. For years, it was split in two, but with a roll of my shoulders, the tension I experienced at the beginning of the call had been erased.
“Bo?” she questioned. “Are you still there?”
My voice was lost, and I had to swallow hard to find it. “Yeah, C, I’m here. Just a little overcome by this but in a good way. Please know it’s in a good way.”
“I know, but if I think we need to slow down, I’ll let you tell. Okay. And for now, go have lunch with Jack. You can kiss him, but no sex.” It came out as a whisper, I’d hear at night, right before I entered her. This command was as erotic, and maybe even more so, since she’d be imagining what we were doing during lunch.
“You’re the fucking best, you know this, right?”
“I love you, too, Bodhi Chambers.” The phone call ended, and I held my cell to my chest, the closest I could have Clara at that moment.
Emily didn’t try to stop me, just waved me into his office. “Mr. Calypso is expecting you, Mr. Chambers.”
I gave her a curt nod as I turned the handle to the door. In front of me was an empty desk. When the surprising hands of Jack’s turned me around, his nose was touching my nose. “I’m glad you’re here.”
I’d readied myself for a long, demanding kiss that would bruise my lips and possibly o
ther parts of my mouth, so I wasn’t expecting the closemouthed innocence of his kiss. He dropped his hand to mine, pulling me over to the couch, near his office windows. He settled onto it, pulling me down next to him. “We could go out or order in. It’s up to you.”
His arms touched my knee, and I exhaled, not realizing I’d barely breathed since coming into Jack’s presence. “I’m good with whatever. But staying in, we could spend more time together.” My idea left my lips, and I instantly regretted them, as though I would defy Clara’s wishes.
“That’s an excellent idea, Mr. Chambers.” If I were called Mr. Chambers by anyone else in the world, I’d think it odd. There was no denying this came with the formal nature of Jack.
“I sort of like you calling me Mr. Chambers, especially during the other night, commanding me like you had.”
He angled his head to the side with a little shrug but part of my comment about his bedroom name for me was more of a segue to the questions I had.
“Your domination—where did it come from? Are you always in charge in the bedroom? Does it carry on more in your relationship? Are you a trained Dom and if not, would you want to be?”
I’d held onto all of these question since our morning when Laura popped in on us. I hadn’t had a chance to ask them, so now, I certainly planned on getting as many answers as I could.
With a subtle rise of his eyebrows and a deep chuckle that slipped from between his lips, he said, “Been holding on to these for a while.” The sun from outside caused the blue of his eyes to reflect like a sapphire. The back of his fingers danced down my cheeks. He settled them on my chin, moving it to his gaze.
“I’m a very honest person, so I will answer you. It started one night when I’d teased about taking control, and Clara loved it.” The idea of him bending her over some surface caused me to almost growl at the visual. “As far as being in control in the bedroom, it’s become sort of the norm for us. Not always, but most of the time. And as far as controlling Clara out of the bedroom? Could you see her being okay with this?”
I shook my head in an emphatic no when he continued. “I’m not a trained Dom. I don’t know if I would want to be. I certainly have Dom tendencies. As far as being a trained Dom and living that lifestyle, if my partner or partners wanted this, I’d look into it. I know of a great club here in Chicago—knowing the owner personally.”
I was reluctant, having bombarded him with a variety of questions, but he gave me a playful shove. “Go on. What else do you want to know?”
He was giving me access to the cookie jar, and I’d take full advantage of it. “When did you feel a connection with me?” I asked.
He offered me a bemused smile. “The day you came here.” He gestured to his office. “And we shook hands. It was obvious.”
“How long did it take you to realize you wanted more from me?”
He inhaled unhurriedly, then exhaled even slower. “I’d never entertained it, not until after you and Clara had your little meeting of the minds. But even still, it seemed messy. Fuck, it is messy. In the hospital, when I’d held you, Clara seemed turned on by it. I was feeling it out, day by day—still thinking it would be further in our future than it obviously was.”
“Do you see both Clara and I together as your future?” I held my breath. I’d known the second they were too much, too futuristic, but his attention was fully anchored on me.
“I do.” He moved his hands to the back of my neck but leaned into my space. “And don’t ever shy away from asking me questions. I will always answer you honestly.”
It was that reason alone I worried about asking too much because I’d always know where I’d stand with Jack.
“I was thinking…” he started. “Why don’t you guys come over to my house tonight? You don’t have to stay over, but I’m not opposed to it. I’ve made Declan a room, and he’s stayed with me twice already. He did pretty well, all things considered.” He was referring to his autism. “Or we can do Clara’s if it’s easier.”
He pulled out his phone as I digested his words. I didn’t want to make whatever we were, something we hid from Declan. He was lost in the text he was sending and I was lost in him, all of him, every bit of the wonderfully, sometimes uptight, overtalkative, sexy dominating Jack.
“Well, that’s that. I had Emily order us some lunch. The bistro down the way has a lasagna to die for.”
My eyes were steadied on him. “What?” he asked. I continued to stare. “Bo, babe, what?”
“You honestly want me with you, with you and Clara. And you don’t want to be away from me.”
His hand traced up my arm, an almost ticklish sensation as he gently grazed it. “It’s not about sex with me. Don’t get me wrong, I want sex, and I can’t wait until we’re together, but I want you with me because you’re the piece I didn’t know Clara and I were missing.”
His arm slid over my shoulder, hooking me into him. With a thwack against his hard chiseled chest, a low hum escaped his lips. He crushed a brutal and demanding kiss on my lips, and I loved every bit of pain that came with it.
29
Jack
The sleet on the Chicago streets was no longer appealing. It was dirty and black with tire marks and mud slung through it. It was disgusting, but it was just the beginning of the winter we would be subjected to in this cold as fuck city, and it wasn’t even officially Christmas.
I’d promised Clara, or had made her promise, to wait for me at the office. With the days getting darker and the gloom of the winter months looming in front of us, I hadn’t wanted her to walk home in the dark.
She’d thrown out something along the lines of being a grown ass woman, and she’d do whatever the fuck she wanted. Then when I threatened to spank her for disobeying me, it made her even more eager to go home by herself.
After the afternoon with Bodhi, and making plans, we decided to meet back at Clara’s for the night. My whole organized and detailed plan I’d thrown out to both Clara and Bodhi was essentially abandoned, and we were moving a bit faster, but if Clara was okay with it, I was, too.
She’d been waiting for me in the foyer of the office building when I’d finally made it her way. “Hey, foxy.” It was my greeting, and when her eyes darted from her phone, she rushed to me, her long and slender hands wrapping around my neck.
“I didn’t think it was possible, but I feel closer to you now than before.” This was a welcomed greeting, and I could get used to her supple tits pressing against my chest. This was the life I wanted.
“I know what you mean. I felt close to you before, but now, with…” I paused, my verbal thoughts not knowing whether this was what she meant.
“Being with Bodhi brings us closer.” She finished my sentence for me.
She unhooked her grasp around my neck, then took me by the hand as we both braced ourselves for the fucking almost winter wind.
“Do you think it’s weird?” she asked, walking the couple of blocks to her home. My arm draped protectively around her shoulders, giving her as much warmth as my body heat would allow, walking a little slower because slick streets were a little harder to maneuver with my prosthetic.
“No, because Cami and Dane had said the same thing when I became a part of their lives. And it was the reason they were searching for another person when they met Miles. Some people are just meant for three. I’m not sure if this is the case with us. I know you and I would be happy by ourselves, but why deny us the pleasure of another person, especially if he enhances us?”
She was silent, walking in sync with my steps. “How are you feeling, foxy? Right now, we are in the honeymoon phase, but we’ll have some kinks to work out. It’s when all three of us will be challenged, and with the past…”
She interrupted with an even tone coming from her pouty lips. “I realized something with Bodhi. To be able to move on completely, I have to put the past behind me. I really had forgiven him a couple of years ago, but I hadn’t been able to trust him. He understands what he has to lose, eve
n more now, but I think we have a firm footing to rebuild. I can’t wallow in the past.”
When I didn’t respond to her, she elaborated, “I know these words are easy to say, and I’ll be challenged to put them into practice, like the first time he’s late, I’ll have to choose to believe him, but as I do this, with each continued gesture, it’ll get easier.” She pulled my hand to hers, placing a sweet kiss on it. “The bottom line—my feelings weren’t going anywhere with him. And with you, they were still there. I don’t believe in fate because we make our own fate, but, fuck, this with us, and how it’s sort of just fallen into place, was the closest thing to fate. If this makes sense.”
The conversation was over when we entered the foyer of her apartment complex, and I pulled her in close to me, rubbing my hands up and down her arms as we walked into the elevator. “Everything you said completely makes sense. I swear, it does.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead with her arms wrapped around my waist. Again, I got a little glimpse of what our life could be together if we were all willing to give a little. But it was a question I didn’t quite have the answer to.
Declan was through the door first, as I’d opened it for both he and his dad. “Dack, Dacko, Dackity Dack, Dackson, Dackie Dohn.” He’d started this new greeting for me just a couple of weeks ago. He hugged my legs, as he always did. Turning with a sprint down the hallway, he started in on his mother’s greeting, “Mommy, Mama, Mother, Ma, Mom.” He must have found her because he was down the hall and quiet.
Bodhi’s hand wrapped around my neck. “Fuck, I love this.” His lips were soft as they joined with my own, and he nipped at my bottom lip.
“I love what you do with your teeth. I love how I have a little bruise there as a reminder of you.”