Breathe With Me

by Kristen Proby

  “It’s not my kitchen. But if it were me, I’d probably go with that one.”

  “Now you’re just mocking me,” he says with mock despair. “I kind of like this other fridge over here.” Before he can walk away, I grip his arm and pull him back to the other one.

  “If it were me, I’d go with this one.”

  “I have news for you, M.” He leans in with a half smile and presses his lips to my ear. “It’s always going to be you.” He winks and walks away and I’m left in a puddle of mush. God, he says the sweetest things at just the right time. I can’t even remember why I was so pissed last night. He’s mine.

  He stops at the end of the aisle and turns back to me with that naughty smile still in place. “Let’s pick out a dishwasher and we might as well grab a washer and dryer while we’re here.”

  “You’re spoiling the house rotten.” I walk toward him and bite my lip when his eyes roam up and down my body, then smile when he reaches my face.

  You’re spoiling me rotten.

  “It’s for you,” he says simply with a shrug, as if men say things like that every day, threads his fingers through mine and leads me to finish choosing the appliances for our house.

  ***

  “I didn’t realize we’d be painting the cabinets today,” I say and load my brush with more white paint and spread it over the sanded wood. “You must have cleared this all out while I was gone.”

  “I did. I finished sanding them down the night before you got home.”

  I’m standing on the old Formica countertop, painting the tops of the cabinets bright white. We’ve been working on them all afternoon and are almost finished.

  Mark’s phone vibrates on the countertop by my feet and I glance down at it to see Lena’s name flashing with the incoming call.

  “Lena’s calling,” I say and hand Mark his phone.

  “Hello?” He winks at me and smiles when the other woman begins talking. “Wow, he’s willingly coming out? Sounds fun, but let me check with Mer.” He lowers the phone from his face. “Lena and Colin would like to take us out for dinner tonight. I’m warning you, Colin is pasty white, like Luke in Nightwalker. The man never goes outside.”

  I chuckle and finish painting my end of the cabinets. “Sounds good to me.”

  “We’re in,” he says into the phone. “Great. We’ll see you then.” He hangs up and helps me off the counter, lifting me into his arms. I plant my hands on his shoulders and kiss him quickly, then rub at a spot of paint on his cheek.

  “How much time do we have?”

  “About an hour.”

  “Good.” I help him gather our dirty brushes and clean up our mess then take his hand in mine and lead him to the stairs. “You need to finish what you started in that store today.”

  “What did I start?”

  “Horniness.”

  “Oh, I can definitely finish that, baby.”

  ***

  “So then, he told the professor to kiss his ass and flipped him off on the way out of the lab!” Lena exclaims, laughing hard.

  “You did?” I stare at Mark, who is blushing bright red.

  “Yeah. He pissed me off. I was right.”

  “You were right, but you also got yourself thrown out of that class and had to repeat it the next semester.” Colin shakes his head and takes a drink of his beer. Colin is not pasty white. In fact, his skin is a dark, rich mocha and he has the kindest brown eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s very tall, at least six foot five, and lean. He shaves his head bald.

  Colin and Lena make a very unlikely couple, but they clearly couldn’t be more in love with each other.

  They’re also all incredibly smart. When they start talking about work, I can’t keep up.

  “English,” I beg and hit my forehead with the palm of my hand. “Speak English, not Super-Smart-Genius. I can’t understand you.”

  “It’s all boring anyway,” Mark says and pulls me against his side.

  “It does sound kind of sexy when you pull out the genius-speak,” I say and kiss his cheek. “Kind of like a foreign language.”

  “You like that do you?” He smiles that naughty smile. “I’ll tell you all kinds of things later.”

  “Awesome.”

  “Does my vast rocket science knowledge turn you on?” Colin asks Lena while wiggling his eyebrows.

  “Oh, yes, definitely.” She snorts and sips her sparkling water.

  He leans down to whisper in her ear and to my surprise, she blushes bright red. “Now that turns me on,” she says.

  “Why do I feel like we just witnessed something we shouldn’t have?” Mark asks with a frown. “Should we leave you alone?”

  “Nah, I just gave her something to think about for a while,” Colin replies and winks down at his wife.

  Lena clears her throat and sips her drink again.

  “I need more dirt on Mark’s college years,” I inform them. “Tell me everything.”

  “There isn’t any dirt,” Mark insists.

  “Come on. Frat parties? Girls lined up at his door? Spring Break trips to Daytona?”

  “Not really,” Colin replies. “He was too focused on graduating early. Which he did. A full year early.”

  “I’ve never known anyone to get both a bachelor’s and master’s in five years,” Lena says and shakes her head. “He was like a man possessed.”

  “I told you,” Mark says with a shrug. “If I worked my ass off, I wasn’t thinking about you.”

  The table grows quiet at that admission until Lena finally says, “We did have fun together. We worked hard, but vacation breaks were fun. Mark usually invited us to come stay with his parents and they were cool.”

  “His parents are the best,” I reply and hold Mark’s hand as he leans in to press his lips to my hair.

  “You two are adorable,” Lena says as she leans on Colin’s arm and watches us with a soft smile.

  “So are you guys,” I reply. “This was fun.”

  “We’ll do it more often. Colin needs to learn to work less, especially now.” Lena grins at him then announces, “We’re going to have a baby.”

  “No way!” Mark exclaims. “You said you weren’t planning to for a while.”

  “I didn’t know I was pregnant when I saw you.” She shrugs and tosses her long dark hair over her shoulder. “I just found out this morning. Peed on a stick.”

  “That’s awesome,” I say and squeeze the other woman’s hand. “Let us know if you need anything.”

  “Our parents are going to freak and buy this kid way more than it’ll ever need, but I’ll keep you posted.”

  “I’m excited for you,” Mark says. “It’s about time.”

  “We might need you to remodel the bedroom we’ve been using for storage into a nursery suite,” Colin says.

  “I’m happy to. I’ll come look at it next week.”

  “He’s crazy good at the remodel thing,” I say, so proud of him. “We’ll invite you over to see the house. He’s made it incredible.”

  Lena’s eyebrows raise as she glances at Mark then back at me. “We’d love to see it.”

  “We picked out kitchen stuff today, so when it’s all done, we’ll have you over for dinner.”

  “Sounds like a date.”

  I glance up to see Mark staring down at me with deep blue eyes and a happy smile.

  “What?”

  “I just love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “And now, ladies and gentleman, I’m going to escort my knocked-up wife home so I can do all the things I whispered in her ear earlier.” Colin claps his hands and leads us out into the mild evening air. “It’s been great to meet you, Meredith,” he says and kisses my cheek.

  “You too,” I say and am surprised to be swept up into a hug from Lena.

  “I’m glad he found you again,” she whispers in my ear. “I’ve never seen him this happy.”

  She pulls away and smiles at me before hugging Mark and walking away with her husband.
<
br />   “What did she say?” Mark asks.

  “Just that she’s happy for us.”

  “Aside from my family, those are two of the best people I know.” He takes my hand in his but instead of leading me back to his Jeep, we set off in the opposite direction toward a nearby park. “I’m glad you finally met them.”

  “Me too. I’m also very glad that you’ve had them in your life all these years. They’re kind of your Jax.”

  He nods and purses his lips. “Yeah, I guess they are.”

  This park is in full spring bloom, a riot of color in pink, purple and red. Kids are running and playing, dogs on leashes are walking on the paved paths with their masters. There’s a fishing pond with benches on the shoreline. Mark leads me to one and sits down, then tumbles me onto his lap.

  “It’s beautiful out here,” I murmur and push my fingers through his hair. His arms are wrapped tightly around my middle, his face buried between my breasts as he hugs me close.

  “You feel good.”

  “You okay?”

  “Mm… just enjoying the way your boobs feel against my face. I need a moment of silence.”

  I chuckle and kiss the top of his head then pull back so I can look down at him. “There are children around.”

  “They can find their own boobs.”

  We laugh together for a long moment until I take a deep breath and tilt my forehead down on his. “Are you excited for Vegas?”

  “I am. It’ll be fun. There are some surprises planned.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I can’t. Then it won’t be a surprise.”

  “Spoil sport.” I kiss his forehead then stand and hold my hand out for him. “Come on. Let’s go pack for our trip.”

  “You do know we’re getting very dirty in Vegas, right?”

  “I was counting on it.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I wanna double-down, bitches!” Meg exclaims and sips her drink.

  “No, you don’t,” Nate informs her with a shake of his head and stares at Will in exasperation. “Dude, control your woman.”

  “Yes, I do,” she insists. “I like the way it sounds when you say it. Double-down, bitches!” The dealer laughs and follows Meg’s instructions as I lean back against Mark’s hard chest and laugh my ass off.

  “It sounds like a sexual position,” Sam says and motions for the dealer to give her another card.

  “Ooooh,” Jules murmurs and glances up at her handsome husband. “Maybe we should try the double-down later.”

  “I believe we tried it this morning,” he says and kisses her head.

  “Seriously? I do not need to hear about you banging my sister,” Will says with a glare. We are at the Blackjack table with Nate, Jules, Sam, Meg and Will. The others are scattered through the casino, playing slots or sitting at the bar.

  “We have a baby,” Jules reminds her brother. “We clearly bang.”

  “Shut up.”

  “A lot,” she continues.

  “Stop talking, Jules.”

  “He’s really good at it.” Jules sips her drink smugly when Will glares at her, not bothering to continue to tell her to shut up.

  “Thank you, baby,” Nate says and kisses Jules’ cheek.

  Meg pouts when she loses her twenty dollars then swings around in the seat and wraps her arms around Will’s middle, pressing her cheek to his broad chest. “I lost my money.”

  “That’s what happens when you double-down when you have a total of six,” Nate informs her. “Have you ever played this game before?”

  “No.”

  “Oh my God!” We all whip around at the sound of Natalie’s exclamation to find her sitting at a slot machine, grinning and jumping up and down in her seat. Luke comes running up behind her from the bar.

  “What’s wrong?” he demands, his eyes worried.

  “Nothing! I just won like fifty thousand points!” She claps her hands, then grips Luke’s collar in her fists and kisses him soundly.

  “How much is that worth?” I call out. She studies the machine and tallies the math.

  “Fifty bucks,” Mark whispers in my ear, chuckling.

  “Fifty dollars!” Natalie exclaims, as if it’s fifty million dollars. She looks so pleased with herself as Luke kisses her cheek and helps her cash it out.

  “Drinks on Natalie!” Jules says.

  “We’re drinking for free already,” Mark reminds her.

  “Drinks on Natalie later!” she says, then flags down a waitress to order another drink.

  Jax is at the bar with Stacy, Brynna and Nic, telling them all kinds of elaborate stories, I’m sure. They’re hanging on his every word. It doesn’t hurt that he’s hot as hell and funny too.

  And he’s a horrible flirt.

  “Jax is in his element,” I say to Mark and gesture to my friend as he’s making the girls laugh.

  “I knew they’d love him,” Mark says. “They can flirt with him without their men losing their shit.”

  “Isaac’s watching,” I whisper and point to the oldest Montgomery who is at a roulette table with Leo, Matt, Dom and Caleb. Isaac’s eyes are trained on his wife, who is laughing hysterically at something Jax just said.

  “They’ll all keep their eyes peeled. That’s what we do.” Mark shrugs and points to the blackjack table. “Do you want to play?”

  “Nah. I’m a horrible gambler.”

  “You don’t have a poker face.” Mark kisses my head. “And you look delicious in this little dress.” He gestures to my simple black tank dress that shows off my curves and legs. When I put it on before leaving the hotel room, it was with the intention of making Mark suffer for the night.

  “You don’t look too bad yourself,” I say and sip my sex on the beach. He’s in dark jeans and a tight American Fighter T-shirt that is just begging for me to rip it off his hard body.

  “Are you wearing panties under there?” he whispers in my ear.

  I shake my head no and grin to myself when he growls deep in his throat.

  “You’re killing me.”

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You two need to get a room,” Jules says as she wrinkles her nose. “What is it with the Williams men? You’re all so freaking mushy.” She points to where Luke and Natalie are snuggled up at the roulette table now, watching the guys play.

  “We’re romantic,” Mark corrects her.

  “It’s disgusting.”

  Leo saunters up behind Sam and rests his hand on her hip as he watches her play cards. “You’re good at this, sunshine.”

  “Thanks. It’s just math.”

  “No it’s not,” Mark says. “If it was just math, everyone would win. It’s strategy.”

  Sam shrugs but smiles softly as Leo kisses her cheek. “My chick is hot and smart.”

  “There’s so few of us around,” Jules says with a sassy sigh.

  “I’m done doubling down,” Meg says and smiles up at Will. “What are we doing next?”

  “You and I have a date,” Will says and turns to the rest of us. “We’re going to peel away for the night, guys. I have some plans for Meg, so we’ll see you all tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be at the pool most of the afternoon,” Sam says.

  “Have fun tonight,” I say as they walk toward the bar to fill everyone else in.

  “What’s everyone else doing?” Mark asks.

  “We’re going to a Cirque du Soleil show with Nat and Luke,” Jules says.

  “Leo and I are meeting with some of the guys from his band who came over from LA to hang out tonight,” Sam says. “It’ll be good to see them.”

  “We saw them a month ago,” Leo reminds her with a grin.

  “You miss them too. You don’t fool me.”

  We all walk toward the bar, meeting the others from the roulette table.

  “A bunch of us are going to go up to the club here in the hotel for dinner and dancing,” Brynna says and lays her hand on Jax’s arm. “You have to come with us.”

/>   “Only if I can dance with you,” he says and winks at her.

  “Do I have to kill him?” Caleb asks Mark.

  “Nah, he’s cool.” Mark laughs when Jax glances at Caleb and looks him up and down.

  “You might not be safe from me,” Jax says.

  “By all means, dance with my wife,” Caleb replies and shakes his head. “You guys in?”

  “Sure,” I say and grin up at Mark. “I haven’t danced with you in years.”

  “I’m not very good.”

  “I’ll help. I do that for a living, you know.”

  “Sounds good. Let’s go.”

  We break into groups, Sam and Leo leaving to meet his band, Nat and Jules giggling as their men follow them out to catch their Cirque du Soleil show and the rest of us taking the escalators up to the fourth floor of the Cosmopolitan here in Vegas to wreck havoc on the dance club.

  We’ve been in Vegas for all of six hours, and I have never had so much fun. I have a feeling things are just getting started.

  We find two tables and push them together, then sit back and watch the few couples on the dance floor as we wait for our drinks.

  “Are we ordering food?” Matt asks and surveys the menu. “At least some appetizers to soak up all the alcohol you’re all consuming.”

  “Good idea,” Caleb says. “Let’s just order two of everything.”

  “Three orders of potato skins,” Stacy says. “This music is great, but the dancers are lame. Not fun to watch at all.”

  “Yeah,” Brynna agrees and winks at her. “It’s really boring.”

  “I think they’re hinting at something,” Dominic adds. “They’re so subtle.”

  “They need someone to show them how it’s done,” Nic says and smiles smugly at me. “You and Jax should go show off.”

  “Subtle as a heart attack,” Matt agrees and brushes his hand down the back of Nic’s head. “But beautiful.”

  “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga begins to play and Jax laughs as he looks over at me and raises a brow. “That feels a little too coincidental.”

  “Go have fun, baby,” Mark urges. “But watch yourself. That dress is short.” His eyes finish his sentence. And you’re not wearing underwear.

  “Go dance!” Brynna says and claps her hands.

  Jax takes my hand and leads me out onto the floor.