by Nikki Duncan
Licking and sucking, squeezing and rubbing, she moved her mouth and hand in sync. He moved his hands from her breasts to her hair, sinking them deep and pulling her closer or pushing her away. Sweat popped out on his body. Hers responded in kind.
“Taryn, I need to taste you.”
She raised her eyes to his, but instead of releasing him she gently scraped her teeth up his length.
“Turn around.” His voice sounded gravelly. “Please.”
Obliging, she rotated. Instead of kneeling over him, he rolled them so they were each on their side. Propping himself up on an elbow, he lifted her top leg so she was open for him.
Already looking forward to his touches her thighs trembled. He slid a finger along her pussy and her hips jerked. His stomach shook with his chuckle and then he sank his teeth into the inside of her thigh.
Her inner muscles contracted. She sucked him harder.
He moved his hand and she relaxed.
He touched, she sucked.
He stopped, she relaxed.
Over and over, tentative and teasing, he carried her higher into orbit. He rubbed her, spreading her arousal over her. It took every iota of restraint to stop herself from orgasming.
Relentless, they drove each other to the brink just before pulling back. Sweat coated them. The scent of sex filled the air. Ready to go over, to suck him deep and swallow, Tyler pulled away, leaving her humming.
He was gone only a moment, digging in a bag he’d left outside her door and returning with a condom. “As good as you are and as divine as you taste, I want to look in your eyes when we go over.”
She was smiling, staring deep into his eyes, when he slipped the condom on and joined her. As great as their other times together had been, as connected as she’d always felt when he kissed her, something truly profound passed between them when he looked into her eyes and slid home.
The something whispered inside her soul.
Love.
Chapter Fifteen
Tyler had offered to stay and help Taryn get moved to Miami, but she’d insisted she had things under control. He’d asked her to move in with him when she got there, but again she’d refused, saying the house wasn’t big enough for them to each have their own room, and she didn’t feel right sharing his room when the kids were there.
“You know they’re going to catch on that we’re seeing each other,” he’d argued.
“And that’s fine, but until we solidify what we are for our own sakes I’m not doing anything that could hurt or confuse them.”
“You think we won’t last.”
“I think we need more time to get to know each other. I think if we want to last we have to know we’re not getting together for Ryder and Sidney.”
He’d let the argument drop. Her logic was sound, which was probably why it pissed him off. The logic combined with not getting to fall asleep with her at night and wake up with her in the morning was what pissed him off.
He consoled himself with the knowledge that she would be in Miami where he could see her more often and much more affordably. He could sneak away for a few hours with her a damn sight easier than when he had to fly to California.
Trouble was, things weren’t that much easier when she got to town. When he went to work she took the kids, giving his mom her days back. At night, she stayed for dinner—that she cooked—but then went back to her hotel. The kids, ecstatic that she was there, argued she should stay at Tyler’s while shopping for a house, but even they failed to convince her.
She wanted, needed, a place that was big enough for them to live in but that also had a place for her and Kimber to work on the show. She also wanted a pool and an inspirational view. It seemed like an easy enough place to find, until he went with her and the kids to look at a few places.
Her standards were beyond high, so high he learned that she’d had the California home designed and built, which explained why every inch of it felt like Taryn. Nothing they were looking at in Miami had the same feel. Then, after four weeks in a hotel, he took her to dinner at his parents’ house. As he’d expected, his mom asked about the house hunt. She and Taryn hadn’t stopped talking since, and that had been a week ago.
“I’m really excited about this house,” Taryn said as they looked for the street number his mom had given them. “Your mom seems to love it.”
“She decorated it, of course she loves it.”
She slapped his biceps and rolled her eyes. “That’s not it at all. She swears it has everything on my list. It was designed by the same architect as the California house.”
“Looking at the neighboring homes, I wouldn’t doubt it fulfills your list. And I thought Liam’s house was extravagant.”
“Does this bother you, Tyler?”
“What? That you can afford fifteen times the house I can?” He shrugged. “Not at all. That you can give the kids everything I can’t? Yeah.”
“That isn’t true and you know it.”
It was true in the way of material belongings, and he did struggle with the idea of her making so much more money than him, but if the money was going to corrupt her, it already would have.
She pointed to the left. “There it is.”
Pulling up, his eyes widened. Near the back of the neighborhood, with a large circular drive, the house was huge. White rock had been used instead of brick and dark brown columns and edged windows gave the modern-looking house a taste of the rustic.
Single story, it hugged the circle drive before curving back the other way, much like an S. Windows were everywhere and the curtains were pulled back. In the middle of the house where the main entrance was, he saw straight through to the backyard with a large pool that overlooked the ocean. Instead of being close to the sandy beach like she’d been in California, here she sat on a cliff with the ocean below.
He didn’t have to go inside to know how right his mother had been, but he was curious what else they’d find. The owners had given his mom the key before they left the country, asking her to get it staged to sell. Using the key she’d given him, he let them inside.
Like a clean slate, the place was painted in a white that likely matched the rock outside perfectly. The woodwork—doors, baseboards, beams and shelves—were the dark wood from outside. It was the perfect mix of white and dark she’d had in her old house.
The formal living and dining area shared a space that led into the kitchen. Not quite as elegant as her old place, or large, the same dark wood had been used for the cabinets. A long, narrow island curved with the bend of the house. The five-car garage was off the kitchen.
“The garage is a little large.”
He tried not to gape. He wasn’t sure why she needed quite such a large house. “You think?”
She smacked him playfully. “I could put a wall in here and finish it out to make a workspace.”
He’d asked why she insisted on having her workspace in her house. She’d shrugged and said she wouldn’t be taken advantage of again. She never talked about the case or Davio’s betrayal, but the effects were still dogging her.
Going back in the house, they went through the dining and living room and found the informal family area. It wasn’t the media center she had in California, but it was an amazing space. The bedrooms, all six of them, were large. The first room had a small bathroom of its own that served as the main guest bath with a second door off the hall. The second two rooms shared a bathroom, as did the next two. Then there was the master with a huge bath and walk-in closet. It was so like her house in the way it felt and the openness, but larger and with a different layout and shape.
Taryn was absolutely beaming by the time they made it back to the living room where she stepped onto the back patio. In addition to the pool, there was a covered outdoor kitchen and a flat screen mounted into the wall. Who needed a media room when they had this?
“I’m going to owe your mom something great for this.”
“You’re going to buy it, aren’t you?”
Wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up at him, she asked, “Do you like it?”
“It’s pretty damn awesome.”
“Could you see yourself living here, though?”
He shrugged. “I’m not the one shopping, remember?”
“What if you were?”
This was about more than a house. Narrowing his eyes, he tried not to hope too much for her to be asking what he thought she was asking. “You’ve seen what’s in my price range, but if I was all famous like you, sure.”
Plucking at his shirt, a sign of nerves he’d never seen in her, she ventured on. “Could you see yourself living here with the kids and me? Could you see yourself sharing that last bedroom with me?”
His heart jumped excitedly. Taryn was rarely demonstrative or chatty about her emotions, except when it came to the kids. Rather than assume she would be spending time with Tyler, she waited to be invited. If she was making a first move…
“I think I need to know exactly what you’re saying, Taryn? I’d hate to misunderstand.”
“Let me put it this way. I want to file the paperwork to make the kids legally yours, and I want to adopt them so they’re legally mine. I want them to have a settled home. A home we all share, as one family.”
On the brink of being handed everything he’d ever wanted, he swallowed, but before he could say anything she continued.
“I love you, Tyler. I would never have thought it possible that first night we met, but I love everything about you.”
Smiling, feeling so light he wondered if he’d float away, he framed her face with his hands. “Taryn.” Tears filled his throat, forcing him to stop for a moment. “If I say yes, are you going to make me live in a world of white, teal and purple?”
“Would you want a different color?”
“I’d sure like to feel like I had the option.”
“If you really care how the place is decorated, then absolutely you can have a vote.”
“Generous.”
“I try.” She shrugged.
“Well, be a little more generous. Tell me that you’ll marry me and have more kids with me and I’ll consider this house as an option.”
Silent, she stared up at him. Her eyes searched his face, but for once, the woman who always had something to say was silent. She opened and closed her mouth several times like she started to speak. Each time she stopped herself.
When she finally spoke, it was with a rasp in her voice. “You want to marry me?”
“I kind of thought that’s what you were asking me.” He shook his head, now unwilling to let her make the first move. “I love you. I’ve wanted to marry you since I went to California and broke into your house. I’ve just been giving you time to come to the same conclusion.”
She was laughing when she launched herself into his arms. “Yes. Yes I’ll marry you. And yes I’ll let you pick whatever paint colors you want.”
“Maybe a few touches of teal, but darker furniture for sure.” Truth be told, there’d been nothing about her old house he hadn’t liked; he’d just preferred the darker rooms.
“I can do that.”
He kissed her, feeling as at home with her as in the house he could easily see them sharing. “The kids are going to flip over this.”
“The house?”
“I was talking about you and me.” He chuckled. “They haven’t exactly been subtle about wanting us to get married.”
“Then let’s go tell them. Maybe after we stop off at my hotel room.”
“I love the way you think.” Lifting her higher in his arms, Tyler carried her toward the door. The faster he got her to the hotel the sooner they could both indulge in a little alone time. Damn, he missed being alone with her.
Fourteen months had passed, to the day, since Tyler had proposed. In that time, life had changed so many ways. The show was more challenging and rewarding than ever, working side-by-side with Kimber. The kids had never been happier than they were in their new school, though she suspected it had more to do with having Tyler around all the time. She’d never been happier, and it was definitely because of Tyler.
He’d taught her it was okay to be vulnerable and do things just for herself. He’d drawn her into his circle of friends and they’d become her own. For the first time ever, she had girlfriends who did a regular Girls’ Night and she had a man in her life who took charge of the kids while she went. It was a little thing, but it was something for herself that she enjoyed guilt free. It was bliss.
“How do you feel?”
“Like I just gave the performance of my life. And you?”
Taryn smiled up at Tyler, at her husband, as he stood beside her and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. He was always touching her hair, twirling it around a finger or running a hand down its length or brushing it away from her face or shoulders. It was the most casual touch, and the most sexually charged, because every time he touched her hair he stared into her eyes like she was the only woman in the world.
“Like the world’s luckiest man. I lost so many yesterdays with Ryder and Sidney. You’ve given me the gift of tomorrow.” He leaned down and kissed her then. The kiss was long and hot and so full of love that she’d never felt more cherished. And he made her feel cherished on a regular basis.
“You ready for the madness of what comes next?” he asked when he pulled back.
Glancing down at the two bundles of boy in her arms, she chuckled. “I’ve survived your first set of twins. At least this time you’re around to help walk the floor when one wakes the other up at night.”
“And I’m loving every minute of it so far.” He reached down and took his babies from her, cradling one in each arm like he’d done it a thousand times before. “I was actually talking about the circus waiting outside those doors, though.”
Taryn laughed and then winced when the incision across her lower abdomen announced the stupidity of the move. Blowing out a few slow breaths until the pain eased, she pressed the pillow against her stomach and stood.
“Is it getting easier?” Tyler asked as he passed Harrison back to her, keeping Ashton for himself.
“Not really.” Starstruck by the perfection in her arms, she smiled at Harrison. As madly as she loved Ryder and Sidney she might have it a little worse for Harrison and Ashton. She didn’t love them more, but it was a little different. One set of twins were the children of her heart and the other of her body.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “They’re worth it though.”
He silently wiped her tears away, like he did every time he’d found her crying in the last week, and kissed her temple before leading her to the door. “I’ll get you a pill as soon as you’re settled in the living room.”
“You know I don’t have to immediately sit down in the next room I reach, right?”
“Until you’re recovered, you’re going to be taking it easy.”
And in Tyler’s world, that meant he would treat her like a piece of fragile glass until she was ready to smother him in his sleep. She’d figured out during pregnancy that it was easier not to argue with him. She’d just do what she wanted when he wasn’t looking.
They stepped into the living room and Taryn’s eyes went wide. The living and dining area were filled with people and balloons and flowers and diaper towers. Moving to Miami really had been a great move, because she’d gotten some amazing friends in the mix.
Ian and Kieralyn, Breck and Kami, Ava and H, Aidan and Lana, Liam and Grey, Kimber and Daryl, Simon and Ruby, H’s sister Dana, Tyler’s parents and brothers and sisters-in-law, and her own mom were all there. Tyler’s nieces and nephews were huddled over their iPads, playing whatever game was currently trending. A playpen had been set up near the windows where Breck and Kami’s little girl played quietly.
Ryder and Sidney moved away from their cousins and asked to hold Harrison and Ashton, promising to sit still on the couch and keep their heads supported. The growing pains she’d expected to come from having more kids had barely
fazed Ryder or Sidney. They just seemed thrilled that their nudges toward becoming a real family had finally taken hold.
Like they did most every time, Ryder and Sidney wanted to hold the babies, she and Tyler helped them get settled. They didn’t really need the help, but first-time dad Tyler was still nervous so she humored him.
Then everyone else made their move, hugging her and Tyler—this was not a handshake kind of group—before going to ooh and ahh over the babies. It struck her as funny because they’d all been to the hospital for at least one visit.
“You couldn’t just go for one kid, could you, Tyler?” Breck asked. “Had to go and have another set of twins.”
“You’re just jealous that you couldn’t get two for the price of one,” Kami joked.
“My boy’s always been smarter than everyone else,” Randy, Tyler’s dad, said.
Using Tyler’s distraction of their friends to her advantage, Taryn moved to the table and began looking over all the food and gifts that had been brought over.
“It’s like a food and diaper bomb exploded in here,” Ava said as she stepped up.
“You guys already got us gifts. More wasn’t necessary.”
“They’re just diapers.” She winked. “How’s your pain?”
“Not too bad unless I move to sit down or stand up or get in and out of bed or laugh.”
“Oh, so you only hurt always.” Ava shrugged. “That’s not a big deal at all.”
“Exactly.”
“I can help you with that,” H said quietly from behind her. “If you want.”
Turning to face the dark and intense man she hadn’t fully figured out yet, Taryn raised an eyebrow. He studied empathic abilities and Ava seemed to have some skill at reading people’s intentions, but… “How exactly would that work, H?”
“You just hold my hands and look in my eyes.”
“So, are you an empath too? Like Ava?”
“Not quite.” He winked. “We would need to go into a private room.”
She laughed, picturing Tyler having an aneurism. “If you think Tyler’s going to let me be alone in a room with a man who looks like you, even if I can’t do anything fun, you’re so wrong.”