19. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Seven Weeks Later
***
R afael grimaced as he lifted Jasper from his crib. He had long recovered from the gunshot and surgery, but his muscles still protested certain movements, especially lifting wiggly babies.
“Babababa,” Jasper babbled happily.
“You know, for someone who kept us awake all night with your fussing about those teeth, you are way too chipper his morning.” Rafael marveled at his nephew’s ability to be adorable and sweet this early in the morning. “Let’s sneak out of here and let your Tia Sky sleep.”
Carefully, he carried Jasper out of the nursery and across the bedroom, passing Sky’s sleeping form. She had been the one who handled everything last night. She had refused to let him help, insisting he needed to rest.
Now, it was her turn to rest.
After handing Jasper off to his mother and Camila, he returned to their bedroom and slipped into bed with Sky. She groggily eyed him as he moved closer and draped an arm across her waist. “Jasper?”
“With my mom.” He kissed her cheek. “Sleep. He’s fine.”
“The party?”
“We have hours.” He kissed her again. “Sleep. You need it.”
She didn’t argue and was soon sleeping soundly at his side. For a long time, he simply watched her. These quiet, intimate moments were hard to come by lately.
The last few weeks had been some of the hardest of his life. Recovering from a gunshot was tough enough, but he had caught a respiratory virus during his stay in the hospital. He’d had some bad illnesses in his life, but nothing compared to the agony of coughing with a healing wound in his chest.
There had been one night when he’d been delirious with fever and fighting to breathe in the ICU when he had feared he might actually die. Only Sky’s constant presence and support had gotten him through it. She hadn’t left his side even once, not even when he’d begged her to go home and shower and sleep. She had camped out in that awful little chair by his bedside in an oversized sweatshirt and leggings until his fever broke and his lungs cleared.
It had taken his mother piling on the guilt to get Sky to go home and rest finally. Soila used that tactic sparingly, reserving it for when it was most needed. Sky had spent almost two days at the estate, sleeping and resting and rebuilding her strength so she could care for him.
He couldn’t believe he had ever doubted her ability to be a mother. She had proven time and again that she would act selflessly, putting everyone else before her. Her capacity for love was endless, and he promised he would never, ever take her for granted.
I owe her everything.
I have to protect her .
She would give and give and give until she had nothing left. As her husband, it was his duty to prevent just that burnout.
In a few short days, he was surprising her with the honeymoon she deserved. Jasper would stay here with his family, and he would whisk his wife away to Greece for a week of uninterrupted romance. He expected her to push back about leaving Jasper behind, but he had ways of persuading her to agree with him.
Hopefully, halfway around the world in Greece, loved up in a private villa, Sky would be shielded from the ugliness of Beverly’s trial. It was slated to begin the day after they left, and he had been assured by authorities it would be finished before they returned. Beverly should have taken the plea bargain offered to her like her accomplices who had pled guilty for reduced sentences. She seemed determined to make stupid decisions, even when it meant losing her freedom.
Certain Beverly would make outrageous claims in court, he wanted Sky as far away from that madwoman as possible. He wanted her blissed out on a beach, relaxed and happy. He wanted her thinking about their future, not the past.
A future that included him home almost every night. A future that had him stepping back as CEO and promoting Dina. A future that would see him taking over Jaime’s role as the head of the company’s US operations.
Dina had earned her turn at CEO, and he was thrilled to pass off the reins to someone he trusted implicitly. He and Dina had wanted Lola or Beto to take on Dina’s open position, but both had refused the offer. Lola wanted to stay in the fields with the agave, and Beto needed to be close to the ocean. So, they would promote from within to fill Dina’s place.
“I can hear you thinking,” Sky murmured, her eyes still closed as she snuggled in closer.
“Sorry.” He combed his fingers through her hair, loving the scent of coconut that enveloped him. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“My ability to sleep in seems to have vanished since becoming Jasper’s guardian.” She yawned tiredly. “The smallest noise wakes me, and my internal clock starts to go crazy if I’m still in bed after seven a.m.”
“Do you think that goes away as he gets older? Do you think we’ll be able to sleep through the night? Or go out on a date without feeling guilty?”
“Probably not,” she muttered and kissed his jaw. “With our luck, the moment he’s potty trained and sleeping ten hours a night, we’ll get pregnant.”
A year ago, if the woman sharing his bed had uttered the word pregnant, he would have panicked. Now? With Sky in his arms? He found the idea exciting.
“Maybe we can discuss a baby while we’re on our honeymoon?” she asked carefully.
Doubly shocked, he ignored the baby question and asked, “How did you know about the trip to Greece?”
“Do you really think you can keep secrets in this house?” She laughed and peppered tender kisses along the curve of his throat. “Between Beto and Camila, there’s no secrets here.”
“Those two,” he grumbled. “They’re like old gossiping ladies.”
She laughed, and then, more serious, she said, “We don’t have to talk about a baby yet. I know it’s a big step, and you’re just getting better after the shooting and—.”
He silenced her endless litany of reasons why they shouldn’t have a baby with a passionate kiss. She whimpered against his mouth and happily welcomed him between her legs when he rolled her onto her back. He gripped her thigh in one hand and caressed her face with the other. In between wildly filthy kisses, he said, “I’ll give you a baby right now if you want it.”
“Rafa!” Sky gazed up at him with a mix of shock and arousal. He nipped at her lush lower lip and flicked his tongue against hers. She moaned and arched up beneath him, pressing her body to his in the most wickedly delicious way. “It’s too early.”
He tore his mouth away from hers, letting his lips drift along her neck to the swell of her breast heaving above her tank top. “We can sleep first.”
“No.” She laughed and then gasped when his hand slipped into the waistband of her sleep shorts. “I meant— God !” She groaned as his fingers moved between her thighs. “I meant that it’s too early in my cycle to get pregnant.”
The mention of biology and cycles threw him off his game. He didn’t know much about the intricacies of conception. He had the basics down, of course, but knowing where his wife was in her cycle and whether she was fertile was beyond his ken.
“Well.” He resumed his exploration of his wife’s body, finding her wet and ready for all he had to offer. “Maybe we can consider this practice.”
“Practice?” She cried out when he swirled his fingertips over her swollen clitoris.
“It makes perfect.” He swallowed another cry of joy with a punishing kiss while his fingers touched where he wanted to taste. “Or, at least, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“If you get any better at this, you’re going to kill me,” she warned playfully. “As it is, I can barely function after you make me come.”
“You want to test that?” He held her gaze while letting his fingers swirl and rub her slick heat.
“Rafa.”
“Sky?” He grinned as she grasped his waist and tried to force his body even closer.
She clutched at his shoulders. “Stop teasing me.”
Filled with love for his beautiful, sensual wife, he captured her lips and kissed her until she was soft and pliant beneath him. He gave her what she wanted, using his skilled fingers to bring her to climax quickly. Of course, she wasn’t satisfied with that. She wanted more.
More that he was happy to provide.
They tore at each other’s pajamas. Shirts and shorts were carelessly tossed aside. Naked and burning up with lust, they rolled around in the bed, tangling their legs and tongues until he could barely make sense of where he ended, and she started.
When she shoved him back to the bed and straddled his lap, he happily reclined against the pillows. With his hands on her waist, he guided her movements as she stroked his aching cock and then slipped it inside her. They both moaned with pleasure, her from being filled and stretched and him from being squeezed in such wet heat.
She was incredible. He gazed up at her with such wild adoration. She rocked and bounced on his lap, her breasts driving him crazy. He couldn’t pass up the chance to enjoy them. She groaned his name as he lavished her breasts with attention, suckling and nipping until she was clawing at his chest. But even in the throes of passion, she was careful with his scar. She kept her nails away from it and used less pressure as she braced herself against his chest.
Her breaths shifted, growing deeper and faster. He had learned to recognize the signals and wanted to finish with her. He gripped her waist and pounded up into her from below, making her gasp and cry out with each snap of his hips. Her mouth dropped open, and her nails scratched at his lower belly. Her thighs tightened, and she began to make feral sounds.
She climaxed with his name on her lips. He would never tire of that, would never grow bored of hearing his wife begging him to keep going, to make her feel good, to make her come.
“Rafa! Rafa! Rafa!”
He dug his toes into the bed as his own climax rushed through him. He didn’t even try to hold back, to be quiet, to slow down and draw it out. No, he raced toward the finish line, desperate to join her.
With a rough groan, he came hard, filling his wife with his seed. It wouldn’t take hold, not this time, but that didn’t make it any less exciting. Soon enough, it would. Until then? Well. As he said. Practice makes perfect.
“Now, I need a nap,” Sky murmured in between yawns. “Just a little one.”
“I’ll set an alarm.” He reached for his phone on the bedside table and tapped at the screen. He noticed a message from Dina. “The party crew is already here setting up outside.”
“Your mother went way overboard,” Sky said, but not unkindly. “Three hundred guests? He’s one. He won’t even remember today.”
“No, he won’t, but she will.” He had given up trying to reason with his mother about planning a smaller event for Jasper’s birthday. It was easier to give her carte blanche. “Besides, it’s a good excuse for inviting our employees and their kids.”
“I agree, but still. We’re lucky she didn’t go with the circus theme.” Sky rolled onto her side, and he spooned her from behind. “I swear to God, Rafa. She was trying to figure out a way to get an elephant here. The only reason she gave up on that idea was because Lola went ballistic at the idea of clearing out the rose garden to make room for an actual circus tent.”
“I’m not surprised.” All he could do was laugh. “I suppose I shouldn’t complain about the petting zoo today.”
“Nope. Thank your lucky stars we’ve only got miniature donkeys and rabbits to worry about and not camels and zebras.”
Holding his wife, Rafa nuzzled her cheek and tenderly kissed her temple. “I love you, Sky.”
“I love you, Rafa.” She yawned again and made a happy little sound as she relaxed in his arms.
As she slowly drifted to sleep, he marveled at this woman who had agreed to share her life with him. Not so long ago, she had been totally forbidden to him. Then, she had been the most convenient choice.
Now?
Now, she was the most beloved.
If the last few months had taught him anything, it was that life wasn’t guaranteed. All he had was right now, right this moment. He was going to live each day to the fullest and love his wife and Jasper and his family with every single beat of his heart.
He was done with regrets. From now on, he was choosing joy. He was choosing happiness.
He was choosing Sky.
Mi amor.
My wife.
My reason for being.