by T L Swan
I smile. He’s never brought anyone home before.
“Can I help you with anything?” I ask.
She smiles warmly. “No, dear, I have everything under control.”
“Please?” I whisper. “I’m really nervous.”
She wraps her arms around me. “Well, in that case, come in here.” She leads me farther into the kitchen. “I burn everything, anyway.”
I giggle. “Me, too.”
“We have that in common then.” She smiles warmly. Oh, I like her already.
“I’ll get you a glass of wine,” Brock says, smiling softly before he disappears. Natasha and Bridget come in and sit at the kitchen counter. Bridget is clearly heavily pregnant.
“How far have you got to go?” I ask.
“Fourteen weeks.” She smiles. “Twins.”
My eyes widen. “Twins?”
“I know.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know how the hell I’m going to do it.”
Natasha rubs Bridget’s stomach. “It’s going to be fine, stop worrying.”
“Are you scared?” I ask.
“Petrified,” she whispers. “But don’t tell Ben. I’m totally faking this whole ‘I have this shit in the bag’ business.”
Natasha has long dark hair and is wearing tight-fitting, faded blue jeans and a white T-shirt. Her hair is in a ponytail and she hasn’t any makeup on. She’s beautiful with the most perfect dimples I have ever seen. She has a friendly, down to earth vibe about her. Bridget’s hair is a little lighter, and she’s wearing an ice-blue summer dress. Her stomach does look huge. No wonder Brock said she’s struggling.
Adrian comes out and sits at the bench with the girls. Brock reappears with a bottle of wine and pours me a glass, topping up Natasha’s and Adrian’s while he’s here, and then he gently puts his hand on my hip and stands behind me. “You okay, Pock?” he asks softly.
“I’m good.”
He leans in and kisses my temple. “I’ll just be in the living room.”
“Okay.” I smile at him being so thoughtful. I look up to see the three of them grinning as they watched our interaction.
“God, you three are fucking busy bodies,” Brock grumbles before he disappears into the other room. We fall silent, and I nervously look at the three of them.
“So…” Bridget smiles. “We could probably act cool and casual, but that really isn’t our style and we desperately need to know all the juicy details.”
I grin bigger.
“How long have you been dating?” Adrian asks.
“A couple of weeks.”
Adrian. “Oh, yes, that’s right. It was around Natasha’s birthday, wasn’t it?”
Bridget says something in return, but my attention turns to Joshua as he walks in and puts his hands on Tash’s shoulders from behind. She turns to him.
“Do you want a drink, Presh?” he asks softly.
She smiles lovingly at him and holds her glass up. “I’m full.”
He licks his lips and bends to her ear. “You will be later.” He looks down at her darkly and gives a subtle crack of his neck. Jeez, there is some serious sexual chemistry between the two of them. I wonder how they met? I feel myself getting quite hot under the collar watching them together. Natasha rolls her lips together and smiles cheekily up at him, raising her glass at his promise. I look down quickly, pretending not to notice their private interaction.
Victoria begins to put everything into the serving dishes to take to the table, and Ben comes in shortly after to wrap his arms around Bridget from behind. He puts his big hands lovingly around her stomach, and she turns her head and kisses his shoulder.
I smile softly as I watch their interaction. Oh, I like this family.
There is so much love between them all. I can feel it.
“Ouch,” someone cries from the living room. If I’m right, it sounds like the eldest girl.
Joshua rolls his eyes. “Blake!” he calls, and I smile, how does he know it was Blake? Is this kid wild or something?
“I didn’t touch her!” the little boy calls back.
“Come here, please,” Joshua demands.
Blake comes in and puts his hands on his hips defiantly. “Jordy started it, and I’m not sitting next to her at the table,” he tells us all.
Joshua stares at him, deadpan. “You’ll sit where we tell you to sit.”
Cameron comes in and picks Blake up in a rush, throwing him over his shoulder. “Blake is sitting in the pot plant to eat his dinner.”
He takes Blake over to the huge pot plant and pretends he’s going to put him into it as Blake squeals in delight, kicking and screaming.
I smile as I watch them play while everyone goes back to their conversation.
Victoria rolls her eyes. “Damn Cameron. He can’t be serious for one minute.”
I giggle as I watch him play with the little boy.
Brock puts his hand at the small of my back, and I smile up at him.
“I like your crazy family,” I whisper.
He smiles down at me. “Me, too.”
I lie on my side in bed. Brock has just had a shower, and we are back at his house. It’s late now, and he’s walking towards me when he drops his towel and I smile up at him. God, I still get awestruck at his sexual confidence. No matter how many times he parades around in front of me naked without a care in the world, I find it intoxicating.
“My family loved you,” he tells me as he steps into his boxer shorts.
“Do you think so?”
He lies down beside me. “I know so.”
He watches me for a moment. “Are you okay? You were quiet on the ride home.”
I smile sadly and roll onto my back. “I guess.”
“What’s wrong?”
I look over at him and shrug.
He raises his brow. “You can talk to me. I won’t…” His voice trails off.
I pause for a moment. I really want to talk to him about this, but I don’t want him to get angry with me. “Do you think I’ve treated Simon badly?” I ask softly.
He rests up onto his elbow. “Tell me why you broke up again.”
I exhale and look up at the ceiling. “We met when we were fifteen.”
He stays silent as he listens.
“And we were kids. Our love was puppy love.” I look over at him to see how he’s handling this, and he smiles over at me. His smile gives me courage to go on.
“But I always just thought we would break up one day, you know? And I was going to do all the things that I had always wanted to do.”
He picks up my hand and kisses my fingertips.
“But we never did.” I stare sadly at the air conditioning vent up in the ceiling.
“And then ten months ago he asked me to marry him.”
Brock’s smile fades, a frown taking over his face.
“But I didn’t want to get married, and...” I shake my head as I go back to the dreadful day when I told him we were over.
“You don’t want to get married?” He frowns.
My eyes meet his. “I do. Now, I do.”
His face falls. “You want to get married now?”
I giggle. “Don’t panic I don’t mean now, now.”
He smiles. “Go on.”
I frown as I try to tell the story as accurately as I can. “I ended up asking Simon for a twelve-month break and he accepted. I promised him I would return to him and that I wouldn’t meet anyone else.”
Brock’s eyes hold mine. He already knows how the rest of the story goes. “But you met me,” he whispers t.
I get a lump in my throat and I nod sadly. “Not only did I meet you, I fucked you in the worst way possible.”
“Pock.” He sighs as he cups my face. “Can you stop saying that? It wasn’t like that. We were so attracted to each other that we couldn’t help it.”
That’s not the real story and he knows it.
“The thing is, Brock… meeting you, being with you, it all made me realise that my feelings fo
r him weren’t real or true.”
He frowns again, his eyes searching mine.
“I never…” I sigh heavily.
“You never what?”
“I never felt with him what I feel when I’m with you.”
“What do you mean?”
My eyes search his. “Sometimes I feel like I will die if you don’t touch me.”
Tenderness crosses his face, and he leans in to kiss me softly.
“The thing is, I realised that I loved Simon, but I wasn’t in love with him anymore.” I run my hand through his hair. “And even if you and I hadn’t of worked out, Simon wasn’t the man for me.”
He nods, not needing to tell me he understands. His face says it all.
“And it sucks, you know.” My eyes fill with tears. “Because he never did anything wrong.”
Brock cups my face in his hands.
“He loved me so much,” I whisper.
He puts his arm around me, and I rest my head on his chest. I run my hand idly over his heart and his abs as I think.
“I hope he meets someone.” Sadness overwhelms me as I imagine him sad and alone tonight.
Brock pulls me close and kisses my forehead. “It’s not your fault, Tully.”
I frown up at him. “You don’t think?”
“People change.”
“Have you changed?” I ask.
He nods. “Yeah, I’ve changed. A lot, actually.”
“How?”
“Well, I had my first girlfriend when I was sixteen.”
I smile up at him. “What was her name?”
“Rebecca.”
I bite my bottom lip. “What happened with Rebecca?”
His eyes widen. “It was a complete disaster.”
I giggle. “Why?”
“Rebecca fell in love with me and I fell in love with her mother.”
I blink and stare. “Don’t tell me you…”
He pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, clearly amused. “God, no.”
“You fell for her mum?”
He chuckles. “A bit. She was a total babe. Her name was Stephanie, and she was the focus of many a spank banking session”
I laugh out loud and slap his chest. “Brock. Who in the hell jerks off over their girlfriend’s mother?”
He shakes his head. “Right? Anyway, I kind of realised that maybe girlfriends and I don’t really mix.”
I frown. “Wait, so…? You’ve never been in love? Like, ever?”
He shrugs. “I was away with the Navy, and I was never in the same place for a long time. I got a bit…”
“A bit what?
“Detached, I guess.”
I smile as I lie in his arms. “We’re a great couple, aren’t we?”
He kisses my temple.
“I was too attached, and you were too unattached.”
“Until I met you…” he admits quietly.
I smile goofily up at him. “Do you believe in fate, Brock?”
He purses his lips as he thinks.
“I think I was meant to meet you when I did,” I whisper dreamily. “When the time was right.”
“You think you were meant to dump me the next day like you did, too, huh?” He shakes his head. “I was fucking cut up.”
“Exactly. If I hadn’t dumped you, I would have been just like every other girl you met in the past and you’d be long gone by now.”
He frowns as he listens.
“The only reason I got through to you was because I didn’t fall at your feet.”
He kisses me and pulls me close to his chest.
“You can fall at my feet now,” he whispers seductively.
I close my eyes and smile. I feel so safe in his arms. “I always do.”
Chapter 18
Brock is sitting on the floor with his back propped up against the wall while I lie with my head on his lap. We’re waiting at the airport and our flight has been delayed by three hours—not enough time for us to go home but just enough time to drive you crazy. Brock is looking through the photos on my phone, and every now and then he smiles as he looks at an image of me. I keep catching him sending them to his phone.
“Where was this? He shows me a picture of me and Callie.
“Vietnam.”
He nods and keeps scrolling.
“Why do you save all these motivational memes?” He smirks.
“To motivate myself.” I giggle.
He shakes his head and chuckles as he keeps scrolling through. I smile as I watch him. He’s learning about me from my photos, drinking in a little piece of me with every shot.
“Why do you take photos of menus in restaurants?” He frowns as he scrolls.
“So that I have all the menus handy and I can see what I want before I go there if I ever go back.”
His eyes find mine. “Or could just wait until you get there and see it then.”
“Don’t make fun of my quirks.”
He smirks and keeps scrolling, and then he frowns and looks up at me. “Why do you have this information on anger and anabolic steroids?”
Oh shit. ”Erm.” I frown, not knowing if I should I tell him why I saved that. “When I first met you in the gym I thought you were on steroids and that’s why you had anger issues. I thought you were having a ‘roid rage.”
“What? Are you serious?”
I shrug. “Well, you are super buff, and you were slightly scary.”
His face falls. “My anger scares you?”
I nod. “A bit.”
“Why?”
“Because you aren’t my Brock when you’re like that. I don’t like the person you become.”
He swallows sadly, and his eyes go back to the images. He doesn’t say anything, but I don’t miss the way he starts to play with my hair as he processes my words and pretends to look at more photos.
“You said that we could deal with my anger as long as I gave you another side of me,” he reminds me, his voice carrying a hint of hurt.
“I can, Brock, but you are no good to me in jail for murder, are you?”
He exhales heavily but doesn’t reply, and I know I’ve hit a nerve with him.
I think I may have hurt his feelings, but it had to be said. I have no choice but to always be honest.
We walk onto the staircase of the plane and are immediately hit by a wall of heat. “My God, it’s hot.” I sigh. The air is humid and steamy.
We are in Hawaii. Aloha!
Brock raises an eyebrow and grabs my hand. “Careful,” he says, gesturing to the stairs.
I look around and smile as we begin to walk down them. “Oh, look over there.” I point to a building we can see in the distance.
He tightens his grip on my hand and gestures to the stairs again. “Tully, watch what you’re doing, please.”
“Oh my God, let me take a photo.” I stop to get my phone out of my bag.
“You can’t be serious!” he snaps. “You’re going to break your fucking neck in a moment.”
I smile mischievously. “Do you want to carry me down the steps, Dad?”
“It’s a lot safer than you walking them alone, that’s for sure. You’re worse than a two-year-old.”
“My two-year-old is going to be a lot naughtier than this.” I huff.
He stares at me blankly for a moment, as if the thought that he may one day have naughty children has never crossed his mind before now.
“What?” I smirk as we get to the bottom of the steps and walk across the tarmac.
“You think your children will be naughty? Doesn’t everyone usually start out with belief that their children will be perfect?” He frowns.
I smile goofily at the ridiculous notion. “Well, I was a nightmare as a child, and I’m pretty sure you were a nightmare, too. Together, that’s a whole lot of nightmares.”
His eyes flick over to me as he does the math. “Whatever. We’ll be too busy having wild sex to parent any kids, properly” he mutters under his breath.
“Brock, we can’t have sex if I have children,” I tell him seriously.
He frowns over at me. “Why not?”
“Because my vagina will be too stretched out,” I whisper, glancing around to make sure no one else can hear us.
He smirks as he hands his passport over to the customs officer on the desk. “Lucky we have option B then, isn’t it?”
The custom officer’s eyes roam over Brock as he approaches the desk, and she smiles as she reads his name
Ugh, I’m right here, you know!
She goes through all of the official checks with us both, and then she looks up and smiles sexily at him. “Have a nice trip, Mr. Marx.”
His eyes hold hers. “Thank you. I will.”
She twirls her hair and her smile turns into a flirtatious grin. Brock looks over at me and smirks as we walk off. He loves the fact that every woman who sees him goes weak at the knees.
“I wouldn’t get excited,” I whisper. “She probably fucks anything that moves.”
He chuckles as he takes my hand in his. “I’m sure she does.”
Our driver pulls into the large circular driveway. I peer out of the car like a little child. “This is where we’re staying?” I frown.
“Uh-huh. Out you get, Pock.” He kisses my fingertips and climbs out of the car.
I read the hotel sign:
The Halekulani
“Wow,” I whisper in awe. This is the most beautiful resort I have ever seen. There’s a large, marble open foyer filled with fancy looking bellboys. It has huge archways that lead out onto beautiful manicured lawns. Beyond that there’s a huge pool with white deck chairs and umbrellas lining the edges. At the back of the pool you can see the ocean. This place has restaurants, cocktail bars, and beautiful people scattered everywhere. I look around, lost in the magic of it all.
Brock comes around, opens my door, and pulls me out of the car by my hands. “Brock, this is amazing.”
“Only the best for my girl.” He smirks down at me.
“My blow job skills aren’t this good.” I giggle.
He smiles broadly and raises an eyebrow. “I’ll be the judge of that.”