by Jennifer Ann
“I’ve already chosen him. The first time I saw him with Anna, I knew then and there that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”
Her lips purse with a grin. “Have you told him that?”
My mind runs over the small handful of conversations we’ve had since Anna was born. I’ve been careful not to push any boundaries he’s set, and I haven’t brought up anything about our relationship. I meet her amused expression, wincing. “No.”
“My dear, sweet sister-in-law…men are a lot of things, but they’re sure as hell not mind readers. Sometimes you have to be direct with them, like you’re speaking to a small child.” She pushes the door open, eyes narrowed on me. “Clean yourself up and wait here.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m bringing him down.”
Panic rises in my throat when I glance at my tear-soaked dress. “You expect me to talk to him about this now?”
“Life is short.” She tosses me a wink. “It’s as good a time as any.”
The moment she’s gone I run to the sink and splash water on my face, dabbing it with paper towels. The need for a pill ricochets through my core as I stare back at my wide-eyed reflection. I quickly replace the craving with the image of Asher holding Anna minutes ago, reminding myself I’ll never give in to my addiction again because of them.
Minutes later, there’s a soft knock on the door before it swings open. My legs threaten to buckle when Asher steps into the women’s bathroom, his massive frame making the area seem impossibly small. In a gray suit, white dress shirt, and pink tie, he’s model-perfect. His hair has grown out since I left Miami, and I’ve been dying to slip my fingers through the dark waves.
“Katie told me she’s guarding the stairway to the rooftop.” The small smirk on his lips fades, and the grave expression in his eyes shoots shivers down to my toes. “You been crying?”
I lift one shoulder, voice breaking. “It hit me hard today how badly I messed up with you.”
His jaw hardens and he lifts his chin, silently waiting for me to continue. Hot tears tumble down my cheeks as I gaze into his dark eyes, hopeful for the slightest glimmer of forgiveness.
“You’ve been nothing but kind and gentle with my daughter from the beginning.” I take a few timid steps toward him, wanting to be close, but more scared than I’ve ever been in my life. “You should hate us both, but you’re too good of a man. You’re a bigger person than I’ll ever be for leaving everything behind in Miami to be with us. You’ll never know how grateful you’ve made me. Seeing the way you look at her, watching you cuddle her like she’s your own…it’s more than my heart can take.” My trembling fingers wrap around his warm, gorgeous face. “Letting you go was the biggest mistake of my life. If you’ll take me back, I promise to love you with everything I have. I’m so deeply in love with you…I can’t imagine a future without you in it. And I know I don’t have the right to ask you this, but Anna would be the luckiest girl in the world if you’d officially become her father.”
A gasp wrenches from my throat when he wraps one arm around my waist, lifting the other to twist his fingers in my hair. He towers over me, a pillar of strength and love, eyes glistening. I wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction. I imagined he’d say he needed time before storming out. I expected him to yell, or even throw things.
I hold my breath as his lips lower to the same level as mine, slanted with one of his little smirks. “Thought you’d never ask. I’ve been telling her every damn day since she was born that I hope to be her daddy one day.”
He absorbs my next gasp with his mouth, kissing me unrelentingly hard. Time stands still as our tongues tangle, lips moving in sync, quiet moans sticking to our throats. My heart pounds furiously as I cling to his warm body, feeling his love with every last cell in my body. The throb between my legs becomes too severe to withstand any longer as his hands explore my body, caressing my exposed skin and erupting shivers everywhere.
“I love you, Angelina Kendall,” he rasps with his lips pressed to my ear. “I’m going to marry your sexy ass, and we’re going to raise that beautiful little girl together…give her a house full of brothers and sisters.”
His fingertips nudge each of the straps on my dress downward, making room for his hot mouth and tongue to slide along my collarbone. I twist my fingers through his thick hair as he licks and sucks my skin, leaving a searing trail all the way down to a breast. When he cups his hand around the other one, brushing the nipple with his thumb, I drop my head back and moan.
I’ve missed everything about him, from his powerful mouth to the thick cock beneath his trousers, rubbing against my center. My underwear’s so wet that I’ll combust into a million pieces if I don’t feel him inside me soon.
“Ash, please,” I beg, palming his erection. “Baby, I need you so bad it hurts.”
“You sure you’re ready?”
“God, yes.”
With a guttural groan, he pulls me up into his arms, and I wrap my legs around his waist. Then he’s kissing me deeper and harder than before, pushing me up against the sink as I fumble with the belt on his pants. His fingers trail up beneath the skirt of my dress, finding my underwear and yanking it down to my knees.
His hands leave my body as I’m freeing his cock. It’s as red and strained as I’ve ever seen. There’s a rustle of a wrapper before he’s fisting it and covering it with a rubber. I don’t know how long he’s been carrying a condom around, but I’m tickled to discover he was prepared. As badly as I want to have his children one day, there’s no way I’m raising another baby so soon after having Anna.
We resume kissing as his strong hands cup my ass, positioning me over him. He leans back all at once, searching my eyes. “Promise you’ll stop me if it’s too much.”
I blindly nod before dragging his sinful lips back to meet mine. I’ve completely healed from having Anna, and I’ve never needed sex with someone this desperately. Finally his swollen tip presses into my slick opening, continuing on at a painfully slow pace, and leaving a delightful burn in its path. I dig my fingernails into the back of his suit jacket, gasping and panting until he’s all the way inside.
“Now move,” I whisper against his ear. And he does. The languid in and out is enough to drive me insane. The dull ache is almost like losing my virginity a second time around, only the first time I didn’t have all these intense feelings clenching inside my chest. “Faster, baby! Harder! God, Ash…I love you so much!”
He does as I ask, and the result is marvelous. I shatter beneath the force of his powerful hips, clawing his neck while crying out. Soon he’s groaning inside my mouth with a final thrust, and his thighs quiver before he becomes still.
Warm lips cover every inch of my face as I come back around, cradled against him. I clutch his arms, tilting my head back. “Don’t let me hurt you like that again. You deserve so much more than I can give you.”
His leans back to take my chin between his fingers and thumb. “You’re all I ever wanted. Having you and Anna as my family? That’s more than I could ever want.”
With one final kiss, he places me back down on the floor, holding me upright until my wobbling legs strengthen. He bends to drag my underwear back in place, grinning the entire time. Then as I’m fluffing my hair, he replaces my dress straps and begins laughing in a deep, rumbling sound that sends more sparks of desire erupting through me.
“What?” I ask, grabbing his tie and yanking him closer.
“Your family is going to know what we’ve been up to.”
Horrified, I release him and spin back to face the mirror. My cheeks are bright red, and my curls are a mess. Most notably, I’m glowing. My lips twitch with a smile. It’s the happiest I’ve looked in over a year.
Asher comes up behind me, his hard length pressed against my back, eyes heavily lidded. “Damn, baby. I missed seeing your face all flushed like that after you come.” Palming a breast, his other hand begins to pull my dress up along my thigh as he holds my stare in th
e mirror. “May as well keep going. We have a lot of wasted time to make up for.”
Though I know I should check in on my daughter—our daughter, the heat from his touch swallows me whole. I can only manage a moan when his fingers slip beneath my underwear. I drop my head back against his shoulder, grinding into his hand as it strokes, lighting my entire body on fire.
Fuck it. My daughter and I are both in the best of hands.
Epilogue
Asher
With only a few days until Christmas, we’re greeted with a festive and cheerful mood once I step foot on set of Angie’s new show. Colorful lights line every hallway, and a few people behind the scenes don ugly sweaters. Like every other time I bring our daughter by to have lunch with Angie, everyone stops to fuss over her. After so many hugs and too many people getting in her face, Anna buries her blond little head against my coat and tucks her little hands under her belly. Never fails to make my heart melt right out of my damn body when she uses me for comfort.
Angie’s hours aren’t half as grueling as they were in Miami, but I still have a little more free time to spend with Anna. Although I only escort her mom to and from the set, no longer feeling the need to linger, I’ve also been busy starting up a new gym with James and Nolan in Brooklyn Heights. Three afternoons a week we coach boxing to underprivileged kids.
“You two have perfect timing!” Cami, the show’s director, calls out. She appears from the shadows in back to join us, gently stroking Anna’s back. She’s only in her forties, and attractive enough to be on the other side of the camera, but she’s still somehow become a grandmotherly type to Anna since filming started. As much time as she spends at our place, she’s practically an unofficial family member.
She glances over her shoulder to where Angie’s talking to one of her costars, still on stage, then turns back to me. “Everything ready to go?”
“Should be. My parents landed a couple hours ago. They were the last ones set to arrive.”
Lips pressed together, Cami makes a closed-throat squealing noise before kissing my daughter’s head. “Angie’s gonna freak!” Then she steps back, placing her fingers on my arm. Her brown eyes dance under the dim lights. “She’s the luckiest woman I know. Are you sure you don’t have a single uncle or another handsome family member with a, uh…heart as big as yours?”
I respond with a deep laugh, drawing the attention of my gorgeous fiancée. Her eyes shine brighter than the lights over her head, mirroring my excitement. The amount of love I feel for that woman scares the shit out of me sometimes. I don't know that I could survive losing her again. Grinning, she breaks my stare and whispers something to her costar before skipping over our way with the spirit of a little kid.
“I better split before she suspects something,” Cami whispers. She takes off, greeting Angie on her way past.
In skin-tight leather pants and a ripped up t-shirt, straightened hair extensions down to her elbows, my girl’s hotter than my wildest fantasy. When I wonder if the studio would let her bring the costume home for the weekend, I shift Anna around to my other side. Nothing worse than getting turned on when my daughter’s nearby. Unfortunately, it happens all the damn time with her gorgeous mother.
“Hello, my beautiful family!” Angie sings, opening her arms to the baby. Anna snuggles against her mother when I pass her off. Angie’s other arm slips around my waist as I bend to kiss her. She grins when I back off. “What have you two been up to today?”
“It’s a secret,” I answer, wiping a line of drool from Anna’s chin. No way I’m confessing to what we’ve been doing the last few days while she’s filming. “Right, baby girl?”
Anna giggles, wrapping her pudgy fingers around the tip of my pointer finger. She’s nearly an exact replica of her mother with the same pale blond hair, same slender nose, same grayish blue eyes. The only noticeable difference between them is the wider mouth Anna inherited from her biological father. But as if fate had a hand in the way things were to play out, it’s nearly the same damn shape as mine. Strangers have even commented on our similarities.
“A secret, huh?” Angie’s eyes narrow. “I can't believe you two are already conspiring against me. What’s it going to be like when she can actually talk?”
Unable to stop myself from touching her whenever she’s near, I brush my lips over her forehead. The night of Anna’s baptism, I officially moved in with Angie, and we made love until the sun came up. I flew back to Miami the following weekend to pack my shit within a few hours’ time, and returned on the first flight I could catch back. We haven’t gone more than a day since without having some form of sex.
Dragging my nose down to the side of her head, I whisper, “Trust me, baby. You’ll like this secret.”
A throaty sound dies on her lips before she clears her throat. “I just have to…ah…grab my phone, and we can get in line for lunch. Shar was going to text me with a list of things she needed for dinner tonight. I figured you could swing by the grocery store on the way to your play date.”
I motion for her to lead the way, grinning to myself as she leads the way. She’s totally clueless what lies ahead, exactly as I so meticulously planned.
Outside her dressing room, she stops so suddenly that I almost run into her. She points at the star affixed to the door, engraved with her name. “Is this your doing?”
“Wanted to remind you that you’re not expendable.” I kiss the top of her head, then my daughter’s. “Neither of my girls are.”
Anna’s fingers tangle in my shaggy hair. “Da-da!”
Other than my gaze shifting to Angie, I don’t move a muscle. It could just be more babbling, because she’s being doing that a lot lately. Then Anna says it again, and Angie bursts out with a happy laugh, clapping her hands.
“Of course you’d say daddy’s name before mommy’s, you cute little stinker!”
Eyes burning, I swipe my daughter away from her mother, throwing her into the air. She hiccups with a giggle before landing safely back inside my hands. Though the adoption was official over a month ago, it’s more of a validation that she’s mine. She won’t know any different unless we decide to tell her the truth one day. Considering the fact that Theo hasn’t reached out to Angie since Anna was born, we’re in no hurry to force a relationship between them.
I gather my beautiful ladies in my arms, squeezing them and kissing each of their heads. Finding the perfect family was a long time coming, and for too damn long I wasn’t sure it would happen with Angie. Now that they’re both about to become officially mine, I wouldn’t change the path it took to get here for anything.
Angelina
Long before costume brought the gorgeous red gown into my room, I knew Asher was up to something. I was onto him long before Cami called a wrap four hours ahead of schedule, especially as it was the third day in a row he wouldn’t tell me what he had been doing all day. The off-shoulder gown with a fitting bodice and flowing skirt, along with the sophisticated way hair and makeup curled and pinned my blond locks wasn’t anything close to how my badass character would look. It’s far too elegant. And totally me.
By the time they were done, the reflection I saw brought tears to my accentuated eyes. People in the business have always told me I could pass for a legitimate princess. It was the first time I wholeheartedly agreed.
A limo picks me up outside the studio with Dante in the front seat. He escorts me to the massive Christmas tree in Washington Square Park where my suspicions are confirmed. With tears in my eyes, I take in the dusting of snow, twinkling lights, massive bouquets of white flowers strewn about, and 4-piece tuxedoed orchestra playing a romantic melody. Every last one of my family members stands with Asher’s parents near the white arch, along with Cami and a handful of other friends and coworkers. A team of security guards in overcoats holds back a crowd of curious strangers.
My breath pinches painfully tight when Asher emerges from the darkness in a designer black suit, no overcoat, and black bowtie. Holding our daughter in
his arms, he flashes me the widest smile his face can hold. Little blond curls pinned back with a red ribbon, Anna wears a fancy little pea coat over a dress that’s made with the same material as mine. My step falters with a burst of blinding joy.
To think I almost gave this all up…and for what? How did I possibly think being alone and obnoxiously famous while pretending to be with someone I didn’t love would make me happy?
Dante grips my elbow. “You okay?”
Nodding through a blur of tears, I burst forward to embrace my future husband. The crowd applauds behind us when Asher wraps me in his free arm, kissing me until we’re both breathless, and Anna’s running a mittened hand through my hair.
Asher pulls back, carefully pulling our daughter’s arm down before cupping my face. “Babe, I didn’t think it was possible for you to be any more beautiful. Did you look in a mirror before you came here? You’re…stunning.” Glancing down at my breasts, his lips twist with a grin. “And sexy as hell. Kind of makes me wish we were alone right now.”
“You’re not too shabby yourself,” I tease, dabbing at the corners of my eyes. “Oh sweet, gorgeous man of mine…how long have you been planning this?”
“Awhile. Your sisters helped big time, but it was my idea. I know how stressed you’ve been between work and Anna, and wanting to plan a wedding. Sharlo and Evelyn were all over it when I asked. They made your dresses.”
I brush my fingertips over our baby’s pudgy little cheek, pinched red from the cold. “How long have you been out here?”
“Not long, but we’re going to be quick about it so everyone doesn’t freeze to death.” His teeth appear whiter than normal when he flashes another giant smile. “Your brother, Braden, got ordained online so he could perform the ceremony.”