‘Coco, wait.’ I pulled on her hand as she went to walk away. ‘Is it past midnight?’
‘Yes,’ she nodded, unable to suppress a yawn, ‘well past.’
‘Then I have something for you.’ I rummaged in the pocket of the sweatpants that I’d pulled on, along with a t-shirt, before I’d slipped out to get some fresh air and clear my head earlier. I pulled out a tiny wrapped gift and pressed it into her hands. ‘Happy Christmas, Coco.’
‘Happy Christmas, Hunter. You’re giving me my present now?’
‘It’s just one of them, but I’d prefer you open it here, in private, as it’s … I just don’t want everyone making a big deal out of it, ok?’ I huffed, running my finger around the inside collar of my t-shirt, feeling anxious all of a sudden as she ripped the paper off. She stared at the metal object in her hand for a while, then slowly looked up at me with watery eyes.
‘You’re giving me a key to your houseboat?’
‘It’s just a key,’ I replied, rolling my eyes as I tried to downplay the moment.
‘Not to me, it’s not. It’s another little piece of your heart,’ she whispered, then threw herself at me, wrapping her arms and legs around me tightly burying her face in my neck as she sniffed. I immediately circled my arms around her and took a deep breath, feeling oddly warm all of a sudden. She’d given me a key to her apartment after a few months of us dating, and to be honest, now that I’d done it, I wasn’t sure what I’d been so afraid of. It felt right, and the universe hadn’t imploded at my small gesture of how much this relationship meant to me.
‘I’m going to have none of my heart left if you carry on stealing it at this rate, Coco Barrella,’ I warned.
‘Says the man who told me he didn’t have a heart, but I always knew better. Anyway, that’s the plan, I’m going to get it all, then keep it under lock and key so it’s mine forever. Thank you, I know how much your space and privacy means to you, and what a big deal it is for you to give me this. I promise not to overuse it.’
‘Right,’ I chuckled. ‘But if I see one whiff of bloody hearts, sequins, or mountains of useless fucking cushions appearing anywhere, I’m taking it back.’
‘Cushions look lovely!’
‘Not when they all end up thrown on the floor because they’re in the damn way!’
‘Well, I don’t want any more bloody fossils or rocks turning up at mine, thank you very much,’ she retorted, pulling her head back to give me a mock glare.
‘We’re gemmologists, Coco, they’re part of who we are.’
‘And romance and hearts and flowers is part of who I am.’ She cocked a so-there brow at me, making me laugh, then a stunning smile broke out on her face. I felt my chest constrict as we stared at each other, inches apart. She was it. The one I needed to change for or risk losing forever. And I knew I’d never find anyone I felt like this about again, let alone the fact that she’d believed in me so much that she’d fought for us for so long, when others would have walked away months before. Luc was right, I was holding our relationship back. The marriage thing I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for, and buying a house with someone was financial suicide and a loss of some independence in my eyes, but a child? The thought of seeing her look at a child that we’d created together, the way she looked at Lulu and Luc’s little girl, didn’t fill me with horror. In fact, the thought of me holding a little boy or girl that Coco and I had made together didn’t either. It actually made me smile.
‘You really want a baby with me?’ I blurted out, before I had a chance to start second guessing myself. She tensed in my arms immediately and her eyes widened. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, and the stunned look on her face stayed frozen in place. ‘I want to give you that, Coco, I want to make you happy.’
‘Hunter, I … you have to want it, too.’
‘I think I do, Coco. I want a permanent symbol of how we feel about each other, but I want something from you first, and please don’t laugh when I ask you.’
‘Tell me, I won’t laugh,’ she stated seriously.
‘I’ve decided to go and talk to someone, to try and deal with my crap, as I know I’m not the easiest guy to have a relationship with.’ I hesitated, waiting for one of the famous sarcastic remarks she’d normally make right about now, but none came, so I continued. ‘But I want us to go for couple’s therapy as well, to make sure we’re ready for this. I need to know that even if I fuck this up, that our child would never be abandoned by either of us, ok?’
‘I might fuck this up, Hunter, stop assuming you hold the monopoly on screwing up relationships. I don’t want to begin to imagine that I’d ever lose you, but I promise you, I’ve wanted a baby for so long now, I’ll be the best mother who ever walked the face of the earth. If you walked away from me after I had one, I’d accept it, however much it would break my heart, but I’d kick your bloody perfect arse black and blue if you ever tried to walk away from our child, no matter how many belts you have in martial arts or boxing. In fact, I’d castrate you and serve you your balls on a silver platter, just like I threatened to do when you propositioned me so crudely all those months ago. You’d rue the day you ever met me. Clear?’ she demanded forcefully.
‘Clear,’ I chuckled, surprised yet again that I wasn’t having a panic attack at the topic of conversation. We held each other’s gaze for a bit longer, as if we were trying to work out how serious the other one was about this.
Until she broke the silence.
‘Pinch me.’
‘What?’
‘Pinch me, because I think despite the fact that my nipples are burning from the cold, I must be asleep and I’m dreaming this,’ she said quietly. I obliged and tweaked one of her pointed nubs firmly, making her gasp, then swear and release her grip on my neck with one hand to rub it back to life. ‘Shit, that seriously hurt. I really am awake and you’re serious? We’re actually going to try therapy and think about a baby if it works?’ The way her face lit up told me I’d made the right choice. I’d never seen her so happy, and it gave me more pride than I’d ever thought imaginable.
‘You are, I am, and we are, Coco. Can you imagine how good looking that little dude is going to be with all of my handsome and perfectly ripped body genes?’ I added, needing a little levity after a boatload of emotional stuff that I really wasn’t that well equipped to handle.
‘Oooooh, you’re so arrogant,’ she scowled, thumping my shoulder. ‘Who says it would be a boy? Or that it would take after you? I happen to be half-Italian, you know, which is considered exotic by some, and I’ve been told I’m beautiful by lots of men. Plus, girls run in my side of the family.’
‘You are beautiful, and what men?’ I growled, my possessive nature coming out full force at the reminder that I wasn’t Coco’s first, wasn’t her one and only.
‘Oh I’m sorry, I forgot I was supposed to wait at home all chaste and coy in the hope that the mighty Hunter Donovan would come knocking on my door and take my virginity with his world-renowned cock.’
‘Speaking of knocking doors, fancy getting a handle on that piece of wood currently pressing up against your hot little cunt, baby?’ I winked as I felt my cock rapidly expanding and all the tension leaving my body as we slipped back into our usual banter.
‘Hot? It’s bloody freezing. Remind me why the hell we’re outside on such a cold, snowy Christmas night in Paris, when we have a warm and luxurious Domville suite calling to us.’
‘Then I’d better take you in and make it a red hot Christmas in Paris,’ I grinned.
‘Suddenly I feel wide awake! Now that’s one command I’ll happily accept from you,’ she smiled, then screamed and giggled as I tossed her up my body and over my shoulder, letting my erection lead the way back inside.
Oh yes, it was about to become a seriously hot Christmas indeed.
Le Fin
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CJ x
Curious to learn more about Lulu and Luc, & Coco and Hunter?
Find out how they met, and what the future holds for them, in the following standalone erotic romance novels:
Lulu and Luc - The Temptress
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SXHE93G
www.amazon.com/dp/B00SXHE93G
Coco and Hunter - All That Glisters
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GD5EAGK
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD5EAGK
Coming Soon
Never the Bride
A romantic comedy by my alter-ego, Charlotte Fallowfield
Due to be released on 28th February 2017
Abbie Carter felt doomed as she clutched her bouquet and started walking up the aisle. Again. She felt like she was stuck in some kind of Groundhog Day wedding nightmare. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Eight dresses, most of them hideous, were already stuffed in her attic space. She had more bridesmaid dresses than relationships. Was she really that unlucky in love? She despaired of ever finding her soul mate and was convinced that if she packed away dress thirteen in her attic, she’d never get to wear the coveted white one and have her happy ever after.
That was until she locked eyes with one of the handsome ushers, whose wink turned her elegant and well-practiced glide up the aisle into a flailing Bambi-on-ice spectacle. Miller Davis was the first man in forever to make her heart skip a beat, as well as her legs turn to jelly. And, for once, her interest in a man didn’t seem to be one-sided. It was just a shame that the Atlantic Ocean separated them. Abbie couldn’t even make a relationship with her elderly fat pooch, Sumo, work, so what chance did she have with a permanent New Yorker? Her best friend, Georgie, told her to ignore the miles that separated her from Miller and to go for it, saying that true love knew no bounds.
Was Abbie fated to always be the bridesmaid, or would her wish for the perfect day with the man of her dreams ever come true?
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Charlotte Fallowfield
Did you know that I also write romantic comedy novels?
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Until We Collide
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