Montana Homecoming

by Law, Kim

  “I love you.” She mouthed the words into his skin. He wouldn’t have heard them, but the words wouldn’t stay inside her any longer. She loved this man, and she wanted to be with him forever. She wanted them to make a family and a home with their son.

  She wanted them to have what everyone else in this room had.

  “Uncle Cord!” Jenna and Haley gasped at the same time as they unveiled the dollhouses and took in the three fully customized floors. They dropped to their knees to peer into each room.

  “You are the best,” Jenna whispered. Her face glowed with the thrill of her gift.

  “Still your favorite uncle?” Cord asked.

  The child rose and threw herself into Cord’s arms. “Always my favorite uncle.”

  Haley piled on as well, lots of giggles coming from the lump of squirming bodies, and as Maggie leaned back to give the kids plenty of room to love on their uncle, a cramp grabbed her in the lower part of her back.

  She grimaced, reaching for the spot that ached, but quickly righted her expression and hoped no one had noticed. The cramp, however, didn’t let up.

  “Are you okay?” Erica leaned forward from her seat behind Maggie and whispered into her ear. “Was that a contraction?”

  Maggie turned to look at her friend. “Shhh. No. Of course not. It was just a twitch in my back.” She wasn’t even due for another two weeks.

  “Back pains can be labor, too. What did the doctor say this week?”

  “Would you stop?” Maggie whispered. She didn’t want to take the attention off the girls.

  “What’s going on?” Cord asked, clueing in, and at his question, everyone else in the room quit talking. Even the girls quieted from their excitement over the dollhouses.

  “Is something wrong?” Gloria rose from her seat. “Are we about to have another baby?”

  “Are we about to meet my grandson?” Max added.

  Maggie couldn’t believe all the attention that had suddenly turned to her. And for no reason. “No.” She held her hands up, hoping they’d all go back to fawning over the girls. “I’m perfectly fine. Trust me. I’m just . . . huge. The extra weight has been causing my back to ache more here lately. That’s all.”

  She kept herself from rubbing her back, but she could tell that Cord wasn’t buying that she was perfectly fine. He knew she was still hurting.

  “Do you want to go lie down?” He asked the question for her ears only, and though leaving in the middle of the one moment the girls had been looking forward to all night was the last thing she wanted to do, she suddenly did wish to be out of there. Her back had hurt on and off since the night before, which was why she hadn’t slept well, but she’d found that stretching her legs out and propping herself up had helped. And she didn’t have room to do that down here.

  She nodded. “If you don’t think anyone would mind.”

  He took her hand and immediately rose.

  “Everyone.” Cord had their attention before he even opened his mouth. “Merry Christmas Eve to you all.” He winked at Jenna and Haley. “And especially to two of my favorite nieces. But Maggie and I are going to turn in for the night. We’ll see you bright and early in the morning.”

  “To see what Santa brought.” Jenna’s eyes sparkled.

  “Exactly.”

  Maggie smiled at the girls, the move a silent apology for interrupting the moment—which she doubted they understood—then she assured everyone else when they asked that she really was okay.

  “She didn’t sleep well last night,” Cord shared. “And I think you all have worn her out.”

  He hadn’t let go of her hand, and when he looked down at her again, the concern in his eyes gave him away. He was seriously worried about her. She found herself on the verge of tears just from the distress coming from him and hoped desperately that they could escape the room without her having to say anything else.

  “Let us know if you need anything,” Megan offered, and Cord assured her they would. Then he led Maggie to the steps, and they disappeared upstairs.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cord pushed the bedroom door closed behind them and turned Maggie to face him. He captured both her hands, looking her over from head to toe. “You’re okay?”

  “Absolutely. The pain has already started to ease off.”

  “I think we should call your doctor.”

  He cringed as she guffawed, knowing he was acting more like a nervous first-time father than the educated physician he was. But he couldn’t help it. The way her face had paled downstairs worried him.

  “Or I could check you myself,” he offered. “You said your cervix had started thinning this week. You could be dilating now.”

  She stared at him, seemingly aghast. “That is not going to happen.” Pulling one hand free, she jabbed a finger over her shoulder. “What is going to happen is that I’m going to borrow your pillow, as well as take my own, then I’m going to prop myself up in bed like I did last night”—her voice changed then, growing deeper—“and then we’re going to have the Christmas Eve we’ve both been thinking about all week.”

  Heat spread through Cord as the gray of her eyes deepened along with her voice. “Maggie . . .”

  They couldn’t have the night he’d been thinking about. No way. And he shouldn’t have been thinking it to begin with. Not with her being nearly nine months pregnant. But the woman could be such a tease.

  He brought her hand to his lips. “How about we just have a nice evening relaxing together. No pressure for anything else.” He pressed a kiss to back of her fingers. “We could exchange presents.” He kissed her palm. “I’ll go grab us a couple of cups of hot cocoa.” He touched his lips to the inside of her wrist. “And we’ll sit and watch the snow outside the balcony doors while I hold you in my arms.”

  Part of the renovations had included adding balconies to all the rooms.

  She studied him silently, her head tilted just the slightest amount. “That does sound really good,” she murmured. “But how about you give me a back rub first? Then”—she lifted a shoulder in a shrug, and her eyes screamed mischief—“we see where things go.”

  The woman was going to be the death of him. “We are not doing what you’re thinking.”

  “Why not? Afraid of a little pregnancy sex?” Her teeth flashed with her smile, and he forgot his concern for a moment. Instead, he pulled her in and gave her a taste of what she was begging for.

  “Mags,” he whispered into her hair after he forced his lips from hers. “This may not be safe. Your back is hurting.”

  She didn’t immediately reply, and he pulled back to look at her. Her face gave told the truth.

  “That’s it.” He moved to the bed and pulled the covers back on one side, then he stacked both pillows against the headboard. “Your overnight bag is in the bathroom. You change while I go find us some cocoa, and when I get back, I want you right here in this bed.”

  Her naughty smile returned. “Yes, sir.”

  Cord didn’t say anything else, just growled in the back of his throat and kissed her on the forehead, then he left the room and headed for the kitchen. He could hear the rest of his family still hanging out together in the main room, and he had one tiny bit of regret that he wasn’t in there with them. It had been a good night. And this had been a Christmas like none other before. So much had changed for all of them, and there was such a level of happiness in this house now. Not at all like when they’d been kids.

  Even so, he’d rather be upstairs with Maggie. And he’d rather not be in the same room with his father.

  He knew it was unfair not to have had a discussion with the man. Everyone deserved a right to defend themselves. But the more he’d replayed the two encounters in his mind over the last few days, the more he hadn’t been able to see how that hadn’t been a setup. Granted, Doc Hamm did want to retire. There was a perfectly good reason for that. But that didn’t mean Hamm had personally intended to seek Cord out. And it didn’t mean Cord’s dad had a right to make th
at happen. His dad could have come to him. He could have mentioned to him that Hamm was retiring. Cord could have reached out to Hamm if that was what he wanted to do.

  There were any number of ways things could have played out that involved being upfront and honest. And that was Cord’s issue. He didn’t allow people to manipulate him. Ever.

  He heard a cry come from one of the babies as he ducked into the kitchen, heading for the pot of cocoa Megan had prepared earlier in the evening, and he let the feeling of peace replace the previous annoyance as he thought about the fact that it would soon be his own child he heard crying. And if the night went the way he hoped, he’d be hearing that cry every day instead of just on the weekends.

  With a smile on his face and a skip in his step, he prepared a tray with two mugs, two spoons, and two little bowls—one with peppermint chips and one with marshmallows—and he headed back up to the mother of his child. He knocked before entering the room, and at her soft “come in” he cracked open the door and pushed it wider with his foot.

  Inside, the room was mostly dark, and Maggie now sat propped up in bed as he’d expected, but what he didn’t expect was to find her in a white lacy gown. Her hair had been brushed and drifted into piles around her shoulders. Her bare toes peeked out from the bottom of the full-length gown. And from head to toe, he could see every shadow and curve of her body beneath the almost sheer material.

  The soft light coming from the bedside lamp only added to her allure.

  “Mags,” he whispered. She amazed him. “You’re stunning.”

  She glowed at his compliment. “You make me actually believe those words.”

  He stepped inside the room. “There’s no reason not to believe them. Have you looked at yourself lately?”

  He set the tray down on the dresser just inside the room, returning to close and lock the door, then he picked up the small present he’d set out earlier. The one Maggie had brought for him was already lying on the bed beside her.

  “Cocoa or gifts first?” he asked.

  “I want you to touch me first,” she said instead, and his will was shot.

  “Maggie.” He crawled onto the bed, kicking off his shoes as he went, but he removed nothing else. He told himself that tonight wasn’t about making love. He wouldn’t let it be. He didn’t want Maggie to be uncomfortable in any way, and given she’d been hurting on and off since the night before, he wouldn’t risk adding to it. He just wanted to be there with her. Right in this moment.

  “Just touch,” she told him, as if reading his mind. Then, as he settled in on his side beside her, she took one of his hands and put it over her stomach.

  Pleasure washed over him. He’d felt his son move many times by this point, and he’d touched her belly for every one of those instances. But he’d never allowed himself to reach under any of her clothes. He always touched through fabric.

  He didn’t reach under her gown now, either, but with the thinness of the material, it was practically the same as caressing bare skin. He ran a finger over a long stretch mark. He slid his thumb over her protruding belly button. It had popped out that week, and every time he’d looked at her today, he’d thought about how cute she was.

  Only, she wasn’t cute. She was beautiful.

  “Our son is going to be so lucky to have you as his mother,” he whispered as he remained propped up next to her, then he followed his hand by leaning in and kissing her belly. Next, he rested the side of his face where he’d placed the kiss. He could hear gurgling inside, but their son remained still. She was full beneath him, though. Her skin was stretched tight.

  “You’ll be there to take care of him if I can’t?” Her worry made him hurt for her.

  “I’ll always be there.” Cord lifted up to look at her. “As long as you’ll let me,” he promised. And as he stared down at her, he knew that if it weren’t for the promise he’d made to himself so many years ago, he could totally fall in love with this woman. He cupped her cheek with his hand and pressed a kiss to her lips.

  It was only a kiss. One meant to show words he would never say, but then her mouth parted.

  She groaned as their tongues touched, and she recaptured his hand and moved it back to her body. But this time, it wasn’t her belly she covered. Instead, his hand went to her breast.

  “Mags.”

  “Just touch me.” Her eyes had closed. “Please, Cord. It’s been so long.”

  So that’s what he did. He lifted back to one elbow, and he let his hand and his eyes move over her the way he’d been wanting to do for so long. He traced over every dip and curve. He circled her darkened areolas and nipples. He cupped her heavy breasts. And with every moan and soft breath he heard, he grew even bolder.

  One of her hands fluttered up, reaching for him, but he moved it back to her side. This was her night. Not his. He didn’t need anything more than to touch her.

  “Please,” she begged a couple of minutes later, the word barely reaching his ears, and when her fingers began to tug at the skirt of her gown, inching it higher up her thighs, he snagged the material and helped her.

  Together, they slipped the gown up and over her head, and in her eyes he saw her nervousness as she bared herself completely to him. But he didn’t let her nerves stand. There was no need for them. He kissed her, he stroked her, and he took every liberty of a man who’d seen and loved her body before.

  He nipped her behind the ear. He skirted a finger over the outside of her breast.

  And when she begged once again, he finally slid his hand lower and slipped his fingers between her legs.

  “Cord!” she breathed out his name, her chest bowing upward and her eyes closed tight.

  “Hold on, baby.” He parted her wider, and it took less than a second to find the spot she so desperately needed him to touch. “This okay?” he asked. Passion had him ready to do anything she asked, but nerves held him back.

  Her head jerked in a nod. “Yes. Please. Touch me. Don’t stop.”

  So, he didn’t stop. He flicked and tweaked, and he suckled at her nipples while his fingers worked below, and in only a matter of minutes, her entire body began to tighten in front of him.

  “Don’t stop, Cord,” she begged.

  He wouldn’t stop now if he could.

  As he continued to bring her to the edge, he couldn’t take his eyes off her glorious body. He’d never seen anything more perfect.

  “Now,” she whispered, and her body grew even tauter. “Yes. Yes. Pleeease.”

  Cord didn’t let up as her orgasm ripped through her. He held her, and he touched her, and when she turned her face to his, he kissed her with both tenderness and passion. He kissed her in a way he’d never kissed another woman. And when her body finally calmed, when she collapsed back to the bed in a heap, it was everything he could do not to let tears leak out of his eyes to match her own.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maggie woke sometime in the early morning hours. Her back was hurting again, but she didn’t want to move. Cord lay curled up behind her, both of them on their sides, and his heat against her backside felt almost as good as his hand and fingers had felt earlier against her front.

  She mentally stretched and purred as if she were a cat. That had been the best orgasm of her life.

  She felt slightly bad that the moment had been all about her, but just slightly. They would have other times to do more. And if she didn’t feel like doing anything else before the baby was born, then there would be plenty of time after.

  “You awake?” Cord said from behind her.

  “Mmm,” she replied instead of answering. She wasn’t ready to move yet.

  “You okay?”

  She turned her head at the sound of his unease, and when she did, he lifted his head so he could see her better. There was no light on in the room now, but a nightlight from the bathroom cast a glow across the bed. She could see his worry in the lines pulled on either side of his mouth.

  “I felt your body tense,” he explained. His han
d slid along her side and moved around to her back. “Is it your back again?”

  “Just a little.”

  He began to massage her, somehow knowing exactly where to rub, and this time she did purr like a cat.

  “That feels good,” she murmured.

  “I’m glad. I’ll do it the rest of the night if you need me to.”

  She fell silent, enjoying the moment and letting him work out some of the soreness, and once the tightness had eased, she rolled to her back. She’d put her gown back on earlier, but she recalled the way he’d looked at her when she’d been naked. After witnessing that, she didn’t know why she’d ever been hesitant to let him see her that way in the first place. Her shape and the many stretchmarks clearly weren’t an issue.

  “Do you want your present?” She pushed to a sitting position, remembering that they’d never gotten around to exchanging gifts. “Since we’re both awake, and since it’s officially Christmas now?”

  He sat up with her. “I’d love it. And I’d love to give you yours, too.”

  They took a couple of minutes, both using the restroom and brushing their teeth, and by the time Cord had come back into the room, Maggie had put on a robe she’d pulled from her bag and turned on the bedside light.

  Cord stopped in the middle of the room, his eyes lingering on the robe covering her see-thru gown. “Now that’s a real shame.”

  She grinned. “Give me a break. I’m feeling vulnerable.”

  “Now you’re feeling vulnerable?” His brows went up. “Not when I had you naked and squirming in my arms?”

  “Stop teasing me,” she chided. “And come back over here. I want you to open my present first.”

  “My pleasure.” He climbed onto the bed similarly to when he’d returned to the room earlier and found her waiting for him in only her gown, only now he wore only a pair of flannel pajama bottoms. She eyed his broad, bare chest and recalled the feel of all that muscle bunching under her hands, but she didn’t let herself touch. Again, there would be time for that later.