by Jenika Snow
“As much as I want you, work calls, baby.” He gave me a wink. I huffed in frustration and heard him chuckle.
I went back over to the truck, opened the passenger-side door, and grabbed the basket of food that I had sitting on the floor. Aggie stirred then, her little arms rising up as she stretched.
“Momma,” she said softly and started rubbing her tired eyes.
I got her out of the car seat and cradled her to me as I maneuvered with her in my arms and the basket hanging in my hand. I walked back over to where Koehn was working, set Aggie down, and laid everything out on the picnic table he’d handmade for us. Then I sat down next to Aggie and smiled.
This was my home, my life and future. I had my little girl next to me, our strong son growing in my belly, and a man who loved me more than life itself.
I was happy, truly happy.
But most of all I was lucky.
Epilogue Two
Koehn
Two years later
I couldn’t help but stare at Fiona as she took care of her children, played with them in the playground I’d constructed just this past year. Even all these years later she made my heart beat faster, harder. She made my stomach twist up, and had all my possessive instincts rising up like a beast inside of me. I needed to protect her always, keep her safe. I needed to do that for my family. And I had no issues with laying anyone flat if they threatened what was mine.
And they were.
Fiona was mine.
Our children were mine.
Forever.
I brought the beer to my mouth and took a long drink as I watched her with our children. I grinned as she pushed our son a little bit harder on the swing. He giggled and asked to go higher. Our daughter went down the slide, laughing and yelling out for me to watch her do it over and over again.
And then I stared at Fiona. Her belly was big with our third child …my child. I couldn’t help but feel smug and proud over the fact I’d gotten her knocked up again. Hell, if I could have her pregnant every year I would, simply because she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, not just on the regular, but especially when she carried my children.
Shit, the very knowledge I got her pregnant again made me so damn happy.
I was one lucky bastard, and I knew this was exactly where I was supposed to be, who I was supposed to be with. Fiona was my soul mate. She made my heart beat, the reason it pumped day in and day out. She and my children were the reason I breathed every day. Without them in my life I was nothing, a shell of a man who had no purpose.
And so I’d do whatever it took to take care of them, to make them happy. I’d die for them, and kill for them. It was because of Fiona and our children that I was a man.
A real man.
The End
BABY MAKER (A Real Man, 17)
By Jenika Snow
www.JenikaSnow.com
[email protected]
Copyright © April 2018 by Jenika Snow
First E-book Publication: April 2018
Photographer: Wander Aguiar
Cover model: Kaz Van Der Waard
Photo provided by: Wander Book Club
Editor: Kasi Alexander
Proofreader: Elaine York, Allusion Graphics
Proofreader: Paige Smith
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
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Tex
There was only one woman I wanted, and I’d been secretly lusting after her for years.
My sister’s friend.
That first time I saw Calissa was like a right hook to the face, taking me down until there was nothing left. She was my world.
She’s too young for me, too innocent, but that won’t stop me from making her mine. There’s no stopping it, no controlling this possessive, primal need to claim her.
I’d have Calissa no matter what, as my woman, my wife ... with my baby inside of her.
Calissa
It was a forbidden desire to want your best friend’s older brother, but it was my reality. Tex was big and strong and a successful owner of a security company. He was definitely all man.
I’d thought he’d never see me as anything more than his sister’s friend. How wrong I was.
No more longing gazes or fantasies that we were together.
He knew what he wanted out of life and apparently that was me ... pregnant with his child.
1
Tex
She was the only one who made my heart race, who made me want more out of life. She was the one I breathed for, whom I would fight to the death for. Calissa was the one I’d been in love with for so long I didn’t know anything else aside from that.
And she didn’t even know any of this.
I tipped my beer back as I stared at her. My dick was hard, and every possessive bone in my body wanted to go up to her, toss her over my shoulder, and take her back to my room. It wasn’t just sex I wanted, though. I wanted Calissa as only mine.
I wanted my baby inside of her, wanted to watch her grow big because she was pregnant … because of me.
And some guy was currently talking to her, no doubt trying to get in her pants, make her his.
This low, almost primal and animalistic growl left me at that very thought. I finished off my beer and lifted it for the waitress to come and take.
The sports bar where Calissa worked was busy for this time of night and day of the week. I didn’t get seated in her section and should have demanded it, but I’d accepted where they placed me because at least I got a good view of her, could watch her, protect her, if need be.
The tension slowly eased from me when she waved off the guy speaking to her. He walked away and I loosened my grip on the edge of the table, not realizing I’d been holding it so tightly.
Being twelve years older than Calissa, I always stayed away from her, knowing it was for the best. But something in me changed, this need to be a father, to have Calissa as the mother of my children, rode me hard. It took control of me.
Maybe it was the fact I was in my thirties now? Maybe it was the fact my biological clock was ticking. Or maybe I was just so in love with Calissa, so obsessed with her that I wanted to make her mine by putting my baby inside of her?
She leaned against the bar, presumably waiting for an order of drinks. I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her, seeing how her shorts molded to her ass. They were too short, fucking Daisy Dukes. I didn’t like that. The possessive side of me wanted to drape a blanket over her, keep her locked away so no other guy could see what she looked like. It was irrational, but was my reality. I have been that way for years.
I’d known Calissa since she was a teenager, and hung out with my little sister, Megs, both of them getting into trouble constantly. But I can’t deny that Megs was a bad influence, probably pressuring Calissa into doing half the shit they did. It wasn’t until Calissa’s eighteenth birthday, when the girls had celebrated it together, that I saw Calissa as a woman.
I don’t know why that one night was the pivotal moment, making me see her as not just my sister’s best friend but as mine. Now, a year later, I was done waiting, done trying to talk myself out of going after her. What was the point when she was all I thought about, the only person I wanted?
Hell, I hadn’t even been with a woman since well before Calissa came into my life, since before she moved to town and became best friends with Megs.
At first, my celibacy was for personal reasons, feelings of not
wanting to give myself over just for the sexual gratification of a few hours. I focused on school, then on work, on building my business, Brasher Security, and making it the best it could be, not just in town, but statewide. But then that celibacy turned into a promise to myself, one to Calissa.
I stayed celibate because I wanted her, only her. Hell, no other woman did it for me. There was no thinking about other females, looking at other women. Shit, I barely even spoke to other women anymore, not unless it was necessary. The only one I wanted was the one I probably didn’t even deserve. But that wouldn’t stop me from going after her, from claiming her. That wouldn’t stop me from making her my woman, my wife, the mother of my children.
Call it barbaric, primal or even cocky. I didn’t give a shit what it was called. It was the truth. My truth.
I followed her with my gaze, watched as she grabbed the bottles off the bar and gave them to another table behind her. Then she went into the back room, disappearing from my sight. I stared at the man who was speaking with her, a smug grin on his face as he said something to one of the guys he was with. I found myself moving over to the bar where he was at, not realizing I was even doing it until I stood just a foot from him.
“Dude, how much you wanna bet I can get in her pants tonight?” The arrogant little bastard said to one of his friends. I clenched my jaw, my teeth clashing together, my hands curling into tight fists at my side. “How much do you want to bet she’ll put out when I offer to buy her a drink and flash her my Rolex?” He started laughing obnoxiously. “Yeah, bet she’s easy when she sees money.”
I found myself turning and facing him, drilling holes into his head with my gaze, imagining my fist doing damage to his pretty-boy face. He looked out of place at the bar, with his button-up shirt tucked into his khakis, and his brown leather belt cinching it all together. His blond hair was swept to the side, his bastard appearance letting me know he probably pulled this on plenty of other females.
Not now, not today, and most certainly not with my woman.
The asshole glanced over and looked at me, his eyes narrowing, his gaze taking me in. It was clear he could see I was a threat by the way he straightened and glanced away, his throat working when he swallowed. But I still kept my focus on him, my annoyance over what he said about Calissa pissing me off.
He looked at me again and his friends did the same. If he were smart he wouldn’t say anything, just walk away. But I could tell he wanted to be the big man in front of his buddies. I felt my muscles tighten in anticipation. Good, I wanted this.
“You got something on your mind, friend?” He had balls of steel where his friends were concerned, maybe thinking if it came down to it they’d jump in and help. Hell, I’d take all three of them.
“Yeah, matter of fact, I do.” I turned so I was facing him fully, one of my forearms braced on the smooth countertop at the bar. “And I’m not your fucking friend. Let’s clear that up right now.” His eyes widened for a moment, but when he glanced at his buddies he tried to act like he wasn’t about to piss his pants. He had nothing on me, not when I was six foot three and packing two-hundred-and-fifty pounds of muscle. He could try and act like he could take me, but he and I both knew I’d lay his ass flat on the ground.
“I think you got the wrong guy,” he said, trying to backpedal.
“I heard what you were saying.” My blood started to pump harder and faster through my veins as I recalled exactly what he’d said. I was growing even more enraged thinking about it.
“What I said?” He looked genuinely confused.
I gritted my teeth. “Talking obscene shit to the women at the bar. You think that’s acceptable behavior? You think you won’t get your ass beat for saying shitty things like that?” I was itching for a fight now, thinking about the shit he’d said about Calissa, what he’d probably said to her face. Hell, I felt my hands curl into fists at my side, as if they had a mind of their own.
I moved a step closer to him and his friends moved one back. Good, at least they were smart.
“Tex?” The sound of Calissa’s voice behind me had me stilling, but I kept my focus on the prick. “What’s going on?” She sounded concerned, so I forced myself to relax and turn to face her. She looked up at me with wide eyes, her gaze bouncing between me and the little preppy asshole behind me. “You guys should probably go,” she ended up saying, but kept her focus on me.
I heard them moving behind me, and only when the sound of the front doors opening and closing resonated did I actually relax enough to look like I wasn’t about to kill someone.
“What the hell was that?” she asked, not sounding pissed, but still concerned. “You know, if you start shit in here Bo will kick you out and ban you from coming back.” Bo, her fuckwad of a boss. I’d gone to school with the bastard, kicked his ass for being a womanizer, and knew he was nothing but a slimy fucker who watered down his liquor.
“I’m here to make sure you’re okay.”
She rolled her eyes at me, fucking rolled her eyes as if I wasn’t on the verge of going outside and slamming my fist into that asshole’s face. I wanted to grab her, haul her over my knee, and spank her perfect little ass.
“Fuck him, fuck this bar, and especially fuck that asshole who thought he could disrespect you.” Yeah, I was going all primal right now, but when it came to Calissa, there was nothing else that mattered.
2
Calissa
I pulled Tex toward the back room, annoyed, but also another emotion mixing with that. I didn’t want to think too hard on it, didn’t want to let my own feelings for him cloud my judgment. He had made a scene, and was about to get into a fight with some customers. I couldn’t let that slide, not just because it was bad business, but because I loved Tex, and I didn’t want to see him get in trouble.
Once we were in the back room and I shut the door I placed my hands on my hips, glaring at him. He walked over to the shelving that had the extra cups, cutlery, and napkins housed on it. His back was to me, his white shirt stretched across his muscular body.
I could tell he was tense by the way his muscles were flexing underneath the material. He was upset, no doubt from the altercation that almost happened, but maybe because I’d stopped him, too?
“What the hell was that about?” I was trying to sound fierce right now, but I knew it came out flat. I was aroused even though I shouldn’t be. He didn’t turn around and didn’t answer me. “Tex, what in the hell were you thinking out there? Do you want to give Bo ammunition to call the cops? Do you want him to have a reason to be an even bigger prick to you?”
Tex finally turned around then, his expression guarded.
For long moments he didn’t say anything, just stared at me, his gaze boring into mine. I had my hands on my hips still, my eyebrow lifted as I waited for him to respond. Whenever I was in the same room with him he made me feel unhinged, but right now I was trying to keep it together, trying to seem like I had my shit in order.
I was trying to make it seem like he didn’t affect me in every possible way.
I’d known Tex for years, and the moment I saw him all those years ago, my friend’s older brother, looking rough around the edges, strong and powerful, big and muscular, something in me had come alive. But I knew I was too young for him, too inexperienced. He was settled in his life, owned a security business, was successful. And although I didn’t see him in any relationships, didn’t even hear about him being with anyone through the rumor mill, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that he didn’t have companionship.
A man who looked like that surely wasn’t alone.
But as time moved on it seemed like that was exactly what was going on. He focused on work instead of women, and part of me was thrilled. It didn’t matter if I never had a chance with him. The fact that he wasn’t with anyone else pleased me.
“I don’t give a fuck what Bo does or says to me. He’s a little shit who needs his ass kicked ... again.”
I didn’t even touch on that subject, knowi
ng that Tex and Bo did have a history together back in the day.
“Did you not hear what that little asshole was saying about you?”
I let my hands fall from my hips until they were at my sides. I exhaled and closed my eyes briefly. When I opened them again a little gasp left me at the fact Tex was even closer now, just a few feet from me. “Yeah, I heard what he said and remember every word of what he told me.” The preppy asshole had said some foul, sexual things to me, but I was used to that working at the bar.
Drunk guys tended to have loose lips.
“So, then, you know why I couldn’t let him talk to you like that. I couldn’t let him talk about you like that.” He was clenching his teeth together, a muscle working under his jaw.
“What do you mean you couldn’t let him talk to me like that?” I shook my head slightly, knowing I really shouldn’t be as confused as I was. Tex was fiercely protective of those he called friends. And because I was his sister’s close friend I fell under that umbrella. He always looked out for us, but he’d never gone so far as to start an altercation like this, especially where I worked.
He slowly shook his head. “I was here, I heard, and there is no way I was going to sit back and let that prick talk about you like that.” He shook his head again. “The shit he was saying would have earned him a fucking broken nose.”
I couldn’t help the pleasure that slammed into me at hearing him say that. And as much as I wanted him to be protective of me because he wanted me as his and his alone, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that this wasn’t just about him looking out for me because of who I was. I stared him in the eyes. “Tex, I’m fine. I can handle myself. You don’t have to fight my battles for me, even if the ones I’m fighting are sleazy assholes. Bo has security here.”