by Emerson Rose
“You’re mine, forever, don’t ever leave me again,” he whispers while he pulls my T-shirt over my head.
With my hands on his cheeks looking deep into his eyes I tell him, “Never, I promise, no matter what comes our way we will handle it together.”
He nods, “Good. Now we need to have makeup sex.”
A wide smile spreads across my face, “Makeup sex sounds perfect.”
Like a switch has been thrown we are crawling up the bed, devouring each other and tearing at each other’s clothes in a desperate attempt to be as close as possible. This isn’t sweet drawn out makeup sex. No, this is fast and dirty, can’t wait to have you, makeup sex.
Within minutes he is inside me and our bodies are slick with perspiration as he glides in and out building an impressive rhythm. With my legs wrapped around his waist and my feet pressing into the small of his back I beg him to go deeper, thrust harder, push me further than I’ve been pushed in months.
The headboard is banging against the wall so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up breaking through the wall into the front yard. Our neighbors can probably hear but I don’t care. I look up into his eyes as he brings me to climax and see a world of love and devotion mixed with passion. This man is my destiny, nothing will ever take me from him again, even if it’s life-threatening, I will stay and we will conquer it together.
We come together in record time and he collapses on top of me out of breath. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and breathe in the familiar smell of his almond lotion mixed with his special musky scent.
“That was mind-blowing,” he murmurs against my neck.
“Don’t get any big ideas, I don’t want to be having any more makeup sex.”
He props himself up on his shoulders to see me and his face is twisted in shock.
“I can’t believe you didn’t just like that.”
“Oh, I never said I didn’t like it. That’s the best makeup sex I’ve ever had but I don’t want to argue with you just to get it. There has to be something else that triggers hot, fast, passionate quickies like that.”
His jaw relaxes and his eyes soften. “I’ll figure it out, don’t worry.”
I rise up and press a kiss on his lips. “I’m sure you will.”
We both look up when we hear Tiana banging on our front door with a very angry and very hungry Grayson.
“I can’t believe it, but for once it’s good to hear him scream,” Julián says rolling over to slip on his lounge pants.
“He learned from the best,” I say and wiggle my eyebrows. He bends to kiss me on the forehead.
“I’d prefer to hear you scream, Mrs. Garcia, now go and feed our son so I can take you to Vegas and make you scream every night.”
“You were serious?”
“Hell yeah, I was. I’m going to put in for some leave, the police want to talk to me this afternoon but we can leave as soon as that’s over. Do you think Drake and Tiana would come with us?”
“I don’t see why not. We should ask Mattie and Belle, too.”
He swats my ass, “I think we have a wedding party!”
A wedding, what a difference a day makes.
Chapter 30
Garcia
I’ve never been so relieved in my life. When Kimber said the words I forgive you it was like my heart started beating again. If my parents were being held in a prison nearby I would go and thank them personally for being so timely with their fuck-ups. It’s like the universe knew Kimber and I were meant to be together and called on karma to have them arrested just for us.
I spent the afternoon at the police station near the base telling the police what little I know about my family. They probably already had all of the information I gave them. The DEA has been building a case against them for years. They even knew Sebastian and Diego had been in town recently. But there was nothing that could link me to their illegal activity since I’ve been a Marine for over ten years and I never call or visit them ever.
I pull into the driveway and find everyone on my porch hanging out having drinks, smiling, and laughing with their luggage lined up at the bottom of the steps.
“Hey, the gang’s all here! This must mean everybody can go, huh?”
They all erupt in a collective cheer and raise their bottles and glasses.
“What time’s our flight?”
“Eight o’clock but you’re all packed and ready to go. Here, have a beer.” Kimber tosses me a Corona and I smile.
“Damn, life doesn’t get any better than this.”
They all get quiet and look at each other. “What? What’d I say?”
“Can you come inside for a second, I want to show you something,” Kimber says.
“Can’t wait till we get to Vegas, huh?” I say walking past our friends but nobody laughs.
“Stop, you’re such a heathen. Come on.” She pulls me by the arm and I stumble along behind her to her office upstairs.
“Where’s Grayson?”
“Asleep, my mom’s coming with us to babysit. She’ll be here in a little bit.”
“So, what are we doing in here?”
She closes the door and passes me on her way to her desk. “I got this in the mail today.” She holds up a large manila envelope addressed to Mrs. Kimber Johnson.
“What’s that? And why is it addressed to Mrs. Kimber Johnson?”
“Because the lawyer who sent it was lead to believe I was still married to Caleb.”
“Huh? Lawyer, what lawyer?
“Do you remember me telling you my grandmother died right before I married Caleb?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, she was very wealthy, my grandpa was a famous photographer and he left her a fortune.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, she also loved kids, like really loved them but she was only able to have one, my mother. We always wondered where a large portion of her money went to when she died. Nobody was able to account for it and after a while we gave up trying to figure it out.”
“So she left you money?”
“Well, sort of but it had stipulations. It’s a trust fund only to be given to Caleb and me when our first child was born. She didn’t want us to rush so the lawyer had to keep it a secret until I got pregnant.”
“Wow, that seems pretty elaborate. So, what now, you get the money because you had Grayson?”
She’s bobbing up and down on her toes with excitement and her smile is so big it looks like her face is going to split open.
“Yes, but that’s not what’s so interesting.”
“Okay baby, you got me hooked, spill it, what’s the deal with this money?”
I don’t ask how much it is or when she’s getting it because I don’t care. All I want in life is standing in front of me and sleeping in the room next door. I don’t need money to be happy. I need Kimber and Grayson.
“The money was supposed to be for Caleb and me, so all the legal paperwork was drawn up in both of our names. Caleb got the notification about it but I didn’t because he had our mail forwarded to his new swanky house alone with mine. He’s been keeping this a secret all this time. He found out when I moved to California and he contacted the lawyer and acted like we were still married. He signed my name to everything and he’s been getting money from my grandma’s trust all this time. That’s why he was so hell-bent on being a daddy and falling in love with Grayson and bonding blah, blah, blah. God, he makes me sick.”
“I knew it had to be something, I knew it!” I punch the air in front of me. That bastard has been ripping Kimber off and trying to get her back so he can keep getting money from the trust.
“Yep. And I called the lawyer and the police this morning and he might just be sitting in jail right now. The lawyer says he has to pay back all the money because we weren’t married when I delivered Grayson and it was my blood relative who left the money.”
“Wow, that’s incredible. So he’s going to be gone? No more shared custody?”
“Nop
e, he will be a convicted felon, no custody for him. Not that he will want it now that he’s not getting a dime. And there are a lot of dimes to get. Julián, we are financially set for the rest of our lives. We don’t even have to work if we don’t want to. I want to, though, I love my work and I know you won’t give up being a Marine but we can have a soccer team and send them all to college and take them on family vacations…”
She’s talking a million miles an hour and I cross the room and shut her up with a kiss. This is like a fucking fairytale, where all the bad guys get punished and all the good guys get rich and live happily ever after.
I kiss her until she’s weak in the knees and panting and I’m considering a quickie before we leave for the airport.
“Wait, there’s more,” she says untangling herself from my arms.
“More? How could there possibly be more? There’s nobody left to arrest and apparently you’re rich.”
She smiles a I know something you don’t know smile and pulls something out from the top drawer of her desk.
It’s a pregnancy test and the word in the tiny box says pregnant.
“No, what the hell?”
“I guess condoms aren’t 100%,” she says with a shrug and tears in her eyes.
“We’re having a baby? Another baby?”
“Yep,” she says laughing.
“Holy shit! We’re having a baby!” I yell at the top of my lungs.
“Shush,” she says holding her finger over my lips, “you’re going to wake the one we have now.”
“I don’t care, wake him up! We have to go to Vegas so I can marry you and we can have another baby! I am the luckiest fucking man alive, Kimber Garcia, do you know that?”
“I think I do, and I’m the luckiest woman alive, Julián Garcia. I love you more than fuzzy socks.”
“And I love you more than pudding.”
Epilogue
“Mother, Jazz took my hairbrush, she takes everything. You have to tell her to stop or I’m going to call the police and turn her in for being a thief.”
My eight-year-old daughter is obsessed with law enforcement. She is forever threatening her siblings with imprisonment for touching her things.
“Emma, she’s four years old, the police don’t care if she took your hairbrush. I’ll talk to her again about leaving your things alone.”
She stomps her foot and spins on her heel, long black hair billowing out behind her as she storms out of the kitchen yelling her sister’s name. This isn’t the end of it. I’ll have to go break up a fight soon but I’m used to it after ten years and five children.
Julián and I built a gorgeous house right on the beach four years after Grayson was born. When Jasmine came along we had officially outgrown our first home in Jewel Falls. With yet another baby on the way and plans for several more, building a bigger house was a no brainer.
The money my grandmother left afforded me the opportunity to design a forever home where we could comfortably have ten kids if we wanted to. I’m not sure I can handle five more but with Julián by my side, helping the way he does, it’s a possibility.
I count to five in my head and when I reach five the screaming erupts from upstairs. Emma is yelling and poor Jasmine is crying like her older sister has stabbed her in the heart.
I dry my hands on a dishtowel and put the last plate in the dishwasher. I program the time and temperature before calmly walking upstairs to break it up.
Anxiety and anger is contagious. I’ve learned to keep my cool as much as I can upon entering these situations.
I wish Julián were here, they listen to him. As for me, I think about 50% of what I say is wasted breath. It won’t be long, though, maybe another hour, before he pulls in the driveway and they scatter to make sure their rooms are picked up and homework is started. Julián is still a big goofball and a prankster but when it comes to being a daddy he’s the perfect combination of strict and loving and fair.
I pass Luca’s room and close the door so the argument will not wake him from his nap. Two year olds are tortuous little creatures when they haven’t napped and I don’t need that today of all days.
We are flying to California, all seven of us, to vacation with Julián’s old friend Major Steele and his wife and my good friend Violet Steele.
We get our families together once a year, twice if we are lucky. I love visiting them but dragging five kids across the country is getting to be a chore. This year our trip will consist of Julián and me trying to convince Major Steele and Violet to move to North Carolina and live on the beach near us.
Major is retiring soon and they have been considering an East Coast move for a couple of years. I’m going armed with blueprints and design ideas to convince them that they need to build a house right next to ours.
“I got it, Mom, you go ahead and pack, don’t worry about those two,” Grayson says coming out of his room and cutting in front of me on his way to break up the fight between Emma and Jasmine.
He has grown into a wonderful young man. At ten years old he is fully capable of doing his own laundry, taking care of small children, cooking, and keeping a house cleaner than most adults I know.
The best thing about him is that he takes after his father in all the good ways. He’s compassionate and respectful and protective of his Mama. He also has plans to follow in his daddy’s footsteps someday, he wants more than anything to become a US Marine.
I can’t imagine how he would have turned out if Caleb had been a part of his life. Thankfully, we will never have to know. He was sentenced to two years for forgery and first-degree theft. When he got out of prison we never heard a word from him and that’s fine with all of us.
Grayson has always thought of Julián as his dad and he is in every way possible. He’s coached his baseball and basketball teams like he promised to. He attends every school conference and orchestra concert. He helps all of the kids with their homework every night and the older kids go on a run with him every morning. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this is all real.
“Thanks, Gray, I love you.”
“Love you, too, Mom,” he says disappearing into Jazz’s bedroom. I hear him speaking calmly in a tone far beyond his years. He’s discussing the implications of theft with Jasmine and the need to have patience with little kids with Emma.
I make my way down the hall to our bedroom and sigh when I see the mess of clothes and half-packed suitcases. I need to get busy.
Warm hands slide around my waist and soft lips press against my neck causing me to jump.
“Oh my God, you scared me! I wasn’t expecting you for another hour, at least.”
“I left early, figured you could use some help and looks like I was right.”
I turn and drape my arms over his shoulders. “Are you insinuating that I can’t handle packing a family of seven up for a ten-day trip alone?”
“No way, never, just offering my services if they’re needed.”
I wiggle my ass and lean my head back on his shoulder. “Just what kind of services are you talking about, Captain Garcia?”
He presses his semi-erect cock against my ass, “Any kind you need, little lady.”
“Mm, I wish we had time but this mess won’t pack itself and our flight leaves at six. I’m already behind.”
“I got you, baby, we will pack, eat, fly, and have crazy hot makeup sex when we get to the hotel in California.”
We have called any sex act that takes less than an hour, makeup sex since we had real makeup sex ten years ago. We haven’t had a fight, not even once, in all of our years together. If there is something bothering one of us we bring it to the other ASAP and work it out.
“I like the sounds of that.”
He kisses my neck again and begins folding and packing. “How was work today?”
“I didn’t get a lot done with the kids home. We should have let them go to school today, they’re going to miss so much. I did wrap up the deal with the Martin’s and finalized the design plan f
or the Masterson’s after ten attempts. Pleasing that woman is almost impossible.”
My interior design company KG Designs has become one of the best known in the country. But with top-dollar prices come rich clients who change the décor of their homes more often than I change my underwear.
“If anyone can do it, it’s you, baby.”
“Thanks.”
I hear the pitter patter of two, maybe three, kids coming down the hall.
“You didn’t tell them you were home?”
“Nope, I was going to help you first and give them a chance to pick up their rooms.”
Josefina, aka Josi, Max Jr., and Jasmine, aka Jazz fly into the room and wrap their little arms around Julián’s legs squealing with delight to see their daddy earlier than expected.
Josi is eight years old, Max Jr. is six, and Jazz is four. They are stair steps every two years that didn’t stop with Jazz. Luca is two years old and presently the baby of the family. This is the first time in ten years I have gone more than two years without being pregnant, or at least I’m pretty sure I’m not.
“Hey, guys, how was your day home with mommy? Did you help her out?”
“Good, Daddy, we packed our stuff for Uncle Nate’s all by ourselves,” Max Jr. says.
“Not all by yourself, dork, I helped you. He packed superhero figurines and his toothbrush,” Josi says, rolling her eyes.
“Thank you for helping him, honey, that was very nice of you,” Julián says tussling her hair.
“Dad, my hair!”
“Oh wow, sorry. I forgot you’re too old for that anymore, aren’t you?”
“Yes, way too old.”
“I took Emma’s brush,” Jazz says sticking out her full bottom lip. She is a carbon copy of Julián right down to the dimple in her cheek.
He squats down to her level and looks her in the eye. “You know stealing is wrong, don’t you, Jazz?”
She nods and her dark curls bounce up and down.