by K. C. Crowne
I squeezed her hand, cutting her off.
“Don’t say it – that wasn’t even close to happening. She got stuck, had a minor reaction, and we took care of it in the best way possible. We did the right thing.”
She nodded. “But what about Ryan and Carly? We have to tell them.”
“Of course, we do. We’re going to tell them the truth and we’re going to do it as soon as possible.”
“What do you think they’ll say? I mean, I know Ryan and he’s a really reasonable guy, and Carly’s the same way.”
“Hard to predict,” I said. “But I’m going to guess they’ll be surprised, then relieved.”
“And then mad at us.”
“I doubt it. What, do you think they’re going to be mad because you didn’t fight off a swarm of bees? Like punching them one at a time in their little bee faces?” I followed this up by jabbing my fist into the air in short jabs, one eye squinted as if I were actually punching bees.
That got a laugh out of her.
“But seriously, no one’s to blame for this. And if I hear another word of blame to yourself over what happened, then, well…you’re not going to get any of my nachos. Hell, you probably won’t anyway – I don’t mess around when it comes to nachos.”
She smiled again. We reached the house not too much later. And when we were parked, I lifted her hand to my lips and gave it a quick kiss before placing my finger under her chin and tilting it up toward me.
“It’s all good. The girls are safe and sound, and we did all the right things. You’re a natural at this, you know?”
“At what?”
“This mom stuff. Everyone at the hospital just assumed you were the twins’ mom.”
She chuckled as she undid her seatbelt and opened the door. “That’s because I’m the woman who was with them.”
“No, it’s because you’re obviously crazy about those girls and there’s no mistaking the love you have for them.”
She smiled again before hopping out of the car. We unlatched the car seats, Grace taking Rose and I taking Lily. The girls were still sleeping, and when we brought them into the kitchen and set the car seats down on the long stretch of the kitchen bar, it was obvious the girls were ready to be put down for a few hours.
Grace looked beautiful. Even crying and dealing with a scary-as-hell situation, she had a beauty that I couldn’t ignore.
So, I didn’t.
“I think I need some coffee or something,” she said. “You want—”
I didn’t give her a chance to finish. I closed the distance between us, putting my hands onto her hips and bringing my mouth to hers. Her eyes flashed with surprise, but she quickly fell into the kiss, her arms wrapping around me.
The kiss went on for several wonderful moments. But when she took her lips away, something obviously on her mind, I worried I’d made a huge mistake.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I think we ought to get the girls put down before we get too carried away. But let’s see what happens after, huh?”
“Yeah – let’s.”
We brought the girls up to the nursery, carefully and quietly taking them out of their car seats and putting them down in their cribs. Then we slowly stepped out, turning on the baby monitors as we left and shutting the door slowly so not to wake them.
And once the door was shut there was no keeping us apart.
Grace and I flew to each other like magnets, wrapping our arms around one another’s bodies, our lips locked together. I opened my mouth, and she did the same, our tongues intertwining and her lovely taste exploding my senses.
We kissed in the hallway as if we couldn’t wait to get one another into a bedroom. I pushed her up against the wall, nearly knocking a framed picture off. Grace opened her eyes in shock, then laughed at what she’d almost done.
“What do you say we get to a bedroom?” I asked. “Before we single-handedly destroy the place.”
“Good call,” she replied with a sensual smile.
I reached under the small of her back and scooped Grace off the ground, a shriek of surprise sounding as I started down the hall to the nearest guest bedroom. She laughed as I carried her, Grace’s willowy arms draped over my shoulders.
Once we were in the bedroom, which was one of the smaller guest rooms, the space cozy and looking out onto the back sweep of the property, I set her down onto the bed and moved over top of her.
She gently licked her lips, her big eyes wide in expectation, her hair splayed out all around her. Gracie was underneath me, and it was as wonderfully strange then as it had been the first time.
I kissed her. She returned the kiss, the two of us taking one another out of our clothes. I pulled off the simple gray blouse she had on, exposing her white, lacy bra. She slipped me out of my white T-shirt, and then my jeans. Once I was down to nothing but my boxer briefs, I lowered my body, pressing my hardness against her. Grace moaned, squirming her hips in anticipation of what I was going to give her.
After quickly taking her bra off, her gorgeous, round tits spilling out, I went to work on her pants. I was so damn eager that, as much as I loved the idea of Grace in her panties and nothing else, I took them off along with her jeans.
Then she was naked, bare underneath me. I devoured the sight of all the details of her body, from her small, pink nipples to the thatch of neatly trimmed hair above her womanhood. I placed my lips on hers and kissed her deeply. But I only let them linger for a moment before venturing down, kissing along the curve of her neck, then down to her collarbone, then to her breasts, belly, and hips.
Soon I was between her creamy, pale thighs, her pussy glistening with arousal. I placed my fingers on her lips and spread her open, unable to resist for a moment before teasing her clit with quick darts from my tongue. Grace moaned, her hips rocking to one side as I licked her. I glanced up to see her running her hands over her breasts and then through her hair, her mouth pursing into a hard line before letting a sigh explode from it.
I slipped a pair of fingers inside of her, Grace’s tight walls gripping them firmly. I curled my fingers, hitting her G-spot as I made slow, lazy circles around her clit. Her taste was like nothing else – sweet as honey and twice as delicious.
Her moans grew faster and faster until her hips shot up, her back arching, a long, pleasured sigh releasing. I smiled, pleased as hell to have made her come so quickly. When the orgasm faded, I moved over her again, grabbing her hips and flipping her body so fast that she let out a laugh of surprise.
“What’re you doing, doctor?” she asked, glancing back with a smile on her face.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I said with a grin. “I’m going to make you come again.”
“As cocky as ever,” she said, shaking her head, sweat on her brow.
“That’s why you’ve always been into me, isn’t it?” I said, loving having her right where I wanted her, my hands moving slowly over the trim form of her upper back. “Admit it.”
“I admit it,” she said. “You’re a bit of a prick. But just enough.”
I grinned, leaning down, and kissing the soft smattering of freckles on her shoulder before rising and taking hold of my cock, dragging it slowly over the line of her pussy before pushing my head inside. She moaned, letting her head fall forward onto the pillows. I pulled back and pushed into her, my cock vanishing and the ripe flesh of her rear rippling against my hips.
Soon I was bucking into her like mad, the sounds of skin on skin blending with my grunts on her moans. I placed one hand on her shoulder, the other on the curve of her hip as I devoured the sight of her on all fours in front of me.
It didn’t take long before I had her on the brink of another orgasm. When I knew she was close, I grabbed her hips and drove into her hard, pushing as deeply as my many inches would allow.
As she came on my cock, her walls tightening and her back arching, it took all the restraint I had not to let loose the orgasm I desperately wanted to release inside of her
. Grace hit her peak and then it descended, her shoulders bowing as she took in one breath after another.
Then, my cock still inside of her, she turned and gave me a smile.
“I hope you’re not done yet.”
“Not even close.”
Chapter 23
GRACE
The second orgasm came and went, and all I wanted was more, more, more. But as I lay on the bed, my face buried in the pillow as I took in one breath after another, I decided I wasn’t content to simply lay there and let Hayden do all the work.
I gave myself a second to catch my breath – not to mention savor the way he dragged his fingers over my back. When I was ready, I turned around, gently shoving him off me, surprise flashing in his eyes.
“Someone’s eager,” he said.
“Get on your back, smart guy.”
He replied with a playful, mock salute before rolling onto his side then onto his back. Once he was on the bed before me, I spread my legs and straddled him, my eyes tracking up and down his shredded physique. It was almost painful how good-looking he was.
I reached down and took hold of his cock, licking my lips as I wrapped my fingers around his pulsing thickness. Once I had him in hand, I positioned his head right at my entrance, slowly lowering myself onto him.
The sensation of his hard, long cock driving up into me…it was beyond anything else. I squirmed on the way down, trying to accommodate him with my body. Once he was inside, buried to the hilt, I leaned forward and rested my hands on his sculpted chest, my breasts hanging down in his face.
Hayden lifted me up, his hardness dragging against my stretched-out walls. I gasped at the sensation of him moving inside of me.
I raised up and dropped down, more slowly this time. My eyes closed, I lifted and fell, lifted and fell, until I was in a steady rhythm. He took hold of my hips and pulled me forward, showing me without words how to grind on top of him.
And that took my pleasure to the next level. I bucked my hips back and forth, the intensity building by the moment until I was on the verge of another orgasm. When I was close, I opened my eyes and gazed down at him, his own eyes smoldering with intensity.
“I’m going to come with you,” he growled. “Are you ready?”
I wanted to make a comment about how confident he was that he’d brought me to another orgasm. But the feeling inside of me was so much that I couldn’t even try to speak. Instead, I nodded and gave myself permission to come.
The warm rush coursed through me, my hips shaking as I rocked back and forth. Hayden let out a hard grunt, his cock throbbing inside of me as he drained himself. When we were done, I fell forward and rested my head on his chest, his arms wrapped around me.
And it all felt so damn good that I didn’t know what to do.
Hayden and I spent the rest of the evening tidying up the house, taking care of all the traces we’d left behind. When we were done, we ordered Mexican, Hayden letting me put on some crappy house-flipping reality TV show, one of my guilty pleasures, as we ate nachos and tacos.
It was fun. The sex between us was amazing, and I had fun with him like I hadn’t with any other man.
But in the back of my mind during the evening I knew it was the end of something. I couldn’t bear to bring up what was going on between us, and neither could he.
So, we simply didn’t talk about it. And when we went to bed, separate beds, the matter of what had happened that week was left undiscussed.
Still, the last thoughts on my mind as I drifted off to sleep were of him.
When I woke the next morning, I checked the nanny cam to see that the beds were empty. I sprang up and threw on some clothes, the near tragedy of the day before making me not want to take any chances.
I hurried down to the kitchen to see that Hayden was already up, the girls in their highchairs and breakfast in front of them.
Hayden was dressed in athletic shorts and a sleeveless shirt, his outfit showing off enough of his body to replace the fear running through me with arousal.
But that was all done. I had no idea what was going to happen between me and Hayden; I just knew whatever had started this last week was now over.
He glanced over his shoulder as he fed the girls, a smile on his face.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning.”
He nodded to the French press. “I got some coffee going. Help yourself, and the water should still be hot if you want to make some more.”
I didn’t need him to talk me into coffee. I’d slept quite deeply the night before, and while I felt refreshed, I also felt a bit like I’d come out of a coma.
“You should’ve woken me up to help with the girls,” I said as I poured myself a mug from the French press.
“Nah. You looked like you needed the rest after yesterday.”
I wasn’t sure if he was referring to the bee incident or the sex. But either way he was right.
He turned and leaned against the kitchen bar, his arms crossed over his chest.
“So, Ryan and Carly called this morning.”
My eyes widened. “Are you serious? Did you tell them about the…”?
He shook his head. “I figured you’d want to be a part of that conversation. If they were going to be gone another week, I would’ve gone ahead and told them. But since their flight arrives at two…”
“Wait, what? I thought they were getting in later tonight?”
“Turns out the airline called them and offered a voucher for a couple of free flights if they could jump on an earlier one. And since they were eager to see the girls, they went ahead and did it.”
I sighed.
“You OK?” he asked.
“Yeah. I mean, kind of. I guess part of me was hoping that I’d have more of the day to mentally get myself ready for the conversation about what happened.”
He stepped over and squeezed my arm. “It’ll be fine. I checked out Rose and she was good. And I even got an appointment lined up with an exterminator to come this afternoon and take care of the bees.”
Hayden squeezed my arm one more time, and part of me hoped that he’d bring up the other matter.
But he didn’t. And I didn’t have it in me to do it.
“Anyway, I was going to take a quick run on the treadmill and shower. Mind looking after the girls for forty-five or so?”
“Sure.”
“Awesome. They’re fed and changed and should be fine until then. But I’ll just be in the gym so text me if anything comes up.”
He smiled before turning to muss the girls’ hair one after another, then left.
And as he left, my hope of what had happened between us being resolved left with him.
I had no idea what to do.
Chapter 24
HAYDEN
I didn’t want to push my luck. That’s why I hadn’t said a word to Grace about last night.
I’d risen bright and early with the sun that morning, spending the hours before Grace got up thinking about what had happened between us.
I wasn’t worried about the bee thing. I knew Ryan well enough to understand that he was reasonable about these matters. He’d be shocked, and so would Carly. But once they saw that Rose was fine, I was sure it would all go down smoothly.
But Grace…she was another matter altogether. What would’ve happened if I’d brought up us sleeping together again? Like before, it’d just sort of…happened. I’d wanted her and she’d wanted me, and we did what people do when they feel like that for one another.
In a matter of hours, however, Ryan and Carly would be back. We would tell them about the hospital visit, they’d tell us all about their trip, and then Grace and I would go our separate ways. It pained me like crazy to think about it like that, but what else was there to do?
I worked out my frustrations on the treadmill, hitting the shower after. When I was done, I hurried back downstairs to make sure all was good with the girls. I took Rose up with me to the bedroom, putting her on the desk chair as
I packed my clothes and tidied up the room. She had a hard time keeping seated, but I managed to hold her attention.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Grace. What had happened between us? And more importantly, what did I want?
That was one of the scariest questions of all.
“Do you know how weird this is for me?” I asked Rose as I folded my T-shirts. “I always know what I want. Right?”
Rose flailed her chubby little arms in response, watching me with a big smile on her face.
“Right!” she exclaimed.
“And now, with Grace…I have no idea what I want. I don’t even know what to do with that.”
“Auntie nice,” she said, her tone confident, as if she were saying the final word on the situation.
“She is nice, alright. About as nice as they come. And that makes it even harder in some ways, you know?”
Time passed, and before too long a text from Ryan buzzed my phone – they were on their way back.
Rose in my arms, I hurried downstairs to the kitchen, where Grace was tidying up and preparing some sandwiches and snacks for everyone.
“We ready?” I asked, setting Rose down into her usual seat.
“The house? Yes. But me? I don’t know how to answer that one.”
“Are you still worried about the bee thing?” I asked. “It’s going to be fine.”
“But how do we even bring it up?” she leaned against the counter and shook her head. “Because they need to know. Really, we probably should’ve already told them. But at the same time, we don’t want to spring it on them the second they walk through the door. They just got back from vacation and the last thing they probably want is to hear all the dirty details of Rose’s near-death experience before—”
“I’m going to stop you right there.” I held my palm up. “I know this is stressful, but don’t make it harder on yourself than it needs to be. It wasn’t a near-death anything. Rose had a mild, emphasis on mild, allergic reaction to something that no one knew she was allergic to. This is a big deal, and we need to tell Ryan and Carly as soon as is reasonable, so they are prepared going forward. But don’t beat yourself up, alright?”