Warm moist heat surround my nipple. And then…
He sucked. Hard. His thumb brushed over my nerve centre and his fingers curled inside.
Something shattered inside me. Releasing me from the bonds tying me to earth. Yet his presence anchored me. Gave me a way to return when I was ready.
When the first semi coherent thought passed into my head, I was started to find him still sucking on my breast. His pull so different from Chloe’s. “Adam.”
His mouth popped off. His soft gaze met mine. A small squirt of milk shot out from my nipple.
I froze. How could I do something like that? He’d told me the first time he didn’t find it disgusting, but still… could he really not be affected by it?
He licked his lips. “Tastes wonderful. No wonder Chloe loves it.” His head dropped into my chest. This time taking my other nipple into his mouth.
My knees buckled. It could have been from the strength of the orgasm he’d just given me. Or maybe from low blood sugar. But I thought they buckled from the knowledge that Adam truly meant it when he said my milk didn’t bother him. To have him willingly jump in for seconds… I couldn’t fathom it.
The nipple slid from his mouth. Twisting me around, he wrapped me against his chest. His fingers ran up and down my spine. “Do you think you could try pumping now? I brought in the pump?”
Tilting my head back, I stared into his eyes, his soul. His care and concern spilling from him to me. I would do anything for him. Even that. “Of course. But please tell me this isn’t all.” I didn’t know how to say the rest. The last time I’d offered myself to someone I loved Ryan had turned me down and then disappeared. I didn’t want that to happen again. Instead, I wiggled my body against his erection hoping he’d understand.
His gaze searched my eyes, my soul, looking for any doubt. But I had none. I was ready. This was something I wanted to share. Something to solidify the new me. The one without Kris and Ryan.
Finally, when I began to wonder if I would be turned down again, he spoke. “No, it doesn’t have to be all.”
The smile spread across my face. His words lifted my spirit. I could do this. I could do anything, including expressing some milk for Chloe.
He walked me backwards toward the bed, holding me tight, running his lips over me. When it hit the back of my legs, he gently lowered me. “Move back up against the headboard and I’ll bring everything to you.
“B-but what if this doesn’t work?” I hated to voice my doubt, my fear, but I needed to. Sharing those things, my innermost thoughts, giving voice to them, proved my trust in him.
His hand cupped my cheek. “It will work. Besides, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.” He wiggled his eyebrows and his eyes danced with private knowledge.
My stomach tightened. Whatever his tricks were, his look made me want to experience them.
With a kiss to my nose, he left me to scramble up the bed while he gathered the supplies. Once I was set, he held the pump to my breast. “Ready?” I nodded and went to bite my lip, but he beat me too it. “It’ll work.” He flipped the switch as he took my lips in a searing kiss, making me forget all about the pump.
His plan worked. He kept me distracted while the pump expressed my milk. When we’d drained one side, he switched it to the other side. While I loved kissing him, I didn’t think this was one of his tricks.
With the second side empty, he placed the bottles and pump on the bedside table, giving me the chance to work up the courage. “W-what were the tricks you had up your sleeve?”
His gaze returned to mine, not hiding the inferno in it. “Don’t you worry. I’ll show you them all.” He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me flat against the bed. His lips slammed down on mine.
Yes!
And then he made good on his promise. He proceeded to show me all the tricks he’d stored up in his arsenal.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The alarm sounded, but I was already awake. My naked body planted on top of Adam’s which was in a matching state of dress. His fingers drew little patterns up and down my back. The previous night—well, really it had only been a few short hours ago—had been wonderful and I didn’t want it to end. But Chloe would soon want her morning feed and he had a daylong seminar to get to.
“Morning,” he mumbled against the top of my head.
Lifting my head, I smiled down at him. “Morning to you, too.”
“Any regrets?” He brushed my sleep disheveled hair back from my face. Not that my short haircut became too messed up, but I liked that he wanted to touch me.
“None at all.” And then I kissed him. I didn’t want him to have time to examine my eyes because I didn’t know what he would see there. I certainly didn’t regret him or what we’d done. I’d wanted it more than anything, but…
Of course there was a but. There was always a but.
I regretted that I hadn’t experienced it first with Kris and Ryan. They’d been who I’d dreamed of for years. They’d been the ones that I loved. And as much as I loved Adam, I still loved them. They were still there, always in the background, waiting for a time to emerge.
The alarm beeped again.
“Guess that means it’s time.”
“Uh huh.” I could stay in bed all day with him, but knew I couldn’t. If I didn’t hurry, one of the staff might pop by to ensure I was awake for Chloe. I didn’t want them to find Adam here in a compromising position. Not that the staff didn’t know—I mean how could they not—but they were doing a great job at pretending they didn’t know. I didn’t want anyone to have to take official notice.
Placing one last swift kiss to his lips, I rolled off him. Standing, I headed to the bathroom for a shower. The sound of the bed rustling followed.
I stood under the warm water, taking stock. I ached in a few places. Places that were new to aches for me, but I bore the pain with immense satisfaction. Washing my breast, I marveled at the difference. Where they’d been rock hard under a layer of softness, now they were all soft. But still bigger than before. For the first time in days, it didn’t hurt to wash them.
Adam stepped into the shower as I finished. His fingers trailed over my body, igniting my nerves, as we switched spots. I shivered under the onslaught of sensation. “That’s why I waited as long as I could before getting in.” His lips brushed my neck, my collarbone. “I didn’t want to run the risk of acting on the temptation.” His lips found mine and my hunger matched his. “I don’t have time to finish this, but oh how I want to.” He tore his lips away from mine and stepped under the spray with his eyes shut and head tilted back.
I knew I should leave. That we were playing with fire, but I couldn’t. Not just then. To watch the water flow over his muscles and down his body. I couldn’t miss the chance and it was better than I imagined. My lips went dry and I licked them.
His eyes cracked open but were still hooded. “You’re killing me love,” he groaned. “I’ll make it up to you tonight. Deal?”
Like I would turn down that offer. “Deal,” I whispered before stepping out of the shower without a backwards glance.
We raced around the room and were ready and out the door in a few minutes. He walked me over to Chloe’s station, carrying my triumphant bottles of expressed milk. After a brief examination of Chloe, he left me with a kiss on the lips. One filled with the promise of more.
Settling down on the recliner with Chloe in my arms, I latched her on, hoping her face would conceal a few of the love bites Adam left behind. While I loved to see them, it was another thing to flaunt before the staff.
The nurse walked in with a smile on her face. “I see you had success. I’m glad. You were in too much pain.”
A grin stretched from ear to ear. “I did. It’s so much easier to feed her without all the pain.”
“It is.” The nurse stepped over to look down at Chloe. When she raised her gaze, her twinkling eyes met mine. And with that look, I knew that she knew. “I’m glad it went well for you. You look happy.”
“I’m very happy.”
She nodded. “Good.” And that was the last she said on the subject, much to my relief.
The morning passed faster than I expected. Knowing I wouldn’t see Adam until late in the day—he had a day of guest lectures to attend—I assumed time would crawl by. But after feeding Chloe, I was able to pump another few bottles of milk for her. And then I completed more school work around changing and bathing her. Add to that morning rounds, and before I knew it, lunch sat on the table in front of me.
I ate while feeding Chloe and then expressed some more. Whatever Adam had done the night before had helped immensely. Once she went down for her afternoon nap, I returned to my room to grab a few extra Zs. We hadn’t stayed up the whole night, but we’d been up far later than normal. Even without doing anything physical during the day, my butt was still dragging. Of course, it could have been from all the physical activity I had participated in during the night besides the lack of sleep that was to blame for my condition.
I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face even as I lay down for a nap. Before I could think too much on Adam’s morning promise, my eyelids shut and I knew no more.
An hour later, refreshed, I headed out into the hallway, knowing Chloe would be waking soon for her next feed.
Rounding the corner into the main corridor, my feet came to a sudden halt. A familiar man stood near the wall with his arms crossed and a look of impatience—one I knew well—on his face. “D-dad! What are you doing here?” I cringed at the use of that word instead of father.
“Oh, good. You’re here. That makes things easier.” My shoulders shook as my stepmother’s, er monster’s, screech reverberated through my body.
My eyes shut as my body sagged. What were they doing here? Now after all this time, why did they have to show up? My fingers tapped against my thigh in time to my racing heart. I gnawed on my lip. This couldn’t be good.
Opening my eyes, I found my stepmother glaring down her nose at me. “What did you do to your hair? Who said you could cut it? That’s not how a lady looks. I raised you to be better than that.” Her voice echoed in the NICU.
I could feel the red stain of embarrassment work its way to the surface of my skin. All my new found confidence shattered under the onslaught. “I-I’m sorry,” I whispered. My hand lifted to stroke through my short hair.
She took a menacing step forward, and I stiffened. “As for why we are here, young lady—and I use that term loosely with you. Why wouldn’t we be here? Our sick baby girl is here.” She lifted her fingers to wipe away non-existent tears.
Nausea rushed through me. How could they do this? For over four months they hadn’t cared a single minute about Chloe, but now that she was nearly ready to come home, they swooped in. Well, they could swoop right back out. Chloe was mine.
Oh, who was I kidding? Just the look on my stepmother’s face pushed me back into the cowering shell I’d been before. And until I was eighteen, I couldn’t do anything about it.
I dropped my eyes to the floor, wishing a hole would open up when I heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the hall.
“It’s time for you to leave,” my stepmother hissed by my ear. Goosebumps erupted and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop the shiver. She stepped back to my father’s side, and I saw the look of triumphant glee on her face. After giving him a peck on the cheek, she said, “Hurry back dear, after putting her in the cab, of course.”
“Of course.” My father at least had the graciousness to look a little embarrassed and uncomfortable at my stepmother’s display, but the redness of his cheeks didn’t stop him from giving me the look. The one that said to keep my mouth shut and not argue.
I watched as my stepmother greeted some of the staff that had been drawn by her raised voice. A few looked toward me with looks of pity, but there was nothing they or I could do. Instead, I dropped my gaze back to the floor.
“Well, don’t just stand there. You heard your mother.” My eyes jumped at that. How dare he call her my mother? My mother, as horrible as she was, wasn’t—or maybe couldn’t since I didn’t know her—be that bad. “I’m to put you in a cab, so you need to pack or it will all stay here. I don’t have all day to deal with this.”
My eyes smarted. The burn was almost as bad as the cut of their words. But I wouldn’t cry. Not before him. I hadn’t cried in front of him since the day my stepmother had thrown out the one present I had from my mother. She’d given me a beautiful doll days before she left. I never played with it, the memories were too painful so I preferred to keep it up on a shelf.
I’d stood in my bedroom crying when my father walked in. He’d asked why I was crying. With halting speech, I’d told him. A pinched look crossed his face, but then he’d gathered me into his arms. And I’d known my dad would make everything better again.
But that wasn’t what happened. Instead, and it had taken me precious time to understand the nature of his words, he told me to be sympathetic to my stepmother. That I needed to realize how horrible she must have felt to have something from my mother around all the time.
Once the meaning of his words made their mark, I’d scrambled from his arms. To this day, I didn’t understand how he could have done something like that, said that to his little girl. But from that day forward, I never shared any tears, any of my fears, really anything in general and he became Father, not Dad.
My father’s eyes roamed the hallway before he stepped into my personal space. “Look Kayla, I don’t really want to be the bad guy here, but if you don’t get packed within the next few minutes, you will have to leave your stuff behind.”
I knew to take his threat seriously. Without a word, I spun and raced back to my room praying I’d get a few moments alone. Instead, his footsteps followed mine. And before the door even began to swing shut behind me, he was there. His toe tapping with impatience.
His eyes darted around my room, noting the mussed bed. The room still carried the lingering scent of Adam and our time together. His eyebrows climbed into his hairline and his lips thinned. “If you get packed quickly and without a fuss, I won’t tell your stepmother about this. But if you put a single toe out of line…” He left his threat hanging there. He didn’t have to finish, for I knew the ending. He’d tell my stepmother.
Lifting the suitcase, I placed it on the bed. Throwing my clothes in haphazardly, I couldn’t ignore the subtle grunts coming from his chest when certain of my newer clothing items went in.
As I obeyed his command, he stopped tapping his foot. Instead he sat in the chair and watched, a weird expression on his face. “Thank you, Kayla. I know this wasn’t easy, but thank you.”
I stopped mid stride at the care and compassion in my father’s voice. It reminded me of times long past, of a different life, one before my stepmother. “I don’t want to leave. I can’t. You don’t understand. Chloe needs me.” My arms hung limply at my side as I waited to hear his answer.
His eyes pierced mine. And for the first time in years, I allowed him to see everything. I bared my soul before him. My eyes were an open book. And for a moment, I thought I saw regret and pain in his answering look. Maybe even an unshed tear or two. But then his eyes turned hard, cold. “No, Chloe needs her parents. Not you. Finish packing.”
I turned back to my suitcase to drop in the last few items. The only things left were the laptop, my textbooks, and my cell charger. The cell phone was already in my pocket.
Zippering up the bag, I placed it on the floor. I snatched the charger from the wall and dropped it into my purse. “I’ll need to return the school supplies upstairs and let them know that I’ll be finishing the work at school.”
“No. I’ll see that they get back. Besides, I thought all your school work was online and the files shareable. We’ll discuss more later.”
I nodded, not wanting to fight. All I wanted to do was to curl up in Adam’s protective arms, but he wouldn’t even be back to the hospital for a few hours. And even then I’d be long gon
e. It was a good thing I had the smuggled cell phone. We could keep in touch.
Grabbing my suitcase, I wheeled it out the room and down the hallway until I reached the junction where it met the main corridor. I turned right, but my father hand gripped my arm, stopping me.
“Where are you going? That’s not the way to the elevators.” He dropped his hand and my arm ached. For the first time, I wondered if he’d left a bruise.
“I know, but I need to say goodbye.” My body vibrated from the adrenaline coursing through me. They weren’t going to make me leave without saying goodbye. The nurses, the doctors, even some of the other parents had become good friends. I needed to not disappear. And most of all, I had to see Chloe. Needed to make sure she was alright with my stepmother.
A hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing tight while it tried to spin me around. “Not so fast. They are busy. They don’t need you to distract them.”
When I didn’t move, the pressure increased. “Don’t make this harder on yourself. I’ll tell them goodbye for you.” His voice lowered to a whisper and I knew the next few words would not be good. “Think about your siblings at home.”
That was all he had to say. He didn’t need to threaten or cajole me anymore. Nothing had ever happened to them and to be honest, I didn’t know if anything ever would, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance. Shoulders slumping, I turned and began the slow walk to the elevator.
With my hidden cell phone, I could call them to thank them personally. Even if every step felt like a stab wound to the heart. At least they would know I didn’t run out, didn’t care enough to thank them for all that they did.
The elevator doors slid open silently to reveal an empty cavern. In all my times riding the elevator, I’d never seen one empty. It was like the universe knew I wanted people around, people I could make contact with. Instead it kept me in solitary confinement. My shame something no one should witness.
Hers From The Start: A Collection of First In Series Reverse Harem Page 92