by Elisa Leigh
I think back to last night and how he became restless in his sleep, mumbling incoherently. I’ve been so caught up in Bennett and me that I haven’t delved deeper into the shadows behind Reece’s eyes. Momma’s right. He has demons, and I’m sure they are from what he saw over there during the war. He’s got me now, and I’ll help him shoulder whatever he needs me to.
Eleven
Reece
Dinner with Cassie and Will Gallagher was everything I hoped it would be. Those two have always been a part of my life. From the time I can remember, they were there for all my important milestones. They are family. I was pretty much talking out of my ass when I was trying to ease Maci’s fears about going in to see them. I knew us getting together was a big deal. I knew that this would change everything.
I also know that we aren’t a fling, that the relationship we are building is for keeps. They could take that to the bank. Maci Kate and I have been fated for one another since I held her in my arms when she was a baby. I was stupid and made some mistakes, but I know what I have in my life now. I’m not making the mistake of pushing her away again—especially after last night. Maci Kate and Bennett are mine.
After helping Maci out of the truck, I grab my little buddy from the back seat and carry his sleeping body into his room, laying him on his bed after Maci pulls the covers down. After removing his shoes from his feet, I cover him up and kiss the top of his head. He was attached to me from the moment I walked into the kitchen this afternoon. He not only sat next to me during dinner, but he scooted his chair so close to mine, they were touching.
He’s such a smart, kind, and funny little boy. He reminds me so much of Maci Kate when she was his age, and I wonder what he got from his sperm donor. The first chance I get, I’m adopting him and giving him my name. David won’t give up his rights willingly; I know he’s going to make problems for us. There will be hell to pay if he uses Bennett or my Maci to do that, though. He still wants Maci Kate, but he’ll never have her. I don’t think he ever did. If she was as hung up with me as I was with her, there’s no way she gave herself to him completely.
I stand up and pull Maci Kate in front of me, her back to my front. I wrap my arms around her chest, pulling her close, and we watch Bennett sleep for a few minutes. Leaning down, I whisper, “He’s all you, Maci girl. All your kindness and sass. I’d be proud to claim him as my own. Mark my words, I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure he’s an Atwood, that he’ll share our name.” She says nothing, but her shiver lets me know how she feels about it.
“Come on,” I tell her, pulling her out of Bennett’s door and to her bedroom. Once we’re there, I close and lock the door. She looks at me, about to say something.
“I’ll unlock it after.”
Her brown eyes darken, and she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth. Grazing my fingertips up her thighs, I slowly lift her dress over her head. I unsnap her bra and toss it to the side, before stepping away and stare at my beauty. She’s everything I’ve always wanted, and I’m beside myself knowing she’s finally mine. Standing in the middle of her room in nothing but light pink panties, she’s the sweetest thing I would have never been able to imagine.
I pull my shirt over my head and unsnap my jeans. My clothes end up in the same place I threw hers. I’m standing in my boxer briefs, containing my raging hard dick as best as I can. I need to be sweet with my girl, need to show her with my body that she’ll only be mine for the rest of our days, and that I will only ever be hers.
“Get on the bed, lie on your back, and spread your legs.”
Desire is flooding her eyes as she submits to my demands. She crawls from the bottom of the bed, so I have a great view of her juicy ass.
“Stop.”
On all fours, she waits for me to tell her what to do. God, the things I want to do to her. I’m so happy she’s the only one I’ve ever touched like this. She told me last night, in between rounds, that a part of her wishes she would have waited for me. But, then she wouldn’t have Bennett, and he isn’t anything she could ever regret. I don’t care that she was with someone before me; it only eats at me that I pushed her into his arms. I know that I’m the only one to have her heart and soul. I get her completely, and that’s something no one else will ever have.
I walk up behind her and pull her against my painfully hard cock. I wrap my hands around her full hips and grind myself into the crack of her ass, loving the pleasure-pain that comes from that move. She moans wantonly, enjoying the contact as much as I do. I pull her panties over her ass and down her legs, throwing those to the side too.
“Spread your legs for your man, Maci.”
When she doesn’t move quick enough for me, I grab her ass cheeks roughly, rubbing my thumbs through her already dripping cunt. Moaning, she moves to get more from me, but I release her and slap her ass, once on each cheek.
“Open your legs and show me my pussy. I’m not telling you again.”
When she doesn’t comply, I know she needs me to show her who owns what is between her thighs. I wanted sweet with her, but I’m going to give my girl what she’s needing. I’ve always liked control in my life, in my job. I figured once I explored this side of myself, it might come out here, too. I wasn’t sure what Maci would think of it, though. If she didn’t like it, I wouldn’t worry about it or ask her to do things where she wasn’t comfortable. Watching her test my control is doing things to me that I didn’t know would mean so much.
I run my hands up her ass, massaging her fleshy globes. I skim over her back and curl my fingers into her hair. When I pull, rougher than I should have, my girl fucking moans for me.
“You need this, Maci baby? You need your man to show you who owns this beautiful body, your soul?”
She nods, only slightly, because of the tight grip I’ve got on her hair.
“Use your words, baby. I want to hear you when you tell me this.”
“Yes. Mmm, yes, Reece,” she whimpers in a desire filled haze.
“Good girl. Lay down on the bed, but stay up on your knees, like this. I want this ass in the air for me.”
I release her hair, massaging her head before rubbing her shoulder and placing kisses down her back. She lowers her chest and face to the bed, her head looking in the direction of her full-length mirror leaning against the wall, facing the bed, watching everything I’m doing to her.
I swipe my middle and pointer finger up her slick cunt. Back and forth my fingers delve through her folds, teasing her flesh, and she begins to rock against my fingers, begging me to go deeper. I know what she needs, the euphoria she seeks, that only I can give her.
Meeting her gaze in the mirror, I pull my fingers from her cunt and spank her repeatedly until the pink from my hand is stained in her skin. With each strike, her moans grow deeper and needier. Each time I spank her white flesh, I knead her ache and prepare her for more. My cock aches with every whimper from her lips, needing to be buried so deep inside her sweet heat.
“Please, Reece,” she cries out as she comes.
Her legs are wet with her release, her cunt readying itself to take me. I wipe it from her thighs and suck it from my fingers, groaning. “Fuck, Maci. You taste so fucking good. I could feast on you all day. All. Damn. Day.”
I thrust three fingers into her needy cunt, stroking inside her to bring her to the brink. When the walls of her pussy begin to ripple, I pull my fingers from her heat. I step from my boxer briefs and see my dick is leaking precum. Instead of impaling her, I have the unyielding urge to have her mouth on me. I walk around the side of the bed and rub my dripping cock across her lips.
Maci Kate, always the temptress, licks my essence from her lips. She moans as her eyes roll to the back of her head. When she reaches out a hand to grab me, I step back.
“He ever get your mouth, baby?”
I don’t know why I’m torturing myself with this. I need to know, though. I want to erase everywhere he’s been, every place he’s touched. Regret washes through me when I se
e pain fill her beautiful brown eyes.
“Once. It wasn’t the best experience.”
I sit beside her on the bed and stroke her cheek. “Why didn’t you like it?”
Her cheeks pink and I get the impression that she’s ashamed. “I had never done… that, before. He kept asking me to do it. He told me that he deserved this, that it was his prize for taking care of Bennett and me. I felt bad because sex had been, I don’t know, awkward for us? It wasn’t all bad between us, but I felt like something was missing. I thought it might make things better for us in and out of the bedroom. Reece, you don’t want to hear all of this.”
“No, I don’t want to hear it. The last thing I want to hear is about another man doing things with my woman, but it’s something that hurts you, and will come between us if we don’t get through it now. Please finish.”
She sits up and leans against the wall behind her bed. Dragging her knees to her chest, she wraps her arms around them, leans her head on her arms and looks at me, defeated. “I tried my best to do what I had seen on some pornos.”
My eyebrows raise, and I can’t help but interrupt her. “You watch pornos?” I ask, and then laugh.
She swats my arm with the back of her hand. “Shut up. Don’t act like you haven’t. I was curious. I liked watching them and how they made me feel. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”
I laugh at how cute and embarrassed she’s becoming. “Continue.”
She clears her throat. “Anyway. It was uncomfortable. He didn’t say anything, just looked at me like I should know what I was doing. I felt like he was judging me. After a few minutes of not getting much of a reaction from him, I figured I was doing it wrong. I stopped and tried to move away from him when he pulled my hair, forcing me to continue. I bit him and clawed at his legs, but it only got worse.
I guess I finally got a reaction from him, just not the one I was wanting. He pulled my hair harder and started shoving his dick down my throat. Finally, he finished by pulling out and spraying all over my face. I’ve never felt so repulsed in my whole life. When he was all done, he left the room, and I sat there on the ground, covered in him, wondering what the hell just happened. It was a couple of days later that I found him fucking who I thought was a good friend of mine in our bed.”
Her body is shaking by the time she finishes recounting her story. Unable to hold myself back, I crawl up next to her and pull her into my arms. She melts into me and wraps her arms around my stomach, lightly rubbing her fingers through the hair on my chest.
Caressing her hair, I question how I treated her minutes before. “Maci, baby. God, I’m sorry. That is not how it should go. The urge to get up and find him is almost as strong as needing to hold you and make sure you’re okay. I’m so, so sorry for how I treated you. I must have read the situation wrong. I thought you were into it. I won’t ever treat you like that again; you have my word, Maci.”
“Stop. I love everything we have shared together. Don’t compare yourself to him. You always come out on top every single time. I know how he treated me was wrong, that what he did wasn’t how most men treat their partners. God, the things you say to me and how you touch me, Reece—you’re overriding my every thought and desire. I want to try everything with you, because you make me feel safe and wanted. I don’t have to question if I’m enough for you, because with every touch and look you give me, I can feel it deep inside.”
Maci’s touch goes from innocent to sensual in the span of seconds. She starts kissing my chest and sucks my nipple into her mouth, scraping her teeth against it. She runs her hand down my stomach and pushes her fingers through my happy trail into my pubic hair. I groan, feeling the shock of her touch overwhelming my senses. She starts to jack my dick and kiss down my chest, running her tongue over muscles and around my belly button. I know what she wants to do, but after everything she’s shared, this isn’t something she has to do.
“Baby, you don’t have to do that.” I’m almost unable to get it out before her hot mouth sucks the head of my cock. She looks up at me then, releasing my head, but continuing to stroke as she moves into position between my spreading legs. On her knees, she leans down again and runs her tongue down the underside of my pulsing length.
“Dear God, Maci you feel so good on my dick,” I croak out before she sucks my cock into her mouth. She bobs up and down, chasing her hand, going further down each time she descends. When her nose touches my pubic bone and my dick is down her throat, I’m desperate for her.
“Let me grab your hair, baby, let me fuck your face like you want me to.”
Without pulling off me, she looks up at me, nods, and continues getting as much of me down her throat as she can. I grab her hair and take control of her rhythm. She gets even wilder with my hands in her hair, pulling her up and down my length. She’s moaning and begins moving her thighs together, seeking relief for her soaked pussy.
I tug her up and off me, and her shocked, hungry look almost has me coming, but I hold off.
“I’m not coming in your mouth, sweetheart. Climb up here and put me inside you.”
She crawls up to me, sliding her dripping cunt over my steel rod, teasing me. I let her get away with it for a few moments before it becomes too much and I need to be inside her before I waste my cum and explode on her pussy instead of inside it. I spank her ass and growl, “Lift that sweet ass.”
Holding my dick, I’m barely holding onto my orgasm when she slides down to the hilt.
“FUCK!”
Gripping her hips, I slam her down on my dick repeatedly, coming within a minute of getting inside her. She comes, too, bucking on top of me, and I continue sliding in and out of her, extending her release. Thank God she did, because she had me out of my mind. I blanked and let go without making sure she got hers too. I pull her to my lips, pouring my love into her. Pulling from me, Maci lays half on the bed, half on top of me, and she snuggles into my chest, her arm across my stomach.
“You’re incredible, Maci baby. I don’t know how I lived without you for this long.”
“Mmm, I know how you feel, Reece. It’s unbelievable that we’re here, together. I gave up on this dream so long ago, and to be with you now…it’s better than anything I ever imagined.”
Eventually, her body relaxes, and her light snores fill the room. I’m still in awe of the fact that I get to call her mine. I can’t wait to get her pregnant so we can grow our family. I need to get my ring on her finger as soon as possible. Maci better be ready, because I’m not holding back. I’m going at this full throttle. I’m not able to slow this down, even if she wanted me to. We’ve been apart for too long, and our future starts now. I hold her against me all night, getting only a few hours of the best sleep I’ve ever had.
Twelve
Maci Kate
Things have been going amazing between Reece, Bennett, and me since our weekend together almost a month ago. We have fallen into a routine of sorts. Reece comes over a couple nights a week and has dinner with us, but leaves after tucking Bennett into bed. He stays overnight every weekend. I’m watching Bennett becoming dependent upon Reece for stability in his daily life. Their relationship is soaring, and I couldn’t be happier about it. David keeps canceling his visits with Bennett, but he seems less and less affected by the lack of his biological father in his life. Reece is doing such a great job filling that role for him, though it still pulls at my heart that his own father doesn’t want to be around him.
Reece and I are going through that happy phase, where everything is awesome and unicorns shoot rainbows out of their asses. There is something building between us, though. Almost like a block, growing larger, that neither of us wants to admit is there. Who wants to deal with the hard when the easy feels so good? I lied to him. I said I’d give him all of me. I want to, but damn, it’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Allowing myself to trust another man, albeit a good one, is my issue, not his. I have been alone for a long time now, and giving him a stake
in mine and Bennett’s life is big.
This day is getting worse by the minute. It all started when I woke up forty-five minutes after my last alarm was supposed to go off. Yes, I said last alarm. I set three now, because I love hitting the snooze button. Sometimes I forget, though, and inadvertently turn it off. You’d think that I’d have heard at least one of the alarms go off. Nope.
It might have something to do with Bennett being up all night, throwing up and running a high fever. He finally got to sleep around two in the morning, but I kept waking up to check on him. I didn’t check my alarms, thinking I was safe.
I jerked awake and immediately knew I was waking up way later than I usually do by how bright it was in my room. With Bennett in bed next to me, I checked him to see if his fever broke, but it was as high as it was the last time I had checked. While I was getting another cold compress for his head, I called my school to let them know I wouldn’t be coming in today. Mrs. Martin, the school secretary, was very nice about it, telling me she hoped Bennett would get better soon and not to worry—she’d get a sub in to take care of my class. She went on to explain what she did for her children and grandchildren to help them feel better when they had the flu.
When I put the cold compress on his forehead, he woke up crying about not feeling well. I did what I knew, putting him in a cool bath to break the fever, and giving him Tylenol. We had been on the couch for half the day, drinking Gatorade and eating plain waffles. We both fell asleep on the couch at some point, but when I woke up, Bennett was sitting up, crying, begging me to get his Reece for him.
I’ve been ignoring Reece today, not knowing what to say. I am uncomfortable about not telling him Bennett is sick, but at the same time, I feel like he should know. Yeah, I know—I’m a hot mess of emotion.
I replied to his good morning text, but I never told him that Bennett and I were home because Bennett was sick. I knew that if I told him, he’d rush over to take care of him. I didn’t want to bother him at work, didn’t want him to have to leave his job when I had it all under control. Really, though, I don’t want to give up control of my life to someone else. What if he didn’t do what I needed? What if he let my son and me down? I’m scared, and it’s starting to put a strain on our relationship.
