by Cari Quinn
Chloe stepped forward and laced her fingers with his. “Depends. Are you coming up to nap with me?” She waggled her eyebrows and he had to laugh.
“I’d love to, but Ax-Man isn’t quite able to watch himself yet.”
“No, but your grandparents would love to. As a matter of fact…” Chloe waved to Michael’s grandmother and she hurried over, her arms full of decorations. “Mrs. Ronson, would you mind watching Axl for a little—”
“Oh dear, yes. Please. Can I? I want to just eat him right up. Take as long as you like.” Gram pinched Michael’s cheek as she passed, then moved on to Axl. He clapped his hands at the sight of the goodies she carried, and they wandered off to explore whatever treasures she’d unearthed.
“So as you were saying about that nap,” Michael began, sliding his arms around Chloe’s waist. “I’m suddenly so sleepy.”
“I just bet.” She poked him in the chest. “Let’s go. We don’t have long.”
“I’m a magician with small windows of time.”
“Sure you are.” She shot him a smile over her shoulder and led him through the pocket doors that led into the front of the winery.
They meandered back over to the main house and through the general store, then up the stairs to the second level where family and close friends stayed when in town. They also had a lodge on the property with spacious rooms for those who wanted to stay overnight, but of course, Michael and Chloe had been given red carpet treatment. The rest of the band was at the lodge, which wasn’t exactly a hardship. That place was huge and gorgeous and rustic in a way the cabins in California wished they could replicate.
Not that he loved the orchard or anything. Nope.
“Did you know we were given the babymaking room?” Chloe asked nonchalantly as they entered their suite.
He shut the door. “The what?”
“The babymaking room. Apparently, there’s like a whole legend that goes with it. Everyone who stays in this room ends up pregnant shortly afterward.”
If that was the case—and not saying that he believed in any such nonsense—he guessed they’d be shelving the whole “putting the baby on hold” plan.
He probably shouldn’t be excited. Wasn’t he supposed to be nervous about impending fatherhood? Well, double fatherhood, since he already was one. But he’d never been around for the whole cycle before. The conception part they had down pat. The rest would be all new for him, and he couldn’t wait.
Except he’d just told himself they should. So, right, waiting. Waiting was good.
“Hmm. Even the guys get knocked up in here?” he teased. “If so, that’s some special room.”
Chloe sat on the bed and kicked out at him as he approached. “Wiseass.”
He grabbed her feet and pried off her shoes. “Do you believe in crazy shit like that?”
She leaned back on her elbows and shrugged. “I don’t believe, but I don’t not believe. Lila found out she was pregnant when she was staying here.”
“How do you know that?”
“She told me after she heard we were visiting the orchard. We’ve kind of talking now. A little. We’re not besties or anything, but things are better. Lord, what are you doing to me?”
“Right this second? Taking off your jeans.”
“No, I meant a minute ago when you were massaging my calves. Do that again.”
“The plan was to massage all of you.”
“God, I love you.”
He glanced up at the words, his heart kicking as it always did. They were still so rare and precious, although she said them fairly often. He’d never get tired of hearing them. “Because I give a killer massage?”
“That doesn’t hurt.” She grinned. “Neither does the gorgeous blue eyes or the gorgeous body or the wicked skills on the guitar. But no, that’s not why I love you. I’d just crush on you—hard—for those things.”
He pulled her jeans the rest of the way down and off her legs. Beneath she wore a scrap of white lace. He removed that from her too and wasted no time in burying his face between her thighs.
She was so responsive. A few brushes of his thumb, a couple of long, slow licks, and she came undone around his fingers. Shivering, gasping, and already eager for the next round with his mouth.
Once was never enough when it came to his wife. Not for her, and definitely not for him.
But when he gripped her legs to tug her to the edge of the bed, she stopped him with her hands on his shoulders. “See, this is one reason right there. Our oral sex ratio is way, way off.”
He was already lowering to finish his very enjoyable task. “You’re right. I need to spend more time on my knees. I promise to rectify that in the near future.”
Clasping his lips around her clit, he slid his fingers inside her to find that secret spot that always made her legs quake and her ass come right off the bed. He wasn’t disappointed. Within a couple of minutes, she was biting a pillow to muffle her cries and saturating his chin with her release.
He rose and undid his jeans, looming over her as her pupils flared wide and she trembled. “Do you know it’s been twelve hours since I’ve fucked you? How am I still standing?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking that question?” She pretended to look around. “Oh, lookie. I’m not. Flat on my back as usual.”
His laughter caught him off-guard. “Suppose that means we’re tempting the baby fates.” He’d said it as a test, to give her a chance to mention waiting. She seemed to read his mind more often than not, and maybe she’d had a few misgivings of her own lately.
Truthfully, he hadn’t. His only misgiving was that he didn’t want to shortchange Axl, and perhaps they weren’t prepared yet to juggle two. But he’d been sure he wasn’t ready for a wife and baby, and they’d been the best things to ever happen to him.
Sometimes you just had to leap off the cliff like a deranged motherfucker to see if you could fly.
“We’ve tempted many fates already.” She reached up to grab his hand where it rested on his belt. “Michael, I’m scared.”
He started to tease her, because that was what he did. Then he glimpsed her pinched lips and noticed her knuckles were white where they gripped his hand on his buckle. “About what?”
“Everything.” She blew out a breath and sat up to press her head to his chest. “Can you explode from happiness? Because I think I just might, and that terrifies me.”
Now he did laugh, and he didn’t feel the least bit ashamed. “You realize that’s silly, right?”
“Yes. Of course, I do. But what if this changes? What if one day you wake up, and seeing me on the other side of the bed just makes you want to bury your head under the pillow?”
“It won’t. Besides, you know I wake up between your legs most of the time anyway.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I know, and so am I.” He cupped her cheek. “If I ever give you a reason to doubt me, just kick me in the nuts and that’ll get my head back on straight. And if I ever doubt you, I’ll just flip your legs over my shoulders and remind you why it’s good to be my woman.”
Her mouth quivered into a smile. “As if I’d ever forget.”
“Mom brain, maybe?”
She socked him in the gut and he chuckled, clutching her hand. Then he brought it to his mouth. “I love you and I love Axl. That’s not going to change. Ever.”
Swallowing hard, she nodded. “I’m trying to trust in this, in us, but it’s hard. I just never expected to have so much. And now, I’ll have even more.” When he frowned, she nudged him again. “So, about that massage. Were you serious?”
He might be male and about as subtle as a bulldozer, but even he noticed that topic change. “Sure. Let me grab your oil stuff from the bathroom.”
“Thanks. I’m all tense.” She smiled up at him and pulled her top over her head.
No bra.
Glorious breasts with taut little pink nipples.
Concerns about interpersonal problems—vamoose.
&nb
sp; A little dazed, he wandered into the next room and dug out Chloe’s after shower crap. She loved when he worked it into her skin. Though maybe he should give himself a hand too, in case she fell asleep before he was finished like she sometimes did.
Her breasts, man. So fucking full and perfect.
He sighed and relegated his needs to the background. Later. She never left him wanting for long, that was for sure. He’d just wait until—
The first snore hit him before he even made it out of the bathroom.
He smothered a laugh in his fist. Damn, he adored her. Even if she did conk out before he could massage her into incredible sex.
Then again, he couldn’t deny the restorative power of a nap.
After setting the alarm on his phone for a half hour, he curled up with her in bed. She snuggled up against him without even waking up.
Closing his eyes, he let sleep take him. And let the alarm rip it away half an hour later.
“Axl,” he muttered, sitting straight up. “Gotta get the baby.”
From beside him, Chloe laughed. “The baby can wait another five minutes. Sorry, I forgot to finish something.” She yawned and reached across his lap to jerk down his zipper the rest of the way. His belt was still undone. “Time to fix that.”
He fell back against the mattress. “This might be the best dream I’ve ever had.”
“Not yet. But it will be.” She pulled his waking cock out of his boxers and slid her warm mouth over the tip. She smiled around him and slipped her hand between his legs to cup his balls.
Fuck. He was a lucky man.
Half an hour later, they stumbled into the bathroom for the quickest shower in the history of life. When he started to grab her under the spray, she giggled and shoved him back.
“Babymaking bathroom,” he mumbled into her mouth, boosting her up against the wall.
“All right. If you insist.” She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Bring it on home.”
By the time they made it back to the tasting room of the winery, the rambunctious kids were gone and most of the concert debris had been cleared away. Axl and Gram were out back pulling up mini pumpkins from a smaller patch next to the house. The real pumpkin patch was out back.
“Look, Mama!” Axl tried to jump to his feet, but his foot got caught in a vine and down he went. Yet he never lost his grip on the mini pumpkin he held over his head. “Punkin!”
“Aww, you got one. Look at that.” Chloe scooped him up and smiled at Mrs. Ronson, who was sitting contentedly in the dirt. “Thank you for watching him. We were a bit longer than we intended to be.”
“No problem at all. Newlyweds have to catch their moments of privacy when they can.” Lila’s mother winked and reached over to pat Michael’s leg.
He flushed. “Jeez, Gram.”
She hooted out a laugh and exchanged a look with Chloe. “You guys ready for the hayride tonight?”
“Yes, I think so.” Chloe glanced at Michael and heaved out a breath. “I hope so.”
Michael frowned. It was only a hayride. He was about to say just that when Axl stuck out his pumpkin in Michael’s direction.
“Look, Dada! Punkin.”
He tried to find his voice. He cleared his throat and blinked half a dozen times. The wind must’ve kicked up dust into his eyes. Maybe he was allergic to something.
“Thank you, Ax-Man,” he rasped, accepting the pumpkin. When that wasn’t nearly close enough, he wrapped Chloe and Axl in a tight hug and buried his face in his son’s brown corduroy jacket. “Thank you.”
He still hadn’t recovered when it came time for the hayride. Somehow they ended up at the front of the line and were able to get seats on the perfectly shaped bales of hay at the front. Axl was so excited he couldn’t stop jumping.
“Go, go!” he yelled to the driver.
“Gotta wait for everyone else, buddy.” Michael laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. Axl ducked away and moved to Chloe’s other side to jump.
He might’ve called Michael “Dada” for the first time, but he wasn’t going to let the dude mess up his hair. A guy had boundaries, even if he was only two-and-a-half.
The wagon filled up fairly quickly, considering almost half of the passengers were children. They set off on the ride on a winding route through the forest, jolting and bumping over every ridge on the path.
Chloe clutched Axl with one hand and her stomach with the other. “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”
“Who says? It’s a gorgeous night. Smell that woodsmoke. That crisp air. Fall’s coming.” He slid his arm around Chloe’s shoulders. “Can you feel it?”
She moaned. “I feel something.”
“You okay?” He frowned and picked up Axl, setting him beside him on the large hay bale he was sharing with Chloe. “You’re not getting motion sick, are you?”
“It’s only a few minutes more. I’m fine.”
“Just throw up over the side if you have to.”
Chloe shook her head. “Really?”
“I’m just saying, if you have to, you’re in nature’s bathroom. Aw, hey, pal, look at that.” Michael pointed at a display of lit-up pumpkins. “Like yours, Ax-man.”
Axl bounced and clapped, already wiggling to get down. “Nope, you gotta stay here. Can’t run around on this thing. Hey, look, scarecrows.”
“Scarecows.” Axl grabbed Chloe’s knee and shook it forcibly enough to make her groan. “Look.”
“Oh, I’m looking.” She poked Michael in the side. “Those are for you.”
“What’s for me?”
“The scarecrows. Count them.”
“Huh?” He narrowed his eyes as the wagon rumbled past the large display. “There’s one. The other two are baby ones, which are cute but don’t really count.”
“Tell that to my belly.” Chloe rested her head on Michael’s shoulder. “So, it turns out we don’t need the babymaking room after all.”
Michael was too busy trying to restrain Axl to hear her at first. The kid had turned into a rocket determined to launch off the hay. “Easy, kid. Stop jumping around. You’re what?”
“Three scarecrows. Think about it.”
Chloe’s testy voice broke into his consciousness just as they lurched over another bump and she went flying into his side. He stared at her incredulously while he shifted Axl onto his belly on his lap. His little arms and legs pumped as he flailed to get free, but he was just going to have to wait a second.
“No,” Axl howled. “Nooooo.”
“You’re—” Michael’s gaze dropped to where her stomach was hidden by her jacket and the darkness. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Chloe let out an exasperated laugh. “Okay, Axl Senior.”
“You’re not kidding?”
“You just told me to puke in nature’s bathroom because I have all day sickness. Do you think I’m kidding?”
“Oh. Oh, wow. Holy shit.” He let out a whoop and pressed a hard kiss to Chloe’s mouth before jerking unsteadily to his feet. He used to surf in the Pacific. This was kind of like that—
if you were delirious. “Guess what? I’m going to be a father—again.”
While the rest of the surprised riders clapped and cheered for him, Michael hoisted Axl high.
Then he toppled onto his ass on the floor of the wagon, and Axl landed securely in his lap. And they both started to laugh.
Chloe covered her face with her hands. “What have I done?”
Once he’d gotten his wind back, Michael leaned over to kiss her knee. “Made me the happiest father on the planet. Hey, can we call her Rose if it’s a girl? It’d be perfect, don’t you think?”
“Rose is a nice name—” Then she glared at her husband. “I’m too nauseous to get your obnoxious jokes.”
“Come on, Axl and Rose. If they both have red hair, it’ll be even better.”
“Is it too late to divorce you, Shawcross?”
“Yes.” From the seat of the wagon, he leaned up to b
ring her mouth to his for once. “Way too late, Mrs. Shawcross.”
Thanks for reading BEDDED BLISS. Jules isn’t looking for forever…but she might get twice as much as she’s looking for. One-click TRIPLE TROUBLE, Found in Oblivion Book 2.
She wasn't looking to fall in love with one man. Never mind two.
Juliet Reece grew up in the shadow of her seemingly perfect older sister, Margo Reece. While Juliet's wealthy, blue-blood parents dealt with infidelity, Juliet fought for normalcy. Now she's the bassist in Warning Sign, a band on the rise, and she finally feels like she's making space for herself in the world. It's her time to shine, and she's ready to have fun and focus on her career.
Until Randy "Sparks" Pruitt nearly blows up her life. Literally.
She can't stand the guy. She definitely hasn't fantasized about gripping a handful of his hair and - no. Not happening.
Then there's Tristan Eves, Sparks' new friend. He's the exact opposite of Sparks. Playful. Naughty. Arousing.
Suddenly, she's on the verge of something wilder than she's ever experienced before. Two seductive men, hers for the taking - if she can handle the heat.
If double trouble is dangerous, watch out for the power of three...
One-click TRIPLE TROUBLE now!
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