The Winter Collection

by Alexa Riley

  I’m excited at the idea myself and I look down at my stomach, wondering what it will be like to be pregnant. I place my hand there as I hear the elevator doors chime.

  We step off the elevator together and walk out the front door. I glance outside to see the same three SUVs from the day before already waiting for us. I’m confused as a shout from one of the men in a black suit has me turning to see what he’s looking at. I freeze when I see Eugene running right towards me.

  He’s crazed and there’s a wild look in his eyes. He screams my name over and over again. His normally wavy brown hair is matted and his eyes are bloodshot. He’s dressed in pure white like he always is but now his clothes are stained and he’s filthy. He was meticulous about his appearance while on the compound, but now he looks like he’s been living under a bridge.

  Two of the bodyguards go for him, but Reed barks for them to stop. They hesitate but do as he commands. Reed doesn't stop, though, and faster than a man his size should be able to move, he’s on Eugene.

  Reed grabs him by the throat, and as if he weighs nothing more than a rag doll, Reed slams Eugene down onto the concrete. I hear a loud crack of something breaking and I have to look away. A few more grunts and I peek back to see Reed going to town on Eugene. I know I have to stop him or he’s going to kill him with his bare hands.

  I walk over and place my hand on his back. At my touch he stops. Eugene makes a choking sound, but I don’t look at him. I keep my eyes on Reed as he leans down close to Eugene so he can hear him. When he speaks it’s low but deadly and for only Eugene and me to hear.

  “They think I’m not killing you because I’m a better man than that. That I’m showing you mercy,” Reed says as he looks back at me. “There is a fate worse than death and I know it because I’ve lived it. It’s knowing she’s out there but not with you.” He turns back to Eugene and squeezes his hand around his neck. “You’ll know she’s out there and she belongs to me. She always has and always will. You’ll sit in your cell and pray for death.” His dark words are scary, but they also mean so much to me.

  Reed stands up and steps over Eugene. His breathing is slowing as police cars pull up. I hadn't heard the sirens until now.

  “You scared of me?” Reed asks.

  “Scared of the boy who can’t even beat me at dodgeball?” I challenge. He wouldn’t ever throw the ball at me, but that was his problem not mine.

  “You got me there,” he says and grabs me by the waist and lifts me up.

  “It’s time to go home,” he tells me.

  “Does this mean no lunch?” Kathy asks. “She should really be eating extra for the baby.”

  I laugh as Reed kisses me and carries me away from everything I want to leave behind.

  Epilogue

  Reed

  One week later…

  She’s struggling with the zipper on her dress and I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing. In the week since she’s been back, my mom has probably made her put on about ten pounds. The dress fit when she first tried it on and now it’s stretched across her like a second skin.

  I love it because it shows off her growing curves and makes her look sexy as fuck. Also, she’s cute as hell when she’s aggravated and she hates how much I like it.

  “You’re enjoying this,” she says and lets out a frustrated growl.

  “Of course, I am,” I say as I walk over to her and help her with it.

  “This is all Kathy’s fault.”

  “Are you going to tell her that?”

  “No!” she protests and turns around. “Don’t you dare say that to her either.” I laugh as she turns in the mirror and smooths out the fabric. “This will probably be the only time I get to wear this dress with the rate I’m gaining weight.”

  “I hope so,” I say as I come up behind her and put my hand on her belly and kiss her neck.

  I rub her there and think about our baby that I know is on the way. She keeps telling me it’s too soon to tell, but we both know it would be nearly impossible for her not to be pregnant after all the sex we’ve been having.

  “Are you going to tell me where we’re going tonight?” she asks, turning in my arms and looking at me.

  “It’s a surprise,” I say as I kiss her on the nose and then grab my jacket off the bed.

  We’ve been home just over a week and we’ve settled in beautifully just like I knew we would. It’s like no time has passed and yet we’re all new at the same time. Mostly we’ve been making love on every surface in this place and against most of the walls. In between we visit my parents and let them feed us until we have to sleep.

  It was nice going back to their place with her and talking about old memories. One afternoon we walked through the field to her old house. She was quiet the whole way and when we got there she just stood outside for a while. She said she didn’t want to go in, but I think she might one day. I still forget that the parts of her childhood that didn’t have me in them are hard for her to think about. I don’t want to keep pulling those memories back up, but I think it’s important for her to make peace with her father and what he did.

  I heard back from Agent Davis about the trial for Eugene Mass. He said they could use Cami’s testimony and she didn’t have to come to trial, which was a load off my shoulders. I don’t want that piece of shit to ever get the privilege of seeing her again, and the sooner he rots away in his cell the better. We’re both happy to close that chapter of our lives and start the next one, which turns out is happening tonight.

  It’s New Year’s Eve and I’ve got a surprise planned for Cami. I know she knows what it is, because how could she not? But it’s a night for new beginnings and I plan on starting this year off right.

  “I’ll tell you one thing. We’re going to have dinner in the park,” I say as I take her hand and we walk out of the house.

  “The one with the swans?” she asks excitedly.

  “Maybe,” I say as I wink at her.

  She presses her lips together to keep from saying anything else and I shake my head at how damn cute she is.

  We go outside and the black SUV is waiting for us. Normally we drive ourselves around, but for tonight I didn’t want to worry about it. I wanted to be able to have both my hands on her. My house isn’t too far from my parents’ place and it’s nice and quiet. But we’ve talked about getting something bigger once our family begins to grow.

  I help Cami in the back and then I get in after her. She’s nervous as she fidgets, but I put my hand over hers to try and help her relax.

  “Breathe, Dimples.” She cuts her eyes at me, but then she playfully pokes my side.

  We’re on the way when I feel the car take a turn and we go off onto a gravel road.

  “What the hell?” I say as I look out the window and begin to see trees go by us.

  “What’s going on?” Cami says as she looks out her window.

  “I don’t know.” My eyebrows furrow as I hit the call button to the front of the SUV. “Lewis, what’s going on?”

  “The east bridge is stuck up in the air because a barge ran onto a sandbar. They’ve got the entire highway shut down on that side of town. I’m trying to take the cut through so we can make your reservation.”

  “Shit,” I mutter and look down at my watch.

  “I’m sure it’s fine,” Cami says, trying to smooth over my frustration.

  We bounce down the road for a little while longer and she lets out a squeak of fright when we hit a pretty big pothole. Just when I’m about to call up to the driver again and tell him to turn around there’s a loud pop and the car comes to a stop.

  “Oh no!” Cami cries, and she looks at me in panic.

  “Stay here,” I tell her and I open the car door and look out.

  The SUV is surrounded by mud and it looks like we’ve run over a pretty big log. I look around and see Lewis coming from the front and seeing the same thing I do.

  “We’re going to have to go on foot,” I tell Cami as I jump out and sink down a
nd few inches into the mud.

  “Reed, I’m in heels,” she says with panic in her voice. “And it’s cold out.”

  “Don’t worry, Dimples. I’ve got you.” I make her put on her coat and then I pick her up and carry her in my arms as I walk through the mud and away from the car.

  “We’re just going to leave him there?” She’s got a look of horror on her face and I shake my head.

  “I’ve got Triple A, and he’s probably got a gun on him. He’ll be fine,” I say.

  “What about us? We’re just going to go tromping off into the dark with mud and bugs?”

  “God, I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Reed, but I didn’t survive those five years without you to die out here.”

  “You’re with me, you have nothing to worry about,” I say as I walk through a thick row of trees and out into the clearing ahead.

  It takes her a second to register what she’s seeing and she gasps as I get closer.

  “You didn’t…” she says, and I hold her closer to me.

  “I did,” I mumble into her neck and walk towards the light ahead.

  We’re at the back of the elementary school where we used to play as kids. But I’ve had the whole thing set up like our high school prom. The one she missed out on and the one I couldn’t take her to.

  “I can’t believe this. When did you have time?”

  I set her down on the concrete and go over to the little table nearby. I hit play on the radio to turn on the music and I grab the box next to it.

  “I believe these are yours,” I say and hold up the shoes she got with my mom all those years ago.

  “Oh my god,” she whispers, putting her hand over her mouth, and I get down to help her put them on.

  “You planned all of this?” she asks with tears in her eyes.

  She lifts her feet and slide her shoes on. But instead of getting up after I’m finished, I stay down on my knee in front of her.

  “This is the place I gave you the ring for the first time,” I say, reaching into my pocket and taking out the same ring again. “This is where I knew I wanted you to be my wife even though I had no idea what that meant. I just knew that I would love you and protect you as long as I lived and nothing has changed since that day.”

  “Reed,” she says, her voice filled with so many emotions.

  “Don’t worry, I asked my mama this time,” I say. I wink at her and slide the ring on her finger. “Marry me, Cami. Marry me and let me love you forever.”

  She nods and tears stream down her cheeks because she’s unable to speak. I stand up and she falls against me as I wrap her up and swing her around in circles. The lights from above shine down on us and the announcer comes on the radio to begin the countdown.

  As they count the seconds I press my lips to hers and kiss the woman my heart tied itself to in this very spot all those years ago. I feel her love in her kiss and it’s the only thing I ever want from her in return.

  When I was a little kid I didn’t picture our lives like this. I thought that we’d play video games and eat pizza while we stayed up all night. I dreamed of building forts together and playing hide and seek until it got too dark and my mom told us to come home.

  Then when I got a little older and I knew that boys and girls could kiss, I thought about doing that with Cami while we still did all those fun things I dreamed up for us. But about the time my dad told me about sex, all those dreams of us together began to change and new ones came to life.

  If I could somehow go back in time I’d tell young Reed that it’s like all of that but so much better. I’d tell him it’s staying up all night and eating pizza and making blanket forts after we play naked hide and seek. Maybe I wouldn’t tell him all that, but I’d tell him that life with Cami is fucking epic.

  Or maybe I knew it all along and that’s why she was the one. For whatever reason she’s here with me right now and will be by my side forever.

  “Happy New Year,” I say as I smile at her.

  “What a way to ring it in,” she says, leaning up and kissing me once again.

  Epilogue

  Reed

  Eight years later…

  I fire off one last email on the new project Cami and I have been working on together. Working together never gets old and it’s nice we can make our own hours. She wanted to do more with helping missing girls after becoming fascinated with my work. With her passion and fire and my skills we make a great team. We’re able to pick when and where we can help and that’s great since having four children has made our lives really busy. We don’t get to do as much hands on as we once did, but we still do what we can. We’re lucky Mom and Dad are happy to lend a hand and in fact they've been asking when we’re having another.

  I shut my laptop and glance over at the clock. My parents stopped by earlier to pick up our youngest and then asked if they could pick the other three up from school. They wanted to take them out for ice cream at some new place in town and I know they’re just going to spoil them rotten. I don’t recall being able to get half the crap out of Mom when I was their age. I guess it’s the joys of getting to be the grandparent. I push back from my desk and go to find my wife.

  One of her favorite things is our family dinner and I know she’s probably in the kitchen prepping for it. My parents will likely join us, too. They do most nights. Since we built our house next to theirs, it’s made life easy. This land holds too many good memories to leave it. I never spent time here when she was gone because I couldn't bear it. I felt like I was suffocating when she wasn’t here, but when I brought her back we both knew without saying a word this was where we would spend our lives. We’d always call this home and we’ve make our family here.

  When I enter the kitchen I lean up against the wall and watch her move about the kitchen. She hums to herself as she cuts vegetables and immediately my eyes go to her hand. Her ring is missing and I stand up and walk over to her.

  “Where’s your ring?”

  She always has it on, but if she doesn’t she places it on the windowsill. I already looked over there and didn’t see it. I don't like seeing her finger bare. I’m a possessive bastard and like to see it on her. I know she’s mine, but this lets everyone else know without a word spoken.

  She looks up at me and her eyes widen in surprise as her eyebrows furrow together. I know this isn't good.

  “I can’t find it,” she admits. The small, sad hitch in her voice is like a kick in the stomach. “I looked everywhere and I, I—”

  “Calm down,” I tell her as I pick her up and sit her on the kitchen counter. I move between her thighs and I lean down to give her a quick kiss. That normally does the trick when she starts to get worked up.

  “It has to be here somewhere. You had it on yesterday and I took the kids to school today. You haven't gone anywhere.” She nods in agreement.

  Worry still lingers in her eyes and I know it’s not about the ring itself. We could buy that ring a million times over. It’s about what that ring symbolizes. The thought has me thinking back to the other night when my oldest son asked me about the ring that was always on Cami’s hand. The same as I’d done my own dad.

  “Oh no,” I say and can’t help but smile. “You don’t think Jase took it, do you?” I ask her, and she thinks for a minute before her mouth falls open.

  “Daisy.”

  That’s the little girl Jase is always talking about. The two of them have been best friends since our friend Sam adopted her. Daisy was four when we’d found her after she’d been kidnapped by her father. We located her quickly and got her back to her mother. Sam was with us at the time and he hadn't only fallen in love with the little girl who now calls him Dad but he’d fallen hard for her mother, too.

  It didn't take Sam long before he got a ring on Mary’s finger and legally adopted Daisy as his own. I knew our son was smitten with Daisy, but I just didn't know how deep it was. It looks like he’s following in my footsteps.

  “Could you imagine? Mar
y is going to die when I tell her.” Cami beams up at me. It took Cami all of half a second to become best friends with Sam’s wife. It only took Sam another second to move down the street from us. “She’s the sweetest little thing and you Sanders men can’t seem to make girls,” she scolds me like I can control the sex of our babies. Four boys over the last eight years had her thinking the day of having a little girl herself would never come. I was happy I had four boys to watch out for the day she does get a little girl.

  “We’ll have to try again,” I tease her, then kiss her again.

  She tries to push at my chest, but soon she’s pulling me closer and climbing me like a tree. I don’t know why I started something I know we can’t finish. This house is about to be filled with family at any moment. Maybe there’s time to have a taste of her, though. Something to hold me over.

  I pull my mouth from hers and drop to my knees in front of her. One day I’ll have to tell her when we built this kitchen I actually had the counters measured and made to the perfect height for eating her pussy.

  She’s not shy about our stolen moment and grabs her skirt and pulls it up. I pull her pink silk panties to the side and throw her legs over my shoulders.

  “Reed,” she moans, and I wish I had more time to draw this out; I’ll have to wait until I have her in our bed tonight.

  She dives her hands into my hair as I eat at her sweetness and groan, licking and sucking at her. I go right for her sweet spot and pull her orgasm right out of her as fast as I can. She screams out my name and I keep going because I want a little more of her. She jerks against me as I take one last lick before I pull my face away from between her thighs.

  Her eyes are heavy as I stand up and kiss her. My cock begs for release I know I can’t have right now, and she smiles up at me.

  “Fine, we can start trying again,” she says, and I chuckle.

  We waited at least a year between each of our sons before we started trying again. We knew we wanted one more but hadn't talked about when, and it looks like now is the time. I was sure she was going to make us wait another few months, but I guess she just needed a little coaxing.