by Toni Aleo
Wren walked around his town like she owned it. She was beautiful, regal, and fearless when she brought Maude up for her chance to shoot on him. Jensen had been so engrossed with the beauty that was his wife, he couldn’t even focus on the sweet girl who was coming at him. But he didn’t care. All he cared about was watching Wren’s face light up when Maude scored. And the way she kissed him. Yeah, he cared a lot about that.
He almost couldn’t believe that it was happening.
That she could be falling for him.
But in a way, he felt it. Deep in his soul.
And he prayed that he was right and not just grasping at straws. Because when he looked at her, he didn’t see anything but their future. Moving his hand up her arm, he placed it on her growing belly and found himself sighing happily. He couldn’t wait to meet his little guy, his son, his boy. He hoped to be a father like his dad because Antoine Monroe was one hell of a dad. So supportive, as was Winston Lemiere, his other dad for all intents and purposes. He had such great male role models, and he couldn’t wait to be that for his kid.
When Wren’s hand covered his, his lips curved as she moved it over to where the kiddo was kicking like mad. He beamed as his eyes closed, a euphoric and beautiful feeling engulfing him as his son moved. When the baby’s activity subsided, Jensen opened his eyes to find Wren watching him.
“It’s pretty damn cool.”
“It is,” he answered, and then he leaned over, kissing the side of her mouth. “So are you.”
“Me? No.”
“Yeah, you’re right, you’re not cool. It’s all me,” he teased, and she laughed as his mother tapped his hand.
“Mon chou, if you’re done eating, I need you to go socialize.”
Jensen groaned inwardly. “Of course, Mum. Excuse me.”
“No, take Wren. She’s so gorgeous, show her off.”
This time it was Wren groaning as she stuffed a few bites into her mouth. No one said no to Emma Monroe, and Wren had learned that quickly. Getting up, she chewed as he threaded his fingers with hers. “You could have said no.”
She scoffed. “Please.”
He laughed softly as they moved from table to table, greeting everyone. From all stages of his life were people who had been there with him. His teachers, coaches, his friends, their parents, and more. It was like a reunion of sorts, and everyone was so kind to him and Wren. They gushed over how gorgeous she was and how beautiful she was pregnant. All Jensen could do was completely agree.
She was the most gorgeous pregnant woman he had ever seen.
And it gutted him that he wasn’t the one to do that to her.
But he wouldn’t dwell.
He couldn’t, or he’d drive himself mad.
“Man, if I ever feel insecure, I’m moving here,” she teased as they walked away from the table that held all his high school teachers. “I’m apparently Miss USA around these parts.”
He pressed his lips to her jaw. “You are, everywhere. At least to me.”
She rolled her eyes, leaning into him as her face lit up. “Stop.”
“Nope. Never.”
Setting him with an annoyed but playful look, she shook her head. “Why can you make me blush, but no one else?”
He wrapped his arm around her neck, probably messing up her hair, not that she cared. “Because when I say it, you know I mean it, and it’s true.”
Kissing his nose, she nodded. “Maybe.”
“Actually.”
“Possibly.”
“Truthfully.”
She glared and he smiled. “A chance.”
“Honestly,” he asserted back, and she found herself grinning.
“You’re lucky I’m drunk on my not-wine and can’t think of another word.”
He laughed. “So what you’re saying is that I’m in luck because I’m a bit tipsy and yet I can find a word?”
She nodded, pleased with that assessment. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“That’s—”
“Jensen.”
Stopping in his tracks, he looked up to find the last person he thought he’d see.
His ex-wife.
Ophelia stood in all her glory, tall and wearing even taller heels, her bone-straight brown hair down along her shoulders as her dress hugged every single inch of her. She didn’t look pregnant, but he had heard she was. By the dick who stood beside her.
“Ophelia.”
He could feel Wren tense up beside him as he let her go to lean over and press his lips to Ophelia’s cheek in a chaste way he didn’t want to, except out of politeness. Holding his hand out to the guy she married after she had left him, he said, “I’m Jensen. Nice to meet you.”
“Colton, nice to meet you.”
Well, that name was off the list now.
“This is my wife, Wren. Ma chou, Ophelia and her husband, Colton.”
Wren gave him a sideways look as she smiled curtly. “Hey.”
Colton moved to her, but he paused when Wren shot him a look that clearly stated not to touch her. When Wren glanced back at Ophelia, her eyes were wide as she looked at Jensen. Smacking her hands together, Ophelia said, “Who would have guessed! Wren, Wren Lemiere. The girl from your billet house?”
Jensen looked to her and smiled. “Yeah. Wells’s little sister.”
She scoffed, shaking her head, anger floating in the depths of her blue eyes. “Wow, I could have sworn I was told that you didn’t have any feelings for her. You made that clear to me. Funny how things change, huh?”
Jensen cleared his throat as he nodded, feeling Wren’s gaze on him. “Yeah—”
“Or maybe it wasn’t the right time, right place? Now it is.” Wren smiled smugly.
“Obviously,” Ophelia said curtly, her eyes falling to Wren. “Guess, congratulations are in order.”
Jensen could feel her animosity and see the irritation in her eyes, but he wouldn’t let it bother him. She meant nothing to him. With a smile, he nodded as he reached out, holding Wren’s belly. “Thank you, we’re very excited.”
Ophelia gave him a stern look that he knew meant she was pissed before she added, “Well, I’m sure—since we were told you couldn’t have children.”
Jensen swallowed hard as he looked around, hoping no one heard her, but thankfully, the music was loud. Before he could say anything, though, Wren covered his hand with hers as she said, “Well, maybe it’s because he wasn’t with the right person.”
“Excuse me?” Ophelia asked, her eyes narrowing to slits.
“I didn’t stutter, for one. And for two, all this doesn’t matter because you left him for this guy you cheated with. So surely you don’t care about what or whom Jensen is doing.”
“I didn’t—”
“Oh, please, don’t worry. You don’t have to convince us of anything because we aren’t worried about you. We’re good. Great, even. We’re having a baby, we are married, and one thing is for certain, I’m sure as hell not going to leave him high and dry the way you did,” Wren stated simply, her face darkening with color. “So yeah, go fuck off. And watch your back, Colton.”
As Wren pulled Jensen away, he was a bit stunned while she led him out onto the dance floor. She was trying to cut through, but he had another idea. He tugged back, and she turned into his arms as he wrapped his arms around her. “Can I have this dance?”
With a grin cresting her sweet lips, she moved her hands up his chest and around his neck before she nodded. “Always.”
Moving his hands along her hips, he wanted to be closer, but their son was in his way. “You didn’t have to do that.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t like her.”
“Totally aware of that.”
“She’s lucky we’re both pregnant. I would have decked her.”
“I would have paid to see that.”
She scoffed, looking up at him. “She’s awful. Why’d you even go for her? She’s the complete opposite of me. I’m pretty sure my big toe weighs more than she doe
s, and she’s pregnant! With her fifth kid! Ugh, it makes no sense to me.”
“Exactly,” he said simply, his hands sliding to the small of her back. “She was nothing like you, no reminder of what I couldn’t have. With her, I didn’t have the constant reminder that I didn’t have you. But I tried. I tried so hard to love her and be the man she needed, but in the back of my mind, my heart was always with you.”
He got lost in her eyes, and she was breathless as her fingers moved along the back of his neck. “You know what kills me?”
“What?”
“That you felt all that for me, and I never knew it.”
But Jensen shook his head. “You knew, Wren, you just ignored it.”
Her eyes dilated as she leaned her head into his chin. “You think so?”
“I know so,” he said, moving his lips along her forehead, the flower crown on her head tickling his nose. “And the sooner you realize that you’ve felt something for me all along and you feel more, the better off we’ll both be.”
As the song changed to Hannah Miller’s “We Can Always Come Back to This,” Wren’s head fell back when his mouth dropped to hers. Waiting for her eyes to fall shut, he felt his heart pound before he allowed himself to do the same. There was nothing like kissing her. Winning all those games for the Cup couldn’t even compare. Nothing. He would never get used to it, and he never wanted to. He wanted each moment his lips touched hers to blow his world to smithereens. He needed it to, just so that he would never feel anything but alive.
He pulled back, and they moved together, her lips lightly brushing his as she clung to him. Moving her chin to his shoulder, she turned her face, pressing her lips into his neck, while he leaned his head to hers, holding her to him. As the song transitioned into another one, he continued to sway with her, unable to move and not even wanting to.
“Jensen.”
“Yeah, Wrenya, ma chou?”
She snickered against his neck before she kissed it softly. “I’m getting used to this.”
His eyes fell shut as he asked, “What do you mean?”
“You. Us. This. I’m getting used to it, and I don’t know if I can let it go.”
His heart skipped a beat before he pulled away to look down at her. “You don’t have to.” Her eyes searched his before he dropped his head to hers, pressing their foreheads together. “You never have to.”
She pushed her nose into his, and her eyes stayed wide as she nodded. “I’m holding you to that.”
“Please do. Because my word is my promise.”
“I know.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
She smiled. “But I will.”
“Annoying, I know.”
Her face lit up before she closed her eyes. “How do you know how to make me happy?”
Taking her in his hands, he ran his thumbs along her cheeks as she slowly opened her eyes back up, meeting his heated gaze. “Because for fifteen years, I watched you. Anything that made you smile, I banked in my brain, so that when I got you, that smile would be permanently in place. Then the whole world would be graced with the beauty that is you, because I love you. So very much.” As her eyes filled with tears, her mouth moving but no words coming out, he knew she was panicking. He could see it in her eyes. Slowly, he shook his head as a smile spread across his lips. “It’s fine. Just kiss me.”
She exhaled harshly before capturing his lips with hers, and yeah, she couldn’t say it, that she loved him.
But he was truly starting to believe she did.
“I’m so blaming you for leaving early.”
Wren looked over at Jensen and gave him a look. A playful look, but he had a determined expression. She wasn’t sure what the hurry was to leave right away, but she’d be damned if she was getting in trouble with Emma. “Like, all you.”
He didn’t look at her, nor did he smile as he turned down the driveway to his parents’ home. “I’ll take it all.”
She eyed him. “You good?”
“Great,” he muttered as he pulled into the spot he had been parking in the whole time they had been there. Shutting off the car, he got out, and she slowly did the same. Was he mad at her? He didn’t seem mad when he was kissing her on the dance floor, but she saw in his eyes he didn’t like that she didn’t respond to his profession of love. And what a profession. She was still swooning and felt all these fluttery feelings deep in her gut. She wasn’t sure how someone could feel all that, but to be on the receiving end of such emotions, yeah, she was feeling pretty damn good.
Freaked out.
But good.
As she stepped out, he took her hand in his, helping her with a gentle pull before slamming the door shut behind her. Her eyes widened, but then his body was covering hers, pressing her into the car before his mouth captured hers in a heated fury. Surprised, she held on to his biceps as his hands slid down her ribs to her ass, squeezing her hard. Gasping against his mouth as he pressed his very large and hard length against her soft spot, she opened her eyes, meeting his gaze. His very dark and passionate gaze. “Oh.”
He was breathless as he held her gaze, his lips moving against hers as he whispered, “I want you.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Here?”
He shook his head. “Might not be sanitary, with the baby and all.”
“This is true. I’m very pleased you can be practical at a moment like this.”
His lips quirked. “Believe me, I’m impressed with myself at this moment.”
Reaching between them, she took ahold of his length as he groaned against her lips. “As am I.”
Swallowing hard, he took her mouth once more, and her heart was flying. Clinging to him, she moved her hand up and down his cock through his suit as his body vibrated against hers. But when he pulled away, she pouted. “Hey.”
He just sent her a grin before taking her hand and walking backward toward the house. “Are you still going to blame me for getting us out of there before my parents?”
Her face broke into a grin as she held his hand. “I guess I’ll take the blame. I am so tired, you know?”
“The pregnancy takes a lot out of you.”
“And you, being the most amazing husband, had to bring me home.”
“Exactly, they raised me to please you.”
Her lips curved. “Oh, is that right?”
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure their definition of pleasing isn’t what is about to happen.”
“Oh, no?”
“Nope, I’m about to worship the shit out of you.”
Breathless, she shut the front door behind her. “What’s the holdup?”
Still leading her, his eyes playful, he shrugged. “I respect my parents, and you, too much to make love to you on the living room floor.”
She sputtered with laughter. “That’s so sweet.”
He sent her a grin as he led her into their room, shutting the door and pressing her against it. Covering her body with his, he trailed kisses along her jaw and her neck as his hand reached out, flipping the light on. Her head fell back, her flower crown hitting the ground as he gathered her dress in his hands. “There is a zipper.”
“I don’t care,” he muttered before lifting it up and over her head with more force than he should have needed, but it was a tad bit tight. Cupping her breasts in his hands, he dropped his face between them, tucking his tongue between the swell of her breasts as she clutched at his head, gasping out as she arched into him. As he licked up her chest to her neck, she pushed off his jacket and started on the buttons of his shirt. But he stopped her, taking her wrists in his hands and lifting them over her head. He met her gaze, and a smile tugged at his lips before he pulled the front clasp of her bra and her breasts spilled out. The lingerie fell behind her, getting caught on her ass. Running his tongue along his lips, he slowly shook his head. “I swear, you are the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”
Arching off the door, she pressed
herself into him. “Jensen.”
But he didn’t take her nipple in his mouth like she wanted; instead, he took her mouth once more, his hands sliding down her arms, cupping her breasts and molding them together, his tongue sweeping along hers. When she tried to put her arms down, he pulled away, shaking his head. “Stay put.”
“And if I don’t?” she challenged, and he grinned at her.
“I’ll bend you over my knee and smack that sweet ass of yours.”
Her eyes sparkled. “Promise?”
Hissing out a breath, he lifted his head from where he was devouring her breasts. “Evil.”
She giggled, an airy, sweet sound that didn’t leave her often as he kissed down her breasts to her belly. Falling to his knees, he trailed kisses over her swollen stomach, his eyes meeting hers, and she wanted to hold him. He was so beautiful, his eyes so dark as he held her gaze, such love and admiration swimming in his fathomless depths. Sliding his hands along her stomach to her hips, he took her panties in his fingers, and she came off the door as he slowly slid them down her legs, helping her step out of them before he started to kiss down her hip to her thighs.
Feeling insecure, she wiggled underneath his lips. “Stop.”
“Never,” he demanded, running his tongue along the dips and disgusting cellulite along her thighs.
“Jensen, really, I hate my legs.”
He paused, looking up at her. “I love them,” he said, his heart in his eyes. “Like this spot right here,” he said, running his tongue along one of the bigger dips in her legs. “It begs me to kiss it every time I get a peek of it. And this one,” he added, the spot right above her knee. “It taunts me. Fuck, Wren, your body is a blessing. My blessing.”
When he ran his tongue back up the inside of her thighs, her eyes fell shut as her heart went crazy in her chest. She felt as if she was coming out of her skin with each kiss and touch of his tongue to her burning hot skin. As he nibbled on the inside of her thighs, she cried out as her hands came down and she threaded her fingers through his hair.
“Wren.”
“I can’t! It’s too much.”
“You don’t want me to get ahold of that ass,” he warned, and slowly she moved her hands back up, not sure if she did or did not, in fact, want to let him get ahold of her ass. The naughty part of her craved it, but the practical part, the part that knew how big his hands were, was shaking in her nonexistent boots.
