The Difference

by Kaylee Ryan

  “What’s going on in that head of yours?” she asks.

  “Just thinking about our daughter. I’m gonna need to get a gun,” I admit.

  She chuckles. “Why?”

  “Because with a little girl, I have to worry about a million little dicks trying to get into her pants.”

  “Why do they have to be little?” She smirks.

  “Addyson,” I say, warning her.

  She throws her head back and laughs, the sound filling the cab of my truck. “What if it’s a boy?”

  “Then I only have to worry about one dick. One big dick, you know since he’s taking after his dad and all.”

  She just shakes her head and grins. “Why didn’t you tell me you were nervous?”

  “I’m not, not really. I was just thinking about if we have a little girl and how I’ll handle a man coming into her life and taking her away from me.”

  “You’ll have to let her make her own choices. As long as he treats her right, that’s all we can ask for.”

  “I guess. You think that’s how your dad looks at it?”

  “Absolutely. You have nothing to worry about. They’ll worry because of my past, but when they see us together, they’ll know.”

  “Yeah? And how’s that?”

  “Because none of them ever looked at me the way that you do.”

  “Like I need you next to me to breathe?” It’s not an exaggeration. When I’m not with her, I want to be, and I’m constantly worried about her, about the baby. Is she feeling okay? Is she over doing it? She’s my entire world.

  “Something like that.” She agrees with a grin. “Take a left up here. It’s the second driveway on the right.”

  “This the house you grew up in?” I ask when we pull in.

  “Yes. Just me and my parents. I always wanted siblings. Mom and Dad said I was enough for them.”

  “We’re having more, right? Not just this one?” She was vague the last time we discussed this.

  “How many more?” she asks me.

  “At least four in total.”

  “We’ll be out of bedrooms.” I love that she’s embraced us living together. I thought for sure that I would have a fight on my hands.

  “I’m an architect. We can add on.”

  “Let’s start with this one, and maybe one more and see how it goes.”

  “Deal.” I would be happy with one, but I’ll take as many as she’ll give me. “So we don’t have Nolan here to help us out,” I say with a chuckle. My nephew is one of a kind.

  “No, we don’t. They’re great. It’s going to be fine.”

  “Regardless, we’re happening.”

  “Yes.” She’s quick to agree. I’m not nervous for me, but for her. I don’t need their permission to love Addy and our baby, but I know it will mean a lot to her. That’s why I’m nervous. We’ve talked about our families, and from what I’ve heard, they’re great, but you never know how people are going to react. Especially since she’s their only child.

  “Stay put,” I tell her, turning off the engine. Surprisingly, she listens. I lean in and kiss the corner of her mouth. “Ready, baby?”

  “Yes.”

  Lifting her from the truck a moment later, I set her on her feet. “Luke, I can manage,” she tells me, and it’s not the first time.

  “Precious cargo.” I wink. Her big brown eyes sparkle with happiness.

  “Come on, crazy man.” She laces her fingers through mine, and we head to the front door. She doesn’t knock. Instead, she turns the handle and walks on in. “Mom, Dad, where are you?” she calls.

  “In the kitchen, Addy,” a masculine voice responds.

  She leads us down the hall to a large kitchen. “Hey.” She releases my hand and hugs her mom and then her dad. “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Lucas. My boyfriend. Luke, this is my dad, Arthur, and my mom, Barbara.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” I hold my hand out for her father, giving his hand a firm shake, and then to her mom, who much like my own, swats it away and pulls me into a hug.

  “It’s so nice to finally meet you. Sit.” She points to the large dining table off to the side of the kitchen. “I hope you’re hungry. I made chicken pot pie, and we have salad.”

  “That sounds delicious.” It smells delicious too.

  “We have a few minutes,” her mom says.

  “That’s good because I have some news,” Addyson says. I pull her chair out for her and drop a kiss to the top of her head before taking the one next to her. Her hand finds mine underneath the table, and I give it a gentle squeeze in silent support. “Luke and I have decided to move in together.”

  “You’re a big girl, Addyson,” her father says. His eyes are soft as he looks at her. “As long as this is what you want, we support you.”

  She turns to look at me. “He’s what I want.”

  I don’t give a shit whose kitchen we’re in. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and lean in, kissing the corner of her mouth. She smiles up at me, and I swear my fucking heart is smiling with how much I love this woman.

  “We have more news. We’re having a baby.”

  Her mother stands and rushes to us, pulling us into a hug. “Congratulations.”

  “Addyson,” her dad says. His eyes are locked on hers. He opens his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.

  “When I met Addy, she told me about all the hell she’d been through. The losers who used her. I can assure you, I’m not those men. I love your daughter, and our baby very much.”

  He nods. “Addyson tells me you’re an architect.”

  “Yes, sir. I designed our home,” I tell him. “We’d love to have you over so you can see it. See where we’re going to be raising our family.” My eyes stray back to Addyson.

  He nods. “Are you happy, Addy?”

  “Yes.” Her voice is loud and clear. No hesitation.

  “That’s all I can ask for. You tell us when and we’ll be there.” He makes his way toward us and pulls her into a hug.

  She pulls out her phone. “I’ll text you both our new address so you have it.”

  “You’re welcome anytime,” I add.

  “How are you feeling?” her mom asks.

  “Great. I can’t even tell I’m pregnant.”

  “How far along are you?”

  “Four weeks and four days,” I say, leaning over and placing my hand on her still flat belly.

  “I didn’t realize this would be a celebration dinner.”

  “Mom, it’s not a big deal.”

  “Addyson, you’re making us grandparents, this is a very big deal,” her dad chimes in.

  “Yeah,” she agrees. She looks over at me, and I see so much in her eyes. Love is present and shining brightly, as bright as the future we have ahead of us.

  I have the ring that I bought today when I left work early. I had planned on showing it to her father, and asking his permission to marry her, but fuck it.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Stafford, I know this is unusual, and not at all how I planned it. However, it feels right.” Scooting back from the table, I turn her chair to face me and drop to one knee. “Addyson Grace Stafford, you are the love of my life. The moment I laid eyes on you I knew that you were special. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know the way you would complete me, but you have in so many ways.” I reach up and touch her still flat belly. “There is just one missing piece to our puzzle.” I reach into my pocket and pull out the ring box. I don’t know if her parents are pissed, and if I could see past their daughter, the beautiful woman beside me, I might chance a look. I don’t. All I see is her.

  “I love you, Addy. Not because you’re having my baby. Not because it’s by society’s standards the right thing to do. I love you because of your smile. Those big brown eyes that show me the depth of your love every time you look at me. I love your heart and the way you give it so freely. I love our late-night talks. I love coming home to you, love waking up with you. I love the life we have planned, and you would make me th
e luckiest man on this earth if you would agree to be my wife. Addyson, will you marry me?”

  She’s nodding before I even finish asking. Tears spill over her cheeks.

  “Words, Addyson,” her mom says.

  “Yes.” She smiles, leaning in for a kiss.

  I move back to my seat and pull her into my lap. My arms wrap around her waist, and I bury my face in her neck. Her dad clears his throat. I look up to find his eyes on us. “I’m sorry, sir. I know I should have asked for your permission, but I couldn’t wait. I want nothing more than to live the rest of my life loving her. I hope you’ll both give us your blessing.”

  Her mom nods, wiping tears from her cheeks.

  “Take care of them,” he says, surprising me. His face breaks out into a grin. “I could tell it was an ‘in the moment’ situation.”

  “Yes, sir. I brought the ring hoping to show you to get some time with you alone, but when it comes to your daughter, I’m not very patient.”

  “Who does that remind you of?” her mom asks him.

  “Us, oh, thirty or so years ago.”

  “Exactly. Now, let’s eat, and we can get to know our future son-in-law.” Her mom stands and I offer to help, but she waves me off.

  “I’ll go.” Addyson kisses my cheek, then stands from her seat on my lap, and follows after her mom.

  “I’ve never seen her this happy.”

  “Good. That’s all I want for her.”

  “I believe you.” He reaches across the table and offers me his hand. “Welcome to the family, Lucas. Take care of them,” he repeats his earlier words.

  “With everything I am,” I confirm.

  Dinner is delicious, and Addy’s parents are just as nice as she described them to be. I’m not so sure I’ll be the same laidback parent if our daughter shows up with a boyfriend I’ve never met, tells me she’s pregnant, and then I watch him propose without talking to me first. I’m lucky Arthur didn’t shoot my ass.

  We stay a few more hours talking and getting to know one another. We showed them the ultrasound pictures, and they promised to stop by one night this week to see where we live, where their daughter is now living.

  Definitely lucky he didn’t shoot my ass.

  “That went well,” Addyson says after we’re home and getting ready for bed.

  “He should have shot me,” I tell her my earlier thoughts.

  “What?” She laughs.

  “If our daughter does what we did tonight, I don’t know that I’ll handle it that well.”

  “They just want to see me happy. You’ll be the same way,” she assures me.

  “What are you doing?” I ask when I see her wheel out her small suitcase. I wheeled them both into the closet last night.

  “Unpacking.”

  “Okay.” I sit up on the bed, ready to help her if she needs it. “Want me to get the other one? You shouldn’t be lifting.”

  “No, not tonight. Everything I need is in this one. And for the record, it only has a few things so it’s not heavy.”

  I watch closely as she unzips the suitcase and pulls out her cowboy boots. She gives me a goofy grin, then turns and places them on the shoe rack in her closet. Yes, I thought ahead to give my future wife her own closet space. Addy says it was genius, so I’m good to go.

  “No going back now,” I tell her.

  “Nope.” She goes back to the suitcase and unwraps something that’s in a towel. She walks to the dresser at the foot of the bed and places it on the corner.

  When she steps back, I see it’s a framed ultrasound picture. My heart flips over in my chest. This is really happening. The love of my life is here with me, living with me. We’re having a baby and she’s agreed to be my wife. A lot has happened in a very short amount of time, but I wouldn’t change anything. Not any of it.

  Unable to resist, I stand from the bed and make my way to the dresser. I trace the outline of the white frame that has Baby spelled out in block letters at the bottom. Pulling my eyes from my unborn child, I turn and see Addy place two more frames on the nightstand, by her side of the bed. The same two frames that sat beside her bed at her condo.

  “There.” She turns to face me with a smile.

  In a few long strides, I’m standing before her. Leaning in, I bury my face in her neck, wrapping my arms around her. “That’s all it takes,” I tell her.

  “What?” she asks when I pull back to look into those big brown eyes of hers.

  “To make this house a home. All it took was you.”

  “Hmmm, maybe but I have my own theory on that one.”

  “Yeah? You care to enlighten me?”

  “We’re the difference,” she says, a slow smile tilting her lips.

  I kiss her. My lips on hers. Slowly, I slide my tongue past her lips, tasting and exploring her mouth. I’ll never get enough of her.

  Never.

  “I missed you,” I say against her lips.

  She nods. “Show me.” She raises her hands in the air. My hands move to the hem of her shirt pulling it up and over her head, tossing it on the floor. I step around her and gather her hair in my hand, moving it to lay over her shoulder. My lips press to the opposite bare shoulder as I free the clasp on her bra. She slides it down her shoulders and lets it fall from her grasp.

  She turns to face me. “You’re wearing too many clothes, Luke.”

  Mimicking her, I lift my hands in the air, bending down to her level and she rids me of my shirt. She unbuttons her shorts, pulling them and her panties to her ankles and stepping out. I do the same, kicking them off, not caring where they land. “You’re breathtaking.”

  Stepping around me, she goes to the light switch by the door and kills the lights. I track her movement in the moonlight. When she reaches the bed, she pulls the covers back and climbs into bed. She rolls over facing the wall, and I climb in after her. I pull her into my arms, my cock nestled against her ass. Her soft skin under my fingertips.

  “Luke,” she whispers into the darkness of our room. “I just really need you to hold me. I need your arms around me, but I need you inside of me too. I need to feel you surround me.”

  I slide my leg between hers. My fingers find her center, and she’s ready for me just like I knew she would be. Gripping my cock, I stroke once, then twice, coating myself with her before aligning myself with her entrance and pushing inside. She arches her back and I slide in deeper. My arms circle around her, holding her to me. “Like this?”

  “Yes.”

  We’re both quiet and still. Unmoving, I let her body pulse around me, proving yet again we were made for each other. One arm under her head, she uses me as a pillow. The one that surrounds her, palms her breast, scraping the pad of my thumb over her hard nipple.

  “Luke,” she breathes.

  My hands trace over her chest down to her belly. “We made a baby, Addy.” There’s wonder in my voice. I never gave much thought to having kids, except for one day I would. Now that it’s here, now I know that this beautiful woman in my arms is carrying our baby, I want a house full. I want this house bursting at the seams with our children. Their laughter and most of all, the love.

  My hand slides further to find her clit. Slowly, my thumb traces in small circles. I’m ready, so I need her to be. Never in a million years would I say that just sliding inside of a woman could get me off, but then again, I’d never met Addy. Thinking about our life together and the life growing inside of her, the feel of her hot wet heat pulsing around me, it’s enough.

  She’s enough.

  Our bodies are so close, I can feel her breathing accelerate. “I love you,” I whisper, kissing her bare shoulder. Her hand reaches back and grips my thigh. “You ready, baby?” I whisper huskily.

  “Y-yes,” she pants.

  Pulling out then pushing back in, I cause us both to moan. My thumb continues to strum her clit as I leisurely push in and out of her. Her walls tighten around me.

  “L-Luke,” she pants.

  “Let me have it, Addy.
Let go.” My words push her over the edge. She moans a deep throaty moan and pulls me over the edge with her. We lie in the darkness catching our breath. I don’t want to move, and she doesn’t seem to want to either.

  “Goodnight, Lucas,” she says over a yawn.

  “Goodnight, beautiful,” I whisper, closing my eyes. My arms are locked around her, and my cock that’s still half-mast inside of her. Sleep claims me, and as I drift off, I’m more content than I’ve ever been in my life.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Addyson

  * * *

  “You doing okay over there?” I ask Luke.

  We’re sitting in the exam room of my OBGYN waiting for the doctor to come in. It’s my first appointment since I found out we were pregnant. Yes, we. Luke has made it a point to tell me that just because he can’t carry the baby, he’s still in this with me 100 percent. He’s that guy. The one you know when he tells you that he loves you that it’s unconditional. He’s the one who runs out at midnight if you mention something sounds good. No joke. A couple of nights ago we were watching TV in bed, and I mentioned I’d like to have some Cheez-Its when I saw a commercial. He was out of bed, dressed, and out the door before I could protest. He was back fifteen minutes later with four tiny boxes from the twenty-four-hour gas station not far from our house.

  “I’m good,” he assures me with one of his smiles. It’s one that has panties dropping everywhere. Lucky for me, it’s also the smile he reserves just for me.

  When the door opens, he sits up straighter in his chair. “Addyson,” Dr. Edwards greets me. “How are you feeling?”

  “Good, this is my fiancé, Lucas.”

  “Congratulations,” Dr. Edwards says, shaking his hand. “How’s Mom? Morning sickness? Cramping? All of which are normal,” she adds.

  “No to morning sickness. Some minimal cramping but nothing I can’t handle.”

  “Good, that’s your body making room for the little one.” She goes on to talk about what’s changing with the baby since my last visit and what will happen between now and our next one. “Right now your baby is about the size of a raspberry.”

  “So tiny,” Lucas comments.