Cherish

by Evelyn Sola

  “You can never be selfish, Alex. I know Natalie blindsided us in there, but, baby, listen to me—”

  “No, Jason. You listen. Let me speak. I am selfish because the minute she said she wanted to hand over the child to you, I was elated. I never had any doubt about being this baby’s stepmother because the child is a part of you, but I’d be lying if I said the Natalie angle didn’t scare me. Not because I doubt how you feel about me because I don’t, but because I was not going to stand by and let her use the child to hurt you. So, I’m so damn relieved that she will be out of the picture. I know it sounds crazy because I’ve never been around kids, they don’t particularly like me, and the bitch has decided for me when I become a mother, but I want this. I want it with you. I want to adopt the baby.”

  It takes a few seconds for her words to compute. I open my mouth to speak, but all I do is breathe in relief. Instead of telling her how much I love her, I lean forward and grab the back of her head, capturing her lips into a searing kiss.

  “You are as far from selfish as a human being can be. I was right about you,” I say against her mouth. “You’re an angel. My angel.” She deepens the kiss as she puts her hand on my hard cock. Reluctantly, I break the kiss and remove her hand.

  “Let’s go home.”

  CHAPTER 49

  ALEX

  There’s a lightness inside the car as Jason navigates through the traffic. The rain falls harder than before, making me eager to get home. I pick up our intertwined hands and kiss Jason’s before I seductively lick the base of his thumb. He does a half moan, half growl sound right before he puts my hand back on his dick, which has turned to stone in his jeans.

  Despite the early hour, the rain slows traffic, and it’s almost an hour before he pulls into the detached garage. My feet barely touch the ground before he’s lifting me into his arms. I wrap my legs around him as he runs us to the house. I suck on his ear, and he drops the keys twice before he succeeds in opening the door.

  He crosses through the house in a few long strides. I’m dropped on the bed before the bedroom door closes. He pounces, ripping my blouse apart, sending buttons flying everywhere before he tosses it to a corner of the bedroom.

  His belt comes off next, followed by his shoes. When he pulls his pants off, he jumps on the bed, laying on my now naked body. I peel his shirt off in one move and I relish in his warm skin against my body. His lips devour mine as I stroke the back of his head, a move I know he enjoys judging by his moans.

  “You are the most beautiful, most selfless and loving person I have ever met. Your heart is so big, angel. I knew it the moment I met you that you were special.” He leaves my mouth and kisses the base of my neck as my nails scrape along his spine.

  “Look at me, Jay.” He finally leaves my neck and looks into my eyes. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. I don’t care what or who came before me. You’re my person.”

  “Oh, angel.”

  We don’t speak anymore. He worships my body with gentle touches and kisses that set my soul ablaze. My nipples are stiff peaks by the time he takes one into his mouth, sucking, pulling, and biting. I arch my back into the mattress as his hand finds its way between my legs, teasing my clit before going through my wet entrance. He leans back up and kisses me until I become breathless, filling my mind with nothing but him.

  When he finally breaks the kiss, I’m dazed and desperate for him to be inside of me, but he denies me what I want most. He makes a path of wet kisses down my body. When he gets between my legs, I open wide and wait for more kisses. He throws one of my legs over his shoulder and buries his head between my thighs.

  He’s in a frenzy as he sucks my clit, taking me to the edge only to pull away. Before I can beg him to continue, he’s back on top of me, filling me. He never breaks eye contact as he loves me. The only sounds in the room are moans and whispered words of love.

  “Forever, angel,” he whispers against my mouth as we both orgasm.

  CHAPTER 50

  JASON

  “No!” The entire table erupts after hearing my announcement.

  “Boo!” Mellie says right before she starts hissing like a cat. She then takes her napkins, balls it up, and throws it at me.

  Alex looks at me, clearly shocked at everyone’s reaction.

  “We’re still having a wedding in the summer, but we want to be married now. We want everything to be perfect by the time we have to go in front of a judge to finalize the adoption,” Alex explains.

  “You have two minutes to change your mind or I’m calling my mother,” Jake says as he pulls out his phone and drops it on the table. Sandy catches my eye and nods, totally agreeing with her husband.

  Everyone talks at once, uncaring about our reasons for a quick courthouse wedding. After hours in bed with Alex, showing her how much I love her, we decided to call everyone over and tell them the latest.

  “Jason, Alex,” Tina says, “Jason is the biological father and assuming Natalie actually relinquishes her rights, there should not be any issues with Alex adopting her, but I do agree that if you’re married things will go smoother. We can plan a wedding now.”

  “Call your mom, baby,” Sandy says to Jake. “One month. That’s all we need.”

  “You’re definitely a Clark now, Dee,” I say to her. I quickly snatch the phone from Jake’s hand and put it in my pocket. “The man in the pink shirt is not calling his mommy today.”

  “Hey! My wife got me this shirt,” he says.

  I roll my eyes as Sandy reaches over and runs her hands across his chest.

  “He looks great in pink.”

  “You newlyweds are killing me,” Tina says.

  “Tell me about it. I really need a boyfriend.” This from Ananda.

  Mellie nods her head vigorously in agreement.

  The entire room ignores me and Alex and begins talking about our wedding.

  “I think they forgot we’re in the room.” Alex leans into me. I grab both of her legs and lay them across my lap, running my hand along her thighs. There’s a part of me that wants to wait and plan a wedding. But the selfish side wants her tied to me immediately.

  “What do you want to do?” I whisper in her ear. She doesn’t get a chance to respond.

  Her father raps his knuckles on the table and gets everyone’s attention. “I understand why you want to get married sooner rather than later, but I’m old-fashioned. I don’t want my daughter going to the courthouse. I want to walk you down the aisle, carrot cake.”

  “No aisle,” Alex says, surprising me. “At least not one in a church.”

  “We can work with that.” Tina grabs Alex’s hand and rushes the women out of the kitchen to discuss wedding details.

  CHAPTER 51

  ALEX

  “Jason,” my father says, getting everyone’s attention, “you’re sure this Natalie isn’t a danger to Alex? What about her husband?”

  “She’s a pain in the ass, and her husband’s a real jerk, but they’re not dangerous. He owns two car dealerships in Newark. You don’t have to worry about Alex getting hurt. I’d never let that happen.” Jason puts an arm protectively around me, and I lean into his side.

  “I can send someone to put the fear of God into her. Five minutes is all he’ll need.”

  “All who will need?” I ask, appalled yet intrigued at what my father just said. He doesn’t respond, though. He only smirks and arches one eyebrow.

  Jason stills beside me and looks from him to Tina.

  “He’s joking, right?” Jason asks Tina.

  “He most certainly is not.” It’s my father who responds, and not Tina.

  “I’m afraid not, kiddos,” Tina says to me. “Never complain about your problems to Alexander Reilly unless you want him to fix it.”

  “I’d rather you not put the fear of God into a pregnant woman, Alex,” Jason says to him. “But I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”

  My father slaps him on the shoulder and laughs. Alexander takes Jason out of t
he room and guides him onto the deck, closing the sliding glass door behind them while Jake and Sandy clean the kitchen. With all the kissing they’re doing, it’s going to take them all night to load the dishwasher.

  “So,” I say to Tina when we’re finally alone, “this sibling and father thing is working out better than I’d ever imagined.”

  “But,” she says.

  “But how is this affecting you and the rest of your family? How come you’re not mad at our father for having a baby with another woman while married to your mother.”

  Tina doesn’t speak at first. She helps me wipe down the dining room table and takes the rest of the dishes back to the kitchen. When she comes back, she takes a seat at the table and waits for me to join her. “So,” she says as she reaches over and takes my hands in hers, “I’ve learned a long time ago not to judge. It took me a while to get there, but it’s a great place to be now that I’ve arrived. And I was mad at our dad for a long time. We were estranged for a few years even. Bruce went into remission, and he has thankfully been healthy ever since. Our dad left my mother the day after he dropped him off at college. I knew that my parents weren’t in a happy marriage, and despite being an adult, I was hurt and upset when dad walked away. It didn’t help that my mother badmouthed him to me. She told me about the affair and how horrible he treated her. I felt Dad was abandoning us. I stopped taking his calls, but you know what? He never gave up on me. He never stopped calling or showing up. A friend of mine convinced me to see a therapist, and it was eye opening. My parents just didn’t make each other happy. My mother is no saint either, but that’s a whole other story. The point is, they were not a good match. I don’t condone cheating, but I thought back to those years and remember Dad was happy. I love both of my parents. They both have flaws and made mistakes, and I refuse to side with one over the other. Dad has never said a cross word about my mother to me, and I told Mom that I won’t listen to her badmouth him anymore either. I’m Switzerland as far as they are concerned. I’m just happy to finally have a sister.”

  She pulls me into a hug, then pulls away and grabs my face. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Come on.” She gets up and pulls me with her. “We have a wedding to plan and only about a month to do it.”

  CHAPTER 52

  JASON

  SIX WEEKS LATER

  I pull Alex closer to me and feel her hot skin against mine. She giggles when I throw a leg over her body, pinning her to our bed.

  “It’s time, Dr. Dupree,” she purrs, her voice husky with sleep.

  “No,” I complain. “I don’t want to leave our bubble, Mrs. Dupree.” I kiss her naked shoulder and squeeze one of her breasts. I’m rewarded with a moan and a sigh. I move my hand down her body to her flat stomach and below. She opens her legs for me, and I stroke her clit.

  “Mm-hmm,” she says, opening wider. She’s wet and willing. Just as I flip her on her back and climb on top of her, my stupid alarm goes off. The unexpected sound causes her to shriek and cover her head with a pillow.

  “What the hell? Since when do you use an alarm?” she asks.

  “Since today is our first day back. Honeymoon hours are different than regular hours.”

  Our wedding, though put together quickly, was perfect. Alexander pulled some strings and we were able to get married on Alex’s bridge in the middle of the Boston Gardens surrounded by fall flowers instead of summer. I hadn’t known what to expect, but she’d looked beautiful in a white knee-length dress. The front was all lace with long sleeves, but it was the back that left me with a hard dick for the duration of the wedding and reception. The entire back had been open, showing off her flawless skin.

  Our vows were simple, pledging our love for eternity. The minute she opened her mouth to repeat after the justice of the peace, my eyes filled with tears that refused to be contained. My best man, Jake, had no tissues to offer me, but my best person did. Mellie was there to wipe my tears as well as her own. Despite my parents being there, everything turned out beautifully. Not surprisingly, they loved Alex the minute they laid eyes on her.

  After I finally got to kiss my bride, we celebrated our new marriage at a downtown hotel.

  “No time, babe. To be continued. We don’t want you to be late on your first day back at work.” I moan and roll my hips, letting her know what she’s passing up. After kissing her on the lips, she slaps my bare ass as I walk to the bathroom.

  “I’m going to miss you,” I say to her twenty minutes later as we stand in the kitchen. She’s in a silk robe she received at her bridal shower. “It’s unfair to have to get back to reality after a week of uninterrupted bliss. I wish we could have stayed in Amsterdam longer.”

  “Well, you can take me back when we have more time, but it was everything I could have asked for in a honeymoon. I’m happy to be home with you.”

  “And me,” Mellie says, walking into the kitchen uncaring about me holding on to my wife as if she’s a life raft. “You two better not even think about kicking me out. And Jase, tell your mother to stop calling me. She seems to be under the impression that I want to deal with her.” She reaches for the coffee pot and pours herself a generous mug. “And can you believe this guy? What does he think this is? A prison yard?”

  We’ve been back for two days, and each morning, Mellie gets up at this ungodly hour to watch my new tenant exercise in the yard.

  “Who exercises shirtless in November? It’s New England, for goodness’ sakes. He’s simply showing off. Oh. My. Gawd! Look at how he does those pushups. He’s done about a hundred already. What a tool. Nothing I hate more than a showoff.”

  Her back is turned to us the entire time. When the source of her irritation stops the pushups only to start a round of burpees, Mellie stills. Her mug of coffee is halfway to her mouth, but she’s standing as still as a statue.

  I deliberately clear my throat. She must realize what she’s doing, because when she turns to face us, she has a blush on her face.

  “First, she’s your mother too. Second, he’s an assistant vice principal at an elementary school. He’s hardly a felon. In fact, he’s squeaky clean.”

  “I don’t think she heard you,” Alex whispers, her cheeks pink with happiness. I ignore Mellie who is still staring at the tenant and kiss my wife instead. “It’s unfair you have to work on a Saturday.”

  “It’s life. Get some more rest and I’ll see you this evening. Love you, angel.”

  She gets on her tiptoes, wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me as if Mellie’s not in the same room. She tastes of sleep and coffee, two things I can never get enough of.

  “Finally, he’s done. Showoff.”

  I leave Alex standing in the kitchen and cross to the front door at the exact moment he opens his door to get to his upstairs apartment.

  “Adam,” I say to our shirtless neighbor, “want to come in for coffee or water?” I hear Mellie’s gasp and Alex’s laugh. Adam nods and walks inside. Normally, I’d want to keep a guy who looks like that as far away from my wife as possible, but I never have to worry about that with my woman.

  “I don’t know if you’ve met my sister, but this is Mellie. You remember Alex.” He shakes Alex’s hand first. When he takes Mellie’s hand, he lifts it to his lips, but Mellie snatches it away before his lips can make contact.

  “Mellie,” he says, and for the first time, I notice a hint of an accent. “You’re the one who watches me every morning.”

  Alex laughs outright, earning her an angry look from Mellie, who otherwise remains quiet.

  “Mellie, can you get Adam some coffee?”

  She looks like a deer in headlights, not saying a word. She opens her mouth, but no sounds come out. Adam smiles and reaches around her for the coffee pot. He stands there, coffee pot in hand, waiting for her to offer him a mug, but she does nothing.

  “Mugs are right there, Adam.” I point to the cabinet right above Mellie’s head. Mellie is a tall girl at only two inches shy of six feet, but Adam towers over he
r. He takes a step forward, crowding her enough to push her into the counter, and reaches above her to open the cabinet.

  Mellie finally shrieks and pushes him away. “Don’t crowd me,” she says.

  When she shoves him, he doesn’t take a step back. He takes his time pouring the coffee before finally doing so.

  “Ah. She speaks. I wasn’t sure if your voice worked. I know your eyes do, though. Those burpees were for you, brown eyes.” His eyes are playful as he looks at her over the rim of the Boston College mug.

  Mellie’s cheeks get even pinker, but she doesn’t address Adam.

  “I’ll see you guys later. I have to go get ready for my date tonight.”

  “Mellie, it’s five o’clock in the morning,” I remind her.

  “Yeah, well, it takes me a while to get all of this together.” Without another word, she walks away.

  “It already looks pretty perfect to me,” Adam says.

  Mellie’s steps falter. She turns around and looks at Adam. He stands there, all six feet six inches of him, and does that thing boxers do where they make their pecs move. Mellie’s eyes widen in shock before she practically runs back to her room.

  The minute she’s out of sight, Alex laughs so hard, she holds onto me for support. Adam has a smirk on his face, but I notice him craning his neck to see where she ran off to.

  “I thought she had gone mute just like you did when we first met,” Alex says.

  I kiss my wife and walk Adam to the door of the apartment on my way out.

  CHAPTER 53

  ALEX

  “Hold on, Jason! My legs aren’t as long as yours, and I had too much pie.” He slows down but doesn’t let go of my hand as we make our way to Natalie’s hospital room. She’s not on the labor and delivery floor like she should be. No, her husband texted Jason after she gave birth, not before like they agreed to.