He slides next to me on the floor and I kiss him on the cheek as I hand him his coffee.
“You look really happy this morning. And Braden loves his train. You did real good, Daddy.” He drapes an arm around my shoulders and we share a moment just watching our son drive his trains.
“I am happy.” He gives me a tight squeeze.
I know that part of his happiness has also come from the fact that we got a huge break on the Cane case the other night. The girls who beat up Lizzy confessed, under direction of their parents’ lawyers, of course. They were kicked off the cheerleading squad since the school has zero tolerance for bullying. Having to do fifty hours of community service barely seems like a sufficient sentence, but at least they aren’t going to get away with it entirely.
The football guys, on the other hand, well it looks like they will. I mean without Cane coming forward to say what happened, there isn’t much that anyone can do.
“Where’d you go?” Reid looks at me as I’m lost thinking about where Cane is. I don’t want to bring it up, being Christmas and all, but I can still see the worry on Reid’s face, the lines of tension creasing the corners of his usually bright blue eyes.
“Nowhere. I was just thinking of how happy I am too.”
We sit and watch Braden for a few more minutes before the phone rings and Reid gets up to answer it.
“Hey, Dyl. Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too.”
Braden chooses this moment to start throwing a mini-tantrum, his cries making it somewhat impossible for Reid to talk on the phone. After I hear him ask Dylan to hang on a minute, he turns to me. “It’s about Cane. I’ll be right back in.” My stomach twists in knots as I watch him walk down the hall to our room.
In the few minutes that he’s in our bedroom, I create all kinds of crazy scenarios about where Cane is and what happened to him. Most of them are just too scary to focus on for more than the briefest of seconds. Even though I try to distract myself with Braden, driving trains and making silly faces, I can’t shake the feeling that something horrible happened.
I shoot up from the floor when I hear Reid walking back out to us. “What did he say? What’s going on?”
“He’s okay.” On those two simple words, I see the weight fall from his shoulders, the lines around his eyes smooth, instantly.
I band my arms around his waist burying my face in his chest. “Oh, Reid. That’s amazing. Where is he? Did he come back home?”
Reid pulls me over to the couch holding me in place on his lap. “Cane ran away to his aunt and uncle’s house. Took the train there in the middle of the night. It turns out that he came out to them over the summer and they said if he ever needed anything, he could go to them, so he did.”
I lace our fingers together and run my thumb over his wrist. “Was he hurt?” I ask tentatively, not sure if I really want to know the answer.
“No, thank God,” he sighs a deep breath of relief. I know this is what was keeping Reid up at night, wondering if Cane was safe. “The guys never got a hold of him, but he’s too scared to come back. Dylan just heard from Lizzy this morning that Cane moved in with his aunt and uncle and he’s going to finish out the school year in the new district.”
“Reid . . . that’s . . . really good news.” A tear streaks down my cheek, shed in happiness that things turned out the way they did.
“Yeah, it’s pretty great actually.”
We sit together for a few more minutes, not saying anything, enjoying the sight of our innocent little boy.
“There’s still a few more presents under there.” Reid tips his chin towards the tree and pulls me down to the floor. Since I’m never one to argue about getting gifts, I go all too willingly.
“This is for you, babe,” he smirks as he hands me a not-so-perfectly wrapped box. I give him the stink-eye playfully mocking his sub-par wrapping skills. “Don’t look at me like that. He helped,” he adds, pointing at Braden who is still blissfully unaware of anything other than his trains.
I can tell by the wrinkles and crumpled corners exactly how Braden “helped.”
I shred through the paper and actually gasp as I uncover the book hidden under the wrinkled paper.
“Oh, Reid. It’s beautiful.” I trace my fingers over the hardcover image of Braden as newborn, swaddled in a pale blue blanket. I remember taking the picture the morning after that first night. Reid laughed at me then, saying that if I woke him up, he was my responsibility. I just shrugged and snapped away. I knew that he wouldn’t be this tiny and this peaceful forever and I wanted to capture that moment. And now, my sweet man has captured it forever.
“Do you like it?” he asks cautiously, which is ridiculous.
“I love it, Reid.” I can’t manage more than that as I start flipping through the pages. Reid has captured the entire journey of us becoming a family right here in these pages. Early sonogram pictures, to my growing belly, the baby shower and then the three of us in the delivery room, just moments after Braden was born.
It’s the history of our little family.
“Thank you, baby. It’s the best gift ever,” I mumble against his lips as I wrap my arms around his neck. I catch a glimmer of something in his eyes as he smirks at me. I ignore him and hand him the last of his gifts from under the tree.
“Here, open this one.” I slide a small box to Reid and smirk at him. Like the dork that he is, he actually shakes the box when it’s fairly clear that nothing more than an envelope is stuffed inside of it. Braden is crawling around the living room vrooming a new car he opened earlier. Like his daddy, the boy loves his cars.
Reid rips at the shiny, red wrapping paper and laughs aloud at the gift inside of it. “You got me cooking lessons? This is some kind of joke, right?”
“I didn’t get them for you, you ass! I got them for me, but seeing as you’re the one who has to deal with my cooking, it really is a gift for you, smart ass.” I stick my tongue out at him and laugh when Braden starts mimicking me.
“Get over here.” Reid grabs me and hauls me onto his lap. “You know that I would eat cereal and soup for the rest of my life. As long as it means that I get to eat with you, I don’t care about the food.”
“That’s sweet and all, but you deserve better. And now, thanks to Kitchen Divas, you’ll get it.” I wiggle my ass in his lap. “Then there’s always dessert, too.” Another wiggle makes his jaw tighten and his fingers dig into my hip.
“You’re evil, woman,” he chides me mockingly as he starts tickling my side.
“Stop! Reid!” The second the word “stop” is out of my mouth, he’s got me pinned beneath him. “What? You want me to stop?” He just tickles me more, clearly not intending to stop.
I can barely speak through my laughter. “Reid! No . . . not my feet . . . Reid, I’m serious.”
“Ohhhh, look at you, big talker. Now, you’re serious, huh? Well, so am I!” He changes tactics once again, straddling my hips and locking my arms at my side. It’s pointless to try and buck him off me; besides, he’ll just enjoy that too much.
Just when I think he’s about to stop, he pulls my shirt up, exposing my belly. “Oh no you don’t!” I shoot him a serious look to which he just arches an eyebrow. God, why does he look so freaking sexy when he does that.
With a slowness that belies his intent, he lowers his mouth to my belly button and blows the loudest, wettest raspberry. “Come on, B! Help Daddy get Mommy!” And wouldn’t you know it, the little bugger listens and crawls over to where Reid has me trapped.
Braden’s pudgy little fingers pinch and tickle at my belly and he tries his hardest to blow some raspberries, but all he manages to do is drool on me.
When I’m red faced and barely able to breathe, Reid lets go of my hands and helps me stand. He lifts Braden up and all three of us stand there as our bubbles of laughter subside.
“I’m gonna get you back. You just wait and see,” I threaten.
“I can’t wait to see you try, Mrs. Connely.” He counters with another
sexily arched eyebrow and an innocent peck to the cheek.
“Cocky bastard.” I swat him playfully on his chest.
“Listen to the mouth on you!” He switches Braden to his other hip, before asking him, “Can you believe Mommy has such a dirty mouth?”
“Me?” I gasp and poke him in the arm. “You have the filthiest mouth ever. His first word is probably going to be F-U-C-K at the rate you say it around here.” I spell out the letters just to prove to him that he’s worse than I am and then stick out my tongue for added insult—and to up the maturity level, of course.
“Can I make you breakfast, now that we’re done with the presents?”
“I doubt you can, but it’ll be fun to watch you try.” He turns to Braden and holds up his hand to high-five him at my expense and Braden actually manages to hit him on the hand this time—of course, Reid’s been practicing with him. They’re teaming up on me already, but I can’t deny that I love my boys to death.
Making my way into the kitchen, I decide on scrambled eggs. They’re fairly easy to make and fairly difficult to screw up. Toast, on the other hand, is apparently my archenemy. Those Kitchen Divas are going to have their work cut out for them.
Over the clanging of the pan and the cracking of shells, I hear Braden and Reid cleaning up the wrapping paper that’s strewn about the floor. I catch of glimpse of Reid handing Braden a wad of paper and showing him how to slam-dunk it. When Braden actually makes it into the bag, Reid claps wildly and tosses Braden in the air telling him what a good job he did. Watching Reid with Braden, witnessing the man I love and the child I gave birth to become best friends brings tears to my eyes. It’s the most perfect thing to see on Christmas morning.
Of course that bubble of perfection is broken, when Reid hands me the tied up bag of wrapping paper claiming that he needs to go change my son’s stinky ass—funny how when he smells, he becomes my son. I slide my slippers on and wrap myself in my grey, wool pea coat to take the trash out to the dumpster.
I nearly trip over my own two feet as I step out the front door. Mouth agape, bag dropped to the floor, I’m completely speechless as I stare at what I assume is my new car. It has a giant red bow on top of it and everything. The sun’s rays sparkle and dance across the shiny, black exterior of the Nissan Murano. Still frozen by both disbelief and the cold, I jump a little when I feel Reid’s jacket-covered arm snake around my waist from behind.
“Merry Christmas, baby.” I simply stare at him in shock as he dangles the keys in front of me.
He hits a button on the key-fob and the engine purrs. “Reid, you didn’t have to . . .”
“I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. So I did. Well actually, we did, right, buddy?” I’m just now noticing that Braden is outside with him, all bundled up of course. The freaking garbage was just a diversion. Smooth. I’ll have to give him credit for that one.
“Come on. I want you to see the inside.” He loops his arm through mine and pulls me over to the truck. It’s gorgeous and I love it instantly. Standing outside of the driver’s side door, he hands me the key-fob explaining how the keyless entry and ignition work. He can be such a guy—getting lost in all things cars and sports sometimes—but honestly, all I need to know is that the green circle starts the thing. The rest might as well be in Japanese.
We sit in the front seats for a few minutes, me staring at the clean interior and shiny features while Reid explains what all of the buttons do. There are so many buttons, but I’m sure I’ll at least remember the important ones. Just as he’s wrapping up his little tutorial, I realize I didn’t see my old car in the lot.
“What did you do with the Civic? I can’t imagine that you were able to get anything for it?” Knowing Reid, he probably had to pay someone to take it off our hands.
“Yeah, that wasn’t happening. The dealership wasn’t even willing to take it as a trade-in.” I figured as much. But as freaking ancient as that car was, I still had some good memories with it. It was really the only thing I ever had from Aunt Maggie, though the fact that my fondest memory of her is of the car she left me is pretty sad.
“So what did you do? Drive it off a cliff like you’ve been promising to do?”
“Momma told me about a children’s cancer center she’s worked with before that takes old cars as donations. I guess they fix them up and sell them or something to make money, but I figured since we really weren’t going to be able to get more than ten or fifteen bucks for it, I might as well just give it to someone who could actually get something out of it.” He shrugs his shoulders deflecting the praise he knows is coming.
There have been a handful of moments in my life, that have really defined who I am—that have really altered the way I view the world. This is one of them. Time and time again, Reid reminds me that there is genuine kindness and love in world that is so often filled with ugliness and hatred.
Leaning over the center console, I cup his jaw reveling in the feel of his rough stubble scratching at my fingertips. “You’re a good man, Reid.” I softly press my lips against his as Braden wiggles in his lap clearly getting fidgety and probably a little hungry. “I love you and thank you for this. It’s too much, but I love it.”
“Anything for you, Maddy. Anything in the world.” We share one more kiss before stepping out of the car.
Reid takes care of the trash while I take Braden inside to get him his breakfast. We have a few hours to spend together at home before we head over to Momma’s for Christmas dinner. Melanie and Bryan will be there. Since he lives there now, so will Evan too. Dylan will be joining us as well and considering all of the stuff that happened the other day with Lizzy and Cane, I hope he’ll be in better spirits.
Knowing better than to ask us to bring anything really important, I was assigned the task of making the cheese and cracker platter. Yep, it’s pretty clear to see that Momma has very little faith in my cooking abilities. Though, I can’t say I blame her too much. Sending someone to the hospital with food poisoning is not the best way to celebrate Christmas.
Sometime close to midnight, we leave Momma’s. The day was filled with good food, hearty laughter and happy memories. Braden is fast sleep within five minutes of being strapped into his car seat and about two minutes after that, I feel my eyes begin to droop with heavy sleep.
The icy cold blast from the door opening makes my teeth chatter. I grumble in protest at the gentle nudge I feel on my shoulder. “We’re home, Maddy. You take Braden, and I’ll get the rest of the stuff.” Since we changed him into his feetie pajamas before we left, all I really need to do is change his diaper quickly and tuck him in. He’s had such a busy and exciting day that I doubt he’ll put up much of a fuss.
When I successfully change him without a peep, I have to stifle a laugh remembering those early diaper changes. I didn’t believe her then, but she was right—Momma usually always is. I did get more comfortable with him; we did develop our own routine. Things did get easier.
Braden nuzzles into the crook of my neck as I sing him a sweet lullaby before tucking him under his blankies. Just as I close the door to his nursery, I hear Reid step back outside for one last trip to the car. That leaves me just enough time to get my surprise present for him ready.
Seeing as we kind of did this whole marriage and a kid thing backwards, and at a ridiculously early age, we never really had much of a ‘honeymoon’ phase. This last gift will help to make up for that. At least, I hope it will.
After grabbing my things, I slip into the bathroom as I hear the front door close one last time. Reid lightly taps on the door. “I’ll be right out, hun.”
After I hear his footsteps drift away from the door, I open up the Victoria’s Secret bag and step out of my clothes. The satiny smooth fabric of the black silk and lace chemise slides over my skin, hugging the curve of my hips. Both side panels of the lingerie are sheer, black lace—almost completely see through. The tops of my breast are mostly exposed. I’m pretty sure if I take a really deep breath, they’ll
fall out completely. I step into black sheer stockings and clip the lacey tops to the garter belt. Smoothing the fabric out one last time, I check myself in the mirror. I have to say, that even though my body has changed so much in the last year and a half, I look hot and I feel sexy.
A quick fluff of my hair, a swipe of some sheer lip gloss, a spray of perfume and I’m ready to go. One last touch—four inch, red, peep-toe heels. Yeah, I’m good to go now.
I’m careful to tiptoe across the hallway, conscious not to make any noise with the clicking of my heels on the old, beat-up hardwood floors. Waking up Braden is the last thing I want to do.
Quietly, I push open the door. Reid doesn’t hear me because he doesn’t turn around immediately. He’s standing in front of the dresser unbuttoning the cuffs from his dress shirt. Watching him toy with his wedding band before slipping it off his finger is sensual and arousing as I imagine his fingers sliding into me. Leaning up against the doorframe, I clear my throat to get his attention.
When he turns to face me, I can actually see his ice-blue eyes blaze with lust. The muscles in his neck tense as he clenches his jaw. The cords of his shoulders bunch and pull as he removes his undershirt and tosses it on the bed. Silently, with predatory stealth, he struts over to me. Without saying a word, he runs his nose from my shoulder up the column of my neck, stopping only to pull my earlobe in between his teeth.
Sliding his hands over the cool fabric of the nightie, he nearly groans in pleasure. “You like?” I roll my head to the side and he nibbles on the sensitive spot where my neck meets my shoulder. Toying with the thin spaghetti strap, he lets it fall off my shoulder. He takes a step back and inspects my outfit—though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually need to look at it again to know that he loves it.
“Like?” His throat shifts as he swallows, hard. “I’ve never seen you in anything like this.” His hands roam over my back and he cups my ass.
“You didn’t answer me. Do you like it?” A seductive look takes over my face and my lips curl into a devilish smile. I know he more than likes it, but I just want to hear him say it.
The Love Series Complete Box Set Page 80
