by Cari Quinn
“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 at the head 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. 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, 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.
Chapter 26
“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.”
She 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, dammit. 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.”
She definitely didn’t have that problem. Michael was forever giving her grief because she spent hours pouring 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 actually. 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…”
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 her 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.”
She 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.
She checked the timer on her phone and started the next phase of the ganache building.
A text message popped up on her phone.
MS: 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—or for a few weeks there way more than that—as part of her routine.
CA: 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 that 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, 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 dropped down in front of Axl and crossed his long legs. He picked him 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. 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’s 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 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 gray and blues that were a hallmark of the colors that had been here when she moved in.
Now there were a few reds and golds mixed in.
In fact, their living room looked like a mystical bazar. Tiny lights were strung up to each corner of the room. He’d turned off all the other lights. Boxes were stacked in a haphazard house-like form. Giggles came from behind the little flap.
Her eyes misted. They’d done this for her.
Michael had done this for her.
“Knock, knock.”
“Password,” Michael said with authority.
She laughed. “Do I get a clue?”
“Pissa.”
She pressed her lips against a full laugh.
“Password,” Michael whispered. “Piss is not a romantic word.”
“Passerd.”
Michael snorted. “Close enough.”
She crossed her arms. “Still need a clue, guys.”
Michael cleared his throat. “What’s today?”
“Hmm. Tuesday?”
Axl laughed. “Nooo.”
“It’s not Tuesday?” she asked.
“No.”
“Hmm. I’m pretty sure it’s Tuesday.”
“Mama!”
She peeked in and was shoved back by Axl. “Mama! Word.”
“Valentine’s Day?”
“Yay.” Axl came out like a magician with his arms open wide. “Venentines Day!”
She dropped her her knees and hugged him.
He gave her a big kiss on the cheek before wiggling free. “Dinner for you.” He tugged on her arm. “For you.”
“For me?”
“Yes.” He extended the s and rolled his eyes. “Mika!”
“I’m ready, buddy.”
Chloe crawled through the flap and found a carpet picnic set up. Bright blue bowls were full of mac and cheese and hot dogs cut up in tiny, jagged pieces. A vase with pink roses sat in the middle of the TV tray that held their water glasses.
Michael sat cross-legged at the back of the little space. She couldn’t stop grinning, probably because her guy had a huge shit-eating grin on his face.
“You did all this?”
“Nuh-uh.” Michael nodded to Axl. “This one did.”
“Oh, I see.”
Axl crawled to her with a white cloth napkin and awkwardly set it across her lap. “Dinner.” He nodded to her bowl. “Eat, Mama.”
“Yes, sir.”
Axl settled beside his bowl, then promptly dumped half of the contents on Michael’s makeshift table. They all laughed. And it was the best macaroni and cheese and hotdogs she’d ever tasted.
The next hour was a delightfully crazy family dinner. After the dishes were cleared away Michael swapped out the table for huge pillows and they all cuddled up for story time. She’d never laughed so much with her guys.
Actually, that wasn’t completely truthful. She’d laughed more in the last month than she could remember doing for two years. Michael might have moments of child-like wonder, but they were balanced with the hot looks he gave her.
He snuck kisses in over Axl’s head as they plowed through a half dozen of Axl’s favorite stories. Even her little boy’s excitement over his very own fort couldn’t keep him awake. Eventually, his head was heavy on her shoulder and his deep breathing signaled lights out.
“Why don’t you tuck him in, and I’ll clean up.”
