by Katee Robert
The thought should probably bother me. A normal woman would have questions and demands for answers if her husband came home like this. She might be packing her bags right now and calling the cops.
The only thing I can think of is how hurt he looks. He wouldn’t take a life unless there was no other recourse left to him. I might doubt many things in my life, but I will never doubt that. I will never doubt him.
He scrubs his skin, over and over again, and the aching in my heart gets more intense. “Let me do your back.”
It’s only when he turns from me that he speaks. “It was a challenge in a roundabout way. Trip went after Nigel’s girlfriend.”
I stop scrubbing his back. “Is Laura okay?”
“Yes. She held him off and made enough of a racket that Nigel got there before Trip did more than split her lip.” His shoulders shift under my hands. “I handled the rest.”
I slip my arms around him and hug his back. It’s only this close that I realize little shakes are working through his body. “You did what you had to do.”
“I know.” He takes a big breath and an even longer exhale. “I’m fine.”
“It’s okay if you’re not.”
Hook shifts and turns in my arms. I look up to find the tiniest bit of mirth in his dark eyes. “I half expected you to kick my ass over this.”
That stings a little, but I push the emotional reaction away. Even after months together, we’re still figuring each other out. We each have our histories and old wounds, and that means sometimes we unintentionally prod at them in each other. Sometimes it’s intentional because we’re both a little bit of an asshole.
I cup his face, his beard tickling my palms. “Being the head of the territory means sometimes you have to do fucked up shit. I can admit that I don’t like it while still understanding that days like today are what keep us safe the rest of the time.” I shift my hands to the back of his neck. “You made an example of him.”
It’s not a question, but he answers it all the same. “I did.”
“Then the next person who comes after one of ours might hesitate.” I tug him down until his forehead is pressed against mine. “I am sorry you have to bear the burden of it.”
“It’s what I signed up for.”
Yes, it is. But not because he wanted the power. Because he had no other option, not if he wanted to keep the people he cared about safe. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt you.”
His exhale ghosts across my lips. “No. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.” Hook strokes his hands down my body to rest on my hips. “I need…”
I’m already nodding. “Yes.”
He lifts his head enough to smirk at me, though it’s still a ghostly impression of his usual arrogance. “You didn’t even wait for me to finish that sentence.”
“I don’t have to.” I step closer, pressing myself to his body. “You need. It’s that simple. I’m saying yes. Also that simple.”
Hook shakes his head slowly. “Just when I think I can’t love you more.”
“It’s a mutual affliction.” I smile. “Tell me what you need.”
“I just need you, Tink.” He backs toward the shower bench, towing me with him. I expect him to sit on it, but he guides me to bend down and brace my hands on it instead. “It’s going to be fast and rough.”
Need courses through me. “Do your worst.”
He kicks my legs wider and palms me between my thighs, fingers pushing into me slowly. Even in this, even when need is riding him hard, he ensures I’m ready for him. And then Hook’s cock is there, replacing his fingers. He grips my hips as he fucks me, and for once he’s chasing his own pleasure. I don’t mind. I can’t take away the pain he’s experiencing, but I can give him this. I want to give him this.
Hook drives into me again and again, his fingers tightening as he pulls me back to meet each thrust. It’s rough and brutal and I’m fighting to keep my arms braced because it feels so damn good. Every stroke hits a spot deep inside me that has my toes curling against the tiled floor. He growls my name as he comes, grinding his hips against my ass, pushing himself deeper yet.
Only then does his touch go soft on me, his hands smoothing over my hips and ass and up my back to pull me to my feet. Hook turns me and then his mouth is on mine. The kiss is the exact opposite of what we just did, sweet and devastatingly gentle. I don’t know if it’s an apology or a thank you, but it doesn’t matter because when he lifts his head, he looks more like himself.
Hook smooths my hair back from my face. “Thank you.”
“I enjoyed it.” I tow him down for a quick kiss. “Want to hang out while I finish Isabelle’s wedding dress?”
His brows wing up. “Already? You only started it a few days ago.”
“I’m inspired.” And it makes me happy to see two people I care about find their happiness with her. I wasn’t sure they’d pull it off, but apparently they have, and this is my little contribution to their happily ever after.
Hook reaches around me to turn off the water. “Sorry for interrupting.”
“Don’t be.” I stretch my arms over my head and something pops in my back. “I needed the break, and you needed me. It all works out.”
His low grin has my stomach doing a happy flip. “How about I make the quick sex up to you when you’re done?”
“I’m listening.”
“A massage.” He catches my hand and lifts it to his lips, his eyes dancing. “A handful of orgasms. Cuddling afterward.”
He’ll be okay. I understood that, of course, but I can actually see him settling back into his skin, back into the person he is. Hook will always doubt himself after he’s forced to do something like this. It makes me love him more that it affects him. He might be a villain to many, but he’s mine.
I grin. “You have yourself a deal.”
“Good.” He waits until I step past him to swat my ass. “Get to work. I’ll work us up some dinner in the meantime.”
I glance at him over my shoulder. “I love you.”
His smile is almost free of the shadows that plagued him when he first arrived back in our rooms. “I love you, too. Always.”
“Always,” I repeat, my happiness bubbling up in my chest like a live thing. Some days I can barely believe that this is my life. Even with the darkness, it’s better than I could have dreamed. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
This short originally appeared as the April 2020 short for my Patreon. Each month, patrons nominate their favorite couples and characters, vote on one, and I write a brand new short featuring the winner. For more bonus stories, please consider joining my Patreon.
8
The Baby Talk
Tink
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I jump, and then instantly feel silly for jumping. I’ve been sitting on the couch long enough for the sun to change position in the sky, dropping down to kiss the horizon. I should have been working, but I’m too distracted and I can’t trust myself to cut fabric right now. I pull the blanket I’ve draped over my shoulders more firmly around me. “Talk about what?”
“Uh huh.” Hook drops down next to me and stretches out. He’s wearing a suit, but he’s removed both shoes and socks, which means he’s been home for more than a few minutes.
I didn’t even notice. I shiver. “How was your day?”
“Fine. Gloriously mundane. But we’re not talking about me. We’re talking about why you’re sitting here, impersonating a human burrito.” He glances at his watch. “Normally, I have to tear you away from work and bribe you with orgasms and food. Are you not feeling well?”
I’m not, but not in the way he means. “I’m not sick.”
Hook sits up, his brows drawing together. “Okay, now I’m actually worried. What’s going on?”
It’s so tempting, even after all this time, to shut him out and roll around in my misery alone. It’s all in my head. I know that. I know that. It changes nothing. But Hook is tenacious and, really, I don’t
really want to suffer alone.
I take a shaking breath. “What if I’m a terrible mother?”
He blinks. The shock on his face might have made me laugh if I wasn’t so in my head right now. He grabs my legs and tows them up and over his lap, turning me to face him fully. The trademark grin is nowhere in sight, leaving him devastatingly serious. “Why would you think that?”
“We know we want kids, right?” I want a family. I’ve always wanted a family. But that doesn’t mean I should have one. Some people shouldn’t procreate. How am I supposed to tell if I’m one of them? The thought makes my chest hurt. “I haven’t exactly had any good parental role models. My foster parents weren’t terrible, but they were overworked and exhausted all the time, and I was just another mouth to feed. A burden.”
“Tink—”
“I know how this sounds, but please let me get it out.”
His dark eyes are just as warm as the blanket around my shoulders. “You’ve been sitting here, thinking about this all afternoon, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Longer, if I’m honest, but today the thoughts have gone from flitting through my head to feeling like they’re a bus trying to mow me over.
He rubs his hands lightly over my legs. “I’m listening.”
“What if we have kids and I fuck them up? I’m mean, Hook. I don’t know how to temper my tone or filter my words. I’ve never bothered to learn how. If we have kids, they’re going to have a mean asshole of a mother and they’re going to end up needing a lifetime of therapy as a result.” My breath catches in my throat, and I clamp my lips together, determined to keep the rest of the poisoned words in.
“Tell me,” he says quietly. He takes my hand, linking our fingers, and squeezes. “Tell me the rest, Tink.”
I don’t want to. I really, really don’t want to. I close my eyes and exhale. “What if I turn into my mother? She just dropped me as a baby at a fucking fire station. What if I go all the way through the pregnancy and then have buyer’s remorse and just bounce? Aren’t you worried about that?”
“No.”
I open my eyes. “What?”
Hook holds my gaze. “Are you worried that someday I’m going to hit you? Or hit our theoretical kids? Just get mad enough that I lose all control and do it?”
I flinch, anger rushing up and eclipsing my misery. “No. Fuck no. You’d never do that.”
“My father did.” His smile is bitter.
I open my mouth to snarl at him, and then force myself to slow down and think about what he’s saying. He’s right. Of course he’s right. “I see your point, but it doesn’t make the fear less real.”
“I know.” He tugs on my hands until I let him move me onto his lap so he can wrap his arms around me. He’s better than any blanket, and I relax back against him, letting his strength bolster me. Hook kisses my temple. “Neither of us have great childhoods to pull from. It doesn’t matter. We’re not our parents and we’re more than the trauma we’ve experienced.” He cuddles me closer. “You’re going to be a great mom, Tink. Fierce and protective and someone who shows her kids what strength and ambition looks like. And love. So much love.”
I lay my head against his shoulder. It feels like he’s lifted a hundred pounds of fear from my shoulders. “How do you always know the right thing to say?”
“Not always.” Hook chuckles. “But, to tell you the truth, I’ve been thinking about it, too.”
“Thinking about it…”
“Thinking about taking our talk of kids into a reality.” He must feel me tense, because he rubs one hand down my back in a soothing stroke. “Not until you’re ready.”
“What if I’m never ready?” I don’t know why I ask the question. We’ve come so far beyond my needing to test him with theoretical questions. But I’m feeling weak and scared right now, and I need Hook’s words to build back up my foundations.
He hugs me tighter. “Then you’re never ready, and we don’t have kids. And we’ll still be happy and fulfilled and live out our happily ever after.”
I don’t know why I can’t stop poking at this. I already know what I want. I already know that Hook loves me enough that this won’t break us, no matter where I land on the subject of kids. But the nearly overwhelming desire to keep questioning is there, pressing against the inside of my lips.
Won’t you resent me if we don’t have kids?
Won’t you stop trusting me?
Won’t…
I lean back and look up at him. There was a time when I’d fight in order to avoid being vulnerable, but we’ve long since passed it. I bite my bottom lip, hating that my throat feels thick. “Once we make that call, there’s no changing our mind or hitting the reset. You can’t have buyer’s remorse on a baby.”
He smooths my hair back, his expression achingly gentle. “There’s nothing saying we need to do it now. We can wait.”
For once, he’s not getting it. I wrap my hands around his wrists. “That’s just it. I don’t want to wait. I want babies, Hook. Multiple babies. I want them so bad, it scares the shit out of me. Which is why I’m sitting here, freaking myself out with all the things that can go wrong.”
He’s gone so still, I’m not sure he’s breathing. “What are you saying?”
After everything I’ve just dumped on him, it makes no sense that this is what trips me up. I gather up every scrap of courage I have. “I want… Do you want to have a baby? With me? Like in, say, nine months or so?” He’s still staring at me, so I start babbling. “My annual appointment is next week, and it’d be really easy to get the IUD taken out. I think we have to wait a month after that before we can really start trying, but that just gives us plenty of time to practice…” I trail off. Hook’s eyes are shining a little. Oh fuck, did I mess this up, too? I tighten my grip on his wrists. “I don’t have to, though. We can wait. I can make an appointment to take it out whenever. Or never. Because if you’re not ready—”
“Tink.” His voice is hoarse. “Beautiful girl, I’m ready.”
My breath catches in my throat. “Really?”
“Yes.” He breaks into a heart-stopping grin. “If you are, yes, a thousand times fucking yes.” Hook makes a valiant effort to temper his excitement. “But if you change your mind, that’s more than okay, too.”
My chest feels both tight and achingly light at the same time. I find myself grinning right back. “Really? You really mean it?”
“Fuck yes.” He cups my face and presses a light kiss to my lips. “Our kids are going to be hellions. You know that, right? They’ll be climbing the walls and spitting attitude and driving us crazy.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I can’t wait.”
It doesn’t seem possible, but he grins harder, beaming at me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I wiggle out of the blanket and shift to straddle him. “Think Allecto will agree to babysit?”
For a second, actual alarm flickers through his joy. “You’re joking, right? She’ll have the kid for an hour and be teaching them knife-work.”
“Mmm.” I drape my arms around his neck. There’s still a tiny bit of unease, but I don’t know if I’ll ever truly banish it. From what I understand, most parents live in fear of fucking up their kids. I guess that makes me startlingly normal, at least in this. I don’t know why that’s weirdly reassuring, but it is. Regardless, it feels like talking through it was enough to take away the worst of the fear, paving the way for excitement to take hold. “Want to start practicing now?”
He hooks an arm around my waist and turns, bearing me down to the couch. “Fuck yeah.” Hook settles between my thighs. But instead of kissing me, he props himself on his elbows and looks down at me. “Thank you for telling me what you were feeling. I know that shit doesn’t come easy to you, and I value the trust you put in me.”
Gods, he’s going to make my heart melt with that kind of talk. I reach up and cup his jaw, his beard tickling my palm. “It’s not easy, no, but you make it easier. I know I’m a me
ss; I’m going to be a mess for our entire lives.”
He turns his head and kisses my palm. “Haven’t you figured it out by now, wife? We’re both messes. That’s the human condition. It doesn’t define us any more than any one thing does. It’s just part of us.”
“When did you get so smart?”
He pretends to think. “Well, I married this really smart lady. She’s kind of an asshole sometimes, but she makes me up my game.”
That startles a laugh out of me. “I’m not the only one who’s an asshole.”
“Guilty.”
“And you’re right. Our kids are probably going to be assholes, too.”
He grins. “Good thing I’m great at dealing with assholes then, huh?”
I give his shoulders a playful shove, toppling him off the couch and onto the floor. I don’t expect him to take me with him, but I land on my knees, straddling his waist. I frown down at him. “Was this all a ploy to get me to ride your cock?”
“Nah.” He pushes up my skirt, his fingers unerringly finding my panties. “It’s so you can sit on my face.”
That startles a laugh out of me. “Well, when you put it like that, how can I resist?”
“You can’t.” He shifts down until his head is between my thighs and presses a kiss to my pussy through my panties. “Just close your eyes and try to enjoy it.”
“Mmm.” I whimper as he keeps kissing me.
Hook always knows what I need. Whether it’s tough conversations or orgasms or cuddles. The last of my doubts drift away against the onslaught of pleasure he deals. He’s right. We’ll probably stumble and fuck up, but we aren’t our parents. Our children will be loved and taken care of and fucking happy.
This is our happily ever after.
This short originally appeared as the September 2020 short for my Patreon. Each month, patrons nominate their favorite couples and characters, vote on one, and I write a brand new short featuring the winner. For more bonus stories, please consider joining my Patreon.
