He caught my gaze as he faced me. “Cold?” he asked as he lifted the showerhead and sprayed it down my chest. I moaned softly. The hot water was heaven. I tossed my head back and arched into the stream as it raced over my body.
“Never going to get tired of looking at you,” he murmured as he gripped the nape of my neck. My eyes opened just as his mouth tackled mine. He flicked his tongue against my lips, and it felt so sensual and divine that my legs wobbled. I parted my mouth, allowing him to conquer my lips, pacifying me in every erotic way possible. Pulling away, he instructed, “Lean up against the wall.”
I shivered as my back hit the cold wall. He loomed over me, placing the stream between us so that it ran down my breasts. Giving one of my boobs a soothing caress before he tugged on the nipple, he squatted down, face aligned with the space between my legs. My need was insistent and heart-pounding, fluttering masses of warmth and tingles. A desperate need to be filled.
Elijah pointed the showerhead toward my bellybutton, leaving a hot trail of water. With his free hand, he cupped my vagina, leisurely rubbing his thumb across my clit before he slipped a finger inside of me.
Oh, fudge. I moaned, spreading my legs apart. He saw me struggling and grabbed one of my legs at the knee and held it up. How did he expect me to manage with one foot on the floor? I was barely managing with two before he even started touching me.
Pumping his digit in and out of me a few times, I was in a slight haze when I saw him lower the showerhead down, down, down until he sprayed the water over my clit, and I jumped, but Elijah braced his arm over my hip and held me firm.
Oh, oh, oh… So much stimulation. My stomach clenched. It felt so good, but the pressure was so intense it gave me a tickling sensation that I wasn’t sure I could bear.
Leaning over, I pulled his hand away and sagged a little as the pressure left my clit.
“Too much, I think,” I whispered through several pants.
Brown eyes smothered me with their intensity. “I think you can handle it.”
I shook my head. “No… Oh!” I raised up, flattening my back against the wall as he sprayed the water over me again, this time adding his pumping finger.
My stomach fluttered, tightened, and flinched every time my clit was hit with the pressure. I can’t… I can’t…can’t. It was a web of pleasure and torture, the way the torrent brought a tantalizing tickle in its wake, then proceeded to unfurl a frenzy of heat that when it blossomed, I cried out, grabbing Elijah’s hand that was wrapped around the showerhead.
“Elijah!”
My entire body bucked and arched. I hunched over him, needing him to stop as the orgasm took control of me.
I whimpered as he finally relented, leaving me a quivering mess. His finger drove the last few seconds of my ecstasy to the very end as he moved the showerhead away from me.
He let my leg drop from the hook of his arm. “You’re so lovely, Hadley.” His voice was thick, full of lust and smoke waiting to be unleashed upon me. He stood, bringing me back against the wall. “You okay?” One hand idly rubbed my shoulder as he placed the showerhead where it belonged.
I shivered some more as he tilted my neck. Kiss. Kiss. Planting his lips across my skin. I sighed happily in my lust-enhanced state. “Want you inside me now,” I whispered throatily. I fluttered open my eyes as he stood to full height.
“Let me grab—”
He went to move, and I snatched his arms.
“I want to feel you completely.” My admittance made me nervous since he took in a deep, croaked breath as he neared, letting me coax him back to me. “I’ve been on birth control since my six-week checkup after having Eli.”
He pressed his forehead to mine, meeting my eyes with the most star-struck, passion-filled gaze I’d ever seen, and said, “I want that too… Fuck… I want that so much. I’ve never before…”
His words were lost as I leaned up and kissed him, softly, beautifully, so in sync the way our breath fell and rose together like our very job was to start where the other ended. He was shaking already by the time I sucked on his bottom lip just enough that it was playful, teasing, and intimate all in one. His huge length pressed against my belly as he hooked one of my legs over his hip, then the other, hoisting me up against the wall.
Shuddering breaths, bodies aligned… I saw my lover, and my future filled with all these epic adventures with him. I wanted him to know if he didn’t already. “I love you.”
“I’ve been in love with you. You’ve made me all domestic and shit.”
I snickered, quickly quietening as he nudged his erection against my opening. I never took my eyes from his as he slowly entered me, inch by perfect inch. I could feel every exquisite detail as he moved inside me—the way my inner walls clung to his mushroom-shaped tip, his thick pulsating girth as I stretched to accept him entirely. My mind was going haywire with the knowledge that we were as close as close could get—I didn’t want this type of intimacy from anyone else but him. A thundering inferno threatened to spill over if he went any deeper. He hissed and it turned into a groan.
“Hadley, I didn’t think you could feel any more perfect. I was wrong. So fucking wrong. You’re so tight and hot. Jesus, baby, you were made for me.” His dirty words imploded on the blooming heat I already felt, then he thrust a little deeper.
I spiraled, vaulted. My inner walls clenched around him as I arched, scattered, and submerged into the flames. “God bless…America! Ahhh…”
He kissed my opened mouth. “It ain’t gonna hurt you to say fuck or shit. No one’s listening but me right now.” He nipped my ear with his teeth, and I shivered. He slowly pulled out and thrust back in. I gasped. He gripped my hips and legs tighter. “You’re still milking my cock. Fuck! I’m not going to last.”
I understood perfectly. The third time he thrust into me, his piercing edged along my clit and I was coming unglued again. No wonder my body never stopped pulsating against him when he thrust me right into another orgasm. I gripped his hair, body slipping down the wall some as I arched and whimpered.
His grip on me slackened. He tightened his hold on me, lifting me up as he thrusted like a wild man, guiding my release into a crescendo. Elijah groaned, desperately seeking my lips as he kissed the ever-loving soul out of me before his release shot into me. Heat rose on my already hot cheeks. I could feel every sensual pound in his length, and the way he filled me in ways he never could with a condom.
We kissed and kissed even after our bodies stopped pulsing. He placed my wobbly legs on the floor, and his erection slipped out of me. His hard length was bobbing and pressing against my belly, ready again. The water was lukewarm, becoming cold when he pulled his lips away from mine. His cheeks were slightly flushed, his lips a deep cherry red, and his eyes soft and hazy as he stared down at me with so many emotions. All of them had something to do with him loving me.
He shut the water off, dried us off and did me once more on the bed underneath the blankets before we succumbed to sleep.
_____
Yesterday I was braver. My nerves were back with the morning sun.
It was okay though. Elijah sat on my parents’ porch swing with me as I dialed Scott’s number, his hand soothing circles over the top of my thigh, creating a sense of comfort and safety. Lucy and Eli were inside while I made the call.
Scott answered on the third ring. “I’m guessing you see how foolish you were yesterday?”
Forget my nerves. His bitter tone made my resolve tighten. “No, Scott. I actually have something to tell you.”
“And what’s that?”
“The only ones that have ever acted foolishly are you and your mother.”
“What the—”
“Don’t interrupt me,” I snapped. “I’m sick and tired of you and your family degrading me in front of Lucy. Do you have any idea how much that hurts her feelings? How much you guys make her cry? I’ve tried so hard to get along with you and your family since we’ve split up, offering to let you keep Lucy on the
weekends and you never showed. She’s four, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know you’re blowing her off.”
“Hadley!”
“No, you have no right to get upset. Lucy loves you, but she doesn’t even want to go see you lately, and I’m not going to make her. If you want to see her, I can meet you, but until she’s ready to spend the night again it’s not happening.”
“That’s fucking ridiculous. You’ve got her brainwashed is the problem.”
“If you and your mom can’t be civilized, then I guess we will have to go to court. They might make your lazy bu—ass get a job to pay child support.”
Elijah reared back and mouthed, “ass” before smiling, and I shook my head at him.
“Are you kidding me?” Scott yelled in my ear. “Did you just say ass? You never cuss. What’s gotten into you?”
“It’s me getting sick and tired of putting up with this kind of immaturity from you and your mom. If you guys are going to be awful, I can too.”
“You know I can’t get a job until I’m out of school—that’s too much work! You can’t ask me to pay child support when it’s your fault I never see them!”
It was like talking to a brick wall.
I sighed. “Funny, how you made me work while I went to college full-time and was pregnant.”
“Hadley!”
“Lucy loves you, and Eli doesn’t even know his father. If it weren’t for them… I want to be civil about this, but it’s up to you.”
He hung up.
All the tension from the phone call drained from my body, and I sagged into the bench. Elijah pulled me into his side. “You okay?” he asked softly.
“I’m fine.”
It didn’t take long for his shoulders to start moving. My eyes widened as I realized his entire chest vibrated. I sat up and saw him laughing. “What’s so funny?”
He cackled. “You said ass.”
My cheeks heated remembering. “You’re the one… Forget it.” I glared and crossed my arms, pushing my back against the bench and swinging us angrily.
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize how weird it would be.”
God bless America! He was still laughing.
“How is it weird?” I muttered.
“It sounds so foreign and cute coming out of your mouth, I couldn’t take you seriously. Don’t ever cuss at me when we’re arguing ’cause it will only make me laugh, and you’ll get madder than a wet hen.”
“Like now?”
He tossed his head back, literally red in the face as he lost his breath from chuckling. “Ass.”
He seemed so content. His eyes glistened, entire face lighting up when gazing at me. I did that to him. Made him jubilant.
I could do that for the rest of my life and never grow tired of the feeling bursting through my chest.
“You’re being one,” I bit out, trying not to smile.
“I love you, my little bad girl.” He pulled me back into him.
“I love you,” I said it moodily even though I was smiling into his pectoral muscles as he held me close.
“We got this though. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Not you, he said we.
I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him tightly.
“Strangely, I’m okay. I’m just sad for Lucy and Eli. I’m scared that Scott and his parents will keep going like this until it’s too late and neither of our kids wants anything to do with them.”
“If it happens, you’re not to blame.” Elijah sighed. “He and his family will be at a major loss if they miss out on those kids because of their pettiness, but I know they have an amazing mother, and she makes up for hundreds of moms and dads and…they have me.”
“You’re awesome, too.”
He smirked down at me. “I am, aren’t I?”
I rolled my eyes as Lucy threw open the screen door. “Elijah, Papaw said for you to come to him. He needs your help.”
Elijah stood. “Better go see.”
Once he disappeared through the door, I peered over at Lucy. “Is Papaw testing him with something?”
She shrugged. “He asks about Elijah a lot. Why?”
I smirked. “You’ll understand the day you bring home a boy.”
“Do I bring home one tomorrow after school?”
“No!”
She narrowed her eyes, followed by her little careless shrug. “I’m going to see what they’re doing.”
I trailed after her with a smile.
Life was great.
Chapter Forty-Two
Elijah
Four years later…
“Lucy, go find a nurse!” I panicked as I slammed the brakes and threw the truck into park.
“Will you chill?” The eight-year-old was ninety-nine percent sass, I was positive of this. That was the only language she seemed to speak. “Mom’s fine.”
“She’s right,” Hadley groaned, face pinching in pain as she clutched her round belly. “My water hasn’t even broken yet. No need to freak out.”
“Are you okay, Mommy?” Eli's lips were close to trembling. He was probably on the verge of freaking out like I was.
“I’ll go grab a wheelchair,” said Lucy, jumping out of the truck and running inside.
“No, I’m fine. I can walk.” It was too late for Lucy to hear her mom.
“You’re not walking. How far apart are the contractions now?” I asked, placing my palm against her belly. She was so full of shit. Her stomach was tightening up into a giant ball as she pinched her eyes closed. It scared me. Seeing her in pain drove me fucking crazy.
“Every two minutes?” She winced.
I hopped out of the truck, rushed over to her side, and opened her door.
“Here!” Lucy yelled across the parking lot. She placed the wheelchair next to me while I helped Hadley out.
“Can you help me with my buckles, Sissy?” Eli asked.
“You little turd, I have to do everything,” Lucy complained, helping him anyway.
“Is it time for baby bruther to come?” Eli asked.
“Yep.” Lucy shut the back door after Eli hopped out.
“Mamaw and Papaw should be here soon,” Hadley told him as I eased her into the wheelchair. “Lucy hold his hand.” She hunched over again, and my heart pounded terribly in worry as I saw her belly drawing up.
I wheeled her inside, stopping at the first nurses station I came to. “She’s in labor!”
“Has her water broken?” one of the nurses asked.
“No, but it will at any time.”
The nurse simply smiled at me, and it grated on my nerves. “Let’s check you guys in.”
I was about to say something not so nice when a warm palm slid into mine. I glanced down at Hadley who was beaming up at me while squeezing my hand reassuringly. “Me and Jackson are fine. I think we’re going to be here a while before my water breaks.”
I bent over a little and kissed the knuckles that gripped mine before I sighed. “Kick my ass if I start getting on your nerves too much. I just can’t stand seeing you in pain.”
“I know,” she murmured softly.
“Here, we’ll get you to sign her in, and we’ll set her up in a room.” The nurse gave me a paper. “You are her husband…?”
“I knew you guys would be here sometime this week,” I exhaled in relief when Hadley’s doctor strode up to us. “How are you feeling, Momma?” She touched Hadley’s belly.
“Like I’m ready to have this baby,” Hadley responded.
“What about you, Dad?” She placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Can we get Hadley to a bed? I know she’s not—”
“Ah,” her mouth widened as Hadley and her shared a knowing smirk. “I see. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of your wife and baby.”
Thirty minutes later, I was sitting beside Hadley as she laid in bed. Her eyes were pinched shut in anguish. And fucking hell, there was no way I could stomach her sitting there for hours in discomfort. They had to do something.
>
“Hank!” I peered over my shoulder as Ma and Hank stepped in. Hank was smiling as he bent down and scooped Eli up.
“How are you feeling?” Ma came over to the bed and asked Hadley.
Hadley opened her eyes slightly. “Ah…”
“Do you guys want us to take Lucy and Eli to grab something to eat?” Ma asked.
“I want to go!” Eli screamed.
“I’m going to stay here with Mom,” Lucy said, and I looked over at her watching her mom. Even with the sass, she was every bit her mommy’s girl still. Worry tugged on her lips the longer she watched Hadley.
“We’ll be in the waiting room after we get back. Make sure you bring him out to the window where we can see him after he’s born.” Ma patted my back. I fished my keys from my front pocket and handed her the truck keys.
“Just drive the truck. It’s already got his car seat.”
“Come give me a kiss, Eli,” Hadley told him. He jumped down and ran to her. I helped him up on the bed where he placed a kiss on her cheek. “You ready for baby brother?” she asked him.
He nodded vigorously. “Feel better, Mommy.” He ran back to Hank.
Once they were gone, Hadley looked at Lucy. “Weren’t you hungry?”
“You know they’re going to bring me back something anyway.” Lucy shrugged casually with all the faith in the world. She was right. They definitely would bring food back for her, probably for Hadley’s parents too who weren’t there yet.
“Does it always take so long?” Lucy asked suddenly. “Why is nothing happening?”
I felt the same way she did. I hated that it was taking so long.
“You two need to stop worrying,” Hadley told us.
“Elijah’s the one on the verge of crying, not me.” Lucy pointed out.
“I bet I won’t be the only one crying,” I added.
She glared at me. “I bet you ten dollars!”
“I bet you’ll be washing my truck.”
“God bless America!” Hadley gripped her stomach. “Lucy, you’re acting just like him lately. I can’t handle two of you.”
Lucy and I shared a knowing smirk before she snickered. She placed her head next to her mom and sighed. “After today Mom, we’re going to be outnumbered.”
One Percent of You Page 27