by Harper Sloan
Oh, God.
I have no willpower to resist him when he opens himself up like this.
We continue to look into each other’s eyes. Our lips are inches apart and our breath dances with each exhale. My fingers clench in the thick muscles along his back and my legs hold him tightly to me. When he hits my spot again, I know it will only be seconds before I lose it. I can feel my release already forming, growing, and slowly spreading through my body like a warm blanket. Ribbons of pleasure unfold from my belly, tingles dance up my spine, and my skin heats to the point of pain.
“So… close, so close,” I moan against his lips. He pulls forward again and rolls his hips, forcing the barbell to rub against my swollen clit. My release hits with such powerful force that I scream, claw at his back, and grind myself against him like a hussy. Jesus, this man does things to my body that I have never felt.
He keeps moving slowly as my arched back falls back down on to the bed, just watching me with his burning eyes.
“Yeah. You feel it, baby.” He says in a voice so rife with strain that I know he is working hard to keep his control. “Amazing.”
He drops his head to my shoulder and rests it there for a few seconds while he continues his slow rhythmic assault. I rub my hands up and down his back, enjoying the soft growls that vibrate against my chest.
“Look at us, baby.” His request seems odd until he lifts his head off my shoulder and repeats himself. “Look at us. Watch me love you.”
Following his gaze down to where our bodies join, my eyes take in his thick length as it stretches my body to receive him. His dick is soaked with my release, and every time he disappears deep into my body, his piecing caresses my clit. We both watch for a few minutes, but when the pleasure becomes too much, my head presses against the bed as my eyes roll back, and I clamp down on him again. Screaming his name out into the expanse of his room and listening to it bounce off the walls, my sounds mingle with his own cry of release.
We lay there trying to come back down for what felt like hours. Our combined sweat covering my skin begins to dry, leaving me chilled where his body isn’t covering mine. We don’t speak, but words aren’t needed. I feel it and he isn’t wrong about that. Not only was that the most powerful sex I have ever experienced, but he wasn’t wrong when he said that he was going to love me. I might already be halfway there myself.
He rolls to the side, taking my cheek in his big hand and turns my head to meet his gaze. “Whatever this might have been for you before now baby, there is no trying or going slow. I know you felt it; it was all over your face. I feel like I just found a piece of myself that has been lost forever. A piece of the puzzle that I didn’t even know was missing until you walked into my life. This, us… baby, I will work as hard as I can and then some to prove to you that you have nothing to fear.”
He catches the tear that leaks from my eye with his lips, and follows that up with a kiss to my lips before leaving the bed and walking into the bathroom. I hear the shower turn on and a few seconds later, he returns, scoops me off the bed, and carries me into the warm spray. After cleaning every inch of my skin and then his own, he shows me again what it feels like to be loved.
When we finally fall back into the bed, he curls me tight into his body, and with his strong arms holding me close, I surrender to sleep. The last thought that filters through my mind before I fade off is that I don’t feel so scared anymore if this is what love feels like.
It’s been a little over a month since Greg and I officially became an ‘us’. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been damn near close. True to his word, a few days after Dr. Shannon fired me, Greg set up an interview with Dr. Roberts. He is an older family man who runs his own practice. Over the years, he has added more doctors to his team, and now, he has the need for more nursing staff. He is one of those people you love to work for and lucky for me, he wanted me on his team. I started the week after I was fired and am the happiest I have ever been at work. It also helps that my pay jumped a lot. There are no more struggles, no more worrying about how I am going to stretch my check to make sure that we’re all comfortable.
I have talked to Greg about helping me find a new apartment since I can now afford rent in a nicer, safer complex. This is what started our first real fight. He doesn’t see the need in my paying to live somewhere when I spend all my time at his place anyway. This, coincidently, is because he took one look at my apartment and the neighborhood I lived in the day after we became us, turned right around without parking, and refused to take me back. I get where he is coming from and to be honest, I have never felt safe there anyway. So if he wants to act like a grown toddler and keep me hostage, who am I to complain? It comes with one kickass house and the best sex ever.
And to be completely honest, I don’t want to be away from him.
I still have my apartment, but the majority of my stuff has slowly started to make its way to his house. Some of it because I need it, but I’m starting to wonder if he is pocketing my belongings and then moving them to his house when I’m not looking. Either way, we are pretty much living together at this point.
Our second fight was over my car. Even though it was ready a few days after Mandy pulled her crazy on it, Greg, without letting me know, told the mechanic to sell it. The next day a brand new Honda sat in the driveway of his house. We fought about it for a good day. He had to endure my silence, but when he finally had enough, he calmly told me that he wanted me safe. My old car couldn’t offer that so he took care of it. When that didn’t work, he pulled me close and said, “Baby, after I lost Grace in a car accident, do you think you could please just give a little here? I want to know you are safe when I can’t be with you.” Yeah, call me whipped but that is all it took.
We have done all the traditional couple things. We date, we go out with friends, he met my mom, and we have tons and tons of sex. I am starting to believe that Greg Cage is unbelievably close to perfection.
Things with Susan have also calmed down over the weeks. She’s called a few times but usually only when she is drunk out of her mind. Mom and I think she will eventually forget that Cohen exists and just leave us alone.
One thing we don’t have to worry about is Mandy. That is another promise that Greg kept. The next day, he drove me to the police station and helped me fill out the necessary reports to have a restraining order against her. Although he assures me that it won’t ever be needed, he still feels better knowing it’s there. He didn’t tell me until later that week that he had a ‘come to Jesus’ (as my mom calls it) with Mandy. I don’t care what happens to the bitch, but according to him, she is back on her meds and seeking help. ‘Back on the meds’ should have been clue enough that she really is a psycho bitch. Maybe next time, she will keep up with those damn pills. All that matters is he says that she won’t be a problem, and I believe him.
About two weeks ago, I started to bring Cohen around. If there was any doubt left in my mind that Greg was the perfect man, watching him with my nephew squashed it. It is clear that he is meant to have children in his life but when he started asking me about my plans for the future when it came to Cohen, I start to worry a little that maybe kids aren’t something he wants. I can’t help my fears; it all just seems so perfect that I keep waiting for ‘it’ to happen and all of this to just blow up in my face.
So, I told him the truth. I wanted Cohen. My mom wants me to have Cohen. He is a crazy-as-hell three-year-old boy who needs someone that can keep up with him. He smiled and told me that was a great plan, and then continued to sit there with me for hours and plan our future with Cohen in it.
That was also the night that I realized I had fallen in love with him.
We are closing in on autumn and the weather is still nice enough to enjoy being outside for long periods. So here I am, in Greg’s kitchen, making lunch for the two most important men in my life. Greg and Cohen are spending some time doing what Cohen calls ‘man fluff, no hips’, which, when translated by a hysterical Greg, means
‘man stuff babe, no chicks allowed.’ They left a few hours ago to do whatever it is that boys do. My mom has graciously taken me up on my offer to start having Cohen spend some weekends with me. Now that I have somewhere I feel safe enough to take him, we are finally spending some quality time together.
I have just cut up the last sandwich when I hear the front door open and little feet pound down the hall.
“Melwee! Melwee, look what I got!” And like a flash, in comes Cohen with a bright red cape flapping behind him. “Greg said this would help me fight ninjas. He said that all ninjas are scared of superheroes. He said that if I have a cape I have MAGIC! Magic powers that ninjas can’t fight because they aren’t SUPERheroes! Melwee! Do you see? Can you see it?” The whole time he is giving this speech, he doesn’t once take a breath. By the time he’s finished, he has to take a few deep ones just to stay on his feet. I look over and see Greg leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his thick chest and a huge grin on his face. I give him one of my own before turning my attention back to Cohen, who is now spinning in circles and kicking his feet out every few seconds. My guess, he’s fighting ninjas now and completely forgotten about us.
“Come here and let me see your powers, little man. I can already tell that the ninjas are going to be so scared of you! I bet they don’t even come near Nana’s house anymore!”
He stops his weird twirl kicking and jumps into my arms. “Can you feel my power?” he whispers loudly into my face. “Greg said that I have powers against you too,” he says still whispering loudly.
“Oh he does, does he?” I ask and look over at Greg, watching as his silent laughter shakes his body.
“Co, my man, not something you’re supposed to tell the ladies.” Greg laughs in response to Cohen and walks over to ruffles his hair.
“Alright, tell me, little guy, what kind of powers do you have against me?”
“I can make you love me!” He laughs and looks over at Greg nodding his little head, “Greg said that I can make you love me and all I have to do is smile! He told me it worked on him, so it has to be magic powers, Melwee! He told me. He said all I have to do is smile and everyone falls in love with me because I’m special like that.”
Well. Shit. My throat has closed up now and I can feel my eyes prickling. I am going to cry. “He did?” I croak.
“Melwee, what’s wrong with your face? You look funny. Like that time you dropped something on your foot and yelled that really bad word; your face looks like that.” He takes both my cheeks in his small hands and moves my head around, studying every inch. “Yeah, you look funny.” Then he wiggles to get down and takes off running through the house, yelling for the ninjas to watch out because he’s going to hunt them down.
“You should probably go make sure he doesn’t destroy the house,” I whisper to Greg, who is now pulling me into his arms.
“Don’t care about anything in the house he can break.”
“Not even your brand new flat screen?” I question, still trying to control my emotions.
“Nope.”
“Not even that really expensive computer?”
“Not even that.”
“You love him?” He bends slightly and places a kiss on my nose. When he pulls back, I can see it. His smile is huge, all the way to his eyes, making his laugh lines deepen. Those blue eyes I love so much are sparkling with humor, but clear as day, I can see it.
“Yeah, Beauty, I love him.”
“Oh.” Pathetic but that’s all I have for him. I am sure my ‘funny face’ just got funnier. I can’t stop the tears if I try. The thought of this man, who has already stolen my heart, loving Cohen as much as I do, is just too much to hold in.
“Babe, how can you can be so blind when your eyes are wide open? Even if he wasn’t the coolest kid I have ever met, even if I didn’t enjoy the hell out of my time reliving my childhood with the little guy, he is part of you. No, he isn’t yours and I understand that, but he is part of you, and Beauty, how can I not love that?”
Oh. God.
“Oh,” I repeat and crash my head into his chest. He laughs a few times before cupping my face and lightly pulling my head off his chest.
“Oh? That’s all you got for me?” He jokes. How he can joke right now is beyond me.
“What do you want me to say? You need to be clear with me, baby, because I don’t want to misinterpret something you could be saying right now.” My voice sounds funny and the tears have already started falling freely. He just keeps smiling down at me, both of his warm palms against my neck and his thumbs keep sweeping away my tears. All the while, he just keeps smiling.
“Alright. I love having you in my house, going to sleep with your body pressed close to mine and waking up with you still in my arms. I love coming home and having dinner with you in my house, watching movies on the couch with you laying on top of me. I love getting your calls every time something ridiculous happens that you just can’t wait to tell me about. I love Cohen. He’s amazing, and one day I would love to be a permanent part of his life. But, I don’t love him because he’s great. No, I want to be a permanent fixture in his life because I am deeply in love with his aunt. Beauty, I love you.”
“You love me?” I whisper again after a few moments of just taking him in.
“Yeah, I do. Completely.” His strong voice wraps around me and his love is like a blanket of warmth. I can feel it like a tangible thing taking over the room.
“I love you too. God, I do… so much.” My silent tears have turned into sobs now. He lets my face go for a second, but only to pick me up by my hips and sit me down on the countertop. My legs open automatically, and he steps in, arms going around my body as he tucks my head into his neck.
“Baby, best I can see, this is a good thing. Why are you crying about it?” he asks, his voice rumbling against my ear. He stands there with my head against his chest and lets me have my moment. Silently being my rock, my strength, and just lets me have this.
When I hear some loud bangs and Cohen’s battle cry of victory, I know it’s only a matter of time before our moment is interrupted. I pull back and wipe my eyes before looking into Greg’s eyes.
“You love me?” I ask again, but this time letting my happiness show, and I smile so big, it even hurts a little.
He throws his head back and his laughter rings out around us. “Yeah, I do.”
“That’s good.”
“You’re wrong, babe,” he says with a smile. “It’s not good, it’s fucking amazing.”
Since it is Sunday and Greg and I both start work pretty early, we bring Cohen home before dinner so that we can go out and have some us time before the week starts. This is also something we try to do during the week. When things get crazy at the Corp Security offices, it is sometimes past dinner when he gets home. So if we have time, we make it a point to spend special time like this together.
‘Super Co’, which is what we have been instructed to call Cohen now, takes off into my mom’s house the second Greg parks. His cape flaps in the wind behind him, and we can already hear him starting his speech with my mom. Greg walks over and takes my hand before we head into the house.
When we make it to the kitchen, Cohen is still screaming about all his magic. “Oh my, that is some good news, baby.” My mom smiles at us and gives Cohen a big kiss before he runs off to his room to make sure there aren’t any ninjas.
“That boy is so funny sometimes,” she says shaking her head. “Meli-Kate, come here baby.” I let Greg go and walk into her arms. “You look happy today,” she whispers in my ear.
“I am,” I whisper back. “I really am.”
“That’s good, baby. You deserve that.” She pulls back and gives me a kiss on my forehead before turning to my man.
“Come here handsome and give this old lady some thrills.” And here starts my mother’s weekly enjoyment in my boyfriend and embarrassing me at every turn.
“Lilly,” he says and walks up, wraps his arms around her, and lifts
her off her feet in a big hug.
She laughs loud and slaps him playfully on the arm when he lets her down. “Such a strong man! Take my girl home and show her a good night.” She giggles and I turn beat red.
“Mom! Jesus!” They both laugh, enjoying this new tag team effort to embarrass me.
We stay in the kitchen for a while before Greg excuses himself to go say goodbye to Cohen. How did I miss how much he cares for my nephew for so long?
I don’t realize that I have been looking at the empty hallway in a daze until my mother’s soft laughter curls around me. “Oh, my darling girl, you have it bad.”
I look over and smile at my mother. Her eyes are misting with emotion but sadness isn’t one of them. Her smile is huge and you can tell she is happy for me to have found this. “You have no idea just how bad I have it. He’s incredible mom and he loves Cohen. Can you believe it? He loves that crazy kid just as if he were his own. Just like we do.”
“I know that, baby. Could’ve saved you the trouble of figuring out all this on your own but I knew you would get there. He’s a keeper, Meli-Kate. I know I don’t have the best record when it comes to judging men. First with your father and then… well, I just don’t. But, with a man like that, there is no doubt. He is the kind of man you dream of baby. Don’t ever let your past cloud that knowledge.”
“I won’t. I love you, mama.”
“I know that, sweetheart.” We give each other a hug and sit down to chat about things happening this week while we wait for the boys to do their thing. About thirty minutes or so later, Greg comes walking back in laughing.
“He was just mid-sentence and fell asleep. We were sitting there talking about the best ways to take out flying ninjas and bam, his little head just face planted into my lap and he was out. Lilly, I went ahead and changed him into pajamas so you wouldn’t have to bother with that.”