“Yeah.” Sam nodded. “Isn’t that what grown-ups do? They get married and have a baby?”
“Uh,” I said. “We already had our baby. You.”
“But you could have more,” Sam said simply.
Jo giggled. “You know what, kiddo? We could, one day. But for now, we want to focus on planning the best wedding ever. How would you like to be our ring bearer?”
“Yes!” Sam cried enthusiastically. “Wait. What’s a ring bearer?”
39
Josephine
Sam fell asleep in my lap when we were about halfway through watching a movie. He was bundled up in his favorite blanket and had his blue bear stuffed under his arm. I was laying tucked under Zach’s arm, who unbeknownst to me, had also fallen asleep.
I looked up at him to tell him we should put Sam to bed, but his head was back against the sofa, and his eyes were closed. He was breathing slow and deep and looked incredibly peaceful.
So I sat there, cuddled up close to both my boys and just enjoyed the moment.
I thought of the day and the future. I was going to marry Zachary Flynn. Who would have ever thought that he and I would end up together?”
Josephine Flynn.
I liked the sound of that. I liked the sound of that a lot. I smiled to myself. Sam Flynn. Also adorable. I wondered if he would want to change his name or not. The choice would be up to him.
I ended up reaching for my phone on the armrest of the sofa beside Zach. I started flipping through pictures of wedding dresses online and saved the ones I really liked. I’d never thought too much about my wedding. I wasn’t one of those girls who grew up with the idea of the perfect wedding dress already in their mind. I saved all sorts of styles: lace, tulle, satin, A-line, ball gown, mermaid, sleeves, sleeveless—it was endless. Shopping for my dress with Rosie was going to be an adventure.
Maybe I would invite Zach’s mom along, too. She would probably love that.
Then I started looking at veils and shoes and jewelry. That branched off into more research of venues, decor, centerpieces, ceremony styles, food, first dance songs, and DJs. I had to consider officiants and photographers. Bridesmaid dresses. Suits for the groomsmen. A suit for Zach.
It was going to be a lot of work, but holy Hell was I ever excited.
“What on earth are you doing, pretty girl?” Zach breathed in my ear.
I let out an embarrassed giggle and tried to hide my phone from him, but he snatched it up and started looking through all the photos I had saved. I ran my fingers through Sam’s hair absently as Zach searched through it all. “I got a little carried away,” I admitted.
Zach chuckled. “So you’re leaning toward a blue theme, hey?”
“Or purple,” I said. “I like purple. But teal and silver would be pretty in the spring, even though it’s pretty overdone. I was even thinking yellow. Yellow is nice and bright, and I’ve always liked yellow. I picture yellow daisies everywhere and stuff. So between those three, I think.”
Zach nodded along like he knew what I was talking about. “I think they would all look nice.”
“Me too.” When he got to the section of wedding dress pictures, I took the phone from him. “Nope, you don’t get to see any wedding dress related stuff. I want that to be a complete surprise.”
Zach chuckled. “Good. I want to be surprised, too.”
“Are you going to be one of those grooms who starts crying when he sees his bride for the first time?”
“I cried before you showed up at the pub, so yes,” Zach admitted.
“Really?” I laughed, resting a hand on his chest. “That’s so sweet.”
“It’s been an emotional month.” He smiled. Then he kissed my forehead. “Come on. Let’s put Sam to bed. Then I want to make love to my beautiful fiancée.”
“Fiancée,” I whispered. “I love the sound of that.
“And soon it will be wife.”
“And husband.”
Zach nodded and then rolled slowly to his feet. He scooped Sam up in his arms and carried him to his bedroom. The boy didn’t even move. He was fast asleep as Zach tucked him into his bed, and I turned off the light.
We both went to our room and brushed our teeth. I took off my makeup, moisturized my face, and brushed my hair. Zach finished long before me and patted my ass as he went to the bed. I spritzed on a little perfume before joining him.
He was already naked when I came in. He was lying on top of the sheets with his arms crossed behind his head. His cock was hard and reaching up toward his belly button.
I paused in the doorframe of the bathroom to soak in the sight of him. “I’m a lucky woman to be marrying such a stud.”
Zach laughed, and it made his abs even more defined. It should have been criminal how hot he was. He patted my side of the bed, beckoning me to join him.
I didn’t listen. Instead, I pulled my shirt off over my head then took my jeans off. I stood before him in just my black lace bralette and purple panties. I spun around, arching my back, and gathered my hair up off my back to give him a view of my body. He made a satisfied sound in the back of his throat and patted the bed again.
“Come here, woman. No need to tease me.”
“But I like to,” I said coyly. Then I bent over and snapped the waist straps of my panties on my hips.
Zach made that same, low sound, and then I heard him move.
He was off the bed and grabbing me before I even realized he had stood. I giggled, and he patted my ass and told me to be quiet. He brought me to the bed and threw me down none too gently. He leaned over me and trailed kisses up my stomach and all the way to my lips.
We devoured each other like we were ravenous and like we’d never had sex before. My body was tingling, and the place below my belly ached with desire.
Zach reached down and tugged my panties to the side. I lifted my hips in encouragement, and he ran his fingers along the opening of my pussy. Then he slipped one inside, and I sighed softly.
I matched his eagerness by grabbing his cock and stroking him as he fingered me. We were both breathless but refused to stop kissing.
He pushed another finger inside me and began thrusting in earnest. It felt so good. Too good. I clung to him and muffled the cry from my climax with his mouth. He grinned into our kiss as I became even wetter, and then he fucked me harder and faster still until I came all over again.
Then neither of us could stand to wait anymore.
Zach flipped me over onto my hands and knees. I didn’t fight him. I went and arched my back, pressing down toward the mattress to give him the view I knew he loved. He slapped my ass and then squeezed it in his hands as he plunged his cock deep inside me.
This time, I could not stifle my moan. It came out of me, hoarse and ragged, and Zach put his hand between my shoulder blades to push me roughly down on the mattress to bury my face in the sheets. I grabbed the blankets, my fingers curling into fists, as he rode me hard and fast from behind.
Zach’s hips slapped against the back of my thighs. He reached around my hip to rub my clit as he squeezed my ass with his other hand. I could hear him grunting behind me, and the sound was too sexy for me to keep my composure.
I came again, and this time, I muffled my cry with the blanket.
“Good girl,” Zach praised me.
And then he rewarded me with delicious upward thrusts until both of us shuddered with our climax and succumbed to the pleasure. He filled me with silky warmth that made my head spin with ecstasy, and I thought dimly that I should go on birth control after this because I loved when he filled me up with his seed, and I didn’t want to give that up.
When we were done, Zach and I lay on top of the sheets together on our backs. He wrapped an arm around me, and I snuggled up into his side where I fit perfectly.
“How long had you been thinking of proposing?” I asked after we lay in comfortable silence for a little while.
“Since the first morning I met Sam.”
I turned my he
ad to look up at him. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yep. As soon as I met him, I knew what I wanted. I guess I knew even before that. But I had to make sure he liked me first. I wouldn’t force myself into your life if he didn’t like me.”
“It’s crazy to think that was a year ago already,” I whispered.
“Tell me about it. Back when I was just a single guy, trying to figure out what the hell to do with my life. And then it all came together so much better than I could have ever imagined.” He kissed my forehead and pulled me closer. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I sighed.
The feeling in my heart was true joy and contentment. There were still going to be hard days, weeks, maybe even months ahead of us. That was what a relationship was. Struggles and highs and lows and renewed moments of giddy love that popped up when you least expected it. It was real life love. Not the sort of love you read about in books or saw in the movies. It was raw, pure, easy, difficult, and beautiful.
Love was Zach.
And love was Sam.
And I knew that I could handle whatever life threw at me now. I was whole.
“What are you thinking about?” Zach asked. He sounded tired, like he’d stopped himself from fading off before me.
“You. Life.”
“Deep.” He chuckled.
“Very,” I admitted. “I’m just really, really happy. I don’t think it could get any better than this. Our family is together. We’re making this thing work. A year and a half ago, I never would have believed that this feeling was possible.”
“Me neither,” Zach admitted. “Not in a million years.”
“And yet, here we are.”
“Here we are.”
“Engaged. Parents.”
“Lovers,” Zach teased, poking me in the ribs.
I giggled and squirmed, and he rolled on top of me. He rested his elbows on either side of me and stared down into my eyes. I looked into his perfect hazel ones. Eyes that I’d always dreamed of looking at me the way he was now.
“I’m glad you’re mine, Jo,” he said, stroking my hair off my face.
“I wouldn’t ever be anyone else’s,” I whispered.
And then we were kissing again, and the world around us faded away, and he reminded me of how good it felt to be his.
Epilogue
Zach
The clock said that it was six o’clock in the morning when I woke up and looked blearily around the bedroom. Jo was in the washroom. The light was peeking through under the bedroom door, and the water was running. Maybe she had already showered.
I closed my eyes again. My body felt heavy but well rested. This was the first night in a long time that I’d managed to sleep straight through, probably because I’d been so focused on making sure everything was in order for the proposal. I felt fucking good.
The vigorous sex the night before had probably contributed to that at least a little bit.
As I lay there with my eyes closed, I thought about the woman in the bathroom. My woman. The woman who would soon be my wife. She was already my entire life. Being able to make it official was exciting.
I was a lucky bastard. I’d never thought I would have something this good. The appeal of the sky had been sucked right out of me. I no longer yearned for my plane or my life in the Air Force. That was my old life. The life that had been all about me. I hadn’t had any room to love someone or take care of someone.
And now with Jo, that was all I wanted to do.
The bathroom door opened, and I cracked open one eye. Jo was wearing her favorite sleeping shirt and a pair of black panties that, in my opinion, made her ass look phenomenal. She was smiling from ear to ear as she walked around the bed and crawled on top of me. She straddled my hips and put her hands behind her back.
“Good morning,” I said. “You’re up early.”
She shrugged. “A little.”
I arched a skeptical eyebrow. “What’s going on?”
Her smile stretched, and her cheeks turned a brilliant shade of pink. “Nothing,” she said, swaying her shoulders. Sam did the same thing when he lied about brushing his teeth.
“Oh yeah?” I laughed. “Nothing? What’s behind your back, then?”
She bit her bottom lip.
I reached behind her, and she yanked away from me, erupting in a fit of giggles. “Oh, come on!” I cried, making another swipe. “What do you have? This is no way to treat your fiancé.”
“Okay, okay.” She laughed. “I should have done something better, but I’m too excited.”
She pulled her hands out from behind her back and extended them to me. Across her palms lay a small white stick.
“What is this?” I asked.
She didn’t answer me. Instead, she simply held it out closer to me. I pushed myself up to prop my back against the headboard. She came up with me, rocking from side to side on my lap as I got comfortable.
I noticed that there was a blue cap on one end. It sort of looked like an awkward highlighter. In the middle was a small screen with a pale pink line through it.
Then, realization slammed into me, and I grabbed it out of her hand to hold it in front of my eyes. “Is this what I think it is?” I asked, incredulous.
She nodded up and down, up and down, and her eyes welled with tears. She didn’t have words. Neither did I.
“Holy crap,” I breathed, pressing a hand to my forehead. “Holy crap.”
Jo laughed a little nervously. “Is this a good holy crap, or an ‘oh no’ holy crap?”
“It’s good,” I said, my voice shaking. “It’s really good. Holy crap.” It was all I could think to say. My mind was racing a mile a minute.
We were going to have another baby. A baby that I would be able to hold and love and be there for from the very beginning. Guilt tickled at my gut at not being able to do that for Sam. Would he be jealous?
No. Sam was a good kid. He was loved, and he knew it.
“Holy crap,” I said again.
Jo slapped me in the chest. “Say something else! You’re freaking me out.”
I looked up at her, and smiled as my heart constricted in my chest. God I loved her.
“Hey! I’m serious. Are you happy or-” Jo cried, reaching out and cupping my face.
“Happy.” I nodded and pulled her close, kissing her hard.
Jo giggled. “You’re going to be a daddy again.”
“Holy crap,” I said, and she narrowed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m just. Wow. This is insane. This is… this is awesome. How did you know? When did you know? How do you feel? How far along are you? Should we go to the doctor? What do you—”
“Zach,” Jo said, pressing both of her hands into my chest. “Relax. Everything is fine. I woke up feeling a bit off, and it reminded me of the way I felt the day I decided to take a pregnancy test when I was carrying Sam. I had a test under the bathroom sink, and I figured rather than sit around and think about it for weeks, that I would find out now. I didn’t actually expect it to be positive. It’s like Sam knew.”
“What do you mean?”
“What he said yesterday in the car about us having a baby.”
“Yeah,” I said. “After we got married.”
Jo shrugged. “Sometimes, nature has its own plans. I don’t care about being pregnant when we get married. Or we can push the wedding back to the following spring or summer when the baby is already here.”
When the baby is already here, I thought. Holy crap.
“We need to get a bigger house,” I said.
Jo rocked back in my lap and laughed joyfully. “Oh? Just like that, hey?”
“Well, where do you suggest we have a nursery?”
“We could make it work.”
“I don’t want to just make it work,” I said. “I want a bigger home. Our home. A place that is just ours that doesn’t have memories of other people living in it. Somewhere we can raise our family, and when our kids have kids of their own, they can come back for family di
nners and holidays and—”
Jo cupped my cheeks. “I love you, you wonderful, good, glorious man.”
I cupped my hands over hers. “I love you too, my pregnant fiancée.”
Jo laughed again. “Lucky me.”
“Well, at least we both know we make great kids. This one won’t turn out any different.” I scratched the back of my neck. “But I think you should make an appointment with your doctor. I want to know how far along you are. And I’m going to start looking at houses.”
“You’re not wasting any time, huh?”
I shook my head. “Can’t. I know stress is bad for the baby and moving when you’re further along in the pregnancy is not an option. If we do it now, you can stay here where there aren’t any fumes, and I can get any necessary work done that you want. Like painting the nursery.” I paused, my thoughts wandering. “Are we going to find out the gender?”
“Do you want to know the gender?” Jo asked, looking at me calmly.
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it. Did you find out with Sam?”
Jo shook her head. “No. I had too many things to worry about, and I wanted there to be a surprise at the end. But I think I knew it was a boy. Mothers just have a sixth sense for that kind of thing.”
“Do you have a sixth sense about… about—” I broke off before I got emotional again.
Jo shook her head. “Not yet. It’s too early. But if you want to know the sex, then we can find out. Then we can plan accordingly. But we don’t have to decide now. Let’s just worry about getting to the first doctor’s appointment, and then we’ll go from there. For all we know, I might only be two weeks along.”
“Or two months,” I teased.
“Possibly.”
“Wait. What?”
“Crazier things have happened.” Jo chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess. Like finding out you have a four-year-old son.”
“Exactly,” Jo said. Then she leaned in and kissed me again, and I wrapped my arms around her. “I’m happy. I think this is going to be perfect. And I’ve been thinking a lot about having another baby.”
Air Force Hero Page 24