“So, tell me,” Addy said, “how are you getting along with Troy?”
Augie huffed. “Sometimes he bugs me.”
“Why?”
“Because he follows me around. Sometimes I just want to be with the cubs. He’s not a cub.”
“Ah. I realize you never had a choice about being born first. But you were, so you’re older than him. You know how you look up to the cubs? Well, that’s exactly how he looks up to you.”
“He mimics me.”
“That’s how he learns, by doing what you do. Dad and I are a lot older than he is, so he can’t relate to us in the same way he can with you. He’s learning from everything you do, just as you learn from everything the cubs do.”
“Oh. I’m like a teacher to him. Like Lion.”
“Exactly like that.”
He shrugged. “Well, I guess I could let him hang around some.”
“That would be nice. Dad and I would appreciate that. You’re important to us and to him.”
Augie got off the stool. He exchanged looks with her then started for the kitchen door, stopping to look back. “I’m glad I’m home, Mom. I can’t wait for cake tonight.”
Addy smiled. “Me too, honey.”
It was a cold afternoon as Owen waited for his family to have their riding lessons. His family. That had a wonderful sound to it. Troy was first up and first to finish. He still took naps now and then, so Owen wasn’t surprised when he came over and leaned against his leg. He put a hand on the boy’s head. It was awful to realize that Augie had been Troy’s age when Edwards took him away from Addy.
“Tired?” Owen asked Troy.
“Yeah.”
He picked Troy up and went over to one of the benches set under the eaves of the stable, overlooking the corral where the lessons were taking place.
Troy leaned against him, his cheek against Owen’s chest. “Warm enough?” Owen asked.
Troy nodded.
Owen locked his arms around Addy’s son—his son—and turned his attention to Augie in the corral.
“Will I be as big as you one day, Dad?” Troy asked.
Owen thought about that. “I don’t know. I guess you’ll be as big as you need to be, which will be big enough.”
“Okay.”
The next thing Owen heard from Troy was his soft snoring. Addy came over to check on them. She gently brushed Troy’s bangs from his face, then leaned over and gave both Owen and her son a kiss.
Owen was still trying to figure out the right way to be a dad, but judging by the happy look on Addy’s face, he’d gotten this one right.
Owen plopped himself down on his big bed by Addy’s feet. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. That was the best thing ever—having her there with him, getting to put their boys to bed. He always read Troy a bedtime story, and Augie, for all his standoffish ways, rolled over to watch and listen.
Slow and steady was the only way he’d build trust with either of them—at least, that was what Mandy had said while teaching Augie how to trot and lope. If it worked for kids and horses, maybe it would work for kids and dads.
“Do you think the boys will be all right in school?” Addy asked him.
He sat up and moved over so he could massage her feet. “I think so. They take after you in a lot of ways, and you were pretty social and loved school. It’ll be good for them.”
“Owen—I’ve been thinking about something.”
“Oh?”
“I want to have more children.”
His hands went still. He lowered his gaze to her feet, fighting the terror that comment sent through him. After a minute, Addy sat up and folded her legs under her. He wished he’d been able to hide his reaction from her, but her perceptive eyes saw everything.
“You don’t want more children,” she said, careful to keep her voice steady.
Owen met her gaze. “It isn’t that I don’t want more kids. Rather, it’s that I want you more than I want more kids. I just got you back. You’re only now returning to good health. We’re still figuring out what was done to you. We don’t have any idea what the nanos in your system might do to a fetus. There’s a lot we don’t know.”
“So let’s find out those answers. If the Ratcliffs come back with your dad and Jax, we could have them do some tests to find out if it’s safe for me to have another baby.”
“It doesn’t look as if they’ll be coming back right now. But we can still reach out to them for a consult. If there’s the slightest chance that we might be endangering you or the baby, then that’s that.”
“Let’s see what they say, and then make a decision. Their answer may not be cut-and-dry like that.”
Owen stared into her eyes, trying to read what was behind this need for more children. “I’m happy with the boys we have. If they’re all we can have, I’ll still feel blessed.”
She nodded, but he got what she wasn’t saying.
“This means a lot to you.”
“It does. I had my life stolen, Owen. You did too. I want to wipe that out and start over, start as we should have all those years ago.”
Owen nodded. “I can understand that. But then again, we are who we are and where we are and what we are. We have to be realistic.”
She lowered her gaze. The moment stretched into a long silence, then she said, “The doctor who examined me for STDs said I had significant scarring. There’s a chance, even if I’m cleared by the Ratcliffs, that I won’t be able to conceive, which is probably why I haven’t yet. Or maybe the nanos are keeping me from getting pregnant. I don’t know.”
Owen reached over and caught her hands, desperately needing to touch her. “This is what I mean about accepting ourselves as we are.”
“I’m a woman who wants to be a mother again. That’s who I am right now, Owen.”
He shut his eyes, then met her gaze as he kissed her palms. “Then I’m the man who’ll do everything he can to make that happen.”
He leaned back, drawing her with him until she was lying on top of him. Her face, as ever, was serious. He wondered when the fear and worry would be gone from her eyes.
Slow and steady, he reminded himself—as with her boys, as with everything in the world that mattered at all. He caught her thighs and pulled them open over his legs, grinding himself against her as she leaned forward to kiss him.
“Have you worked out your vows for the ceremony?” he asked.
“Almost. I keep thinking of things to add. Did you lock the door?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah.”
She sat up and pulled her tank off. Owen felt himself tighten at the sight of her bared breasts. He buried his face between them, pressing the soft mounds to the sides of his face. He kissed the sides then drew a nipple into his mouth, rolling it around his tongue. She arched her back then gripped his face and bent close to kiss him.
He wrapped his arms around her back and laid her down on the bed. Their gazes locked as he pulled her pajama shorts and lacy underwear down her legs. He looked at her small triangle of hair, anticipating what he was about to do. He buried his face there, his tongue finding her clit. Addy moaned. He could feel her body tensing and slipped two fingers inside her. He moved his other hand up her body, holding her in place as he pleasured her.
Her hands wrapped around his as her release came. When the last throes eased away, he knelt, still between her legs, and removed his own pajama bottoms. Her eyes, which were normally blue, had deepened to the color of her passion—purple. He held himself and stroked her folds with his cock. She leaned up on her elbows to watch him.
“Owen—” she hissed after a moment.
He entered her then settled himself over her body. Watching her eyes was an aphrodisiac; he could do it the rest of his life and never want for anything else.
He kissed her, long and slow, fighting his own release, wanting to hold off as long as possible. He spread his legs wider as he moved in her, burying his face in her neck. He was close, so close.
Her orgasm was
his undoing, driving him to take her harder. He pounded into her until his release broke free in bursts that racked his body.
It took them both a long moment to settle back into normal breathing. He smiled into her eyes as he eased himself from her. “I love you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “That makes my life perfect. I love you too.”
3
“Are we sure we don’t want Val to be our bartender?” Eddie asked as she closed and locked the doors to the game room a few days later. “He’s a helluva mixologist.”
“No men.” Ivy grinned. “We have good and evil plans to make.”
“What is it you have in mind?” Addy asked, feeling a passing shot of tension at the mention of an evil party.
“Whatever you want. We can do absolutely anything,” Mandy said. “This is the boss’s wedding, so we need to really do it up right, though I’m afraid Ivy and I aren’t going to be a whole bunch of fun right now.”
Ivy blew a bit of hair from her face. “We’ll have to have virgin everything.” She and Mandy laughed at that, their hands on their big bellies.
“Before we start, everything’s set with the kids?” Remi asked.
“Absolutely,” Mandy answered. “The guys are on sole parent duty.”
“Then the night is ours, ladies,” Remi said.
“We could do a couples party,” Ace said, “or a bachelorette party, and let the guys do their own bachelor party, or a game night.”
“Oh. Right. Well, I don’t know,” Addy hedged.
“It’s your big day. Make some noise,” Remi said.
Eddie and Ace went behind the bar and started blending daiquiris, virgins first, which Ace delivered to Ivy and Mandy.
Fiona told Addy about the bachelorette party they had for Ivy and how they kept sending girls out—most of whom failed—with the challenge to kiss Owen.
Addy laughed at that. “But why did they fail?”
“They chickened out,” Fee told her.
“But why?”
Fee looked at her as if she was from a different planet. “Owen’s scary as hell.”
Addy chuckled. “No, he’s not.”
“It’s his eyes. They’re piercing,” Remi said. “And he hides his emotions, so he’s not an easy read.”
Eddie came out from behind the bar. “He’s the boss—it’s his job to be a hardass.” She smiled at the group. “And it’s ours to help Addy torment him. So what evil thing can we do?”
Addy looked around at the group of women. Some of them were married, but most of them were in the same situation as she was—in a serious relationship heading toward a wedding. All that was, except Selena, who was quietly leaning against the bar, watching them. Addy wished she’d come join them.
“There is one thing,” Addy said. She drank a few more sips of the daiquiri, needing liquid courage.
“Name it,” Ace said.
Addy worried whether she should say anything at all, but it had been a long time since she had a group of friends she could talk to, and she could use some female advice. “It’s embarrassing.”
Ace grinned. “All the better.”
“Owen is…um…well…too gentle in bed.”
Absolute silence met her comment. God, she shouldn’t have spoken. Then Mandy and Ivy quietly started laughing.
“Not at all what I expected you to say,” Mandy said, still smiling.
“Nothing to laugh at,” Ace said. “I had some of that from Val, too. Given what we’ve been through, I get it. Add in your modifications, too. It kinda makes me like that hardass even more.”
“True,” Ivy agreed, sobering. “Very true. May I ask if everything’s okay in that area for you? You’re healthy enough for sex? Your modifications aren’t complicating anything?”
Addy looked at Selena, who’d gone with her to the doctor’s. “I am. I’m fine in that way. No problems. I just really would like for him to lose himself, you know? I have no idea how to do that. He’s the only one I’ve ever been with that I wanted to be with…and I don’t know how to turn him on.” Her eyes watered. She blinked to clear them.
Remi, who was sitting next to her, squeezed her hand. “Forget a bachelorette party, ladies. We need to help Addy plan a fuckfest for her man.”
Ivy’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened.
Fiona laughed and said, “That’s perfect!” She clapped her hands. “Let’s do it! But how?”
“I know just the thing,” Eddie said, surprising them all. “I need to get my computer.”
“Wait, don’t go,” Ace said. “Send Ty for it. Wondering what you need it for will drive him nuts.”
“You’re so evil,” Eddie said, chuckling. She texted Ty.
A few minutes later, he texted back. I have your computer.
Bring it here, Eddie texted.
Come to the living room to get it.
“I’ll go,” Selena said. “They won’t be able to break me down like they could you.”
Eddie opened the door for her. “Be strong.”
* * *
Selena went down the big hall to the main living room. Val, Greer, and Blade were sitting there.
“I told Eden to come get it,” Blade said.
“So you did, but you got me.”
“What are they up to in there?” Val asked.
“Girl things,” Selena answered, putting her hand out for the laptop.
“What kind of girl things?” Blade asked, his eyes narrowed as he intentionally did not surrender the laptop.
“Whatever kind they want.”
“Just remember you’re one of us,” Greer said.
Selena shook her head, smiling. “I have divided loyalties on this, so I’m being Switzerland.”
“You know we can see anything Eddie does on her laptop,” Greer said with a grin.
“I don’t care. But they’re working on a surprise for Owen, so don’t spoil it for him.” She pointed at Greer. “And don’t get them in trouble.”
Blade handed her Eddie’s laptop. “This should be interesting.”
Val leaned back against his chair and spread his arms wide. “You know, I’m an expert on girl things. If you need a consult, just shout. I can be trusted not to reveal secrets.”
“There are nine of us females back there. I think we’ve got girl things covered.”
Selena went back to the game room and knocked on the door.
Eddie’s voice came muffled through the door as she said, “Are you alone?”
Selena shook her head at Eddie’s cloak-and-dagger tone. “I’ve got the goods. Open up.”
Eddie cracked the door then opened it, locking it again after Selena was inside. She took the laptop, then hurried to the coffee table and sat on the floor, navigating to a website. Selena considered warning her that the guys might be watching her, but remembered she was trying to be neutral. Besides, they’d all been warned about their lack of privacy during their on-boarding into the group.
Addy was sitting on the sofa with Fiona, Remi, and Wynn, watching Eddie’s screen. Ace stepped away from the group to snap pics, preserving the evening for the wedding photo album she was compiling for Owen and Addy. Her timing was perfect—the looks on everyone’s faces were enough to let Selena know the kind of website they were looking at.
“What?” Eddie asked, hearing their gasps. “Look, it took a long time for me to find Ty. These sites got me through that awful dry spell.”
Boom chicka wow wow music came on. Selena called up the app on her phone that ran the house’s security and shut off the cameras to the room. Maybe the guys could see what the girls were viewing, but they didn’t also get to see the girls’ reactions to their research.
Eddie and everyone seated behind her suddenly leaned over to the right, tilting their heads to the side. Selena could only imagine what they were watching. Fee’s face was bright red.
Ace looked at Selena and busted out laughing.
“Did you get that?” Selena asked.
“Oh, I got it. On video.”
Addy frowned as she watched whatever was playing on Eddie’s computer. “How is that physically possible?”
“Well—” Eddie looked back at her. “Forget it. Let’s not get sidetracked. We have to keep to our mission. I’ll find a good vid for what you need to do to Owen.”
“Here, I’ll do it,” Remi said, reaching for the laptop.
“You know,” Eddie said as she handed off the computer, “Ty had some sex hang-ups we had to work through, with everything that had happened to him here as a kid. It’s hard stuff, sometimes. But we found making it fun, laughing a lot takes the stress out of it.”
“No. No laughing during the fuckfest,” Remi said. “At least, not in the beginning. Owen has to be out of his mind with lust for you.”
Addy nibbled her bottom lip. “But how do I do that? Geez, I’m not a novice at this, but I feel like one.”
“Maybe it’s in what you wear,” Eddie said. “Val bought me some lingerie as a gift to Ty—”
Addy’s eyes went wide. “He what?”
“Yeah.” Eddie shook her head. “Don’t ask. But it worked. I think maybe Val knew Ty had some issues and that what I wore—or didn’t—was the tool I needed to break through to him.”
Remi grinned. “I wish I’d been here to see that whole thing play out.”
“Me too,” Wynn said. “So let’s go shopping.” She frowned as she looked at Selena. “The guys won’t open her package, will they?”
Selena shook her head. “Address it to me. If they do, they’ll die.”
Remi pulled up a page of racy lingerie. “Oh, I want one of those!” Mandy said, but then set her hand on her belly as reality hit. “Well, send me that link. When I’m back in shape after this baby, I’ll give Rocco one helluva surprise.”
They went through pages of options before finding a lace bodysuit with openings for breasts. Leather pasties with long tassels completed the ensemble.
“That’s the one,” Ivy said. “It’s perfect!”
“Pasties? Really?” Addy complained. “How do I wear those?”
OWEN and ADDY_A RED TEAM WEDDING NOVELLA_THE RED TEAM, BOOK 14 Page 3