Chapter 26 #2
Besides kisses and long embraces, I had been too exhausted to entertain anything else.
Plus, there was a small part of me that was still self-conscious of my soft belly, and the stretch marks the twins left behind.
I was connected to virtual Greek gods, and I barely just graduated high school, and my body wasn’t the way it once was.
“You’re shield is down,” Lincoln teased me before kissing my temple.
I felt my face instantly heat and then I heard Jace’s voice in my head. “I’m here if you need anything. I have twenty more minutes before I have to go to work.”
At first, I was going to ignore him. I still needed to finish feeding Andy and I but then I thought better of it. “I’ll find you later.”
“Promise?” He wickedly inquired.
“Promise!” I assured him.
We finished caring for the kids and started getting ready for the day, but in the back of my mind I couldn't wait to find the time to seek Jace out. It was time for me to reclaim another part of myself back.
η
I quickly completed my second shower of the day and slipped on my clothing. Since I was done for the day, I chose a ? sleeve black v neck dress. It fell on me mid-thigh and reminiscent of a men’s button up dress shirt. It was super cute and looked dressier than it was, but super comfortable.
I took the time to control my curls and put on a touch of make-up.
Afterall, I had a man to seduce. Not that much seduction was needed.
Jace’s heated look at lunch indicated to me that he hadn’t forgotten the promise I made to him.
In addition to the passionate kiss, he had bestowed upon me afterward.
One of the stall doors burst open and I jumped slightly.
Almost everyone else had returned to their apartments.
The younger—nineteen- to twenty-five-year-old—operatives that weren’t on duty had plans for tonight.
The local bar was having a theme night and most of them were looking forward to blowing off some steam after the weeks they’ve had.
Plus, we had been on a lockdown of sorts since I was attacked and had to deliver the twins earlier.
Everyone had to go through training and comply with the new requirements to leave the base.
Kurt had flown in one of the members of his community.
This sixteen-year-old teen was a muter. Essentially, he could prevent a person from saying certain things.
We didn’t want any of our enemies to gather any more info as they had with Mike’s loudmouth.
Sierra glared at me as she exited the bathroom stall. “I hate you.”
A surprise burst of laughter left my lips.
I didn’t take her words seriously. Gavin had already confided in me that she was getting increasingly hormonal.
She was getting very little sleep and suffered from severe heartburn, sciatic nerve pain, and hemorrhoids.
Poor, woman was going through it and I felt for her.
I finished applying my make up before packing up the rest of my make up and sliding my case into my locker. “Wow. I love you too.”
“I want to dress up and look cute again.” She pouted as she washed her hands. “It doesn’t even look like you carried twins.”
I ran my hands over my soft belly. “You wouldn’t say that if you saw me naked. I know you don’t feel like it, but you are beautiful. I know you’ve been struggling with sleep, but I can’t even tell. You have that beautiful glow going on. When’s your next appointment?”
She gave me a disgruntled look. “I know Gavin’s probably told you everything. We have one this afternoon. Hopefully, she will give me an inducement date. I’m over this.”
She ruefully rubbed her belly. “The constant pressure down and these Braxton hicks are horrendous.”
I made a sympathetic noise, but honestly, I couldn’t relate. I wasn’t far enough along to experience any of that. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. In some ways I felt cheated but on the other hand I was thankful I had missed those gory parts.
She seemed to realize her faux pas and gave me an apologetic look. “Any who’s where are those babies and where are you going dressed so cute.”
“Lincoln and Remy have the twins in the war room and Jace has been stuck in his office all day, so I plan to bring him some dinner.” I explained.
After training I fed the babies and Lincoln and Remy took the twins from me to take them to the war room with them.
Even though we had a twenty-four-hour day-care center now, we were determined never to use it.
Not only because they were so tiny, but also because we didn’t trust having them out of our sight yet.
Pops, Megan, Greg, and Miranda offered to watch them so we could have a night out.
I appreciated that they were encouraging us to focus on our relationships outside of being parents.
After a discussion, I think we all decided to try to find a balance without having to utilize their services just yet.
I believed we were all still unwilling to be away from them for too long until they were bigger and Horatio was no longer a threat.
Sierra gave me a sympathetic look. “He has been really busy lately. I’ve barely seen him in training.”
We left the locker room together and continued our conversation.
“Yeah, he’s been leaving the apartment early to get his work out in before he starts his day.
His day doesn’t typically get over until eight or nine o’clock at night.
He’s been missing the babies so we try to take them to him so he could get some cuddles in every now and then. ”
“You found some good daddies.” She smiled.
I nodded in agreement before saying. “They really are amazing. Sometimes I think they hate to give them up even to me when I have to feed them. They’ve been doing more and more of the night feedings in the guise of ‘letting’ me sleep. I let them believe that I believe that.”
Sierra laughed as we neared the back entrance to the kitchen. “I’m sure Gavin is going to be the same way, and Merci is getting just as excited to help me with baby care. You really are a lucky duck to have seven men to help you raise Andy and Addison.”
“I’m not complaining.” I grinned.
I looked over and caught movements out of my peripheral through the windows in the middle of the swinging doors.
I caught sight of Jemmy sitting on the prep table.
She was eating something and animatedly talking.
She almost looked like the Jemmy of old.
She had recently added the pink stripes back into her hair.
It appeared as if Drake was talking to her as he placed some food in a picnic basket.
Sierra grimaced once she realized what had caught my attention.
I was surprised she hadn’t accepted any of Jemmy’s overtures yet.
They had grown really close in Gavin’s absence.
Unfortunately, it seemed Jemmy had set fire to the bridge that was between them and Sierra was unwilling to mend the gap between them.
We exchanged a look and I knew without her saying anything that she was going to attempt to avoid any interaction with Jemmy. “See you later.”
“See ya. Let me know if you need anything.”
I entered the kitchen and went straight to Drake’s side.
I knew it was rude not to acknowledge Jemmy’s presence, but I still found it hard to talk to her.
It was as if I was placing up walls between us.
She had betrayed and hurt our friendship more than once and I wasn’t certain if I could ever trust her again.
I got up on my tiptoes and pulled him down so I could brush a kiss across his lips. “Thank you, baby.”
Drake was so sweet to facilitate this date tonight.
I had expressed an interest in spending some one-on-one time with Jace and Drake suggested that I take his meal to him.
It worked out great for my plans to seduce him and to genuinely catch up with him.
Now that the guys were all back at work, I began to miss them after weeks of having them myself.
Drake wrapped me in his arms before kissing my temple. “I made Jace’s favorite chicken marsala, with garlic butter noodles, green beans with almonds, and for dessert a tiramisu.”
My stomach growled at the prospect. Another fun fact about breastfeeding. I was hungry all the time. The combination of that and training again had me hungry nearly all the time. It didn’t help that the smells wafting from the basket was beyond tantalizing.
“I wished you would have allowed me to help you.” I pouted. “I feel like it’s cheating in a way.”
He kissed the tip of my nose and smiled. “You had to feed our twins and I had most of it prepped. And is it cheating if we took you on a date where other’s prepared our food.”
I giggled. “I guess not. Thanks again. I owe you one.” I playfully winked at him.
“Promise?” He grinned wickedly.
“Promise,” I said without hesitation.
It would seem I was making promises left and right nowadays.