Chapter 15
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.
—Dalai Lama
His urgency sparked hers as they dashed into the house and up two flights of stairs. Outside his apartment, he fumbled with the key and swore when it didn’t work on the first try.
Emma giggled at his frustration.
The door swung open, and he compelled her in ahead of him, pulling at her coat before she was even through the door. Their coats landed on the floor right inside the door. He grasped her sweater while she unbuckled his belt, both pulling and tugging until their clothes were in a pile at their feet.
His lips came down on hers in a devouring kiss that had her clinging to him and then gasping when he lowered her to the floor, coming down on top of her without missing a beat in the frantic kiss.
She took him in hand and directed him to where she wanted him so badly.
He pushed into her, taking hold of her hands and pinning them over her head. “Is this okay?”
She appreciated that he would stop in the midst of madness to ask that. “Only because it’s you.”
Her reply seemed to fuel his ardor, and he pounded into her in a way he never had before, wild and unrestrained.
A knock on the door had them both freezing mid-stroke.
“Ella? Is that you? Are you and that Guthrie boy hanging pictures again?”
Grayson’s eyes got very big before he lost it laughing, taking Emma down with him. “That’s Mrs. Abernathy, the landlord,” Grayson whispered.
Another knock. “Ella?”
“Say something,” Grayson said. “She’ll think you’re Ella.”
“Everything’s fine, Mrs. Abernathy,” Emma said as cheerfully as she could while Grayson throbbed inside her and his chest hair abraded her sensitive nipples.
“Okay, dear. Just making sure. Good night now.”
“Good night.”
When they heard the older woman walk away, they began to laugh again. They laughed so hard that tears ran down their faces and they gasped for breath.
“Oh my God,” Grayson said when he’d recovered somewhat. “Ella and Gavin… hanging pictures. Those dirty devils. I can’t wait to see her again.”
“If you tell her what happened, you’ll be confessing that you were hanging some pictures of your own.”
That got him laughing all over again, which started her up again, too.
“Have we lost the mood?” he asked when he’d recovered.
“Maybe a little, but I bet we can get it back.”
He smiled down at her. “I’ll take that bet.” He kissed her lightly. “Shall we relocate to the much more comfortable bed?”
“Yes, please.”
Grayson withdrew from her and stood, reaching out to help her up and then wrapping his arms around her. “That was the best laugh I’ve had in years.”
“Me, too.”
He held her close to him as he walked them toward the bedroom.
Emma kept her arms around his neck and followed his lead, walking backward as he navigated for both of them.
Standing by the side of the bed, he held up the covers and Emma got in ahead of him, immediately chilled by the loss of his warmth. He was right behind her, reaching for her and drawing her into his embrace, their legs intertwining and their lips meeting in another hungry kiss.
Every single thing about him appealed to her, from the way he kissed her, to his scent, to the roughness of his leg hair, to the flex of his muscles, to the tender way he held and touched her.
Grasping her leg, he drew it over his hip and entered her again, the position intensely intimate with his gaze locked on hers as they faced each other.
She’d never done anything remotely like this.
In her distant past, sex had been fast and mostly meaningless.
But this, with him… It defied description.
“Good?” he asked.
“So good.” She held on to his arm while his hand lay flat on her bottom, holding her tight against him.
“Emma…” His eyes were closed, his lips parted. He was so damned sexy when he lost himself in her this way. “God, Emma… Tell me you’re close.”
“So close.”
Rolling them so she was under him, he gave it to her hard and fast, driving deep until they came together in a moment of utter magic. There was, simply, no other word for it.
Emma clung to him in the aftermath, needing his solid weight on top of her.
She’d had sex before him. Not much, but some.
In the romance novels she devoured late at night when Simone was in bed, she’d read about it far more than she’d done it.
She knew enough to realize the difference between sex and lovemaking.
This, right here, had been all about love.
Not that she could say that to him, not now anyway.
He lay with his head on her chest and his arms around her.
Emma combed her fingers through his hair, enjoying the peaceful interlude after the storm of passion that had been unlike anything she’d ever imagined for herself. He was far more than she’d ever imagined. And she had to leave him in less than twelve hours.
“Why did you just get all tense?”
Sighing, she said, “Because I have to go home tomorrow.”
“I wish you could stay.”
“So do I. I’m trying to picture going back to my normal routine after this week.”
“I’m having trouble picturing my normal routine without you and Simone as part of it.”
Her heart ached with the desire to be part of his normal routine—and to make him part of hers. But how would they do that? The obstacles seemed insurmountable from her point of view.
“Something happened today.”
“I know. I was there.”
His low chuckle made her smile. “Something else happened today, I should say.” He withdrew from her, shifted onto his back and then reached for her, snuggling her into his embrace.
“Noah heard from my dad. Apparently, he has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. He’s asked if we’d be willing to be tested. ”
“Oh. Wow. What do you think about that?”
“Truthfully? I think he can go fuck himself.”
“I can certainly understand why you feel that way. What did Noah say?”
“Not much, but he never has much to say about anything.”
“So you won’t get tested?”
“Hell no. I couldn’t care less if he lives or dies.”
Emma thought about that, trying to see it from his point of view. So much had fallen to him after his father left the family, and he was rightfully bitter about that.
“What’re you thinking?” he asked after a long silence.
“I don’t want to presume to know you better than you know yourself…”
“It’s okay to say what’s on your mind. I want your opinion. That’s why I told you.”
“I understand completely why you feel the way you do about him. You have every good reason to despise him.”
“But?”
“You’re a good and decent man, Grayson. Would you be able to live with yourself if you ignore his request and he dies?”
His deep sigh answered for him.
“There’s no judgment from me if you say you could live with that outcome. I’m just playing devil’s advocate here.”
“I hate that I feel obligated to do this, whether I want to or not, for that very reason.”
“It’s a simple test, right? Have the test and go on with your life, knowing you were the better man. You and he would both know it was more than he deserved from you.”
“You’re right,” he said with a sigh, “and I guess that’s what I’ll do. None of his siblings were a match, so chances are none of us will be either.”
“Your younger siblings will be looking to you for direction on this.”
“I know. If I do it, they will, too. And if I don’t…”
“You have to do it, Grayson. His life is on the line. You don’t have to see him or talk to him to be tested.”
“That’s true.” He gave her arm a squeeze. “Thanks for listening.”
“Any time.”
“Even when you’re in New York and I’m way up here?”
“Even then.”
“I’m going to miss you like crazy.”
“I’ll miss you, too.”
“Could I come visit you and Simone?”
“I wish you would.”
“I will. As soon as possible.”
“I should go back to the Abbotts’.”
“Not yet,” he said, tightening his hold on her. “I’m not ready to let you go.”
“We can’t fall asleep here.”
“We won’t.”
Because she wasn’t ready to let him go yet either, Emma relaxed into his embrace, telling herself a few more minutes of utter perfection wouldn’t hurt anything.
Hannah woke with a start from a sound sleep, her breasts tingling from the dream she’d had that the baby was crying.
“What’s the matter?” Nolan asked, his voice thick with sleep from his post in the recliner next to her hospital bed.
“I need to check on her.”
“You checked her an hour ago. She’s fine. The nurses will let you know if she needs you.”
“I have to see for myself.”
Thankfully, he seemed to understand that there’d be no sleeping—or peace—until she was pacified. Groaning, he dragged himself out of the chair and rubbed his hands over his face before holding up the robe he’d brought her from home and wrapping her up in it.
Nolan held her hand as they walked to the NICU where they spent five full minutes washing their hands. Then he helped her into the gown and shoe covers everyone was required to wear to gain entrance.
“Back so soon?” one of the overnight nurses asked when they went in.
“I just wanted to check on her,” Hannah said.
“Of course. She’s feisty, that little one.”
“Like her mother,” Nolan said dryly, drawing laughs from both women.
Hannah gazed down at her tiny daughter, drinking in every detail for the thousandth time.
She never got tired of looking at her. Callie’s lips moved in her sleep, the same way her daddy’s did.
Hannah loved that she already saw similarities between the baby and Nolan.
She stared at her, watching the rise and fall of her little chest and marveling at the miracle of her
“You ought to sleep while you can, Mom,” the nurse said.
“That’s what I say, too,” Nolan said, yawning.
“One more minute.” Though every inch of Hannah’s body hurt from the delivery, her aches and pains were secondary to the overwhelming joy of finally being a mother to such a sweet little girl.
Baby Callie. Her daughter. She was a mom! Had anything ever been more exciting than that?
“You need to rest, sweetheart,” Nolan said.
“I’m too excited to sleep. All I want to do is look at her.”
“I love seeing you so happy.”
“I’m so happy. I feel like my heart is going to burst or something. Are you happy, too?”
“Hannah… How can you ask me that?”
“Just making sure.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I was over the moon to have you, but having her, too, is just… It’s everything. She’s everything. You are everything.”
“Thank you for her and for her name. That was the single-best idea you’ve ever had, and it’ll make a lot of people very happy.”
“I don’t even remember having the idea, only that we needed to name the baby for Caleb, one way or the other.”
“It’s perfect. And it’ll be even more perfect when Hunter gets home and can meet his new niece.”
“How many times did he call today?”
“Three,” Hannah said with a sheepish smile.
Nolan tugged on her hand. “Come on. Let’s get you back to bed.”
She took a long last look at her precious daughter and then let him lead her from the NICU.
He kept his arm around her as they walked back to Hannah’s room. She was due to be discharged tomorrow, but the baby would be here for a while yet.
“Come sleep next to me,” she said when she was settled in bed.
“You’re so sore, babe. I’d be afraid I’d hurt you somehow.”
“I can’t sleep right without you next to me.”
“All right, then.”
He snuggled up to her, his leg slipping between hers and his hard cock pressing against her backside.
“Um, what’s going on back there?”
“Same thing that always goes on when you’re next to me. Do we really have to wait six more weeks?”
Hannah groaned at the thought of having sex any time soon. “I hope that’s all it takes.”
“I’m teasing. I still can’t believe what you did in that delivery room. You amazed me.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you there with me.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You certainly did, too. You kept me from giving up when it got too hard.”
“You were the star. I was a supporting character.”
“Whatever you say. I know the truth. And by the way, I’m going to want to have another one right away.” Hannah surprised herself with that pronouncement and apparently him, too, because he went totally still behind her.
“Define ‘right away.’”
“As soon as we can. We’re already thirty-six. We got a late start, and I don’t want Callie to grow up alone. I can’t imagine life without my siblings.”
“You’re not considering having ten kids, by any chance, are you?”
“No! Oh my God. No way. Two would be perfect.”
“I can do two.”
“Excellent, so you’d be willing to knock me up again ASAP?”
“If I must,” he said with a long-suffering sigh that made her giggle.
“You’re a good sport.”
“I do what I can for the people.”
“People? What people?”
“You and only you, of course.”
“Good answer.” Hannah yawned, and her eyes closed.
“Sleep, Hannah. You’re going to be needed again very soon.”
“Mmm, I can’t wait for her to wake up and need me.”