I dropped my forehead to hers, which gave me a better view of her bra, and ran my finger across the tops of her breasts, teasing and feeling smug when she moaned. Then I palmed her right breast, unable to resist the skin-to-skin contact. She rolled her head back against the mirror, her eyes closed.
“More,” she whispered, and I tugged on her nipple through the fabric.
My resolve crumbled, and my need was overriding my senses. She knew as well as I did that no one else would be enough for her. No one would ever know her like I did, inside and out. No one would know what made her cry, or laugh, or come. And no one would know the depth of the love she had for those children.
I knew all of those things.
I kissed a soft line between her breasts and lower until I was kneeling in front of her and trailing circles around her belly button with my tongue. Raining kisses on her skin, I parted her legs and then ran my nose up and down the inside of her thigh.
With the slightest pressure, I nipped her through her panties with my teeth and listened to her soft cries. As I hooked a thumb into each side of the lace and tugged, I looked up into her lust-hazed eyes.
“Wait.”
I dropped her underwear to the floor and stood to face her. She stood naked before me, trembling. She reached for my hands and averted her eyes to our intertwined fingers against her skin.
“Tell me one more time that you’re here because you want to be.”
I walked her to the bed and pulled her into my lap. She straddled my hips as I held her face inches away from mine.
“This is more than right. I don’t regret being here. With you. With the kids.”
Her eyes widened and welled with tears. “Go on.”
I swept her hair from her face and sighed. “When you leave, I feel like something is missing.”
She looked away and pressed her lips together to keep from crying.
“This is what I want. I’ll prove it forever if you’ll just let me.” I skimmed my nose across her cheek and willed the words to the surface. “I need all of you.”
“You do?” It wasn’t quite a question but more of a whisper.
“I do. Because I am . . . so . . . in love with you.”
Her face crumpled, and she whimpered while her eyes searched mine for truth.
“I want what’s best for everyone. I swear it. I put my inheritance into a college fund account for Bree and Brady, and I did it before Rae opened her stupid mouth and told you about all that. That was the night I’d wanted to tell you I was in love with you. I should have told you sooner, about everything.”
With steady fingers, she unbuttoned my shirt and removed it along with my pants. Then she crawled back onto my lap and ran the tip of my cock against her slick heat. She held still above me before lowering herself. Her chest rose and fell as she settled, and the moment I was buried deep inside her, she brought her lips to mine.
“I love you.”
I gasped for air when her body enveloped me.
Lifting against her, I dug my fingertips into her spine. She lowered her hips, and we moaned in unison at the sensation. She swiveled her pelvis, and I clamped my eyes shut. “Where have you been all my life?”
She rested her arms across my shoulders and around my neck, anchoring her body against mine. She let her head roll back and whimpered as she moved upward again. “I guess I was waiting for you to find me. I’m sorry I’ve been so scared.”
I shook my head and thrust against her. “No more sorry. I’m not sorry.” I pulled her lips to mine and kissed her, feeling more connected than I’d ever felt before. She was everywhere, every inch of her was touching me, and every breath she took was rocking against my chest. Every heartbeat echoed in my ears.
She lifted again before pressing herself down, clenching around me while she looked in my eyes. Each shift and thrust was marked with the words we’d been so scared to say and could no longer bring ourselves to stop.
“I’ll make you so happy,” I said, rocking into her with more force.
“You do.”
She gripped the hair at the base of my neck, and I tilted her forward to angle into her, needing to fill her and experience every inch. I shuddered against her, the raw honesty of the words hitting home as I sank into her again.
“I need you. I want you.”
She writhed against me, struggling for air while her thighs tightened and clenched. “You have me. I’m yours.”
I knew what made her come, so I concentrated on getting her there until release rolled over us both, her body tensing and shaking while she hissed out a low breath. I studied her skin, the porcelain goose bumps and light-pink nipples that puckered as she came. Her flushed neck and pink-tinged cheeks. Her swollen lips and long red hair hanging across her face. I held her to me and stilled, finishing inside her, pressing my face to her chest to listen to the beating of her heart.
That heart was mine, and I would do everything to keep it that way.
And for the first time in my life, Don and my inner kid gave me the privacy to bask in the perfection of my last few moments with Gwen before we retired downstairs to finish celebrating her birthday. With cake.
Chapter 29
Two of Us
“I wike big bus an a canna nie! You unna bunnas cannenie!” Brady paused his version of “Baby Got Back,” trying to remember what came next while shaking his butt around and pumping his arms in the air.
It was not how I’d envisioned waking up.
“Li’l man, who taught you that song?” I sat up in my bed, ran my fingers through my hair, and yawned.
“Keegan did. He’s my vewwy best fwend again!” he yelled and giggled. “Big bus!” he shouted, smacking his butt before singing the same two lines again.
“Brady! Leave Dee alone—it’s his day off.” Gwen rounded the door to my room. Her eyes raked over my face and hair, and she pursed her lips to keep from laughing. I’d been in my own bed for only an hour, and she knew it.
We were going to tell the kids about us. I’d asked to do it because I wanted to get their initial reactions so Gwen wouldn’t be hurt if they were negative.
Though I doubted they would be.
Brady jumped onto my bed, just missing my junk, much to Don’s relief. I caught him around the middle and wrestled him, pinning him down with very little force and tickling him while he squealed and thrashed.
Bree threw herself into the mix, and when Gwen attempted to pull the kids from the bed, she ended up in the middle of the fray. Then all four of us were tickling and rolling around, giggling like a real little family.
Gwen’s eyes danced as she wriggled away from the three of us and sat up to catch her breath.
“Okay.” I sat up and took a deep breath. “Brady needs to go get ready for our big day out.”
He beamed at me, but Bree crossed her arms, sulking.
“Why don’t I get to come?”
“Because we’re going to the woods to catch bugs,” I said, curling my fingers in what I hoped was a menacing, Vincent Price-y, yucky-bug gesture.
“Gross.” She scrunched her nose.
“You and I can go get ice cream this afternoon. Does that sound okay?”
“Okay.”
Gwen gave me an appreciative smile and ordered the kids upstairs to get ready for breakfast. They complied, and she watched them from the doorway, making sure they’d made it upstairs before she turned back around and jumped on the bed to straddle my hips. Her mouth was on mine and her hands were clutching at my hair while she kissed me and moaned against my lips.
“Good morning to you, too,” I said, pulling back to brush her hair away from her neck so I could kiss it.
“Mmm. Have fun today.”
“I will,” I breathed under her ear.
She made a sad groaning sound and slid off my lap to sit back on her haunches. Resting her hand against my obvious ship mast under the blanket, she sighed. “Give Don some rest. He’s got to be exhausted.”
I laughed. L
ike Don could ever get tired of plundering and pillaging like a pirate.
Brady and I arrived at the nature trail just before noon. He helped me carry the basket of food and a blanket. He led the way on the trail, talking the entire time about school and his new friend Keegan.
“And then what did he do?” I asked with a grin as I settled onto a large flat rock next to the creek. We spread out the blanket and pulled out the sandwiches and crackers I’d packed.
Brady waved his hands around in circles. “Den he gwabs it and frows it way faw ’way. Like . . . to de moon!” His little voice grew so loud that birds scattered from the trees above our heads. He looked up and watched them fly off in a V formation to a quieter place. “Wow. Dee, did you see dat?”
I smiled and patted the blanket next to me. He sat but kept his face turned toward the sky, his blond hair bobbing with his movements. His light eyes took in everything around us, soaking it up like a sponge. Which he kind of was.
“Hey, Brady.”
“Huh?”
Placing a piece of apple and a container of peanut butter in front of him, I cleared my throat. “You love Gwen, right?”
He made a funny face and took a bite of his sandwich. “I wuv Auntie G.” The words were smothered in peanut butter, but I heard them.
“Can you keep a secret?” I asked, leaning forward with a conspirator’s whisper.
God love that kid, he shook his head.
I laughed. “That’s okay. Well, I love Gwen, too.”
“I know.”
I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean?”
He took a sip from his juice box and sighed dramatically. “I seen you kiss hew. Like umuumumumumuu.” He made a kissy face and squinted his eyes shut.
“Did not.” I snorted, rolled my eyes, and took a bite of my sandwich.
“Uh-huh! You wuv hew. Yooooou . . . wuv hew!”
I laughed so hard I had to spit out my sandwich. “I know! I just told you that, kid.”
His face broke into a smile. “Awe you gonna stay wif us?”
I nodded. “Of course. What did I tell you, Brady? Huh? What did I promise?”
“Fowevew,” he said with a nod, like it was final.
“Exactly.”
We stared at each other, and it reminded me of my first day, when he stared me down like a mute gunslinger. The sun was directly above us, and a breeze rustled through the yellow and orange leaves. The air was becoming crisp, and the sound of the creek was like a quiet lullaby just beyond our toes. Brady’s nose was slightly pink, and his cheeks were ruddy from excitement.
“Awe you gonna be my daddy?”
“I . . .” My mouth went dry and I tried to swallow. “I don’t want to replace your daddy.”
He sighed and put down his sandwich before scooting closer and placing his hand on my knee. We stared out at the water while it trickled over the smooth rocks and sand at the base of the creek.
“But I want a daddy,” he whispered. “Pwease, Dee?”
I leaned over and kissed his head. “Anything you want, kiddo,” I murmured against his hair. I’d give all of them what they wanted. What they needed.
Because it was what I wanted and needed, too.
With Brady it was just that simple. I loved Gwen. I would be his daddy.
We finished eating, and he proceeded to launch himself off the creek bank and into the trees to chase after beetles. It kept us occupied for a good hour before he realized he could find bugs a lot easier under rocks, along with worms and roly-polies to dangle in my face.
He was pretty tired by the time I got him home, and so was I, but I’d promised Bree I’d take her out for ice cream. So I said a quick hello to Gwen, which included a hefty squeeze of her delicious ass, and then I was back out the door with Bree.
At the ice cream shop, Bree took her sweet-ass time deciding on her flavors, and I had to remind her we had her school’s carnival that evening. She stepped on my foot and made a face but gave the cashier her choices. Once she had her cone and I had my basic chocolate on a waffle, we sat outside in the sunshine.
“What do you want to talk about?” Bree asked from her seat, taking dainty bites of her ice cream.
I pulled my brows together in question. “Why do you think I want to talk?”
She sighed. “Daddy used to take me places like this when he wanted to talk. You took Brady out alone. Now it’s my turn, right?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“Are you leaving us?”
My shoulders slumped. All those kids ever thought was that they were being abandoned.
“It’s the opposite, Bree. I never want to leave.”
She stared at me. “Did you tell her you love her?”
I nodded.
She smiled. “It took you long enough.”
“You’re a brat, you know that? It’s not very easy to tell someone you love them.”
“Why not?” she asked. “I love you. There. Said it.” She shrugged and went back to eating.
“Well, I love you, too. There. Now I said it.”
Bree frowned and tucked her hair behind her ear. “So what does this mean? Are you going to marry Gwen?”
“If we get married—”
“When you get married.”
I gave her a look. “Fine. When we get married, you will be our children, and we’ll all be a family. Got it? No one is going anywhere around here. Period.”
She gave me a sly smile. “So you do want to marry her.”
I rolled my eyes. “What’s it to you?” I asked with a raised brow.
She shifted in her seat and placed her chin on her hand. “Then you’ll need help. Just like with wrecking the dates. You are kinda hopeless, Dee.”
“Hopeless? Where did you learn that word?”
Bree shook her head, her eyes wide. “I read. Duh.”
I was going to have my hands full once she turned twelve. But she was right. I’d been hopeless from the start, and the only reason any of my plans were working out was because of the kids.
Ainslie was the first to greet us as we arrived at the school grounds for the carnival that evening.
“Welcome,” she said and bowed deeply.
“Dee! Auntie G! Candy! Keegan!” Brady’s head was about to spin off his neck.
Gwen handed him a fistful of tickets and walked him over to Keegan’s parents, setting down ground rules for Brady to follow while he looked right past her toward the cotton candy.
She returned looking flustered. “Keegan’s dad promised to have him back right here at eight.” She was chewing her nails and scanning the fairgrounds.
Ainslie smiled and patted her on the back. “I’m manning the ins and outs. I won’t let him escape.”
That seemed to placate Gwen for the moment, so I turned to ask Bree where she wanted to go.
“I want to stay here with Miss Tate. Please?”
Ainslie nodded, and I took hold of Gwen’s hand. A smile spread across Bree’s face as she noticed the gesture. Gwen looked down at our intertwined fingers and then up at my face, her eyes full of emotion. I kissed her forehead, and we wandered through the crowds, watching kids playing together and squealing on the rides.
Rounding the corner to the game section, I pulled on her hand and stopped her in front of a game where a stacked pyramid of cans needed to be knocked over with a baseball.
“One?” asked the guy behind the counter.
I handed him a ticket, and he gave me two balls.
“Careful with those balls,” Gwen said.
I blinked. “Are you done?”
She wiped her face and stood up straight.
“Please respect the player,” I said as I brought my arm back to pitch. She dissolved into giggles, and it fueled my desire to prove just how good I was. The cans exploded off the table on impact, and Gwen went silent. She shook her head in disbelief.
“What do I get if I knock a second set down?” I asked the stunned carnival worker. He tore his eyes away from the des
truction of his pre-glued cans and looked above his head at a giant panda. He pointed to it with a shaky hand.
“Cool.” I threw the second ball, and it landed with a crack against the aluminum.
He handed over the giant-ass panda begrudgingly, and I secured it under my arm, full swagger intact while we walked across the grounds.
“I think Bree will like this.”
“Dee!” Brady shouted, and I turned to see him, running alongside none other than Debra, with her husband, Kevin, rolling along in a wheelchair next to her.
Brady was yanking on Debra’s hand, pulling her over to us. Keegan’s father followed, nodding toward me when Brady reached us.
“Come here, Brady.” Gwen took his hand from Debra’s grasp. She gave Kevin a warm hello and then turned to her mother. “What are you doing here?”
Debra glanced at me. “Kevin is speaking on behalf of his Shriner division. They help fund this event.”
Gwen nodded. “Okay, then. Kevin, do you need help onto the stage?” She took the handles of his wheelchair in her palms, then stopped and turned him back to face us. “I apologize. Kevin, this is my boyfriend, Andrew Lyons.”
I stepped over to shake his hand, and he gave me a knowing smile. “My wife’s bark is worse than her bite,” he said through gritted teeth.
Noted.
Brady followed the two of them up onto the stage so he could stare out at the gathering crowd and perform his booty dance. Keegan joined him, and they did a full rendition of “Baby Got Back” that garnered an even larger audience.
Debra puckered her lips and crossed her arms, displeased. Like he was acting that way because of my influence or something.
“Look,” I said to her. “You don’t have to like me. But you have to stop being so cold to your daughter because we’re together. I don’t mean to sound rude, but the kids don’t even like staying with you anymore because you’re taking it out on them. I’m not going anywhere, so you’re going to have to accept it. I know I’m not who you expected her to end up with. But she is smart. She’s successful. And she’s selfless. I’m not here to screw up her life. I’m not the poor deadbeat you think I am.”
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