bottle of cold apple juice that he’d brought her only to hand it over to him so that she could grab one of the bags of junk food.
With a satisfied sigh, she placed the bag between them and began rummaging through it while he sat there, holding her drink, and unable to help but smile as he watched her.
“If you don’t want to lose a hand, I’d take it off those Twinkies, Yummy,” she drawled with a look that had him quickly dropping the Twinkies and moving his hand away from that bag before the woman glaring at the misguided appendage could tear it off and shove it up his-
Holding up her juice in offering with the hopes that she wouldn’t follow through with that threat that her eyes clearly conveyed, he said, “So, you were saying?”
Chapter 54
“Sweetheart?” Reese said, sounding amused for some reason.
She grumbled her answer as she shifted to get more comfortable, too exhausted to do anything more than that at the moment. It had been a long night and an even longer month since the last time she’d fallen asleep in his arms.
“I’m just going to lay down now while you choose your next argument,” he said after a moment, which of course she decided to answer with another groan as he did just that.
Thankfully, he knew well enough not to disturb her as he laid back, careful to keep his arms around her so that she didn’t roll off him. Once he was done, she grumbled a few more things that even she didn’t understand, released a small sigh and-
“Uh, sweetheart?”
“What?” she asked crabbily, wondering why he wasn’t letting her sleep.
“I believe you were in the middle of threatening to tear my balls off if I went to work for my uncle,” he reminded her, clearly sounding amused, which she did not appreciate.
Not. At. All.
So, she let him know it by-
“Ow! Did you just poke me?”
In answer, she poked him in the side again.
“You’re vicious,” he said, chuckling.
“You knew this going in,” she mumbled sleepily as she shifted on top of him only to decide that this new position didn’t properly accommodate the slight swell of her stomach.
“I did,” he murmured in agreement, helping her shift off of him so that she was lying by his side and using his shoulder as a pillow.
Closing her eyes, she mumbled, “You’re not going to work for your uncle doing construction,” hoping that would be the end of the argument.
Unfortunately for her, it seemed that he was in a chatty mood, which of course was going to end up getting him killed.
Unless he made her pancakes.
“I don’t have much of a choice, sweetheart,” he said, trying to appease her with a kiss. “It’s either stay at a job I hate or work for my uncle.”
“You really do,” she said sleepily.
“I really don’t. Not with two babies on the way,” he said with a heavy sigh as he wrapped his arms more tightly around her.
“We’re fine,” she said stubbornly, not really appreciating the insinuation that she couldn’t take care of her kids.
She’d done it before and she could do it again if she had to. This wasn’t about her or the babies. This was about him. She wanted to see him happy and working for his uncle wouldn’t do that unless he could do what he loved and she damn well knew that he wasn’t planning on asking his uncle to give him a job designing projects. He liked working with his hands and she knew that he would enjoy working for his uncle, but he wouldn’t love it.
He deserved to be happy.
“Look, it’s late and we’re both tired-”
“And hungry,” she added with a grumble, kind of wishing that it would be enough to get him to make her a batch of pancakes.
“-and hungry,” he amended with a chuckle before continuing. “We can talk about this tomorrow.”
“It is tomorrow,” she pointed out with an irritated sigh as she rolled over onto her side and faced away from him, wondering when he’d become such a chatterbox.
There was a heavy sigh and then, “Fine. Then we’ll talk about it later.”
“After you make me pancakes?” she asked, because she’d found that it was always best to clear up any misunderstandings early on.
“After I make you pancakes,” he added with a chuckle as he rolled over onto his side so that he could curl up behind her, wrap his arm around her, and-
“Yummy?”
“Hmm?” he asked sleepily as he pressed a kiss against her neck.
“It’s poking me,” she said, making sure to sound putout even as she gave her bottom a little wiggle simply because she could.
“He’s missed you,” he said innocently, giving her another kiss as she felt him pull the hem of her shirt up and over her bottom.
“What are you doing?” she asked, biting back a moan simply because it wouldn’t do to have him know just how much she’d missed him and that incredibly large appendage gently grinding against her bottom.
She had to keep him humble, she told herself with a smile and a small gasp when she felt him reach between them to free his erection. “Push back, sweetheart,” he said, already guiding her hip so that she could do just that.
“Again, with the bossiness, Yummy,” she said with a sad shake of her head even as she complied, pushing back only to gasp when he met her halfway.
“Never stopped,” he admitted with another kiss as his hand found her breast.
“And you probably never will,” she said, gasping as he stopped halfway inside of her only to pull back until just the tip of his cock that she would swear was bigger than she remembered was inside her.
“Never,” he promised her.
Sighing heavily, she said, “The things I put up with.”
“You love it,” he said, slowly pushing back inside her only to tease her again.
“Are you doing this to distract me?” she had to ask, groaning when he once again pulled back, leaving her desperate and on the verge of begging him to fuck her.
“Am I distracting you?” he asked, slowly pushing back in.
“You’re definitely making me want to kill you,” she admitted with a frustrated growl when he once again stopped halfway.
“I just thought that we should probably discuss a few things while we have a moment,” he said, sounding completely relaxed while she was on the verge of screaming in frustration.
“Yummy,” she bit out in warning as she tried to push back only to have him release her breast so that he could cup her hip and keep her from putting them both out of their misery.
“First,” he said, clearly intent on ignoring her and her needs now that she was wide awake, wet, and desperate for him, “tell me that you missed me.”
“You want me to lie, Yummy?” she asked, loving the way that he growled when she teased him.
“Yes,” he whispered, sliding his hand down her hip and over her thigh.
“Did you miss me?” she countered, taking advantage and pushed back until he was back inside her.
He pressed a kiss against her neck before he moved his mouth next to her ear. “Every fucking minute of every fucking day. I missed holding you, touching you, and fucking you. I thought about just how good it was going to feel when I touched you, how good your breasts felt in my hands, and about all the things that I wanted to do to you.”
“And what’s that?” she found herself asking as she rotated her hips and moaned as the move caused her to ride him.
“When I wasn’t thinking about just how fucking good it felt when you sucked my cock, I was thinking about fucking you, about how good you felt around me and wondering how it would feel the next time I bent you over the table and fucked you.”
Licking her lips, she nodded, “Okay, I might have missed you, too.”
Chapter 55
“Well?”
“Well, what?” he asked, pouring more batter on the hot griddle.
“Are you ready to tell me why you’re suddenly here?” Eric asked, helping h
imself to a sausage link.
“Are you going to tell me why you started acting like a little bitch and abandoned Kasey and Mikey?” he countered, checking on the hash browns that he was cooking for Kasey to go along with the pancakes and sausage that she’d demanded before she’d passed out.
“Is that for Kasey?” Eric asked, gesturing to the potatoes with a sausage link.
“Yes,” he said, shifting the plate of sausages away from the little bastard before he could eat them all.
“You might want to rethink the potatoes,” Eric said, popping the last bite into his mouth.
“Why’s that?” he asked, stirring the hash browns.
“Because when she was pregnant with Mikey potatoes made her sick,” Eric said with a shrug, making Reese pause mid-stir.
“Celery makes her sick this time,” Sara said around a yawn as she walked into the kitchen, stole a pancake and sat at the kitchen island. “She can eat potatoes this time.”
Shrugging, Eric grabbed a pancake and joined her, pausing long enough to send her a glare. Flipping the pancakes, Reese repeated his question, “Why did you ditch her?”
“Because he’s an idiot,” Sara said, putting her pancake on a plate and pouring an insane amount of syrup on it before swiping Eric’s fork.
“The sexual tension between us is stifling,” Eric said, throwing Sara a wink.
“I loathe you,” she said, as she reached over and stole his pancake with a glare that the seemingly happy man ignored with a smile.
“I was doing her a favor,” he said with a shrug as he got up and helped himself to more food.
“By ditching her?” Reese asked, as he shifted his attention to Sara to find her glaring at Eric’s back and muttering under her breath.
“Exactly,” Eric said, holding up his plate and gesturing for Reese to load him up.
Glaring down at the smaller man, he said, “And?”
“I wanted her to have a second chance and she wouldn’t have had that if I was around, reminding her of Michael,” he said with a shrug as he grabbed a sausage and took a bite. “She deserves to be happy for everything my brother put her through.”
“Eric,” Sara bit out in warning as the two of them shared a look.
Shaking his head in disgust, he grabbed another sausage and took a bite. “She’s been through hell and deserved to be happy and if that meant that I had to get lost for a bit then so be it,” he said with a shrug.
“And you couldn’t have told her that?” Reese asked, as his respect for the man rose.
Eric snorted at that. “She’s too damn stubborn to listen.”
“She really is,” Sara agreed with a nod.
“So, now that you’ve knocked up my best friend, what are you planning on doing about it?” Eric asked with a pointed look at Reese.
“I’m going to marry her,” he said with absolutely no hesitation.
“Have you asked her yet?” Sara asked, as he finished making a plate up for Kasey, who last time he’d checked was still passed out.
“Not yet.”
“What’s the hold up?” Eric asked, stealing another sausage link.
“She’s stubborn,” he said, making the other man chuckle.
“She’s not going to marry you if she thinks you’re only doing it to do the right thing,” Sara informed them as she pulled out her phone and checked her messages.
“She’s right. She won’t,” Eric agreed.
“That’s not the only reason,” he promised her.
“Then make sure that she knows that,” Sara said, looking bored as she continued to scroll through her phone.
“I will,” he promised, telling himself that he had this in hand when in reality, he was so out of his fucking league on this that it wasn’t even funny, but at the moment he was willing to bullshit himself if that’s what it took.
Deciding that it was probably for the best if he got out of there before they realized that he was full of shit, he grabbed a bottle of apple juice, two forks, and the plate loaded with food and headed back towards Kasey’s bedroom only to stop halfway there when he spotted Mikey sitting on her bed, looking absolutely lost. Hoping that she was hungry, he changed course and decided to spend time with his favorite little girl in the world.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, as he walked into the small bedroom, taking her shrug as an invitation.
“How’d you sleep last night?” he asked, handing her the bottle of juice and sat down next to her as he handed her a fork.
“Uncle Eric snores and Aunt Sara hogs the bed,” she said with a sigh as she helped herself to a sausage.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said with a wince of sympathy, remembering all-too-well what it was like as a kid being forced to share a bed with his brothers and cousins during one of their many family trips.
“It’s okay,” she mumbled with a shrug.
“Something on your mind, sweetheart?” he asked, taking his time to cut the pancakes into smaller bites to make it easier for her.
“Mom’s pregnant, right?” she asked, staring down at the plate as she reluctantly helped herself to a bite of pancake.
“Yes,” he said slowly, not sure if it was his place to answer her, but he wasn’t about to sit here and lie to her when she already knew the truth. He wouldn’t lie to her or hurt her in any way and he needed her to know that.
She nodded slowly as she stabbed another piece of pancake with her fork, making sure to double-dip it in syrup. “And the baby’s yours?” she asked after a slight hesitation.
“Yes,” he said, deciding to leave it up to Kasey to tell her about the twins.
Mikey nodded as she took a bite of food. As he joined her, he looked around the small bedroom, deciding that he was going to have to make sure that her next bedroom was a hell of a lot bigger and had plenty of shelves for all the baseballs and hats that she liked to collect.
“What happens to me?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, looking at the little girl, who was worrying her bottom lip and reminding him so much of her beautiful mother.
It made him wonder if their children were going to take after their mother. He sure as hell hoped so.
“Am I going to go live with Aunt Sara?” she asked, risking a glance to find him frowning.
“Why would you go live with your Aunt Sara?”
“Because,” she said, shrugging it off like it was nothing.
“Because, why?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted with a shrug as she took another bite.
“Is there something you want to ask me, sweetheart?” he asked, glancing back down at her to find her staring down at the plate of food and giving him another shrug. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re stubborn?” he asked, chuckling as he put his arm around her tiny shoulders.
“Is mom going to love the baby more than me?” she asked before shaking her head quickly and saying, “Forget it.”
When she moved to climb off the bed, he tightened his hold on her and pulled her back down next to him with a heavy sigh. “I see that we have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”
Shrugging, she went back to staring down at the food as she picked the fork back up and absently picked at her food as she shot glances up at the bedroom door every few seconds.
“You’re tempted to go hide out on the roof, aren’t you?” he asked, quickly figuring out that look.
“Yes, yes I am,” she admitted with a shrug.
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