by C. A. Harms
She looked back at me with a blank expression. “What?”
I grasped her hand and pulled her closer, and she looked up at me in confusion.
“You spend most nights at my place anyway. Your apartment is small, and honestly it’s pointless to pay rent when I plan on keeping you with me. It just makes sense.” I shrugged.
Shaking her head, she tried to step back, but I refused to let her go. “Jude, it’s too soon.”
“Why?”
She lifted her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Because I’m just not sure it’s truly what you want. You haven’t thought this through. I know we’re together most nights, but not every night. You’ll regret having me in your space every minute.” She took in a deep breath. “And then we work together, which means you’ll have no escape. I’ll be with you everywhere, and you’ll be insane after one week.”
I shook my head and chuckled, which only made her eyes widen in surprise. “Why are you laughing at me?” She looked completely serious, which only made me laugh harder.
“Baby—” I tried to control my laughter. “—I just don’t see how anything you’ve said here is actually bad. I love having you close. In fact—” I reached out and pulled her flush against me. “—the closer you are, the better I feel.”
“I’m being serious here. I don’t want to make you regret your invitation. And the last thing I want is for you to get rid of me because I drive you crazy and you can’t handle being with me so much.”
“Not gonna happen, so stop with the excuses, sweetheart. What do you want? What do you feel?” I could tell immediately that she was thinking too much about this. “Don’t overthink it, just tell me what you feel.”
“Living with you, Zoey, and Matthew would make me so happy. I’d love to wake up to you every day and put them to bed every night,” she replied.
“Then let’s do it. Because there is nothing that would make me happier than being able to hold you each night and share the kids with you. They love you, baby,” I assured her.
“And I love them too,” she answered without a moment of hesitation.
“Then move in here with us.”
I stared at Callie as she rolled the idea around in her head. She opened her mouth a few times as if she was going to reply but closed it quickly before she went back to thinking.
Lowering my lips to hers, I went in for the kill. Carefully threading my fingers through her hair, I brought my hand to rest on the base of her neck as I gently rolled my tongue over her lips. She opened her mouth, welcoming me. My mind and my body had been so distant from reality lately that I had forgotten just how amazing she felt in my arms and how just kissing her could turn me on and throw my hormones into overdrive.
I had spent so long depriving myself of Callie’s taste that this small sample was only making me remember just how addicting she truly was. “There’s really nothing I want more than having you in my bed, in my arms, every night. You make me feel so alive, sweetheart, and I don’t ever want to lose that feeling.” I know I was laying it on thick, but fuck if I wanted to give her a second to question this choice. “I spent far too long denying my attraction to you. I want you, Callie. I want all of you. Not just for today or tomorrow, but for always. You are my forever.”
Our kiss quickly grew in intensity as she sucked my tongue gently, and I felt it in my cock. It seemed like forever since I had her this close, this hot. But with everything that had been going on, I knew this was the last thing on our minds.
“Say yes,” I whispered as I slid my hand around her hip and gripped her ass. “Move in with us.”
“Mmhm,” she hummed against my lips.
“Is that a yes, Callie?” I asked, and she nodded as she continued to roll her tongue along mine. “That’s my girl.”
I gripped the backs of her thighs and lifted her, then carefully lowered us both to the floor, resting my body over hers. Positioning myself between her thighs, I pressed my hardness against her and rocked my hips. A moan fell from her lips and was swallowed immediately by our kiss. Her touch made me feel alive. Like I was on fire from the inside out, and it felt fucking amazing.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Callie
You would think that having sex in the middle of an empty room would be cheap. The carpeting from the floor burned the skin on my back with each thrust of his hips, and the thin layer of sweat covering his skin made it difficult to get a good grip on him. But it was one of the most erotic and pleasurable moments of my life. I felt high, as if every nerve within me was screaming for more.
The last couple months had been so hard on all of us. Watching Katelynn take a turn for the worse and then slowly losing her was terrifying and heartbreaking. We would forever miss her because the world would never be the same without her in it. But now, in this moment, I believed Jude was finally beginning to heal. We were taking a step forward together.
As he moved inside me, his gentle touches and the sweet kisses he placed against my skin told me he was really with me now, no longer distant and destroyed. He was rebuilding his life, and together we would find a way to move on.
Jude lifted his upper body by pushing off against the floor at my sides. As I looked up at him, he was watching me with such a tender look in his eyes. He slowed his movements as he continued to stare at me. “You are perfect,” he whispered, and my heart lurched at his words. “I love you so much, baby.”
“I—” I closed my eyes tight when he pushed into me deeply and swiveled against me to hit that sweet spot. When I gained control of myself, I opened my eyes once more to find him staring at me, biting his lower lip, his eyes full of lust and desire. I placed my hand on his face and gently stroked his cheek with my thumb. “I love you too,” I said as he lowered his mouth to mine. He began to move within me again, stroking that place inside me that made my legs tremble and my stomach tighten. I lifted my legs higher and hooked them over his hips, allowing him better access. In no time at all, my body tensed from my impending orgasm, and I arched my back as it took over.
“That’s it,” Jude whispered into the crease of my neck. “Right there, so good.”
His pace increased as he thrust his hips, racing toward his own release. “Callie.” My name fell from his lips in a whisper as his body trembled against mine.
Only the sound of our ragged breaths filled the room now. We remained in one another’s arms in the center of the bedroom we would soon call ours. And in that moment a peace settled over me.
I had lost Jude for a bit after Katelynn’s death, and I was terrified I may not get him back when he grew angry and distant. I remembered Jett’s words when I finally broke down in his office after the day Jude put his fist through his wall.
“He has been through so much, Cal. I know it won’t be easy, but you need to step back and give him space. He needs time to heal. He may say things and do things that hurt you down deep, but know that he’s grieving, and everyone handles grief differently. Just be there for him when he’s ready to come back to you.”
And I was. I was there when he cried, I was there when he zoned out and grew quiet, and I was waiting for him to come back to me.
“I’ve missed this,” I confessed.
He moved just enough to place a soft kiss against my shoulder. “We’re gonna be okay,” he whispered, and my body relaxed with his words.
I’m not sure how long we lay there in the middle of the bedroom floor. The sun set as we both made up for the restless nights of the past two weeks. Neither of us cared that we were naked, only that we were finding comfort in the warmth of one another.
***
“I think your bed would look very pretty over here. Then in the morning when you wake up, you would have a view of the backyard.” My mother stood in the middle of Zoey’s new bedroom with Zoey standing close at her side. “Then we could set up your dollhouse over here against this wall, and the trunk of dress-up clothes could sit at the foot of your bed.”
“But, Nana.” Zoey
looked up at her in confusion. My mother had insisted they call her Nana, and it truly was the sweetest thing.
“What, sweetheart?” she asked.
“I don’t have a dollhouse,” Zoey stated with her nose scrunched up. “Or a trunk of clothes.”
“You don’t?” my mom asked with her own eyes wrinkled in confusion. “Then how do you explain the stuff in Papa Calvin’s truck?”
I watched in amazement as Zoey’s eyes grew wide with excitement as she stared up at my mother, and I was awestruck. I always knew my parents were amazing people. They both had hearts of gold and had raised me with those same values. But now I had no doubt in my mind that they were the greatest people in the world. They treated Zoey and Matthew as if they were truly mine, and truly their grandchildren, and I loved them dearly for their selflessness.
“You better go check it out,” Mom encouraged Zoey, and that was all it took. She bolted from the room with one goal—find Papa Calvin.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said as I stepped up to her and leaned my head on her shoulder.
“No need for thanks, sweetheart. I love those kids. They deserve all the happiness in the world. And if your father and I can give them even an ounce of that happiness, you better bet we’re gonna do it.” She placed a kiss on my forehead.
Matthew began hollering with excitement in his bedroom, and I jerked my head up, looking at my mother. “Go look.” She tilted her head toward the room across the hall.
I quickly moved in the direction of his laughter. Just as I stepped through the doorway of the room that would be Matthew’s, I stopped abruptly. There in the center of the floor was a racetrack for his matchbox cars. He and Jude each held a controller in their hands as they watched the race cars zoom past them, only to repeat the path once more.
I quietly observed the cute scene. Jude was loving it almost as much as Matt.
“I’m winning,” Matthew squealed as he bounced up and down. The smile on his face was huge. Tears welled up in my eyes as I continued to watch. I knew Katelynn was smiling too, because all she ever wanted was for her babies to be happy. I could never replace their mother, and I never would try. My goal was to make sure Zoey and Matthew never forgot her. I wanted them to know just how much their mother loved and adored them.
Matthew threw his hands up in the air and began bouncing around in circles. “I win, I win,” he yelled as he noticed me standing in the doorway.
“Good job, buddy,” I said before looking at the beautiful man who still sat on the floor beside him. A big smile covered his face as he watched Matt, then his gaze wandered to mine, and he winked as his smile grew wider. I knew in that moment Jude was it for me. He and these kids were meant to be my future. And there was nothing in the world that would ever take their place in my heart. They were my family.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jude
We sat off in our own secluded corner, Callie’s back pressed against my chest as I held her in my arms, while Harper and Easton shared their first dance as man and wife. When they said they only wanted a small, intimate wedding, they weren’t lying. The only people invited were immediate family and very close friends.
The kids were tucked in safely at Callie’s parents’, and the night was ours. Callie and I had only lived together for two weeks, but I felt like she had been by my side for years. Everything with her just felt so natural, which was crazy because I had spent so long fighting my feelings.
Now I would do anything to make sure she was mine forever.
I let my gaze wander around the room, taking in our friends and being extremely thankful for each and every one of them. They didn’t give up on me, no matter how hard I fought them, and they stood by me every step of the way.
Callie turned her head to the side, looking back at me. “What are you thinking?”
I kissed her and grazed the side of her nose with mine. “I’m happy,” I told her. “And I know Katelynn would want this for me.”
Saying my sister’s name had grown easier. There were days, of course, when even thinking of her brought tears to my eyes and that excruciating pain to radiate through my chest. But as more time passed, I’d made peace with her death. The pain she had to endure for years was finally over, and Callie insists Katelynn is watching over us every day, smiling right along with her kids as they grow. Prior to meeting Callie, I never would have believed that shit, but it was hard not to give in to the idea. And it helped me heal as well.
“She would,” Callie whispered, and I kissed her once more.
The music changed, and I eased back from our kiss. “Dance with me?”
She nodded as she started to stand, but I gripped her hips and pulled her back to me. “I love you, Callie,” I whispered. “I’m glad you waited for me to stop being such an ass.”
“I wouldn’t say you were an ass,” she replied. “Stubborn and hardheaded, yeah, but not an ass.” She arched her neck backward and kissed my jaw. “Now come dance with me.” She slid forward, stood, and turned to face me, holding her hand out.
“I am one lucky sonofabitch,” I told her as I stood and took it.
“That you are, Mr. Calvert,” she said with a wink as she linked our fingers and dragged me toward the dance floor.
***
The restaurant was extremely busy for a Sunday afternoon. I had orders out the ass, and I was down a man. Rick had called in sick, but I knew it was more like a hangover. He had just turned twenty-one, and this had become a reoccurring thing. I made a note to talk to Jett about his continued absences when I got a break. But with the orders coming in, I knew it would be a while before that happened.
“I need another clam chowder and one tomato bisque,” Rachel said as she hung a ticket on the only empty clip at the window.
“Coming up,” Marco hollered as he grabbed two bowls and began filling them.
I turned back toward the large plate of shrimp, one of the three orders I was working on, and began positioning them. As I placed the finishing touches on all the dishes, I ignored my vibrating phone in my back pocket. I would have to call them back. I put the plates on the counter at the pickup window just as Diana, another waitress, walked up.
“Thank you.” She offered me a wink as she put them on her tray and hurried off to deliver the food.
Finally, the orders were lessened as things became slower. I’d picked up two more of the tickets, both orders for our daily soup special, when the kitchen door swung open. I looked up and found Jett standing there with a blank stare on his face.
“What crawled up your ass?” I said as I looked down at the tickets once more.
“I need ya to take a break,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s not possible right now. I got orders to fill,” I said without looking up.
“Give ’em to Marco.” His voice was clipped, and when I looked up again, his mouth was pressed into a tight line, and I could tell by the look in his eyes that something wasn’t right.
I snapped my fingers to get Marco’s attention and gestured to the plates before me.
“Got ’em,” he assured me, and I stepped away from the counter to follow Jett out of the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” I asked once we were alone. The vibe I was getting from Jett was making me uneasy.
“I don’t want you to panic.”
“Too fucking late. What happened?” I asked.
“Callie’s at the hospital,” he said, and I didn’t need anything more. I pushed past him in a hurry. When Jett gripped my shoulder, I jerked away. He held his hands up in surrender. “Let me drive you.”
I was freaking the fuck out, so all I could manage was a nod. Once I was in the passenger seat of Jett’s car and had taken a few moments to calm down, I realized I still had no fucking clue what the hell had happened. I knew she was spending the day with the girls. They had gone shopping and planned to have lunch together. Turning to Jett, I finally asked, “What happened to her?”
“Quinn said they were walking out of the
mall and Callie’s heel got stuck in the drain just at the edge of the sidewalk. She bent down to wiggle it free, and some jackass ran into her. She stumbled backward, and before she could regain her balance, she tumbled down the stairs that led to a side entrance into the mall. It was only about six stairs, but when she landed, she hit hard.”
I hung my head and tried to get the image he had just described out of my mind.
“She was out cold for about twenty minutes and was just waking up when the ambulance was loading her up.”
No, it wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought, but it was bad enough. I hated the idea of Callie being hurt in any way.
“Quinn called me before the ambulance had even pulled away. She knew Callie would want you.”
And Quinn was right, because the moment I rushed into her room at the hospital, Callie looked up at me and started crying.
I hadn’t even waited for Jett to park. I insisted he drop me off at the front entrance, where I leaped from the car and jogged inside, demanding to know where Callie was. Now I was standing at her side, holding her hand while the doctor examined her.
“Well, Ms. Raine, it appears you may have broken you wrist.” The young doctor carefully placed her hand, opposite the one I was holding, back onto her lap. “But we’ll get an X-ray to be sure. As for the bump to your head, you’ll need a few stitches.”
The doctor stood from the chair at her side and looked over at me. “Your wife is very lucky she didn’t have a major concussion. She does in fact have a broken wrist and needs a few stitches, though.”
I nodded, not even taking the time to correct his slipup. Somehow the comment about Callie being my wife didn’t bother me. And by the look on her face, she didn’t seem affected by it, either.
After the doctor left the room, I smiled at Callie. “What am I gonna do with you?” I asked, and she looked up at me in embarrassment. “Do I have to hide all your high heels and force you to wear tennis shoes only?” I joked.
