by K. A. Linde
“I promise I’ll bring her right back to you, big sister.”
Lily beamed at that. She was loving the idea of being a big sister.
“All right, it’s that time,” Kimber said with a sigh. “I’m taking a shower.”
“About time, you mean,” I joked.
“Such a kidder.”
“I think I’m actually going to head out and go see Jensen. I’ll be back in the morning!”
“That’s cool. We’re going to be sleeping,” Kimber said. “And probably eating and showering.”
I laughed. “All right. Don’t let her do anything cute without me.”
“Promise.”
I smiled at Kimber as she grabbed some fresh clothes to take into the bathroom. I knew she’d be in there for a long time after the night she’d endured. Hours and hours of labor with no respite. It had been tough, but I knew she thought it was worth the effort. We all did.
I was excited to see Jensen again. I hated what was happening to him because of Vanessa. After we had just sat down for our big talk at that. I appreciated that he had recognized that he couldn’t trust and that he was working to fix it. I still wanted that man who had gone out of his way to drive me through Christmas lights, who couldn’t resist asking me out—in church, no less—and who had hired someone to pack up my apartment so we could spend the afternoon together. But I wanted him with all his skeletons out of the closet and our pasts firmly in the past. Hopefully, after this week, that would be the case.
I left the hospital and went straight to Jensen’s place. The door was unlocked, and I entered the house.
“Hello?” I called into the foyer.
Jensen appeared then at the top of the stairs in dark-wash jeans and a plain T-shirt. His muscles rippled from the tightly fitted shirt, and I practically salivated at the sight of him. I knew I was here to be emotional support and help him make it through the next twelve hours, but my mind apparently had other plans.
He smiled, and those dimples did me in. “Emery,” he said with a deeply relieved sigh.
“Hey,” I said climbing the stairs. “We have a new baby girl in the family.”
“Congratulations. I’m so happy for Kimber and Noah. What did they name her?”
“Bethany Isla. And she’s adorable. I can’t wait for you to meet her. Though Lilyanne might be worried about her boyfriend coming to see her sister.”
Jensen grinned. “She shouldn’t worry. Her real competition is standing in front of me.”
I grinned and willed my mind to get myself under control. It had been too long since we slept together. And, now that I could see him clearly again, all I wanted to do was jump his bones. Except that I knew he needed something more than sex tonight. Sex might make him forget, but it wouldn’t heal anything.
When I came eye-to-eye with him, I noticed how ragged he looked. Still sexy as hell but beaten down. Vanessa was trying to undo him. And, while he stood tall and had the presence of the brilliant CEO that he was, I knew him well enough to know that he was lost and crumbling into that dark place in his chest. A place from which I feared he would not return.
“Have you slept at all?” I asked.
He cocked his head to the side and stared off into space. “Sleep doesn’t get anything done. There’s too much work, too much to deal with for sleeping.”
I sighed. I was sure that, in his head, that was true. But I also knew that his body would start to shut down, and he had to be cognizant tomorrow. To be able to face Marc and not lose control again around him, not like the time he’d beaten his face in after Vanessa had told him about the affair. He needed to be sharp.
Wordlessly, I took his hand.
He stared down at it with a mixture of awe and concern. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Do what?” I asked, bringing his hand up to my lips and kissing it.
“Be here.”
“Don’t I?”
“No.”
“You’re wrong.”
“All too often.”
“You need me,” I whispered, drawing him closer to me. “So, I’m here.”
“Good,” he said, his voice deep and guttural. A feral sound that bordered on hysteria.
“And I know what you need.”
“That so?” he asked.
I could see in his eyes that he thought I meant everything sexual. A thought that had obviously crossed my mind. I wanted that to make him feel better, but I knew he needed so much more.
I held on to his hand and pulled him down the hallway without another word.
Our relationship might have been a bumpy ride. We had secrets. We’d traded lies. We’d tried to find ways to fit the other into the mess that we’d been living in. But, at the end of the day, I knew Jensen Wright. I’d chosen him, and I’d be here for him through the worst of it.
When we entered his bedroom, I languidly tugged his shirt over his head. Lust swirled in his eyes as I did it, and I knew, if I gave in, neither of us would sleep ever again. We’d stay in bed all night. Lost in our own desires.
He reached for my shirt, but I stopped him.
“Uh-uh. Look but no touch,” I warned him.
He fumed but dropped his hands. I flicked the button on his jeans, dragged them down his legs, and watched as he kicked them off, leaving him in his tight boxer briefs. He was rock hard for me, and it took everything in my power not to lick my lips.
I directed him into bed, and he went willingly. What man wouldn’t?
Then, I stripped out of my jeans and T-shirt. Jensen looked ready to launch himself across the room when he saw the black lace set I’d been wearing for him on New Year’s Eve. But I hastily threw on his T-shirt, which was way too big for me.
Then, I turned out all the lights and crawled into bed. He reached for me as soon as I was under the covers, pressing his dick firmly against my ass and squeezing me tight to his chest.
“You’re killing me,” he breathed into my neck.
“I just came here to help,” I whispered.
“This is helping.” He thrust against my ass, and I squeezed my legs together.
“You need to sleep.”
“You think I’m going to sleep after seeing you in lingerie?” he asked, as if I were insane.
With effort, I turned to face him and saw his dark eyes filled with lust. I wanted this. He wanted this. But I didn’t trust myself to stop.
With Jensen Wright, there were only two speeds—more and, God, more.
I gently placed my hand on his chest and slightly pushed him away. “You need to sleep. You’re a walking zombie. I came over to help you. I don’t think marathon sex is going to help.”
“It’s not going to hurt,” he groaned.
He slid his hand up and down my side, fisting his shirt and exposing my stomach and lace thong. His hand snagged on the material, and he flicked it with his thumb. It snapped against my skin, causing my whole body to clench up.
“Jensen,” I moaned. My walls were weakening.
He pushed into the space I’d put between us and ran the stubble of his chin across my shoulder and up my neck.
His voice rasped into my earlobe as he tugged on it. “Let me make you come, Emery. I want your taste on my lips.”
“Fuck,” I whispered.
He took that as a yes and slipped the rest of my clothes off of me with aching slowness. First, the T-shirt went over my head. Then, he snapped my bra off and tossed it off the bed. Finally, he dragged my thong down my knees and over my feet. I shivered the whole way down. He removed his own boxer briefs next with much less care, and just when I thought he was going to give me what I wanted, he flipped me over on top of him.
His dick nudged at my wet opening, and it took everything in me not to rock back onto him. I eased down, savoring the feel of him. Just the head…just the tip…just an inch…maybe two. My body tightened around him, wanting to feel him fill me up.
But then he stopped me and pulled me off of his dick. I groaned with dissatisfacti
on.
“Jensen…”
“Sit on my face,” he demanded.
My eyes found his in shock. “Seriously?”
“I said I wanted to taste you. This is how I want to taste you.”
I hesitantly edged forward until my pussy was directly over his lips. Then, he clamped his hands down on my ass cheeks and ground his face up into my body. I cried out as he ravaged me from below. My hands jerked out and landed on the headboard, bracing myself as my body abandoned my control.
He licked and sucked and got the taste of me on more than just his tongue. My whole body convulsed, and I tried to pull up from his incredible assault, but he wasn’t having it. He tightened his grip on me and brought my pussy closer to him. I writhed in ecstasy until I exploded from the most amazing orgasm. Then, I sat there, trembling, with him still licking me past the point of my release…prolonging my pleasure.
When I was finally sated, he flipped me backward and fell on top of me. I was so wet, he slid into me with ease. I arched my back off the bed, purring like a kitten as he took me balls deep.
Nothing else mattered in that moment. All my fears and worries stripped away. There was only here and now. There was only sex and lust and passion. We could ride the wave. We could survive the current. We could fucking rein it in with a lasso and make it our own.
He drove into me with relentless force. Meeting him stroke for stroke and falling into oblivion for the second time, I actually thought I might pass out from pure pleasure. He followed right after me, and his heavy weight collapsing over me was the best feeling in the world.
He nipped at my neck. “This is the best sleep I’ve ever gotten.”
I laughed, low and raspy. I’d used my vocal cords properly as I came. “Me, too.”
We didn’t have to say anything else. Words were beyond us at this point. We had a world to face tomorrow, but for tonight, he was mine, and I was his.
Thirty-Four
Jensen
When I finally woke up, it felt like I’d slept for days. It had been so long since I got a full night sleep and days since I slept at all, period, I was shocked that I had even been functioning. The only good sleep I ever got anymore was when Emery was in my arms. Like she was right at this moment—naked and completely satisfied.
We probably should have gone to sleep like she had said last night. But, once she’d stripped me down and put me in bed, I had known there was no way that was happening. I’d been thinking about this girl nonstop—up until Marc had uttered those unbelievable words.
“Vanessa told me.”
I still couldn’t believe she’d done it. She had been hanging it over my head for so long that I’d become complacent to the threat. I never thought she’d actually break down and do it. Then again…it had taken her years to admit to cheating on me with Marc. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that it’d taken her this long to tell him the truth.
The girl was a snake. I didn’t know how I had never seen it all those years we had been together. Or maybe New York had poisoned her. Maybe she hadn’t actually been cut out for the big city and modeling, and her way of coping had been to become worse than the city itself. But these were just excuses. They didn’t justify her behavior. Lots of people moved to New York and didn’t cheat on their husbands…didn’t have a child with someone else.
I closed my eyes, wishing that I could disappear back into last night. Feel Emery’s warm body against mine and pretend not to have a care in the world. But reality was crashing back down. I had to face Marc and Vanessa today. I had to claim my son. Last night had been a dream, but it was time to wake up.
Kissing Emery’s forehead, I washed last night’s events off of my body and changed into a crisp black Tom Ford suit. Everything about the ensemble screamed power and money. Both things I wanted to exert to the two people who had ruined my life. Marc had stolen my wife. He wasn’t going to steal my son, too. It wasn’t enough that I had bought out his company and was in the process of selling it off for parts like a used car. I would bury him before letting him have access to Colton. My lawyers had been working on a case against Vanessa since the day I left New York. We could handle her if need be.
“You’re up early,” Emery mumbled from the bed when I appeared once more.
“Six hours of sleep is plenty for me. You can go back to sleep.”
“Mmm,” she said, letting the sheet slip down her naked body.
“If you keep that up, you’re never going to leave that bed.”
She blushed a soft pink that I adored. After all our sex, she still blushed at my comments.
“I should probably check on Kimber. When do you meet Marc?”
“This afternoon. He had to fly commercial,” I said with a twitch in my lips. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
“Oh, the horror,” she joked.
“So, I can pick you up from the hospital later if that works for you.”
“Yes, as long as you think you’ll be all right.”
I nodded. “I have some work to do and a meeting with my lawyer before that. I’ll be occupied. Plus, you helped me last night. I can face another day with you at my side.”
She smiled lazily at me. “Good. I’m glad.”
It was hours before I would get to see that smile again. Work was torture. I hadn’t wanted to worry her, but the hours waiting, even when I was busy, didn’t help. She dampened the pain. Only her.
By the time I finally got to pick her up again, it was like a balm. I didn’t show nerves or stress. Only a few people—primarily Morgan—even noticed, but Emery seemed to have a radar for it. She put her hand on mine as soon as she sat down in the Mercedes and kissed my cheek.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” she said with such candor.
“How are Kimber and Bethany?” I asked as I pulled away from the hospital and drove across town.
“They’re great. All of them are. Ready to go home.”
“I bet.”
“They’re getting discharged within the hour. So, they get to take the little cutie home with them.”
“I remember what that’s like,” I said softly.
I rarely talked about what it had been like in those first two years with Colton. The facade that Vanessa had created was so great that, when she took it all away, even the happy memories were tainted with her lies.
Emery squeezed my hand and nodded. “We’ll work it out.”
“You’re right. We will,” I said, going back to that cold, detached place that fought my battles and won my wars. I would damn sure win this one.
We parked out front of the lawyer’s office. I recognized Vanessa’s father’s car, which meant she must have left Colton with him for this meeting. Good. I didn’t want Colton anywhere near this. It was going to get ugly. I didn’t know what Marc was driving, but I didn’t see anything pretentious enough for him.
Emery hurried around to the other side of the car and took my hand. She held it, as if we were a united front against the enemy. And I couldn’t have been more thankful to have her there. She made me a better man. And, with her, I had the added benefit of putting Vanessa on edge.
As expected, when we walked into the lobby, Vanessa whipped around and glared at our entwined fingers. Her lawyer was talking on a cell phone in a corner.
“You’ve got to be joking,” she spat. “She can’t be here.”
I shrugged and gave her a cool smile. No reason to give in to her antics. We were only here because of her bullshit. We would end it here, too.
We waited another five minutes in tense silence before Marc finally showed. I was surprised Abigail wasn’t with him. She went everywhere with him to temper his anger. I wondered if he’d even told her what was happening before disappearing. Instead, he only had his lawyer present with him. I shouldn’t be surprised that he’d gotten someone on his own to represent his interests instead of relying on Vanessa.
Marc’s eyes landed on me first. “You fucking douche,” Marc spat. “You spent all thi
s time taking everything away from me, and now, you took more than six years away from me and my son.”
“We’ll see,” I said.
Marc stalked right over to me and got in my face. Emery squeezed my hand.
“I’m here to take my son back.”
“You can try,” I told him. And fail.
Just then, the door to the lawyer’s office opened, and my lawyer, Jake McCarty, appeared. He was a short, stocky man, who had been my father’s lawyer before me. He knew his shit, and he knew how to get his clients what they wanted.
“You can all come in now.”
We moved into a large conference room with Marc and Vanessa on one side and me and Emery on the other.
“Does she have to be here for this?” Vanessa asked. “She’s not even involved!”
“She stays,” I told her crisply.
“She’s fine by me,” Jake said with a nod at Emery. “Considering my client has made it clear that he wants Miss Robinson in his life and eventually in Colton’s life, I think her presence makes sense for this.”
“Never happening,” Vanessa hissed.
“We’ll see,” I said calmly.
“After going over everything in the last twenty-four hours, I got a judge to approve my request that no new people could be introduced into Colton’s life until we have this all sorted out. That includes you, Miss Robinson, and Mr. Tarman. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the concern over who is the father to Colton Wright, I’ve also asked my client, Mr. Wright, not to have contact with Colton until we have this all resolved. All of this is, of course, temporary, barring no complications in the proceedings. Is that all understood and acceptable?”
The other lawyers agreed with the terms even though Marc looked ready to explode that he had come all this way and had no access to Colton. I was pleased with that even though I was pissed that I couldn’t see my own son.
“Additionally, I’ve requested a paternity test be taken immediately to determine who is Colton’s biological father. That test should be administered at this location,” he said, passing paperwork to both me, Marc, and Vanessa, “within forty-eight hours.”