It still sucks but on the bright side, I’ve got my gorgeous wife here to keep me company.
I’m sitting on the couch, lost in my own self pity when Sera comes into the living room and sets a tray on the table next to me.
“Homemade chicken soup and flatbread,” she announces.
I chew on the inside of my cheek as I eyeball the food. Boring.
But I don’t want to turn up my nose at it because that might hurt her feelings.
She’s been so helpful since the moment I fucked up my ankle. Grabbing my duffle from the locker room, riding with me to the hospital, making sure Granny got updates on my condition, running around my condo so I don’t have to put any extra weight on my leg. Sure, I could use these crutches laying on the floor next to me, but to be honest, I’m not very agile on them.
Her eyes scan me with concern. When she’s satisfied that I’m not slowly crumbling at the edges, she smiles softly. “Want anything to drink?”
I shake my head. I’m still working on the liter of water she brought me earlier.
Reaching out, I stroke a hand across her hip and down her thigh. I don’t really understand it, but touching her always makes me feel a little better.
“You really didn’t have to cook for me, Baby Girl. I was planning to order take out.” I appreciate the gesture. I really do. But she has no idea how good a juicy burger sounds right now.
“You can’t keep eating like that, Jace.” She frowns as she walks back over to the kitchen. “You’re going to give yourself coronary disease before you turn thirty-five.”
She takes her own bowl of soup and sets it onto the coffee table in front of me. Then she turns toward the entertainment system, hands on her hips. It takes every iota of my self-control to keep from crawling on my hands and knees just to go over there and touch her ass.
“So, Call of Duty, was it? What color is the case?”
I shove a piece of flatbread into my mouth, watching as Sera squats down in front of the shelves. My dick twitches. Wow. My wife really has a hot ass. Still not over it.
When Sera glances at me over her shoulder, I blink. “Color?” What the hell is she talking about?
She gives me an adorable-as-fuck smirk that goes straight to my dick. “I sort of…re-arranged things when I first moved in here, while I had time off from work and you were on the road.”
I stare at the rainbow disaster she’s created with my video games. “I can’t believe you reorganized all my video games,” I groan.
Seriously, who does that? Sera. That’s who.
“Your movies, too.” She flinches.
“What?!” My eyes immediately dart to the top shelves. I didn’t notice before that they’re completely rearranged too. “The one time I have nothing to do but watch movies, and I won’t be able to find a single one,” I grumble.
“Quit your whining, Bellino.” She winks. She fucking winks at me. “That’s what you have a wife for. In sickness and in health, right?”
And my heart swells big when she says that. I could honor that vow. Easy peasy.
I could take care of her on her bad days.
I could hold the hot water to her stomach when it’s ‘that time of the month’.
I could rush out to the pharmacy, to buy her ibuprofen when she has a headache.
I would hold the fuck out of her hand when she’s in child labor.
I can see my whole future with her. It’s beautiful…and terrifying.
“Oh, come on. Don’t make that face. I was bored.” She rises onto all-fours and crawls across the floor to me. She bites her lip. “Do you hate me?”
No. I love you.
You’re my wife. And I love you.
“Gray!” I blurt out. Just so I don’t utter the thoughts that I’m really thinking.
Sera tilts her head to the side. “Huh?”
“Call of Duty. The case is gray. Uh. Or maybe green. Blue? Fuck if I know.” All I know is that thought came out of nowhere and completely pushed me off-balance.
Sera pops up victoriously with the Call of Duty video game case in hand. “Found it!” she exclaims.
A minute later, she’s got my system loaded up. She doesn’t even ask how to use it. I think back to how she used to weasel her way in, planting her cute little ass in between me and Wyatt on the couch whenever we’d play video games as kids. Back then, I found it annoying. But there’s nothing annoying about Sera now. Especially as she picks up the second controller, sits next to me on the couch and folds her petite legs under her.
I pull up a dual match, and together, we play video games all evening. The girl can trash talk with the best of them and even in the occasional periods of quiet, there’s this level of comfort that I’ve never experienced with another woman.
But…love?
Love is a big, big, big feeling. Can this really be love?
This throbbing in my chest is telling me that it is.
Sera and I play in silence while my conflicting thoughts have a screaming match inside my head. When I growl under my breath, she notices.
“Now what?” she asks, pretending to be annoyed.
“I have to piss,” I mutter, “and I don’t want to use my crutches.” I’m fully aware that I sound like a whiny ass child.
Sera’s brow lifts above the rim of her glasses. “So, you want me to carry you?” She looks way too amused by my misery.
“No,” I huff. “But my ribs are fucking bruised from using those crutches already. It hurts.”
I know she wants to give me shit, but her gaze softens when she laughs. “Come on, big guy.” She offers to let me use her shoulder as I hobble to the hallway bathroom.
She waits patiently outside the door then she helps me back to the couch. From the freezer, she grabs two extra ice packs for my battered underarms. And because she’s sweet like that, she also swaps out the one under my ankle that was growing warm.
The whole time, I keep thinking how miserable I’d be if I had to weather this storm alone. I would have already lost my mind.
We resume playing, and I bitch about everything under the sun. The WiFi connection is shitty today. The game keeps glitching when I try to take a shot. The tenants upstairs are stomping like irate elephants. The temperature in here is too fucking cold.
Though, as Sera teasingly points out, if I didn’t have ice covering half my body, I’d probably be my normal hot-blooded self.
“Your soup’s getting cold.” She motions to where it’s sitting on the side table.
I exhale heavily. “Sorry, sweetheart, but this bird’s food is never going to fill me up.”
“Well, no. Not if it’s just sitting next to you, getting cold.”
“Kinda hard to eat and play at the same time,” I quip playfully.
“If you don’t quit complaining and finish your food, I’ll have to spoon feed you like a baby,” Sera threatens.
Except, I think I like the sound of that.
“I might just take you up on that offer,” I say darkly, sending her a smirk as I set down my controller. Her eyes widen. “I have this wild nurse fantasy playing out in my head right now.” I let my eyes fall closed for a moment. “And what do you know? My sexy nurse looks like a little troublemaker with a sassy mouth, long, dark hair and big beautiful eyes.”
A slow grin takes over her face. She bats those eyes at me, crawling over and straddling my lap. “Does she?”
I lean back comfortably on the couch cushion, folding my arms behind my head. If we’re doing this, I’m going to enjoy the full experience. “She does…”
Sera’s seated right over me now. She reaches for my food on the side table. With her pink bottom lip pulled between her teeth, she draws the spoon toward my mouth. I open my lips for a taste, but she grins and moves the spoon just out of my reach at the last minute.
“Little tease.” I tap her butt and I love the way it feels under my hand.
She finally feeds me. And she was right. The soup’s definitely gone cold, but with
her on my lap, I’m warm enough that it doesn’t matter.
With the next spoonful, I bite down on the spoon when she tries to retrieve it. She scrunches up her pert little nose at me, and I grin. When I open my mouth, her hand shoots back with the spoon and a drop of soup lands on her chest.
Smirking, I lean forward and playfully run my tongue over the slight curve of her breast, licking off the chicken broth till there’s not a trace left.
Sera shivers above me.
Her dark gaze flutters from the wet spot on her chest and then to my eyes. This isn’t the impact I was aiming for, but it’s a nice change of plans, I must say. I lean forward and capture her supple lips with mine.
And I’m fucking ravenous. Just not for her soup.
My hands find her hips as she wiggles around in my lap, stoking more than just my hunger. When she moans into my mouth, my pelvis shoots up, seeking her warmth even through our clothes.
My ankle may be sprained but my cock is determined to make it known that he is in perfect working order.
As I devour her, my chest tightens in a way I’m not familiar with. Fuck—I love playing with her like this. I love kissing her. I love touching her.
I love her. Period.
Yes. I do. I just have to face it.
Fuck being cranky over my injured ankle. Fuck my resentment about Rocky. Fuck all my memories about my parents’ relationship failures.
This is about Sera and me.
My feelings for this woman are growing. Transforming and a part of me is terrified that I’m not ready for it yet. The other part is telling me to relax and let it happen.
Because this is Sera. And if there’s anybody I could let it happen with, it’d be her.
Thirty-Six
Sera
I’m in my happy place, tapping away on a Gantt chart to help Desiree organize data from the development projects she has to present to the team today. Sure, a normal person would have probably stabbed their eyes out by now. So maybe I’m not exactly normal. But normal is overrated.
And my husband likes me just the way I am. And I like him too. And we can be weird together.
The thought makes me unreasonably happy.
I’ve been sneaking texts back and forth with him all morning as I sit here at my computer. A gif here. An emoji there. Sweet little messages—‘I miss you’, ‘I can’t wait till you get home’, ‘I’m thinking about you’—while he’s stuck on the couch, bored as his ankle heals.
Someone perches their bottom on the corner of my desk. I pause my typing and glance up to find Nadia smiling at me. Desiree shows up on the other side of my cubicle, an extra-huge steaming coffee mug clenched in her hands.
“So, how’s Jace?” Nadia asks. “Is his ankle getting any better?”
“Please tell me he’s getting better,” Desiree begs. “The Paragons were looking rough on the field without him the last two games.” She covers her mouth to yawn.
I notice my coworkers in the neighboring cubicles listening in, so I try to keep my answer vague, only sharing details that the team rep has already shared. I don’t want to get Jace in trouble or start rumours about when he’ll be returning to the football field. Husband or not, he’s a famous athlete, and I don’t want to do anything to compromise his career.
“I’m just doing whatever I can to help him recover.” I lean in and wink. “Playing nurse.”
“Oh, that’s hot.” Nadia laughs.
Desiree lowers her voice. “Girl, I have this cute little nurse costume you could borrow. White latex. Your boobs would look ah-mazing in it. And I bet Jace would eat you up.”
Nadia looks at her with a cocked brow. “A latex nurse costume?”
Desiree grins through another yawn. “Don’t ask.”
“Oh lord,” I groan, dropping my heated face into my hands. “And here I am, entertaining the ludicrous idea of actually borrowing it.”
Hell—if it would put a smile on my man’s face, I’d be willing to wear it. I’d be willing to get adventurous for him.
Not that I have a whole lot of experience with adventurous sex. But I’d be willing to do a lot of things for him, try a lot of things for him, be a lot of things I’ve never been before. I want to do it all because with him by my side, I feel safe to explore different parts of myself.
My heart squeezes with this huge surge of emotion. I don’t exactly know what it is. All I know is I’ve never felt anything like it before.
I don’t get much time to mull it over because right then, Liam steps out of his private office and claps his hands. “Showtime.” He motions to Desiree.
She glances at me with a smile. “Ready, Sera?”
With a brisk nod, I rise from my chair and follow after her. Ever since our talk in the photocopy room a few weeks ago, Desiree has been taking me with her into the executive team meetings. Many of the managers bring their assistants along, so I just try to blend in. I also handle most of her presentation prep now, so she likes to have me close by in case she runs into any questions. That hasn’t happened, though, because we go over the materials in advance. I’d never want to leave her hanging and looking unprepared in front of her bosses and colleagues.
Liam, the execs and mid-level managers all gather around the large oblong table, while the few assistants find chairs against the walls. Liam’s assistant, Eliza, waves at me from across the room and I wave back.
I dutifully take notes throughout the meeting, jotting down my ideas in the margins, things I’ll want to take to Desiree later. Desiree nails our department’s presentation and Liam sits there, looking stoic and unimpressed as usual. But the entire mood shifts toward the end of the meeting when the man rises out of his chair.
I recognize that stony expression on our boss. Something’s up.
“All right, team. We have a big problem and I’m not going to sugar coat this.” He leans over the table, both hands planted on the shiny mahogany. “Our commercial code inspection missed a major violation on the condominium property we purchased on Truce Avenue. Because of that, we’ve hit a snag on repairs which is an issue for the construction team we have already planning to get started on the roof this Friday.” Liam barks, smacking the table. His gaze sweeps around like he’s looking for a donkey to pin the tail on. “I don’t need to tell you what a big fucking headache this is. If that’s delayed, the whole project will be set back.” From across the room, Eliza and I share a glance and flinch. The guy is a hard ass. No wonder his assistants never work with him longer than a month or two.
“You can bet that the inspection company is fired,” one of the other executives says, shamelessly shoving the blame as far from himself as possible. “I’ll chew their asses out as soon as this meeting is over. We won’t be using them again.”
“Of course we won’t,” Liam spits through a clenched jaw. “But that doesn’t help us with the Truce property, does it?”
Everyone buries their heads into their notebooks, no doubt afraid to say anything after the boss’s outburst.
“Um—” I catch myself right as I’m about to speak up.
What the hell am I doing? It’s like my brain isn’t attached properly to my mouth.
But it’s too late. Everyone is looking at me. Crap.
I’ve never uttered a word during these weekly management meetings. Sure, my end goal is moving into an executive role, but that’s a long way down the road. Right now, I’m just a junior associate. My main objective is making Desiree look good, so I always filter my ideas through her. She’s a good supervisor, and I don’t want to ruin our personal relationship—or our business one—for that matter. Not wanting to step out of line, my eyes go to Desiree for guidance.
But she nods at me, giving me the go-ahead to continue.
Jace’s words from our date at the Italian restaurant come flooding in.
You need to be more confident.
Open your mouth, say some powerful shit and own it. People will just naturally want to know who the fuck you are.
It takes you. Deciding you’re the shit and letting everybody else fall in line.
Okay. If Jace believes in me then maybe I can believe in me, too. At least in this moment.
I clear my throat. “If we can get an electrician over there in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, then I have an old college friend at the permit office. She’s pretty low-level but maybe she can get our file fast-tracked. I can make some calls and see if we can escalate the permit, so the roofers can start Friday. On time.”
Liam squints at me, like he’s not quite sure what to make of me. Then he nods. “Okay…Let’s make this happen. Sera, if you need some extra time to make an in-person visit to the permit office, let me know. Eliza can take other tasks off your plate as needed.”
“Yes, sir.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning.
I know I just created more work for myself—and for the team that has to make arrangements with the electricity contractors, but it feels good to have saved us from a failed project.
When the meeting is over, Desiree walks in step beside me. “Your input back there saved the company a lot of money and headaches. I’m super proud of you, girl,” she beams, briefly rubbing my back.
“Thank you,” I exhale, the last of my nervous flutters flying away. “I was scared that I’d put my foot in my mouth. Liam can be super intense sometimes.”
She waves the comment away. “Liam’s a big teddy bear.”
Easy for her to say. She and Liam were friends in high school. They hung out together all the time when she was dating my brother.
In the face of my skepticism, she lays a hand on my arm. “He’s not as bad as he seems. He just has a big, old chip on his shoulder. He’s been through a lot and he wants to prove himself to the world. That’s all.”
We walk some more and I get caught up in my thoughts.
I glance over at her. “I never want to step on your toes during those meetings or make your team look bad, you know?”
Playing House: A Small Town Brother’s Best Friend Romance (The Playboys of Sin Valley Book 1) Page 24
