“I feel fine,” she said, breathless against my kiss. She rocked against what was hard and ready in my pants. “I’m sure I’m fully healed.”
Liquid fire rushed through my veins at the thought of sinking inside her warmth. Of hearing her sigh my name. Feeling her clench around me as I pushed her to the edge.
She hooked a bare leg around my hip, her robe hiking up so much I got a flash of what lay beneath.
“Fuck, Nine,” I said, reclaiming her mouth, gently pressing into her as she continued to tease me over my cotton pajama pants. Just one barrier of fabric between us, her warmth soaking into it.
“Warren,” she said, nipping at my bottom lip. Her eyes were molten blue and churning with need. “Please?”
“The doctor said—”
“I know my body better than a doctor who isn’t even here.” Her words were raspy, heavy, and lust filled. “I can feel you,” she said, rubbing against me for emphasis. “It’s torture.”
I gripped her ass a bit more firmly, growling. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” she said too quickly. “I promise.”
“Nine,” I said, the battle so damn hard.
We weren’t supposed to.
I knew that.
Had listened intently when the nurses had told me why.
But for the life of me I couldn’t remember the reasons. Couldn’t think about anything outside of the woman in my arms. How much I loved her. How much I wanted to worship her until she was a limp mess in our bed.
“Fine,” she said, reaching down between us. “Let me just feel you then.” Her fingers slid between the slip in my pants, her eyes flying wide when she found nothing underneath.
I didn’t get a chance to explain why I went commando in my house before she wrapped her hand around my rock hard dick and yanked it free. A breath and she’d parted, pressing my tip to her hot, wet center, coating it in her slickness. She arched her hips, sliding up and down and around my dick, her eyes fluttering shut from the contact.
I placed both my hands on either side of her on the counter, gripping it like it would keep me steady. I knew we couldn’t make love…we couldn’t…but god damn this woman was making it hard as hell to think straight.
“Mmmm,” she moaned as she circled my tip around her clit. “Damn, I’ve missed this.”
I growled, my grip on the countertop increasing. I locked my thighs, demanding all my muscles not to move when all I wanted was to sink inside her and pump.
She opened her eyes, locking with mine as she planted a slow kiss on my lips at the same time she slipped me inside her just an inch.
“Fuck,” I hissed through clenched teeth. My body a statue other than my ragged breath.
She flicked her tongue in my mouth, still watching me as she sank another inch on top of me.
Another warm shudder ran the length of my body, my dick pulsing and aching, begging me to fucking move.
Thrust.
Pump.
“Warren,” she gasped, rocking against me, slick and hot and so damn tight.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, growing harder the more I watched her use me to fuck herself. I wasn’t sure there was a sexier sight on the planet.
“God, no,” she said, sighing. “Warren, please.”
I shook my head, the only movement I allowed myself. “I can’t, Nine.”
“Why?” she whimpered, stopping her movements.
I swallowed hard. “I refuse to hurt you,” I said. “But keep going. I won’t move. You do what feels right and feels good.”
“That’s not fair to you,” she said, her tongue trailing the length of my bottom lip. “I want you. All of you.”
“And I want to fuck you right here against the counter until you see stars,” I growled. “But I refuse to do it one day sooner than they said.” I claimed her mouth, kissing away whatever argument she was about to make. “Now,” I said, tearing my lips off hers, our noses touching. “Why’d you stop?” I smirked.
She arched her brow, a challenge sparking in her eyes. “You like the torture?”
“I like watching you come.”
She trembled against me, and slowly, agonizingly, started moving again. I sucked in a sharp breath, pressing my forehead to hers as she rocked against me.
“Warren,” she sighed my name again, and I swore I was going to crack the countertop I gripped it so hard.
Mine.
This woman.
She stroked my cock, fisting and pumping it as she rubbed it against where she needed me most. Slipping me in and out, only the tip, enough times to make my knees feel like they would buckle.
“Oh, damn,” she said, her head arching back as she upped the pace.
“Fuck,” I hissed again, her hand working so fast, her center so wet and warm and clenching. “Nine,” I growled, feeling that familiar tingle up my spine.
Fucking hell the woman was about to make me come from just her hands.
“Yes.” She moved faster, pumping, and sucking my tongue into her mouth as she trembled around me. She moaned, long and hard, and I swallowed it with my kiss. My release flowing through me as fast and frantic as she shook against me. My entire body jolted with the power of it.
After we caught our breath, I let go of the counter, my knuckles barking from the blood that rushed back to them. Reaching for a towel, I gently cleaned up between us, my smooth, lazy strokes causing Jeannine to tremble all over again.
I smiled, shaking my head.
“What?” she asked.
“You,” I said.
“What about me?”
“You’re wicked. Making me break the rules,” I teased.
“Technically we didn’t break any rules.”
I swiped my tongue over her lip. “You sure about that?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “But if you want to, I’m ready.”
I sucked my teeth. “Greedy woman.” I smirked. “I will. In three weeks when we’re clear.”
Her shoulders dropped, but I tipped her chin up.
“And when that day comes?” I smirked. “I’m going to fuck you so hard and long you won’t know any word outside of my name.”
Chills coated her skin, and she shuddered against me.
“Warren,” she said, her lips brushing mine. “I—”
A sharp wail cut off her words, and we both clenched our eyes shut for a moment.
“I’ve got her,” I said, laughing. “You keep thinking about what I said. Feel free to touch yourself and go back for seconds.”
I winked at her before heading toward our bedroom.
Toward the gift she’d given me, and thinking about the future I couldn’t wait to experience.
Chapter 13
Jeannine
“Dude,” Rory smacked Gage’s chest as they stood at the table in my restaurant. “This is weird as shit.”
Gage laughed, one hand squeezing Lettie’s shoulder who bounced in front of him.
“What?” Warren asked. “Green is my color.”
The guys laughed, eyeing the Shark-green Mobi that wrapped around Warren’s sculpted chest, our baby between it and the fabric. I’d offered to wear it after we’d parked outside, but he’d insisted I needed a break.
It had been three long weeks of constant feeding or diaper changing or feeding again. I’d barely changed out of my robe and nursing bra the entire time because it seemed I was being used for food every hour or so.
I didn’t mind, save for one mental break in the kitchen a couple of nights ago.
Thankfully, Warren sorted me out.
A warm chill raced across my skin at the memory.
Shaking it off, I sighed. There was something magical about the process of feeding her, about being so close to our baby, about providing for her. I’d never loved anything more in my entire life. It was like my heart had been entirely remade and placed outside my body into the little bundle that nestled now against Warren’s chest.
I’d also never been mor
e terrified.
Without Warren reassuring me all the time…I think I would’ve lost it.
I couldn’t help it—I was scared of not being enough for her.
“Lucky for you Paige found one in the Shark’s colors,” Rory said, fist bumping Warren as he settled into a chair beside his boys.
“Thank you,” Warren said, eyeing Paige across the table.
“You’re so welcome,” Paige said, wrapping me in a huge hug before I settled between her and Bailey.
“Not going to lie,” I said, situating the baby bag beneath my chair. “This is a bit…weird.”
“What?” Bailey asked, setting a handful of cheerios on Ethan’s highchair tray that was scooted up to the restaurant table. “Katherine’s first outing?”
I laughed. “Well, that,” I said, “and the fact that I’m not in the kitchen with my chef jacket on.”
Warren flicked his eyes up to me, taking them off our baby for the first time since he sat down. “You’ll get back to it soon enough,” he said. “Enjoy the time you have.”
That was the truth.
Work wasn’t going anywhere.
I’d cherish these few months home with our baby. Plus, I was damn lucky my sous chef was running things so smoothly, I could technically just sit back and watch it run if I wanted to.
“Getting any sleep?” Gage asked me from across the table after we’d ordered drinks.
“A little bit,” I said and nodded to Warren. “He gets more than me.”
“Five minutes more doesn’t count.” Warren chided. “Plus, I’d give anything to be able to get up with her more, but she only wants the boobs.”
I laughed at that. “True.”
“It won’t always be like that,” Gage said and smiled down at Lettie who was quietly coloring, then at Ethan—who looked exactly like his daddy—as he chomped away at those cheerios. Bailey reached over and squeezed Gage’s hand, and I couldn’t help but smile at the way our table overflowed with love.
We had created our own family over the past couple of years, and I couldn’t be happier with the people we’d chosen for our inner circle.
Paige handed a wiggling Daphne—all blond hair and green eyes—to Rory before she snapped a picture of Warren wearing our baby, and we all laughed.
“What?” She asked, slipping her cell back in her bag. “It’s baby’s first outing. Things like this must be documented.”
Warren smoothed his fingers over Katherine’s head that peaked out of the fabric, her eyes closed in a blissful daddy-wrap sleep. He was so at ease. Wore the dad-role so handsomely. My heart expanded another size, all at once so full I thought I might cry from happiness.
“Thanks for being here,” he said before glancing at me. “We needed the outing. We’ve been figuring out how to navigate all of this as we go, right?” He chuckled.
“Absolutely,” I said, grinning at him. Wasn’t that what we’d been doing all along? Since the moment he found out about the baby? It’d been one big experiment. One big trial and error run, and we were just lucky as hell that it worked out the way it did.
I had a feeling the next eighteen-plus years would be like that.
A picture took shape in my mind with the thought—Warren and myself in an audience of parents watching kids walk across a stage to earn their diplomas. My eyes snapped to Warren, and my heart skipped a beat. I hadn’t allowed myself to think past the baby being born. Hadn’t really given the future as much thought as perhaps I should’ve.
But looking at him now, at how these past few months had been, I knew I didn’t want to be with anyone else.
I wanted this.
I wanted him.
Our family. Together.
I loved him.
But I hadn’t said it yet.
And neither had he.
Sure, we’d both said it to the baby…but we’d only been together a few months. Was it too soon? I sipped my ice water in an effort to calm my nerves. Everything had happened so fast with us, and I was terrified of making the wrong move and bursting the blissful bubble we’d come to live in. Plus, I hated to admit it, but I wasn’t certain if he’d be the same Warren when the season started.
I swallowed my fears as we ordered lunch and lost myself in the chatter between old friends. There would be time to think about the future later. Time to discuss what our lives were going to look like now that our child had come into the world.
We had time.
For now, I simply was happy to be out of the house. To be among the family we’d chosen as our own. And to watch the man I loved hold our baby with such gentleness it made me swoon.
Three hours later, Warren had secured our baby into the car seat in his SUV, and we waved to our friends as they drove off. Warren wrapped me in his arms after gently shutting the door as to not wake up Katherine.
“That was fun,” he said as I clung to his hard middle.
I nodded against his chest.
He shifted, forcing me to look up at him. “Everything all right?”
“Yes,” I said, my heart so big it was in my throat. The words were ready to burst from me, but I was so, so terrified. I didn’t want him to leave. Didn’t want to spook him. Though, he’d watched me give birth so what harm could three little words do?
“She did good.” Warren glanced behind me through the window, rubbing his hands up and down my back. “We’re lucky,” he said.
“Yeah, we really are,” I agreed.
I tipped my chin upward, brushing my lips over his. Unable to say the words I was dying to.
Instead, I decided to kiss him for all I was worth. I clutched at the muscles in his back, pressing my body against his as if I could mold myself to him right there in the parking lot. I sucked his tongue into my mouth as he cradled my face, taking everything I could from him and giving it all back, too. My blood was on fire with his touch, and I ached for him. We had a few weeks left to wait, but damn it I didn’t want to.
I wanted to feel him again.
All of him.
“Damn, Nine,” he moaned into my mouth, and shivers raced across my skin at the lust in his voice. I loved that just a kiss could get him as revved up as me.
“Warren,” I sighed against his lips. “I—” The words were right there, but I swallowed them. I wouldn’t ruin this with words.
Coward.
His kiss was fierce and strong and consuming, and I trembled within his arms.
He drew back, our chests heaving against each other. A smirk shaped his perfect lips. “You’re impossible, woman,” he said, laughing. “Come on.” He opened the passenger side door for me. “Let’s go home and take a cold shower.”
I smiled. “Together?”
He hissed, his eyes sparking as if he could picture the two of us in the shower, my nipples pert from the icy water. A low growl rumbled from his chest as he shut my door and walked around the car to sink behind the steering wheel.
At the same time, we both turned in our seats to check on our baby, who slept soundly in her seat. We both spun back around as he started the car.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice almost a whisper as he navigated us toward home.
“For what?” I asked, tilting my head.
He shrugged, his eyes distant on the road. “Everything.”
Chapter 14
Warren
“You look like one happy piece of shit,” Rory said, fist-bumping me as we met outside of the small shopping center.
“Thanks, asshole,” I said, laughing as I nodded to Gage.
“Kat still refusing to sleep?” Gage asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t know what it is. She slept perfect the first week of her life, and then a switch flipped.”
“It’ll get easier.”
“So you keep telling me.” I shrugged. This was my first solo outing since she was born, minus the dinner we’d all attended a few nights ago. I felt a little like I’d left an arm back home. “Thanks for meeting me.”
“A
nytime, man,” Rory said. “You know that.” I nodded as he clapped his hands together. “So,” he continued. “What are we here for?” He eyed the area. “I don’t see the beers.”
I chuckled. “It’s not technically a boy’s day out kind of deal.”
“What’s up?” Gage asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Something twisted in my gut, and I took a deep breath. “I want to find the perfect ring for Nine.”
“Holy. Shit.” Rory’s jaw dropped.
Gage simply nodded, an approving smile on his face.
“Finally ready to tell her, huh?”
“Yes,” I said. “But I want her to know I mean it.”
“A diamond can’t hurt,” Rory teased.
“I want them to be mine. Forever. I can’t stand not knowing anymore,” I said.
“I get that,” Rory said.
“It makes sense,” Gage added. “Anyone can tell you’re madly in love with her. And Kat.”
“Right,” I said. “Except Nine. She doesn’t see it. She’s so damn hard on herself.” I sighed. “I’m hoping she doesn’t shoot me down.”
Rory jerked my head in a lock with his arm. “I’ll stock up on the tequila,” he said, releasing me. “Just in case.”
I huffed. “Again. Thanks, asshole.”
We laughed as we made our way into the jewelry store. I knew Rory was just messing around with me, giving me hell for being the last one in our trio to get engaged.
I hoped.
I hated that I didn’t have a clue what her answer would be.
With Gage, and even Rory, I think they knew Bailey and Paige loved them.
Knew they were going to say yes.
But Nine and me?
We’d done everything backward.
Fucked first.
Then baby.
Then love.
And now I hoped marriage.
Holy shit.
I never once in my life wanted to be married. Never thought one woman would ever be enough.
But Jeannine wasn’t just enough—she was everything.
She matched me on every level—pushed and pulled and owned every second of every day. If I got to spend the rest of my life with her…well, I’d be one lucky son of a bitch.
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