by Kim Karr
In that position, my robe had opened, and my nakedness beneath it was more than obvious as my pussy rubbed against his flat belly.
Almost immediately, his hands found their way into the opening of my robe and to my ass, and when they did, he pushed his body against mine.
With the wall hard against my back, he held me in that position, kissing me, touching me, needing me, and I swear I felt the earth move.
It wasn’t that I wanted to stop kissing him, but I had to pull away so I could gasp for air.
Jace knew exactly what he was doing. He always did. And he kept right on doing it, only this time finding my throat and swirling his tongue around the pulse at the base of it.
The noises I made were obscene, and I couldn’t have cared less. Only he had ever made me feel this way.
As if sensing that, he pulled back and used a hand to push the hair from my face. “You’re not my before and you’re not after, Hannah, you’re my forever.”
Surprise shot through me. Never had I been expecting anything like this.
His eyes were so bright when he spoke. “I love you. I always have and I always will. I should have told you back then, but I won’t make that same mistake again. I love you. You. Do you hear me?”
I nodded and ran my fingertips up his arms just to make certain this was real.
“I. Love. You.”
If I thought the earth moved before, now it was spinning on a new axis. His words took all my breath and emotion swallowed me whole. I didn’t hesitate. “I love you, too, Jace. I never stopped,” I said softly, and crashed my mouth to his.
Somehow in the emotional enclave we were in, I slid down his body just a little. It was enough though that the cold metal of his belt buckle made contact with my soft, naked flesh.
I nearly lost my mind.
The grin I felt form on his lips around my mouth was so him. “Are you ready for me?” he asked, his tone dark and lustful.
I nodded.
After my slight slip, he was holding onto me even tighter, and with my acceptance acknowledged, he then started up the short flight of stairs.
With all of my senses reeling, I couldn’t wait to have him.
When he reached my bedroom, he flicked the light on. I thought he’d toss me on the bed and take me in that animalistic way he had about him, but instead he laid me carefully on the mattress, and stared down at me.
The gentleness of his touch as he untied my robe took my breath away. There were so many things in life I’d come to expect, but that was not one of them.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as his eyes drank me in, and his fingers drew a line down the slight curves of my body.
I swallowed my emotion, not wanting to ruin the moment in any way.
After kicking his shoes off, he crawled up the bed on his forearms and bent his head to find my mouth. We kissed for that way for what seemed like hours. Licking and sucking each other without hurry, and it felt so good.
And we both knew when it was time to stop just kissing because I moved my hips at the same time he did.
I fumbled with his belt, and once I had undone it, I tried to push his pants down. The wet fabric bunched, but Jace repositioned himself and somehow managed to work both his pants and boxers down his strong thighs, where he promptly kicked them to the floor.
Finally naked, he slid back on top of me and found my mouth again.
Between my thighs, I felt his erection. It was so familiar, and yet I wanted him more than ever, and I didn’t care when I closed my eyes and told him, “I need you,” because it was the truth.
“Hannah…”
I opened my eyes and looked into his.
“I don’t have anything,” he said with a sigh.
“Neither do I, but I’m on the pill, and I’m clean.”
I already knew he was.
He breathed in.
I breathed out.
We were in rhythm like we once had been, and I couldn’t stop anticipation from fizzing in my veins.
Then he reached down with his own hand to grasp his cock, and the moment the heat of his erection pushed at my opening, I raised my hips.
With slow movements, he thrust in and then out, in and then out, until finally he was buried deep inside me.
Jace kissed me as he moved with a steady rhythm. He wasn’t fucking me, he was making love to me, and the thought almost made me cry.
Slowly, he rolled to one side, pulling me with him until I was the one on top. With me in a sitting position, he stared up into my eyes.
That’s when I saw it.
That soft side I’d discovered so long ago, the one I feared was only for his daughter now, was there, and my heart felt so full.
Bending, I placed a chaste kiss on his lips, and he smiled at me. That smile made my heart nearly explode.
After a beat, he placed both his hands at my waist and began to thrust upwards, holding me in place as he arched up and then withdrew.
His pace remained steady, not fast or hard, and I couldn’t believe when the feeling rushed over me.
The upsweep of curls I’d pinned around my head was coming loose piece by piece. Not all at once though, unlike my orgasm. I came first, and it felt like a frenzied, bright flash of light that blew over me and took all of my breath.
The clenching of my inner muscles was something we both felt. I was still panting as he began to plunge into me. Harder. Faster. And I couldn’t believe it but I felt myself building again. Needing stability, I gripped his shoulders to hold on to him, and when I did, I knew I never wanted to let go.
With a curse, Jace erupted, and I immediately felt his heat spurting deep into my body. With urgency, he pulled me all the way down on his cock until there was no room left between us as he orgasmed inside me.
In all the times we’d been together, it was the first that he was bare. Everything about it was the same and different. Jace felt it too, I knew from the way he laid beneath me for a long moment with his cock still pulsing and twitching inside me.
Again, completely out of character to the Jace I’d known, he raised his hand and cupped my face. Staring at me and stroking my cheeks in a gentle manner, he then pulled me down to him and kissed me. It was long and sweet. Warm and tender. And again, so very much unlike him.
In the distance I could hear the cuckoo clock downstairs strike midnight. Time didn’t seem to matter. He simply held me tight against his body and stroked my hair. For several long minutes we stayed that way as he softened within me.
When he moved, it was to angle me beside him. Propped on one elbow, he swept the hair from my eyes and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, feeling out of sorts. Everything bad that had transpired between us had happened because of the two of us.
Not him.
Not me.
But us.
Our mistakes.
“You don’t have to be,” I said, taking his hand and bringing it to my mouth for a kiss.
He eased his body closer to mine until our noses were almost touching. “I shouldn’t have shut you out.”
Our heads shared the same pillow. He was beside me. Not running out the door or pushing me away. And the enormity of everything we had been through crashed down on me.
“What about my job?” I blurted out.
“What about it. Nothing changes.”
Tears filled my eyes as uncertainty loomed. “What do we do now?”
His thumbs stroked my tears away. “We plan the future, starting with Christmas. I want you and Jonah to come with Scarlett and me to Disneyworld. The trip is one of her Christmas presents, and I want it to be one of Jonah’s too. And while we’re down in Florida, I’ll take both the kids to watch a football game in Tampa or Jacksonville, and you can spend the day at the spa.”
My shaking hands flew to my mouth. “Oh my Gosh, Jonah would love that, but—”
“No buts. We leave Christmas night at five.”
With wide eyes, I stared at him.
But—”
Placing a finger across my lips, he quieted me. “We have a lot of things to work out, Hannah, but there is nothing between us to stop us from doing that, I promise you that.”
Jace was talking about Tricia, of course, and it was his way of telling me he was ready to move on.
Tricia would always be in his heart, that I knew, but as long as he had room for me in there too, he was right…everything would work out.
With the love we still shared after all these years…it was impossible not to.
36
Present Day
Hannah Michaels Crestfall
The light streaming in from the curtains that hadn’t been closed all the way seemed too bright for a winter’s day.
I rolled over only to discover Jace lying beside me on his side, his head resting on his hand and those gray eyes on me. He’d been watching me sleep.
And I knew for sure it was just the two of us now. Just like I knew for sure, there would never be another third.
“Hey,” I greeted him, my voice low, sleepy. “What time is it?”
Jace reached out with his other hand and stroked a thumb along my cheekbone. “Hey, it’s just past six.”
I bolted upright. “Don’t you have to go? Scarlett will be waking up soon.”
His eyes dipped to follow his fingers as they whispered over my cheek to my neck, across my collarbone, and down over the rise of my breasts. I shivered under his touch and looked up at his face. “Scarlett had a sleepover at Mrs. Sherman’s last night. She’s been dying to stay at her place, and since Mrs. Sherman leaves for Pittsburg today to spend Christmas with her family, I agreed. I have to pick her up at nine. I promised to take her for pancakes, and I want you to come.”
I stared up at him. “Are we really going to do this?”
His lips curled at the corners into a sexy smirk. “We are. And after breakfast we’re going to go pick up Jonah and your mother and bring them both back here. And once we do we are all going to go cut down the biggest tree we can find. Then we’ll all spend Christmas together.”
“I already have a tree,” I told him with a little sass.
He rolled his eyes.
“What?” I asked.
“That small thing will never do for the gifts Santa has to bring two kids.”
“But I don’t have enough ornaments for anything bigger.”
“Then we’ll buy some or the kids can make them.”
The warmth in his gaze was something I couldn’t deny. There was no cloud of regret, no apprehension, no third point. And my body tingled just at the thought of all of us spending the holiday together. Still, there were things to work out. “But, where—”
He shook his head. “No buts. We’ll need some time alone, you know to talk.” His grin was wicked. “So having your mother around this week to help with the kids while Mrs. Sherman visits her own children will give us some alone time…to talk. And I want to go out on a date or two before we leave for Disney.”
“Jace,” I smiled.
“The four of us are going to be a family, Hannah, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Looking into his handsome face, I wondered how this was happening. But then he kissed me with so much passion and love that I turned my mind off.
I stopped wondering.
I stopped thinking.
And for once, I just felt.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Jace Bennett
It wasn’t the most traditional thing I’d ever done.
I was coming out of the garage after throwing the last of the trash away. The rented tables and chairs were still scattered here and there. I glanced around and spotted Hannah immediately. She had stopped cleaning up and was standing barefoot in the backyard looking at the sunset.
She was so beautiful, and that beauty wasn’t only on the outside. I stared at her for a few moments, thankful she had allowed me to be a part of her life, and thankful for this life in general.
It was a rare profound moment that seemed to be not so rare anymore.
Just then her blue summer dress and her blonde hair blew in the wind, and I couldn’t stay away. I quickly found a song to play on the speakers set up in the yard. As soon as Kiss’s “I Was Made for Loving You” started to play, I strode toward her.
Punk or hard rock, it no longer mattered. I didn’t have to drown my thoughts anymore, and I could just listen to the lyrics.
The sound of creaking swings and happy laughter told me the kids were just fine, and I could give her all my attention, for a few moments, anyway.
A lot had changed besides the manicured lawn, the new addition of an in-ground swimming pool, and a swing set complete with a tree house.
Hannah, Scarlett, Jonah, and I had become a family. Today might have been the day we made it official with a small ceremony at our house that joined Hannah and I as husband and wife, but the feeling had come slowly over the past six months as the four of shared our days and nights under the same roof.
I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she responded.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
She gave a contented sigh. “Nothing. Everything.”
I turned my mouth and kissed her neck. “That’s very poetic.”
She laughed and let her head lull back, giving me better access. “How happy I am.”
“That’s a little more specific,” I teased, and kissed a little higher.
“How happy you make me.”
I kissed her again, this time on the corner of her lips. “Keep going.”
She twisted in my hold and turned to look into my eyes. “How much I love you and Scarlett.”
“Well, that’s much better,” I grinned.
She giggled and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “I don’t think I ever told you this, but the night after I met you at that party in college, I told my roommate I was going to marry you some day.”
I pulled back slightly to look into those blue eyes I knew I would never get enough of. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’d forgotten all about it until just now.”
“Maybe Ethan wasn’t that far off when he told me us being together was destined by fate.”
Her face scrunched in the most beautiful way. “He said that?”
I nodded.
“He’s the poetic one,” she laughed.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you,” she whispered back.
“Remember that,” I said, as I bent and took her in my arms.
She screamed a little bit and kicked her feet. “Jace! What are you doing?”
Cradling her in my arms, I strode toward the pool. “Carrying you over the threshold, Hannah Bennett.”
She turned her head and saw I was headed in the opposite direction. “Jace Bennett, don’t you dare act like a big shot.”
Big shot! I had to laugh—hey, it was better than motherfucker.
Just then little feet came rushing over. “Daddy!” Scarlett yelled, putting her hands on her hips. “You put my mommy down right this minute.”
I stopped at the edge of the pool and froze. Scarlett was wearing a dress that matched Hannah’s and had little flowers pinned in the curls of her hair. And it was the first time she’d called Hannah anything but Hannah.
Hannah glanced at me, and I smiled. Smiled huge. Smiled wider still, and said, “Looks like you’re going under, Mommy,” then jumped right in that pool.
“Watch this, Daddy! I’m a warrior.” Jonah came a hundred miles an hour across the lawn in his little tuxedo and did a cannonball, splashing Scarlett.
She scowled at him and put her hands on her hips. “Why do brothers have to be so annoying?” but then she shrugged and jumped in too.
Hannah sputtered as she came to the surface and I grabbed hold of her and crashed my mouth to hers. The honeymoon wouldn’t kick-off until our weekend getaw
ay, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get started early, if only with a kiss, for now.
“Ewww,” Jonah said. “You’re going to get cooties.”
I smiled around the kiss, and my wife did too.
The clapping I knew came from Scarlett, who when I looked, was in the shallow end of the pool standing on the stairs, giving Hannah and I a standing ovation.
This was her version of a happy ending.
And I had to admit…it was mine too.
THE END!
Hot Stuff
Copyright © 2017 by Kim Karr
E-book
ISBN-10: 0-9976194-9-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-9976194-9-2
Paperback
ISBN-10: 1974506606
ISBN-13: 978-1974506606
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Please note:
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. Although I tried to stay true to football, I took liberties with this story to embrace the romantic side of it.
The Chicago Bears are an actual football team, but everything else is fictional. The roles of coaches, players, and team staff, as well as events, have been altered to fit the storyline.
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Book Credits:
Cover designer: Michele Catalano-Creative
Interior design and formatting: Christine Borgford, Perfectly Publishable