Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5)

by Natalie Ann

  She lifted up and wiggled a little bit, then settled right back down on top of him. She was still so tight to him that he felt like he was going to come when her heat and wetness surrounded him. “God, you feel so good.”

  “You too,” she said, lifting up again and sliding back down. “I could just do this all night right at this pace.”

  “I might let you, but something tells me neither of us could really last that long if you did.”

  “Probably not,” she said, reaching for his hands and putting them on her breasts. “I’m going to sit right here while you do some of the work.”

  He smiled. “I thought I was supposed to relax.” But his hands were pinching her nipples, then flicking at them, and pinching some more when she let out a little squeak.

  “That might not be a good idea since we’ve got to be quiet too.”

  He reached his hand up and wrapped his fist in her hair, then brought her down, her mouth to his. “Ride me,” he said against her lips. “Hard and fast and make me want to scream out your name.”

  “I can do that,” she said on a whisper. “Just don’t actually scream.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said.

  He crushed his mouth to hers while she started to grind against him, squeezing him tight inside of her.

  The hand not in her hair went down to her hip to urge her to move up and down. To increase the pace and wear them both out.

  She didn’t take much prompting and seemed to understand what he was asking.

  Her speed was increasing and he was starting to build to the point he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold on.

  “Slow down,” he said.

  “Hell no,” she said, moving so hard on him he was afraid she might hurt herself.

  She reared up and started to bob up and down, her breasts moving and his eyes just watching the show. She was arching her back at this point, her hands on his thighs, her head thrown back.

  When her breathing started to get shallow, he knew she was ready to blow just as much as him and all he could do was hope he wasn’t so loud to wake anyone, but his body was taking on a mind of its own.

  He was tightening and coiling and there was heat in his belly ready to erupt. The minute she started to come and get a little loud, he brought her mouth back to his so that they could smother the sounds they were making as he emptied every bit of energy he had.

  “I don’t think we were too loud,” she said, letting out a sigh.

  “No. We should have been good. I’m not positive I can move again.”

  “That seems to be a thing with you,” she said, giving him a kiss and moving off of him. He smiled and she said, “Oops, another mess. Don’t worry. I’m on birth control too.”

  His jaw had opened when he’d seen the condom was completely drained and empty. “What the hell?”

  “Maybe I was rough and moving around too much or it wasn’t on right? I don’t know. Don’t worry. I get the Depo shot. If you tell me you’re clean of any diseases, which I’m sure you are and I am too, then no babies are coming our way.”

  “Yeah, I’m clean,” he said. “Ellen is the only person I never wore one with.”

  “Then really don’t stress because I’m not. The Depo shot is ninety-nine percent effective. Accidents normally happen in the first month of the shot, or around when the next one is due three months later. I got mine about five or six weeks ago. If that relieves your mind.”

  “Considering you know these things and if you aren’t worried then I’m not either.” And he found that maybe he wouldn’t be upset if something did happen but knew that wouldn’t be right. Not for either of them right now.

  “I’m going to go clean up. You can join me in the bathroom if you want. Maybe we can finish what we started in the shower since tonight is a loss.”

  He jumped up out of bed and followed her in. “Only for tonight,” he said. “Shower sex is the best there is and better without a condom in the way. If you’re good with it.”

  “I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t. But yes, back to what we’re doing after this.”

  29

  Breaking Free

  When Ava was drying off from her second shower of the night, she wondered what had come over her. She’d never had sex without a condom on. Ever.

  No, she wasn’t worried about pregnancy or even diseases, but she still always protected herself.

  To her, that condom was a barrier of holding back. Maybe it was silly on her part, but without it in the shower, she almost felt like her heart was breaking free too.

  That whatever was holding her back just wasn’t there anymore.

  What she had with Seth was good and strong and she wanted it to continue.

  They weren’t perfect and neither was their relationship.

  They’d had some tiny hiccups and frustration on both their parts, but they talked them out and got through.

  And man, was the sex out of this world.

  “That was fun,” Seth said to her while he caged her against the sink and leaned in for another kiss.

  “Yes, it was. I think we emptied that hot water tank, but it was nice being able to be loud and not worry in there.”

  “Definitely,” he said. “Where there’s a will there’s a way.”

  She grinned. “And we will find them. I think I’m as exhausted as Adele is. She never asked about the sleeping situation, did she?”

  “Nope,” he said. “Why don’t we get ready for bed and I’ll go shut the light off downstairs and check on her one more time.”

  “If that is what you want,” she said. “I can go to the spare room if you’re concerned.”

  “I’m not. I’d tell you if I was and I’m not. If Adele wakes up and comes in here, then we’ll deal with it. We’ll just be sleeping anyway. I will unlock the door and leave it open a little so if she does wake up and needs me she’ll think she can push it open.”

  “That’s fine,” she said.

  She walked out of the bathroom with the towel still around her, found her tank top and shorts to sleep in and slipped them on. Seth went and got a pair of summer pajama shorts and put them on too, then walked out of the room to take care of the house.

  She heard her phone ring and was searching around on the floor for her shorts and pulled the phone out of her pocket. She knew the ringtone of the on call service and was glad it wasn’t twenty minutes ago.

  “Hello,” she answered. “Yes, put her through. Hi, Shelly. No, no, don’t worry about calling me. Are you in labor?” She turned her head when Seth walked in the room and continued to listen to her patient. It was Shelly’s third baby and her other labors were around eight hours each.

  “My water just broke and we are on the way to the hospital,” Shelly said. “I’m not really having contractions. This happened with my second one too. They will probably start soon, but we are heading there now anyway.”

  “That’s right,” she said. “Go to the hospital and get checked in and comfortable. I’ll call the hospital now and let them know you are coming and for them to call with a report and when you’re close.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Mills. See you soon, but hopefully not too soon. Maybe one of us can get some sleep tonight.”

  She laughed back and hung up after she said, “I’ll try to.”

  “Do you need to go in?” Seth asked.

  She looked at the clock on her phone. “At some point. A patient’s water broke. One of my patients, so I know her history. She actually saw me in Plymouth when she couldn’t get in to see me here. When she found out I was transferring here she was thrilled. She was fine giving birth on the island when many want to be on the mainland.”

  “I have to say for us it was a good thing we weren’t on the island, but on the other hand, it didn’t matter.”

  “Don’t go there,” she said.

  “I won’t. Sorry. Let’s get some sleep before you need to go in.”

  “Once I call the hospital. Then we can try to sleep. Well, I k
now I will because once my head hits the pillow I’m out.”

  He pulled the comforter back and got in, she made her call and then put the cell on the bedside table next to her, then went into Seth’s arms to be held.

  “Go to sleep,” he told her when she was moving around.

  “Not yet. They are going to call me when she is there and checked in to give me an update. There is nothing worse than falling asleep and being woken up thirty minutes later. They only live about ten minutes from the hospital and she’ll get admitted right away since I called ahead of time. A nurse will call within an hour or less with an update.”

  “Want to watch TV while we wait?” he asked.

  “We can. Or we can talk.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Nothing serious or dramatic. Nothing that we have to stress or worry about. How about vacation?”

  “What about it?” he asked. “I changed my week to match yours. We are set there. Did you have anything you wanted to do?”

  “Not really. Staying at my parents’ house for a few days will be fun. We can do things in and around Boston and Massachusetts if you want and we’ve got the house to go back to. There are museums and theaters and aquariums. Outdoor activities. Shopping.”

  “Sounds like you might be more excited than Adele is.”

  “I’m glad she is. Did you tell her we will stay at my parents’ house?”

  “Not yet. I wanted to see how this went first, but I’ll tell her tomorrow. She’ll probably make your ears bleed with questions.”

  They talked some more, her phone rang, she answered it. It was the hospital and now she knew she had a few hours to get some sleep so she settled in and shut her eyes.

  When the call came in at three thirty in the morning, Ava got up and went to the bathroom, then brushed her teeth and got ready to leave. She leaned down to kiss Seth goodbye. “See, no worries on what to tell Adele in the morning. I won’t be back until after she is up, I’m sure.”

  “How long do you think you’ll be there?” he asked, getting up.

  “No clue, but a few hours for sure. You’ll be up by then too. Why are you getting up?”

  “I have to take care of the alarm or you’ll set it off.” They went downstairs together and he gave her one more kiss. “I will be up. See you in a few hours.”

  At eight, Ava was walking back to the front door of Seth’s and knocked before she opened it. “Ava,” Adele yelled as she ran forward. “Daddy said you had to go deliver a baby in the middle of the night. Was it a boy or a girl?”

  “It was a little girl. They named her Madison Marie. Pretty, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Adele said. “Daddy made pancakes. Are you hungry?”

  “I’m starving,” she said, putting her purse down. “Get me a plate and I’m digging in.”

  Seth smiled at her and filled a plate with three big pancakes and she laughed but knew she could put them away. He leaned down to give her a kiss. “Morning.”

  “Boy, I could get used to this.”

  “Me too,” he said softly. “Me too.”

  30

  Same Last Name

  “Colleen,” Ava said, going over to give a hug to the nurse that she’d be working with today. “I’m so excited to have you on the island with me. When you reached out a few weeks ago and said you were interested in transferring with the opening I was thrilled to put in a good word for you.”

  “Thank you so much,” Colleen said. “My husband lost his job months ago and has had a hard time finding something else. We got talking when I saw you last and he said that he’d seen a job on the island and was considering applying. Obviously housing was going to be an issue though.”

  “Am I to assume your husband got the job?” Colleen was probably a few years younger than her, maybe. She wasn’t sure, but she was a good worker and kept to herself most times.

  At least she did with her. Seeing her out with the other girls earlier in the summer shocked her because she hadn’t known they’d all hung out, but it wasn’t her business either.

  Melanie and Tracy were always talking about going out and partying but never Colleen. Of course as far as she knew Colleen was the only married one of that group.

  “He did. He was a store manager at a sporting goods store, but they went out of business and he hasn’t been able to find anything else. Most places want him to go in as a worker or an assistant, not a manager.”

  “I’m sorry for that, but so glad he found something. Where is he working, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  She laughed. “Atlantic Rise Hotel. He’s the new night manager. He’s a little nervous since hotel management isn’t what he is used to, but they assured him he could learn that and the software. They need a manager for the staff. To handle the guests after hours and that was more important to them and they haven’t been able to find someone for months. Greg is really good with people.”

  “So he’s working for my cousins Emily and Penelope Rauch then,” Colleen said, grinning.

  “Yes. I didn’t realize they were your cousins until we started to get ready to move here. It seemed like everyone had something to say about the Bonds and who was related to who. I mean I knew you were from the Bond family, but I don’t know everyone if they don’t have the same last name.”

  “It can get confusing. Trust me, I know. So you found a place?” she asked. “Good for you. I know how hard it is. I struggled to find one myself and had to stay with my parents for a few weeks until I could get into my place.”

  Colleen nodded her head. “It’s so hard. I knew it would be. At least finding something we could afford. We did sign a lease on an apartment, but they aren’t ready yet. Not until October.”

  The new apartment complex that Bond Realty was building by the sounds of it. “So where are you staying for the next few months?” There was still a week left in July and the summer would be busy and packed full of rentals. Not to mention what it’d cost to rent this time of year at a weekly or monthly rate.

  “Believe it or not, Emily said we could stay in one of the efficiencies in the hotel. It’s just got a king sized bed and little living room and table, but it’s fine. They aren’t charging us, which is even better, though I shouldn’t say that. So that gives us some breathing room with Greg being out of work for so long.”

  Ava put her fingers to her lips and turned it like a key and tossed it over her shoulder. “I won’t say a word, but they are really good that way. It’s hard to find reliable staff to come to the island and stay so if they wanted Greg, then they’d do what they could to make it easier.”

  “They said the same thing. So here I am. He started working this weekend. We’ve got a storage unit back in Plymouth with all our stuff in it and it gives us time to figure out how to get it all over here or even take our time and do it in trips. It’s not like we’ve got a lot. We only had a two-bedroom apartment. Nothing major. We’re still paying off my student loans and Greg had some even though he didn’t finish college. Life is expensive if you don’t budget well, but we are getting there. Sometimes being young you just don’t think long term and live in the now and it bit us in the butt.”

  “It sure is expensive,” she said. What else was she going to say? She never had to worry about money or living paycheck to paycheck even if she was terrified of that for a short period of time when her credit was shot and over forty thousand in debt was racked up in her name.

  Though she had a security system at her house now and there hadn’t been any issues, she still couldn’t forget what started all of this journey of uncertainty in her life.

  Griffin was monitoring the system and he hadn’t said if there were any worries. There wasn’t anything she’d seen or had concerns about either.

  Nope, in the past few weeks, she’d spent the night at Seth’s one other time and they tried to do something on the weekend if they could.

  Mary Young was due back from her extended vacation next week and Adele was dying to s
ee her grandmother and have a sleepover. Ava and Seth were thrilled to hear her say that and couldn’t wait to have a night to themselves in the house alone.

  Not that they had to worry about Adele because she hadn’t said anything about the first time Ava stayed the night nor the second. Seth and she went to bed after Adele and made sure they were up before the little girl too.

  Adele had been asking when she could spend the night at Ava’s, but that would be a little harder since Ava didn’t have any other spare beds besides the one that Adele would stay in. So that might cause questions on where Seth was staying.

  For now they were letting it go. They’d be going on vacation together in a few weeks too and Adele was excited over that.

  It seemed like she was fitting into this ready-made family when she never expected it.

  Things were falling into place and with any luck the rest of the mess in her life would too.

  “I’m glad you’re here. If you have any questions on where to find stuff or where to go, just let me know. I’ve been on this island since I was a baby.”

  “I’m so excited,” Colleen said. “How many people can say they live on an island? It’s like a dream come true. I’ve got something in common with you now.”

  Ava held back the snort. “I’m not sure you want to have things in common with me.” If only Colleen knew, but then she told herself not many did and no one would feel sorry for her if they did.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Colleen said. “You’re young. You’re pretty. You’re so nice and you’re a doctor. Everyone was jealous of you in the office.”

  “What?” she asked. That was news to her. “I never knew that.”

  “Not in a mean way,” Colleen said. “Just that you kind of have it all. Who wouldn’t want to grow up to be like you?”

  “I’m not that old,” Ava said, laughing.