by J. S. Scott
Kara and Timmy’s nurse conferred for a few minutes before the latter left the room. Simon didn’t catch exactly what they were talking about, but judging by the relieved look on his wife’s face, Timmy must be getting better.
“Does that hurt?” he asked Timmy. Simon was genuinely curious and concerned for the little boy who had endured so much.
“Naw. The shots don’t hurt neither, and they make me feel better,” Timmy answered nonchalantly. “I just don’t like the hospital.”
“I don’t blame you,” Simon muttered, amazed by how the child seemed to take everything in stride. It was damn sad when a boy his age didn’t kick up a fuss about anything. Probably because no one would care if he did.
Timmy looked back at Kara and asked solemnly, “My mom is dead, isn’t she?”
Simon looked at the torn look on Kara’s face before she answered sadly, “Yes, Timmy. She is. I’m sorry, sweetie.”
The boy nervously plucked at the blanket on his bed. “She hated me. She told me so. It was my fault because she drank, and I was a big problem because I was sick. But I still didn’t want her to die.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Simon answered huskily. “Drinking is a sickness, too. She was sick, and she wasn’t happy. But it wasn’t your fault. She didn’t mean it when she said she hated you. It was the sickness.”
Kara shot him a grateful look, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Simon’s right. It wasn’t your fault, Timmy.”
“I think she really did hate me. Because I’m sick and I need so many doctors, I was too much trouble for her,” he answered, sounding resigned.
Simon clenched his fists, trying to restrain himself. He was angry, pissed at a woman who was already dead. “No child should ever be a problem to their parents. Did you ask to be born?”
Timmy shook his head slowly.
“She gave you life, and she should have taken better care of you, but she couldn’t because she was sick herself. It’s not your fault that you need doctors. It’s not your fault that you’re sick. You can get better, Timmy. You just need to get the care you need. Your mom couldn’t handle that, but somebody else will.” Maybe his conversation was a little too adult for the kid, but Timmy seemed to be an old soul, and Simon seemed to know instinctively what to say. Maybe it was because he could emphasize with some portions of the kid’s childhood.
“Do you really think so, Simon? I’ve always been sick.” Timmy’s voice was cautiously hopeful.
“I know so,” Simon rasped, still angry that this child had never gotten the care he needed.
“You really can, Timmy,” Kara reinforced. “When they get you stabilized and stronger, you can do all the things you’ve wanted to do.” Kara stroked his hair tenderly. “You’ll get better.”
“I want to learn to play Myth World,” Timmy said with a huge yawn. “Simon’s going to teach me when I get better.”
Simon decided at just that moment that he’d buy the kid a whole damn system and be his tutor so Timmy could kick everybody else’s ass at his games. “Get better fast,” Simon demanded. “It takes a while to get the hang of it and kick some butt.”
Kara sent him a reproving glance at his language, but Timmy just grinned at him, a little hesitantly, but with dawning hope.
“I’ll get better by tomorrow,” the child said emphatically as his eyes started to droop.
“I’ll be ready,” Simon answered, his heart swelling that the boy believed in him when he’d had so few adults who gave him reason to believe.
Simon was silent after that, watching Timmy closely as he drifted off to sleep, Kara still grasping his hand and stroking his hair.
Mine.
Christ, he loved his kindhearted wife. Very few women would take the time to comfort a small boy who had nobody else in the world. No wonder he fucking worshipped her.
And she doesn’t understand why she’s so damn beautiful to me?
Kara was sexy as hell because she was…Kara. Her fuller figure and the love that she gave their baby girl just made his cock even harder every time he looked at her. She was perfect in his eyes, and always would be. Thank fuck he could finally love her the way he wanted to, the way he needed to. Time hadn’t dampened his crazy, possessive love for her; it had just made it more intense.
They stayed until Timmy fell asleep, and Simon walked silently to the car, clinging to the same hand that Timmy had had in his grasp a short time ago.
It wasn’t often that his thirty-five-year-old self could be completely humbled by his thirty-year-old wife and a seven-year-old kid from the streets. But as Simon struggled for the words to tell Kara how he felt, he knew there was no way to convey to her how much he loved her.
“I love you,” he simply told her fiercely, right before he closed the passenger door.
Unable to express himself with more eloquent words, it would have to be enough.
Kara hopped into the shower, just as she always did whenever she arrived home from the clinic or the hospital, thinking about just how lucky she was to have such an extraordinary husband.
“How many billionaires would care about one of the many street kids out there who have nobody to really love them?” she whispered silently to herself while she washed shampoo from her hair.
She and Simon had talked about Timmy all the way home, Kara explaining his painful and sad history. She’d always adored the sweet little boy, and her heart had ached every time he left the clinic, she and Maddie both hoping that this time, his mother would follow up with Timmy’s care. Maddie had reported what she suspected was neglect to the authorities several times, but nothing had ever come of it. After Timmy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Kara had made the appointment herself with a specialist for him. Yes, his mother had been a scattered emotional mess and a raging alcoholic, but it never occurred to Kara that she wouldn’t follow through on Timmy’s care when she knew damn well how serious her son’s condition was.
“It’s so unfair,” she whispered fiercely, scrubbing her skin with a sponge.
“Talking to yourself again, sweetheart?” Simon asked, his voice teasing as he opened the door and entered the large shower.
Sputtering as she rinsed the soap from her eyes, Kara finally cleared her vision to see the perfectly splendid form of her husband in front of her. Her breath caught as her eyes roamed up and down his body, taking in every defined muscle of his six-pack abs and rippling biceps. Simon wasn’t handsome in a conventional way, but the entire package of the man was irresistible, dark, seductive, and incredibly hot.
Sweet Jesus, he’s beautiful.
She reached out and traced the scars on his chest, a testament to just how strong Simon really was, and the power of his will to survive. Every single thing about him had always drawn her to him, lured her closer to him until they were completely entwined.
Dropping the sponge and adding soap to her hand, she offered huskily, “Would you like me to scrub your back for you?” Dear God, she needed to touch his masculine, strong, naked body. It had been way too long.
He turned obligingly without a word, and Kara stroked her soapy hands over his shoulders and back, lingering over each tense, flexing muscle. “You’re tense.” She kneaded at the contracting muscles, forcing them to relax. “What’s wrong?”
“I guess I’m still thinking about the kid. The whole situation really pisses me off. Do you know he didn’t once ask about my scars, and he wasn’t afraid of me?” he told her in a puzzled, low voice.
Kara sighed softly, loving her husband even more because he was still troubled by Timmy’s situation. While it was true that Simon could be formidable, it wasn’t intentional on his part. He was a big man, dark, and the scars on his face were intimidating, even though Kara just saw them as being part of who he was. He was also blunt, gruff, and often anti-social, although he’d changed a great deal in the last two years. “Children have
good instincts,” she told him matter-of-factly. “He knew he could trust you.” She glided her palms over his rock-hard ass, feeling the muscles flex in response. Simon had the tightest, hottest butt, and she loved the feel of it under her adoring hands. “Turn,” she requested.
He swung around, and Kara was confronted with his powerful chest, and one very hard cock. Heat shot straight between her thighs, her core clenching to have his impressive length inside her. Moving her hands down his chest, she wrapped her fingers around the shaft, loving that she could make him this way.
“Kara,” Simon grunted in a warning voice.
She ignored him, lowering her body until she was on her knees, and removing her hand to let the water wash away the soap. “My turn,” she muttered greedily, grasping his ass with her hands and taking the sensitive tip of him into her mouth. Simon had missed out on any woman giving him oral sex for the first thirty-three years of his life, and she loved knowing she was the only woman who’d ever given him this kind of pleasure. And yeah, she knew it drove him completely insane.
“Fuck. Baby, I’ll come.” His desperate growl reverberated in the small, contained space.
She smiled as she took as much as she could of his length into her mouth and sucked as she pulled back.
“Christ.” Simon fisted her wet hair and took control, guiding her mouth over him faster and faster with a long, tortured groan. Kara tilted her head and watched Simon as his face contorted, water spraying onto his chest, startled when he rasped, “Not. Like. This.”
He grasped her around the shoulders and pulled her up easily, pinning her against the wall of the shower in less than a heartbeat. His chest heaved as he stood with his hands braced on each side of her head.
“I wanted to make you come,” Kara said indignantly.
“I want to come inside you, Kara. I need it right now. Jesus, woman…do you know how much I love you?” he groaned, his liquid brown eyes fixed on her face. He was still panting heavily as he added, “I don’t know how I got so damn lucky or what I ever did to have you fall in love with me and become mine forever, but I’m never letting you go, and I swear I’ll never take what we have for granted.” His voice was awed and sincere.
Kara’s eyes locked with Simon’s desperate gaze. “And here I am thinking I’m the one who’s lucky.” Kara felt damn blessed. There wasn’t a better man in the world than Simon, and he filled her heart and soul completely. “I was so alone until you came into my life.”
He speared one hand through her hair and said hoarsely, empathetically, “You’ll never be lonely again, baby.” He swallowed hard. “Promise you’ll always stay with me.”
Kara wanted to weep when she saw the flash of vulnerability in Simon’s eyes. For some reason, he’d always been afraid of losing her, and it was the last thing he needed to worry about. “We’re meant to be together, Simon. I think it was fated.” She was very rational and realistic, but she’d always felt like she and Simon had been meant to find each other. They simply…fit.
“Then destiny was real fucking good to me,” Simon replied, placing both of his hands under her ass and lifting her up against him.
Kara wrapped her legs instinctively around his hips, enraptured by how strong he was, how easily he lifted her body. She was no dainty woman, but he pinned her easily between the shower wall and his enormous body, his eyes never leaving hers.
The water was pounding forcefully against their upper bodies, but neither one of them cared. Kara wrapped her arms around his shoulders and begged, “Take me. Please. I need you.”
Simon’s eyes flared as he heard her urgency, her desperation for him. He surged into her in one powerful thrust. “Fuck, baby, you feel so damn good.”
Her head fell back against the wall of the shower, breaking their eye contact, her body already clamoring for release. “Yes. Please fuck me, Simon.” Her fingernails dug into the skin of his back, her senses whirling as she began to drown in pleasure.
“Mine,” he declared possessively, as he reared and thrust back into her again.
“Yours,” Kara moaned, her senses overwhelmed by her husband’s possessive claiming. This was what she wanted, what she needed.
“Tell me what you want,” Simon demanded.
“You,” she whimpered obligingly, loving the way Simon wanted to be reassured that she belonged to him, that she was satisfied. “Just like this. Hard. Fast. Forever.”
He gave her exactly what she wanted, his cock pummeling into her as he grasped her ass tightly, holding her still to accept him over and over again.
“I love you, Kara. I wouldn’t be worth a shit without you anymore,” he told her passionately.
“You’ll never be without me,” she assured him, her body tightening with each powerful stroke of his cock.
“Come for me, sweetheart. Come with me,” he commanded, grinding his hips against hers with every strong, surging entry, stimulating her throbbing clit.
She started to scream his name as her powerful climax rolled over her, but Simon captured her lips with his, claiming her pleasure as his tongue filled her mouth. He consumed her with his embrace, his large body shuddering, his groan vibrating against her lips as he found his own release.
“Oh, my God…” Kara panted the moment Simon moved his mouth from hers. She dropped her head on his shoulder, completely spent. She’d missed him, missed this so much, the raw passion that caught fire whenever they were together.
Slowly, he lowered her feet to the ground, keeping an arm around her waist as he picked up the sponge and cleaned both of them, taking his time with her. His actions were sweet, tender, and completely different from the obsessed lover he’d been just a few minutes ago. He loved her in so many ways that it made Kara want to cry tears of happiness. “I love you,” she murmured softly as he turned off the water, and grabbed a large, fluffy towel to dry her.
Simon was silent as he roughly dried his own body and tossed the towel into the hamper. She squealed as he picked her up and cuddled her against him.
“If you love me, then I really am a lucky bastard,” he said gruffly, taking her into their bedroom to prove how much he loved her back.
For the next week, Simon was true to his word, not bringing a single present home to put under the tree. He went into the office for a while almost every day, trying to help cover for Sam. Usually, Simon worked a lot at home in the computer lab, preferring to be out of the public eye. But with Sam and Maddie now having twins who were younger than Ginny, Simon picked up the slack at all of the divisions of Hudson Corporation, going into the office daily to give his brother a break.
Blond and gorgeous, Sam was the public face of Hudson, the workaholic who was almost always in the office. Since he’d reconnected with Maddie, his priorities had changed, and he spent as much time at home as possible with his wife and children, trying to relieve Maddie of some of the stresses of having twins.
Surprisingly, Simon stopped at the hospital every afternoon to visit Timmy, much to Kara’s relief. She didn’t want the little boy to be alone, but she didn’t want to take Ginny into the hospital and expose her to viruses and bacteria at such a vulnerable age. Maddie fretted about him too, but she had her hands full with the clinic and her babies. Luckily, the twins were getting easier for Sam and Maddie to handle as they approached their first birthday.
Kara had been relieved when Simon told her that Timmy was out of the ICU and had been pronounced stable. Eager to see the little boy she adored, she let Helen and Michael babysit one afternoon so she could dash up and see him.
She drove herself, completely aware of Simon’s agents following her. She smiled, thinking about all the times in the past where she’d hated being followed. Now, not so much. It was Simon’s way of making sure she was safe, and she’d learned to tolerate it because it put her husband’s mind at ease.
Finding Timmy’s room once she reached the hospital, sh
e froze when she walked through the door.
“Holy shit,” she whispered to herself, taking in the multitude of items filling the private room. Colorful balloons floated on the ceiling, and every space was full of toys that most seven-year-old boys only dreamed about.
And there, on the pristine hospital bed, was her husband, with Timmy watching him with focused fascination as he demonstrated something on the laptop resting on his thighs. Simon had his back propped up against the wall, his shoes next to the bed, as he handed the computer to the boy sitting comfortably next to him, who was giving Simon adoring looks as he accepted the electronic device and placed it on his lap.
“You can do it, Tim,” Simon said gruffly, watching the boy carefully as his small brows narrowed in concentration, trying to do something on the laptop.
Kara watched, her heart swelling as her husband continued to bark encouraging words at Timmy, trying to help him get through one of his computer games. Simon looked so comfortable, even though the bed was small. He’d shed the jacket of his suit and removed his tie. His white shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his legs were crossed, his tan socks poking out from beneath his pants.
Now I know why he was content not to bring presents home. He bought them for Timmy instead.
She smiled as she looked around the room. Her husband had gone overboard…as usual. As it was, the nurses couldn’t get to Timmy without skirting skateboards, a new bicycle, games, and even stuffed animals. Kara nearly burst out laughing as she saw the enormous teddy bear sitting in one of the chairs, its furry body bigger than its owner’s.
Oh, Simon.
He was being so patient with the child, gently correcting him when he made a wrong move on the computer. Their two dark heads were lowered to view the computer screen, looking so natural and sweet together that Kara wanted to weep.
“Aw, I died,” Timmy squealed tragically, falling back on the bed.
“You did good,” Simon argued. “You made it through two levels this time.”
