by Ava Riley
“Thank you,” he whispered into her ear on a ragged breath.
Susan pulled his arm tighter around her. “No, thank you.”
Chapter 29
Josiah sat in the kitchen of the home Madison still owned, reading the morning newspaper and waiting on Susan. He hadn’t bought the house because Rowan and Madison had decided that the investment of renting made more sense than selling, so instead he signed a lease and moved his things in shortly after he’d gone back to Texas to retrieve everything he owned. He was more than fine with the arrangement. Although the place sat on a beautiful lot of land, and he woke every morning with the sight of a clear sky along with the blue ocean beckoning for his company, he’d always envisioned himself with a little more space, and with neighbors not so close. This would only be temporary.
The ringing of the doorbell had him folding up the paper, swallowing the last bit of his coffee and swiftly making his way to the door. He knew who it was, had been anticipating her arrival since he’d woken up this morning. Once his mind had pushed away the sleep of last night, his thoughts had caught up to where his body had been for who knew how long. The past month he’d always woken with the need of Susan’s body pressed to his, even though it was a rare occasion when she would stay over. She’d said that it was her way of taking things slow. If she stayed over too often then she’d have to leave some of her things for the morning and she just wasn’t prepared for that. In all honesty, he supposed he wasn’t either. He was more than happy with how well things were going and willing to go at her pace, however slow she chose for it to go.
Swinging the door open, Susan stood before him, always more beautiful than the last time he saw her. Her blond hair styled how she often kept it…in a tight ponytail. He didn’t mind that she wore it that way. Although he thought she was even more beautiful with it down and flowing, he loved being able to pull it free and run his fingers through the long strands. More often than not, he enjoyed that during their most intimate times. She wore a pink tank-top over what was his favorite turquoise bikini and a pair of cut off denim shorts that frayed at the edges. The black flip-flops she wore drew attention to her painted hot pink toenails as the color so clearly demanded attention. He wrapped his arms around Susan’s waist and brought her mouth up to his before she spoke a word. He would never grow tired of the way her mouth fit perfectly with his or the sweet taste of strawberries that always lingered on her lips. Nor would he ever tire of the way she would always require that he ask permission with his tongue to have access to the heat of her mouth.
Josiah traced the seam of her lips until she moaned into his mouth then he took possession of the sweetness that awaited him. He lost track of time, uncaring how long they stood in each other’s embrace, enjoying the feel of her body next to his. He cared even less in the moment, that Tessa had called him already before Susan arrived, several times as a matter of fact, wondering why he and Susan hadn’t made it down to the sand yet. All he wanted was to take his time and enjoy the pleasure that Susan offered him without restraint.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” he said against her lips once they both reluctantly broke the kiss.
“Mmmmm. I so love the way you say good morning. You should say it more often, no matter what time of the day it is,” she responded once he lowered her to her feet.
“I’d greet you more properly, but I’m sure that if we make Cade and Tessa wait any longer for us, we will find Tessa knocking down the door,” he said with a wink.
“Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll let you greet me just right later today, I promise. Besides, I believe I’m due for a proper surfing lesson.”
“What? I gave you a suitable surfing lesson the last time we were in the water.”
Susan laughed as they walked down the steps from the front door, Josiah shutting it securely behind him. “Yes, but if you remember correctly, you never got a chance to show me how to actually mount the board,” she reminded him.
Josiah grabbed his surfboard from where it rested against the front of the house and wrapped his arm around Susan’s shoulders. “Honey, believe me when I tell you that you have the mounting process down to a t.”
****
Susan wrapped up the last paragraph on the article she’d finally put together for the newspaper on military personnel who come home from war. With everything that had happened over the past seven and a half months, between her mother then Josiah’s move and his subsequent new job, the article had been put on hold until recently. True to his word though, Josiah had given her the interview she’d asked him for months ago. He even went so far as to set her up to interview some of his buddies he served with in Afghanistan. Some had been as blessed as Josiah, having a terrific support group to come home to, a few had not and they were still dealing with the effects of war, even after a year of being away from it and back in the states.
As she cleaned up the last few sentences of the article before sending it off to be edited and printed, she felt an overwhelming sense of pride in this particular piece. Partially because of its content, but mostly because the article had been something she and Josiah worked on together. Although, she found more often than not, if they tried to work on it within the confines of either of their homes, the interview rapidly shifted to other more exciting endeavors. Those of which had nothing to do with the writing of the piece and everything to do with the pleasure they had to offer each other.
Susan laughed at the memory of it as she attached the article to an email to Dominick. Just as she hit the send button, Josiah poked his head into her cubicle without a word. He should have been at his office seeing patients, not towering over her now with a concerned look on his face. She pushed her chair away from her desk and jumped to her feet.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her breathing rapidly increasing.
“Nothing is wrong. Seems as if baby Maggie as decided it’s time to venture out into the world, though. Rowan and Madison are at the hospital about to welcome her. He called wanting us there.”
Susan snatched up her purse, let Dominick know she was ducking out for the day, and took quick steps to exit the building toward Josiah’s car. When she realized she was several feet in front of him and he lazily walked behind her, she turned on him with her hands on her hips, her purse dangling from her wrist.
“Why are you moving so slowly? Let’s move it already,” she urged him.
Josiah’s laughter invoked a scowl on her face as she leveled her gaze on him. “They’ve only been there a short time. That baby isn’t coming any time soon, so there’s no rush,” he assured her.
Nonetheless, Susan grabbed his arm when he sauntered up next to her and pulled him along at a much faster pace. Twenty minutes later, they were standing outside Madison’s hospital room waiting to hear news from Rowan. Susan stood next to Tessa on the opposite wall from Josiah and Cade and she couldn’t pull her gaze from him. She’d been in such a rush to get to the hospital that she’d not even taken the time to notice much of anything until now. Josiah stood with his shoulders pressed to the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, laughing it up with Cade. The smile he sported lit up not only his face, but those beautiful cocoa eyes she’d come to adore. His dark hair was a little longer than when she’d first met him, the natural curl of it more prominent the longer it grew and hung almost to his shoulders now. He didn’t don the normal jeans and t-shirt he liked to wear and she loved to see him in. Today, he wore a pair of khaki slacks and a navy blue button up, his office attire. He was almost as sexy in this as he was in his jeans. Almost. She licked her lips at the sight before her and almost bit her tongue when Tessa gave a nudge with her elbow.
“You’re staring,” Tessa said loud enough for anyone within earshot to hear.
“Damn right I am,” she responded just as Josiah’s eyes shot to hers. The edges of his mouth tilted upward into a slow sexy grin and he punctuated it with a wink.
Just when they had all decided to take a walk down to the cafeteria, sure that t
his day could possibly drag on depending how long the little bundle decided to take, the first cry from little Maggie reached their ears. Less than five minutes later, Rowan peeked his head out of Madison’s room and informed them that they did indeed have a daughter. Susan unsuccessfully tried to stifle her laughter when Tessa offered up her two cents in the form of “no shit genius.”
Josiah shrugged his shoulders as if to brush off the fact that he’d been wrong about Maggie’s entrance. Susan stepped in the embrace that Josiah offered and placed a kiss on his jaw. “No rush, huh?”
Josiah pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “I guess Maggie was more than ready to join our little family.”
Susan buried her face into Josiah’s chest at the words he spoke. This truly was her family. No matter where her relationship with Josiah led, she knew that they’d always have a place for each other in their lives and that Tessa along with Cade, Rowan and Madison would always be a part of her life. As Rowan opened the door to usher the group in to meet the newest member of their family, Josiah cupped her face, brushed his thumbs against her cheeks, and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips.
“Let’s go meet little Maggie,” he whispered in her ear.
About the Author
Ava Riley was born on Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. She lived in Mississippi until she was 11 years old, at which time she moved to Missouri with her family. She is the youngest in a mixed family with seven children. Even at a young age, in the midst of such a big family, Ava found herself “daydreaming” or as she likes to call it, writing in her mind.
Ava now resides in Central New Mexico, with her incredibly supportive husband, two children, two cats, and a very clumsy German Shepherd. Along with a very busy family, and writing, Ava attends the University of New Mexico where she is double majoring in Creative Writing and History. She will be graduating with a BA in December of 2013, at which time she is hoping to continue her writing career full-time.
Ava has always had a love for the written word, whether writing it or reading and believes that words are a powerful tool to take us away from our everyday lives, whisking us into worlds we would never journey outside the pages of a beautiful book. Writing has always been an outlet for her, finding serenity and balance in her life because of it.
For more information about Ava you can visit her author website at www.avariley.webs.com or her blog site at http://avarileyromance.wordpress.com/ and also find her on Twitter at @AvaRileyRomance.