CHAPTER 11
We’ve been in Sweetwater Valley for a few days and spending time with Heather has been a blessing. It’s different spending time with her now. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re here and not at the club without the pressure of being a prospect and having an unsure future, or if it’s because we’ve obliterated all the walls and preconceived notions between us. I guess it doesn’t matter because the time we’ve had together has brought us closer.
Not only to our woman, but to our child as well.
I hate that we missed out on the ways her body changed over the last three months, but I’m trying to focus on the months ahead. I can’t gain back what we lost. It’s just not possible.
We haven’t talked more about going home to New Orleans, but I can feel the conversation on the horizon. We aren’t letting it stress us out because we’ve been checking in with Lucifer and he’s told us we can take the time we need. Our brothers are more than willing to cover for us.
One thing I had no idea about when I was a prospect was that we’re included in the profit sharing of the DSMC businesses during our prospecting year. It’s a much smaller percentage than the patched members get, but it’s put into an account for us and grows while we’re wearing the prospect cut. It’s only after we become a member that we’re told about it and gain access.
I was blown away when I found out and it’s one of the secrets of the club which is never talked about beyond the patched members. Because of that we have a good amount of cash stashed away and I was already sitting pretty since I saved almost all my pay while I was serving. The house being built is covered and we’ll be able to provide Heather with whatever she wants and needs.
If she wants to work, we’ll support that as well, but she doesn’t have to. We just want her to be happy. It’s all we’ve ever wanted.
We love spending time together with all of us, but we also know how important it is for each of us to spend time with our woman alone. Which is why the guys left a little while ago to go to The Goose for a beer or two.
I’m not going to complain because I have been itching to spend time with our woman alone. I’m torn between taking her to bed and spending our time naked and holding her in my arms on the couch while I listen to her sweet voice.
Maybe I can do both.
When I walk into the kitchen, I stop dead in my tracks because Heather is swaying her hips back and forth to the music playing. She’s singing the lyrics softly as she moves over to the oven where she pulls out a tray of cookies.
No, she did not make them from scratch. She told us she had a craving for those sugar cookies you get in the grocery store where you only need to slice them and bake them. Yes, it had to, specifically, be that kind.
None of us were up for arguing with our beautiful pregnant Cherub and the cookie dough was acquired as quickly as humanly possible. That craving came on a few days ago and she’s been steadily baking a few cookies here and there to satisfy the urge.
I lean against the open doorway separating the dining area from the kitchen while listening to Heather’s voice and watching the mesmerizing movement of her hips. I swear she’s glowing with happiness. It’s radiating out of her.
It could just be the pregnancy, but I like to think it’s more than that. I think it’s because we’re here with her. It’s clear how deeply affected she is by our presence.
When I can’t take it anymore, when I need to be closer to her, I step up behind her and wrap my arms around her. My hands caress her baby belly as I start to move with her. The way she melts back against me and lets out a sigh of contentment is something I’ll never forget.
We dance together, moving as one to the music and filling my heart with even more love for our woman. I don’t know how we survived those months without her. Now, with her in my arms, it reminds me just how empty my life was for the three months she was gone.
I think the only way I got through it was knowing it wouldn’t be forever. Nothing was going to stop me from going to her once I was able to. I hate that I was the holdout and the last to earn my patch, but it was completely out of my control.
I slide my hands underneath the baby and lift slightly. The groan that comes out of our Cherub has me chuckling and burying my face in her hair. I’ve been reading about babies and pregnancy a lot. The idea of so much strain on my woman’s back doesn’t sit well with me.
I’ll do anything to give her some relief.
The longer our bodies are pressed together, the harder my cock gets. But this isn’t about me. This is about her, about us, and reconnecting. Or maybe connecting, truly, for the first time.
There were too many secret plans and conditional thoughts back then. We wanted to be with her, but only when we were patched. We wanted to keep her safe, but on our terms. We wanted to protect her, but never considered we needed to protect her from us and our actions.
I was so fucking short sighted.
“Zach,” Heather groans softly as she gives me even more of her weight.
“Cherub,” I whisper and kiss her neck, wanting the connection between us to deepen, “I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” she whispers. We move together, the song changing to a slower one where we end up rocking back and forth. “We made mistakes. It probably won’t be the last time either.”
She turns in my arms and hums softly as my hands slide from below her belly and grip her hips. Her hazel eyes are sparkling with happiness, even more than I used to see there before she left New Orleans.
I press my forehead against hers and take a deep breath before I open up to her. “My parents didn’t give a fuck about me or my brothers. They showed us that selfishness was the only thing that mattered to them. My brothers are just like them, but I wanted to do something more.”
“Is that why you joined the military?” Her prodding is gentle as I get lost in memories of growing up.
I nod slowly. “I needed a way to get out and away from my family,” I admit. Pain flashes across her face and I whisper, “No. My parents weren’t abusive physically or anything, but they were neglectful as hell. I wanted something better. I wanted to matter.”
“You wanted to belong and find a family to belong in.” She wraps her arms around my neck with a soft smile on her face. “I can understand that.”
Heather doesn’t talk very much about her family. I know we could probably find out some details by getting Hacker involved, but none of us want to. We want her to open up on her own. When she’s ready and when she trusts us.
My hands gently move to Heather’s round belly, feeling some fluttering inside. It’s a wild sensation and I can’t imagine it was happening inside of me. I don’t think I’d be as calm about it as our Cherub is.
“I promise that I will always try to be the best father I can be to our baby.” I look into her eyes and watch as they soften with affection. “I don’t have great examples and I’ll need help, but I promise to never give up and keep trying to be better.”
Heather’s small hands come up and cup my face, her eyes burning into mine and imploring me to believe whatever she’s about to say. “I don’t doubt you and your ability to be an amazing father, Zach. You know what not to do because of how your parents made you feel. It’s clear you already love our baby and that’s how I know you’ll always do your best.”
I kiss our woman, needing to thank her, needing her to be able to feel how much her words mean to me. When her tongue slides across my bottom lip, I suck it into my mouth and dive in for a taste of her myself. She’s addictive and I want to soak up every moment I get, both with her alone, and with our family.
Poe and Gray are my brothers, more than my blood ones ever were. Hell, the same is true of every man in the club. They’ve shown me what family really means. They’ve earned my loyalty and my devotion.
Just like the woman in my arms.
I lift her up gently and place her on the kitchen island with our mouths fused together. My grip on her knees is firm as I gently pry her legs apart and slide in as close to her hips as I can get. The way she whimpers into my mouth tells me she wants and needs more.
She’s wearing some maternity leggings and an oversized shirt she changed into after she got home from work, which she left a little early. I have a feeling Taylor sees the writing on the wall and sees no reason to stress Heather out. They’ve become close friends and I’m grateful for it.
Not that it’s not easy to want Heather in your life. She just shines that brightly.
I cradle the back of my woman’s head with my palm as I gently direct her backwards until she’s laying on the island. My body is stretched above her while also being careful of her belly. When she moans into my mouth, I feel my control starting to snap.
I pull back just enough to look into her eyes as my words whisper across her lips, “I love you so much, Heather. I want you to know that you’re my everything. I never want to experience you leaving us again. I wouldn’t survive it a second time.”
Heather arches her back and I can feel the hard peaks of her nipples through the thin material of her shirt. Her feet wrap around the backs of my thighs as she tries to tug me closer and it’s adorable as fuck.
“Zach,” she whispers, her eyes clearing of the lust fog I’m putting her in for a moment, “I love you, too.”
I feel like I want to scream at the top of my lungs and then go run around the neighborhood to tell everyone that my woman loves me. Since I don’t think it would go over well, I settle for kissing her harder as my hands roam over her body.
I push her shirt up her torso and break the kiss just long enough to pull it up over her head. Her tits bounce and I growl, “No fucking bra, Cherub?”
“Bras suck,” she grumbles, and I bark out a laugh.
I kiss across her jaw and then down her neck, not stopping moving south until I can suck one of her nipples into my mouth. She arches and cries out my name. She’s become so much more sensitive and I fucking love it.
I slide my free hand down to her hips and start to tug her leggings off. I stand up to get them off all the way and the sight of her bare pussy glistening and begging to be tasted is almost too much to deal with.
I drop to my knees in front of her and wrap one of my arms around each of her thighs. The wobble in her voice has me smiling, “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to eat my woman and then we’re going to go out and do some baby supply shopping,” I growl against the soaked flesh of her pussy.
Heather arches her back and tries to wrap her thighs around my head, but I hold her in place and don’t let her squirm away from me. Not when I want to taste her and not miss a drop. No fucking thank you.
When I spear her juicy cunt with my tongue, she coats it in her cream, and I become a feral fucking beast. I make sure my entire mouth, my teeth, my lips, and my fingers are involved.
The gush of her creamy arousal as she comes screaming my name after I nip at her clit is the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. As much as I want to push her to a second orgasm, I hold off. Her thighs are shaking and she’s a panting mess with a dazed look on her face.
It’ll be enough to chase off any stupid fucker who thinks they can talk to her. As I help her come down from her orgasm slowly and gently, all I can think about is how lucky I am.
I kiss up and down the inside of her thighs and it takes a concerted effort not to sink my teeth into her flesh so everyone who gets near her pussy will know she’s been taken. It’s a silly thought, but the feral side of me isn’t rational. I know only Bedlam and Viper will be that close to her.
When her breathing returns to normal and the walls of her pussy stop spasming, I stand up and then help her sit up on the counter. This time she’s the one to hook her arm around my neck and pull me into a kiss. I’m sure she tastes herself on my tongue, but she just moans into my mouth.
Her voice sounds unsure when she pulls back from me, “You really want to go shopping for the baby with me?”
“Hell fucking yes,” I tell her honestly as one of my hands finds her belly. “You’re going to need some things and I want you and the baby to never want for anything.”
“I started fixing up the spare room as a nursery,” she tells me, shyness creeping into her expression.
“We peeked and saw it. It’s coming along beautifully, Cherub,” I praise her honestly. “We can recreate it in New Orleans and the women would be more than happy to help.”
She tilts her head to the side and sasses me, “Oh, just the women would help?”
I scratch the underside of my jaw, wondering how the fuck I got into this situation in the first place. “You know what I meant,” I try to defend myself.
Heather kisses me again as she giggles, this time just a little peck, but it ignites the need I have for her which is always right under the surface.
When I pick her up and carry her into her bedroom so she can get dressed, she looks up at me with so much love in her eyes. The trust she gives me as she rests her head on my shoulder before I sit her on the bed has my heart growing in my chest.
We’re all smiles and stolen kisses as we get changed and then head out to a big box store to see what there is to see. When she places a newborn sleeper in my hands it hits me all at once that we’ll be entrusted to care for someone who will be small enough to wear it.
It’s a heady feeling, but as I look at Heather, I find I trust myself with the responsibility just a little bit more. She believes in me and that’s enough.
“I love you, Cherub,” I whisper against her forehead as I kiss her.
Nothing else needs to be said. No thanks. No promises. Everything lives within those words, and they mean we’ll find our way.