by Aja Cole
Until we felt like all the insults had been thrown and all that pain had been shed.
I still had a hard time just opening up to him the same way I’d done for most of my life, but maybe with time, we’d get there.
You didn’t have to know the full plan all the time.
“You’ve been a man for a long time now, Grey.” He starts, the same height as me even with me on skates. “I can’t wait to see the child you raise. I know they’ll know all the love and honesty and dedication that I failed to give to you.”
“It’s behind us now, Dad.” I mumble. I can show my feelings for Daya everyday, but this is sill uncomfortable for me.
“I know, I know. I just want you to know how proud I am of who you are. And relieved that you don’t take after me. You give happiness. You give a love so deep that I’m humbled by it every time I watch you around us, around that amazing woman over there. Being a father isn’t always easy, but there’s not a man more suited to rearing this child with the best of humanity than you.” He chokes up, clapping a hand on my back and I pull him in for a tight hug, feeling the lump in my throat.
“Thanks, Dad,” We pull back, nodding at each other silently. Daya comes up beside me and takes my hand. My dad’s walking away.
“Dad.” He turns back, raising his eyebrows the same way I do.
“You think you’ll prefer Papa or Grand-Dad?” despite my best efforts, my voice still breaks.
“Papa has a nice ring to it.” He sniffs, blinking and looking up. I have to grin, squeezing Daya’s hand.
This is our life.
The rink is full of warmth, of love that our child will feel every day of its life.
I can’t wait for what life has in store for us.
For this little family I never thought I’d get to truly have this way.
I knew that no matter what else happened, we would be okay.
We had each other, and the best (if not complicated) village around.
What the hell else do you need?
Not a damned thing.
Pulling Daya fully to me in the gentlest bear hug I can manage, I hold her right there on center ice with everyone else talking and animated around us.
It’s a moment I’ll cherish forever.
Me, my girl, my family, my baby – and the sport that I lived and breathed.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
Daya
I never imagined that I’d get to have this kind of life.
For so long, I didn’t let myself think about what my future would look like with a man. I stopped daydreaming of romantic gestures and dates when I was younger, and I’d forgotten what it was like for the possibilities to be endless.
Greyson gave that back to me, and more.
I love this man with everything in me.
Instead of feeling trapped, I feel free and happy and so full of love that I find myself getting mad at myself for almost letting him go.
And now he’s given me another blessing.
I look down at his peaceful face, stroking my finger lightly across his face while he’s sleeping. It’s a position we’re in often, me laying on my back on the large cushioned sofa, and him with his back against the cushions and resting his head on my stomach and his arm slung across my legs.
It means so much more in this moment than ever before.
I blink back my own tears, remembering his reaction to my reveal. He was the best man, and would be an even more amazing father. I’d wanted it so badly for him, to take away that insecurity that I knew still lingered because he knew I wanted children. No matter how many times I told him that if we never made it to that point, I would still be happy because I had him – I knew he never really believed me. I was completely fine with adoption or surrogacy or anything to make it work. But it pained him.
Some things are hard to conquer. It warmed my soul that this burden was no longer something he would bear.
In two years, I’d found so much joy in the little things. I let myself feel so much and instead of taking anything away from me, it only made my life more vivid. We were both different people than we’d been when we first started talking and when we really met. Greyson had a shorter way to go than me, but he always insisted that I helped him be better.
I’d learned not to argue with him on some things.
He was the reason I confronted my past. He was the reason I went back home, and if I hadn’t gone back home – I wouldn’t have found the healing I did, when I did.
Things were smooth on the family front, for all of us. Ryan and I hung out more, because I’d kept him at a distance too. His boyfriend has been super helpful with baby information, considering he was finishing up his residency to be an OB/GYN. Faith met her fiancé about a year ago, and they’re going for a long engagement. He’s a sweet guy, a businessman she’d done translation for who’d come back stateside and asked her out to dinner. I got all the sordid details, and he’d really swept her off her feet. Greyson took protective older brother to new heights, taking the poor guy to one of their hockey pickup games.
Faith nearly beat his ass when Jackson came back with a busted lip and a few bruises, but the men were closer than ever now.
Genie and Heather were still thick as thieves, and Greyson had forgiven his father. They were still trying to find their balance again, but from what I’d seen today – it was close. Our families thoroughly enjoyed each other. My mom, Natasha, Genie, and Heather now took little trips together. Greyson’s dad and my dad surely found some bonding in their previous bad decisions, and regularly went golfing and smoked cigars if they were around the same area. It was a whacky dynamic, but I couldn’t have been happier with the way we all blended.
I’d tried to avoid a large family before, and now I had multiple people who cared for me and me for them.
Sometimes, life put you in exactly the right place.
“I love you,” Greyson murmurs, and I suppress a laugh. He’s such a sap, I can’t believe it. I would’ve never thought he was capable of the level of pure constant appreciation he’s shown. It makes me feel like the most cherished woman in the world. He always says he’s making up for all the time I let myself miss. I isolated myself on purpose, and the man still gives me everything and more.
“I love you too.” I watch him as he places a full palm on my stomach, and I feel his deep breath.
“We’re having a baby.” He says with his low, raspy voice- angling his head so I see those blue eyes that tell me I’m loved every time I look into them.
“We are.”
“I don’t know how to feel,” he whispers, large hand rubbing over my belly that’s yet to make it’s full presence known.
For the most part, I thought I’d just been sick longer than usual. A little voice in the back of my head would say maybe you’re pregnant, but I ignored it. We’d been having sex unprotected for 2 years and there was never even a slight scare.
I’m 4 months pregnant apparently, and I still didn’t have much of a bump. Now that we knew, I’m sure I’d probably pop overnight because it seemed like my body would enjoy doing that to me. Clothes fit fine one day, and then not the next.
“What do you mean?” He sits up, moving up on the couch so he’s lying on his back and now I’m the one draped over him.
“I’m still a little shocked. It is my baby right?”
I pull back and give him a blank stare, to which he breaks into laughter.
“I’m kidding, I’m sorry.”
Hmph.
“We’ve got a few months to get ready, so don’t stay shocked too long.”
“You know our parents are never going to leave us alone now, right?”
I sigh. “Yeah. It’s hard enough with all of them having keys. Privacy is going to be a thing of the past.”
“We need a bigger place.”
“This condo has 3 bedrooms. We need more than that?” I might’ve been happy about this first pregnancy, but I was not ready to think past it to more than
one.
“Well…yeah. Your parents shouldn’t stay in hotels every time they come up.”
“Why not? They’re nice hotels, they can definitely afford to.” I argue, perplexed. The condo was big as hell, and it was in a good location and close to Faith. I truly didn’t think we needed more.
“Woman, I’m trying to tell you I want us to start a home together, not a place that was mine. I bought this place for a single hockey player who might have people stay over occasionally. Now, I want a home with the woman I plan to marry.”
“Do we have to mention the “M” word,” I wince, knowing it’s a touchy subject.
Sue me, okay!
I didn’t need a ring or a piece of paper to tell me this was the man I wanted to grow old with. It was just a symbol at the end of the day.
Or that’s what I would keep telling myself every time I avoided talking about it.
“We’re squashing this right now, Daya. I mean it.” He takes my chin and softly forces me to look at him. “This child will have married parents. I love you. You love me. Nothing is going to change when we have that ceremony or sign those papers. Our relationship isn’t going to suddenly crumble. We can have it small and in the backyard of the home we’re going to have if you want, but it is happening and I won’t hear anything else about it.”
“Any other laws you’d like to lay down, Dad?” I scowl, jerking my chin away and moving to get up from him. Before I can, he rolls me over quickly so I’m under him. Struggling won’t do me any good, the man is like a goddamned life sized paperweight.
“You know what type of law I like to lay down, baby.” His grin is wicked, and against my very weak attempt at keeping my lust from rising, it’s powerful.
“Why can’t you accept that I don’t want to get married?”
“Because you don’t have any concrete reasons. It’s just lingering fear and this isn’t a relationship that lets fear make its decisions. You’re stronger than that now,” he kisses the corner of my mouth, “We’re stronger than that now.”
Sigh.
What was a girl supposed to say to that?
“You haven’t asked me to marry you.”
He scoffs, “I definitely have.”
“Yeah, but not officially. If you’re going to make me accept your proposal, then you’re going to do it correctly.” I fight back my smile when he rolls his eyes. It’s something the both of us do to each other a lot.
“Deal.” he lets his body rest against me carefully, and I know he’s thinking about the baby. “Uh…sex is safe right?”
“Mhm,” I’m already distracted by him stroking his fingers against my hands where he has them pinned to the couch. I know what’s coming, my body knows what’s coming, and I need it more and more with every second that passes.
“You’re always being difficult. Makes me want to fuck you into submission like some caveman,” he tells me, brushing his lips over my ear as I shiver. His words still never fail to light my fire. My mouth goes dry and I already feel like I’m not getting enough air and nothing’s even happened. But I know the feel of those silky lips and my body knows the balmy sear of his capable hands and cock. He swoops in and takes control of my lips with a demanding kiss, stealing the little breath I have and causing me to gasp against his mouth from the quick onslaught. He pulls back, only to dive back in with a firmer, deeper exploration of my rapidly sensitizing mouth and I curl my hands around his shoulders, relishing in the concentrated assault of my senses. The kiss is consuming, pointed, and heated. He traces my lips once more with his before dropping a final, warm press to my mouth and I’m dazed.
The buzz is only growing stronger beneath my skin and I want more. I always want more. It’s never enough with Greyson. He rolls over so that I’m on top of him, and brings his hands up, still holding mine so I’m stretched over him fully. He loves me on top, the same way I love feeling him on me. He pushes me so I’m sitting up, and I look down at him in the low light, the air charged with anticipation. I strip my shirt off, revealing my breasts to his gaze and his lids lower in the familiar way. He slides slightly calloused palms over my stomach, pausing there for a noticeable second, then around to my lower back.
“I love this body. I love touching it, seeing how you react to me and knowing I’m the only man and the last that you let touch you this way.” I take a low breath. He knows all the right places to touch, to stroke. He circles the tips of his fingers on my lower back as my eyes close and my thighs clench. The feeling, while light, always makes a fiery current run through me. His hands slide into my pants to rest over my ass, and he squeezes possessively.
I love it. “Again.” He pushes my waistband down and I quickly strip the pants off and throw them to the living room floor. My body’s on full display for him now, and he molds the curves of my ass with his hands as I lower my mouth down to his, rocking against him with every squeeze of his hands. I can’t get enough, and every press makes me wetter.
“I feel like we’re a boring couple for using the bed, but there’s so much more space for what I want to do with you,” he gets up from the couch and I cling to him like that first night, my naked legs and arms wrapped around him for leverage.
“I wouldn’t call our sex boring,” I laugh, “We’ve done it a few places that aren’t exactly legal.” Laughing like this with him, talking with him makes it so much more than sex. It’s connecting with the man I love in oh-so-delicious ways.
“Lay on your stomach.” he drops me to the bed and I do as he says. In here, it’s his domain. I’m his to do whatever he wants. I relax into the bed as he lights some candles and puts some low music on. It always feels new. Like we haven’t been fucking like bunnies anytime we could for two years.
Lips brush over the hollow of my back and I tremble. “Do you know how much your soft skin turns me on?” He murmurs.
I know the moment when his plans change, because he turns me around so that my pussy is directly in his face and grips my hips, my legs resting over his shoulders. I’ve discovered he likes when I’m so wide open to him, and always has. He gives a short smack to my clit and I arch to him, body stretching taut.
“Shit!” I cry, mouth open and gaze glued to his hand.
He starts to rain rapid smacks up and down my pussy and I squirm and writhe, moaning loudly into the room. His palm starts to stick to my lips with each smack where slick desire is slipping from me, and it’s so hot to watch and hear the wet slaps. There’s pure hunger and impatience in his eyes and his fingers dig into my thighs and he begins kissing and massaging my hot center. He trails his tongue from my thigh to my cunt, starting from the top and licking in short strokes. I move my hips, searching for him. He kisses and sucks on my clit, lightly circling and flicking his tongue teasingly on the small bud of flesh and I whimper at the soft feeling, and begin lifting up towards him.
He goes lower to slide his tongue inside me, bringing his tongue in and out of my grasping core until I’m clawing at the sheets and attempting to loosen his grip so that I can direct the pressure of his mouth. I push my hips up, forcing him deeper inside. He massages my clit with his hand, and I grab his hair tightly as I keen under him and beg him to make me cum. He brings his hands under my ass, squeezing it and causing a delicious flash of discomfort while he lifts me up to delve further into my silken passage, relentlessly driving into me with his tongue as he would do later on with his cock. Knowing is what’s making me go wild, thinking about being filled up with his length later.
“Ahhhhh,” I breathed, “... make me cum….you’re making me cum, I’m so clossseeee,” I bite my lip and as he presses down on my pelvis and tilts me up for even more access, my mouth dropping open in what started as a silent scream but ended up an echoing cry throughout the room as I wriggled and gasped under his constant assault. He holds me to him, soothing my trembling aftershocks as I come down from my high with affectionate kisses to my mound and swiping his lips teasingly across my open folds. I rake my nails through his scalp tend
erly and he looks down my body at my flushed face and parted lips. Saying nothing, he licks his lips like he’s still hungry. Fuck.
Turning me back over so that I’m on my stomach again, he moves away and I don’t have to wait long to feel his touch again.
He moves my legs wider so that they’re in a spread position on the sheets and I lay there, happy to follow his lead. I feel the delicious probe of his pre-cum slicked cockhead at my entrance and I moan a bit, wiggling back, but he stays me with an imperious hand. I’m able to read he and his touches well, and I follow the unspoken command. He lifts me up just enough so that he can slide into me on a tight glide and I claw my hands in the sheets, a low groan sounding from my throat. He feels so fucking thick and decadent. Moving his knees outside my hips, he closes my legs and tilts my ass up before he starts to thrust deep and slow.
“Uhh..uhmm..ohhhh,” my pants and whimpers are broken at his measured pace, my body one mass of nerves and desire. His strokes are firm and tormenting, my clit rubbing against the bed with each thrust. The feeling of being trapped under his powerful body as he fucks me so good from behind is almost too much to handle and I barely know which way is up. He leans over me, molding his body to mine as he continues his powerful drives into my pussy with his hard, skilled dick and I arch up to turn my head and meet his mouth. His mouth is like water after a drought and I can’t get enough, biting and sucking at his lips as our tongues meet over and over again, tangling and teasing in our passion.
It’s a kiss full of lust and love and everything in between. I’m so grateful for him, for his love. I start writhing and bucking against the bed, gasping into his mouth as I feel my climax start to roll through me again and he bears down, pistoning his hips in and out of my rippling sheath and making me cry out as his relentless pounding prolongs my pleasure. He growls into my mouth as he presses tightly against me, leaning back only for a second to turn me to face him.
It feels right. Everything feels so right.
Capturing my lips with his, he kisses my top lip, sucking lightly as he pulls back. I love it when he does that. Doing the same with my bottom lip, he kisses the corners of my mouth and my cheeks, then my forehead, the top of my nose, then fused our lips together again. “You’re everything to me.” We whisper to each other feverishly, words of love and gratitude.
