by Kyle Autumn
As I walk through the door, I call out, “Honey, I’m home!”
Dani comes rushing into the foyer. “Hey, dude! How was Vegas?”
“It was…” I struggle to find the right word. “Interesting,” is what I come up with. “We had fun, but I’m really glad to be home.”
“So you didn’t fall in love with a stripper? Get crunk on the dance floor?” she asks as Meli enters the room, flour all over her shirt.
Furrowing my brow, I glance between the two of them, not sure where to start. “Uh, what?”
Meli waves a dismissive hand. “Don’t listen to her. She’s just being silly from a little too much sugar, which was my fault.” She gestures toward her shirt. “Testing new recipes in the kitchen and she’s been my taste-tester.”
“Is that good for the baby?” I question, dropping my bag to the floor.
“It’s one day,” Meli reasons gently.
Then Dani says, “And I don’t usually eat it, even while working at the bakery. It’s kind of a miracle.”
“You guys know better than I do.” I approach Meli and pull her into my arms.
She giggles. “Stop! You’ll get flour everywhere!”
But I don’t heed her warning and press her closer to me, my lips going to hers to say a proper hello.
“And, with that,” Dani exclaims, “I’m going back home! Glad you’re home, Jer, but I don’t need to see this.”
“Bye!” I tell her, giving no fucks. I saw her, said hello, made sure she was okay—she’s a big girl, so she can handle herself. Right now, I need to say hi to my woman. I was without her all weekend—which was a weekend too long to go without her.
“I missed you,” she breathes against my lips like she was reading my mind.
“I missed you too.” I smooth my hands down her back and squeeze handfuls of her glorious ass. Then, without warning, I haul her up into my arms and lead us back to her bedroom.
She squeals as her legs snake around my waist so she can anchor herself to me. I don’t have a plan beyond getting in bed with her, even if we’re fully clothed, but Meli has a different idea. All I need is her, so as long as I get that, I’ll do whatever else she wants.
Once we’re in bed and our clothes are gone, all she seems to want is my tongue on her, if that’s what the pushing-my-head-down thing is all about. Ask and she shall receive—that’s my motto with her. Sometimes, she doesn’t even have to ask. But, today, she’s in the asking mood. And I’m here to give.
After one swipe of my tongue, she moans so loudly that I have to look at her to make sure she’s okay. Her head is thrust back on the pillow, her back arched off the bed, her hands balled into fists with handfuls of the sheets.
I reach a hand up to slide over her stomach. Then I glide it down her thigh and over to spread her open for me. A few more flicks of her most sensitive area and she’s shuddering through her release as it spills over my tongue.
Meli groans and pulls me up to her lips, and once I’m there, my erection slides through her folds. She moans again, kissing me so deeply that, between that and the friction on my dick, I’m ready to blow. So I fumble a hand over to her nightstand to grab a condom and pull back long enough to roll it on. Then, in one glorious thrust, I’m right where I belong.
Inside Meli, happy and warm.
It doesn’t take long before I climax too. It’s only been a couple of days, but it feels like forever since we’ve been together. Which is how I know that this is permanent for me. I thought about her all weekend and couldn’t wait to get home to her. Not just home, but home to her.
So I hope she’s not shocked or upset when I ask her something important.
Once I’ve disposed of the condom, I come back to bed and wrap her in my arms. I lock my fingers behind her back and haul her up on top of me, where she rests her head on my chest. We tangle our legs together as I pull the blanket around us, keeping my hand on her back to draw small circles over her skin. She hums quietly, happy sounds leaving her mouth.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” she asks, her voice a hoarse, sexy whisper.
“Of course,” I tell her. “Though I have to say that the only thing I’m not looking forward to is working two jobs next week. But I have an in with the boss, so I think she’ll take it easy on me.”
She giggles softly, her body shaking mine as she trembles lightly. “I bet she will.”
We calm down from the funny moment, and then I decide to go serious on her.
“Hey,” I whisper near her ear. “I have a proposal for you.”
She whips her head up so fast that I have to laugh. Her eyes are wide and worried, so I rush to reassure her.
I bring my hands to her shoulders. “No, no,” I chuckle. “That is most definitely not how I would start asking you to marry me.”
She visibly relaxes, but I can tell that it’s more for my benefit than anything. I doubt she would have minded if I’d asked, and I’m fairly sure she would have said yes. But this isn’t at all how I’d do it. Not that I’ve been thinking about it or anything. Of course that’s not it.
Hopefully I’m kidding only myself and she can’t see right through me.
“So, what is it?” she asks, setting her chin on my chest. “What’s your proposal?”
“I’ve been thinking,” I start while I drift my hands down her back.
“Clearly,” she laughs.
And I say exactly what I’m thinking. “I love your smile.”
Immediately, it vanishes as she gets more serious. “You do?”
I nod once. “Of course I do. It’s one of my favorite things about you.”
“It is?” That smile returns, and she wrinkles her nose in an adorable expression. “You know what one of my favorite things about you is?”
“Hmm?” I ask, thinking that it’s probably my dashing charm or the way I just used my tongue.
But it’s neither of those. She shocks me when she says, “Your eyes. They remind me of melted chocolate.”
A pleasant warmth spreads through me at that surprise. “Is that why you make chocolate chip muffins for me?”
She twists her lips to the side. “I mean, probably, but if you remember, I made those and brought them to your house before we met.”
A disappointment snags in my heart. “Oh, that’s right.”
“But that’s how I work,” she adds. “I bake without reason at first, and then the reason becomes apparent after the fact. It’s part of why I do what I do. I’m just called to do it and find favorites without even meaning to. It just kind of happens.”
I lean up to kiss her forehead, amazed at how spectacular she is. “You’re so good at what you do, Meli.”
“Eh,” she exhales as she sets her cheek back down on my chest, making light of what I just said. “It’d be better if I were good at making decisions for my own life. It drains the hell out of me when I have to decide.”
“Is that why we still haven’t gone on a real date?” I joke with her. “You don’t know where you want to go?”
She laughs, but the humor level is low. It’s more self-deprecating than anything. “Precisely. Don’t make me decide where you should take me.”
I watch her for a few moments as I think this through. Because I’ve never once thought that about her. And then I realize why. “That sounds like the story you’re telling yourself.”
She raises her head again to look me in the eye. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve never had a problem wanting to choose us,” I remind her. “You wanted us to be together when you thought I was engaged and decided not to act on it. You’re the one who came on to me when you found out I wasn’t engaged. ‘Don’t think, just do,’ you said. And you’re the one who, even through all of your ridiculous second-guessing”—we both laugh here—“ended up giving us a chance. Especially when the shit was hitting the fan and I was freaking out about your marriage. You came to me.” I smooth a hand down her hair and kiss her forehead. “You decided on me. On us.”
Her smile becomes a little watery as tears spring to her eyes. “That’s really beautiful,” she says.
“And it’s really true. You don’t have a problem with deciding anything. You keep the business open. You hired Dani. Hell, you hired me. So maybe your problem is actually the decisions you make,” I joke.
She giggles, the vibration of it rumbling through my chest. When she settles, she says, “Can I make a confession?”
“As long as it’s good,” I tease. She knows she can tell me anything.
“Oh, it’s good.” She winks.
“Then give it to me. What’s your confession?”
She releases a deep breath through her nose. “I decided to not fix my lawn mower so you’d come over to mow it without your shirt on.” She dips her head to hide her silly smile, staring at me with mischief shining in her eyes.
And I love her all the more for it. But I tell her instead, “All you had to do was ask.” Then I tickle her sides and get her giggling again, that sweet sound hitting me right in the heart.
“Stop!” she pleads on a loud laugh, so I give in.
I love making her happy, but I want to get to what I wanted to say. So, once she’s calm again, I say, “So, what do you think about moving my lawn mower into your garage…permanently?”
She immediately responds in smartass style. “Your lawn mower always has a home with me.”
When I don’t respond right away, she seems to understand what I really meant, her mouth forming a small “O” shape.
“Oh, wow. You mean, like… Y-you want to move in?” she asks, stuttering adorably.
“I mean, I want us to move in together. Even being next door isn’t close enough for me,” I admit, putting my heart on the line. “I want to take that next step with you. I can sell my grandpa’s house, and we can use the money to pay yours off if you still owe anything. The rest of the money can go toward the bakery so we can hire more people and—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She puts her hands on the mattress and lifts herself up to straddle me. Then she sets her hands on my chest. “That sounds like a lot of decisions.”
“Well, most of them can be mine to take the pressure off.” I smirk at her. “So, what do you say?” I grip her waist, tracing lines on her skin with my thumbs. “I know that it’s soon, but we don’t do anything based on normal timelines. Do you want to move in tog—”
“Yes,” she answers before I can finish. “Yes. You and Danielle, in here, with me. Even after she has the baby, if she’s here to stay. Yes.” Her smile is so wide and beaming that it takes my breath away.
Her selflessness is incredible. Everything about her inspires me to be a better person.
When I recover, I tell her, “Now, that’s a way to make a decision,” in a teasing tone. But then, as she grins at me, I tell her something from the heart. “I love you. So much.”
“I love you too,” she breathes before she lowers herself back to hover over me, her hands on either side of my head. With her mouth a whisper away from mine, she says, “So much.”
Then her lips press against mine, so I take her mouth, bringing my own hands up to cradle her face. And we kiss, happy that we’ve made it through every hoop we’ve had to jump through to get here.
Though, if I had to go back and do it all over again, I would. Meli is worth every struggle we’ve had in our short past and any struggle we may face—together—in the future. Her love knows no bounds, and I’m honored to stand in its light. Her confidence in me will get me through more days than I can count, I’m sure. And everything she does has a touch of love to it.
In the future, I hope she’ll say yes to more of my questions. But, for now, this one will do. Because being with her is enough, and I look forward to every day we have together—at work and at home.
The future has never looked so bright, and I have no one to thank more for that than Meli.
My Meli.
THE END
Sneak Peek of
Choices, Loyalty, & Love
Book 3 in the Men of NatEx series
Chapter 1
Aidan
The last person I expect to see when Matt pulls up to my house to drop me off is the love of my life. But there she is, like a mirage in the desert, almost too enticing and perfectly timed to be real.
This whole weekend was about celebrating the end of my friend’s bachelorhood. And I’m excited for him—don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing like marrying the one person you’re meant to be with for the rest of your life. If anyone understands that, it’s me. Not that I’ve ever done it, but still. I was close enough to know how great it’d be. And to know how shitty heartbreak is.
My heart stalls in my chest. I blink hard to clear my vision, thinking maybe she really is a mirage. A figment of my imagination. The culmination of too many drinks in Vegas bars and too much talk of love with friends who’ve paired up for life.
But she’s still there when I open my eyes.
For the last six years, I’ve been able to force myself to stop thinking about her so much. I’ve slipped up a time or two, but for the most part, I’ve been okay. Until the force of being surrounded by men who’ve found the one became stronger and pushed thoughts of Nic right back into my brain. That’s not where I want her. It’s not where she belongs. Not right now anyway. Not while she’s with—
“Aidan?”
After I don’t even know how long, sound has wormed its way back into my brain.
“Hello?” Matt says. Or maybe Jeremy said it. They’re brothers and I’m beyond distracted, so I can’t tell.
I shake my head to snap back to reality. “Yeah. Uh, thanks for the ride. And for the weekend.” I loop my fingers around the handle of my bag and reach for the handle of the car door.
“Um, who’s that gorgeous woman on your porch?” Jeremy asks.
I know he actually said that because I stared at him as he spoke. He’s looking at her too, asking me about her. So she must be real.
“Seriously,” Matt says. He’s facing her way, staring out the windshield at her. “I thought you said you weren’t seeing anyone.”
“I never said that,” I tell him automatically. Why? I have no idea. That’s not really what’s important here, is it?
“Well, you never said you were. You’re far too closed the hell off. All we know about is the mysterious Nic, who doesn’t live here.” Matt spins in the driver’s seat and tries to look at me. “So this requires answers.”
Answers. Those would be nice. I reach into my pocket and pull my phone out to check for missed calls or texts, but I don’t have any. Not from today though. There’s still that one text on my phone—the one I refused to read. The preview of the text was enough to keep me from opening it all the way. It would have broken my already irreparable heart, so I didn’t bother.
But if that’s why she’s here now, she can go—
“Dude, she looks like she’s waiting for you,” Jeremy says.
“I can’t imagine why,” I mumble.
“Who is she?” Matt asks.
Her name is on the tip of my tongue, but the last thing I want to do is speak it. Not when I don’t know what the hell she’s doing here and what she wants from me. But I can’t take these two staring at me anymore.
“Nic,” I say, all the air in the car feeling like it’s been sucked out. “That’s Nic.”
Matt’s eyes widen before he twists his head to get a look at her. “No wonder you’re a mess. She’s—”
“Don’t,” I seethe. “Just don’t.”
Then Jeremy looks at me. “I won’t expect a story from you right now because of who you are as a person. And I want to get home to Meli before I explode, so go see what she wants.” He makes a shoo, shoo gesture at me with his fingers before he faces forward again.
At least one of them gets me. I’ve been friends with the wrong Kent brother for years.
Without saying anything, I take Jeremy’s words seriously and open the car door. As soon
as she sees me, she rises from her spot on the porch and takes the two steps down to my driveway. But she stops there, her phone clutched in her hands, and waits.
I slam the door shut and give a backwards wave to my friends. I don’t have answers, and even if I did, giving them to the guys wouldn’t be the priority. That right now is figuring out why Nic is here, at my house.
The sound of Matt’s car driving away barely registers to me, but it’s like a signal for Nic to come back to life. She holds a finger in the air before I can even get a word out. Then she punches something into her cell phone and brings it up to her ear.
A few seconds later, she says, “Hey. Yeah, he’s home now.” She pauses, her free hand rising to her forehead. “I know. That’s fine.” Looking to the sky, she says, “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later.” Then she peeks at me. “I will. Good luck. Yep, me too.” After that, she swallows hard and takes a moment before bringing the phone back to her eye level.
A million other questions rise to the surface, but nothing will make its way from my brain to my mouth. It’s not like I could speak even if I wanted to. My throat is as dry as the desert this mirage is coming from. So I swallow just as hard as she did and open my mouth to at least try.
But she beats me to it. “That was Mason,” she says—careful not to use the word for our relation. Seems like she hasn’t changed much in that regard. She gently shakes the phone in my direction. “He wanted me to call you when you got home.” Then she lets her hand fall back to her side.
I lick my lips to buy some time as I figure out how to answer. Nothing good comes to mind, so I bite the words back and take a good, hard look at her. One I shouldn’t allow myself to take but do anyway. If Mason’s not here, there’s no harm.
In a pencil skirt, a button-up long-sleeved shirt, and high heels, Nic isn’t appropriately dressed for a casual visit. She looks like she’s here on business. And maybe she is. Though I have no idea what kind of business she thinks she has with me. After what we’ve been through, that ship has sailed, no matter how badly I’ve wanted to convince myself otherwise.