Chapter 49
FINLEY
Blanca knows Jayden and Elijah are going to walk in any moment now. I’ll have to leave for work in under an hour, but with breakfast made and ready for them, we can eat together and just be with each other for at least a moment before I have to leave.
Summer has an obstetrics appointment this morning, and she’s trusting me to open the office and sort through the samples that arrived yesterday for one of her clients.
I can’t let her down, especially when she’s being so understanding about me not being able to drive to the warehouses and pick said samples up on her behalf.
I have my first driving lesson—gifted to me by Jayden’s parents at Christmas—next week. The thought of it alone is enough to make me feel sick.
“Blanca, baby! Din-dins!” I call across the open-plan living area of Jayden’s apartment.
Our apartment. I have to correct myself because it feels surreal that this is my life.
This is my home. Where I live with my men.
This is our home.
“Blanca!” I call again, only to receive a long whine back.
Except this time, the whine turns into an excited howl that’s cut through with the noisy scuttle of her nails on the stone floor of the entry hallway.
They’re home.
They’re here.
Taking a moment, I check my hair quickly on my phone and make sure my gloss is still on my lips and not on my teeth or around my mouth, where I’ve been rubbing my lips together so much in anticipation of seeing them.
“Fin?” Eli calls in the distance.
My pulse picks up instantly.
“Baby?” Jayden hollers after a bit while Eli tries to calm Blanca down.
She may only have three legs, but she can jump really high, and she’s strong enough to pin you to the door with one paw and her body weight.
“Angel?” Eli hoots with laughter as Blanca comes bounding into the room with him and Jayden right on her heels.
She runs straight around the kitchen island, jumping at me with a drooling mewl, telling me that they’re back.
As soon as Eli approaches, she pushes off me and rushes back to him. Meanwhile, JJ envelops me in the biggest hug from behind.
“Good morning, Baby,” he sighs, burying his face in my neck before he breathes me in deep.
All my words evade me at the sensation of his stubble on my heated skin.
Jayden’s sucking and licking at my neck, his hands gripping my sides as I squirm deeper into him.
“Fuck, yes,” he growls. “Yes, I’ve missed this so much.”
The second I tilt my face up to his, Jayden’s mouth is on mine. Hard and demanding. Each lick and swirl of his tongue with mine sends a shiver through me—from my head to my tiptoes—as I try to push my face higher up into his.
I’m lost for breath when he spins me to face him and then pins me to the refrigerator. Before I can fuss over the cut on his nose, his whole body is pressed to mine.
I wish I didn’t have to leave the apartment today, because all my senses are go, go, go for him.
Big hands skim down the side of my body, gripping my ass tightly with a rough jolt that hooks my thigh over his hip.
“Fin…” The groan vibrates over my skin with the pull of his teeth on my lip. “Baby, I want to lay you out right here,” he tells me, lifting me up and taking me to the kitchen island.
With a quick glance over his shoulder at the oven clock, I say, “I have to be out that door in forty-five.”
“Doable,” Eli murmurs, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “Hello, Angel.”
“Hello, Love.” Now I’m the one sighing when he molds his hand to my face and peppers kisses on my forehead, my cheeks, and my nose, before his mouth finds mine.
Then his tongue spears past my lips with a guttural grunt. There’s no prelude to the hard grip of his hands on my thighs as he yanks me in front of him. He’s fucking my mouth the way he eats my pussy. Like it’s his last supper.
Even as Jayden goes about unwrapping my sweater dress from my body, Eli doesn’t stop kissing me.
I don’t think he’s ever kissed me like this.
Like it really might be our last taste of each other.
And I reciprocate with every part of me, until I’m gasping for breath and my beautiful men have me splayed on the cold granite, completely at their mercy.
***
“Congratulations!” I squeal, giving Summer the hugest hug while she shows me her latest ultrasound pictures that confirm she’s having a sweet baby girl. “Are you happy?”
“So freaking happy!” We’re jumping up and down in the middle of the office, her rounded belly pressing into my stomach.
My thoughts go straight to the baby conversation JJ, Eli, and I had in Aspen—and the crazy-hot sex that followed. The sex. The conversation. What it means, and how every part of me yearns for it.
I can picture it all. Our life. Our future. Our babies. Wild, dark-haired boys, and quietly brooding, light-haired girls. A whole brood of them to chase around and love on…
My heart is dying for it.
“I can’t wait to meet her,” Summer sighs with a blissed-out smile that makes the longing inside me wrench deeper.
“I’ve been thinking about names for a while, and it clicked today.
I wasn’t sure about it when Parker suggested Persephone, but I can just hear myself calling for her in the playground…
Percy East… come to Momma…” She’s cooing with a warble in her voice when the bell over the door rings through the space.
Blanca’s telltale whine greets me before I turn to see Eli standing in the open doorway, trying to calm her down while Jayden saunters toward me. A soft grin lights up his face when our stares lock.
I swear the space shrinks around me with his hulking presence. So tall that he has to dip every so often to avoid the exposed wood beams. Everything about him is so big. So significant.
“Hey, Baby,” he croons, stopping in front of me with a drink tray in one hand and a food bag in the other. His gaze drops to the strip of scan pictures in my hand before he looks past me at Summer. “Hi… and congratulations…”
“Hi, and thank you… again,” she snickers back as I give her the scan images.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Jayden, leaning to the side to see Eli filling up the doorway with Blanca cradled in his arms like she weighs as little as a newborn.
“Feeding you,” JJ replies, grin broadening. “We missed breakfast, so…”
Did we? Heat sparks across my face at the memory of how they ravaged me.
“Actually, I was about to close up. We don’t have any more client calls or meetings today, and you’ve sorted through all the samples already…” Summer clears her throat. “So, I think I’m going to go kidnap Parker from work and take him baby girl shopping.”
“I still have a few emails to reply to,” I start, but she quickly tells me, “You can totally do that from home.”
“Are you sure?”
“Girl, you’ve spent the last two weeks staring daggers at that calendar,” she laughs, pointing to the month-at-a-glance whiteboard on the wall next to my desk. “I’m sure.”
“Bee, chill…” Eli groans at our baby’s loud grumble.
“Come on in,” Summer tells him, heading to her desk where her MacBook is already shut and her planner is stacked on top with her phone, ready to be dropped into her purse. “She can probably smell Dex. I bring him to keep me company sometimes.”
On cue, Blanca takes off around the perimeter of the office, sniffing every corner before beelining for Summer.
With a chuckle, JJ puts the drinks and food in his hands down on the workbench beside us. “That dog is crazy. She spent the whole damn morning stalking Eli around the apartment or pacing at the front door, waiting for you.”
Eli greets Summer with a wave, crouching next to me and JJ to call Blanca back. She pays him no mind, enjoying Summer’s fuss too much.
“You’ve turned her into an attention whore,” Jayden chuffs, draping his arm around my shoulders and drawing me to him for a quick, chaste kiss.
All the while, Eli’s hand wraps around my calf, skimming up past the short hem of my skirt to squeeze the back of my thigh as he presses a quick peck below my hip.
So brazen… and so freaking hot. It takes everything for me not to whimper when he stands and the rough pads of his fingers rake over my skin.
“You should totally bring her in tomorrow, and I’ll bring Dex. They can make friends and—” She cuts off when the bell rings again.
Parker, her husband, waltzes in. He’s tall, but not like Eli and JJ. He’s a solid six foot—five to seven inches shorter than my men.
He pauses, looking around the office while Blanca skulks back to us. Male strangers give her the heebie-jeebies.
“Still think you don’t need a bigger space?” Parker greets Summer with a laugh, followed by a tender, sweeter-than-sweet kiss as his hand molds to her belly.
I swear, I about die when Eli’s big hand rounds from my waist to my stomach while he buries his face in my hair with a deep inhale.
“Wanna grab your things and head out?” he asks, fingertips clawing into my flat tummy.
“We can picnic on the beach and then take missy to the pet store to get her some chew toys,” Jayden offers, reluctantly releasing me.
“I was reading up on Boxers, and if you don’t give them something to chew, they’ll find anything.
Also, I want to get her some doggy supplements.
Apparently, the breed is prone to heart issues… ”
“She needs an elevated feeding station, too,” Eli adds as they continue noting the list that they’ve clearly already made.
Goodness, I leave them alone for one morning…
I make quick work of packing my belongings while Summer continues fussing over Blanca, and the guys fall into an animated conversation with Parker.
“That was a great streak,” Parker says, taking Summer’s large purse and hoisting it over his shoulder.
“Could’ve been better without the loss to Chicago,” Eli huffs with a hard clench of his jaw.
I don’t miss the way Parker watches them when JJ wraps his arm around Eli’s waist. The anxiety that hits me at the possibility that he’s judging my men makes me feel sick.
“Can’t win them all,” Parker says with a light chuff. “We’re still in a good spot for the Playoffs. I think that’s all any of the real fans care about.”
There it is, the knowing smile that says he watched the postgame interview, and he doesn’t care one bit about the noise the reporter made on their relationship outside the game.
“It’s going to be an explosive end to the season, for sure,” Parker adds before shifting the conversation. “I’ve been meaning to ask if the stills from the footage were of any help?”
Oh, God.
The air chills so fast that I shiver into JJ’s side. His hand clamps on my waist with the same death grip that I have on my purse.
“If you want the real-time footage, I can email it over. It’s not something that I usually do. I don’t want our patrons thinking that we’re spying on them, you know? But I’ll make the exception for friends,” Parker gives me a reassuring smile.
“Our people are trying to get the source’s information from The Chronicle. We’re pretty certain it’s the same guy from the bar, but no tangible proof, so…” JJ blows out a long breath.
“Same guy that showed up here,” Parker mutters. “You’d think those two incidents would be enough to raise a red flag, but the law makes it so damn hard to protect—”
“Parker, Babe…” Summer murmurs, with a diffusing kiss to his bicep, before she tells Jayden and Eli, “This fight is not new to us.”
“The Chronicle won’t help you.” Parker glares at the floor.
In his expensive suit, with his hands on his narrowed waist and Summer’s flowery purse on his shoulder, he makes quite the juxtaposing picture.
“I had some similar issues with them when my ex was feeding them false stories to make a quick buck. Ended up asking one of my friends to help me out.”
“My agent gave them exclusive photos of us for nothing. It created more chaos for a screenshot of the source email they got their article from.” Eli’s voice is deep and dense; the anger simmering beneath it palpable.
“If you’d like, I can ask my friend to help you out, too. It’s not remotely above board, if you get what I mean, but they get the job done.”
“I…” Eli drags in a deep breath. He wants to chomp at the bit and take Parker up on the offer. It’s written all over his face as he looks between JJ and me. “We’re in a precarious position as it is. A lot of people with a lot to say watching us…”
“Shit,” Jayden groans. “We can’t afford to create more whirlwinds around us.”
“Would you give us a chance to talk it through with our people?” Eli asks.
“Of course, just no names,” Parker replies.
“No names.” Eli and Jayden nod.
Holding out his phone, he says, “I can give you my contact card so you can get in touch directly.”
I swear I die a little inside when Jayden taps their phones together and they swap numbers. When Eli does the same, I have to swallow down the lump of sickness that gurgles up my throat.
The PTSD is real as I focus on Blanca, pulling her lead from Eli’s back pocket and clipping it to her harness.
I make small talk with Summer as the guys head out and we lock up the office. While I set the alarm, she shuts off the lights by the door. It’s easier for me to navigate quickly around the desk than it is for her with her quickly growing belly.
“It’s all going to be over soon,” she tells me with a hug when I reach Jayden’s car. “Don’t let it get to you. Cowards who hide behind smoke and mirrors don’t get to win.”
“Thank you.” I hug her tighter, and when her belly squishes right into mine, I feel the weird and amazing flutter of her baby moving around.
It’s incredible, and perfect, and I want that. I want to feel mine, JJ’s, and Eli’s babies squirming around inside my belly. To pick names and jump around, excited to meet them.
But we can’t have that with this heavy cloud over us. So yeah, there’s no other option than to quash this storm.