This Family of Ours (Raine #6)

by Amanda Bennett

  I had completely bared my soul to him last night and told him all of my fears in marryin’ Kayla. When I heard myself explainin’ it to him, I knew that the only woman I ever saw myself with forever deserved to hear the same thing. There was no way on earth I could continue to let her think that she was the reason we weren’t gettin’ married, or my lack of love for her, because she would be dead wrong in that assumption.

  I looked over at the amazingly beautiful woman in my arms, and I fell even more in love with her, if that was even possible. I didn’t want to ruin the moment by any means, but I had to tell her how I was feelin’ before I lost my nerve. “Kayla?”

  “Yes, cowboy?”

  “I need to talk to you about somethin’.”

  She turned over and looked up at me in fear. “Did you cheat on me?”

  I couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped my throat, and she lightly smacked my chest. “Ow.” I feigned hurt.

  “I’m serious, Madison.” She was now sittin’ in front of me with a horrific look on her face.

  “No, baby. I would never.” I gently slid the back of my hand down her cheek, stoppin’ short of where a now very visible bruise was on her chin. “I’m so so very sorry about that, love. I hope you know I would never hurt you, ever.” I rubbed the pad of my thumb across the bruise and then lightly pressed my lips against it.

  She clutched my hand lovingly in hers. “I know you wouldn’t.” She smiled at me. “Well if you didn’t cheat on me, then why do you sound all serious?”

  I let out a slow deliberate breath. “I think I should tell you why I’ve been the way I’ve been lately.”

  “Well that would be nice.” She chided.

  “Hush, woman.” I teased. “I have been puttin’ off the wedding.” I could see the hurt immediately hit her eyes. “Not because I don’t want to marry you, because I do, more than anything.”

  “Then what is it.” She muttered.

  “I’m terrified of losin’ you, Kayla. Like extremely terrified. I don’t think I’ve ever explained to you how much it killed me to lose the only other woman that I’ve ever loved.” I hung my head, but Kayla lovingly clutched my face in her hands and pulled my face up to look directly at her. That was the moment I saw the love and adoration she once had for me, return in her gaze, so I continued. “What if somethin’ happens to you, and you’re taken from me? What if I lose you? I don’t think I could stomach it.”

  “And you think that’ll change just by us having a piece of paper? Wouldn’t you want me to officially be a Raine, just in case something happened?” I’d never looked at it that way before, and in this moment I was beyond grateful that I decided to talk to her about all of this. “You never even thought of that, did you?” The hurt in her eyes was literally killin’ me.

  “I didn’t.” I whispered, ashamed. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about this earlier.”

  “Me too. I wish you would’ve. Instead I’ve been going crazy thinkin’ the worst things imaginable. I honestly thought that you didn’t love me anymore.”

  My heart broke and shattered into a million pieces with her words. “Oh my god, Kayla.” I pulled her onto my lap, wrappin’ her up in my warm and loving embrace. “I love you more than anythin’ in this world, minus our daughter. I would do anythin’ for you. How could you not know that?”

  “I thought I did.”

  My lips were on hers in an instant, hastily devourin’ everything she was willin’ to give me. Before we could get too far, I hesitantly pulled back and went to one knee in front of her. “Kayla Anne James, will you please do my the honor of becomin’ my wife…like tomorrow?” The laugh that escaped her gorgeous mouth had me meltin’ into a puddle beneath her.

  “Of course, cowboy. Always.” Her lips sealed over mine, and I knew that no matter what life threw at us, given that we’ve pretty much been through it all, that we would get through it together, as husband and wife.

  “Where is our daughter by the way?” I laughed against her mouth.

  “She’s inside with Cami. Speaking of, how’d your night go with Glenn? He’s a real jackass, and I’m ready to kick his ass down the Texas coast.”

  I laughed at how serious she really was. “That’s a long story. Let’s go inside and I’ll tell ya, right after you tell Cami we’re gettin’ hitched sometime in the next few months.”

  “A few months? Madison Raine that is not enough time to plan a proper wedding.”

  “Sure it is. Just ask for the grandparents’ help. I’m sure Grams would be more than happy to help.” She nodded into my shoulder as I tucked her underneath my arm as we walked back to our house.

  “We were starting to wonder where y’all were.” Cami looked pissed, and I for one didn’t want to be on the other end of that, so I picked up Mia and started makin’ my way back to the house while turnin’ to give Kayla an apologetic look over my shoulder.

  “How’s my little princess doin’ this mornin’?” I cooed into Mia’s ear as she placed a chaste kiss against my cheek.

  “Good, Daddy. Mia loves you very much.”

  I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my throat as my two-year-old daughter spoke of herself in the third person. “Oh does Mia? Well tell Mia that her daddy loves her very much.” I playfully sniffed against her neck like a dog, causin’ her amazin’ little giggle to bounce off every tree and surface around us. Man I love bein’ her dad.

  Once we got inside, I got Mia all set up with some cartoons on the couch and went to makin’ my girls, and Cami, some breakfast. As I was crackin’ my tenth egg, the house phone on the wall startin’ blarin’, scarin’ the ever livin’ shit outta me. “Hello?” After a few seconds of silence, I was really startin’ to get irritated. “Hello?”

  “Um…hey man. Is Kayla there?

  My brows pulled together in confusion as I didn’t instantly recognize the voice on the other end. “Who is this?”

  There was another long pause. “It’s Mike, Cami’s brother.”

  “Oh hey, man.” Relief washed over me as I assumed he was actually callin’ for Cami. “Did you mean to call for Cami?”

  “No, actually I was…you know what, never mind.”

  Before he got a chance to hang up, I began my inquisition. “Can I ask why you’re callin’ for my wife?” Irritation slowly began to creep back into me.

  “It’s nothing. Never mind.”

  “Yeah, no. I’m not acceptin’ that answer. I’d appreciate if you honestly answer me.” What the hell was goin’ on?

  “We’ve just been talkin’ a bit over the last little bit. I was just calling to see how she was doing. That’s all, man.” And just when I thought this call couldn’t get any worse, he said the three words that sent me into a rage. “We’re just friends.”

  I let out an aggravated laugh, “yeah, because I haven’t heard that one before. Look, I’ll tell her you called, but I’d appreciate ya not callin’ here again. Got it?”

  “Yeah man, I got it.”

  Before I could get another word in edgewise, the line went dead, along with my good mood. There was no way I just spilled my entire heart out onto the floor for her, just to have another guy try and come swoopin’ in on my girl…again. Flashbacks of what I went through with Joey flooded my mind, and I was slowly startin’ to get beyond pissed. I checked on Mia, and went in search of my fiancé. When I spotted her and Cami walkin’ back towards the house all happy and shit talkin’ about the wedding, I immediately changed how I would approach this situation with her. I turned on my heel and made my way back inside before she could spot me. If we were goin’ to make this work, then she would have to be the one to inform me about her and Mike’s new friendship, because this was the first I was hearin’ about it.

  Chapter 11

  Kayla

  “It was seriously the sweetest thing he’s ever done for me. I literally couldn’t believe it. I cried like I’ve never cried before, Cam. It was amazing.”

  “Sounds like it. I’m super happ
y for you, Kay.”

  When I caught sight of Cami’s devastated face, I immediately changed my overly excited tone. “I’m sorry, Cam. Glenn will come around, I just know it.” I tried to reach out for her none existent belly, but she instantly swatted my hand away. Okay, so apparently we’re still not acknowledging that.

  As we got closer to the house the mouthwatering aroma of eggs and bacon assaulted my senses and a wide smile hit my face. I swung open the door with a renewed sense of comfort and couldn’t wait to enjoy breakfast with some of my most favorite people in the world. Unfortunately, Madison was back to bein’ a grumpy ass, and I was left, once again, wonderin’ what the hell was wrong with him now.

  “Thanks for makin’ breakfast, cowboy.” I leaned in for a kiss as I scooped up some eggs, but he swiftly turned his cheek and headed out to the dining room to drop off Mia’s food to her.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Cami whispered low enough so only I could hear her.

  “Who knows anymore.” I shrugged as I made my way over to the dining room table where my daughter and soon to be husband were sittin’. “So I was thinkin’ we could have the ceremony out by our tree.” I glanced over at Madison as I spoke, but he seemed oblivious to anything I was sayin’. “Madison?”

  He lifted his head in my direction for a brief second. “What’s that?”

  “Never mind.” I muttered into my fork of eggs. Apparently wedding talk wasn’t what he wanted to talk about this morning.

  “Oh by the way, Mike called for you while you were outside.” His words dripped with anger and disdain.

  My head popped up, glancin’ between my best friend and my fiancé. “Oh yeah? What did he want?” I was trying to play it cool.

  “Don’t know. Just said I would let you know he called.”

  I could tell by his tone of voice that this was exactly why he was acting the way that he was. “Madison?” I reached out to touch his arm but he moved it just in time to help Mia eat some of her breakfast. “It’s not what you think. We’re-“

  “Just friends? Yeah, I know. That’s exactly what he told me. You seem to have a lot of “friends” that I don’t know about.” He winced with the inflection he put on the word friends, and I couldn’t help but flash back to our strained time with Joey and I being friends.

  “I’ll tell him not to call anymore.” At this point I wasn’t willing to lose Madison, regardless of who I had to cut out of my life.

  “No need. I told him myself.” He shot his one of a kind irritated smirks as he stood to make his way into our bedroom, and I slumped over in frustration.

  Cami’s hand reached for mine as my fork clattered against my plate. “Go talk to him. I’ve got Mia.” I simply nodded and then made my way to find my cowboy.

  When I reached the half closed doorway to our room, I knew this was goin’ to be a long drawn out conversation, but if I wanted reassurance from Madison for my inane insecurities, then I would have to do the same for him. As I pushed the door open I saw his defeated form slouched on the edge of our bed, and without hesitation, I ran to his side pulling him into me. When he didn’t respond, I tucked my hand under his chin, pullin’ it up to look at me. When his sea of green settled on my face, I melted and a stray tear escaped the corner of my eye. But I didn’t swipe it away as I usually would, instead I let it fall right along with the others that followed suit.

  The soft pad of his thumb came up to my delicate cheek, swiping them away for me. “Don’t cry, pretty girl.”

  “How can I not. I’ve hurt the one man that means the most to me in this world. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s not an excuse by any means, but it’s not like we talk everyday while you’re gone. And when you got home, well let’s just say we both know how that went. I just didn’t know when to bring it up to you. We also decided to stop speaking for awhile.” My eyes met his and the tears began to relentlessly fall down my reddened cheeks.

  “Hey, hey, no, no. Stop, pretty girl. Please stop cryin’.” His hands were now cupping my face, pulling my lips against his, and my tears began to dissipate.

  “I’m so sorry, Madison. Truly I am.”

  “Hey, I know you are.” He placed a chaste kiss to my forehead before looking right into my eyes. “Is this my doin’?”

  My heart shattered the minute the words left his mouth. “No, of course not. How could you even think that?”

  “Because I’ve been an asshole as of late, and I’ll be the first one to admit it.” He stood from the bed and began pacing in front of me. “I can’t even imagine how hard all of this has been on you. Hell, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to find someone else. My mood swings alone lately would give you enough cause. I’m just worried I’m too late with this whole wedding stuff.” He was suddenly on his knees in front of me, pulling my hands into his chest. “Please tell me you still want to marry me, pretty girl, because if you don’t I understand, but it will literally kill me.”

  “Madison Raine, how dare you think that I would be out looking for someone else. Do you really think so little of me? I mean, really?” I pushed myself back from him standing up on our bed. “I WANT TO MARRY MADISON RAINE MORE THAN ANYTHING!” I shouted to the rooftops as I jumped playfully on our bed. Seconds later, he was joining me. We jumped around like kids and the childlike nature I was seein’ run through him made me love him that much more.

  I reached my hands out for his as we continued to act like adolescents, when my body was abruptly falling on the bed beneath him. His warm cinnamon breath coated my skin in a thin layer of goosebumps as he trailed heated kisses down my neck, eventually makin’ his way down to my overly sensitive breasts. When his face was back in front of mine, I glanced towards the doorway, hinting for him to close and lock our bedroom door. Without a second thought, he sprang from the bed and was instantly hovering above me again.

  “I’m goin’ to make you mine, forever, physically and emotionally. Do you understand me, Kayla?” I nodded into his chest. “Let’s start with physically.” He laughed. “My pretty girl. You’re all I will ever need in this life. Well, you, and this.”

  His fingers made their way up my nightgown and inside of me with one swift motion. My body arched just as his mouth took in one of my nipples, lightly biting down on the hardened numb. I called out in pleasure as every single part of my body became a livewire expelling tremendous amounts of electricity to every limb. My hands pushed back through his hair as I gently pulled his mouth up to meet mine. My walls greedily clenched around his fingers, pulling them in deeper as our tongues massaged one another, leaving me breathless when he pulled back long enough to undo his belt and drop his pants.

  “Commando I see.” I laughed into his mouth as it captured mine again.

  “Always easier for my girl.” He smiled against my wet swollen lips. “Ready?”

  “Always.” I moaned as he thrust into me harder than I had anticipated, but I couldn’t complain, because it took me over the top for a second time.

  He pushed in and out of me with a force unknown to me before now. I’ve always liked it rough, but he was taking it to a whole other level this morning, and I was all about it. I wasn’t sure if he was takin’ out his frustration of the day so far out on me, but if that was the case, I was more than happy to help, anytime. My legs wrapped tightly around his midsection as I dug my heels into his ass, pushing him so deep inside of me that he filled me completely. My fingers flew to the back of his shoulder blades, breakin’ the skin as we both rode out our release together, as one. The only way I could ever see us.

  I lightly clutched his sweaty face in my hands and placed a long drawn out kiss to his enticing lips. “That will never get old.” We both laughed.

  “And as much as I would love to stay here with you forever and never leave, unfortunately there’s another girl I need to spend some time with today.” His lips grazed my collarbone before ascending over my mouth one last time. “What do you say to a family day today, just the three of us?”

 
“I would love that, but…” Just then Madison’s phone began blaring the ridiculously annoying ringtone he has set for Glenn, from the other room. Madison stood, pulling his pants back into place just as he swiftly placed a kiss to my lips, and then hightailed it out of our room. “Or not.” I whispered to myself as I let out an audible sigh before standing and getting myself dressed for the day.

  I was pulling my hair into a high ponytail when Cami came sauntering into my bathroom. “Hey slut, sorry for leavin’ ya out there for so long.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She sighed. “I put Mia down for a nap, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

  “Thanks, love.” I knew her day was going to shit, and I felt helpless not knowin’ what I could do to make it better.”

  “Cam?” I turned towards her as I leaned against my bathroom counter. “What are you gonna do? Don’t hate me, but you sound as though you don’t want to keep this pregnancy.”

  Her head shot up. “What? Are you serious, Kay? Of course I do.” Her hands fell to her flat stomach as she spoke in a hushed tone. “I’m just not so sure Glenn does.”

  I pulled her into my loving embrace before I continued. “Then maybe you should tell him, and let him make that decision for himself. You can’t make it for him. It’s not fair.”

  “Why do you always take his side?” I could hear the overwhelming emotions beginning to take over her and I immediately felt bad.

  “I’m not takin’ anyone’s side. I just think y’all need to sit and have a very serious talk. If this is somethin’ you want, and he doesn’t, then wouldn’t you want to know that now? I mean, I’m here for you regardless of what you choose to do, you know that, but he needs to know.” My fingers brushed through her hair in a soothing motion and I could tell she was seriously contemplating what I had just said.