"Anything," I said between pressing kisses to his hot skin.
"If I don't come back--"
"Don't."
"No, seriously. Listen." He cupped my chin in his hand to make me face him. All the playfulness was gone from his eyes and what remained was intense determination.
"If I don't come back, a part of me will live on in Ari. But." He paused and lowered a hand to my waist, then slowly trailed his fingertips across my lower belly where he stopped.
"I want to live on in a life that I create with you."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NATALIE
The gravity of what he was telling me hit me like a ton of bricks.
I remembered drunkenly mentioning having a baby with him the other day but this was real.
This was serious.
This was a decision that would affect me for the rest of my life.
There was a real possibility I could end up as a single mother. Not only of one child but of two.
But despite how serious and life-altering this choice would be, I felt zero doubts.
I wanted this too, just as much as he did.
Drunken words are apparently sober thoughts. And in that heavy, sobering moment I felt ready to turn my thoughts into reality.
I wanted to always keep a part of him with me, no matter what happened.
My fingers intertwined with his on my belly and I nodded with my forehead against his to show that I understood.
He broke out into a wide, genuine smile for the first time in that tense evening.
"You mean it, babe?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered. "I want your baby inside me. And no matter what happens, I'll be the best mom I can to both of our kids."
Sol brought his hands to my face and kissed me through his smile.
"If I could marry you right now, then all this would be perfect," he said, his voice heavy with emotion.
"When you get back," I said, gripping his shirt with my fingers and pulling him forward. "Right now, let's just make love. And life."
Sol's mouth came down hard on mine in reply. He held my sides in a fierce grip as I worked his shirt up and over his head. He barely let his hands separate from my skin as I peeled the shirt off his sculpted, inked arms.
Just like me, he wanted to savor every moment and photograph every touch in his mind. I didn't think it was possible for him to be even more attentive and passionate to every inch of my body than before, but he was.
We took our time peeling off each other's clothes, kissing and teasing every new area of skin that became exposed to the chilly, night air.
His tongue licked the hollow of my throat and every small ridge along my sternum. Every hair on my body stood on end, awakened by stimulation and need.
I couldn't bear to lose him. I needed him. I literally would not be alive now if it weren't for this man, the one who made me feel truly alive for the first time in my life.
As we shed the last of our clothing, our flesh seared together like we would never be separate beings again. Our heat molded and melted us together into one body, creating a new life. He was heavy on top of me but I loved feeling pressed into him.
When he moved against me, I moved with him. His cock was thick and hard between us, resting on my soft belly.
Sol maneuvered his hand between my legs and began stroking my swollen vulva, spreading my wetness around but I soon stopped him.
"I want you," I pleaded in a hungry whisper. "I want your cock inside me. I don't want to be teased. I don't want to wait."
His expression matched my words. Hungry, lustful and needy.
"I'm still going to make you cum," he promised, trailing his teeth down the side of my neck to my shoulder. “I don’t give a fuck if we’re making a baby or not. My woman still needs her pleasure.”
Honestly, just the thought of his strong, virile seed getting me pregnant was getting me hotter that I ever thought it would. Sex was certainly just as much about one’s mental state as the physical. The feeling between us was completely different this time.
Maybe it had to do with the possibility of tomorrow’s outcome on top of the whole babymaking thing, but it seemed like this was about so much more than lust and just physical attraction. This was truly making love, in the purest sense of the expression.
I loved him so much and he felt the same way, our bodies couldn’t help but follow that feeling.
Sol gently pulled his hips back, making his cock trace along my skin like an extra large finger as it moved down my body. The smooth head kissed my clit as it reached that edge of my body, when Sol thrust forward again.
It felt so good I had to throw my head back and moan, only to receive his hand against my mouth just like our first time. I looked at him sheepishly, forgetting that Ari was asleep in the next room.
Sol chuckled as he smothered my mouth with his, continuing to make small thrusts against my clit. I moaned quieter, muffled by his kisses as I tilted my hips as high as I could under his weight, dying for him to fill me.
“I love you, my loud, beautiful wife,” Sol murmured as he finally pulled his hips back and lined his cock up to my entrance.
What did he just call me?
The initial shock was quickly overcome with warm, tingling pleasure spreading from my heart throughout my limbs.
“Did you marry me without my own knowledge?” I asked with a small laugh.
He looked at me intensely, his eyes burning with all his desire and passion.
“You’re going to carry my child and raise my daughter. You’re completely mine and I’m no one’s but yours. As far as I’m concerned, you’re already my wife in all the ways that matter.”
His hips lunged forward and it was all I could do to not scream.
Instead, I gasped and tears came to my eyes as my fingers dug into his wide back. I bit down hard on his shoulder. But I wasn’t crying from pain.
He was right. And he was my husband in the same way. I loved him and I loved his daughter like she was my own. Whether he stood by my side tomorrow or not, our child conceived tonight would be living, breathing proof of our love and commitment to each other.
Sol’s hips surged all the way forward and paused. The entire length and width of his delicious cock was inside me and I felt complete. I squeezed my thighs around his waist and dug my heels into the backs of his powerful thighs. My body did everything it could to take in even more of him, urging him in deeper so there was absolutely no separation between us.
He remained rooted inside of me, not bothering to pull back for the longest time. His arms wrapped around my back to lift me off the mattress and press into him even more. If there was any square inch of our skin that didn't touch the other person, we corrected that immediately.
When he finally did pull back to lunge in again even deeper, he let out low, animalistic growls and I knew he was fighting the urge to be loud too.
Pure, raw instinct surged through us. No words, no language. Just sighs, sounds, and sensations. No societal taboos except to not wake the child in the next room. We were connecting in the most basic, animal way and doing it for the most basic evolutionary reason: to ensure the survival of the next generation.
It was so simple and yet so much more. I finally knew what love felt like and yet heartbreak felt so close, like an invisible intruder hiding in the dark.
Solomon lifted one of my legs and shifted his position. His mouth detached from mine and kissed its way down to my nipple, which he sucked greedily between his teeth as he fucked me from a different, more intense angle.
I bit my lip hard, squeaking out a gasp as I felt my orgasm building up fast and intense. His sharp, cunning eyes were pleased as he watched me come undone.
"Fuck!" I gasped as the already intense sensations exploded into waves of pleasure. It felt like it came straight from my heart and pulsed to the same rhythm.
My pussy wrapped tightly around Sol's hard cock and drew him in even deeper, hugging him around all sides like it nev
er wanted to let go.
"I can't believe how tight you are," he said through ragged breaths. "How amazing and perfect you feel."
"You're amazing," I whispered through fresh tears in my eyes. "I love you so much." It felt like the orgasm opened me up and exposed my vulnerable heart to the world.
"I love you, Natalie."
Sol cradled me against his chest where I always felt at home. Could I really go on without feeling this warm, solid wall of protection again?
"Come back to me," I whispered into his sternum. "Promise me you will."
He said nothing but stopped thrusting for a moment, and just held me protectively.
"You know me better than anyone," he said finally. "You know I will."
Maybe he was lying to me, maybe not. But that small assurance made me feel better enough to completely forget that tomorrow was coming.
I brought my lips back up to his neck and flushed my hips against his once again, leaving no space between us.
His cock flexed inside me, the curve of it pressing right up against my G-spot which made me breathless. I clung to his tense body as I absorbed the impact of his rutting into me harder. He was getting close.
So close to putting his baby inside me.
He clamped his hand over my mouth, knowing I couldn’t hold back my moans as he drove into me harder.
Lovemaking was over. We were fucking now.
We rode a wave of pleasure going higher and faster, almost unbearably intense as his cock pounded into just the perfect spot like he was made for me.
When the wave crested and crashed, he was right there with me.
With a furious roar, he penetrated me deeper than he ever had yet and released his orgasm deep into my needy pussy.
His cum coated the inside of me with no barrier, nothing between us and it made my orgasm clench around him even tighter. My whole body was such a bundle of sensitive, fragile nerves that I felt every individual shot of semen deep within my core.
He stayed inside me even after our orgasms subsided and he went soft. Neither one of us wanted to move, or for this night to end.
Weariness from all that pleasure took over me and I drifted off to sleep to his soft caresses on my skin, the weight of him on me warm and comforting like a blanket.
I awoke from a cool breeze making me shiver, my bare nipples forming tight little buds exposed to the air.
Sol had already gotten up and dressed. He pulled his belt buckle into place and double-checked his gun before tucking it into the hidden holster under his black leather jacket.
I sat up in bed and he stood still to look at me for a moment. Then he knelt on the floor at my knees, caressing my thighs from my knees up to my hips.
"I don't want to leave you, beautiful," he sighed.
I touched his handsome face, smoothing my palms over the rough stubble on his cheeks and gazing into his brave, amber eyes.
"I know you're doing this for me," I said. "And I love you for it. More than I can express. And I know you're coming back."
He gave me a sensual, passionate kiss as he stood slowly to his feet.
"I'll see you soon, my love," he said as he dragged his feet to the door. "Tell Ari that Daddy loves her."
I nodded, biting my lip as I fought back the tears.
He gave me one final look over his shoulder.
And then he was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SOLOMON
Walking away from Natalie was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life.
I've killed people in cold blood and even that was easier. Hell, I was twenty-one years old when I changed a diaper for the first time and even that was a cakewalk compared to this.
Nothing was harder than walking away from the woman I loved and not knowing if it would be the last time I saw her.
As far as final romantic goodbyes went, it was pretty perfect.
I saw her face in my mind perfectly, while sitting in the back of the police van racing through country back roads in the dead of night. I saw the love in her eyes no else ever had for me and she never looked so beautiful.
Making love while knowing full well she could get pregnant was surreal. I'd never intentionally tried to make a baby before. Ari was the best thing in my life next to Natalie, but I definitely wasn't prepared for her.
Natalie would be an amazing mother. Of that I was certain. I lost religion a long time ago but I prayed silently that I would get past today's events and return to her. I wanted to see her belly grow big and round as our child grew inside her. I wanted to see my daughter become a beautiful, strong, confident young woman.
But if there was a god up there, everything I'd done in the past had surely already forsaken me. For years I fed addictions, fueled wars, and took lives that weren't mine to take. And today, I’d be doing more of the same. My odds were not in the big man's favor. With my luck, the devil was already waiting for me at the gates of hell.
On the small, laptop screen before me, I saw Eddie's dashboard lights and dimly lit steering wheel as he drove our delivery van. He was on his way to Antigua's as if it were any other pickup day.
But unlike any other day, so were we. Me, my best soldiers and several vans full of cops armed to the teeth, including Liam. Thanks to the GPS coordinates from Eddie, we were stealthily heading out to the same place but just taking a different path.
The country dirt roads soon gave way to tall grass and untamed brush that the vans just plowed through. Cops always gotta be barging in, but this time I was grateful to be among them. Eddie was the one taking the real risks, going alone and trusting my word that this plan would work.
Natalie, my love. I forgot to ask you what kind of trophy you'd like from Antigua after I kill him. A finger, an eyeball? Maybe even go all psycho-romantic and cut out his heart for you?
The microphone in Eddie's ear suddenly picked up different noises. The engine suddenly cut and the sound of a driver's door opened. He stopped the car. He had arrived.
"He's there," I told Liam, who barked orders to the van driver who relayed the message to the other vans that followed.
The footage from the camera showed Eddie's hands visibly shaking as they left the steering wheel and opened his door. Poor guy was nervous as hell and with good reason. He was the one most likely to lose his life in this whole mess.
The camera bounced as he walked, the microphone picking up sounds of shoes on gravel. Two figures silhouetted by a high light source, probably a streetlight, came into view.
"Long time no see," greeted one of the figures. "What the fuck's up with that?"
"I should be asking you that question," Eddie replied, his voice calm and steady. "The last batch of product I picked up from you was shit quality. We had to run around like fucking headless chickens making last minute deals to keep our customers happy."
The two men tensed, holding their weapons close as they approached Eddie until they stood right in front of him. In the camera, all I could see was a hand on the trigger of his semi-automatic.
"You saying our deal was dirty?" one of them spat, the microphone picking up the audio loud and clear.
"My boss is willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and possibly continue our business," Eddie replied. "He's fair and open to the possibility that it was an honest mistake."
"Where's your proof?" demanded the other soldier. "Show us this so-called low-quality product and you might have a fucking leg to stand on."
"What and let the cops stumble over it?" Eddie scoffed. "No fucking way. We dumped it. Cost of doing business but it needs to not happen again. Antigua should be aware of that."
The two guards stood in silence for a few moments which felt like hours to us watching and listening from the police van. In the silence, all I could hear was my heart hammering against my ribs.
Eddie was doing perfectly, saying all the exact lines I told him to. I put my palms together and silently prayed that these soldiers were as predictable as I imagined.
"Search him," one of them said finally.
Loud scuffling sounds came over the audio as they patted Eddie down for weapons, drugs, and any hidden surveillance devices.
That was a good sign. It meant they would let him in but I still held my breath as they searched him.
Liam clapped a hand down on my shoulder in a reassuring, brotherly pat. They shouldn't find our camera and microphone on him and he still seemed confident of that.
Police technology came a long way in recent years. The microphone was a tiny, wireless piece that sat directly inside Eddie's ear and looked like a hearing aid. The camera was also wireless and so tiny it was disguised as one of the buttons on his shirt. The quality was fairly low-resolution but good enough for us to get a layout of the compound once he was inside.
The scuffling stopped.
"He's clean."
I exhaled my breath after feeling I would nearly pass out from anxiety. Relief swept through as I hung my head low in my hands. If one of them noticed our devices, Eddie would be a dead man right now.
"Told you, man!" Liam slapped me on the back victoriously while several hoots and cheers rang throughout the crowded van. He was in! Now our time to move was coming up fast.
"Come with us," said one of the guards and the camera resumed bouncing as Eddie walked forward.
Another guard raised a large garage door to reveal a massive warehouse. It looked much bigger than the outside showed.
Shipping pallets stacked with various product and crates lined the walls, nearly reaching the incredibly tall ceiling. Some of the walls had doors in them, but mainly massive holes had been cut out of the walls and led to more warehouse space packed with products. An eighteen-wheeler could easily drive through one of those cutouts and that was probably how they shipped most of it out.
It was impossible to tell how many separate warehouse units were connected but it looked like a massive maze. Antigua's operation was easily worth millions, if not billions of illegal, dirty dollars.
However, the place looked sparsely guarded. There were two armed men posted at every doorway, even the large cut outs. Maybe it was just the massive space that made it looked like not many people were around.
Down and Dirty: A Single Dad Bad Boy Romance (Small Town Bad Boys Book 3) Page 12
