Claiming His Labor Day: A Romance Holiday Novella

by Lulu Pratt

  Who would have thought I would have had this chance to be in her life again? I was going to make the best of it and try my damnedest to keep her this time. If that meant taking baby steps, I was prepared for that.

  She stopped and looked at me, a seriousness blanketing her face. Her lips parted. Her fingers caressed the back of my neck. “I’ve missed you,” she said softly as water dripped off her nose.

  “I’ve missed you too, Naomi.”

  Her eyes closed, and a small gasp escaped her lips just before they pressed against mine. Our kiss deepened as her arms tightened around my neck. I didn’t want this moment to end.

  I savored her touch, her tongue teasing my lower lip as it snuck out of her mouth. I did the same, our tongues dancing together. Her legs were wrapped around my waist, and I was sure she could feel me getting hard for her.

  Feeding my hands down her back to her ass, I caressed her, pulling her into me. She gasped again and it fueled me. I walked out of the ocean with her in my arms, our kiss heating up and destroying any choice I made about taking things slow. As soon as we got to the shore, she dropped her feet to the sand, her hands sliding down my chest.

  I glanced in the direction of the party, but we were so far down the beach that they were no longer visible. I looked in the opposite direction and saw the beach end with large rocks that fed down into the ocean. We were completely alone. I had the opportunity to make love to her again, but I didn’t want it to go that far.

  She sat down, her eyes looking up at me. I sat next to her, and she intertwined our fingers together. Her other hand went to my face, cupping the side and drawing me closer to her. Her lips touched mine, and I consumed her, inhaling deeply as our bodies pressed together in the sand. Her hand slid down my stomach to my crotch, and she rubbed me there, exciting me further, intensifying my desire for her.

  “Naomi,” I whispered.

  She hesitated only for a moment, her mouth moving to my chest. “I want you, Devlin. I’ve wanted you so badly since that first night we were together. I want you so badly it aches deep down inside.” She spoke, her words breaking up between kisses as she traveled down my chest. “You are the only one who can satisfy that ache.” Her hand worked my cock through my shorts, and I was finding it difficult to say no to her.

  “Listen to me, please,” I said.

  She looked up at me, her breathing a little heavier. She bit her lower lip, which drove me insane. “So, talk,” she said, smooching my stomach. “I’m listening.”

  I took a big breath as she continued to feast on my abs, her hand sliding up and down between my legs. I let out a shaky breath and looked up at the sky. “I don’t want our relationship to be—” I looked back down as her mouth followed her finger that had hooked into the waistband of my shorts, “—just about the incredible—” her finger pulled my shorts down further, her mouth trailing kisses. I swallowed hard “—intensely pleasurable—” her hand disappeared into my shorts and found what it was looking for, “—sex you and I have.” I put my head back as she began stroking me. “Oh, God,” I breathed.

  “If sex is the only thing our relationship would be based upon, I’m okay with that.” She crawled up my body, her mouth back on mine. Her kiss was intense, and my futile attempt at talking halted quickly. “You see, I can’t resist you when you’re this close to me.” She bit at my lip playfully. “I need to feel you inside me. I need to feel the arousal you force through me.” Her tongue plunged into my mouth, and my discretion was shattered.

  I grabbed her ass with both hands and hoisted her up on top of me, positioning her so she’d feel everything I wanted to give her. My hands fed up her back momentarily, then down to her ass and I pressed my groin into hers. She winced, wiggling her body over mine. She pressed into me, her breathing harder. She sat up and looked down at me, her hips moving back and forth. The sensation she was giving me was intensifying, and I was pushing to the point of no return.

  Her body was sexy as it slithered over mine. Her eyes gleamed with passion, and her tongue teased me as she licked her lips slowly. I l plunged my hands into her hair, pulling her back down to me. I hungrily pressed my mouth to hers, consuming her lips as my tongue explored her mouth.

  Naomi was moaning with pleasure as she dry humped me. I wanted to feel the inside of her again. I wrapped my arms around her and rolled her over on her back. I hovered over her and watched her face. She was panting with hunger in her eyes.

  Her lower lip quivered. Her eyes shifted back and forth. I kissed her again, my hands sliding down her sides. Sand stuck to our wet bodies, and the waves occasionally touched our feet. I moved my hips over hers my fingers grasping the side of her bathing suit bottoms. I deepened our kiss as I slid the side of her bikini down off her hip bone.

  “I’m going to make love to you right here on this beach, Naomi. I’m going to show you just how badly I’ve needed you, baby.”

  Her hands jetted out to my chest, and she pushed harder than I had expected. I leaned away from her. The look on her face had changed. The hunger was gone. Fear replaced it.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Am I hurting you?”

  “No,” she barely said. A sob sucked into her throat, and she turned her head away.

  “Baby, what is it? What did I do?” I knew the answer. I pushed too hard. I let it get out of control. The very thing I told myself I wouldn’t do.

  “I can’t. I can’t do this.” She pushed again, and I rolled off her.

  “Okay. Okay, we don’t have to do this. I didn’t want to go this far. I wanted to take it slow. We can do that, Naomi. We can take it slow.” I felt a panic in my chest when she scooted away from me. “Let’s just talk. We can walk along the beach and talk.”

  “No. Devlin, I can’t do this. I can’t do any of this. This was a mistake.”

  She ripped at my heart again when she scrambled up to her feet and ran back to the party.

  I was desperate. I couldn’t lose her again, not after the way she touched me. I was addicted, and she was my fix.

  CHAPTER 7

  Naomi

  EVERYTHING IN MY heart was screaming at me to stop and let Devlin back into my life. My head was yelling to keep him out. He’d only break my heart. He’d find out about the baby and run the other way. Guys like him didn’t settle down. They weren’t fathers and husbands. They didn’t do the nine-to-five job thing and come home to a family excited to see him. He was a drifter.

  I knew that the night I met him. I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to lead him away from everything that kept me safe. I knew I was making a mistake, but I did it anyway. I invited him into my life, into my body, and into my heart.

  Tears ran down my cheeks as I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I had to get away from the temptation of allowing him back into my life before I could think straight and think things through.

  I felt like my life was falling apart. I was angry at Mia for planting the question in his head. I was angry at Devlin for pressing me and making me fall in love with him, for caring too much about me, for making it difficult to just walk away without pain in my heart. I was angry at myself for everything else.

  I looked back expecting to see him fading into the distance, but he was right behind me, gaining on me. I was tired. I could barely run any further. I didn’t want to run. He had me. He reached out and grabbed my arm, and I fell to the sand sobbing uncontrollably.

  He knelt next to me, his hand on my back.

  “Naomi, damn it.” He pulled me to my feet and grabbed on to me. He was pissed, and he had every reason to be. “Stop running from me.”

  “I—”

  “Don’t say you can’t.”

  “Let me go, Devlin.”

  “I won’t ever let you go. I’ll come after you every time you run. I don’t know what happened to you to make you feel you have to run away from me, so I’ll just keep trying to get back in. I’ll keep running after you. I’ll keep telling you how much you have affected me. I’ll keep
trying to show you how much I’m in love with you, Naomi.”

  His words struck me, and I froze. “What?”

  “I’m in love with you. You can’t see that? I can’t just let you walk away from me, not again. The first time hurt too damned much.”

  “You’re wasting your time.”

  “Then, so be it. It’s my time to waste. I’ll keep coming after you until you tell me you don’t want me. Say the words, Naomi. Tell me you don’t love me. Tell me I didn’t affect you the way you affected me. Tell me you don’t think about the night we spent together.”

  “I don’t… want you,” I couldn’t even look at him when my lips formed the words.

  “You’re lying. You came looking for me. You told me that yourself.” He forced me closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around me, causing me to cry harder. I couldn’t control my feelings for him, and being that close to him made me crumble. “Tell me the truth, Naomi. Tell me.”

  He jerked me closer, his hands cupping the back of my neck. He directed my face to his and kissed me with the same passion that made me fall for him. His sex appeal was just the surface. He consumed me. He destroyed me. His kiss dissolved all doubt and fight I had. When he pulled away and looked at me, I stopped fighting it. I knew how to make him run.

  I pressed my lips together and stopped crying. I stood up straight and waited for him to drop his hands from me. I took two steps back and held my chin up high. Everything froze for a moment.

  “I’m pregnant, Devlin.” His face softened, but I couldn’t read him. “I’m pregnant with your child.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I took a pregnancy test, and it came back positive. I have symptoms. I’ve been with no one else in months.”

  “You’re going to have my baby?”

  I nodded again, breaking my gaze from his. “You’re the only one I’ve been with. You’re the only one I’ve wanted to be with.”

  Devlin didn’t run. He didn’t make excuses to get away from me. He didn’t say a word. He just stood there in front of me, staring.

  “Say something,” I pleaded with a shaky voice.

  “Ha ha!” He lunged at me, wrapping his arms around me. He picked me up and twirled me around laughing out loud.

  I held on tight to his neck, confused at his reaction.

  “Wait,” he said, putting me back down. “Is that the big secret you’ve been holding from me?”

  “Yes,” I said, still confused.

  “You had me scared, Naomi. I thought you were sick or someone was keeping you from me.”

  “So, you aren’t upset or scared that this baby will ground you?”

  “Hell no,” He twirled around and scooped me up, his kisses covering my face. “You’re crazy.”

  “No, I’m not. Devlin, you’re a drifter. You haven’t stayed in one place for more than a couple of years. I couldn’t rely on you changing everything just because I fucked up.”

  “I haven’t stayed in one place for very long because I have had no reason to. Until now.”

  “Don’t tell me these things if you don’t mean them. I can’t handle it if I let you back in, and you break my heart,” I said.

  “You don’t have to worry about that. I want to be a part of your life, your world. You didn’t fuck up that night, Naomi. We are in this together. This baby is ours, not just yours. If anything, this just strengthens how I feel about you. And I’m going to be the best damned father you have ever seen.”

  I felt an overwhelming bubble of happiness and hope fill me. I hugged him tightly. “I don’t want to let go,” I whispered.

  “Then don’t.”

  He took my hand, and we walked back to the crowd. I was walking on air still disbelieving it all worked out. I still had my doubts that he would want this kind of lifestyle, but I planned on persuading any doubt he might have had in his mind. I slid my arm around his waist and fell into a pattern of walking together with him in the sand.

  He leaned in and whispered, “Do you want to get out of here?”

  I nodded and smiled up at him. I spotted Mia, who was grinning when she saw us. She raised her drink up to me, and I mouthed a thank you. I pointed to the parking lot to let her know I was leaving, and she swished her hands in that direction.

  I smiled and let Devlin lead me off the beach to his motorcycle. He handed me his passenger helmet, and I put it on, buckling it under my chin. He helped me up onto the back of his bike and straddled the seat in front of me. I wrapped my arms around him and felt the vibration of the motor when he started it. We drove away from the beach and out of the parking lot. I threw my hands up into the air and let the wind surround me. I had never felt so free, so happy.

  We followed the winding road until he pulled into a neighborhood with obvious money. The houses we passed were luxuriously gorgeous, and I enjoyed the scenery. I wondered what it would be like to not have to worry about money. When we slowed and pulled into a long driveway leading up to one of those luxury homes I gasped.

  “Where are we?” I yelled.

  He turned his head to me. “This is my place.”

  “You live here?”

  He nodded and pulled up to the front steps. He shut the bike off and helped me off the back. I looked up at the white brick walls as he unfastened my helmet and pulled it off my head.

  “Come on,” he said, taking my hand.

  We climbed up five marble stairs, and he punched a code into a keypad that opened the large wooden front door.

  “After you,” he said.

  I walked inside, my eyes open wide. Everything was stark white and sparkling clean. Green plants broke up the white with splashes of color in every corner. Each wall featured large windows overlooking the beach we were just at.

  “Devlin,” I gasped. “This place—”

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “I thought you said you didn’t stick around in one place for long?”

  “I don’t.”

  “Then how do you live here?”

  “I have the means to live fairly well.”

  “Fairly well?” I scoffed. “Look at this place. Do you own it?”

  “No, I’m just renting.”

  “I can only imagine the cost of rent for a place like this.” I walked through the house, enjoying the view from the windows.

  “It’s ridiculous, trust me. Highway robbery.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “What? That I had money?”

  I felt guilt for being judgmental, and I didn’t like it.

  “It’s okay. I don’t flaunt it and I know how you feel about me without my money,” Devlin reasoned.

  I smiled when he walked up to me and put his arms around me. “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  My cheeks felt the heat of his compliment but dissipated when his lips touched mine.

  I felt like I was living a dream. I still wasn’t completely convinced he was going to stay by my side, but I chose to take it one moment at a time.

  He led me up a flight of stairs and out onto a balcony. A large pool stretched out into the open air past the balcony, and the walls of it were made of glass giving the appearance that the water was suspended in mid-air. I looked down through the water and saw the trees on the grounds below.

  “This is incredible.”

  “Do you want to take a swim with me?”

  “I’d love to.”

  We walked to the side of the pool, and he turned me to him. He lifted the cover-up I still wore and laid it across the back of a poolside lounge chair. He took my hands and lifted my arms out on either side, his eyes cascading down my body. He shook his head and smiled. “You are gorgeous.”

  “Yeah, for now. Just wait a few months. I’ll be bigger than this house.”

  “And just as beautiful, if not more so.”

  He kissed my nose, his hands feeding around to the back of my neck. His lips pressed into mine and he deepened the ki
ss, inhaling as he did. He knew how to enrapture me. My stomach tingled with the anticipation of him so close to me. His kiss intensified before he broke away and plunged into the pool. The ripples he made moved through the water, causing the trees below to move like the wind was flowing through them. I was mesmerized until I felt the cool water splash on me. I looked down and saw Devlin standing there with a smile. He threw more water at me until I walked up to the side of the deep end and dove in. I kept my eyes open, getting the full effect of what it was like to swim in a glass box. I looked through the walls and saw the ocean and down at the trees below me. I popped up out of the water and shook my head. “This is so amazing.”

  Devlin swam up to me and kissed me again. “I want to share it all with you and our baby. I want to make a life with you.”

  His words made me shiver. I hoped he was true to them, but something deep down still feared he would leave. He had the chance. He would always have the chance. I tried to push that doubt away as he pressed his body into mine.

  Devlin was hard, his kiss was urgent. His hands were needy. He caressed my back and kissed me harder. I let everything go and just allowed myself to feel him. He cupped my breasts as his tongue probed forward, filling my mouth. His breathing was heavier. Hooking his finger into the top of my bikini, he pulled it down until I was exposed to him. His eyes widened, and he lowered his head to my tender breasts, sucking my nipple into his mouth. His tongue toyed with the nub that hardened instantly, and small shocks of pleasure pierced me.

  I pushed my fingers into his wet hair and pressed his face into my chest. His thumb rolled over my other nipple, and my arousal begin to form. My head fell back as his hand slid down my stomach and between my legs. The tips of his fingers dug in behind the soft material of my bottoms, and they kept going down until his hand cupped my pussy. His hands moved up and down, pressing against my most sensitive areas. I held my breath as his mouth worked over my nipples, and his hand moved with a pattern over my pussy. His finger slid between my folds and pushed inside me. My arousal slammed into overdrive, and I grabbed his wrist as he worked his hand back and forth.