by Claire Adams
I didn’t even think it was possible, but Alex sped up even more. My breath was now a series of ragged bursts matching his thrusts.
The next orgasm ripped through me, and I let out loud cry, the pleasure blasting through my body and mind.
My walls tightened around Alex, trying to milk him. After a final solid thrust, his cock swelled, and he cried out his release. His warm seed shot deep into me, coating me.
Alex remained inside me for a moment, his comfortable fullness helping prolong the wonderful warmth still filling my body. When he finally pulled out, I let out a quiet sigh of disappointment, and then allowed myself to collapse on top of the bed.
He crawled to the side of the bed to grab the blanket and pull it over us.
I rolled over to rest my head against his solid chest, loving the still heavy thump of his heart.
“How come we never did that before?” Alex said.
“Because we both knew you were leaving.”
“Huh.”
I nuzzled his neck. “But it doesn’t matter ‘cause now you’re here.”
“Give me your phone,” Alex suddenly commanded.
I pulled away to look up at him. “Why?”
There was an intense look in those gray eyes of his. “Because I won’t be here tomorrow, but I want to prove this wasn’t about a one-night stand.”
I blinked. “W-what?”
“I have to be back on my job site tomorrow,” Alex said. He ran through his blond hair. “So I can’t stay. I’m leaving early in the morning. But I want you to have my number, so we won’t go 10 years without talking again.”
“I, uh...” Yes, I know. A great response. I’d dreamed about this moment for 10 years, not just the sex but finding something more, and now I was babbling like an idiot.
A look of disappointment appeared on his face. “Unless you don’t want to. I just assumed …” He shrugged.
“No, no, no, I want you to have my number,” I said.
I rolled over to hop off the bed and then rushed over to my purse. After quickly fishing my phone out, I handed it to him. My thundering heart distracted me so much, all I could manage was a weak nod.
Alex navigated to my contacts list and added his name and number. “Just text me, and I’ll text you back when I can. Everything else we can figure out as we go. I think we both know there’s something here.”
“You’re sure, then?” I said quietly. It was hard to accept what I was hearing, no matter how good it sounded. “I mean, you know, it was fun, and I’d like to think about more, but, well …” I tried to sound casual, but I knew I was failing.
Alex smiled. “Yeah. This is not the end, Aspyn. This is the beginning of something I should have started a long time ago.”
I slipped back into bed and his arms.
We lay there, entangled with him stroking my hair, until we finally fell asleep.
Chapter 4
Alex
Sometimes I hated my boss. Like that Saturday. Or the Thursday before my trip. Okay, most days, I hated my boss.
I grumbled as I put on my hard hat and walked into the warehouse. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t even think I needed to be there, but he’d insisted I be there. Arguing with him wasn’t worth risking my job, no matter how stupid I thought he was being.
The whole crew had been working overtime on this damn industrial warehouse project, but I didn’t get how me working a few hours on one day would mean crap in the long run. The way my boss acted, he was practically risking running the company into the ground by letting me leave for a day.
I’d wanted another day with Aspyn, just one damn Saturday.
When I’d originally asked for my time off, I wanted the two days so I could rest. I never thought, never dreamed even, that I’d hook up with Aspyn.
It was funny how all that emotion, all those memories, could come flooding back after so many years. I’d thought I was over her a long time before, but the second I laid my eyes on her at the reunion, I’d had trouble focusing on anything else.
Now, there I was, less than 20 hours after bedding the woman I’d lusted after for years, back in Texas walking through a half-built warehouse that still wouldn’t be finished for several months, anyway.
“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath.
Maybe it would have been better if we hadn’t hooked up. Then I wouldn’t be eager to go back to her.
It was hard to know what I was even feeling. I’d had a crush on her in high school, but what we’d shared yesterday was all too adult. Sure, the sex was great, but I wondered if I was letting myself get carried away with satisfying my needs after a little dry spell.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through some of the texts we’d exchanged that day.
Last night was great, Alex. I smiled at her text. Damn right it was great. I’d brought my A game.
Yeah. For me, too. Getting on the plane now. I’ll text when I get back off in TX.
You arrive yet?
Easy flight. Tired but good kind of tired.
I know what you mean. I’m sore but good kind of sore.
She followed it up with some kissy face emoji.
I snickered to myself and put the phone back in my pocket. We’d sent a lot of other texts that day, but I didn’t have time to reread them. I was on the clock and had some scaffolding to help with on the other side of the building.
My phone chirped. It was as if Aspyn knew I was thinking about her.
Maybe I could send you some special pics tonight. Definitely NSFW.
My cock hardened at the thought. I almost texted her back but decided against it. I couldn’t afford to be even more distracted at work. I turned off the sound. We’d have plenty of time to text and chat later that night. Yeah, I wanted some sexy pics from her for sure.
Besides, I didn’t want my boss on my ass for slacking off at work. I’d barely been able to convince him to let me have the time off I needed to go to the reunion. My damn work schedule was so erratic it was a joke, and if I screwed this up, he’d end up making my life a living hell.
I’d thought about leaving this construction company a lot, but the truth was, the bastard paid better than most people in the area. I supposed dealing with an annoying schedule made it worth it. I was saving a lot. For what, I wasn’t sure, but I felt good about it.
“Hey, Alex,” George, one of the other guys on the crew called to me. “I need your help over here.”
I pocketed my phone and hurried over to help him, stepping into a mostly-completed side room.
The smell of rotten eggs drifted in my nose, and I gagged.
“You smell that?” I asked.
George sniffed. “Yeah. Is that gas?”
A bright flash caught my attention, and I spun toward the source. Another worker was welding together some railing nearby. The sparks shot into the air and lit up the front of his mask.
“Shit,” I said. My stomach lurched. “Stop,” I yelled at him. “We got a gas leak!”
The welder looked up, but it was too late. The next few moments felt like they all happened in slow motion. A stray spark ignited the invisible gas in the air. A fireball exploded from the welder, the force knocking George and me to the ground. The welder flew across the room.
I groaned, shaking my head, trying to focus. My ears ringing, I shoved myself up. George lay on the ground, not moving but still breathing, so I grabbed him and put his arm over my shoulder, carrying him toward the door.
Another boom shook the entire room, and the force of the second explosion knocked us into a wall. Flames roared across the entire room now, and smoke choked me. Alarms rang in the distance. Heat soaked the air, making breathing even more painful.
I tried to stand, but pain spiked through my leg, and I collapsed, groaning. A quick check of my leg showed the reason. It was bent in a way that couldn’t happen without a few bones being broken.
The pain radiated now from my leg to the rest of my body. My leg throbbed, and I tried not to
vomit from the pain.
I shook George. “Get the hell out of here,” I said. “Get up and run.” I didn’t need to be an engineer to know the ceiling was going to come down any second.
He groaned. Large pieces of the ceiling started falling to the ground.
“Move, damn it, George. Move.”
Strangely, my heart didn’t pound. My life didn’t flash before my eyes. I started crawling forward, gritting my teeth, the pain in my leg unbelievable. I stopped every few seconds to pull George along. I hoped he’d wake up and run, but there was no way I was going to leave him there.
I glanced back at the welder, but he was already buried under a pile of crap. For all I knew, he’d died in the first explosion. Now it was time to concentrate on the living.
One inch. Two inches. One foot. One yard.
“Fuck!” I screamed. I’d managed to spend four years in the Army and two years in Afghanistan and not see much more than bored soldiers and excited Afghan villagers. I knew guys who’d lost friends or got injured or killed themselves.
I’ve survived all that just so I could die in some shitty, half-built warehouse in Texas. I wasn’t one to question the man upstairs, but his sense of humor was way too twisted for me to understand.
With a loud grunt, I crawled forward. I coughed, the smoke starting to overwhelm me. I could do it. I knew I could. Nothing but a shattered leg. No big deal, right?
Chunks of the wall and ceiling collapsed behind George and me. I let out a nervous laugh. If I’d not started moving when I had, then both of us would have been already buried.
My vision blurred. It was hard to see. I let out another laugh. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the smoke or if I was losing my mind in the end.
Heavy footfalls caught my attention, and I could see three men rushing toward me.
I tried to lift my arm, but all I could manage was a groan at this point.
“We got you, Alex. We got you,” said one of the men as they hoisted me up. Another man grabbed George, and soon, we were hurrying away from the spreading fire.
The last thing I heard before passing out was a moaning creak and another loud crash.
* * *
The smoke filled my lungs. I coughed and hacked. I couldn’t breathe. The pain overwhelmed me, making it hard for me to even think.
I crawled. Cement, metal, and wood crashed in front of me.
“You’re gonna die, you know,” a man in a welder’s mask said. He was standing in front of me like a statue, not moving, not even breathing, but I could still hear him. “Just like I did.”
“I’m not dead yet.”
“Soon. Soon enough.”
More smoked filled the room. I couldn’t see anything.
“Somebody help me,” I screamed.
My eyes snapped open. My leg was in traction, and I had more tubes running into and on me than I could count.
A doctor smiled down at me. “Ah, it’s okay, Alex. Can I call you Alex?”
I gave him a careful nod, but the movement made my neck hurt. My mind was muddled, cloudy, and slow. It was like trying to force a car through a pool of molasses.
“It’s okay, Alex. You’ve been seriously injured, but you’re safe now. Get some rest. We’ll take good care of you.”
I was safe. It had been a nightmare. But what good did it do to be safe if I was just going to keep having nightmares?
* * *
Two months later, I lay in a hospital bed as my doctor held up an X-ray.
“Alex, your recovery is coming along nicely,” he said. “We’ll be able to discharge you soon. All your other tests suggest full lung and other organ recovery as well, and there’s no sign of that lingering infection. We’ll also be able to remove the pins in your leg without too much trouble.”
“But not before I leave the hospital?”
“No, you’ll need a follow-up procedure here in a couple months.”
“More time in the hospital.”
The doctor chuckled. “I get that this isn’t the most fun place to spend your time.”
“And I also won’t be able to go back to work right away.” I let out a little grunt.
“Considering your line of work, it’s going to be a while.”
I lay my head back on the pillow and let out a long sigh. “Great, just great.”
My doctor gave me a sympathetic smile. “From what your employer has told me, there should be no issues with workers’ compensation. I’ve signed all the necessary paperwork and provided all the information.” He scratched his eyebrow. “I’ve never run into a situation where someone’s boss was so involved.”
I chuckled darkly. My boss had become my new best friend after the accident. The government was all up his ass since he’d lost a man on the job, and I think he was worried about a lawsuit. I had been the only one awake after the initial explosion, so a lot of people had been asking me questions.
People were calling me a hero because I’d pulled George out, but I didn’t feel that way. If the other guys hadn’t manned up and come in to pull us both out, I’d be dead and so would George.
The sad truth was, from what I knew, the accident was no one’s fault. At least nobody on-site, let alone my boss. We’d followed procedures, but a weak valve had broken, leading to the leak. Maybe it was the fault of the company that made the valve. I didn’t know. I didn’t care.
Blaming people didn’t fix my leg. Blaming people didn’t bring the dead worker back to life.
“Yeah, well, just need something to do besides sitting around watching TV all day,” I mumbled. Between my savings and my workers’ compensation claim, I wasn’t worried about money, but I wasn’t a guy who liked to be too alone with his thoughts.
It’d help if I had some friends to chat with, but other than the people interested in investigating and my boss a few times, nobody had stopped by.
My doctor nodded slowly. “You do remember what we discussed about rehabilitation?”
“Yeah, I do. What about it?”
“I wanted you to be aware that it’s going to take some time before full rehabilitation. It will take up a good amount of your attention for a while. I’m confident you’ll regain full strength and range of motion, but that will require you to take rehabilitation seriously.”
I shrugged. “Guess it gives me something to throw myself into it. Don’t worry. I’m not gonna blow it off.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m also going to give you a referral to a psychiatrist.”
“I don’t need to see some headshrinker.”
The doctor looked at the window and then back to me. “Are you still having nightmares?”
“No, not a problem anymore.”
I didn’t like lying to him, but I didn’t want to deal with him. Sure, I was having nightmares all the time, but it wasn’t every night, and I was sure they’d go away once I got out of the hospital. They had to. Talking to somebody about my feelings wasn’t going to help.
“Ah, good, then. I’ll still give you the referral, and you can decide if you need help at a later date.” He nodded. “I’ll come again tomorrow, but I think we’re talking release within a couple of days.” He moved to the door and then stopped to look over his shoulder. “And you’re sure there’s no one we can contact?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Okay then.” He stepped out of the room.
No friends. No relatives. Dead dad, long gone mom. No brothers, sisters, and no cousins I gave a damn about. I was alone.
I’d had someone, Aspyn, but it was too late. She’d moved on. I was sure of it because I hadn’t exactly been returning her calls or texts. She probably thought I’d ghosted her.
I hadn’t meant to. I just didn’t have a phone anymore.
A snort escaped. I needed a new phone. When sitting in the hospital every day, it was easy to forget about crap like being connected, but my phone had melted during the accident. Hell, it’d given me second-degree burns, and I hadn’t even realized at the tim
e because of my other injuries.
I sighed and considered trying to get a hold of Aspyn, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’d march back into Livingston and find that she had some new guy.
I wasn’t even myself, and I wouldn’t be for months. She wanted and needed a man who could rock her world and make her moan. I’d recover, but it’d take a while, and I didn’t want her to look at me with pity. The idea made my stomach clench.
I had to face the truth. By the time I was back to my old self, it’d be too long for her to wait around.
Yeah, we’d connected at the reunion, but we’d both been drunk, and it had been that kind of night.
I had other things to worry about like rehab and getting back to work. It wasn’t like I loved her. It was just a fun end to an old high school crush.
So why did I feel so empty?
Chapter 5
Aspyn
Did anyone really like a moment of truth? I knew I didn’t.
Holding my breath, I reached over and picked up the little plastic stick sitting on my bathroom counter. I swallowed once and turned it to see the center. It was time to see if my life had permanently changed.
A little pink line ran down the middle of the pregnancy test.
“No way,” I mouthed. “No way, no way, no way. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.”
I blinked and then shook it several times, hoping that maybe I was seeing things. Shaking didn’t change anything, nor did the stream of curse words I tossed at it right after.
A long, slow sigh escaped my mouth, and I tossed the pregnancy test into the small garbage can sitting next to my toilet. The whole thing seemed weird and strange, almost like I was experiencing someone else’s life.
But I wasn’t, and I needed to face up to that.
So, there it was, the big, inescapable truth. I was pregnant.
When I’d first gotten morning sickness, I’d blown it off, thinking up every excuse I could think of: food poisoning, seasonal bug, bad luck. At one point, I’d even somehow convinced myself for a day I might have had stomach cancer. On another, I thought it had something to do with local pesticide spraying.