by K. M. Scott
I watched her wishing I could open my eyes wider to take more of her in. Everyone around us faded away, leaving just Abbi and me. As she moved closer to where I stood, I saw her look up into my eyes and knew she felt the same way I did.
All we had to remember was it was just us. That’s all that mattered. Nothing else in the world but Abbi, me, and Annalea.
She stopped next to me and gave me one of those sweet Abbi smiles that never failed to make me feel the kind of happiness I’d only dreamed of before she came into my life. The minister began speaking, and as he said the words, “Dearly beloved,” I reached down and took her hand in mine.
My Abbi.
He continued to speak the words of the wedding ceremony, and when the time came for us to speak our vows, we turned to face one another and said the words we’d written to let our family and friends know how we felt in our hearts. Following tradition, I looked into Abbi’s blue eyes and said mine first.
“Abbi, I promise in front of all our family and friends to always be the person you can tell your secrets to, no matter if they’re good or bad. I promise to always be your champion. When you don’t think you can’t go on, I’ll be there to hold you up and support you. I promise to do everything I can to be the man you deserve.”
With tears in her eyes, Abbi smiled up at me. “Kane, I promise in front of all our family and friends that I will be the light you need when it becomes so dark you don’t think you can find your way. You’ll never be alone, no matter what. And when you think you want to fight the world because it seems like everyone’s against you, I’ll be there to remind you that you are loved.”
Our words told everyone there what we were to one another. I was Abbi’s protector and defender, and she was mine. I was her biggest fan, and she was my biggest supporter. And after all we’d been through, we’d finally found the happiness we both had been searching for.
The minister recited the rest of the ceremony and looked down at his watch, like we’d planned. “It’s almost midnight. As Kane and Abbi have decided, they’re going to start the year off the best way possible, so in a few seconds I’ll say the words and they’ll officially be married.”
As everyone counted down from ten around us, I held Abbi’s hands in mine and stared down into her eyes until the moment we were finally married. It had been a long and often painful road to get to that point, but now as we stood there just seconds away from the minister pronouncing us husband and wife, my only regret was that we’d waited so long to do this.
“By the power vested in me by the state of Florida, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Around us everyone cheered and celebrated while I kissed Abbi and whispered against her lips, “Happy New Year, Mrs. Jackson.”
She giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck to hug me close. “Happy New Year, Mr. Jackson. Do you remember the only other time I called you that?”
I pulled back and smiled, remembering that first night we talked downstairs in the bar. “I like this time a lot more.”
*
Stopping the car in front of our little house, I took Abbi’s hand and brought it to my lips in a kiss. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Did you get Angel a playmate?” she teased.
“No, but it’s waiting inside for you.”
I walked around and opened her car door, and we walked up the old concrete sidewalk to the front porch that still creaked with each footstep. Opening the screen door, I smiled at her as it squeaked, like always. “Still just like you like it.”
She squeezed my hand. “I love this house. I love the squeaky door and the creaky wood boards on the porch. But mostly I love it because you gave me this.”
I bent down and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Close your eyes for me and don’t let go of my hand, okay?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. “Okay. Lead the way.”
Then I remembered tradition said we couldn’t walk into the house. “Wait. I have to carry you across the threshold, but keep your eyes closed. I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
Abbi opened them and shook her head. “You’re going to carry me in? I had no idea you were so old-fashioned, Mr. Jackson.”
Scooping her up into my arms, I smiled and kissed her softly. “I am, and you have to close your eyes.”
She shut them again and buried her face in the space between my neck and my shoulder. “Okay. They’re shut.”
Finally, I carried her into our house and turned on the lights. Setting her down on her feet, I nervously told her she could open her eyes and waited, hoping her reaction would show me she was happy with everything I’d done.
Abbi opened her eyes wide and stared at the changes I’d made to the house. The day Annalea was born I decided two things. First, I’d get the help I needed to make sure I could spend the rest of my life with the woman I loved and our child. And second, I needed to get rid of all those memories this house still held of my life growing up if I wanted to ever live here with Abbi and Annalea. So I started seeing someone to help me handle my anger and all the issues of my past, and I had the house gutted and completely redone, leaving only the creaky front porch and the squeaky screen door like they were before.
“Kane, what…how? When did you do this?”
“I’ve had the contractors here since October. They finished right before Christmas.”
Her mouth hung open as she looked at the brand new insides of our little house. “It’s so incredible! Why did you do this, though? You didn’t have to change anything.”
“I had to let go of the past, but I knew you loved this house, so I made it ours. But if you don’t want to live here, we can go house hunting starting tomorrow and move somewhere else.”
She grabbed my hand to pull me into the kitchen and shook her head. “No! I love this house. You gave me this house when I had nothing. But I love how it looks now too! It’s like a brand new house.”
“It’s got everything we could want. Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, gas cooktop, and the bathroom upstairs I had them redo to be like a spa for you. I wanted this house to be perfect for us.”
Abbi stopped gaping at the house I’d created for her and hugged me. Pressing her cheek to my chest, she said quietly, “No one has ever done anything like this for me. I love it, and I love you, Kane. You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever known.”
“I doubt you could find five people to agree with you, but all that matters is you think that,” I said as I ran my hand over her silky hair.
She looked up at me and smiled. “I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. I never have. I know who you are, Kane. I knew it from the first night we spent together. The outside might be all hard and tough, but inside you’re good and kind. And now I’m the lucky woman who gets to say she’s married to that guy.”
“Speaking of that, I think we need to move this up to the bedroom and start this honeymoon off right.”
Unbuttoning the top buttons of my dress shirt, she ran her tongue over her lower lip. “I like the way you think. Have anything specific in mind?”
Tightening my fist in her hair, I gently tugged her head back and kissed her long and deep. “I’m going to make love to my wife for the first time and I don’t care if we don’t leave our bed for days.”
“What about when we go to see Annalea?”
“Then I don’t care if we only leave our bed to see our beautiful little girl.”
I held Abbi in my arms as I eased my cock in and out of her body, slowly building her desire and need with my own and loving the feel of making love to the woman who had stolen my heart from the first moment I laid eyes on her. Now my wife, she was the only person in the world who truly knew the darkness I held inside and still loved me.
She cradled my face and looked up into my eyes. “You’re driving me crazy, Kane. Every time I feel like I’m getting close to coming, you slow down. I swear you can tell when I’m close. And that piercing of you
rs feels so incredible.”
I buried myself balls deep in her and groaned, “I’m just good like that.”
“Mmmm…you are good in so many ways.”
Easing out of her, I ran my tongue along the seam of her lips. “I’m going to make you come so you can’t even stand tomorrow.”
“I love how you think.”
“Good.” Rolling over onto my back, I positioned her so she straddled my hips. “Let me see you ride my cock, angel.”
Abbi sat up straight on me and ran her fingertip down the middle of my chest to my tattoo between my hipbones. With my hands gripping her sides, she rolled her hips back and forth, making my cock push against the tender walls of her pussy.
“God, baby, that feels incredible,” I groaned. She did this move that felt like she was milking me and made me feel like the top of my head might blow off.
Leaning forward, she kissed me long and deep, her tongue teasing mine. “You know what I want?”
“Tell me and it’s yours,” I said as I ran my hands down her back to squeeze her perfect ass.
“I want you to take me from behind. You haven’t even moved to do that since we got back together. I want you to fuck me like you did that first time.”
I looked up at her blue eyes full of desire and felt my demons begin to circle inside me. Eager to have her, they urged me to give her exactly what she wanted. I flipped her onto her stomach, unable to hold back, and prayed that I wouldn’t be the monster I hated.
As if Abbi wanted to test my demons to show them they didn’t have hold over me, she nudged her ass against my thighs and turned her head to look at me. “Don’t hold back, Kane. Make me yours.”
That’s all they needed to hear. I held on to her hips tightly and rammed my cock into her until every inch of me was buried inside. She moaned low and sweet, and I leaned forward to whisper, “I love you, Abbi. No matter what, I need you to believe that.”
Shoving my hand into her hair, I tightened my fist around the long golden strands and tugged her head back. And then I let my demons loose on her, fucking her until there was nothing left inside me. Her strength never wilted in the face of who I truly was, and no matter how many times that night I plunged into her cunt, she met my thrusts with more desire.
I sat back on my heels at the end and stared at her tiny body. I’d let my demons have what they wanted, and still when she rolled over onto her back and looked up at me, she wore one of her beautiful smiles.
“Tell those demons of yours I expect them to be on time in the future,” she teased, making me laugh. “I shouldn’t have to coax them out of hiding. Now come here.”
I lay next her in our bed, taking her in my arms as she rested her head on my chest. “I think that might have been even better than that first night,” I whispered into the room, unsure if better was the right word.
Abbi looked up at me and nodded. “I wanted you to see I’ve never been afraid of your demons, Kane. With me, your demons are nothing more than what make you the kind of man I want making love to me. I know what they are to the rest of the world, but to me, they aren’t bad. When I want it slow and gentle, we’ll have to make sure they’re on their leashes, but when I want it like we were tonight, they’re just what we need.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled, finally free of the fear that I’d hurt her. She knew me like no other person in the world did, and still she loved me as much as I loved her. There, in the house I made for her and Annalea, we lay in each other’s arms and talked about the life we’d make together, and for the first time ever for me, there wasn’t even a hint of fear that the future would be anything less than happy.
Epilogue
Kane
I pulled the car up to the front of Alexandria’s house and turned around to smile at Annalea. “Ready to party?”
Throwing her hands up in the air, she giggled and gave me a big smile. “Yay! Let’s par-tay!”
To my right, Abbi rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You taught her to say it like that, didn’t you?”
“Me? It wasn’t me. It must have been that cartoon she watches all the time.”
“Daddy, did I say it right? Par-tay!”
I turned back in my seat and winked at my daughter. “Shhh. Remember, it’s a secret, right?”
“Oh, yeah. A secret par-tay.”
Abbi giggled. “I think you two need to work on your secret keeping. Let’s go. Are you ready to see Cassian, Annalea?”
She lifted his present wrapped with a big blue bow in the air above her head. “I’m ready! He’s going to love his gift, right Mommy?”
“I think so, honey. Cassian loves blocks. He’s going to be so happy you gave him a new set.”
Annalea squealed in happiness and unbuckled her seat belt to climb out Abbi’s side of the car. I walked around to take her hand as Abbi walked toward Olivia, who stood on the porch waiting for us.
“It’s so great to see you,” she yelled toward us. “How’s my favorite niece doing?”
“I’m your only niece, Aunt Olivia,” Annalea said. She looked up at me as Olivia teased her about how that still meant she was her favorite niece and said quietly, “Daddy, will there be cake at this par-tay?”
“Yes,” I said with a smile. “It’s a birthday, so that calls for cake. Cassian is a year old today.”
Her expression seemed to say that she was pleased by this, and she nodded. “Like on my birthday, right?”
“Right, except we do something special in this family for everyone’s first birthday. Just wait until you see what happens.”
She furrowed her brow as she thought about what would happen, but then Alexandria appeared on the porch and Annalea’s attention turned toward her.
Releasing my hand, she ran toward her with her arms open. “Grandma!”
“How’s my girl today?” Alexandria said with a wide smile, opening her arms to take her inside them. “I’m so glad you’re here, sweetheart. I don’t see you as much now that you’re in school.”
“Daddy says that something special is going to happen with Cassian’s cake today because it’s his first birthday. What’s going to happen?”
Alexandria looked toward me and smiled. “That’s right. We haven’t done that in four years since your first birthday, Annalea. Why don’t you go inside and see how the birthday boy is doing?”
She took off like a shot, her long blond hair trailing behind her, followed by Abbi who always watched over her like a hawk, a holdover from those early days when we weren’t sure she’d even make it to her own first birthday. Alexandria opened her arms to embrace me, and I leaned in to give her a hug.
Cradling my face, she smiled up at me. “How are you, Kane? It’s good to see you.”
“I’m good. We’re all good. How are you?”
“I’m happy to have my family all here.”
Over the years since Annalea’s birth, Alexandria and I had grown close enough for me to think of her like a mother, and she treated me like one of her sons, complete with giving me her opinion on my life and occasionally even taking Abbi’s side against me. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“It’s good to be here. How’s Cash handling the big day?”
“Oh, he’s over the moon with that little boy! Come on in. Stefan and Shay are here already, so the party can begin now that you three are here.”
I followed her inside and found my brothers trying to coach the birthday boy on how to blow out his candle. Cash looked happier than I’d ever seen him, and Stefan hadn’t changed. He still looked like that frat boy he’d been the entire time I’d known him.
“Kane! Come in and help us with the little guy. He’s having a hard time understanding what to do with his candle,” Stefan yelled from the kitchen as he crouched in front of little Cassian’s high chair and blew air out of his cheeks.
Cassian March V had a huge name for such a little boy. With a gentle smile and dark eyes like his mother’s, he was all his father otherwise with his dark hair
and quiet way. Looking up at me, his brown eyes opened wide and in a little voice, he said my name, much to Stefan’s disappointment.
“Kane.”
“Why can he say his name but not mine?” he asked Olivia. Turning back to the baby, he said slowly, “Stef-an. Stefan. I’m Uncle Stefan.”
Little Cassian took a deep breath and with a smile said, “Kane.”
Stefan stood and shook his head. “I give up.”
“It’s okay, Stefan,” Olivia said as she patted him on the back. “He’ll get it eventually. All he can say now is ma-ma, da-da, and Kane.”
Annalea leaned down to kiss her cousin on his chubby cheek and asked, “Can you say my name? Annalea. Annalea Jackson. Say it, Cassian.”
All he answered with was baby sounds, leaving Annalea disappointed.
“Now that everyone’s here, we can get started with the party. First comes the cake,” Alexandria announced. “Olivia, did you wash those little piggies?”
Olivia picked Cassian up out of his high chair and showed off his chubby, clean feet. “I did. Are we ready?”
Everyone cheered, and Annalea tugged on my arm to get my attention. Looking up at me, she asked, “Why do his feet have to be clean to eat cake, Daddy?”
“Just watch. It’s a family tradition for the first birthday.”
Olivia beamed as her mother-in-law brought out a round birthday cake with the words Happy 1st Birthday Cassian on it. Holding it in front of her and the baby, Alexandria said, “Like everyone else born into this family, it’s time to make it official. Happy birthday, Cassian!”
Then she pushed his little foot into the frosting and made a footprint in the cake. The little boy wiggled his toes back and forth feeling the squishy dessert between them and giggled as everyone clapped and sang Happy Birthday to him while his father smiled with pride and snapped picture after picture. Alexandria’s words stayed in my head, however, reminding me that even though I shared a father with Cassian and Stefan, I hadn’t truly been born into this family.