by Louise Hall
“Ugh,” Cate shuddered. She’d completely forgotten about her hellish absinthe-induced hangover. That was the last time she ever accepted a challenge from Remy.
“Don’t you think it’s wrong of me to be drinking Guinness and wearing all this green given that no part of me is actually Irish?” Ben asked Cate. “I mean, I’m just a pasty-looking Englishman.”
“I wouldn’t say that too loudly,” Cate smiled. “Besides, your wife’s Irish and your son’s half-Irish so I think they’ll let you off.”
Cate, Kian and the children had bumped into Ben, Erin and Oliver while they were watching the St Patrick’s Day parade and they’d stopped off at an Irish-themed pub afterwards.
She took another sip of Guinness – ugh, she didn’t want to admit it but she really didn’t like the taste.
Kian had gone to the bar to get them another round of drinks while Erin was over by the stage trying to teach the children how to do a proper Irish jig.
“Erin’s so happy right now. I feel like I should break out into the English national anthem just to remind Ollie of the other half of his background.”
“Do we have an English national anthem?”
“Duh,” Ben rolled his eyes. “God Save the Queen.”
“Isn’t that the UK national anthem though? The Scots have ‘Flower of Scotland’ and the Welsh have ‘Land of My Fathers’. What do they play when English athletes get their medals at the Commonwealth Games?”
“Land of Hope and Glory?”
“Maybe you should sing that?” Cate laughed.
“I would if I could remember the words.”
“That’s dreadful,” Cate teased. “You call yourself a proud Englishman and yet you can’t even remember the lyrics for our national anthem!”
“Unlike every other country in the world, it doesn’t help that we’ve got two. Are you telling me that you actually know the words to ‘Land of Hope and Glory’?”
“I might do.”
“I dare you to recite the 1st two lines then?”
“Land of hope and glory, mother of the free. How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?”
“Mommy, what are you doing?” Sierra asked.
“Your uncle Ben didn’t think that I knew the words to the national anthem so I was proving him wrong.”
“I know all the words to the national anthem,” Sierra said proudly.
“O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight…”
A couple nearby frowned at them. “That’s great, sweetie,” Cate winced.
While Sierra ran back to join Erin, Mats and Lola, Cate put her head in her hands. “My baby girl’s so American.”
“That makes me feel a lot better,” Ben chuckled. “She’s got four national anthems to learn. ‘The Soldier’s Song’ for Kian’s family, ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ for ours and ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ for where she was born.”
“She could always just mime like some of Kian’s team-mates used to do when they were playing for England.”
“So,” Ben gave Cate a nudge. “You and Kian look happy. I’m assuming that “temporary separation” nonsense is over and done with now?”
She was actually grateful that they’d bumped into Ben at the parade. He’d asked Kian about what was going on with Rovers but they’d been surrounded by crowds of people so Kian had been able to get away with lying that he hadn’t known what was happening back then.
“It is,” Cate grinned, catching her husband’s eye across the crowded bar.
“Is it wrong that even after all these years, I still want to throat-punch Kian when I see the two of you making googly eyes at each other? You’re still my baby sister, you know.”
“Ha, you might want to but you can’t actually follow through with it. You got all your punches in when we first announced that we’d got married in Vegas. It’s like that double jeopardy thing; you can’t punish him twice for the same offence.”
“Hey,” Cate said softly. Kian was stood on the back porch, looking out across Puget Sound. He had his back to her. She didn’t think that she’d ever feel comfortable just going up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist again, which made her really sad.
Kian looked at her over his shoulder. She was fidgeting and he could tell that she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. “Come here,” he tugged on her wrist. “Did the children get to sleep OK?”
“Mm,” Cate snuggled up against him. “They went to sleep straight away, even Sierra.”
“I want…” She looked up at her husband. It couldn’t have been easy for him today; the conversation with Ben might have been brief but he’d still had to talk about Rovers.
After everything he’d been through, she didn’t want to push him too hard. She chewed nervously on her bottom lip. “What is it, angel?” Kian asked.
“I want to touch you. I mean, if that’s OK?”
He winced. “Don’t be cautious with me, angel.” He dug his fingers into her inky-black hair, tilting her head back. Even after all these years, her beauty still astounded him. “He’s taken so much from me already. Don’t let him take that as well.”
“Never,” she murmured.
“We need to decide what we’re going to do about Nate.”
“Have you talked to him since he left?” Kian asked.
Cate shook her head, “we’ve texted.”
“What do you want to do?”
Cate snuggled deeper into his embrace. “Nate was there for me when I was at my lowest and I will always be grateful to him for that but… The children are all at school now and I want to see if we can handle it on our own. So much has happened recently and I want it to just be you, me and the children now. We need it.”
“I agree,” Kian kissed the top of her head. “Would you mind if I was the one who called him? It was because of me that you asked him to leave and I owe him an explanation.”
“Are you sure?” Cate asked. “You don’t have to tell him anything you don’t want to, OK?”
“I know but like you said, he was there for you when I couldn’t be…” He looked at the wooden dock which stretched out into the blackness of Puget Sound. He shivered thinking about how easily that stretch of water could have claimed his love, his angel. “He saved all of our lives that night.”
Monday March 18th
While Cate took the children to school, Kian called Nate. He’d wanted to go with them but Cate reminded him that it was important that they try and keep things as normal as possible and so they’d agreed to alternate doing the school run.
“Hey Kian, what’s up?” Nate said brightly.
“Hey man, is now a good time to talk?”
“Sure, Eric’s just left for work so I’m here by myself. Why don’t you come over?”
“I didn’t realise you were back in Seattle?”
“Yeah, I’ve been staying with Eric since I got back from Sacramento. That’s not a problem, is it?”
“No, of course not. I’ll be right over.”
“I’m glad you called,” Nate grinned as he slid open the glass door at the back of Eric’s house. “I wanted to talk to you and Cate about something too.”
“Oh?” Kian raised an eyebrow. He really hoped that Nate wasn’t going to ask him about Rovers. He might be an American but he still followed the Premier League in England because he was a lifelong Manchester City fan.
“Mm, can I get you a coffee?” Nate moved around Eric’s kitchen with ease. He looked at home there.
They sat at the kitchen counter with their mugs of steaming black coffee. “I feel really bad about the timing because I know that you and Cate have been having some problems recently but Lay wants to go back to college to get her Doctorate. We’ve put it on the backburner because I didn’t want it to be awkward while she was still working here as Luke’s nanny but with her leaving, it feels
like the right time for me to move in here with Eric and Luke.”
“I see,” Kian took another sip of his coffee.
Nate chuckled, “if Cate has the worst poker face, you definitely have the best. I can never tell what you’re thinking.”
“I’m sorry,” Kian smiled. “I was just thinking that it’s actually perfect timing because Cate and I are working through our problems – we’re not there yet but we’re definitely in a much better place than we were a month ago. We both owe you so much, Nate but…”
“You want it to be you, Cate and the children for now.”
Kian nodded, “I felt so shitty coming over here.”
Nate laughed, “I felt so shitty waiting for you. I felt like I was abandoning you guys.”
“You’re not, I promise. I’m happy for you and Eric.”
“Thanks,” Nate took another sip of coffee, “I really appreciate that.”
“How did it go?” Cate asked when she got back from the school run.
“It was good,” Kian explained that Layla was going back to college and so it was the perfect time for Nate to move in with Eric and Luke. “Nate said he’d text you later.”
“I’m so happy it all worked out for the best,” Cate smiled.
She’d stopped at the supermarket on the way home and Kian helped her put the groceries away.
“Can I ask you a question?”
He stilled. “You can ask me anything, angel.”
“Weren’t you concerned when I hired Nate to be the children’s nanny? I checked his references but he was still a stranger moving in to our house.”
“As soon as you mentioned you were going to interview him, I had a friend run a thorough background check on him. He was clean.”
“You did what?” Cate spun around.
Kian shrugged, “it’s not a big deal. I have him run background checks on anybody who spends time with my children: every babysitter, teaching assistant, football coach.”
“Kian,” Cate hugged him, “Just when I think I can’t love you anymore.”
“I love my dad but as soon as I found out that you were pregnant with Lola, I was determined that I was going to do absolutely everything I could to protect my children. There’s no way in hell I’m going to risk them going through what I did.”
Later that night, after the children had gone to sleep, Cate walked into the master bedroom. Kian was still downstairs triple-checking that all of the doors and windows were locked.
When they’d first kissed on that Christmas Eve all those years ago, she’d had a crush on him because he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen but he was so much more than just his physicality. He was intelligent and could make her laugh harder than anybody else, he was fiercely protective of her and the children and she never felt safer than when she was wrapped up in his strong arms. He was incredibly brave to have carried that awful secret around him with for all those years. She felt like for the first time she was seeing all of him, broken bits and sharp edges included and she’d never been prouder to have this man as her best friend, her lover, her husband and the father to her children.
She was stood in front of the dresser, removing her earrings when Kian came up behind her. “Hi,” she smiled, feeling the weight of his hand settle on her hip.
“Hi,” his low, gravelly voice made her shiver as he brushed her inky-black hair to one side.
She jumped a little as she felt his mouth latch on to her neck. “Oh my goodness,” she wriggled a little more. “Are you giving me another hickey?”
“I might be,” he smirked, drawing her deliciously soft skin even deeper into his mouth.
“I haven’t had one of those since…”
“The night we won the MLS Cup for the 1st time,” he reminded her. “I remember you had such a tantrum when you saw it the next morning.”
“I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did.”
When he lifted his head up, she had a beautiful pink mark blossoming on the curve between her neck and shoulder. Cate reached up and touched it, the skin was still warm and slick from his mouth.
She turned to face him and lifted up his t-shirt, baring his muscular chest. “It’s my turn,” she murmured, pressing her lips to the skin just above his nipple. His hand ghosted through her hair as she mimicked what he’d done to her neck, drawing his skin deep into her mouth until his pulse throbbed against her tongue.
Kian raised an eyebrow, “you need to mark me, angel?”
“Yes.”
She quickly stripped off her t-shirt and bra so they stood facing each other both bared from the waist up. The love bites would soon fade but they each had tattoos which looked stark against their pale skin. Kian lifted up his hand and lightly traced the tattoo on Cate’s hip and then across to the scar which marked her abdomen from giving birth to Lola. He dropped to his knees and kissed her bare skin, tasting her sweetness. “Mine,” he grunted.
Cate tugged him up to standing. “Yours.”
It was her turn to kiss his tattoos; the physical declaration of his love for both her and the family they’d created together. She dragged the tips of her fingers up his muscled chest which was her favourite pillow, his heartbeat the perfect lullaby. She stilled as she felt the thump of his heartbeat against the pad of her finger. He had such a huge heart, it seemed impossible that it could be contained inside his chest.
Her fingers danced over his strong shoulders which had carried such a heavy weight for so many years and then down his forearms which had loving cradled each of their children when they were newborns. Their fingers intertwined so easily, their rings sparkling under the bedroom lights.
She was his and he was hers and they were one and the same.
He tugged her closer, their bare skin sliding against each other, his thigh slipped between hers. He pressed a hand against the small of her back and tangled the other up in her dark hair. Their mouths came together in a soul-affirming kiss which felt as familiar as coming home and as exciting as the very first.
Her hands greedily slipped between them, unbuttoning his jeans and pushing them down his thighs. He reluctantly broke apart, removing the rest of his clothes before claiming her mouth again like a swimmer breaking the surface to take in huge lungfuls of oxygen.
He slipped his hands inside the back of her leggings, caressing and squeezing her bottom as he teased them down her thighs. She broke the kiss to whimper as she felt his erection thrust against her lower abdomen.
When they were both naked, Kian reached for her hand. “Yesterday, you were afraid to touch me. I don’t want that. I don’t want anything to come between us.”
He took a deep breath and turned around so he had his back to Cate. “Touch me,” his voice cracked, “like you did in the shower at the Chatsfield.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“I need to get rid of the monsters.”
She stood behind him and gently pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades. His body was wracked with tension.
He watched through the mirror as her slender forearm appeared from behind his back. He focused on her rings, reminding himself that she was his first half, his angel. She gently cradled his manhood in the palm of her hand.
As she moved her hand, touching every inch of him from root to tip, he closed his eyes. She stilled, watching him grimace through the mirror.
“Are you OK?” she whispered, the tips of her nipples dragging against his back.
When he didn’t answer, she was about to remove her hand but he placed his own on top. “Don’t stop.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re touching me, angel.” The DIY therapy session was over. “You weren’t hurting me. This isn’t like the Chatsfield. He… he isn’t here tonight. You are. I was trying hard not to embarrass myself.”
Kian turned around, their joined hands were still wrapped around his manhood. The damp tip dragged across her belly.
He led her across to the sanctuary of their b
ed and reluctantly removed her delicate hand from his erection.
As she lay back on the mattress in front of him, he looked at the love bite on her neck. His blood pumped faster with the need to mark her afresh, to bind her to him in the most intimate way possible.
He knelt before his love at the foot of the bed. “Show me what’s mine, Cate.”
“And if I don’t?” she teased.
Kian growled.
She dropped her knees to the mattress, letting him see her most intimate parts.
Her clit was swollen and throbbing, swimming in her sticky arousal. Her entrance was clenching. He circled it with the tip of his finger. “You want my cock in there, don’t you, angel?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “Now.”
“I think…” Kian smirked. He flattened his tongue and dragged it all the way up her slit. “Yes, I think I’m going to make you wait.”
Frustrated, she tried to close her thighs but he just tightened his grip. He flicked the tip of his tongue over her clit. She dug her fingers into his hair.
He wasn’t satisfied with dragging one orgasm from her, or even two. Cate tightened her grip on his hair, trying to lift him from between her legs. “I can’t…” her throat was hoarse from screaming his name. She slid her other hand between her legs, trying to block his mouth.
Kian chuckled. “I could do this all night.”
“No,” Cate protested. She briefly wondered if you could actually die from having too many orgasms.
He braced himself above her. He couldn’t resist one last tease and worked the damp head of his cock back and forth against her clit.
“Kian,” she whimpered.
He pressed into her slowly, savouring every moment as she yielded to him. When they were fully joined together, he reached up and secured her wrists, pinning them to the mattress above her head. She looked up at him, her big, black eyes smoky with desire.
Kian brought his hips back and then thrust hard.
“Oh God!” she cried, her slender body bucking against his restraints.
