Prince's Triplet Babies

by Sophia Lynn

  He paused, and when Askari spoke again, there was something neutral about his tone. It felt like he was now speaking with a calm that had been hard to win.

  "He died just two years after that. I felt that loss very keenly, just like I felt the loss of my mother not long after that. I suddenly knew what it was like to be a part without a whole. I have always thought that having children, having these three girls, would give me back some of that wholeness.”

  It took everything Erin had in her not to throw herself into his arms, holding him and telling him that everything would be fine. She couldn't stand the idea of him being lost and alone, floundering in the world at such a young age without his mother and father. While she had been doing the same thing herself more or less, it struck her as unkind that a man who seemed to have everything, as Askari did, could be denied something so very basic.

  “And do you think that they have?" she asked. "Given you some of that wholeness back, I mean."

  He thought for a moment, but she did not think that it was because he wasn't sure of the answer. No, it was because he was not sure about what to say, and she wondered again at the path that had brought two people as different as they were together.

  "When I first heard of what you had done," he said, and here Erin flinched a little, "I was furious. I was consumed with rage that I then had to push aside so that I could function. For a few hours after I heard of it. I could have killed anyone who came close to me. I could have torn them limb from limb with pleasure.

  "To push that aside, I had frost it over with cold. Instead, I became something that was almost machine-like. I knew what it was I had to do, and I was ready to do it. The cold was... comforting, perhaps. After the rage, it was a relief, and it spared me the concern that I might do or say something unforgivable whenever I saw you next. However, under that cold, it was difficult to feel anything. As I flew to the United States, I even wondered if it was permanent."

  "You wondered whether you could ever feel anything again?"

  He offered her a faint and rueful smile. Erin had always regretted what had happened between them, but when she saw that smile, she felt another pang, hard and sharp right beneath her ribs.

  "No, that I might never want to feel anything again. That this cold was better, that it would mean that what had happened between us would never happen again. That no one would ever hurt me like this again."

  Erin wanted to apologize, but it felt entirely pointless. What could she say to this man? After a hurt like the one that she had delivered, it felt that anything she tried to say would be futile, cheap, and easy in the face of his grief.

  "But then you came to the door, and then you saw the girls."

  He paused, and then he shrugged.

  "Yes, and when I saw them... I can't explain it. It was as if the world had opened up around me. As if throughout all of my years, I had only seen a very small portion of the world. I had only ever looked at the world through a small cardboard tube. When I laid eyes on Tonya, Tabitha, and Talia, someone took that tube away and showed me how bright the world was, how big it was, how beautiful and how dangerous. I suppose that yes, I was complete then, and it is a feeling that even if it does bring pain, it is one that I want to treasure."

  Erin felt as if she was going to start crying at his account. She reached down for Tabitha, holding her close until the little girl squeaked.

  "What about you?" Askari said quietly, and she frowned at him in confusion.

  "What do you mean?"

  "What was it like when you saw them for the first time?"

  Erin laughed, because in some ways, the feelings were just the same.

  "For a woman with a natural multiple birth, it was surprisingly easy on me," she said with a smile. “I started having contractions early in the day, got to the hospital in plenty of time, and gave birth before sundown. It was easier, the doctor said, because triplets were always smaller, but believe me when I say that it didn't feel that easy."

  To her surprise, he reached out for her hand, squeezing it gently. It was a gentle contact, but she could feel it course through her body, a vivid electricity that she remembered well even though it had been more than a year since they had truly touched.

  She left out the fact that she had felt so alone, even surrounded by nurses and her doctor and coached by the midwife she had hired. She was surrounded by people, she was going to have triplets, and somehow, her heart was far away across the sea. She had never felt that she was so alone in her entire life.

  "And then they showed me the babies, one after another, so perfect and so different, and they had their names already. I had decided, but my god, Askari, I felt that the world was so enormous. I thought of their lives and how they would stretch beyond mine, of all the things that they might see and do, all the good that they could do and all the wonder that they could see, and I felt so small, so much a part of something that was far bigger and far grander than I was."

  She realized how much she was saying, and she bit it back, glancing at him nervously. She wondered if saying such things would only make him angry with her again, but instead he was looking at her with a kind of solemnity that startled her.

  "I hope," he said at last, "that one of our girls gets your gift with words."

  For some reason, that felt like the most perfect thing that anyone had ever said to her. She could feel tears prick her eyes. She started to speak, but then her nose wrinkled.

  "That is a fine sentiment, but right now, our daughters have more earthly needs. Seems like Tabitha needs to be changed. I guess after your morning, it is my turn?"

  Askari laughed, which gave her hope for a moment, but he nodded.

  "It is entirely your turn, but I will bring along the other two and stand by for moral support."

  As she carried Tabitha back to the nursery, for the first time, Erin allowed herself to wonder whether this was what it would have been like if she had never run away, or, perhaps, if she had run away and then returned. Would this morning be like all the mornings she would have had since the girls were born? Or would Askari take one look at them, smile, pay the bills, and go back to work? There was no way to tell, and right now, all she could do was walk into the future one step at a time, like everyone else.

  Chapter Thirteen

  That night, Askari slept in the guest room, and the next two days were identical. They tended to their children, they talked, they learned about the other's life, and they tried to create a bridge out of the remnants of their old relationship.

  Erin was loath to bring it up at all, and two days later, in the evening as she was getting ready to go to sleep, she realized that the relationship that they shared now was entirely new. The man she had met in New York was still there; she recognized his sly humor and his laugh, his kindness and his sharp regard. However, somehow and very quickly, fatherhood had tempered something in him. Before, he had always been a man who wanted his way, and because of his temper and his power, would get it.

  Now she got to watch as he coaxed a stubborn baby to eat her food. When he had to clean up one mess directly after tending to another one, he only sighed or groaned comedically and got to work. To Erin's eye, he seemed calmer, and somehow, that drew her in even more.

  On the third day, he came to her with a slightly grim look first thing in the morning.

  "There is business back in Haz that I cannot overlook," he said regretfully. She noted that he was dressed in sharp dress pants, a white undershirt, and an elegantly cut dark-blue button down. Despite the risk to his clothes, he still held Tabitha in his arms, which she might have said was a bad decision.

  "You are going back already?" Erin asked, unable to hide her disappointment. She knew that it had to happen sooner or later; she only hoped that she wouldn't have to call him again to make him return.

  "No, I'm going to be getting everyone together for a teleconference call. Everyone thinks that I've been rusticating out here, so I should look sharp. I won't be able to help you with get
ting the girls fed and cleaned today, as I will be going to a conference room in town. I'll be back in a few hours, but if you want me to have someone else come up to help you, I can certainly make that happen. What would you prefer?"

  She blinked, only slowly realizing that he was going to be back in just a matter of hours. He wasn't going to leave her or the girls alone, and she felt a strange shiver of feeling run through her.

  "No, I should be fine," she said, startled by his consideration. "We'll just take it easy and wait for you to come back."

  Good," he said with a grin. "I would hate to miss something."

  She was just going to retort that the only thing he would realistically be missing was a few diaper changes and perhaps Tabitha trying to unlace his sneakers again, but then he stepped close.

  She thought that he was going to drop a kiss on her forehead, but instead, the kiss fell on her lips. It started light, but in a matter of seconds, it had deepened. Now she could taste him, and it was a taste that she remembered so well that she felt faint. His strong arms were around her, his mouth was hot on hers, and oh yes, she remembered this. She remembered how much she had craved his touch even in the short time they had been together, and she could remember how her body had woken up with him so close.

  She nearly grasped on to his shirt with her hands to keep him. It had been so long since she had been touched like this. It felt as if her body was a dry field and heedlessly, carelessly, he had pitched a lit match into it. She needed him, she wanted him, and right then Erin knew that she couldn't keep him.

  He didn't seem aware of that fact. He pulled back for a moment, but then he simply leaned back in to kiss her again, his mouth claiming her with a gentle dominance that made her yearn for him.

  Finally, however, Erin pushed him away. She knew that the push was harder than it needed to be, but she knew that if she didn't do something decisive that she was going to regret it. She would let him linger, let him kiss her again, and who knew what would happen then?

  "You should go," Erin heard herself say. Her voice was tinny, as if it was spoken by a robot. That made a certain amount of sense. She might have been saying the words, but there was nothing in her that wanted the result.

  For a moment, it didn't look as if Askari was going to heed her words. There was a slightly stubborn look on his face, and it looked like he might step back in and kiss her again. Dear god, she wasn't sure what she would do if he did that, because her own resistance was as flimsy as a palm tree in a high wind storm, but finally, Askari stepped back with a firm nod.

  "I... I should go," he said. "I'll be back as soon as I can. It should not be too long."

  She waved at him and from a safe distance, she watched as he kissed each of the girls goodbye.

  Then he was gone, and even with her and three little babies, it felt so empty that she thought she was going to cry.

  "All right," she said, standing up a little straighter. "I am not going to worry about it."

  As she fussed with the girls, however, the kiss was in the back of her mind, bright and glowing like a brand, and she knew that at some point, that glow would brighten into an inferno.

  She had felt that inferno before, more than a year ago, and the last time, it had changed everything. What would it change this time?

  ***

  Askari decided that he was lucky that he had not crashed his car on the way into town. His mind could not stay on the road, it could not stay on the trade discussions at hand, and it certainly could not focus on the business that needed to be straightened out.

  Instead, the only thing he could think about was Erin. He could still feel her lips on his, her soft, warm body, even feel the tender flutter of her eyelashes against his cheeks.

  It had awakened something in him that he had forced into dormancy more than a year ago. When Erin had left him, he had thrown himself into his work. Nothing had mattered more than getting his country taken care of. Nothing had mattered more than burying everything he could feel deep inside him.

  There had been some beautiful women who had spoken to him, flirted with him, and he had flirted back, certainly, but at a certain point, he lost interest. They seemed dull to him, uninteresting, not nearly vibrant enough to suit his taste. One was far too thin, another too dark or too pale.

  He was wryly amused to realize that it was simply because none of them were Erin. When she had left, she had taken something vital with her, and some part of him refused to recognize it was gone until suddenly, it was back.

  Of course, none of that fixed his current problem. Waiting for him back at the cottage was a woman that he wanted more than he wanted to breathe... and he had no idea how to get her.

  ***

  Erin almost wished that Askari would stay at the conference room as long as he had in the old days. As it was, she deliberately did not wait up for him, but then she didn't need to. He was home just in time to help her put the girls to bed, and between one thing and another, it was nearly an hour later, the girls all breathing evenly and sweetly in the nursery, that they could look at each other.

  "Erin..."

  "I... I need a shower in the worst way," she blurted out. "I... I should go do that."

  She ducked around him and darted towards the bathroom. The whole way there, she could feel his eyes on her, and though Erin wanted more than anything to turn back to him, to throw herself into his arms, she did not stop until she was in the bathroom.

  Her hands shaking, she stripped off her clothes, leaving them carelessly on the floor, and she stepped into the shower. She hoped the hot spray would make things make more sense because she was running out of ideas.

  The day hadn't worn away her desire at all. In fact, it had made it sharper, more powerful than ever. At the most random moments, she had been inundated with memories of their two bodies working together, of the way he touched her and the way she had touched him. She could remember how he felt moving over her, and how his clever hands had brought her to climax after climax. She remembered how he had spread her out on the bed and lapped and kissed at the sensitive place between her legs until she had seen stars. She remembered how he had lifted her over him, all but impaling her on his cock.

  Her body was trembling as if there was more than a year of pent-up desire being felt all at once. She couldn't stop herself from feeling the onslaught of emotions, and she didn't want to. It felt like she had buried her desires during her time as a mother, and now it all came roaring back.

  When she felt broad hands close over her shoulders, Erin thought that it was just the imaginings of her fevered mind. After a moment, when the feeling didn't disappear, she realized it was quite real, and she twisted around to gasp.

  Askari was as naked as she was. He had stepped into the enormous shower behind her, and the hot water from the rain-like showerhead was soaking them both. He watched her with eyes that seemed to burn like the heart of a dying star.

  "If you want me to leave, I will leave," he said. What would happen if he was allowed to stay was obvious, and in that moment, Erin made her decision.

  "No, I don't want you to leave," she murmured, and with a groan, his caught her up in his arms.

  This was the embrace she had been waiting for for so long. This was how it felt when the universe was finally right again. She could feel his powerful body slip-sliding along hers, she could feel the power of his embrace course through her. His cock was stiff against her thigh, and without thinking twice about it, she reached down between them to run her fingers along his silken length. When they were together before, Erin had often been beset with shyness. She wondered if it was the last vestige of that so-called frigidity wearing off that she had held back for so long.

  However, right now, there was no room for shyness. There was only the two of them. There was only the power of their two bodies together, their mouths tangling in a kiss that was so tempestuous that it seemed to join their very souls.

  "You are what I have wanted," Askari murmured. "You are what
I have always wanted. I-"

  There was a declaration there, but Erin realized abruptly that she couldn't stand to hear it. With a viciousness that surprised her, shocked her to her very core, she reached up to grasp the dark hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him back to her kiss. No, right now what she needed was the two of them together. It was all that mattered, all that she could allow to matter.

  When he pressed his hand between her legs, she groaned out loud. She hadn't even touched herself in that spot very often in the time they had been apart, and her body felt as if it burst into flames with anticipation at his touch. The water from the shower combined with the power of her response allowed his fingers to slide inside her easily, and he pushed her back against the smooth marble tile as the water washed down around them.

  He worked his fingers inside her with a single-minded focus that made her whimper, stretching her and opening her, and every few strokes reaching up to swipe at her throbbing clit. It seemed that all of the sensation in her body was focused on that one spot, and before she could believe it, her legs were shaking and she was pressing her head back against the tile, her eyes shut tight against the sensations he was giving her.

  Her body trembled on the edge of climax, but she hung on, trying to quell it. It had been so long, and she wanted nothing more than to hang on to this sensation forever, this moment where she was strung so taut that a single move would make her ring like piano wire.

  Askari seemed to sense what she was going through, and instead of pulling away, he pressed closer. With his fingers quickening between her legs, he nibbled on the lobe of her ear.

  "Go on," he murmured thickly. "We can do this whenever you like. I want to do this with you forever..."

  It was too much. It was just enough. She spilled over in a rush, electricity dancing through her frame, her fingernails digging into his shoulders. Erin could barely stand the pleasure that roared through her and in the end, she could do nothing but shout his name, hearing her words echo through the marble-and-gold bathroom.