by L. P. Maxa
I didn’t care who was watching, or who was listening. I kissed her deeply and wholly inappropriately, running my hands through her hair and swallowing her soft whimpers. I wanted to pick her up and finish this conversation in bed. I wanted to slide back inside her. I wanted to hear her come apart over and over again until neither of us could breathe.
“Get a room,” Cash yelled, tossing a handful of popcorn our way.
I pulled away, fully prepared to take his suggestion and run with it. “Gladly, fuckers.”
“No,” Brody called out, stopping me from getting up. “I want to hear what name you guys chose.”
“I’ve always liked Luca for a girl.” Jett pressed pause on the movie.
I shook my head. “You don’t get to pick our daughter’s name.”
“Luca James Cadence.” Ems said it out loud, testing it all together.
I frowned. “Dammit. I love it.” I glared at Jett, annoyed that the cocky fucker had chosen the perfect name for our girl. James was Emmie’s last name, but it was also my sister’s middle name. And Luca? It was different and sweet.
“I do too.” Ems sighed. “I really love it. I don’t think any other name will do now.” She sounded as put out as I did.
Jett grinned, flipping me off before turning the movie back on. “You’re welcome, little fucker.”
I climbed to my feet, taking Emmie’s hands and helping her up. “Come on, baby, let’s go get a room.” I ignored the commentary from her cousins, batting away the handfuls of popcorn that were thrown our way. I wanted her all to myself.
I was done sharing for the day.
Once we got into the room, I shut the door and threw the lock in place before pulling her shirt off, preferring her sports bra and panties uniform to all the clothes she was currently wearing. I crawled on the bed, patting the mattress suggestively, making her laugh.
“That night, this night.” I rubbed her belly, grinning, when she lay down beside me. “I wanted to be more for you than myself.” I paused, looking up at her, hoping she could see the sincerity in my eyes. “You’ve been making me a better man since day one, Emmie James.”
“You were always a good man, Kase.” She ran her fingers through my hair, tugging lightly.
“I moved from country to country, bed to bed, thinking only about myself.” I’d lived. And I’d always been proud of my life. But being here, loving Ems, loving our daughter, it made everything else I’d done seem so small. So selfish.
“You knew what you wanted, and you went after it.” She turned on her side, tucking her hands under her cheek against the pillow. “Always honest, never apologizing. I did the same, in a lot of ways. I wanted to dance, and I worked my ass off to make it happen. I missed family events, parties, hanging with friends. I missed everything.”
“There’s a difference between driven and selfish.” She was trying to make me feel better, and I loved her all the more for it. “I hope our little girl grows up to be more like you than me.”
Ems wrinkled her nose. “No. I hope she grows up to be the perfect mix of both of us.”
“Your kind ambition.”
“And your unapologetic strength.” She smiled, and my heart swelled.
How had I not seen it sooner? Why did it take Brody to show me what I’d known from the very beginning? Emmie James was my perfect match. We were always going to happen, always meant to be. Inevitable.
“You want to hear something hilariously pathetic?”
“Of course.”
I winced, slightly embarrassed to tell her. “I watched pregnancy porn this afternoon.”
She snorted out a laugh, covering her mouth to contain her giggles. “When did you have time to watch porn?”
“I came in here while you were helping make popcorn.” I’d snuck off to watch porn, and felt like a teenager with his first girlfriend.
“Why?”
“I wanted to make sure that it was good for you.” I put my hand on her hip, squeezing. “I’ve never had a pregnant girlfriend before. I’m a little out of my element here.” Or you know, a hell of a lot out of my element.
“Last night was perfect, Kase.”
It had been for me, but I needed to make sure it was perfect for her too. So. I’d watched about five minutes of porn. Fast forward mode and silenced, hiding in the bathroom, hoping she didn’t come looking for me. “You deserve more than perfect. You deserve mind-blowing and life-altering.”
She smirked, rubbing her belly. “You’ve altered my life plenty, Kasen Cadence.”
“You got jokes today?” I cupped her cheek, drawing her in so I could kiss her soft lips. “Here, sit up.” I helped her slide toward the end of the mattress, adjusting a pile of pillows behind her back, helping her lie against them. I pulled off her leggings, then her lacy panties; her gaze was on me the whole time.
I moved down to the floor, spreading her thighs. I glanced at her, making sure she was comfortable. Her eyes had closed, her lips were parted, and her breaths heavy.
Anticipation.
I kissed my way to her center, flicking her clit with my tongue, her hips jerking off the bed. I licked her core, moaning at how fucking amazing she tasted against my tongue. I’d never get my fill of her. I slipped two fingers inside her heat, pumping them gently while I worked her clit with my mouth. She was panting, her fingers twisted in my hair. I had her right where I needed her. Wanting.
I stood, shed my shorts, and held her trim thighs in my hands. “Tell me if this doesn’t feel good, okay?”
“You won’t hurt me, Kase.” She opened her beautiful eyes, meeting mine in the fading light coming through the window. “I trust you.”
I swallowed past the ball of emotion in my throat, nodding.
I spread her legs wider, making room for me between them. I slid inside her warmth, groaning at how fucking fantastic she felt. Her pussy clamped down on my dick, holding me hostage. I moved slowly, dragging my cock in and out, drawing out her pleasure and mine. Her hands were twisted in the sheets, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
I wanted her to feel good. I wanted her to feel my love for her, my commitment to our new family. I’d be here always.
“I love you, Ems, so fucking much.”
“I love you too, Kase. Now don’t stop.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her sweet whispered words. I wouldn’t stop, not until I heard her scream my name.
I quickened my pace, pistoning into her harder. Her back arched off the bed, her hips moving to meet mine.
She was close.
I was closer, doing everything I could to hold my orgasm back.
She cried out, calling my name, her pussy milking my dick as she came.
My hold tightened on her thighs as I spilled my release into her body.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Emmie
I’d taken my last test for the semester, and it felt really good to be done. I’d worked hard, taking enough hours that I’d be able to take next semester off and still graduate in three years. I was getting a business degree, preparing to have my own ballet studio one day. I had this image in my mind of my daughter in a tiny tutu, twirling in the background waiting for me to get done teaching a class.
Kase and I had settled into our new normal, as he called it, which oddly enough included a lot of sex. And a lot of I love yous. And a lot of guitar playing for our unborn daughter. Eight months ago, my life had gone from picture perfect to stressful and unrecognizable. Now it looked a lot like that happily ever after I never thought I’d get.
“Hey, baby, how was your test?” Kase came into the kitchen, taking the Pop-Tart out of my hand and putting an apple in its place.
I frowned, grumbling under my breath. “When are you going back to work, little fucker?”
His eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Did you say something?”
“Oh, um, I was wondering when you’re planning on going back to work.” I pasted a smile on my face, which made him roll his eyes. He’d heard m
e. But it was his own fault. You shouldn’t take sugar away from a pregnant chick.
“I don’t know. Why?” He grabbed the jar of Nutella, setting it in front of me with a spoon as his form of a compromise.
“We’ve been living in this happy blissful in-between where we didn’t really talk about what happens after the baby is born.” I rested my hand on my belly. “But we’re getting close to the end. I can’t keep staying here with Katie and Cash, and I don’t want to move back in with my parents, although they beg me to every day.” They had become over-the-top supportive, trying to erase all the months they’d spent breaking my heart. “I think I should get a place of my own.”
“Like build one here on the compound?”
“No. Maybe buy one in town? I don’t think I want to live here with everyone else.” I glanced down at my huge bump, pursing my lip. “I don’t want her sneaking out in the middle of night to make out with Marley and Talon’s son.”
“Oh hell to the no.” Kase paused, the spoon in his hand full of Nutella to put on my apple. “Our daughter will not be sneaking out to meet boys. Ever.”
“She will if I live here.” It was the nature of the beast. This place was magic. But it was also dangerous, and not what I wanted for Luca. She could be close with her cousins, and with all her aunts and uncles. She simply couldn’t run wild like a little barefoot gypsy.
“Okay, so we’ll get a house in town,” Kase said the words casually, like they didn’t carry the weight of the rest of our lives.
“We? Like, you want to get a house together?”
“Baby.” He chuckled, leaning forward to kiss the tip of my nose. “We’re basically living together already. I fell asleep with my dick still inside you last night. We’re having a baby. We’re in this, like in the thick of it.” I smiled, not sure what else to say. “Come here.” He wrapped his palm around my neck, drawing in for a kiss. “What am I going to have to do to make you see how desperately in love I am with you two?”
Chapter Fifty-Five
Kasen
We were sitting down to the first Friday family dinner Emmie’s family had had in a long-ass time. Since all the spawn had walked away after Smith’s outburst, it seemed no one was willing to try it again. But it had been reinstated, and I’d had to drag Ems off the couch and carry her here.
She was super fucking pregnant these days, and constantly uncomfortable. Everyone noticed. Brody had even come over last night and told me how to pop the baby out of her. He’d even demanded I take notes. We had a couple weeks left, but I put the instructions in the dresser in case I needed them.
“This is nice.” Dash looked down the length of the table. They’d put the two tables end to end to make an incredibly long one. “I’ve missed this.”
I knew Ems had too, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
Brody knocked on the table, getting my attention. “You do what I told you?”
“What?” I shook my head when I realized what he was asking. “No. She’s not due for two more weeks.”
“Look at her bro, she’s miserable.” Brody pointed at Ems, who was slumped down in her chair, nibbling on a piece of bread. “Landry, tell Kase his kid is cooked.”
Landry glanced down the table, checking to see if any of the parents heard him. The parents who didn’t know that Ems and I were now way more than friends and co-parents. It’s not that we were hiding things from them. We simply hadn’t come up for air long enough to tell them. “I’m sure when Em has had enough, she’ll let him know.”
“That stupid method doesn’t work.” Beau rolled his eyes, joining the conversation.
“Hell yes it does.” Marley pointed to her sleeping baby boy.
“See?” Brody laughed loudly. “You could never do it correctly.”
Beau threw a green bean at his head.
“Don’t listen to him, Beau, you pop me plenty good.” Halen smiled at her husband, taking the second green bean he was about to launch and feeding it to their daughter. “Lennon was a stubborn baby, that’s all.”
“Ems, you want me to pop Luca out?” I rubbed my palm on her belly.
“Let’s give her another week, then sure, you can hit me like a ketchup bottle.”
Brody threw his head back, laughing so loud that it was hard not to join in.
“A ketchup bottle?”
“That was the visual I gave Beau.” Brody rested his hand on Beau’s back, shaking him playfully. “But he wasn’t the best student, apparently.”
“You’re such a dick.” Beau shoved Brody away, making him laugh even louder.
“Are you guys talking about my daughter and sex again?” Dash shook his head, looking a bit nauseous. “Please stop.”
“Brody.” Jacks sighed, pointing down the table at his son-in-law. “We know you got the babies in there, and we all know you got them out. But can you please, for the love of fuck, stop bringing it up at the damn dinner table?”
“Dude, I’m trying to spread knowledge here.” Brody pointed at Ems, her eyes going wide. I stiffened beside her. It was like watching a train wreck about to happen, and feeling powerless to stop it. “Emmie is miserable, she needs that baby out. And Kase—”
“And Kase what?” Smith’s gaze darted between Ems and me.
Brody clamped his lips shut, then hung his head, whispering under his breath, “My bad, bro.”
“Um, yeah, so, you see—”
“Kase and I are dating.” Ems cut off my rambling.
I stood and moved behind her chair, refusing to let her go through anything without me right by her side. Because, where the hell else would I be?
“We’re more than dating, sir. I’m in love with your daughter, and mine. I’m completely in love with my girls.” I glanced down at Ems to see her smiling back at me, with those seemingly ever-present tears in her beautiful blue eyes.
She was always meant to be more. I think I knew that from the first moment I’d met her. I never thought I wanted this life, the life I’d accidentally created with Emmie James. But I did. I wanted what we had, and I wanted it forever.
“I’m here. I’ve always been here, and I’m not going anywhere. Ever. I promise.” I dropped down on one knee, which was entirely unplanned. “Marry me, Ems.” Unplanned, but so damn right, like everything between us.
“What?” Those tears were spilling over now.
“Marry me.” I took her hands in mine, enjoying the hell out of the shocked gasps that came from the peanut gallery. “Let me spend the rest of my life being there for you.”
“Okay.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay?”
She smiled through her tears, taking my face in her hands. “Yes. I meant, yes. I’ll marry you.”
“Huh, would you look at that?” Jett held out his hand palm up to Marley. “Em saved that virginity of hers for her husband after all. I want my fifty bucks back.”
Epilogue
Six Months later
Emmie
I woke up alone, reaching my hand out to Kase’s side of the bed to find it warm. We’d been watching a movie, and honestly, I couldn’t remember making it past the opening credits. Luca was teething and she’d refused to nap today while Kase had been out at the compound.
He helped my family from time to time, creating videos for RiffRaff. He was even more talented behind the camera than he was in front of it. But the best side of Kase wasn’t the model or the artist. It was him as a dad.
The most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen holding a baby against his bare muscled chest? I can’t put the magnetic attraction into words. I could understand now how women had babies nine months apart because the moment I’d been cleared by my OB, I’d straight jumped Kase.
He was sweet too, doting and helpful. He changed diapers and begged to take late-night feedings. You name it and he did it with a goofy grin on his face. Which was the reason I knew where my guy and my girl were right now.
Luca didn’t sleep through the night. It seemed she never had
from the moment she was conceived. Avory’s boyfriend had said that Luca was a new soul and sleep came hard for those experiencing the world for the first time. Crue, of course, said that was a load of bull and our family didn’t believe in all that hippie shit. But I thought it was incredibly insightful, and I clung to it on nights when I was beyond exhausted.
Avory had finally brought her new guy around, and the reaction was so volatile it was on the edge of explosive. For the most part, Crue stayed away when Avory and her guy were there, but every once in a while the three of them were on the compound at the same time and the whole place felt like a powder keg.
I tossed the covers aside, then padded down the hallway and the stairs. They creaked with every step, alerting Kase I was making my way through the house. I rounded the corner, smiling when I heard an old Bob Dylan tune playing softly through our sound system.
His voice calmed her as it always had. After she was born, Kase had switched to “Make You Feel My Love” as the song he sang to her. I loved that Bob Dylan’s voice soothed our daughter. I loved our old house. I loved the ancient building we’d bought on the town square for our future businesses. I loved that we chose things that had withstood the test of time.
I watched Kase dancing with our sleeping daughter for a few moments and then I went to join them. His eyes were closed, but he felt me, opening his free arm so he could hold us both. I rested my head on his shoulder, swaying to the beat.
When the song was over, it started playing again. He’d put it on repeat, and I wondered how many times he’d already listened to it. We were so lucky, Luca and I, to have his love.
My life hadn’t gone according to plan. But I’d met a guy, fallen in love, and had a baby. I guess in the end, I’d found my way to exactly where I’d always wanted to be.
***
Kasen
I thought my life would be full of constant excitement and new experiences, never two days the same. I’d thought I would travel the world and have adventures until my body gave up or gave out. I thought that was what I wanted, what would make me happy.
