Feel My Love: The Damaged Series - Book Two
Page 16
Looking at Baylor, Leo offered, “I’ll see us up…”
His bodyguard sighed. “It’s incredible how much you miss when it’s about you. Even when you see yourself up, you’re never alone, Leo. I’ll be back in an hour.” He walked around the car and Leo frowned.
“What do you…?”
Baylor pointed in both directions and got behind the wheel. As the car pulled away from the curb, Leo took in the two men standing a few feet from either side of the door.
“Uh…”
The first man said, “The apartment has been cleared, Mr. De La Cruz. There’s a wheelchair in the lobby for Miss Whitehall.” The second man held the door.
Leo and Amelia walked through it and she could see that there was a lot of new information flooding into his brain. Where she’d always assumed Leo was accustomed to his protective detail, she now realized he honestly hadn’t really noticed anyone but Baylor.
“How did I…” Leo’s voice trailed away.
She reassured him with a shrug. “You’re a genius. You focus on what matters. The rest is white noise.” He helped her lower into the wheelchair and pushed her toward the elevator. “I’m starving, Leo. I hope you’re prepared to feed a pregnant lady every bite of food in your house.”
“Take out, Amelia. I’m going to fall back on take out.”
He pushed her into the elevator and she inhaled deeply. It was her first step into his life - a life that had never had her in it. His apartment, his career, the man he’d become after she left him without warning at eighteen.
She imagined there would be adjustments to make, fights along the way, and days they’d both hate living with another person…
He was her Leo. Her soulmate.
They’d figure it out.
Epilogue
December 2004 (four months later)
Leo opened his eyes at a soft sound that had become strangely familiar faster than most would have guessed. He stared at Amelia’s sleeping face a few inches away and smiled.
The perfect way to wake up every morning.
Slipping quietly from the bed, he walked to the room across the hall and peered over the edge of the crib.
His son.
Alejandro stared up at him with a small frown. Left to his own devices, the greedy darling would become convinced he was never going to eat and release a single blood-curdling scream.
Leo typically had to be peeled off the ceiling.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” He gathered him carefully - less worried about breaking him than he’d been the first couple of weeks - and snuggled him close to his chest. “Hungry?”
Stroking his hand over Alex’s tiny head of curly black hair and down his back, there were no words to describe Leo’s gratitude for the opportunity to do so.
“That scream has me trained, son. Daddy is willing to do just about anything to avoid it. How did you sleep?” Kissing the top of his head, Leo returned to the master suite and crawled back in bed beside Amelia. “Darling…”
She blinked sleepily and smiled at them. “Well, hello there.” Releasing a soft chuckle, she murmured, “He was about to make the scream.”
“I can’t take it…”
“Give me that starved baby.” Opening her arms, Leo placed Alex in them and she pulled down her loose tank top to remove her breast. His son latched on instantly and suckled rapidly. Amelia stroked her fingers over his back. “I know, darling. We’re heartless. Five whole hours since you last ate. Little piggy fell asleep trying to get just a little more.”
Head in his hand, Leo watched her feed their child and pondered at what a difference a year made. He had his soulmate and the baby they made together in bed with him.
Nothing short of a miracle.
“I always know when you’re replaying everything in your mind. How all the pieces came together to this moment.” Raising her gaze, Amelia used one of her hands to pull Leo to her for a kiss. She released him enough to say, “Kissing the father as I feed the son. A circle of life, of completion, I never believed I’d have.”
He used his fingertip to trace her face. “I love you.”
“I love you, Leo.”
Laying down, he slipped his arm under her pillow and watched in fascinated silence as their son ate his breakfast.
Alex’s pink bow lips held her nipple firmly while his tiny fist opened and closed on the slope of Amelia’s breast.
Leo had taken more than a thousand pictures of his family since Alex’s birth. He itched to get the camera and take another ten.
“He looks more like you every day,” she whispered.
“I hope his eyes lighten like yours.” Already, the dark eye color Alex had been born with was getting lighter and the familiar caramel of his mother was beginning to show. “Thank you for being brave enough to have him, Amelia.”
“You thank me every day, Leo. Thank you for not giving up on me.” He sifted his fingers through her hair. “Did you take today off?”
“Of course. You asked me to but never told me why.”
“It’s a surprise.” She looked down. “He’s done and sleeping like a rock again.” Alex barely had her nipple in his mouth, using it more like a pacifier. “He’s so funny.” She sat up and lifted him to her chest, patting him gently until he burped. Laying him on his back between her legs, she checked his diaper. “Just pee. Aren’t you easy on Mommy first thing in the morning? Let’s get you changed.”
“You rest. I’ll change him, Amelia.”
“Leo, you work. He’s my full-time job right now so you don’t get diaper duty.” Alex opened his eyes and made a little raspberry sound. “Alex! You aren’t on Daddy’s side already?”
Leo chuckled. “He knows you’re the one that keeps everything running. Besides, I love playing the can I get the new diaper over him before he starts to pee game. He hit the wall last time, Amelia. It was awesome.”
She made a face and said, “Boys are gross. Yes, even you, Alex.” She laughed and kissed both of them before standing and walking to the bathroom. Turning back to remind Leo about the diaper rash cream, she caught him staring at her hungrily. “It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
Shaking his head as if to clear it, he released a nervous chuckle. “I’ll wait as long as necessary, Amelia. The stress your body went through…we knew the recovery was going to be longer than normal.”
Two days before Amelia’s scheduled C-section, her placenta began to detach. Her medical team rushed her into surgery immediately. In preparation, Leo and Augusta had donated blood in case things went wrong. His own mother donated as well.
Amelia required almost three pints.
It was doubtful it would be safe for her to try for another child from her own body. When she woke up from the anesthesia, Leo placed their son in her arms.
The stress of the night, the emotion of being a new father, made him gasp through tears, “I love you. I love our son. No more, Amelia. I can’t lose you. I can’t go through another night like this. Two in one lifetime are enough.”
Crying, she nodded. “Alright.”
Their parents returned hours later to dote over their new grandchild. All of them had stayed at the hospital until Amelia was pronounced stable.
Augusta reminded her softly, “This sweet baby was a miracle. If you want another, my offer stands. Let your body rest, darling. It’s been through enough.”
Tugging her lower lip between her teeth, Amelia asked, “It was bad? I thought...Leo hasn’t told me any details.”
Wiping her face of tears, Augusta scooted the chair close to the bed. “It was bad. Alex was safe...you weren’t, Amelia. One miracle was incredible but you must never expect another.”
A few days later, Leo took his family home.
Every day since had felt like a miracle of its own.
Until her doctor announced her fully healed, Leo refrained from talking about the organization he’d become involved more actively in through Augusta. There would be plenty of time to explain his r
ole - one he’d been playing for a while without realizing it - and he didn’t want her to worry.
Picking up Alex, he stood and walked across the room to her. “Plan our wedding, Amelia. I need you to be my wife.”
Going up on her toes, she kissed his lips. “I already ordered my dress. Our mothers have been planning together quietly for weeks. I decided that, with a new baby, they could plan what amounts to an extravagant party without my help.”
“No one told me anything!” he said with a smile.
“Like you care. The only things that matter to you are seeing me walk down the aisle and dancing with me.”
“Fair enough,” he admitted. “Dare I ask what our color scheme is?”
She winked. “Gold and white, of course. My mother is involved. Your mom is keeping her somewhat level.”
He wrapped his arm around her with Alex between them. “I can’t wait. I love you.”
“I love you, Leo. I’m going to shower. I have my last follow-up with the doctor today and a couple of errands to run with Baylor. You’ll be okay with the monkey?”
“Just us guys? Absolutely.”
Grinning, she told him, “You’re a great dad, Leo.”
“He makes it easy…”
“Except for the scream…”
Leo shivered. “Gives me chills every time.”
One more kiss and she went to shower. He was straightening up Alex’s nursery when she entered in jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and running shoes.
Walking to the crib, she sighed. “I never get tired of looking at him.”
“Neither do I.”
Leo wrapped his arms around Amelia from behind and guided her from the room. He pressed her against the wall in the hallway and sealed his chest to her back.
“Leo…” she murmured softly.
“I know you need to leave. Give me just a minute to touch you. Just a minute.”
He ran his hands over her sides, her hips, and her stomach. He stroked over the front of her body, his hands over her breasts while his thigh pressed between her legs.
“I miss you. You give selflessly to me while I’ve barely been able to touch you, to please you.” He rocked his cock gently against her ass, watching as her face telegraphed her need. At her ear, he told her sensually, “Tonight, I’m going to lick every inch of you after a massage. I want the taste of you on my tongue.” He stroked his palm between her legs, over her jeans, and rubbed gently. “I’ll be careful but I need to make you come.
“Oh, Leo...”
“Yes, Amelia?”
“I’m coming…”
Her muscles tightened as her climax stole her breath. He slid his hand between her breasts and up to cup her neck. Amelia’s pulse raced against his palm.
Resting his forehead on the back of her shoulder, he struggled to calm his own reaction. Turning her in his arms, he smiled tightly. “We can handle a couple more months. No worse than senior year.”
Groaning, she wrapped her arms around him. “What a nightmare it was not to touch you.” She hugged him hard. “You keep adding time to what the doctor estimates and I’m going to scream, Leo.”
“I just want to be certain you’re safe.”
“God, you smell good.” Slipping her hands into the waist of the thin cotton sleep pants he wore, she stroked her palms around to his abdomen, dipping lower to reach for him.
“No, Amelia. I can’t bear it when you get nothing.”
“Obviously, you don’t realize what I get from it.”
She turned them, putting his back against the wall, and dropped to her knees. She slid his sleep pants off his lower body and nudged his legs apart.
Then she took him to the back of her throat. Sucking him and stroking the base firmly, she cupped his balls in her other hand and squeezed to the rhythm of her sucks.
Leo stared down at her and she raised her eyes. He sifted his fingers through her hair. “Look at you; so casually sensual.” He swallowed hard. “God, that feels incredible.” She moaned around his length and he thought his knees would buckle at the low vibration over his length. “I can’t wait. It’s too good, Amelia.”
As the first jet of his release left the head of his cock, she increased the strength and speed of her sucking, working with the rocking of his hips. Leo’s body shook as she took all of him.
“Yes, Amelia…”
She drank him down, swallowed around the head, and watched him from below as she cleaned him carefully. When he’d given her everything he had, she continued to suck and lick him, pulling back to kiss the tip with a smile.
Rising, she pulled his pants into place and kissed her way up his stomach and chest. Stroking her hands over his abdomen, she pulled him down for a kiss.
Breathless, Leo claimed her mouth aggressively, his hands wrapping tight in her hair. Pulling back, he asked hoarsely, “When is your appointment, Amelia?”
“In about forty-five minutes.”
“Not enough time, damn it!” He kissed her again and moaned into her mouth. “I want to taste you so bad, it hurts. When you get back, I’m stripping you down and eating your pussy for hours. I can’t make love to you yet, but I can make you come until you’re weak, until you can’t move from the exhaustion of coming, until I’m drunk from the taste of you.”
She rocked her hips against him.
“Are you wet, Amelia?” She nodded. His hands went to the waist of her jeans and he had them undone, his hand inside her panties, in seconds. Stroking through her cleft, his thumb worked in small circles over her clit. “You are wet…dripping wet for me.” He growled from deep in his chest and watched her face as he touched her.
“I want to feel you come for me. I need it more than air.” She moved in rhythm with his hand. “I’m hard for you again, always for you, Amelia. I can’t wait to bury my cock inside you. Until then, I’m going to eat you constantly. Every time I make you come, I’ll fuck you with my tongue so I taste all of you.”
“Yes, yes! Leo!” She arched into his palm, rode the waves of pleasure, and collapsed against his chest. “I miss you. I miss the way you touch me.”
Leo pulled his hand from her panties and sucked her flavor from his fingers. “You taste delicious.” He dropped his head back. “I loved you to distraction as a teenager and it boggles my mind how much more I love you today. You’d think such love would weaken me but it makes me feel so strong.”
He kissed her hair and strands clung to his morning stubble.
“If I don’t take my hands off you, I’m not letting you out of this apartment. It’s taking everything I have not to throw you over my shoulder and carry you to bed.” He smiled at the contented expression on her face. “You look relaxed. The car should be waiting downstairs. Hurry back.”
Taking a deep breath, she said, “Pack a bag for each of us. We’re heading to Springfield when I get back.”
He raised his brows. “We’re going to see our parents?” She nodded and he released a deep sigh.
“Don’t look so thrilled. They haven’t seen Alex in almost two weeks. Do you know how much a baby his age changes in two weeks?” She went up on tip-toe and kissed him hard. “I won’t be long. I’m going to freshen up first.”
Leo watched her leave with longing a few minutes later. There were days his protective instincts rode him hard and he could barely handle her being more than arms’ length from him. They’d been through so much.
Fear of losing her or Alex was his constant companion.
He checked on his sleeping son and went to shower and dress. Afterward, he pulled their bags from the hall closet and started packing. Leo liked packing for Amelia and she liked knowing that anything she took out of the suitcase was something he’d chosen.
When his son woke from his morning nap, Leo brought him into the bedroom. He worked with one hand and held Alex with the other. The entire time, he talked to him.
He felt like they understood one another already. Serious eyes peered at him as he spoke and Leo grinned.
Alex released a small grunt followed by a familiar odor.
Wrinkling his nose, Leo murmured, “In the meantime, it seems someone has been only pretending to listen to me while concentrating on an important diaper development. May I simply say eww, little man?”
After changing and dressing him, Leo finished getting everything together and called the valet to take down their luggage. Alex’s diaper bag sat on the foyer table.
Two hours later, Amelia walked into the apartment with a couple of bags and food for him from his favorite deli. She looked delicious and windswept.
“You look like you’ve been getting into trouble, Amelia. You have quite the smug expression on your face.”
Allowing him a small smile, she told him, “I plead the fifth. Tell me we’re ready. I want to get there by dinner.” She set down the bags from stores he didn’t recognize and put her hands on her hips.
“Everything is downstairs…except the baby, of course.” Tilting his head, he asked, “In a rush?”
“Leo, you have no idea. Don’t touch these bags. They’re surprises and you know how much I love surprising you.”
She reached down into the brightly patterned pack-n-play sitting in the middle of their stylish living room and came out with a cooing Alex.
“Quick lunch for my darling and then we’re out of here.”
Leo watched as she settled in a comfortable chair by the window and breastfed their son. He busied himself checking the house and calling downstairs to remind the manager they’d be away for the weekend, to please keep an eye on the place.
When Alex was done, Amelia made quick work of burping him. Glancing up, she whispered, “Hustle your fine ass to the car. Uh uh...you take Alex. I’ll get the bags, sneaky.”
He laughed at being busted. Downstairs, Baylor relieved her of the packages while Leo buckled Alex into his car seat.