by Cari Quinn
She grinned up at him and moved lower. “You’re so tense. I figured I should loosen you up.” She licked over his ribs to the ridges of muscle that arrowed down into his jeans. “I can let you stew out here if you’d rather.” She crouched in front of him before releasing two of the buttons of her blouse. He seemed to favor the lacy demi-cups she’d bought during a rare shopping spree at Victoria’s Secret during an after Christmas sale.
“Is that purple leopard print?”
She grinned up at him and released another button. “Maybe.” She cupped herself, tweaking her nipple so that it showed over the top of the lace.
“Fuck. Do that again. Peel it back.”
“Like this?” She swiped her thumb under the lace to flick her nipple. She groaned because he liked it. She was learning not to hold back when they had spare moments alone. He tried to pull her back up, but she shook her head. “Just you tonight.”
She tucked her fingers into his fly and jerked down his jeans without mercy. He hissed out a groan when she snaked her fingers up the leg of his boxers to tease his balls. She drew her nose along his rapidly hardening shaft.
Michael made sure to see to her every need. He usually left her in a heap of melted brain cells most nights, so it was rare for her to be able to take the lead. From the heat in his eyes, she was pretty sure he didn’t mind just this once.
She lightly scraped her teeth over the cotton and molded each inch until she found his flared head. She cupped his balls with the hand still in his shorts, as she used the other to free him. The lights from their bedroom gave off just enough illumination that she knew he could see every move.
Michael was very visual. There was no hiding her flaws under the cover of night with this man. Then again, he never made them feel like flaws. He made her feel beautiful.
Always.
She slowly took him deep into her mouth. Deep breaths allowed her to take him down the back of her throat until he made a low groan.
“Oh, yeah. God, just like that.” He slid his fingers along the back of her head, tangling them in the heavy curls she’d left down for him.
She knew he wouldn’t try to choke her. As always, he was gentle with her to a fault. She wasn’t really in a gentle mood tonight. She wanted to give back as he always gave to her. She bobbed her head over his head, and licked under his shaft.
His fingers flexed, but he didn’t pull her forward. Oh no, she did that on her own. She took and took until her nose brushed the crisp hair at the base of his cock. He flung his head back and her name came out with a harsh emphasis on her first initial.
She hummed around him and pulled down his boxers to get to all of him. She pulled him free and gripped his shaft. She knew he liked a firm grip. She was forever worried she was going to hurt him, but he always seemed to want it just a little harder.
Then again, she liked when he thrusted inside her a little harder.
She liked when he lost control.
And he was going to tonight.
She took care to suck his balls deep into her mouth. Releasing them, she stared up at him as she licked the underside of his shaft all the way up to the head.
“I need...”
“Me,” she finished with a slow grin. “Need to come in my mouth.” She licked him, paying special attention to the vein that ran along his cock. She could swear she felt it pulse on her tongue. She twisted and pulled him, sucking strongly on his length until his eyes went wild.
“Fuck.”
She took him deeper and quickly flipped her breasts out of the cups of her bra. It was exactly what he wanted. She tugged at her nipples and coasted up and down the top half of his cock.
“Are you wet for me?”
She nodded. She was always wet for him. She could probably rub herself on the seam of her jeans and take off right after him if she wanted to. But she didn’t.
She wanted to watch him lose it for her.
Taking him deeper left him panting. She released her stiff nipple to go back to squeezing his shaft. To lift him so she could find all the pleasure centers. He throbbed in her hand and she knew he was close.
“Drink me down.”
She nodded. Yes, she wanted nothing more than to feel him coming down her throat. She wanted him to fill her up. She gripped his hip with one hand and sucked. Her other hand slid up his belly to scratch through the hair there. The muscles flexed and firmed under her fingertips.
His cum burned down the back of her tongue and down her throat. She swallowed him, then milked him for more. She didn’t let up until he was wrung dry and his legs were shaking. And she still demanded more when he was swaying in front of her.
Her feet were numb and her legs screamed when she stood up, but she didn’t care. All of it was worth it to see every last bit of tension dissolve out of her man.
She sighed. Her man.
God, it scared her to say even that, but she knew it was true. Every inch of him was hers.
At least for now.
Twenty-Six
“I need what?” Chloe skidded around the kitchen island, her spatula aimed at the ceiling so her enterprising toddler didn’t get his mitts on the raw contents of the ganache she was not-so-successfully making.
“No cheaping out on the honey,” Harper said from off-screen.
Chloe glanced at the bear’s face on the honey she used for baking. She sighed and took the good stuff out of the pantry. She usually saved it for when she needed a good cup of tea.
“Lila said he likes cherries.”
Chloe snorted. “I can attest that he loves cherries.”
Jazz’s face filled the iPad screen. “Oh, really?” She looked over her shoulder. “Did you hear that, Harp?”
“I did.”
“You know, I FaceTimed you guys to get help on the cherry-infused ganache, not commentary.”
“Comes free with purchase.” Jazz smiled.
Chloe was on her third batch and the last one had tasted like something she’d scrape off her shoe, not put on top of the coconut cherry cupcakes she’d found on Pinterest. She wanted a little bit of decadence to balance out the super sweet.
Not burnt tar.
It was their first Valentine’s Day. She already had a two-year-old crashing her first romance-centric holiday, she was not going to have a crap dessert.
Her dad had called to let her know he had strep. No, thank you very much. And Lori’s husband was finally home for a visit. Definitely no go there.
“Make sure the honey is dissolved before you take it off the heat. If you don’t, it just screws everything up.” Harper’s voice came from the opposite end of her kitchen in the Hollywood Hills.
Jazz’s huge blue eyes came into frame. “Catch that?”
Chloe looked down at her pot, finally noticing that the honey was, in fact, not ready. “Huh. Look at that.”
“You should see us figuring out recipes. The grocery bill—wowsah. I swear Deacon and Gray are ready to take away the van some days.”
Chloe definitely didn’t have that problem. Michael was forever giving her grief because she spent hours poring over coupons. If he had his way, they’d have no budget at all.
And because she’d been spending so much time in the kitchen, she’d been talking to Jazz and Harper a lot lately. It was nice to have moms to talk to, as well as trade recipes with. “You liked my banana-apricot oatmeal swirl?”
Jazz nodded. “It was awesome. I gave it to Dylan this morning. The kid is a bottomless pit lately, but that filled him up for two whole hours. A true blue miracle.”
Chloe could feel her cheeks heating. “I didn’t mean to volunteer a recipe.”
Jazz grinned. “Actually, Michael volunteered it. Getting him to eat anything that doesn’t come in a rainbow-colored cereal box was all the testimonial we needed.”
Harper peeked around Jazz’s shoulder. “Actually, if you have a few more, I think I’m going to do an oatmeal chapter.”
“I have one with apples…”
&nbs
p; Harper stopped mixing whatever was in her huge bowl. “And…” she said expectantly.
Chloe gnawed on her lower lip. She was forever figuring out ways to get healthy food into both of the men in her life. “It’s not traditional, but Michael practically licks the bowl when I make it.”
Harper set the bowl down on her stainless steel table. “I want it.”
“Maple-bacon jam swirl.”
“Ding, ding. I knew you’d have something else. Can you email me the recipe? Actually, better yet, Jazz and I will come over next week. How’s that? We’ll make a test batch.”
Surprise and pleasure battled for control of the lump in Chloe’s throat. “That’d be great.”
“How’s the cherry ganache?”
Chloe lifted the iPad off its stand and brought it to the pot. “What do you think?”
“Perfect. Let it cool for twenty minutes. Follow the rest of the steps and you’ll be golden.”
Chloe blew out a breath. “Finally. I didn’t think I’d ever get this thing right. I might even have time to shave my legs above the knee.”
“Then it really is a good day.” Harper grinned. “I’ll text you and we’ll figure out a time. Happy Valentine’s Day, Chloe.”
“Thanks. You too.”
Jazz hooked her arm around Harper’s neck. “She’s my date.” She gave Harper a smacking kiss on the cheek. “The guys have a gig.”
“Then you get to watch all the sappy movies tonight.”
“Damn right. Ever After is already cued up.”
“Man, I love Drew Barrymore.”
Jazz squealed. “I knew I liked you for some reason.”
Chloe’s smile went so wide, she felt her dimples pop. She’d wondered if that was ever going to happen. Being the fiancée of the man who tried to sue Oblivion for songwriting rights wasn’t exactly the way to ingratiate herself into the family. Nick made her feel as welcome as possible, but it had taken a long time for them to look at her as anything other than an interloper.
Now, with her crazy marriage to Michael…well, it hadn’t helped her cause. At least not until lately.
Harper and Jazz waved and called goodbyes to Axl.
Chloe checked the timer on her phone and started the next phase of the ganache building.
A text message popped up on her phone.
How many flat sheets do we have clean?
Well, that was a helluva question. She licked the side of her thumb and groaned. There was the right taste. She took the concoction off the heat and set it aside before running to the linen closet. Why the hell did Michael have six sets of sheets?
She’d never taken the time to count them, just swapped out the sheets weekly—for a few weeks, they were changed way more than that—as part of her routine.
6 King and 3 Twin, why?
He replied with an emoji sticking his tongue out. How very Michael. She rolled her eyes and went back to work. After the baking was done, she set the cupcakes up on the top of the fridge. It was really the only place safe from both Michael and Axl.
By the time Michael got home, she was sweating her butt off and she was contemplating selling her kid.
Her romance level was minus twenty-seven, and her patience was somewhere around the sub-basement of hell.
She’d managed to make cupcakes, but the meal she’d planned had been sabotaged by a screaming toddler who had no interest in giving his mother a break. He was a good child most of the time, but when a full blown tantrum hit, she was relatively sure he was the spawn of satan.
“Wow, what’s going on in here?” Michael stood in the doorway, a huge bag in one hand as he nudged a huge box into the apartment with his foot.
“Welcome to bedlam. Happy Valentine’s Day.” She held a flailing Axl and narrowly missed an elbow to her jaw.
“Hey, hey.” Michael set his bag down and kicked the door closed.
Axl wasn’t listening. He was so far gone that his sobs had hiccups and bubble snot. She tried to shift him to her other hip, but instead, she yelped and had to set him gently on the floor before he took a header.
“Hey!” Michael’s voice boomed through the room and Axl went quiet.
She opened her mouth to yell at him. It was okay for her to flip out on her kid, not him.
Instead of continuing to yell, Michael crouched down in front of a hiccuping and wheezing Axl. “What’s going on, Ax-Man?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, Axl shoved his fist into his mouth and gnawed on his finger.
Chloe blew out a breath. “He’s teething.”
“Ahh.” Michael sat down and crossed his long legs, then picked Axl up off the floor. “Why are you giving Mom such a hard time?”
Axl gave him a whiny grunt in answer.
“Words, pal.”
“Cake.”
Michael looked up at her questioningly.
“I made cupcakes for later.”
“We don’t get cake until after dinner. Mom’s rules. Even I don’t get one, right?” Michael gave her a hopeful glance.
“No. No cupcakes for anyone.”
“See?”
Axl started his humming scream. Michael had about eleven seconds before he was back into screaming mode.
“So, I got Mama something for Valentine’s. Think you can help me?”
Axl tipped his head to the side. “Mama.”
“Right.” He looked over his shoulder. “See that big box?”
Axl struggled to get up and wobbled his way over to the box. He peered over the top, then back at Michael. He lifted his arms. “Up.”
“The unfairness might require that I kill you in your sleep tonight.”
Michael laughed and got to his feet. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up?”
She flinched.
“You look amazing as always, but I bet you’d love to get that stream of snot off your neck.”
Well, that was romantic. “You seem to keep saving the day.”
“Nah. He still doesn’t know what to make of me.” Michael kissed her forehead, then turned back to Axl. He lifted him up and set him in the box.
She frowned. “Did you bring home an empty box?”
“Many empty boxes.”
“Do I want to know?” She shook her head. “You know what? He’s not screaming, so I don’t even care.”
Michael grinned at her. “Go on.”
“Dinner is ruined by the way,” she said as she walked away.
“We’ll have hot dogs.”
That was exactly what she wanted for the most romantic night of the year. She left them to their laughter and boy antics. She took the monitor into the bathroom with her just to make sure the meltdown was truly over.
Frustration and an Axl tantrum knotted her up like nothing else. She turned the steam on in the shower and stood there for ten full minutes as every muscle unlocked. The last month had been amazing, and having help was more than she could have ever wished for.
It still smarted that Axl had taken to Michael so easily. It had just been them for so long. Sure, her dad helped out, but the two of them had a system. They’d grown together, for God’s sake. But she couldn’t deny how amazing Michael was with her son.
She stepped under the streaming water and let it beat down on her shoulders. She was so careful not to share him with anyone—to make sure that she was enough for Axl because she had to be. She could only rely on herself. Her father had come a long way since she’d gotten pregnant, but she remembered too many years where she’d been left alone.
When she’d had to parent herself because hers didn’t know the meaning of the word.
She swore that would never happen to Axl.
And she’d kept that promise to herself. But now there was Michael. And she wanted to let him in. It terrified her how much she longed to lean on him—to let him share the load.
How many nights had she dealt with teething, tantrums, and tears all on her own?
Hundreds.
As amazing as Axl was, he was still a
two-year-old. He was still a baby—her baby.
The screech had her ducking her head out from under the water, but delighted laughter came in on the tail end of his scream. So, she took the time to primp and shave.
She might be a mother, but she was also a woman. Maybe she could salvage something of the night when Axl went to bed. Being a single parent…
No she was currently a co-parent. She could call it whatever she wanted, but that was what they’d been doing for weeks now.
And parents had to do this. They made plans work, and they adapted to setbacks.
She took the time to smooth on the cinnamon blend that drove Michael wild. She blew her hair out so it was full and wavy. She even put a touch of makeup on so she didn’t look like she’d been dealing with a bratty two-year-old all day.
Instead of the sexy lingerie she’d bought, she went with instinct and pulled on a see-thru cotton tank and a pair of boy shorts. She tugged on a pair of soft gray pants and a flowy sweater.
Comfort and her two boys.
It was a good way to spend Valentine’s Day.
She pushed her sleeves up and her ring snagged. She stared at it for a moment. The little diamond that Snake had given her had been a talisman and a shield. It was time to stop hiding behind it. He was gone, had been gone for years.
He’d been fading away from her even before his accident.
She slid it off and tucked it into her keepsake box she kept in her bedside drawer. It felt weird not to have it on her finger, but a weight had also been lifted. She traced her finger over the black velvet box she’d put Michael’s ring in.
She curled her fingers into her palm, then closed the drawer. She wasn’t quite ready to put that on, but she was ready to move ahead.
Small steps. Those, she could handle.
She shut off the lights in the bathroom and their bedroom. When she walked through to the living room, she didn’t even recognize the apartment. White sheets were draped up everywhere. A few in the cool grays and blues that were a hallmark of the colors that had been there when she moved in.
Now there were a few reds and golds mixed in.
In fact, their living room looked like a mystical bazaar. Tiny lights were strung up to each corner of the room. Michael had turned off all the other lights. Boxes were stacked in a haphazard house-like form. Giggles came from behind the little flap.
