by Jacie Lennon
I grab her hair, wrapping it around my hand. She moans as she arches even further back, her hands firmly planted on the wall now, while I thrust in and out of her, feeling her pleasure build as her walls clench around my cock.
Her breathy pants come quicker as I increase my speed. My nerves fire in rapid succession as the pleasure builds in my core. I feel her spasms around me, and I let go, coming with her. I lean forward, pressing my head to her shoulder as we both groan in ecstasy. Coming down from the fog, I slowly raise my head from her shoulder as she turns her head to give me a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Let’s do that again,” she says with a wicked grin.
“Fuck yes,” I agree, my cock already twitching in anticipation as she grabs my hand, pulling me toward the bedroom.
This woman might be the death of me, but damn, what a way to go out.
Epilogue
Mason
I raise one finger and insert it into the collar at my throat, pulling it out a little so it’s not so suffocating. Glancing beside me, I grin at Dad, as he’s doing the same thing. Us Porter men aren’t enjoying the stifling August heat, dressed in a suit, but I wouldn’t trade this day for the world.
Jules and I are finally getting married, and today, I look around at the familiar faces of my family. Even my mom is here with Grant and Reid. Ezra, Craig, and Ben stand in a line past my dad, who is my best man. Debra is already dabbing her face with a tissue in the front row, my mom doing the same behind her. The only person missing is Grams, but I know she’s watching over us.
Karen sits across the aisle from them. She’s clutching Luke, Hanna’s son, who she hasn’t let go of since she got here, a huge grin on her face as she talks to Nora, behind her.
I glance down at the watch on my wrist, and my forehead crinkles in a frown as I note the time. We should have started the ceremony ten minutes ago, but instead, we are standing up here to the sound of recorded organ music that’s being pumped through the speakers in the small church we are gathered in. Livie is standing at the back, a basket of flowers clutched in her little hand, as she waits to walk down the aisle.
“Think she got cold feet?” Ezra leans up, grinning at me.
I scowl at him. “No. She’s burning up all the time lately since she’s thirty-eight weeks pregnant,” I say, rolling my eyes at his suggestion that Jules left me at the altar. I know she wouldn’t do that, but the time is slowly ticking by, and still, no Jules.
The doors at the back of the church bang open, drawing our attention, and Hanna bursts in, her face flushed as she stops suddenly and looks at us.
“It’s time!” she yells.
We stand there, glancing around at each other.
“Jules’s water broke, you moron,” Hanna yells at me as she swings her arm in a let’s go motion.
“It’s not her due date,” I say dumbly.
Dad grabs my arm and hauls my stunned body off the small stage toward the back of the church. Finally, my mind kicks into gear, and I panic. Running to the back of the church, I see Jules hunched over in a chair as her dad rubs her back, a scared look on his face. I quickly get to them, crouching in front of Jules. I reach up to push a lock of hair that’s stuck to her forehead behind her ear.
“How are you feeling, babe?” I ask her.
She looks at me. “I feel like I’m dying. Get this baby out of me,” she says as she hunches over with a groan.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her as I kiss her forehead, glancing at her wedding dress.
She doesn’t answer but sucks in a breath, and I look around, spotting Hanna.
“I thought it’d take a while?” I ask her as she hurries over with a towel. I’m not sure where she found it, but I don’t ask.
“It’s different for everyone. Come on. Help me get her in the car.”
We hook our arms under Jules and help her waddle to my truck out front that my friends so nicely decorated with paint all over the windows and cans hanging off the back. Great, I get to drive this to the hospital.
Looking back as I climb in, I see Ezra and Ben both grimace and mouth, Sorry.
I shake my head. Nothing I can do about it now.
The cans make a racket the whole way to the hospital. I think a few of them fall off from the speed before I finally whip into the front of the hospital. Hanna jumps out of the backseat to run inside for a wheelchair. The attendant pushing the chair does a double take at our car and appearance before finally helping my wife—scratch that, my almost-wife in the chair. She’s hurried into triage where we wait anxiously for them to confirm that her water did indeed break, and she didn’t just pee on herself. Then, finally, after what seems like forever and no time at all, I’m left alone in a delivery room with a very out-of-breath, angry woman who is in pain.
Shit.
Her death grip on my hand sends a jolt through me, and I bend down to smooth her hair back as she bares her teeth at me.
“God, Mason. This effin’ hurts.” She grimaces as another contraction takes hold, and she tucks her chin to her chest as she groans.
“What do you need me to do?” I ask her, hoping a nurse or doctor will walk in and take her focus off of me.
She just shakes her head as she lies back, eyes closed and a sheen of sweat across her forehead.
I lean in and ask, “Do you want the epidural?”
She peeks at me with one eye and practically snarls, “No, I’m doing this natural.”
I nod and don’t say anything else, not wanting to get between a pregnant woman and her wishes.
Another hour goes by as the contractions get closer together, and my hand feels like it’s going to fall off if Jules squeezes it one more time.
I’m in agony. I want to take this pain away from her, but anytime I suggest anything, she gives me a look of death. I reach up to swipe damp hairs off her forehead as another contraction has her doubling up in pain.
A nurse comes in to check on her and informs us she’s fully dilated, and then she goes to get the doctor. Jules blows air out in a practiced pattern as she nods, and I support her the best I can.
Damn, women are tough. I can’t imagine going through this.
Jules reaches up and clenches my arm as she hisses, “I’m pushing.” She grits her teeth.
“What? Now?” The nurse enters the room again, and I glance back at Jules.
“Yes, now!”
“Wait, the doctor isn’t here,” I say in a panic, looking at the nurse, who is checking Jules’s vitals.
She calmly walks to the end of the bed to check, and her eyes grow wide. Jules doubles over with a grunt, pushing, and I let her squeeze my hand, hoping that, one day, maybe I’ll be able to feel again. Right before I’m about to pass out, the doctor appears, breezing through the door like this is a vacation, and I’m about to have a heart attack. Good thing I’m already in the hospital.
Ten minutes of Jules pushing later, and I have a beautiful, pink baby girl, who’s resting on Jules’s chest, a healthy set of lungs proclaiming her entrance. My heart feels like it could burst out of my chest, and I reach up, feeling something wet tickle my cheek. Glancing at Jules, I see tears are already streaming down her face, and I’m incredibly happy. We are two sobbing messes, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world as I lay a palm on my daughter’s wrinkly back, feeling it rise and fall with her breaths as she settles down.
“Look at her, Mason. Isn’t she perfect?”
“She looks just like you, babe,” I say, leaning over to kiss her sweaty forehead.
She frowns a little before giggling. “She looks a little bit like an alien, but I love her so much. I’m so overwhelmed.”
“Well, she did just shoot through a narrow tunnel to arrive,” I say.
Jules swats at my arm with her free hand. “Mason, don’t be so crude around our little girl,” she says, smiling down at the little bundle, who is already asleep, her little mouth making a sucking motion in the most adorable way. “I’m so happy. Right now, at this
very moment, my life is perfect.”
Jules reaches up to lay her hand on my cheek, her eyes shining with tears, and I take her hand, kissing each knuckle. My heart swells with so much love for my two favorite girls that I think it might burst open all over the hospital floor. I can’t believe I ever tried to walk away from this, and I’m so glad I went to face my mom and realized that this is something I didn’t want to miss out on.
“At this very moment, we are perfect,” I agree, my eyes fastened on the angelic face of our baby girl, Virginia Paige Porter. “Welcome to the world, Ginny,” I whisper.
Her little mouth stops moving to tilt up on one side in the most perfect smile I’ve ever seen.
The End
How to Find Me
Thank you for reading Love Ignited! I had so much fun writing it and it means the world to me that you picked my book to read!
Website: www.authorjacielennon.com
Facebook: Jacie Lennon’s Reader Group
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Twitter: @authorjlennon
Email: [email protected]
Other Books by Jacie Lennon
Burning Love (Slow Burn, Book 1)
Simmering Love (Slow Burn, Book 3) - Coming 2020
Acknowledgments
To my wonderful readers—Thank you so much for supporting me and for reading my books. Each and every one of you is such an inspiration, and I hope that you know how much it means to me that you choose to pick up and read the words I’ve written.
To my husband and love of my life – thank you for supporting me through another crazy writing/editing/reading/more editing and everything in between schedule. Your help with the kids is what makes the difference between me getting to write and not. I love you!
To my editor, Jovana – thank you so much for critically examining my manuscript for errors and ways to make it better. I wouldn’t have the book I have if it wasn’t for you!
To my beta readers – thank you for taking your time to read my words and make suggestions or even just say kind words. You know how to keep me writing more!
To my author friends who check in on me – Kat, Katherine, Laura and Lilian. I’d be lost without you!
About the Author
Jacie Lennon is a stay-at-home mom whose guilty pleasure is writing romance. She lives in the South with her husband and kids. Her home is fiercely protected by a basset hound, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and a tabby cat. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, playing with her kids, or devouring an entire container of Oreo Thins in one day.