Chapter Twenty #2
“We probably need to get more baby supplies. A changing table,” I say, watching as Ryleigh lays Ella onto the end of the bed to change her.
“You really want us to stay here?” she asks, her eyes wide and locked onto mine.
I stroke her cheek with my thumb. “I really want you to stay here. The place felt empty when you left. I slept for about four minutes last night.” I don’t remind her that the location of her run-down apartment makes me nervous.
It’s not safe for them there. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they don’t have to go back.
“I—I guess we could try it . . .”
“Yeah?” My grin is huge as she lifts those blue eyes to mine, smiling.
“Yeah,” she says.
“Okay, then. I think it’s time to go shopping and set up a real baby nursery.”
I grab my laptop from the counter and we settle onto the couch together, browsing the baby sites for the items we’ll need.
Ryleigh looks ready for a fight when I whip out my credit card, but I plant a big kiss on her lips to quiet her.
It works perfectly. I’ll have to remember that trick anytime she attempts to give me some of that sass.
Keeps her quiet and I get to kiss her. Win-win.
We pick out a matching changing table and dresser, bedding, an upholstered rocking chair, and a furry pink rug for the floor in front of the crib that Ryleigh seemed to like.
Later, after a dinner of steak and potatoes that she prepares for us, we give Ella a bath together and put her to bed for the night. It feels oddly domestic, but somehow right.
I’m flipping through my team’s playbook on the couch when Ryleigh joins me in the living room.
“Hey, there,” she purrs. She’s changed into her pajamas already, and I smile as I watch her approach. I love that she’s so comfortable here.
I set down the playbook and turn to face her. “Don’t freak out,” I say as she settles in beside me.
“What are you talking about?”
“I made some calls. A friend of mine’s wife owns a childcare center, a little preschool in a wealthy suburb about twenty minutes away.
He said they’re hiring for a preschool teacher.
I know it’s not a teacher, but maybe it’s a start?
The pay is good, probably not as good as what you were making at the club, but there are full benefits, and you can bring Ella with you to work. She can go into the infant program.”
Tears well in her eyes, and she blinks several times. “I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.” I smile.
“Yes.”
Thank God.
Knowing she won’t have to go back to that place ever again, won’t ever be propositioned by sleazy men outside her building after work, is huge. The tension I’ve been carrying in my shoulders unknots, and I let out a heavy exhale. What a relief.
“And with you working a normal schedule, you can finish your teaching degree. I looked into some online programs for you.”
Ryleigh brings her hands to my face, cupping my scruffy cheeks with her palms. “You big, bossy, crazy man.”
I smile and lean down to press my lips against hers, resting my hand around the back of her neck. “I couldn’t let you go. Not that easily. Ella really clinched the deal for me wanting you to stick around, ya know. Well, that and the amazing food and sex.”
She grins again. “Are you done being bossy?”
“Not even a little.”
She chuckles, and the sound is amazing.
I love seeing her like this, happy and carefree. There are still a lot of hard times ahead, including the awfulness of losing Andi and adjusting to parenthood. None of it will be easy, which is why we need to savor the good times even more. I intend to show her how to do exactly that.
“Come here, baby.” I haul her onto my lap, and Ryleigh giggles when I tug her close. “I’m so glad you came back. And I’m so damn glad you agreed to take Ella. That was a very brave thing to do.”
“Kiss me,” she whispers, and I do, a lot.
She shifts her hips so we’re pressed even closer.
“We had our first fight as a real couple—sort of—so does that mean we’re about to have make-up sex?” I grip her ass in both hands. I can’t get enough of her. I pray she says yes.
Ryleigh smiles as she leans down and kisses me some more, still rocking her hips in a way that’s killing me as she runs her hands through my hair. “Take me to bed and let’s make up,” she murmurs.
I carry her into my room—scratch that, our room—and take my time stripping her of her pajamas. When she’s bare, I kiss every square inch of her from the delicate column of her throat to her full breasts, down to her stomach, until I reach the juncture between her thighs.
“Alexei . . .” She moans, fisting her hands in my hair as I taste her.
“You’re perfect,” I murmur, kissing her inner thigh.
Only once I’ve coaxed an orgasm from her body do I lie down next to her.
Then I spoon my chest against her back, wrapping her tightly in my arms. She parts her thighs, inviting me in, and I enter her from behind.
It’s heaven to hold her like this and take her at the same time.
I kiss the back of her neck as Ryleigh begins to work her hips against me.
“Yes, baby. Fuck.” I pump my hips harder, my eyes falling closed.
“Alexei.”
“That’s it,” I say, bringing one hand between us to rub her slick flesh. “Come for me.”
A few moments more and she does, her body clenching wildly around mine until I groan and follow her over the edge.