by V Vee
“Harmony, it’s not your fault,” he tried to reassure and comfort me, clearing his throat and wiping the tears from his eyes.
I nodded. “Yes, it is. That O’Sullivan guy wasn’t the first one.”
“O’Sullivan?” Eddie questioned me.
I nodded again. “Yeah. First, it was some Chinese guy. Then a Middle Eastern man who looked like one of those sheikh men from those romance covers, you know? Then some old, white man, whose name was Cathal O’Sullivan. They all wanted Cage to come work for them.” I sniffled and wiped my nose with the handkerchief Andrew McCarthy handed to me when he came over to offer his condolences. Which was when I’d found out that Cage had been working for him.
Why wouldn’t you tell me that, Cage?
“And I told him to say no to them all. This is my fault.”
Eddie gripped my shoulder. “Cage was a grown-ass man, Harmony. If he wanted to work for any of them, he would have. He allowed you to tell him no because he was tired of fighting. Tired of serving in wars that didn’t have anything to do with him.”
Eddie’s words were supposed to be comforting. I knew that. But hearing my own words being offered to me as if they were coming from Cage’s mouth was… too much.
“Thanks, Eddie. Can you watch CJ for me?” I asked, before turning and hurrying away without waiting for a response.
I pushed my way through the throng of people who’d attended the funeral and wanted to offer their condolences to me, CJ, and Cage’s parents. But I just couldn’t handle one more “I’m so sorry for your loss,” or another “Cage was a good man.”
I knew he was a good man. I’d loved him for that.
And he’d loved me. Fiercely.
Tears momentarily blinded me as a new wave of grief washed over me, causing me to bump into a wall.
A wall that reached out to grab my arms and stop me from falling.
I let out a squeak, wiped my face and looked up… and up… and up…
Holy. Fuck. He’s tall.
Blue eyes stared down at me, filled with compassion and interest.
“Are you alright, zolatka?” a low, deep voice, that had the shivering power of a summer thunderstorm in it, asked from between surprisingly full lips.
I blinked and allowed myself to fully take in the person who held me in his arms.
Square jaw; covered with a five o’clock shadow. Thin, Romanesque nose. Blonde hair, cut into an elegant style. Broad shoulders. Trim waist. Thick thighs. Big hands. Big feet. The body wrapped lovingly in a fancy black suit, with a black, button-down shirt, and black tie. Expensive cufflinks. A diamond earring in his ear. A diamond chain around his neck, beneath the collar of his shirt and the tie. Black, Italian loafers on his feet.
The man before me smelled like, looked like, and oozed money.
“I-I’m okay. Th-thank you,” I stammered.
“My name is Ivan. I knew your Cage from his time in college,” the stranger—Ivan—introduced himself.
College? I didn’t know Cage had gone to college.
“H-Harmony,” I stated, shaking the hand Ivan held out. I pulled away from him. “Ex-excuse me.”
I rushed away, but with the way my back tingled, I had a feeling that Ivan watched me the entire way.
Chapter Fourteen
Heaven
Steele Family Home
Baltimore, Maryland
Two Weeks Later
“Thank you so much for all of your help, Dr. Easton. My husband is still having a hard time pulling himself out of the grief and guilt over losing his best friend,” I said, as I walked around the kitchen, putting away dishes.
“It is no problem, Dr. Steele,” she said, and I could hear the sympathy pouring through the phone. “Take all the time you need.”
Dr. Colorado Easton was someone I’d met at Women In STEM conference. We’d kept in touch and often assisted one another with research and trials. When Logan had told me about Eddie finding Cage’s decapitated body at Unboxed, I’d known that I had to take off some time to be there for my husband.
However, even now, two weeks later, Eddie was just as mired in grief, guilt, and his quest for vengeance, as he had been the night he discovered Cage.
Although, could you blame him? I know I didn’t.
So I allowed him to be clingy when he needed to. Let him vent. Sat with him as he cried. And got out of his way when he needed to punch something.
For the last two weeks, Ashley had been staying with Parker and Logan because of Eddie’s mood swings.
But I missed my little girl. And beyond that, I missed my husband. More than I ever thought possible.
So I was going to do the same thing as before.
I was going to cater to him. Wash him. Let him take care of me, wash me. And hope that all of the love I poured into it helped him to heal.
However, when I went looking for my husband, I found him sitting in the family room, watching the Music Choice: Love Songs™ channel. I looked around the room, surprised to find that there weren’t any dirty dishes, or dirty clothes lying around everywhere. And when I looked back at Eddie, he was watching me.
“Did you clean up for me?” I asked him softly as I stepped closer to him.
He nodded. “You do so much for me. For Ashley. For Ava—she told me how you went over to her place to keep her kids occupied so she could get a shower—and just for everyone you know… and you do it in between working and taking care of yourself. But I’ve realized that in these last couple of weeks. I’ve neglected being the one to take care of you, so you don’t have to. And that stops now.”
I shook my head and came over to sit next to him on the comfy, plush piece of furniture. During our remodel of the house over the last year, one of the major things I’d asked for was a better couch. One that was not only family-friendly, but one that was “pregnant woman-friendly.” So while the sofa was not only super plush, and absurdly comfortable, each piece had a remote that allowed the person sitting there to press a button to not only recline, but for the chair to stand them straight up. It was fantastic.
And it would suit quite well for what I intended at that moment.
“You take care of me, Eddie. You take such good care of me and Ashley. You protect us. You love us. You provide for us. And while there have been moments where I questioned your love for me…”
“The letter Zander sent you, making you think it was me,” Eddie interjected.
I nodded. Boy, had that been a stunning reveal. Eddie had never received any letter from me letting him know I was pregnant; thus he’d never sent the letter that had left me so heartbroken I’d turned to Zander for comfort. Comfort which turned into so much more and eventually ended up with the two of us winding up in a dangerous situation.
“Yeah… that was one.”
Eddie frowned. “The whole you and Logan thing?”
I sighed. “Yeah. I mean, it wasn’t so much that I doubted your love for me, I just doubted your emotional maturity and your intelligence for a bit.”
Eddie growled and pulled me into his arms, causing me to giggle.
“Have there been other times when you doubted that I loved you?”
I tapped my chin as I thought over our relationship. Then the truth spilled from my lips without me ever intending it to.
“When you enlisted.”
Eddie didn’t respond and I couldn’t speak either. His time in the service was one thing we never really spoke about. I’d asked one time and he’d told me about the fighting, the humid heat, the lack of color, the moments of boredom, interlaced with high moments of fear, anxiety, and tension.
Then he’d told me about the woman he’d slept with consistently until they mutually called it off. Or at least that’s what he told me had happened.
Eddie slouched further into the couch pulling me closer to his body.
“I went for you. For us,” he began, and I held up my hand. I knew what he said his reasoning was, but I just wasn’t sure if I bought it. Not anymore.
“Tell me the truth. Why did you really go? Why did you stay away so long?”
Eddie stared at me for long moments, then ran his palm over his face. Before I realized what he was doing, he grabbed me and pulled my body over his until my core was snug right up against the huge bulge in the front of his jeans. Helplessly, I ground against him slowly, my pussy pulsing with desire, with a need I knew only he could fill. I knew we were trying to talk. To have a serious conversation. But I was pregnant. With twins. I got horny… a lot.
“I wanted to be like Logan. I wanted my father to be proud of me. I also didn’t want anyone to look at me, see us together, and wonder why in the world you were with me.” He shook his head. “We Steele men have the terrible misfortune of falling for women who are completely out of our league, then feeling the urge to prove ourselves.”
He reached up to cup my cheeks and stared intensely into my face.
“It was never about you. I know that sounds like a line, but it’s true. You were never the issue or the problem. I loved you so much that it scared me. Loved you so much that it hurt to breathe sometimes. But every time I looked in the mirror? I saw a screw-up, and that was on me, and the voices in my head. You never made me feel that way. But I couldn’t come back until I knew I was worthy.
“Until I didn’t have to worry about fucking shit up due to my own youthful, immature insecurities.”
I stared at him for a long moment, weighing his words before I leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on his forehead.
“You know I’m proud of you right?” I asked him, placing another gentle kiss on his left cheek.
“Proud of me? For what?”
“For enlisting in the Marines,” I answered, placing another kiss on his right cheek.
“You are?”
I pulled back to look at him for just a brief moment, nodding, before I returned to kissing him. I placed a loving peck on his chin.
“I love that you wanted to serve your country. That you wanted to protect me, and our families, and a bunch of people who will never know your name. I admire you for that.” I kissed his chin.
“Thank you.”
And with that, the time for talking was over. Eddie took my mouth with a fierce, deep, harsh kiss. Our tongues dueled for dominance inside of my mouth. We both moaned, and I moved my hips almost unconsciously, dragging my pussy along the hardness I felt beneath me.
Eddie released my lips and traveled them along my neck, sucking my heated skin, nipping, then licking me in just the right places until I was panting his name. I could feel pressure building with the friction of me dry humping him.
It felt amazing.
Everything he was doing to me felt amazing, and I’d be damned if I was stopping him. I closed my eyes, and rested my forehead against the back of the couch as my climax grew stronger and stronger and…
“Fuck Eddie… you feel so good,” I whispered, moving my hips harder, yet slower, needing to rub my swollen clit along his hardness, desperately trying to get there. The sensation our movements caused sent chills all through my body. His hands slid underneath my top and went straight for my breasts. He pinched my swollen nipples through the fabric of my bra then rotated them between his thumb and forefinger. I felt him pull back from my neck and felt him whisper my name.
“Look at me, Hev. Let me see you, Baby.”
I lifted my eyes to his and held them there as he stimulated me almost to the brink of insanity. I bit my bottom lip and started to move faster. He started to move with me, pushing up into my core just as I was grinding downward.
“Oh, Eddie… yes!”
“You wanna come?”
“Yes, I want to. Please.”
He quickly released my nipples and gripped my hips, halting my movements.
“Off, baby. Take these pants off and lay down on the floor.”
I was about to protest, to point out the fact that I was pregnant, when he slapped my ass, hard.
“Do it now. I want to taste you. I want you cumming all over my face. In fact, take everything off.”
He pushed me up, forcing me to stand and started gripping my tights. He began yanking downward before I could get my footing. I grinned at him and stepped back taking over and pulling my pants and panties down. I stepped out of them and watched as he took a blanket lying haphazardly on the couch next to us and spread it on the floor.
“Lay down and open your legs so that I can see that sweet pussy of yours. I wanna see just how wet you are for me.” Hearing nasty and filthy words like that coming from my Marine always had me struggling not to cum, and that time was no exception. I knew I was ready for him. I could feel my juices soaking the lips of my pussy. My inner muscles pulsed hungrily, clamping around nothing as I anticipated his tongue licking me, his mouth sucking on me and his fingers fucking me, and he did not disappoint.
Not two seconds after my back hit the blanket, and my legs spread open for him, he was on me, his shirt off giving me a view of his perfect chest and abs.
My mouth salivated over the sight of him; the hunger in his eyes prominent, and the glorious power in his arms and shoulders evident as he crawled over me. It was the promise his mouth held with every lick and kiss against my rounded, pregnant stomach and between my breasts that had my hips circling, hopelessly seeking friction, needing it. He took a peaked nipple into his mouth and sucked hungrily. My back bowed from the sensation he produced, causing my body to shutter from shockwaves flowing all through my body. I closed my eyes and wrapped my hand around the back of his neck, holding on for dear life.
It had been a while since we’d been together like this. Between the argument, Cage’s murder, and the funeral, I hadn’t realized how much I was thirsting for my husband until I felt him again.
I had forgotten just how he could make my body sing for him with just a simple touch.
I was almost on the verge of cumming; it was that intense. Eddie lapped and sucked and savored each of my nipples with his fingers and his mouth. I circled my hips, rubbing myself against his chest, dying to explode. He squeezed my breasts, and I thought I was going to lose my mind.
“Eddie, please baby,” I pleaded on a harsh whisper. “I need you, please.”
“Yeah? Tell me what you need,” he prodded, his voice a low and full of the same need I felt.
“I want to come, please baby.”
I wasn’t above begging for it and with the way he was looking at me, he was going to deliver. He slid further up my body until his lips were inches from mine.
“You’re so fucking sexy when you beg, Baby,” He smiled down at me and half growled, “Fuck, I’ve missed you.”
All I could do was moan in response as his lips took mine in a kiss that had my body igniting in pleasure. My fingers roamed through his hair raking my fingernails along his scalp. I caressed his shoulders, hugged his body to me, anything I could do in order to get my fill of him. As quickly as he took my mouth, he released me, grunted, and slid down my body until he was a breath away from my pussy. He looked at me and gave me a lascivious grin before he took a languid lick from my pussy to my clit.
“Oh, Eddie,” I blurted sitting up from the blanket my eyes wide.
He pushed me back down to the blanket, his lips covered my clit, and he sucked. Making me explode. White-hot sparks ignited behind my eyelids as I screamed.
Fuck, it had been a while since I had an orgasm like that.
“Fuck, why do you taste so good?” He whispered against my soaked lips. “So sweet, so good. Come for me again, Baby. Let me taste you.”
Eddie continued to make me lose my mind, feasting on me reverently, possessively, demandingly. I had no control over my body as he took what he wanted from me with just the sweep of his tongue. The scratch of his facial hair, which had grown considerably over the past couple of weeks, caused a different sensation that had me wanting to grip his hair as tight as I was gripping the blanket under me. And when he slipped two fingers inside my slick wet heat, my entire bo
dy practically elevated from the blanket in ecstasy.
Eddie finally came up for air as my body climbed down from its euphoric sated high. He stared down at me with a satisfied smirk, his face red, my juices glistening all over his beard. Without a word, he worked the buckle of his pants and slowly, carefully, slid the zipper over his thick, engorged length. My mouth salivated with the need to taste him and it must have been written all over my face because he shook his head and said, “Another time, baby. I want inside your tight pussy.”
Did I tell you how much I loved it when he talked dirty? He has such a filthy mouth, and I loved it. I circled my hips and bit my bottom lip.
“Then hurry up,” I teased him. To encourage him and to make him hurry up, I grabbed my breasts and pinching my nipples. His already dark green eyes went even darker.
“Fuck, Heaven, you are so goddamn sexy.”
I let go of one breast and scraped my fingernails down his perfectly carved abs to the elastic of his underwear. He pushed my hand away.
“Play with your nipples, baby,” he demanded, his voice low and guttural.
I did as I was told and watched as he dropped his pants to his knees and slid his boxer briefs down just enough to release the beast. My eyes widened at the sight of his rock-hard cock as if it was the first time seeing it. I sat up slightly on my elbows and looked at him. Did he grow bigger since I’d seen him last?
He gripped my hips and slid me closer to him. I fell to my back and spread my legs for him as he climbed my body slowly. He kissed my inner thighs, my belly, and then ever so lightly brushed his lips against mine once, twice, a third time, before he nestled in between my legs. He hovered above me, looking longingly at me.
“I love you, Heaven,” he whispered, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“I love you too, Eddie,” I returned my voice equally soft.
Eddie dropped to his elbows and took my mouth in a hot searing kiss right before he lined up his dick to my entrance and slammed inside my pussy. I screamed out in pleasure and pain, his mouth muffling my cries. He instantly began to move inside me and there was nothing gentle about it. His hips moved with deep, controlled thrusts that caused his pelvis bone to make glorious contact with my clit. I fell over the edge immediately, my nails digging into his back, his shoulders. Eddie buried his face in my neck and sucked and licked my now glistening skin as he claimed my body with every determined thrust of his hips.