Mancave

by Jo Raven

  And it fits. Where else is a caveman to go but into his mancave?

  Although to be honest, I’m happiest at home, with her and our little family. She tamed me, turned me from a beast back into a man, and this man is so in love with her, there are no fucking words to describe the feeling.

  We stop at the restaurant entrance, and I jump out to go around and help Octavia. She insists she doesn’t need help, but I’m fucking protective of her, especially now. She smiles up at me as I hold her in my arms, while the kids climb out as well and come to join us. I ruffle Cole’s hair, try to do the same to Mary, but she sidesteps me neatly with a small eye roll.

  The valet approaches us, a young guy with a flop of blond hair, like Merc’s. I give him the keys and we step inside the restaurant.

  Our table is in the back, and Octavia’s family is already there, seated and perusing the menu. Her mom gets up to hug her daughter again, telling her how proud she is, and then they sit down and start that whispered conversation they’ve been having ever since Octavia got pregnant.

  Women, baby and pregnancy matters, I assume, and I leave them to it, suppressing my burning curiosity, hoping one day Octavia will tell me all about it.

  Not that she doesn’t talk to me. She does, and lets me help her. It makes me fucking glad, and hey, I’ve been a father before. I know a thing or two about all that.

  My kids go directly to sit beside Gigi, Octavia’s sister, because they’re both in love with her, I swear. I think Mary wants to be like her when she grows up, and Cole wants to marry her.

  I suppress a sigh. My kids are growing up way too fast.

  As for myself, I sit on Octavia’s other side, beside her brother Merc, and clap him on the shoulder. “What’s up, buddy?”

  He grins at me, his clear blue eyes half-closing. “Hungry. Is the food any good here?”

  “It’s edible,” I inform him. I know he’s seen the prices. “You’ll survive.”

  Even if he eats like a truck driver. Maybe we should stop by a McDonald’s afterward, grab him a couple of burgers, just in case.

  “Ah-huh. I’ll take your word for that.” He’s wearing a black T-shirt over black jeans, and it only makes his pale skin and blond hair stand out more.

  I’ve watched Mercury—Merc for friends and family—turn into a man over these past few years here in St. Louis. He’s been working part-time with us at the Mancave and taking some college classes. Says he isn’t sure yet what he wants to do.

  “Hey, Matt!” Gigi lifts a brow at me, looking up from her menu, cheeks flushed, her long blond hair twisted up in a messy bun. “You should have told us this was a classy place. I’m so underdressed.”

  I meet her blue-gray eyes and lift my brows. “You’re fine.”

  Very fine, in fact. Where Merc turned into a quiet, strong young man, Gigi—Augusta on paper—has transformed from a pretty girl into a bombshell.

  It worries me a little. I’m too young to be her dad, but I’ve always felt the urge to protect Octavia’s siblings as if they were my own kids.

  Just to be clear: Octavia is the prettiest woman in the world. Gigi doesn’t hold a candle to her, but I can see the appeal for the young men buzzing around her like bees on a drop of honey. Girl has curves, and long legs, and a sweet face. A nice little package all around.

  “Hey, guys.” Hailey sits down across from me, tucking chestnut hair behind her ears, flashing us a happy smile. “Nice place.”

  Kaden nods at us and takes his seat beside his wife. What did he want to talk to me about? I pin him with my gaze, but he pretends not to notice, turning to talk to Octavia’s mom, all charming and shit.

  And Octavia distracts me, turning to me and taking my hand. “All right?”

  “Yeah.” I squeeze her small hand in mine. “You?” I avoid looking at her mom, avoid thinking about the whispered conversations. “Anything I should know about?”

  “No. We were just…” A flush rises to her cheeks, and leaning in, I kiss her soft mouth. How can I not, when she’s so damn pretty?

  “Just what?”

  “Just talking. About the past.”

  That catches me off guard. “About when she was pregnant with you, or…?”

  “Oh no. Not that. About Jasper, and Ross, and…” She bites her lower lip, looking down at our clasped hands. “And relationships.”

  “About your father? And that bully Ross?”

  “My half-brother.”

  “Who bullied you as a kid. And Jasper was shit as a father, and never told you even though he knew all along.” I take her chin in my hand, tip her face up. “So why?”

  Her expressive eyes fill up. “Nobody deserves to be tortured forever, Matt.”

  I frown. “What…?”

  What brought this on? Why should she care? Is she talking about Jasper or Ross? Why is she concerned?

  But I have to leave my questions for later, because the waitress arrives to take our order, and with all the laughter and everyone talking over each other and teasing, I forget all about this little exchange for a while.

  We open a bottle of champagne and toast to Octavia’s future, and then exchange her glass for orange juice, and drink. The food arrives soon after, loads of pasta and steaks, and everyone falls silent as they dig in. I take the moment to look at them all, gathered here. I wish my mom was with us, but she’s happy babysitting. I wish my dad were here, too, but I hope he’s watching us from above, glad for us.

  Look how far we’ve come. We all suffered through so many losses, and illnesses, and accidents, and made it here. One happy family.

  Dessert and coffee follow, and I glance at Octavia who’s laughing at something Merc is saying, grinning at her, when Kaden catches my eye. He gets up and motions for me to follow him.

  My grin fades as I remember our earlier conversation. Pushing back my chair, throwing my napkin on my plate, I hurry after him.

  We step outside into the cool June evening.

  “Spit it out,” I mutter, my pulse kicking up. “What is it, Kade?”

  Kaden rubs a hand over his mouth, then shoves his hands into his pants pockets. “Before you start hyperventilating, everyone’s fine. But Evan, Evan Morales? He called looking for you.”

  “Evan?” It takes me a few long seconds to place the name. Evan, right. We used to work together in Jasper’s garage, back when I lived in Destiny, when I met Octavia. “What happened?”

  “He called your cell phone, but couldn’t reach you, and called home, Mom’s phone that you gave him when you first moved here. I answered.”

  I put a hand on Kaden’s arm, fighting the urge to shake him. “To Evan. What happened to him?”

  “Accident. He didn’t say what. He has no family, apparently. He needs your help.”

  Chapter Two

  Octavia

  Matt towers over me, fists clenched to his sides. With his newly regrown beard and longish hair, those impressive broad shoulders and muscular chest, he’s pretty intimidating. “No,” he growls.

  I tap a hand on his pec and grin up at him. “Yes.”

  “Tay… You should stay here.”

  “I want to go with you.”

  “But the baby. You shouldn’t tire yourself.” His voice is gruff, his eyes concerned, and aw, I love this guy so much.

  “Look…” I press myself to him, and his arms automatically come around me. He nuzzles my hair. “I’m fine. I promise I’d tell you if not. Besides, you’re not going cross-country horse-riding or anything. You’re going back to Destiny, my town. I would like to visit.”

  He pulls back just enough to look down at me. “Is that the real reason?”

  Those dark eyes can see to the depths of my mind, and I feel heat spill over my cheeks. “Yes.”

  “Sure?” He brings a hand up to my cheek, his palm cool on my flushed skin. “Look at me, Tay.”

  Crap. I meet his eyes, and sigh. “That’s mostly it. Truth is… I wanted to check on Ross.”

  His gaze darkens, thick br
ows knitting. “That again? I don’t fucking get it. He hurt you. Why do you care how he is?”

  “He’s my half-brother.”

  “Tay…”

  He doesn’t get it. I can’t blame him. He punched Ross on my behalf, protecting me from Ross’s taunting, and he can’t forgive him.

  Neither can I. But what Mom told me… And that bad dream I’ve had twice so far… “Trust me?”

  He groans, gathers me again close, kisses my lips. Against them he whispers, “If anything happens to you…”

  “Nothing will happen to me. To us.” I take his face in my hands. “I need to go with you. Call it a gut feeling. I’ll be careful. I’ll be with you. I need this, Matt.”

  He crushes his mouth to mine, kisses me hard, licks inside my mouth, like he can’t get enough of me. When he draws back, he’s panting, his eyes blazing, his body trembling. “You’ll have everything you need with me. I’ll always do my best. That I promise.”

  “I know,” I whisper, swallowing a lump in my throat, because I know it’s the truth. “I do have everything I need with you. You are everything I need.”

  My big, bad caveman is the best man in the world, not to mention the sexiest, too, and he loves me. I’m so lucky to have him by my side.

  Now if only I can make sure my big, bad half-brother is okay so that I don’t have to worry about him… life would be perfect.

  * * *

  Cole peeks inside the bedroom as I place folded dresses and sweaters inside my suitcase. “You’re leaving, too?”

  There’s apprehension in his blue eyes. It tugs at my heart.

  “Come here.” I sit down on the bed and pat the space beside me. “Sit with me?”

  He nods and climbs up on the bed. He’s still so small, though he had a growth spurt last year, and his baby cheeks are all gone now. I put my arm around his thin, narrow shoulders and tug him to my side.

  “You’re going back home?” he asks.

  “My home is here, now. With you, and Mary, and Matt.”

  “And the baby?”

  I put my other hand over my stomach. It’s startling to feel the small bump, to know there’s a living person in there, dependent on me. “Yes. And the baby.”

  “What is his name?”

  I laugh. “How do you know it’s a boy?”

  Cole’s eyes go round. “Don’t you? Like you know I’m a boy. Can’t you also tell he is one?”

  I blink at him. “That’s… interesting logic,” I whisper, amused and somehow touched, and exasperated all at once. “But I can’t see the baby, so I don’t know yet if it is a boy or a girl.”

  “Well, I do. It’s a boy, and he is my brother.”

  Aw shucks. The way he says it… My eyes sting, and I haul Cole closer, mashing his small face to my boob. “Yeah.”

  Inhaling Cole’s fresh scent of shampoo and child, I remember when I first saw him, held in his father’s arms. So tiny, and curious, and soft, and sad. He’s grown now, and he almost never has that sad look in his blue eyes anymore. I’m so glad for that.

  “Are you happy, Cole?” I allow him to pull back a little, to breathe. “With me?”

  “I love you, Tati,” he says, his little boy voice ringing with honesty, that uncomplicated childish fervor in his expression.

  “Love you too, baby.”

  He’s never called me Mom, nor Mary, and I never thought to ask them that. Their mom is in heaven. I just hope I replaced her in all the ways that count, and that they will keep turning to me for affection and help as they grow older.

  “How long will you be away?”

  “Just a few days.” I kiss the top of his dark head, the color of Matt’s hair, my hair. I wonder if my baby will have my color, too.

  “Can I come, too?”

  “You have school. Another time.”

  “Are you coming back?”

  I frown down at him. “Of course we’re coming back. Did you think we wouldn’t?”

  He shrugs. But yeah, it looks like he did.

  He burrows closer to me. “I don’t want you to go.”

  A band tightens around my chest. “Cole…”

  “Mary is sad, too.”

  Of course she is. I didn’t think the kids would take our going so badly. “Is your sister okay? She seems… unhappy lately.”

  “She’s just in a mood. Girls.”

  That makes me smile. “She’ll be okay. But you’d tell me if anything bothered her, right?”

  “I s’ppose.”

  I kiss his hair again. “God, I love you guys so much. How could we live without you? There’s no way!”

  He pouts up at me. “Can’t you stay?”

  “There’s something I need to do. But we’ll talk on the phone every day. We’ll be back before you know it. And you’ll have fun with Grandma and with Gigi. She promised to take you to the movies. Won’t that be nice?”

  “Guess so.”

  I laugh at his put-out expression. “Run along now to play. I need to finish packing.”

  Dutifully he hops off the bed and runs away. I hope Matt talks to them, especially to Mary, before we go. I should talk to him about this, but he’s been busy at the shop, in the Mancave, with Kaden, putting in a bit of extra work before we leave.

  I think he’s worried Kaden won’t manage to keep the business running without him. Matt worries so much, all the time, about all of us. He’s worried about me, although my pregnancy has been easy, and about Gigi who has many admirers flocking around her, and about Merc who seems undecided as to what to do with his life. About my mom who gets bad sciatica pains sometimes, about his own mom who had pneumonia last winter… And all that on top of running the shop and taking care of all of us.

  Maybe I should talk to Mary myself. She is my daughter, too, after all, if not in blood. Would she talk to me?

  I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I sense I’m the one she’s really upset with. The thought hurts. She’s my little girl. I’d do anything for her.

  So then why?

  * * *

  “There you are.” Matt steps inside the bedroom much later and finds me staring critically at my overflowing suitcase. He slips an arm around my waist. “How’s the packing going?”

  I look up at him with a smile. “Terribly. How was your day?”

  “Long and godawful, until I saw you.”

  Aw.

  He turns me around and kisses me, a sweet kiss, and I melt in his arms. Pressed to his muscular chest, enfolded in his strong arms, his taste on my tongue, I’m right where I want to be, always.

  And then he groans in my mouth, tugs on my lower lip with his teeth, and the sweet turns hot. Fire courses through my veins.

  “The kids?” I whisper.

  “Watching cartoons downstairs.”

  “Won’t they hear? Matt, you should talk to Mary, she’s—”

  “I’ll talk to Mary tomorrow. Now,” he walks me backward, pushes me down on the bed beside the open suitcase, “I’m going to undress you and lick every inch of you.”

  His big hands stroke my legs as he pulls down my soft yoga pants, letting them drop to the floor and then he hooks his fingers in my panties.

  “What happened at the shop?” I ask.

  He pulls my panties down and nuzzles my thigh, his beard scratching my skin, sending shivers of anticipation through me. “Shh. Let me work.”

  “But I’m just…” I gasp when his tongue licks a long, hot path between my legs, over my clit. “Just worried. You’ve been so stressed about leaving the shop with Kaden.”

  “You’re still way too coherent,” he growls, and looks up at me, dark eyes flashing with amusement and arousal. “Clearly, I need to up my game.”

  He pushes my legs wider and presses his face between them, his tongue stabbing into me, his fingers stroking, pushing into me as he sucks on my clit, and holy crap, he’s hellbent on making me scream loud enough for the kids to hear.

  “Matt…” I push at his massive shoulders, hovering on the edge
of release, my legs shaking, my core clenching tight.

  He draws back instantly, brows knitting. “What? Did I hurt you?”

  “No, I’m fine. Just…” I struggle to catch my breath. “I want you inside me. And naked. On the bed with me.”

  His gaze softens, then the flames in his eyes flare. “I like the sound of that.”

  Reaching behind his head, he yanks his dark sweater and T-shirt over his head and throws it down, then starts on his belt, and I sit up to watch, heat spreading through me at the sight of his inked, muscular chest and arms. My gaze travels down his bulging pecs to his defined abs and the bulge in his pants.

  I lick my lips, my skin too hot, a fever of desire sweeping through me. God, this guy gets sexier every time I look. With his silken dark hair falling on his forehead, long black lashes like soot on his cheekbones, soft lips parted, he’s so handsome my heart aches.

  He glances up, catches me looking, and winks. “See something you like, Mrs. Hansen?”

  “Maybe.”

  He makes a show of unbuttoning his worn jeans and pushing them down his narrow hips. “I should make you pay for this peepshow.”

  “Wives get in for free,” I inform him, reaching for him. “Let me.”

  “I’m the one who’s getting inside,” he mutters, eyes going heavy-lidded as I slide his briefs down his legs, letting his heavy cock spring free. “Inside you.”

  Oh yeah… “Come here.” I wrap my fingers around the thickness of his cock, loving the feel of him, so hard and long and throbbing in my hand. “I need you.”

  A sound escapes him, a low groan, and it tightens everything in me with desire. My skin feels too tight, too hot, my pulse beating in my throat, in my wrists, deep inside my belly.

  He pulls back, in two movements gets rid of his boots, socks, pants and briefs, and is on me, his mouth pressed to mine, warm and demanding. When his tongue demands entrance, I part my lips.

  I slide my hands over his broad shoulders, his thick biceps, my body arching up in appreciation. He shifts, pressing his hard-on between my legs, and it’s too much. I feel like I’m going to come just from the pressure where I need him most.