Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Poseidon
Five days. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve seen Sydney.
I’ve called her and talked to her every night before she went to bed.
I texted her that first night and then called because we got tired of the text chains.
She has opened up a little more to me, talking about her projects at the zoo, her drives, and Mari.
She still won’t tell me anything about her recent past.
I pull up to her house and step out of my truck.
I wanted to ride my bike, but it’s been raining off and on.
Plus, my shoulder is sore from all the work this week and the rain in the air.
I reach across the seat and pick up the deer stuffed animal I picked up earlier this week while shopping and the bouquet of flowers I grabbed on my way here.
The front door opens, and I can’t fight the smile as Sydney is standing there in skintight blue Jeans and a green sweater that causes her eyes to practically glow. Mari is in her arms, her curly hair covered by a flowered turban that matches her outfit. Her chubby hands grip Sydney’s sweater.
I lean down and kiss Sydney’s cheek before I hand her the flowers.
She turns and heads into the house. I follow her inside and close the door behind me.
A timer goes off in the kitchen, and the smell of something delicious hits me.
Sydney puts Mari in a bouncy seat on the floor after she sets the flowers on the counter.
“You said you’d try anything, so I made a recipe that Lydia suggested.”
“I’ll eat anything that doesn’t eat me first. In my house, with three growing boys, my father used to say he needed a trough to feed us all.
My nephew is taking after us boys too. He’s going to eat my brother out of house and home.
” I chuckle and watch as she flips a vent on top of a thing that causes steam to blast from it, and the aroma gets stronger. “What did you make? It smells amazing.”
“I made chicken bacon ranch pasta in my new Instant Pot. Lydia swears by them. She says she can cook a whole chicken from frozen in under forty minutes. I haven’t tried that yet, but I picked up all the ingredients and started this just a bit ago.”
“Can I help with anything?” I stand next to her as she moves around the kitchen. She turns to smile at me, and I pull her into me, smashing the plates between us. “I need your lips, spitfire.”
She leans up to give me those luscious lips. I try to keep the kiss light, but as soon as I have her in my arms again, I can’t stop myself from wanting to taste all of her.
I let her go and watch as she steps back from me.
Her shoulders move with every breath she takes.
Her eyes flutter open, and she looks up at me.
I can see her pulse jumping in her neck.
She’s as turned on as I am, and it makes me want to say fuck it to food and just carry her too the bedroom.
But then Mari makes a noise from her seat, and it pushes me back to reality.
“Hello,” Sydney says breathlessly, and again I want to pull her into me. She bites her bottom lip, then turns away from me. “There are veggies in the microwave if you want to pull them out.”
As I turn toward the microwave, I adjust myself and help her finish dinner. She sets the table with our plates loaded with the main course, and I join her with the broccoli after I put a spoon in it.
“Sit down,” she says, and I sit and watch her, not wanting to miss anything.
She brings me a beer and a glass of water for herself. I watch her pick up Mari and put her into the high chair and then pull her close.
“She’s eating with us?” I ask.
“I’m starting her on rice cereal with a little bit of squash mixed in.”
“You eat. I’ll take care of her.” I offer.
Sydney smiles, and my heart thumps in my chest.
“You eat, please. She only eats a little bit, so I’ll feed her between bites. She likes to sit up in the chair with us.”
We proceed to eat and visit, just going over our day. She feeds Mari, who makes more of a mess than she eats. Out of the blue, Sydney leans back with her plate of food barely touched. I wait to see if she’s going to offer up what is bothering her.
“Lydia came down to tell me they are trying to arrange for a Zimbabwe conservation center to come visit the zoo.” She sighs.
“That sounds amazing, baby. Maybe you’ll know them.” I lean back, my plate empty now. She’s pushing her food around on her plate. I can tell her mind is in a bad space.
“I doubt it.”
She takes a deep breath and picks up her plate to head back into the kitchen. Mari squeals from her high chair as Sydney drops her plate in the sink. She just stands there, staring out the window. I pick up my plate and move in behind her. I set the plate in the sink with hers.
“What’s bothering you, spitfire?” I wrap my arms around her, giving her the support she needs. She leans back into me.
“It’s nothing.” She turns in my arms and leans up to kiss my chin. She’s trying to distract me. She knows I can’t say no to her kisses.
I forget the conversation while we bathe Mari and get her ready for bed.
Now I have my girl under me as I kiss her on the sofa.
We started out watching TV, but I couldn’t have her that close and not kiss her.
She moans into my mouth as her legs wrap around my hips, pulling me closer to her core.
The urge to strip her is so great right now. I want to kiss every inch of her body.
I slide my hand up inside her sweater, her skin soft against my calloused fingers.
I glide my fingers up her ribs, feeling each indentation.
When I cup her breast, her body bows off the sofa in need of more contact.
I work her nipple through the lace of her bra.
She moans again, and my cock tries to bust through my zipper.
Leaning up, I pull away slightly so I can pull her sweater from her body.
I vow to myself this will be the only article of clothing I’ll take off her because she’s not ready for me yet.
I know she’s mine, but she is still working out this process in her mind.
She still thinks we are temporary, and we are so far from that.
“This is all mine, spitfire,” I say as I look down at her ivory skin.
There is a puckered scar on her right shoulder that looks like a bullet wound. She has another scar on her abdomen along her side that is definitely from a blade. She starts to cover herself, but I won’t have that.
I push her arms over her head, holding her wrists together as I lean forward and kiss the wound at her shoulder.
I continue to hold her down as I kiss the scar on her side.
They both had to have happened about the same time because they are still slightly pink.
Maybe a year old. I recognize the stage of healing they’re in because of my own.
“Please let me go,” she begs.
I look up at her instead of inspecting the scars. I see the pain in her eyes, so I let her go. She immediately covers herself, but I reach behind my neck and pull my Henley off to show her my shoulder.
“We match, baby.”
Her eyes roam my body, taking in my scars.
Sydney
I look up his body and see the scars on his shoulder.
He has more than me, and they go down his arm and over part of his chest. I don’t match him, but I know he’s trying to make me more comfortable being naked around him.
I hold my arms up in front of my chest to show him my forearms with the small scars inflicted from the gravel and thorns I had crawled through.
He leans forward and kisses the scars there.
“You take my breath away with your beauty. Your scars only make you more beautiful because you survived them.” His tongue licks up my arms before he moves them away to lick over my lace covered breasts.
His words soothe a part of me I didn’t realize I needed. The need to feel attractive again. Since I recently stopped nursing Mari, I didn’t put in nursing shields, but him licking my nipples causes some milk to leak out, and I flush in embarrassment.
“That’s hot as fuck. Never thought I would find it sexy.
Not the blush, but the milk leaking from your body.
You caring for your baby is a turn-on.” He presses his pelvis into mine, and I throw my head back when I feel his erect cock through his jeans at my entrance.
“I’m going to stop for tonight. I should get home.
But I’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up for the party at the clubhouse. ”
“What party?” He never mentioned us getting together again.
“You’re my girl now. I want to have you with me at club functions if you’re not working.”
He presses down onto my body, and I wrap my arms around him, holding him tight, wanting him to continue what he started. His hand wraps around my neck. The move causes my blood to pump faster, not in fear but in need.
“You kissing anyone else like this baby?”
“Well, no.”
“Then you’re my girl, correct?”
“I don’t know.”
“Again, Sydney, does another man do this to you?”
He leans down and kisses me, taking my breath away as he keeps his hand on my throat.
His tongue slides into my mouth and dominates mine.
Taking everything I have and demanding more.
I clutch at him, my nails digging into his skin.
I wrap my legs around him, not wanting him to stop, but he pulls away again.
“Well?”
I’m panting, confused, unsure what he’s asking me. All I can think about are his lips against mine. His chest pressing into mine. His body enveloping mine. That dominant hand on my neck, holding me in place.
“What?” I shake my head, trying to remove the fog of lust.
“Are. You. Kissing. Another. Man?” He punctuates each word with kisses over my face.
“No. Only you.”
“Mine,” he says before he leans down and kisses me again. This time when he pulls away, I can’t stop the response that comes from my lips.
“Yours.” I sigh, and he pulls himself up, unwrapping my legs, and away from me.
“That word from your mouth makes me want to check out your bed. You are mine, but we are still going to wait. You’re not completely ready for what it will mean when I finally get my cock inside your sweet as fuck pussy.”
“Okay.” I nod, a smile playing across my lips.
I want him so bad I’m about to beg him, but I agree we need to wait. That was the issue with my previous relationships. I confused them with sex too soon and realized I wasn’t into them as much as I thought.
He hands my sweater back to me, and I slip it on while he grabs his shirt.
His chest is not only ripped with muscles but tattooed and hairless except for the trail of hair that leads to his cock.
The slab of muscles over his pectorals and a full six-pack have me drooling.
He’s a sexy specimen of male, and I’m into him.
“Spitfire, stop looking at me like that.” His voice is filled with desire.
My eyes flip up to his, and he’s grinning. He turns his back toward me to slip his Henley over his head, and I see a large tattoo across his back and more scars. The scars are primarily on his left side. I move off the sofa and walk to him.
He’s right, I’m not kissing any other men. I don’t like that he manipulated my body to answer his question, but I like how it sounded. I walk around him until I’m facing him.
“Did you just ask me to be exclusive to you and to be your girlfriend?” I smile at him, playing coy, and lean up to kiss the cleft in his chin.
That sexy cleft has been calling me to kiss it since the first time I saw it.
“You know I’ve been asked out at the zoo.
” I don’t tell him it’s a kid, but I like teasing him.
He pulls me up his body, and I wrap myself around him. I love that he moves me around where he wants me. That he’s strong enough to pick me up.
“Yeah, spitfire, we are exclusive and you’re my girl.
You tell any of the fuckers at your work you are taken now.
I might have to come show them who you belong to.
” He nuzzles his head into my neck and kisses me there.
I giggle at his scruff tickling my skin.
“Walk me to the door.” He lowers me back down.
I watch as he lifts his jacket with the cut off the hook and slips it back on along with his work boots.
He turns back to me and pushes my hair behind my ear. “I’ll be here at seven to pick you up.”
“Okay. I’ll call my mom and see if she’ll take Mari for the night. Because I know Aries and Wrenn are on baby watch now.” Wrenn is due on Valentines Day.
“Good, baby.” He leans down and kisses my forehead, nose, then my lips. I love how gentle he is with me. “Lock up and set the alarm,” he orders.
“Text me when you get to your room.” I tip my head to the side.
“Okay.” He walks out the door, and I watch him until he gets to his truck. He turns back around and waves at me. “Lock up, spitfire.”
I close and lock the door, then set the alarm as I hear him pull out of the driveway. Only then do I make my way to my bedroom after checking on Mari in her crib.
In the bathroom, I take in my swollen lips, the love bites across my collarbone, and my messy hair from his hands.
But the flush on my cheeks and the glow in my eyes make me smile.
It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way.
I still worry about him being a part of my life.
But he wants to be here, and I’m safe. It’s time to move on from the past. I’ll never get through what happened to me until I start to live normally and move on.
No one has found me, and I’ll keep it that way.
I’m climbing into bed after changing into shorts and a T-shirt when my cell pings from the nightstand.
Tucker
I’m in my room. Are you in bed?
Me
Yeah.
Tucker
Care to show me what you sleep in?
Me
Soon.
I add the smiling emoji as I chuckle at his question.
Tucker
Night, spitfire.
Me
Night, handsome.
I set my phone on the charger before I roll over and fall asleep.