Taking in a shuddery breath, our lips lightly touching, I smiled.
“I love you too Marshall, I believe you and I … I trust you.”
“Thank fucking God. On your knees, baby, I want to see your pussy taking my cock while you scream out how much you love me.” Quickly rearranging our positions, I found myself on my knees on the bed with a pillow under my belly. Even in the throes of passion, he thought of our daughter’s and my comfort.
“Keep your legs together, baby and your body off the bed,” Marshall ordered, so seductively chills ran down my spine. His deep timbre never failed to cause my pussy to flood.
Shifting back further to the end of the bed, where Marshall was standing, I looked over my shoulder and saw him fisting his cock slowly. It was still wet from my mouth, and soon it was going to be even wetter. Shoving aside anything other than Marshall and this very moment, I purred in readiness.
“I’m ready, honey, ready for you to make me scream my love.”
One finger traced a line between my wet swollen lips, making my hips buck into his touch.
“Yeah, you are ready aren’t you baby, does hearing me tell you I love you make you wet, baby, or was it you saying you love me.” Marshall teased me more with his finger, dipping it into my entrance, then retreating out to circle my clit. Over and over, he repeated the same thing until I was begging for him to take me.
“Inside me, I need you inside me,” I cried, desperate for the ultimate release.
“I am going to be so deep inside you, Addy, there is no way you will not feel me there even while I am away,” Marshall declared, his finger pulling out and replaced with the swollen head of his cock. “I love you, Sweet Cheeks, fucking love you,” Marshall groaned loudly, pushing into me, filling me to the hilt. Letting out a long gasp, I concentrated on not shifting my legs apart; this was a new position for us, normally I was on top or sitting half on his thighs with him off my belly. This way, though, was definitely very pleasurable.
“You take my cock so well, baby, your pussy is so tight, so wet and warm,” he gritted out, thrusting his hips savagely into me.
“Yes, Marshall, yes,” I screamed, my teeth then sinking into my bottom lip when he hit a part of me I never knew existed.
“It’s too much, you feel too good, Addy.” Marshall’s moans stilling his hips, grinding his pubic bone against my bottom, his cock so deep inside me, hitting that spot the pleasure raced right to my clit.
“Say it, baby, say the words I need to hear,” Marshall ordered me, his hands on my hips, pulling me hard against him as he made shallow, hard thrusts into me. His hold on me was going to leave bruises, but I didn’t care, I wanted his marks on me, I wanted to see his claim when I woke in the morning. To know they were there when we say goodbye.
Grinding back as hard as I could, I screamed out my orgasm with the words he wanted to hear.
“I love you so much!” The scream tore from my throat as my pussy spasmed around his cock. My arms started to shake with the effort of holding myself up, when Marshall’s arms came under my breasts bringing me up, my back pressed against his hard-muscled chest, his cock still deep inside me.
“I love you too, Sweet Cheeks,” he murmured into my ear, “now come for me one more time before I give you my cum.”
Shaking my head, no, I hummed into the side of his face.
“I can’t, honey, it’s too much,” I argued, but circled my hips and pushed my chest further into the hand clutching my breast.
“One more, baby, I need you to flood my cock with your warm cream one more time.” Sliding one hand down over my bump, my big bump, Marshall found my clit. The combination of his fingers lightly pinching my nipple, his finger stroking my clit and his cock sliding in and out of my core, there was no chance of not coming.
“Ahhhhh.”
“Addy!”
My scream and Marshall’s guttural shout of my name bounced off the walls of our room, heralding our combined climaxes. Marshall continued to pump his hips into me, deep feral groans still spilling from his mouth. I wasn’t doing much better myself, although he had a good hold on my upper body, my legs shook uncontrollably, threatening to give way any second. Releasing my hands from a death grip on his arm that was wrapped around my front, I let my head fall forward.
“Careful, Sweet Cheeks, don’t fall on your stomach,” Marshall warned, slowly pulling out of me, groaning as he did. I felt the loss instantly, but Marshall kissed the back of my neck, his lips nibbling a path to my ear.
“We will have so many nights like this one baby; nothing is going to keep me from you.” His soothing words helped calm me a little. Now the passion was over; the worry was back.
“But, not tomorrow night,” I said, allowing Marshall to arrange me on the bed, the pillow he used under my belly now under my head, then he laid down next me, pulling me close.
“No, Sweet Cheeks, not tomorrow night,” he soothed, brushing wisps of hair from my sweaty face. “I can’t give you a date when I will be back, but I can promise you I will come home to you,” he whispered, stroking a finger down my cheek, catching the tears I didn’t realise were falling.
“You can’t promise me that, Marshall,” I protested weakly because I wanted him to do exactly that. He had to come back to me; he broke down all my walls, putting them back up would be hard because I liked them down.
He did what he’d said he would do, and he made me fall in love and trust him.
“Yeah, I can. I am good at what I do; the men I serve with are good at what they do. We don’t take risks with our lives, plus our daughter is depending on her daddy to be there when she is born. I’m never going to let her down, never not going to be here for her,” he replied firmly, his eyes echoing what he said.
Wrapping a hand around his neck, I pulled his head close until we were nose to nose.
“Our daughter is so lucky to have you for a dad, but there is no one luckier than me. I love you, and I will be waiting right here for you when you get back,” I promised him fiercely.
We fell asleep like that, our faces together, our lips so close his breath mingling with mine. This was our thing, our soothing of the souls. As long as I had this connection with Marshall, I knew I could face the time away from him.
All he needed to do was come home to me.
***
Standing off to the side of the main room at the Wounded Souls compound, I huddled with Wren and Devon and watched our men go through a ritual Wren told me they did every time they left for deployment.
Six men dressed in army fatigues, my man included, stood in a tight circle their arms around each other’s shoulders, and Gabe was in the middle talking quietly to them. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but each and every one of them had Gabe’s total attention.
Behind them, five members of the Wounded Souls stood in a line formation their head bowed slightly and their arms behind their backs in a classic soldier stance.
“It’s a magnificent sight, isn’t it?” Stella asked, coming up behind me, surprising me.
“Yes, it is,” I agreed, not taking my eyes off Marshall. This morning before we left the house to come here, he went back into our bedroom, giving me stern instructions not to follow him. Then he told me not to go in there until I returned after seeing him off. The temptation to stalk down the hall and burst into the room had been strong, but if Marshall wanted me to wait until later, then that’s what I would do.
“You will get used to it Addy, I promise. Gabe has been on so many deployments now; this is my normal.”
Turning my head, I looked at the beautiful blonde.
“How do you handle the pain and the worry of saying goodbye?” I asked, needing to know how I should handle this with Marshall. He never gave me instructions on how to send him off, didn’t say not to cry or beg him not to leave. I knew that wouldn’t be the best way for him, even if it was what I wanted to do.
“You don’t say good-bye,” Stella shrugged simply, “you kiss him, tell h
im you love him and let him go.”
“Just that easy, hey?”
“It has to be, sweetie, they have a job that needs one hundred percent focus. I told Devon the first time she had to watch this with Gabriel; the lives of others are in their hands. They don’t need distractions from home forcing them from their job.”
Nodding, I took in everything Stella was saying, it made sense to the logical side of my brain, but my heart ached with loss. Missing him now that I had admitted to my feelings was not going to be easy. Nights and days without him were going to be hard.
Low murmurs brought my attention back to the circle of men; all were now walking off in different directions in the room, Marshall heading straight for me. Even upset as I was, I couldn’t help admire my man in uniform, he was just as great out of it, but damn, if he didn’t look fantastic, the way his camos stretched tight across his powerful thighs as he made his way to me, a smirk gracing his handsome face.
Damn, he knows what I’m thinking about.
“Thinking about me in my uniform, Sweet Cheeks, or out of it?” Marshall asked, adding an extra swagger in his step when he got closer.
“Both,” I admitted, my voice coming out choked, clearing my throat; I tried to give him a bright smile. I must not have succeeded because he narrowed his eyes at me.
Marshall pulled me in close to him, his hands laced behind me, resting on the small of my back.
“Baby, it’s okay to be upset. This is new to you, our first deployment together. I know all the women have their own ways of dealing, and I am sure you have been given some advice about how to do this. All I am saying, Addy, is you do it your way, okay?”
“And if I cry?” I asked quietly, tears already forming.
“Then, you cry, but cry only because you will miss me, not because you are worried I’m not coming home.” Nodding my head, I laid my cheek against his chest, the material of his uniform starchy not at all soft like his preferred tees.
“Okay, honey, I can do that.”
“Team FIVE, time to move!” A man called out from somewhere behind us. It didn’t sound like Gabe or Bastian, so I only presumed it had to be a newcomer.
“That’s our ride, time to go, Sweet Cheeks,” Marshall announced, patting me on the bottom, gently dismantling his arms from me, only to grab my hand.
Slowly, we walked to the large double doors together, around us Wren and Bastian and Gabe and Devon were also hand in hand walking as slowly as they could, dragging out the moment before the inevitable.
“Remember that you have help now, so take it. Shiloh has assigned two prospects to do the daily work around the clinic, lifting, restocking things that you aren’t to be doing. Remember to take the ute every day, and to eat your meals and no, KitKats are not a decent evening meal for a pregnant woman,” Marshall growled into the top of my head.
Laughing through my tears, I rolled my eyes. “KitKat’s should be part of the main five food groups,” I insisted with a mock growl.
“Grill, mate, let’s go!”
“Fuuuuuuck! Gotta go, Sweet Cheeks.” Taking my face in his hands, Marshall dropped his lips to my mouth and kissed the breath out of me.
“Love you, baby, see you soon.” With another hard chaste kiss, Marshall let me go, quickly dropped to his knees, pressed a kiss to my belly, caressed our daughter tenderly, then jumped up and left.
He didn’t look back; he just grabbed his bag off the ground, swung it over his shoulder and walked out with his team.
“They rarely look back darlin’, too hard to see the tears and worry on the faces of the people they love,” Booth said, coming up to drape an arm over my shoulder.
“I know,” I gulped, nodding my head, trying desperately to gain control.
“Why don’t you go grab a hot chocolate from the kitchen, Dax will be taking you home soon, okay, darlin’?” Booth suggested to me, pressing a fatherly kiss to my temple.
“Okay, Booth, thank you,” I replied softly, thankful for the support from a family that took Marshall in and made him one of their own. It occurred to me that they were doing the same to me– comforting me, helping me, concerned for me. And I had no doubt they would do the same when my daughter arrived. Feeling a bit stronger, I sucked in a cleansing breath then walked towards the kitchen.
For the first time, I had the unfamiliar sensation that everything was going to be okay, that I was going to be okay.
***
BOOTH
Watching Addy disappear with my wife into the kitchen, I waited until they were out of sight then pulled my phone out of my cut pocket.
Walking away from the noisy crowd of people here to send off my son’s team, but making sure the entrance to the kitchen was still in my sight, I found a quiet spot and pressed the speed dial third on my contact list.
“Ford, I need you to find anything you can on Marshall Webber.”
“Grill?” Ford asked, surprised.
“I want you to get the name of his mother; she died when he was six. He was raised by his aunt, Faye Webber. They live in Creswick and far as I know he was born and raised there.”
“Creswick has its own hospital, it’s small, but he could have been born there and not Ballarat, I will do a check, LT. Anything else you want me to look into?”
Spying my wife move across the kitchen from my place across the main room. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun, her jeans looked like she’d painted them on, but I knew they hadn’t been having been there in our room watching her wiggle her sexy legs and arse into them. Goddamn, I love that woman more than I ever thought possible, thirty years plus, and she still brought me to my knees with a single smile. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for her; hurting her wasn’t an option, and I had spent my whole life doing everything in my power, making sure nothing terrible touched her.
Sometimes that wasn’t always possible, sometimes shit happened and people you loved ended up getting hurt.
“Pres?” Ford’s voice penetrated my brain, snapping me out of my fog.
“Don’t let Squirt hear you calling me that. Yeah, mate, one more thing, I want you to find out the identity of Grill’s father,” I told him quietly.
“You want me to go low profile on this Booth?”
Sighing tiredly, I pinched the bridge of my nose, all of a sudden feeling my age.
“Only report to me, and no trail Ford,” I ordered, hating to keep this from the rest of the club, but for now, I had no option. If Ford’s digging unearthed nothing, then no harm, no foul. If it did, and my hunch was right—.
“No one can know anything, not the club and not Stella.”
***
Walking into the house an hour later, I immediately stopped and listened for Marshall in the kitchen, making breakfast. The only sound that greeted me was the humming of the fridge. Having a small house meant less room to hide from annoying noises from the appliances.
Tossing my coat on the new couch, which took up most of the walking space in the lounge room. Marshall didn’t fit easily on the love seat I used to have, and we didn’t fit on it together now that my belly was getting bigger by the day. I compromised, gave up one bookshelf to make room for the four-seater but negotiated one foot rub a night for the loss of space.
Smiling at the memory of that day, I walked down the short hallway to the room I shared with Marshall, the door was closed exactly the way he left it at five am.
“Okay, here goes nothing,” I said to the door, blowing out a huff of breath and opened the door, then nearly dropped to my knees.
The whole room was filled with pink balloons of all shapes. Round ones, as well as heart shaped and in the middle of them, was a huge foil bear balloon. A pink bow around its neck with a small box hanging from it, but it was the words written in fancy script on the bears rounded belly that I couldn’t take my eyes off.
Right in the middle of the lighter pink circle were the words, ‘MARRY ME SWEET CHEEKS. TICK THE BOX YES OR NO.’
Two small boxes were u
nder the writing one next to yes, the other next to no. Stuck to the bear’s paw was a thick black marker.
Locking my knees, I stared at the marker, the bear and the ribbon holding what I knew now to be an engagement ring.
“Oh, dear God,” I whispered shakily, “Marshall.”
Taking one step inside the room, balloons kicking at my feet, I made my way to the bear. How on earth did he do this without me realising? I spent most of the morning almost glued to him; the only time I was away was when I had a shower. He came in once when I called out to him, asking what that loud engine noise was— oh!
It was the club, and the Wounded Souls helped him with this, his family answered his call of help to surprise me. Oh, how lovely it would be to have such love and devotion to call upon in times of need. I had that with Marshall, he proved time and time again I was his reason, and by default, I had the club too.
I did! They are my family, a family to call my own.
Carefully removing the box from the ribbon, my hands shook wildly as I lifted the lid. Cushioned in black satin sat a ring of platinum and the biggest emerald shaped diamond I had ever seen. The band itself was simple in its design, the diamond meant to be the main star, and what an impact it made. Reverently, I lifted the exquisite piece of jewellery from the satin bed and held it up for my inspection.
It was magnificent. Bold yet not overly showy, no intricate setting to get hooked on clothes or fur but a ring every girl fantasises about having, especially a girl who thought she never deserved it.
Perfectly thoughtful from a perfect man, a man who loved me and wanted me for the rest of my life.
Holding the ring in my hand, I used my free one to take the tape from the marker detaching it from the foil bear and snapping off the cap.
Without a smidge of hesitation, I reached out with the marker and ticked the box, snapped the cap on, then took my phone from my jeans pocket, selected the camera app and took a photo. Pressing more buttons on my phone, I sent off a text message. Replacing my phone back to my pocket, I slipped the ring on the appropriate finger.
Grill (The Wounded Sons Book 3) Page 15