Kaleidoscope

by Ashley, Kristen

  “Right,” Sondra started. “My daughter needs a rest. Visiting hours are over.”

  “The matriarch has spoken,” Liza muttered, giving her sister big eyes and a bigger smile.

  Chace slid off the bed for more hugs and handshakes as all said good night.

  As Deck walked Emme down the corridor toward the elevators, arm around her shoulders, feeling hers tight around his waist, she remarked, “I have a feeling those chops you spent seven thousand dollars on aren’t gonna taste that great when we get home.”

  Her feeling would be right seeing as he did nothing but turn off the grill, load his girl in his truck and follow his friends to the hospital.

  He stopped them at the elevators, turned Emme into his front and she tipped her head back to catch his eyes.

  She was smiling.

  He was laughing.

  Then he bent his neck and they were kissing.

  * * *

  One and a half hours later…

  “Say it,” Deck ordered gruffly, moving inside her, doing it slowly, taking his time, feeling her snug and wet around his cock, her limbs wound tight around him, holding on, one hand in his hair.

  Gorgeous.

  “Say what, honey?” she asked, her voice breathy, eyes languid.

  “You haven’t told me today,” he replied.

  She tipped her hips up, bit her lip and her limbs got tighter.

  She was getting close.

  “Told you what?” she asked.

  He kept moving, slow, sweet, building it, loving it.

  But he wasn’t going to give it until he got what he needed.

  He dipped his mouth to hers, brushed her lips and whispered, “How you feel about me.”

  Her pussy clenched around his cock and her voice was breathier when she said, “Right now, I really, really like you.”

  And right now, he seriously liked her.

  Then again, he always had.

  He slid in deep, stayed there and encouraged, “Say it like it is, baby.”

  Her body squirmed under his. “I just did.”

  “Say what you really mean.”

  “Okay, I really, really, really like you,” she breathed. “Now will you go back to moving?”

  He grinned down into her gorgeous face but slid out to the tip and stayed there.

  Her eyes opened further, not full, but he had her attention.

  “Say what you really mean,” he repeated.

  “Jacob,” she whispered.

  “Say it, Emme.”

  She squirmed more, her limbs tightening further, her hips seeking his cock, her hand fisting in his hair. “I need you back.”

  “You got me,” he informed her. “Tell me what that means to you.”

  “Jacob, seriously, I was close.”

  He was getting there too. And now it was torture but he slid in then pulled out to the tip and again stayed there.

  “Honey,” she begged, her voice and limbs now trembling.

  “Say it, Emme.”

  “Please.”

  His hand cradling one side of her face shifted so he could rub his thumb over her lips as he whispered, “I know you feel it, baby. Say it.”

  She lifted her head, sliding her cheek along his until her face was in his neck.

  “Please give me you,” she whispered against his skin.

  So sweet.

  Torture.

  He turned so his lips were at her ear. “You got me, baby. You know you’ve got me. Tell me what that means.”

  “I mean I want you to give me a specific part of you.”

  He grinned even as his body pulsed to be buried inside her but he held onto his control, though just barely.

  “Give me what I want,” he demanded.

  “Honey.”

  “Give it to me, Emme.”

  She shoved her face farther into his neck then turned her head, her fist in his hair loosening as she slid it to the back of his neck and said so quietly, even as close as she was, he barely heard her, “I love you, Jacob.”

  Fuck.

  Yes.

  Deck drove in deep and she gasped into his ear, her hand sliding back up to clench in his hair.

  “You love me?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she panted.

  He pulled out and drove in again.

  Exquisite.

  “Look at me and say it, baby.”

  Her cheek slid back until her lips were against his, eyes open and so fucking close, that fire in them that said what her lips were about to utter was shining right there. So bright, so heated, he thought it would scorch him.

  “I love you, honey.”

  He took her mouth, took her cunt and took both until he took them both home.

  After, planted deep inside his Emme, Deck ran his nose along her jaw and when his mouth found her ear, he murmured, “Love you too, baby.”

  Her limbs, still tight around him, clamped.

  She liked that.

  She wanted it.

  So much she was holding onto it with all she had.

  And this was it.

  This was “hey, puppy” for the rest of his life. This was knowing he had in his bed a woman who wanted medicine socialized and not giving a fuck. This was good family, hers and his, mingling to make it better. This was working until he never saw that surprised look on her face just before she came. This was having something warm snuggle into him while he read because he didn’t sleep.

  This was a kaleidoscope of beauty, the dials spinning, ever changing, but never anything short of spectacular.

  Deck lifted his head and looked down at her.

  Tears were pooling in her beautiful eyes and her lower lip was quivering.

  He’d never seen anything as beautiful.

  And the kaleidoscope spun.

  “Wanna build a life with you, Emmanuelle,” he whispered.

  “Jacob,” she whispered back.

  “And Buford needs a momma,” he declared as a tear slid out the side of her eye and a trembling smile touched her lips.

  Deck caught her tear with his thumb, swept it across her cheek and rubbed the wetness against her lips.

  Then he dipped his head and kissed her like he made love to her. Slow and sweet and for a very long time.

  When he lifted his mouth from hers, she said quietly, “Now that you’ve rocked my world and blown my mind on top of us having minor roles in the miracle of birth tonight, all of which, I’ll note, I endured without dinner, I need to clean up and get some sleep, honey. You may be able to exist on a genius’s ration of shuteye, but I’m not that lucky and I’ve gotta go to work tomorrow.”

  He chuckled, liking the look the movement this caused put on Emme’s face since he did it on her and in her. Then he dipped his head, kissed her jaw and gently slid out and off.

  She rolled with him so she could touch her lips to his chest before she slid out of bed.

  Deck watched her ass and legs as she walked to the bathroom.

  Buford jumped up to claim his lion’s share of the bed before Emme got back.

  After Emme climbed over him and Deck pulled up the covers, she settled into his side and claimed the lion’s share of Deck.

  “ ’Night, honey,” she murmured sleepily into his chest, giving his stomach a squeeze as she did.

  “ ’Night, baby,” he replied, pulling her closer, smelling strawberries.

  She was dead weight within minutes.

  Deck stared at the ceiling, the vision of Emme holding little Jacob seared in his brain.

  So when his eyes closed, he fell asleep with his lips tipped up.

  * * *

  Emme

  Thirty minutes later…

  Forcing my body to stay relaxed just in case Deck woke to find me awake, I stared unseeing at Jacob’s chest.

  And I was unseeing not just because it was dark.

  All I could see was him holding Chace and Faye’s baby, cuddling him close to his big man’s body with his mighty arms, his head tipped down, his
handsome face holding happiness and awe.

  So beautiful.

  Extraordinary.

  Even profound.

  Love you too, baby.

  There the words came as they had again and again the last half an hour. His deep voice saying those words sounding in my head.

  And then, Wanna build a life with you, Emmanuelle.

  I clenched my teeth.

  And I clenched my teeth because seeing Jacob holding his namesake in my mind’s eye, hearing his words ringing in my ears, I felt nothing.

  Nothing but sheer terror.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Puzzles

  Two weeks six days later…

  I was pulling the utility knife through drywall when I heard my phone ring in the kitchen.

  I dropped the knife, dashed from the makeshift workstation I’d set up in the dining room and snatched it up just in time, seeing the display said “Jacob calling.”

  I put it to my ear. “Hey, honey.”

  “Where are you?”

  He didn’t sound happy.

  I felt my brows draw together and answered, “At home, cutting drywall to patch over the electrical work.” I paused before I went on with a smile, “Having Buford around, I’m now determined to become a puppy momma. And that would be to an actual puppy, as in one who’s just been weaned. Not a dog who’s still a puppy to me, he just old enough to know he should no longer chew everything. So I need to do something with this exposed wiring.”

  “You’re cutting drywall,” he stated, still sounding unhappy, and I still didn’t get it.

  I was cutting drywall, not boiling bunnies.

  “Yeah,” I confirmed.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else doing something else?”

  I blinked, cast my mind out, remembered and couldn’t believe I forgot.

  But I did. Totally. It didn’t even enter my head from waking up until now. All my thoughts were on drywall and puppies. I’d even woken up to Jacob kissing me before he took off to do whatever Jacob Things he’d been taking off to do recently in the early morning and then I went back to sleep.

  He hadn’t said “see you later” but then he probably didn’t think he had to.

  How could that be?

  My eyes flew to the clock on the microwave, my heart sank and feeling the unhappy vibes beating at me over the phone, I whispered, “Oh no.”

  “Yeah,” Jacob bit off.

  “I got caught up. I’m so sorry. I need to shower,” I told him. “But I’ll be quick then I’ll be over.”

  “That’d be good,” he replied, still angry.

  “Are they there yet?”

  “Just called. They’re ten, fifteen minutes out.”

  Oh no!

  “I’ll hurry,” I promised.

  “Right,” he clipped. “Later.”

  Then he was gone.

  He never ended a call like that.

  Totally angry.

  But there was a reason he was angry. His parents arrived in Denver three hours ago. And I was supposed to be at Jacob’s half an hour ago in order to be there when they got there so we could start bonding without delay.

  Now, with shower, meet-the-parents prep and travel time, I’d be way late. In other words, there was no time to waste since there was no time at all.

  So I did what I promised.

  I raced upstairs and hurried.

  * * *

  I opened Jacob’s back door thinking inanely, from the SUV I saw in his driveway, his parents didn’t mess around with rentals. The minute I got the door open, I saw Buford who, as always, came to greet me.

  “Hey, puppy,” I murmured, bending and giving him a rubdown, which, out of necessity, had to be a quick rubdown since I had to get my behind into the house to meet Jacob’s parents.

  I gave him an extra ear scratch to make up for it, straightened and saw Jacob moving down the hall.

  This did not bode well. Jacob never met me in the back hall.

  I smiled at him hesitantly. “Hey, honey. Sorry. I hurried as best I could. Did they have an okay trip?”

  He stopped, did a top to toe with his eyes, didn’t answer my question and asked his own, “Where’s your bag?”

  “My what?” I asked.

  “Bag, Emme. Your overnight bag. Did you leave it in Cletus?”

  “Persephone,” I corrected automatically, but didn’t get the usual grin that came fast and easy whenever we were talking about my Bronco.

  Instead, his mouth got tight.

  It was a scary look and indicated he was still angry.

  I didn’t know what to do with this. I didn’t think Jacob had ever been angry with me. Not real angry, as in we weren’t fighting about gun control, which he didn’t really care what I thought about, he just liked fighting about it. But instead, he was actually upset with me.

  It did not feel very good to have him upset with me, not at all. More so because he had reason.

  And further, I didn’t understand why he was asking about my bag.

  “I, well… didn’t bring a bag,” I admitted.

  His mouth got tighter.

  Then he muttered as he reached out and grabbed my hand, “Doesn’t matter. You got enough shit in the bathroom here to work with and you can sleep in one of my tees.”

  I did have enough “shit” in his bathroom. That was, if he was referring to shampoo and moisturizer and stuff. I’d doubled up on a few things so I didn’t have to lug so much around all the time.

  But sleep in one of his tees?

  I wasn’t spending the night with his parents there. I may have forgotten about meeting them but I didn’t forget about us making plans for me to spend the night. I would have remembered that, as in discussed it and declined the option.

  It was okay for Jacob to spend the night at my house when Mom and Dad were around. They knew him.

  His parents didn’t know me.

  They might think I was a floozy. The last impression a girl wanted to give the parents of the man she loved on first meeting them was that she was a floozy.

  I wanted to tug my hand to stop his advance in order to explain this to him as he was now dragging me down the hall, but I didn’t figure that would better his mood. So I let him drag me down the hall.

  We moved through the opening to the great room and I saw Jacob’s dad sitting at a stool at the bar and his mom standing behind it. Both of them were sipping coffee.

  Even though I met them only once and spent maybe ten minutes with them, I remembered them vividly. This was because Jacob meant a lot to me so meeting his parents would too.

  This was also because they were a surprise.

  He got his coloring from his mother. Same hair, same eyes, same olive skin tone.

  She was, however, relatively petite. She couldn’t be over five foot five. And she was rounded. It was in a pleasant way that she obviously liked because she didn’t try to hide it. She also didn’t hold herself like she wasn’t comfortable with it.

  His dad, however, was the big surprise.

  Although there was a hint of his strong, handsome features in Jacob’s face, Richard Decker was fair. His blond hair had still been mostly blond when I met him over a decade ago. Now it was a silvery white. He also had blue eyes. He was tall and built, now slightly soft, and that would be slightly soft in a way he clearly liked his beer because he had a relatively large beer belly. He was way taller than his wife but he was nowhere near as tall as Jacob. Maybe six foot.

  I knew Jacob had a brother named Shane who I’d never met. But I’d always wondered if Shane looked like his dad or mom or if he was like Jacob, a best of both but even better kind of offspring.

  “Hi,” I greeted, pinning a smile to my face.

  Returning my greeting, I saw Karla Decker eyeing me closely but her expression was friendly and welcoming.

  Not returning my greeting, Rich Decker was also studying me, doing it closely, but there was speculation in the back of his eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’
t look friendly. It was just that, with one look, I knew I was under review and needed to pass inspection.

  In order to do that, I pulled my hand from Jacob’s and moved to his father first since he was the closest. I lifted my hand and made my smile bigger.

  “I’m really sorry I’m late. I have a project I’m in the middle of that’s so far lasted three years,” I tried to joke. Rich didn’t crack a smile. This made me nervous, so I kept going. “Sometimes when I’m in the throes of it, I lose track of, well… pretty much everything,” I told him, still smiling.

  Rich took my hand, his grip firm, his eyes never leaving mine. “Deck’s told us about your house, Emme. But good you could finally make it to his.”

  That wording wasn’t the greatest.

  And he still hadn’t said hi or anything close.

  Even with that not-so-good start, I persevered when he let me go. I pulled my purse off my shoulder, dropped it on the bar and moved around to Karla, hand up.

  “Hi. So nice to meet you. And again, I’m so sorry,” I murmured.

  “That’s okay, honey,” she murmured back, her eyes also never leaving mine and her grip was warmer. “That’s a pretty sweater,” she remarked when she let my hand go.

  Well, that was better.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled, stepping back and running into Jacob.

  I instantly got an arm around my chest at the same time I felt a wet nose on my hand. Jacob and his dog, both claiming me.

  Instantly, I pulled away from Jacob to bend to Buford, explaining, “Poor puppy. He didn’t get his usual rubdown when I got here. Best see to that.”

  If his tail wagging was anything to go by, Buford approved of my choice.

  If the look I caught when I glanced over my shoulder at Jacob as I straightened away from his dog was anything to go by, I’d made a big mistake.

  I bit my lip and Jacob’s arm again came around me, this time at my belly, whereupon it clamped tight so my back was snug to his front, so I decided my best bet was to go with it.

  I looked between his parents.

  “How was your trip?” I asked.

  “Over,” Rich answered, his eyes on Jacob’s arm around my waist.

  Then they came up to my face.

  I gave him another smile but it was shaky.

  He did not smile back.

  “I’m just glad we had good weather,” Karla noted, and I looked to her.