Chapter 10
Flynn
I ’m weak with relief after talking to my parents, even if I’m under no illusion that everything is suddenly fixed between them. But at least they’re together and hopefully working it out.
Natalie comes into our room after putting the kids down for naps or “quiet time,” since it’s going to be a late night celebrating their grandparents. She crawls onto the bed next to me and cuddles up to me.
“Where’s Benny Boy?”
“Napping in his crib for the first time.”
“A momentous occasion.”
“For sure. How’re you doing?”
“I just talked to them. They sounded remarkably normal. All systems go for tonight.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“I can’t believe how much this has rattled me.”
“Of course it has.”
“If there was anything in this world I could always count on, it was them being solid as a rock.”
“They still are underneath it all. The foundation will hold, and the storm will pass.”
“You really think so?”
“I’m sure of it.”
I turn to her and draw her in close to me, taking comfort from her nearness, her scent and the silk of her dark hair against my cheek.
“You’re sure you’re not hiding any deep, dark secrets from me?” she asks.
I laugh. “You know them all, sweetheart, and they nearly wrecked us once upon a time.”
“That seems like a long time ago now.”
“It was a long time ago. I’ve never forgotten what it felt like to fear I’d lost you forever. It’s a feeling I hope to never have again.”
“Same. It was dreadful.”
“Thankfully, it didn’t last long for us, and it seems like it won’t last long for them either.”
“I…um…”
“What’s up?” I ask.
“I don’t want to be a downer or anything, but I think you should expect there to still be a few bumps ahead for them. This was a big thing for him to have kept from her for all this time, even if he did it for what he thought were the right reasons.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s true. It’s just so hard for me to fathom real trouble between them, you know?”
“I do,” Nat says. “I look up to their marriage as the ideal, too. I certainly didn’t have that kind of example growing up, and like many of our friends, I’ve latched on to them as the how-to manual.”
“They love the parental role they play for you and our friends.”
“And we love them as much as you and your sisters do.”
“I know that—and they do, too.”
“We’ll rally around them until they work this out, no matter what we have to do.”
“I’m so glad I have you to talk to about this. I’d be losing my mind without you here to tell me everything is going to be okay.”
“I’ll always be here to tell you that.”
I nuzzle her neck and kiss her soft skin. “The kids are all napping.”
“We don’t know that for certain.”
“We could lock the door.”
“You know how I feel about locking them out of our room.”
“And you know how I feel about making love to my wife as often as I possibly can.”
“Let’s wait until later, when we know for sure they’re asleep.”
I respond to that with a moan that makes her laugh.
“You’ll survive.”
“Not sure I will.” I continue to kiss her and caress her. If that’s all I’m allowed to do—for now—I want to make it count.
“Flynn…”
“Yes, my love?”
“What’re you doing?”
“Touching my wife.”
“That’s not all you’re doing.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You’re getting me interested when I told you we can’t.”
“How’s that my fault?”
She snorts with laughter. “Whose fault is it? The guy next door?”
I freeze. “I knew you had a thing for him. Are you having a fling with him? Tell me the truth right now.”
Her laughter lights up her gorgeous face. “He’s ninety, and you’re being ridiculous.”
“I bet he can still get it up, especially for a babe like you.”
“Oh yeah, I’m a real babe with breast milk going sour on my shirt and my hair looking like it was dried in a blender and?—”
I kiss her because I can’t bear to hear her say a single negative thing about herself. “Stop that. You’re the hottest babe in town, and I’d better never hear you say otherwise or else.”
She gives me the challenging look I love so much. “Or else what?”
“I might have to give you a good spanking.”
“Oh no, not that.”
Knowing how much she loves to be spanked does nothing to dim my ardor. Anyone who tells you that having four kids in six years doesn’t do a number on your sex life hasn’t had four kids in six years.
“I love you so much, Nat. So, so much.”
“I know you do, and I love you just as much.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Yes, it is.” As she closes her eyes, she exhales a sigh of contentment.
“You’re the best wife and mommy and foundation president and friend. You’re everything.”
When she opens her eyes, her gaze meets mine with the same impact it had that first frigid day in a New York City park. “This life with you is my dream come true. Every messy second of it is perfection.”
“It sure is, except for the part about your children being cockblockers.”
She laughs. “Your cock is doing just fine in this world.”
“Don’t talk about him if you don’t intend to follow through.”
“I’ll follow through. Later.”
Since my lovely wife always keeps her promises, I decide to take the rare opportunity to nap before tonight’s festivities.
Hayden
After putting in a few hours at the office this morning, I stand in the window at the back of our home in Calabasas and watch as workers finish setting up inside the massive tent on the lawn for the Godfreys’ fiftieth anniversary party tomorrow. From what Flynn tells me, we’re going ahead with the party, which is a huge relief.
Like most of our friends, who were raised in families nothing like the Godfreys, I need Max and Stella together and happy. Max Godfrey has shown me, as well as Kristian, Emmett, Jasper and Sebastian, how to do marriage and fatherhood successfully. He’s always there for us when we need him, as if he raised us himself.
In many ways, he did.
I met Flynn in middle school and spent more time at his house in the ensuing years than I did at either of my parents’ homes. Max and Stella were warm, welcoming and there for me in ways my own parents never were. I was lucky that my father’s housekeeper, Sebastian’s mother, Graciela, took an interest in me and made sure I didn’t go without birthday parties or someone cheering on the sidelines at my soccer games.
But the Godfreys showed me how family life is done right, and only because of them am I able to be the husband and father I am today. I’m pretty good at both, if I do say so myself. My five ladies have me wrapped completely around all their perfect fingers and regularly make me their bitch.
I’m the happiest bitch you’ve ever met.
Addie startles me when she wraps her arms around me from behind.
“Where’d you come from? Two minutes ago, you were outside with a bullhorn.”
“I heard you were home. What’re you thinking about in here all by yourself?”
“Max and Stella.”
“They’re all I can think about today, too. It’s unreal. The whole thing.”
“The crazy thing is, I can see why he kept it from her and why she’d be furious to find out this way.”
“Me, too. I heard Stella talk about Vivian once, years ago. She can’t stand her, and then to find out her husband of fifty years was once married to her… Yeah, she has every right to be outraged, but… I see his reasoning, too.”
“I can’t believe how upsetting it is for me to know there’s the slightest bit of trouble between them.”
“They were your stability before we were.”
She gets it. Of course she does. She gets me. Always has, and once I decided to allow her all the way into my life and my heart, everything has been a million times better than it was before her.
I raise my arm, and she snuggles up to me as I bring her in close. I kiss the top of her head. “How’s it going out there, General Roth?”
“Everything is on schedule.”
Though she’s my full-time wife and the mother of our four girls, she’s still Flynn’s full-time assistant and wants everything to be perfect for him and his family tomorrow.
“Of course it is. General Addison York Roth is in charge.”
“I love that nickname.”
“It suits you.”
“Do you think they’ll be able to enjoy the party with this happening in the background?”
“Max and Stella are both accomplished actors. If they’re unhappy or out of sorts, no one will know that.”
“That’s true. This is when their talent really comes in handy.”
“If I know them at all, and I think I know them pretty well, it won’t all be an act. They’re crazy about each other, and I can’t imagine anything could truly change that. Even something like this.”
“I really hope not. I don’t want to think of them as anything other than blissfully happy and showing us all how to go the distance.”
“We don’t need anyone to show us how.”
She smiles up at me. “No, we don’t.”
“Where have you stashed our ladies today?”
“Peyton and Lily are with Aileen. Marlowe has Bella and Tessa.”
“How long are they going to be there?”
“Aileen and Marlowe told me to take as much time as I need to finish getting ready for tomorrow.”
I drop the arm that was around her shoulders to her waist and lift her right off her feet.
She lets out a huff of protest. “What the hell are you doing?”
I head for the stairs and don’t put her down until we’re in our room with the door closed and locked against the crowd of workers that’s overtaken our house.
“Hayden.”
“Yes, Addison?”
“I have fourteen million things to do. Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t have time for it.”
I kiss her neck and nibble on her delicate earlobe. “Our children aren’t home.”
“Yes, I’m aware. I usually know where they are.”
I find the hem of her T-shirt and lift it over her head. “Surely you can handle fourteen million and one things today. You’re my general.” I make quick work of her bra and my T-shirt and gasp when her breasts rub against my chest. The feel of her soft skin against mine never gets old. Nothing about being with the magnificent Addison York Roth ever gets old.
“Can I tell you something?” I ask her as I lower her to our bed and slide formfitting leggings over luscious curves.
“Anything you want.”
I run my tongue over the tight tip of her nipple.
She raises her hips and presses her heat against my hard cock.
“Even after you gave me no choice but to fall in love with you, I wasn’t entirely sure I had forever in me.”
Her fingers delve into my hair, which sends a shiver of sensation through me. “I was sure enough for both of us.”
Since her phone is buzzing incessantly, I move things along, sliding into her tight heat with a feeling of completion that never fails to take my breath away.
I love when she wraps her arms and legs around me and holds on tight for a quick, intense ride that has us both straining and gasping and crying out at the end of it.
I come down on top of her and breathe in the fresh, clean scent of my love, my life, my everything.
Her phone rings and buzzes with more texts.
“The whole world is going mad as I get it on with you.”
“The whole world can wait while I take one more minute with my gorgeous, sexy, brilliant wife.”
She starts to squirm when she realizes I’m still hard. “You’d better not be angling for round two, mister.”
“I’m sorry if I messed with your schedule.”
“You’re not at all sorry.”
She knows me better than I know myself. “I’m really not. We haven’t had five minutes to ourselves in weeks.”
“It’s been days , Hayden. Not weeks.”
“Too many days. Feels like weeks. Remember when we used to make a ‘quickie’ last for hours?”
“I vaguely recall that. Guess what?”
“What?”
“Dad and Jan offered to take the girls for the night so we can see to the final details for tomorrow.”
My mom married Addie’s dad three years ago, which is one of the more amazing developments to come from our marriage.
“So what you’re saying is we’ll have a whole night kid-free?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Have I mentioned how much I love that our parents married each other and take our kids whenever we need them to?”
“You’ve said that a few times.”
“What would we do without them?”
She runs her hand in soft, soothing circles on my back. “Ten minutes after they leave with the girls, you’ll be pouting and asking me when they’re coming home.”
“The ultimate parental dichotomy. I can’t wait for time alone with my wife, and I can’t wait to have my princesses back home with me where they belong.”
“And you thought you didn’t have forever in you.”
“If I do, it’s in no small part because of Max and Stella’s example.”
“They’ll get through this. I’m sure of it. They’re too amazing together not to.”
“I really hope you’re right.”
“When have you ever known me not to be?”
Since I can’t argue with that, I laugh, kiss her and let her up to go back to work while I get busy planning a romantic evening for us—another thing I’d never done until I had her to inspire me.