He smiled the widest smile she’d ever seen. “I love you, Abby Cade. And hey, look, you don’t even need to change your name after our next wedding, since you did it the first time we married.”
Abby grinned. “How did I catch such a sexy, smart husband?”
“It was the clogs.”
Abby laughed. “If I thought those things would land me the hottest guy in town, I would have worn them more often.”
“How many more hours until bedtime?” Hunt asked.
Abby looked down at her phone. “Three hours and fifteen minutes.”
He sighed. “I guess I can wait that long.”
“Or,” Abby said, “we can put on a movie for Noah and sneak away.”
Hunt’s eyes turned half-lidded. “You’re the smartest woman I’ve ever married. Yes. Right now.” He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, and she laughed.
“I’m the only woman you’ve married, you Neanderthal!” She smacked his ass as he climbed with her up the stairs.
“Neanderthal or not, I was smart enough to choose you. And for the record, I prefer pirate. I’ve got my booty and I don’t plan on letting her go.”
Chapter 31
Abby turned on a movie for Noah, but her son was so chatty and excited that she and Hunt decided to join him and call in for takeout.
Hunt closed the door to their bedroom hours later. “Finally alone.” He sent her a heated look.
She glanced around casually, as though he didn’t affect her. “Is this the master?”
Hunt pulled off his shirt, and Abby’s breath caught. “It can be,” he said. “But there are four other bedrooms with bathrooms on this level. This isn’t the largest, but it has the best view.”
Abby looked out one of the windows onto the yard and the log cabin tree house. “So we can watch Noah play?”
“Yes. And our other children.”
Abby choked. “Other children? As far as I know, I just have the one.”
Hunt pulled her to him, shimmying off her top as he did. “I’ve been thinking we need one or two more. And I want to officially adopt Noah. With your approval.”
Abby held up a finger. “We’ll get to the one or two more children in a moment. What do you mean you want to adopt Noah?”
He held her face. “I never want you to have to worry about anything, no matter what happens to me. I want to adopt Noah and set up a trust fund for him.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You’re the worst player on the planet.”
His chin jerked back comically. “That’s not what she said.”
“With bad nineties humor on top of it. Oh, Hunt, would you really do that for Noah?”
He kissed her. “I’d do it for you, and for me, and absolutely for Noah. I love that kid like a son.”
She kissed him and slid her hands up his back. “I would love for you to adopt Noah.”
He unfastened the snap on her jeans. “Now that that’s settled, what about my other proposition?”
Her bra was off. When the hell did he remove it? He was doing that thing with his fingers on her nipples again. “Hmm? What proposition?”
“One or two babies.”
That snapped Abby out of her lust haze. “We haven’t even had our second wedding.”
“Okay, so not right now. You’ll probably want to finish nursing school first. Though I insist you take classes later in the day. Your morning classes are messing with our sex life.”
She laughed. “Yes to the later classes. They were pretty brutal on me too.”
“And the baby?”
Abby narrowed her eyes. “I’ll think about it. Let’s see what happens here first. I need to make sure we’re doing it right.”
He picked her up and tossed her on the bed. “Insolent wife. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Hunt pounced on her, and she tried to roll him over and get on top, but it was like moving a boulder.
Hunt lifted an eyebrow. “Yes? Did you want something?”
“Roll over, husband. I want to mount you.”
Hunt’s nostrils flared. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
Hunt flipped over, and Abby crawled on top of him.
She looked around. “I like it up here. Makes me feel powerful.” She ran her hands down Hunt’s chest, circling his nipples the way he tortured hers.
Hunt folded his arms behind his head. “And I like a woman who knows what she wants.”
He was so smug… Abby scooted lower and loosened the fly on his jeans.
Hunt breathed in unsteadily. “Feel free. I won’t stop you.”
Abby sent him a wicked look and trailed kisses down his chest. “No? Well, then I’ll take advantage.”
By the time Abby reached Hunt’s lower stomach, all of his muscles had gone taut.
He cleared his throat. “Do you think you should take off the rest of your clothes?”
“Excuse me?” she said. “I’m in charge.”
He held up his hand. “My bad. Continue.”
“I will, thank you.” She reached into his jeans and slid her hand down his shaft.
Hunt’s head tipped back. “Shit.”
“Yes?” she said. “Did you say something?”
“Nothing,” he choked, as she swirled her thumb along the head of his erection.
Abby sat back farther and pulled off Hunt’s jeans and boxer briefs. He stared down.
“You look worried, husband.” She kissed his upper thigh.
“Worried?” he said distractedly. “No, no—just enjoying the view.”
She grinned and licked his length from base to tip. “Me too.”
Hunt groaned, eyes wide. “I can’t.” He sat up and hoisted her up his body. “Been too long. Need to be inside you. Good?”
She laughed. “Yes, caveman. We’ll try this again when your upper brain is functioning and full sentences are coming out.”
Hunt grunted and swirled his tongue around her nipple, moving his hand down her pants, fingers circling and dipping and hitting all the spots that were going to make her explode.
Hunt switched their positions, him on top, and stripped off her pants. He positioned his hips between her thighs. “Let the baby-making practice begin.” And he plunged into her body.
Abby cried out at the fullness, the pleasure.
Hunt hiked her leg and hit her somewhere deep with his next thrust that had her head thrashing about. “Stay with me, woman, or this will be quick. If you start, I’ll start—”
Too late.
Her orgasm hit, and she clung to Hunt. He followed her a second later, thrusting inside her and moaning out his release.
When his breathing calmed down, Hunt lifted his head. “Damn, that was too fast. Round two?”
Epilogue
At their second wedding, Hunt’s bride wore pale pink. “You look beautiful,” he said, and kissed his wife.
They’d just said their vows and walked down the narrow yacht aisle, and though Hunt’s vows the first time around had been sincere, his vows the second time held more meaning.
Hunt and Abby were in it for life, and he couldn’t be happier.
“Why thank you, husband,” Abby said as she cradled her round tummy. “The baby kicked through the entire ceremony. I think it knew we were on a boat on the lake for the first time.”
Hunt touched his wife’s six-month-round belly. Abby had wanted to wait a year or two before they had a child, but nature and hormones took over. “Smart kid. Little does he know, we’ll be spending a lot more time on the lake in the future. Like, for the rest of his life.”
“Smile for the camera!” the wedding photographer said, and Abby and Hunt grinned, his arm protectively holding her waist.
Abby’s mouth twisted. “These are my only wedding pictures, and I’m the size of a hot air balloon.”
Hunt winced. “I forgot to hire a photographer for the first wedding. But just think, our son is in all of these pictures. He’ll love that.”
A spark lit her
eyes. “You keep referring to the baby as a boy.”
He leaned over and kissed her lips. “That’s because I want a girl, but since my parents had all boys, I’m sure I’ll be equally cursed.”
“Cursed,” she scoffed.
“Very generously cursed,” he amended.
“What does that even mean?”
Married only a few minutes and he was already working his way into the doghouse. “You’ve seen how me and my brothers are together.”
“Loving, yes, I’ve seen.”
Hunt gave her a look. “Not exactly how I’d characterize my relationship with my brothers, but okay. Anyway, if you and I have a son, the genetics are not in our favor. I’m not sure your beauty and brains could outmatch male Cade sperm and their need for dominance.”
“Your brother had a girl,” she pointed out.
“Yeah.” He rubbed his chin. “That was an odd occurrence. I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
The photographer set up to take another picture, and Hunt turned them in that direction.
“Well,” she said, “you’d be wrong. We’re having a girl.”
Hunt’s jaw dropped and he stared at his smiling wife beside him. Snap. Snap. Snap. The photographer caught the moment.
“What?” he said.
“Did you not wonder about the color of my dress?”
He glanced down. “It’s pink. I thought you were going for the second-marriage-off-white color thing.”
“Yes, but pink?” Her eyes twinkled.
“But…how?”
Abby waved to their guests across the yacht they’d rented for the wedding. They’d told everyone it was a second celebration of their love. The guests were also waiting for them to hurry up and finish taking pictures. “I imagine it was one of the hundreds of times you woke me in the middle of the night or in the morning before Noah woke or after Noah went to bed to—”
“I got it,” he said, laughing. His boys could swim, and he couldn’t be more proud of his powerful, manly sperm. Especially his baby-girl sperm. “But when did you find out?”
“Oh, about a month ago.”
“A month! You’ve known for an entire month and you didn’t tell me?”
“I wanted to wait until the perfect time.” She looked around. “Now was the perfect time. Do you want to do the honors and share our happy news?”
Hunt sucked in a shaky breath. A girl. They were having a girl. He blinked back tears and kissed his wife. Passionately. He lifted his head and looked down at her beautiful face. “I love you.”
“I love you, Hunt Cade, man of many talents.”
Hunt turned to the crowd of friends and family, including all of Noah’s grandparents—even Abby’s parents, who Hunt had flown out.
He raised his fist into the air. “It’s a girl!”
The guests cheered, and Hunt’s brothers came over and slapped him on the back.
“Welcome to the club,” Wes said.
Levi approached and stood awkwardly for a moment. And then his brother did the strangest thing Hunt had ever seen. Levi stepped away from Emily and hugged Hunt. “Congratulations.”
Fuck. If Hunt wasn’t already choked up about the baby-girl news, he was seriously holding back tears now. “Thank you.”
“I was worried,” Levi said. “Looks like I never needed to.” He glanced past Hunt to Abby. “You take great care of your wife, Hunt. You’ll make a great father too.”
Hunt realized something just then. Levi ranted when he was most frightened or stressed. His temper, the way he’d talked to Hunt—all these years, it had been over fear.
Huh. That explained a lot.
Hunt couldn’t wait until Levi and Emily had a kid. Levi would lose his shit the first time the baby had a fever or fell, or came to any harm whatsoever.
Emily hugged Hunt, and she and Abby made plans to get together in a few weeks, and then Noah’s grandparents approached.
“We’re so happy to have another baby in the family,” Vivian said, Noah’s grandfather smiling at her side.
It hadn’t taken a lawyer for Noah’s grandparents to come around. More like a few days of mulling over their actions, and how they’d put their grandchild in danger with their stupid antics. They’d eventually returned to apologize and make amends.
At first, Abby was leery, but over the last few months, Vivian and her husband had come over to the Cade estate—now named “Noah’s Castle”—and spent time with Abby, Hunt, and Noah as a family. Noah’s grandparents were even in treatment with a therapist to deal with the loss of their son. They’d asked for forgiveness, and Hunt’s wife, being the generous spirit she was, immediately gave it to them.
What had come as a shock was how excited Noah’s grandparents were when Abby and Hunt announced they were having a baby. It seemed Vivian considered this child to be her grandchild too, and that suited Hunt and Abby fine.
Hunt’s parents were gone, and Abby’s parents refused to leave their trailer for more than a long weekend. Noah’s grandparents were a part of their lives, seemingly for the better, and there was never too much love to give a kid.
Hunt counted himself blessed a million times over.
He was mingling with the guests, shoving food into his mouth, and tracking his very pregnant wife, when Esther walked up.
“Dear boy,” she said, and gave Hunt a big hug. She held his arms and leaned back. “I’m so happy for you. I just knew the right woman would tame you some day.”
Interesting. Hunt never imagined he’d find a woman he would be able to love and hold on to at the same time. “How did you know?”
Esther smiled warmly. “Call it surrogate mother’s intuition. Something seemed off when I attended your first wedding to Abby, but this one is the real thing.” She held out an envelope. “This is for you.”
Leave it to Esther to suss out the truth. “Thank you, Esther. And thank you for being here at my second marriage to Abby.” He winked.
“I’m always here for you boys. You’re the children I never had.”
A man walked up to Esther and touched the small of her back. He reached out and shook Hunt’s hand. “Congratulations. Your bride is lovely. Lucky man.”
“Indeed,” Hunt said.
“More champagne?” the man asked Esther.
She nodded, and he walked off, hand tucked into sleek gray suit pants the color of his hair.
When he was far enough away, Hunt notched his chin in the man’s direction. “So who’s the new man?”
Esther swatted his arm. “Lenard is a friend, and don’t you start nosing into my business.”
Hunt held up his hands. “I thought it went both ways.”
“No,” she said. “Not with your surrogate mother. My romantic life is mine alone.”
Hunt had always wondered if Esther and his father had a thing going on in his father’s later years. Neither had said or done anything to indicate that kind of relationship, but the way Esther had looked out for them like a mother…it seemed possible there had been some kind of understanding.
Then again, his father never got over Hunt’s mother, so who knew? He’d never know, given how open Esther was being. “Fine. Keep your secrets. For the record, he seems like a pretty dapper dude.”
Esther looked over her shoulder, and Hunt would swear she was checking out Lenard’s ass. “He is, isn’t he?”
Good God. Hunt mentally cringed. “Right,” he said. “I better go find my bride.”
“Do that,” Esther said. “And read the letter with her after you do.”
Hunt made his way across the deck, greeting guests and tracking down his wife. He finally found her coming up from the restroom. His wife had to pee every hour these days, so it was a safe bet to find her there.
He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her to his chest before she could round the corner and return to the guests. “There you are.”
“Hunt, we need to return to the party,” she said, but she was smiling and snuggling into his ches
t, her tummy a warm, round ball between them.
“In a minute,” he said, and kissed her. Then he ran his hands down her sides and cupped her bottom.
“Hunt,” she said in warning. “We have a very nice honeymoon/babymoon set up. There’s plenty of time for that.” She stood on her tiptoes and looked over his shoulder. “The guests are waiting for us.”
“Esther gave me a letter and said I should read it with you.”
Abby glanced down at the white envelope he pulled out.
Hunt blinked. “Actually, I think it’s from…my father? That’s weird. My name on the envelope is in his handwriting.”
He opened the envelope and unfolded the letter, and Abby leaned on his arm to read along.
Dear Hunt,
* * *
Before you were born, your mother wanted a girl, but I wanted another boy. You probably never knew that, did you?
Out of all my sons, you got the short end of the stick. You weren’t able to experience enough of the love your mother had for you boys. I thought losing her was the worst thing to ever happen to me. Turns out, my decisions later in life caused me my biggest regrets, and the ones I’ll never forgive myself for.
I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you and your brothers. In my head, you boys were my world. I thought I showed it by making a success of the club and providing for you. Turns out, being a successful businessman does not a good father make. I managed to push you away. I know that now. And believe me, I’ve beaten myself up over it.
Don’t ever think you weren’t wanted. Don’t ever feel shame or blame for your mother’s illness. She wouldn’t have given you up for anything in the world, and neither would I. Not even to have more time with your mom.
I see her in you the most. You have her smile and her eyes, but what really hit me as you grew older was the way you both embrace life with both hands. You are one of five blessings your mother and I dreamed of together, and I hope someday you’ll realize the same joy we did.
Only try to be more present than your dear old dad.
Oh, and one last thing: don’t let Levi bully you. He carried you around like you were his son when he was in elementary school. Was cute back then. Not so much once you hit high school. That boy thinks he knows it all. Takes after his pops in that way. He genuinely loves you, but he’s as clueless as the rest of us.
Reforming Hunt Page 18