Chapter 50
“I’ve got to help get these rigs unloaded and cleaned. It might be another hour before we’re ready to leave,” Xander says, squeezing his arm around my waist. Dalton stands at his side, Penny is in his other arm, braced on his hip, and I once again have Bea cradled against my chest. I tip my head up to look at him from where I’m standing beside him, and his eyes soften as he looks at me.
Like I hung the moon, or something. I’m certainly not complaining.
After my surprise announcement, the entire crew erupted with cheers. Scottie and Vi scolded me for not telling them, but I know they won’t stay upset with me for long. Cal hugged me tight, lifting me off the ground. When he turned to Xander, he extended his right hand, which Xander took in a firm shake. Cal clapped him on the back with his other hand before pulling him in for the manliest ‘bro hug’ I’ve ever seen. My brother’s eyes were suspiciously wet when they pulled back, and Xander’s gaze was adoring as his eyes found mine again, though I’m not sure what had been said between them where no one else could hear .
“Why don’t you take the kids home, and I’ll be there shortly? I want to shower before I come over,” he says.
I shake my head. “Come shower at my place. I’ll join you.”
His eyes darken with lust as he captures his bottom lip between his teeth, a low growl emanating from his chest, but he shakes his head. “I’m filthy, Teddy.”
“I’m aware. Please. I don’t want to be away from you longer than I have to be. Let me take care of you for a change,” I whisper, my eyes searching his. When he smiles, it crinkles his eyes at the corners, just the way I love, and I smile, too.
“Okay, Mama. I’ll meet you at home,” he says softly, kissing me again. I nod against his mouth. “I love you, Teddy. So damn much it makes it hard for me to breathe.”
“That might be a heart attack, you old ass,” King chuckles as he passes, heading back to the rig, having sent Vi and Hollie back home, too. “Might want to get that checked out, Sup.”
“I’m not your sup anymore,” he calls back, grinning. It sends my own heart to tripping in my chest. Holy shit. He really retired. King turns, walking backward, his head tilted to the side in question. Xander nods his chin toward Cal and says, “That title belongs to him, now.”
Tears prick my eyes and I smile at my brother, who smirks just a little and shrugs. “Yeah, well, someone’s got to keep these hooligans in line now that you’re leaving to be all family-man and shit.”
King claps Cal on the back as he passes, and I watch as the two of them head toward the doors of the base building.
Xander walks us back to my minivan and helps buckle Bea and Penny into their car seats, double checking them, just like I always do. My heart melts.
“Will you be here when we get up tomorrow?” Dalton asks from the backseat as he buckles, too.
“I sure will, champ,” Xander says from the open slider door. A beaming smile lights up my son's face, and he nods, satisfied. “Come on, mama. Climb in.”
He holds my door for me as I slide in behind the wheel, and he leans in over me to fasten my seat belt. I laugh, eyeing him like he’s a lunatic. “What are you doing?”
He tests the belt, and then lets his hand rest on my stomach. Butterflies erupt in my midsection when I realize what he’s doing. Kissing me gently, he says, “Just making sure you’re all safe. My entire heart is in this vehicle, Teddy.”
Tears sting my nose all over again. Dammit, this man is so fucking swoony.
“I’ll see you at home in an hour, okay?” he asks, rubbing his thumb back and forth, where it’s still pressed to my abdomen. I nod. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I whisper, loving the way the words feel on my tongue. “Don’t take too long.”
He nods, and then he’s ducking out of the door and closing it gently. By the time I get us home and do dinner and bed routines for all three kids, Xander’s truck rumbles into the driveway. He doesn’t bother going into his side of the duplex, he just walks into mine, like we both know this is where he belongs.
Circling my arms around his neck at the same time his arms go around my waist, I lean up and press my mouth to his in a long, thorough kiss that leaves me aching. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
He lets me go so I can turn around and head toward the hallway, but he keeps one of my hands clasped tightly in his own, like he can’t bear to lose contact. In the bathroom, I lean into the bathtub and turn on the shower taps to warm. He strips off his dirt and soot stained nomex gear as I set out fresh towels and grab bottles of his favorite body wash and shampoo out from below the sink. I’d gotten them as a surprise for him before his accident, so he could shower here, but then he’d been gone.
Once he’s naked, I gesture for him to step into the shower. He does without argument, and when I’ve set my glasses on the bathroom sink and stripped as well, I step in behind him, pulling the shower curtain closed. He’s fully submerged beneath the spray, scrubbing both hands over his face and shoving the wet strands of his hair back. The darkly tanned muscles of his back, shoulders, and arms ripple with each move he makes.
I can’t help myself; I step forward and lay my hands flat along his ribcage at his sides before sliding them around to his abdomen, leaning close to press my lips to the center of his spine. God, this man is so beautiful. And he somehow wants me, loves me.
He covers the backs of my hands with his own, holding me in place, and turns his head to look at me over his shoulder. “Fuck, I missed you, sweetheart.”
Pressing another kiss to his spine, I murmur back, “I missed you, too. I’m glad you’re home.”
His fingers smooth up and down my arms for a moment before I pull back, reaching around him for the bottle of shampoo. He turns as I squirt some into my cupped palm, then replace the bottle on the shelf.
“Get down here so I can wash your hair,” I tell him, my tone gentle but leaving little room for argument. He grins, that flash of his dimple appearing beneath his thick beard. It’s possibly the longest I’ve ever seen it, and I’m not mad about it. It’s sexy as hell.
He lowers to one knee and grasps my hips in his hands, his thumbs digging into the flesh of my stomach. Xander leans close and presses his mouth to my sternum, just between my breasts, his breaths sawing in and out heavily. And with him on his knee before me, I work my fingers through his hair, sudsing the strands thoroughly. I scratch his scalp with my fingernails and he groans, tipping his head back slightly, his eyelids fluttering closed. I grin impishly, happy that I can make him feel good, too.
Reaching above us, I take down the handheld shower head and rinse his hair of the shampoo. His hands don’t stray from my hips, though his fingers flex against me as I work.
I suds up his hair once more with shampoo to get any residual dirt and grime out of it, rinse it again, and then he stands. His cock bobs, hard and heavy, between us. Those incredible blue eyes of his are hungry and he reaches for me, but I tsk him lightly, shaking my head.
His dark brows lower over his eyes and he groans in misery. “Please, sweetheart. I want to touch you. I need to touch you.”
“I’m not done taking care of you yet,” I murmur, reaching around him for the bottle of bodywash and a loofa I have hanging against the wall. His heated gaze watches as I pour out some of the cedarwood and citrus scented body wash and work it into a lather. “Turn around, please.”
“You’re teasing me, you naughty fucking thing,” he growls low, but does as I say. I grin from behind him, loving that I can drive him crazy like this.
I start at his shoulders, working the loofa over every inch of his skin. Down his back, over each taut butt cheek, each arm from shoulder to wrist, and then I kneel, working the suds over the backs of his thighs and calves. Standing, I turn him to face me.
His chest is damn near heaving with each breath, his gaze hot and hungry as he takes me in. I roll my lips in between my teeth to hide my smile and raise my arm, starting the process over at his shoulders and moving across his chest and abdomen, down his hips, circling dangerously close to the rock hard erection he’s sporting. He growls low, the sound making me shiver, but I keep going.
Kneeling once again, I lather each thigh and work down his shins to his feet. Then, and only then, do I look up at him. His chest heaves, his hands curling and uncurling into fists at his sides, like it’s taking every bit of his self control not to touch me. Biting my lip, I smile coyly up at him and he shakes his head, chuckling.
“You wicked, wicked thing,” he rasps darkly.
I drop the loofa, but raise my soapy hand, circling his hardness in my fingers and sliding from base to tip and back. I make sure to soap every inch of him, slowly.
“Fucking goddamn, Teddy,” he chokes out, his control breaking as he slides his hands around the back of my head. “Please, mama. I need to be inside you.”
Standing again, I push him backward with my hand in the center of his chest into the spray of water, the suds sluicing down his body. He reaches behind him, twisting the handle of the water and turning it off. His hands are on me an instant later, hauling me to him. One hand tangles in the back of my hair, tied up in a bun, forcing my mouth up to his. His kiss is fierce, hungry. Like a man starved, he devours my mouth, until we’re both panting and breathless.
With a groan, he grabs the towels I left beside the shower and wraps me in one, then steps out, taking my hand and assisting me out as well. Haphazardly drying his own body, he tosses the towel over the curtain bar before reaching for me again, but I’m already working on drying myself off. Xander tears the towel from my hands and tosses it, too, and a laugh bursts out of me when he wraps both arms around my hips and lifts me off my feet, carrying me out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. One lamp is dimly lit in the corner and casts the room in soft light and stark shadows.
I half expect him to drop me into the center of the bed, but of course he doesn’t; he sets me down gently, then pushes me onto my back, spreading my thighs as he settles over me. But he doesn’t kiss me again. Instead, he sinks down and presses his mouth to my abdomen, his hands spanning wide on my hips, framing my lower stomach. My fingers glide into his hair as he presses sweet, tender kisses to where our baby is currently growing. Once again, tears prick my nose, and I have to blink rapidly to dispel them from my eyes.
“Hi, in there,” he whispers reverently to my stomach. I smooth the wet strands of his hair back away from his forehead. He looks up my body at me and smiles, his own eyes misting. “My baby is really in here?”
“Your baby is really in here,” I whisper back, nodding. My lips wobble as I smile. “The doctor confirmed I’m six weeks. So it’s still very early, Xander, but yes. We’re having a baby.”
Crawling up my body, he wraps one arm beneath my shoulders and the other cradles the back of my head as he kisses me, slow and thorough.
“I fucking love you so much,” he rasps against my mouth.
Shifting my hips, I circle against him, where I can feel his hardness at my hip. He’s keeping his weight off of me, but I need to feel it. I need his weight on top of me, I need him to fill me. “Please, Xander…”
He chuckles lightly, his teeth nipping at my lip, making me gasp. He moves so that his hips are between my spread thighs. Where I want him the most. “Who’s the one begging now?”
“Shamelessly,” I pant raggedly, sliding my hands down his back to clutch his perfect ass. “I’ve waited so long for you, please. Fill me up. Remind me I’m yours, Xander.”
“You’re all mine,” he groans, lining himself up against my pussy. I’m soaked already, all the teasing in the shower turning me on just as much as it had him. Leveraging himself up on his hands, he raises his chest off of mine and drops his chin to look between our bodies. “Watch how well this pussy takes my cock, Teddy. Watch how greedy it is for me.”
He pushes inside, inch by inch, and our matching moans are a dirty, needy melody in the semi darkness of the room around us.
“Fuck, Teddy. Oh shit, am I going to hurt you or?— ”
“No, no,” I pant raggedly, shaking my head against the pillow.
“Good,” he grunts, his jaw clenching tight as he sinks inside me slowly, working in and out in shallow thrusts. “I’m going to take my time with you tonight, mama, but right now I want to fuck you. Fast and hard, Teddy. And then I’ll take my time.”
“Ohmygod,” I breathe, nodding frantically, watching as his thickness disappears inside me. Until he’s buried to the hilt and circling his hips against mine. When he does, it hits that special spot and I can’t help the moan that leaves my lips. He grins from above me, that wicked, mischievous smirk, his long, damp hair falling forward over his brow. Sliding out all the way to the tip, he slams back in, hard. Clasping his jaw in both of my hands, I drag his mouth down to mine, his beard tickling my palms and my lips as he kisses me. His thrusts are long, deep, and fierce, and it’s not long before I’m starting to shake as my climax bears down on me. A tear slips down my cheek and I sob as I shatter in his arms, “I love you.”
“That’s it, that’s it,” he groans, pistoning his hips into mine, his mouth dragging against my own as I continue to come, shuddering against him. My inner muscles are convulsing wildly around his hardness and he hisses, “Goddamn, you come so good for me. I love you so fucking much, Teddy. Did this sweet pussy miss my cock, sweetheart?”
“Oh god, yes, Xander,” I cry out, but his mouth muffles the sound with a kiss.
“Say it again,” he rasps out the demand against my mouth.
Shoving my fingers up through the hair falling over his brow, I whisper breathlessly, “I love you, Xander.”
Dropping his forehead to mine, he groans, then his hips stutter in their thrusts as he comes, too. My fingers are tangled in his still damp hair and I hold him to me as he shudders against me, filling me.
His chest heaving, he falls to my side, dragging me with him and drawing me against his body. He smooths his hands over my hair as we work to slow our breaths and hammering hearts.
Drawing my thigh up over his hip, he smooths his palm from my thigh all the way to my waist and back before settling his palm against my abdomen between us.
“Thank you,” he whispers above me, his lips moving against my forehead. I raise my chin, my eyes finding his.
“For what?” I breathe, smoothing my fingers over his brow and then down his cheek, cupping his jaw tenderly. I can’t stop touching him. He turns his head, kissing the center of my palm before returning his cheek to it.
“For giving me everything I didn’t know I wanted and needed. For loving me,” he murmurs quietly, his fingers flexing against my stomach.
“Thank you for loving us,” I whisper back, those damn tears filling my eyes again. “Thank you for always seeing me, even when I didn’t see you.”
He turns his head again, pressing his lips to my palm once more, and then whispers reverently, “You always saw me, Teddy. We just had to wait our turn. But I’m never letting you go, and I’m not wasting a second of this life with you, mama. Marry me ,” he breathes, and my heart trips over itself with incandescent happiness. “Don’t make me wait to call you my wife. Please, Teddy.”
“Okay,” I whisper, nodding, my eyes on his, my lips wobbling again. “Yes. Yes, Xander.”
I can be brave, with Xander by my side, loving me. I can’t wait for that, too. Our future together, this life, this chance. Our new forever.