by Paige Yancey
He released her breast and pulled his shirt over his head. “Sweetheart, move onto the bed.”
“Okay,” she said, feeling like teenager who was being naughty. A giggle escaped her lips.
“Your body is like a candy. I want to lick until I find out how many licks it takes to get to the center.” He prowled her body, moving down her torso to her hips. He pushed open her legs so that her knees were spread and bent slightly.
“I don’t know how many licks it’ll take,” he rasped, “but I’m willing to find out.”
He bent over her sex and settled between her legs. His hands swept up the inner part of her thighs, and she watched as his face came closer to her center. A warm tongue touched her, and she almost came off the bed. His arms gripped her legs, and she tried to stifle a moan.
“Ohhh, Atlas don’t stop.”
He focused all of his attention on her sweet spot, his tongue moving faster and delving deeper. Spirals of warmth and electric tingles spread from where his tongue was making magic.
Her breathing grew faster and sharper, and just before she thought she’d split into a million pieces, he stopped.
Siobhan blinked open her eyes to find him suddenly on top of her.
He groaned. “Give me one second. I have to get a condom.”
“Aw, what?” she asked, slightly dazed.
He jumped off the bed, riffled through his bag, and pulled out a silver packet. Quickly, he ripped it open and rolled the condom down his penis, and then was back on top of her before she could unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth.
“Sorry about that,” he muttered.
“Glad you’re back,” she said, then felt her lips spread in a huge grin.
His mouth captured hers again, and she felt the tip of his cock touch her pulsating core, but then he moved away again.
“Oh God, don’t stop,” she said, and dug her nails into his backside.
This time, he drove his cock deep, and with so much force she arched off the bed.
“Siobhan, honey, are you okay?” he asked, his jaw clenching. “I’m so sorry. I got a little carried away.”
She blew a breath between her pursed lips. “Don’t stop, Atlas. Keep going…you feel so good.” She met his next thrust, rolling her hips upward to meet him.
They set a pounding rhythm, both frenzied, and meeting in harsh thrusts, as if they couldn’t get close enough to each other. She felt her body spiraling again, and the burning deep in her core was a flame. The faster she moved, the faster he pounded into her body. Finally, she couldn’t hold on any longer, and she felt herself shatter into a million pieces.
Atlas jerked then held. His cock pulsed inside her. Then he lowered his body onto hers while he dragged in deep breaths. His weight felt good and real. She hoped she’d have more time with this man who already seemed so integral to her life though it had only been a few days.
Atlas rolled off her body but brought her with him so that she was now on top, sprawled over his muscular frame. Her breasts were pressed into the short hairs of his chest, and they slightly tickled her nipples. She felt and heard a rumble in his body.
He chuckled. “I guess I’m a little hungry.”
She raised her head and pushed back her hair. “Don’t worry. My grandfather makes the best food. You’ll think he’s a professional.”
“Having something home-cooked will be a nice change, for sure.”
He leaned up to her and gave her forehead a swift peck of his lips, and then turned slightly so that she was laying on the bed and as his cock slid from her body. He stood, rolled off the condom and then used his shirt to clean up. On his way back to the bed, he leaned over to pick up his underwear and jeans. The fly of his jeans was still open as he came up between Siobhan’s legs where she sat at the edge of the bed. The denim rubbed against the tender skin of her thighs and another moan escaped her lips. Leaning toward her, he wrapped her legs around his torso, lifted her off the bed, and took her lips in a passionate kiss. As good as that kiss was, she knew they needed to get back downstairs.
When he pulled back, she scrunched her nose.
He sighed. “We need to get downstairs before someone comes looking, don’t we?”
She nodded, making a face.
He placed her back on the floor, but she swayed slightly and clung to his waist. Atlas tipped her head up with his index finger. “Siobhan, I’m here now, and whatever we need to do, I want to spend time with you. Everything will fall into place, okay?”
“You promise?”
“Yes, now get dressed before I ravage you again.”
She giggled then grabbed her clothes and shoved her limbs back into all the appropriate holes. Just as she finished zipping and buttoning, Atlas opened the door. There in the hallway was Mable with a doll in her hand.
“Pops says supper is ready,” she said.
“Thanks, sweetie,” Siobhan said. “We’ll be right behind you. Lead the way.”
Atlas came up behind Mable and swooped her up in his arms. “What is this—a little airplane? Vroom.” He swung her under his arm and made airplane noises down the stairs while Mable giggled and squealed.
“That was fun. Can we do it again?” she said when they reached the bottom.
“We can later, little bean,” he said, “but let’s go help set the table.”
“Yippee! Did you hear that, Pops? We’re going to be airplanes later.”
“Well, that will be fun,” Siobhan’s grandfather said. “Now, set the table. All the silverware is on the side of the table. Let your momma get the knives.”
Atlas sat at the table with his family; what an amazing sight he had before him. He knew this was a tenuous thing, and that he would need to show Siobhan, her grandfather and little Mable that he would be there for them. He’d never bought a home before, so he could go anywhere, but he really needed to settle down, and now, he had a reason to put down roots.
“Atlas, how long are they planning for you to stay?” Pat asked.
“Not sure, sir, but Hank said for at least a few days,” Atlas said. “Honestly, I’d like to stick around longer to get to know my girls.”
Everyone at the table except Mable stopped mid-bite to stare at him.
Pat tilted his head. “Son, what are your intentions?”
“Pops, please,” Siobhan whispered.
Atlas waved a hand. “No, it’s okay, Siobhan. You all have a right to know.” Turning back to her grandfather, he said, “Sir, I want to be a part of Mable’s life, and if Siobhan will let me, I would like to date her. My hope is that, one day, maybe we could make an official family of this.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Siobhan’s mouth drop open, and Mable had stopped what she was doing and was staring at him as well.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Pat said, and started eating his food again.
Siobhan and Mable continued to stare at Atlas. He finally glanced over and smiled at them, and then winked.
Mable giggled and scooped up a spoonful of food.
Siobhan mouthed across the table at him that they would talk later.
The fork in his hand sunk into the steak on his plate, when suddenly he felt a foot kick him in the shin. He looked across the table at Siobhan, who smiled at him with a little gleam in her green eyes. He raised his eyebrows at her, and then continued to eat his steak with gusto.
The rest of the meal was filled with small talk. After they were finished eating, they all shuffled their plates to the sink, and while Pat and Siobhan put away the food, Atlas and Mable cleaned the dishes.
“Mable, you are a pro at doing dishes,” Atlas said. “I think you may have been doing this for twenty years.”
Mable giggled. “No, silly, I just learned how this year.”
He made sure to keep all the knives away from her and only give her one item at a time. For such a young little person, she was very diligent about doing a good job. The plates were almost as big as Mable’s torso, but she handled them very carefu
lly. Already, he felt pride at how amazing she was. Pat and Siobhan were doing a wonderful job raising her.
Siobhan came up beside Mable to help her to put the silverware and dishes on the rack before they had towel-dried them by hand. They worked an assembly line. Pat finished what he was doing, and Atlas saw him wink and walk off to leave them alone. He was giving Atlas the “okay” to be a part of the family.
“What do you think, Momma?” Mable said, glancing at Siobhan.
“About what?”
“Is it okay if Atlas stays, so we can play, and he can date you?”
Atlas smiled down at his daughter. He knew that he couldn’t call her that quite yet, but she was his, and he would die for her.
“What do you think, Mable?” her mother asked. “Would you like that?”
“Yes, Momma, I would like for Atlas to stay.” She grinned up at Atlas.
He bent over, laid a smooch on her check, and then pulled her up and swung her gently into his arms, being careful not to swing her into anything. She squealed then put her arms around him for a big little-girl bearhug. Atlas though his heart was going to break from how much joy he felt. With a quick step to the right, he put his arm around Siobhan and brought them in for a group hug. Not wanting to let go of them, he squeezed them to his chest, the smells of honeysuckle from Siobhan and Play-doh and little girl wafted over him.
When he released them, he said, “Girls, what would you ladies like to do tonight?”
“I wanna watch a movie,” Mable said.
“What do you want to watch?” he asked.
Still carrying Mable on his left side and holding Siobhan under his right arm, they moved to the living room. Mable squirmed, and he put her down on the floor as he disengaged from Siobhan. The little girl sprinted across the room and collapsed on the floor in front of the TV stand with all the movies on it.
From where Atlas stood, it seemed like they owned every Disney movie ever made. “Wow, that’s quite a collection you girls have there.”
Mable jumped up, came over to Atlas, and grabbed his arm to pull him over to the movies. “Which one is your favorite?”
“Hmm.” He tapped his chin. “When I was a kid, I really liked Disney’s Robin Hood. Do you have that one?”
“We have that one,” Mable exclaimed. “I like when the snake drinks the special juice and acts all silly.”
“Yes, that’s my favorite part, too,” he said and looked up at Siobhan. They winked at each other.
The movie was put in the player, and they all settled on the couch together, Mable under his left arm and Siobhan cuddled against him on his right. Before the movie was over, Mable had fallen asleep and Atlas started dozing off. Siobhan nudged him and pointed at their little girl and then up to her room.
He nodded. Siobhan pushed off the sofa, and Atlas pulled Mable up against his chest and rose. Together, they headed up the stairs. They went to their daughter’s room. He entered a pink and purple whimsical room. The little bed was off to the left. He placed Mable on the bed and pulled the blankets up around her.
Siobhan leaned around his shoulder and whispered into his ear, “She’s the sweetest angel.”
“Just like her mother.”
She moved into his arms, and they shared a quiet gentle kiss.
Atlas drew a deep breath. “I’m falling in love with you all.”
Epilogue
One year later…
“Atlas, where are the keys to my Subaru?” Siobhan asked.
“They should be in your handbag.”
“I don’t see them,” she called out. “Hurry, I need your help. We have to go.”
“I’m coming.”
From the other side of the kitchen, Atlas came in, carrying Mable under one arm with her grandfather trailing behind them. “Uh oh, what is this creature in my arms? Is it a bear?”
“No,” Mable said. A little meow came from her.
“Ahhh, a lion?” he guessed.
“Yes!” she said, as she squirmed from his arms and he placed her on the floor. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked up at Siobhan. “Hi, Momma, we were playing zoo.”
“That’s nice,” Siobhan said, smiling. “Are you ready so we can go see if we’re going to have your brother today?”
“Yippee,” she squealed and ran around the kitchen.
Atlas caught her up in his arms again and threw her over his shoulder.
“We’re ready. Did you find your keys?” he said with a wink as he pulled the jangling keys from his pocket.
She arched a brow. “Uh huh, so that’s where they were.”
They all piled into her SUV to go to her OB/GYN appointment to see if she could be induced today. Siobhan couldn’t believe all that had happened in the last year. Atlas had tried to court her, but they’d realized very quickly that they were meant to be, so he transferred and worked for the Brotherhood Protectors from Seattle.
They’d been married now for about 8 months. They had a cute little wedding and, of course, taken Mable and Pat on their honeymoon. They’d wanted their entire family together, so it hadn’t felt like a burden.
While on their honeymoon in a cabin at Yosemite National Park, Siobhan had realized that she was very tired, and her breasts were larger and sore. She knew what those symptoms meant, and when she’d missed her period, she’d taken a pregnancy test. They realized that she must have gotten pregnant pretty quickly, likely during the first few days Atlas had been back in her life.
Siobhan carried low this time and, from the ultrasound they’d had a few months ago, they knew they were having a boy. They all piled into her full-size SUV; with new family members came bigger vehicles. Siobhan was helped into the passenger seat by Atlas. Her grandfather got Mable and himself buckled into the back. Atlas came around to the driver’s side, buckled in and turned to her with his glorious smile, “Ready to meet our son?”
“Hopefully he’ll be just like his daddy,” Siobhan said.
“I think this one will have red hair like his momma.” Atlas winked.
“Hear, hear,” said Pat from the back seat.
“I’m just glad we’re all together,” Siobhan said and smiled back at Atlas.
“On to the next adventure,” he said as they pulled out of the drive way and headed to the hospital.
Hot Colorado Nights
Chapter 1
The back-door light shone down on the porch with an eerie, yellow glow. Maddie Finley shivered, the hairs on the back of her neck rising to attention. Something wasn’t right. With the house key in her hand, she walked to the door and pressed her key into the lock. Even before she twisted it, the door swung open, as if blown by a breeze. In that moment, all of Captain Charles E. Finley’s, A.K.A. “Dad’s”, training raced through her mind. She stiffened, her muscles flexing, ready to move.
Maddie dug in her brown leather bag for the heavy-duty flashlight her father insisted she carry. With the device in hand, she eased the purse to the ground beside the red door she and her sister Janie had painted just last month. Fully alert, Maddie flipped on her flashlight and slipped through the entrance.
Something had happened; Maddie could feel it. Her heart thudded hard against her ribs. Where was Janie? A sense of urgency pushed her forward.
When growing up with a single parent and a younger sister, being trained as one of Dad’s troops hadn’t seemed unusual for the two little girls. Back then, it had been a game. Now, as an independent single woman, Maddie knew she was capable of handling anything that might happen because of her Dad’s training games.
She tiptoed through the entry hallway into the kitchen, passing the small dining room table. The dinette was just the right size for two adult women who kept busy schedules. The table held the usual, everyday clutter, and nothing was out of place. As she crept further into the house, she could see a dim light glowing from the corridor that led to the bedrooms and shared bathroom.
Where was LouLou, the sisters’ spoiled golden retriever? Normally, the
big dog attacked the women when they came home at the end of their day, showering them with sloppy wet licks on their cheeks. And then she heard it. Pitiful whining and frantic barking sounded from the bathroom.
Maddie moved slowly, but steadily, her gaze taking in the living area with its cream walls and floors and brown leather chairs. Lamps lay on the floor, tipped off the end tables, and couch cushions were scattered throughout the room. The T.V. had been smashed, and everything in the room looked as if someone had been in a scuffle, and then left in a hurry. From her quick perusal, nothing seemed to have been taken from the room.
Maddie’s steps quickened as she entered the hallway and shined her light into her bedroom. Nothing had been touched. The room appeared exactly as she’d had left it that morning before leaving for work.
LouLou’s paws scraped against the bathroom door, and she whined to get out.
Maddie’s chest tightened. The poor dog was probably frightened and in need of reassurance. If only dogs could talk, then Maddie would know what had happened tonight.
She turned to her left and stood at the entrance to her sister’s room, shining her light inside. The room was messier than her sister’s everyday clutter. Clothes lay across the floor. Bed pillows and her comforter had been slung from the bed, and her dresser, which usually displayed all her colorful jewelry, was swept clean of all of its items. Then she saw the wall and gasped. Directly across from Maddie, about the height that Janie would have stood, was a dent in the wall with a red smudge in it. Her heart stuttering, Maddie turned back to the bathroom and opened the door.
LouLou leaped out, whining and wiggling, so happy to see Maddie, she couldn’t stop moving.
Maddie knelt in front of the dog and hugged her neck, fending off the long swipes of the dog’s tongue. “LouLou, baby, what happened? Where’s Janie?”
The dog paused in mid-wiggle and ran toward Janie’s bedroom. As she entered, she growled, the hairs on the scruff of her neck rising. She sniffed at all the items on the floor, one at a time, before returning to Maddie and sitting at her feet. The retriever stared up at her, her brown eyes appearing full of questions.
