Epilogue #2
It was after ten, and I was in bed reading when I heard Kash begin to whine through the baby monitor.
I glanced over at the video feed, saw his little restless body as he squirmed, and was quick to grab my bookmark.
Hoping to sooth him before he became fully awake, I tiptoed across the hall and silently entered his nursery.
The moment I reached down and rested my palm on his back, he began to relax.
I rubbed slow strokes up and down his small spine, admiring him in the darkness, broken only by the night light plugged in by the door.
When I heard the garage open and close a few moments later, I smiled—marveling at the wonders of my man, who was thoughtful enough to cut the engine of his Hydra-Glide before he pulled into the garage, so as not to startle our sleeping toddler.
Remembering his unspoken promise from earlier, I slowly crept back out of the room, shutting the door softly behind me.
“He okay?” asked Ben softly upon his approach.
I glanced over at him, nodded, then waved him into our bedroom. He trailed after me, closing us in before immediately shedding off his kutte.
“Things all good on your end?” I asked, giving him a proper once over.
“Yeah, baby. All good.”
He hung his vest from the hook on the back of the door, then I got to watch as he crossed his arms and reached for the hem of his shirt, peeling it off his torso and over his head. I’d seen him do it countless times, and it never got old. Especially not after the addition of his last tattoo.
Inked down his side, over his ribs, was a gorgeous phoenix in full color.
She was me. She was a promise.
His promise that I was going to be a part of him forever.
He dropped his shirt on the floor, reached for the button of his jeans, then stopped and smirked at me.
“Ali—dick’s not comin’ out until those tits do.”
Laughing softly, I shook my head, then began to rid myself of his faded, old, Harley Davidson tee. I was shimming my way out of my panties when he said, “Wanted to talk to you about somethin’.”
I looked over at him as he freed his feet from his boots.
“Like, right now?”
My disappointment twisted itself around my impatience, and I knew he heard it.
He chuckled, finally working his jeans off his ankles as he replied, “Yeah.”
“And you wanted to have this conversation naked because…?” I let my sentence trail off, broadcasting my confusion.
His smile grew into a grin, and I pressed my thighs together as my sex clenched. He was as magnificent stripped bare as he had been the first time I laid eyes on his sculpted, tatted, frame—but it was his smile, and those damn brown eyes, that got me every time.
He closed the distance between us, and I hardly realized he hadn’t answered me until he slid his hands underneath my armpits, lifted me from my feet, and tossed me back across the bed.
“Oh,” I muttered in surprise, landing in the cocoon of our rumpled, fluffy duvet.
I then watched as he climbed onto the bed with me, making room for himself between my legs.
“This is a conversation best had naked,” he finally answered.
I circled my legs around his hips, sliding my arms about his shoulders, wanting him as close as he could get. He gave me a bit of his weight, his hard chest pressing against my now aching breasts, making me squirm in excitement.
“Brown-eyes—I’ll talk about whatever you want if it means you inside of me very, very soon.”
A crooked smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and he traced the fingers of his left hand along my hairline, brushing a few strands away from my face. “Let’s make another baby,” he muttered casually.
My limbs constricted around him. This time, it had little to do with desire.
“What?” I breathed.
He gave me a little more of his weight as he touched his forehead to mine.
“I want another one, Ali. Let’s try for a girl this time.”
For a moment, I was speechless—my brain sluggish as it tried to support the weight of his comment. Needless to say, this wasn’t a conversation I was expecting.
“Um—I mean, are you sure?”
I thought about the non-stop nature of our lives as it was.
We were good. We were happy, but we were busy.
Our life was full. If we made it any fuller, I didn’t know if I would be able to handle it.
I never, ever wanted Kash to feel any less important or loved than he was. Would having another unsettle us?
“What if—what if two is too hard?”
He lifted his head and stared down at me.
My heart was pounding, but I could see the deep-rooted calmness that lived in my man.
With smiling eyes, he replied, “Baby, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that nothin’s too hard for my warrior.
Say the word, and I’ll get to work. We’ll figure it out as we go. We always do.”
I pulled in a deep breath and tried to think as I held tight to my anchor.
Cedar. Amber. Leather.
His scent filled my nose; and like a balm, the familiarity of it—of him—beckoned me to relax.
‘I got you, sparky. You’re safe.’
It was the first promise he ever made me—and he’d never broken it. Not even once.
I stared up at him, and the doors in my mind began to open, unleashing some of my favorite memories.
The look on his face when I showed him the pregnancy test. The tears he shed the first time he held Kash in his arms. The pride in his voice anytime I heard him brag about even the silliest of our little man’s accomplishments.
He wanted to try for a girl, and suddenly it seemed impossibly selfish to tell him no.
Not for his sake, but for hers .
If there was even a chance we could bring a little girl into this world, a girl who would grow up knowing what it meant to be loved unconditionally by a man as wonderful as him—who was I to deny the universe? To deny her?
Sealing my eyes closed, I furrowed my brow, fighting against my fear, my hope, and an admiration almost too overwhelming to contain.
“I love you, Benson Wright,” I declared.
He traced the tip of his nose along the side of mine as he asked, “Is that a yes?”
Opening my eyes, I sought out his gaze and nodded.
“Yeah, brown-eyes,” I whispered through my smile. “Let’s make another baby.”
I hope you enjoyed Ali & Ben’s story!
Thank you for reading—and thank you for all your support throughout this wild ride.