“Love you too, Jac.”
The End
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Five Years Later
“JAC! WE GOTTA GO!” I yelled from the doorway, not even entering the juice bar completely.
Dark hair and teal eyes locked on mine from her position at one of the blenders, understanding crashing across her features.
“Son of a Storm Trooper,” she bit out and everyone in the place broke out in a chuckle.
Flipping off the machine, she quickly untied her apron and handed it to Carly, rattling off instructions for the rest of the shift.
As though Carly hadn’t been the manager for Jac’s Juice Bar for the last year and a half ever since we had—
“Did you call Marissa? Let her know we’re going to be late?” she asked, grabbing her stuff frantically from underneath the counter.
“Handled.” I smiled. “You know she never has a problem watching Kyra and Ryan for longer.”
“I know.” She rushed over to me, popping up to slant her lips over mine. After five years, the public displays of affections hadn’t changed, only who instigated them evened out. It had always been me at first because of her past. But now, the five years of daily reminders that she never had to doubt me or my love made my Cinderella just as eager to give me the attention as she’d been to receive it when I met her.
“But I think her and Shawn were supposed to have a date night.”
“Well, they can have a date with two-year-old twins, and then we’ll see just how much they want to start their own family,” I replied with a wink.
We hadn’t planned the twins.
No.
We hadn’t planned on having any babies when we did. But, just like a fairytale, we’d spent our one-year wedding anniversary on the mountain, and with a wave of her wand—and the magical effects that antibiotics have on birth control—all it took was another one night to change our lives.
Six weeks later, the doctor informed Jac that the flu she thought she had was actually a baby.
A few weeks after that, we’d found out the clock had struck twice that night and given us two pumpkins instead of one.
And like the champion she was, my wife worked right at that counter in her dream juice bar until the day her water broke.
The real miracle was that I managed to convince her what a lifetime of mockery our children would be subjected to if we named them Luke and Leia.
“I have a change of clothes in the car, and Emmett let me in their house earlier to drop off the cases of juice.”
Halfway to our SUV that was in the private back parking lot behind the building, she paused and turned to me with that smile that promised very good things for me later.
“Do you ever stop being Prince Charming?” she teased, curling her fist into my shirt and pulling me to her for another lengthy kiss.
“Not when the princess kisses like that,” I growled, flattening her to me.
She grinned and pulled away, reaching for the car door. “We have to go.”
“Then you should stop being so damned sexy.” I grabbed her hips and pressed my dick against her ass.
“We don’t have time, Kyle!” She giggled and tried to open the door, turning to glare at me when I wouldn’t budge. Her eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to Jedi mind trick me into a quickie right now?”
I slid my hand around to her front, sliding my fingers beneath the waist of her shorts. “Is it working?”
Grabbing my wrist with a groan, she stopped my pursuit. “Almost, Jedi Masters.”
I dipped my lips close to her ear, licking along the shell. “You don’t seem convinced, Mrs. Jedi Masters.”
Her head dropped back and I sealed my lips over hers, tasting pineapple with just a hint of spinach from whatever juice she’d cooked up.
A second later, with just enough discomfort to make me grunt, I found myself up against our car with my arm behind my back—pinned there by my wife.
“Don’t make me choke you out, Charming,” she teased, already relaxing her hold on me.
“That’s my wife.” I opened the door for her with my free hand. “Kissing me one minute, pinned down and threatening loss of consciousness the next.”
“I thought that was why you fell in love with me.” She hummed and, finally free, I snagged one more kiss from her smiling lips as she climbed in the SUV.
“One of the many reasons.”
When I climbed in the driver’s seat, she gave me a side eye, shifting to cross her legs.
“You sure you’re convinced?” I asked with a low, rasped voice, seeing she was just about as uncomfortable as I was with my cock crammed against my jeans.
She fought herself. But only for a second.
“No. I’m not.”
My laugh turned into a needy growl as she climbed over the console to straddle my lap, her fingers working at the zipper on my jeans while I shoved her shorts and underwear to the side to reach her warm pussy.
“Thank God.” I grabbed the back of her head and covered her mouth, groaning into her warmth as she gripped my cock and pulled me out of my jeans.
She rose up and my tip brushed over her slick entrance before she impaled herself on me.
“Fuck, Jac.” A groan tore from my chest, feeling her slick muscles clamp down on my cock until I was buried to the hilt inside her.
She half-moaned, half-laughed. “You’re lucky we’re skilled at quickies.”
With two-year-old twins, we had to be.
“I’m lucky my wife is so fucking sexy and her pussy is a torture device made specifically for my cock.” Gripping her hips, I moved her along my length, sliding forward in the seat just enough to make sure I hit her sweet spot with each rough thrust.
“We need to get to the hospital. Less talking. More fucking,” she demanded, biting my lip while she bounced on my dick, driving us both quickly to the edge of release.
“Good thing my dick is equipped with light speed,” I quipped, driving into her.
Sliding my hand up, I palmed her tit, plucking at her nipple ring and letting the sensation shoot her over the edge, dragging my orgasm along with hers.
A groan ripped from my chest as she collapsed against me, panting, while my cock spilled inside her.
“So fucking good.”
She hummed in agreement, lifting her bright eyes to mine. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, Jac.”
“Nick, it’s time!”
I looked up from where I was coordinating with the contractors for our newest expansion of the community center.
In half a decade, we’d outgrown the massive space we started with, so now we were enlarging the mansion I’d once lived in to accommodate more rooms, more activities, and more kids.
Meanwhile, the idea of home had outgrown the small word I’d never had much use for.
And it was all because of her.
My moon.
And the sky full of stars she’d given me.
Her hair braided in the familiar way that still drove me insane, Tammy stood in the doorway to my home office with our newest addition, four-month-old Lex, attached to her breast.
The sight always caused a wave of powerful emotions to come over me.
My wife breastfeeding our son.
There was love. Adoration. Admiration.
But at the same time, there was an undercurrent of possessiveness. It didn’t matter that he was my son. That perfect tit was on fucking loan for a few shorts months before it was all mine again.
Child of mine or not, I didn’t like sharing my wife’s body.
And fuck, I could hardly get enough of it.
And for being the closest thing one could get to an angel, Tamsin Frost was devilishly addictive for my dick.
It explained why, in addition to Lex and our oldest, Lila, there was Eleanor and Marianne—tributes to my wi
fe’s love of Jane Austen.
I’d drawn the line when she wanted to name our son Austen, instead agreeing to Alexander.
I’d never pictured myself as a good father. Even when Lila had been left on my doorstep, I had to start seeing myself as a father, but I’d never seen myself as a good one.
I’d also never seen myself falling in love.
But Tammy had changed both those things.
Fuck, she’d changed everything.
“Daddy! Time to go!” Jane burst into the room, followed closely by Emma.
I turned from my desk and reached down, snagging one daughter in each arm and hoisting them up against my chest.
Meeting Tammy’s eyes, it was the look in them that convinced me I was a good father. It was a look I saw every day.
It was proof when I questioned if I was good enough to deserve any of them.
“Alright, little stars,” I chided. “It may be time to go, but we can’t leave without shoes.”
“Go find Lila and have her help you with your shoes, please,” Tammy told them as I set their squirming legs back down on solid ground.
“She was getting popsicles for the baby!” Jane declared.
Tammy and I shared a look as the four and two-year-olds waddled out of the room in search of their older sister.
“Everything okay?” Tammy murmured as I approached her, brushing the soft fuzz on Lex’s head.
“Perfect.” I reached up and tipped her chin so I could claim a kiss I suddenly couldn’t live without.
She sighed, her soft lips parting against mine and letting my tongue sweep hungrily inside.
I groaned. “We can’t go visit later?” I grumbled.
She laughed against me, pulling back and glancing down and bouncing Lex.
My son was half-sleeping, half-eating.
My finger trailed down her neck, over her collarbone, and onto the swell of her full breast.
Another part of this process I wouldn’t complain about.
“How any man could fall asleep at your tits is beyond me, Priss,” I growled hotly, catching her eyes with a promise to make a feast of them for myself later.
“You’re very bad, Mr. Frost,” she said, breathlessly.
“Only with you, Mrs. Frost.” I kissed her forehead, hearing the girls squealing in the kitchen, arguing about the best flavor popsicle to bring to the baby.
“Alright, let’s get these girls and get on the road.”
“Does your mom know what you’re playing with?” I crouched down and charged the fearless toddler who was sitting in a pile of Tarot cards, one firmly stuck between her lips, drool running down the design.
Avery grinned, her tiny teeth appearing as she pulled the card away from her face.
“Which one do you have here?” I plucked the card from her chubby fingers, always stunned by how much her eyes reminded me of her mother’s.
Flipping the card over, my heart skipped, seeing the Queen of Pentacles—the same card Jessa had pulled when she found out she was pregnant with Avery.
“Mama.” She grinned wider at me and reached for another card.
“You are trouble,” I told her. “Just like your mama—”
“What are you saying about—Avery!” Jessa gasped and then chuckled, scooping up our daughter and tugging the two Tarot cards she’d taken prisoner from her sticky fingers.
“At least she didn’t get into your candles,” I teased. “Or heaven forbid, the La Croix in the fridge.”
Jessa glared at me before laughter turned the sight before me radiant.
“She’s her mother’s daughter.” She tossed her pink hair and kissed Avery on the soft tuft of curls on her head.
“That must be why I’m so completely in love with her. And you,” I murmured, standing and reaching for my wife, my hand settling on her ass as I pulled them close.
Jessa hummed and tipped her face up to mine. “It must be.”
My dick was already itching to have her. Thank fuck, we’d mastered hard and fast but still mind-blowing sex before Avery came along because some days, that was all we got.
I growled, about to claim a hard kiss before Avery squirmed her way into separating us. I swear, my daughter was the cutest cause of blue balls that ever existed the way she needed her mother in the exact moments I needed her mother.
Avery squealed as my lips claimed Jessa’s and I could feel my wife’s knowing smile against my mouth—an apology and a promise to continue this later.
As I pulled back, my phone buzzed in my back pocket, drawing my attention. My heart crashed when I saw the name.
“Hello?”
“It’s time.” Wyatt’s voice was unsteady.
I was pretty sure in the last half-decade since I’d met the cool and collected Canadian, I’d never heard him unsteady.
Not in competition. Not at home. Not at our private academy.
Not until this moment.
“You’ll be fine, Olsen,” I growled, drawing Jessa’s attention.
“Not me I’m worried about,” he replied.
“We’re leaving now.”
I hung up as Jessa’s eyes popped wide with excitement.
“Is it…”
“Channing’s in labor.”
Jessa practically jumped with excitement, earning another squeal from Avery who was still marginally content in her arms.
“Alright, we have to go,” she gushed. “Don’t forget the bag of gifts.”
“You mean the bag of La Croix?” I retorted, following her into the kitchen.
We’d had everything ready for a few days now, knowing this call would be coming.
“I don’t care if it takes a decade—or two, Chance Ryder. One of these days you’re going to see my cans of sparkles for what they really are.” She spun to face me, pushing up to kiss me hard. “Magic.”
“You’re fucking magic, J-Bird,” I rasped, swatting her ass. “And when we get home, you’re going to tell me why our daughter was holding the Queen of Pentacles when I found her with your cards.”
Today was about Channing.
But by tomorrow, I’d get to the bottom of the blush that turned my wife’s cheeks as pink as her hair.
“Emmett!” Ally flew at me as soon as I walked in the door, jumping into my arms and locking her legs around my waist.
My dick jolted against my jeans as I dropped the bag of groceries I’d picked up on the way home from the shop and spun to pin her against the wall.
“Fuck, sunshine. It’s damn hard to leave you some mornings, but I can’t complain when I come home to a greeting like this,” I growled, grinding my cock against her.
She let out her classic half-laugh half-moan that spread like sunlight over my skin, warming every cell right down to my bones.
“I wish we could right now,” she told me, cupping her hands on either side of my face to crush her lips to mine for too-short of a kiss. “But Wyatt just called.” Her smile split across her face. “Channing’s in labor.”
I groaned. “Fuck.”
Her head tipped back against the wall as she laughed and untangled her legs to slide her feet to the floor.
“C’mon, daddy, Time to get your sleeping son and get to the hospital.” Her eyes twinkled, and hell if it didn’t want to make me fuck her more hearing the way she called me daddy.
And the way she winked at me said she knew it, too.
Pretending to chase after her for a minute before she darted upstairs with a squeal, I made my way over to the pack-and-play where Luke was sleeping.
Three months old and he was the most perfect thing I’d ever created.
Which was how I knew that it was mostly Ally’s doing.
“Don’t forget the gift!” I called up to her and then reached down, carefully lifting Luke into my arms.
“Have I told you lately how hot you look holding our son?”
I turned to find Ally watching me from the bottom of the steps, her lip pinned between her teeth.
“As hot as
when you thought I was the pizza delivery boy?” I arched an eyebrow at her.
She pretended to think for a minute and then replied, “Much hotter.”
“Good.”
Laughing, she slung the baby bag over her shoulder. “Alright, let’s go. I don’t want to miss anything!”
I laughed, knowing just how excited Ally was when she found out her older sister was pregnant—how excited we all were.
Channing had been the first of us to fall.
And she was the last of us to add to the family we’d created here.
“She’s going to be okay.” Ally cupped my face, pressing a gentle kiss to Luke’s head while keeping her eyes locked with mine.
Ally had a difficult birth with Luke, one that resulted in an emergency C-section. I’d never been so fucking scared in my entire life when they’d made the call.
I didn’t care if they’d told us it was possible. I didn’t care if this wasn’t uncommon. I didn’t care if they did it all the time.
Not with her.
Not with my wife.
Not with my fucking sunshine.
And now, it was Channing’s turn.
Channing was older than Ally. I didn’t know how much of a difference it made, but I knew it was a thing. And Channing was smaller than Ally.
“Of course, she is,” I said gruffly, holding open the door for her. “Damn woman weaseled her way into the Men’s X Games and then married the man who beat her. I don’t think there’s anything in the world that can stop Lil when she puts her mind to it.”
All that to not say I was still worried; Channing was a sister to both of us.
Ally blocked the doorway, wrapping her arms around me and Luke.
“She’s going to be okay, Emmett.”
I swallowed hard, taking a deep breath of the sweetness of her hair. “Promise?”
She pulled back, tears making her eyes shimmer. “I promise.” Her lips pressed tenderly to mine. “You know it’s not that easy to get rid of us Ryder women.”
“From the first day I met you, Channing, you have never ceased to amaze me—to inspire me.” My husband brushed my hair back from my face, the short strands easy to clear from the sweat clinging to my forehead. He stared at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world, and when it was him looking at me, I could believe it. “But today, you’ve outdone yourself,” he rasped, dragging his eyes from mine down to where our newborn daughter rested against my bare chest.
The Winter Games Page 172
