Chapter 27 Felix
FELIX
I have trouble keeping my eyes on the road on the way back to Sadie and Ian’s. Piper’s too damn distracting in the passenger seat. She’s kicked off her heels and has her feet propped on the dashboard, my jacket still wrapped around her shoulders, humming along to my favorite playlist.
This is what I want. Not the crowds or the cameras or the people who only see Felix Barlowe, new star wide receiver for the Denver Grizzlies.
I want quiet drives with Piper singing off-key to Luke Combs, her pink-polished toes on my dashboard, and her hair coming loose from whatever she did to it for the wedding.
I want her.
The idea of opening myself up again is slightly terrifying, but mostly it just feels right. A fractured part of me sliding into place when I didn’t even notice I was out of alignment.
The porch light is on as we pull up to Ian and Sadie’s house.
“Still doing okay?” I meet her gaze across the vehicle’s darkened interior.
Piper nods, then pauses with her hand on the door handle. “Thank you for showing up even though I didn’t ask you to.”
“My pleasure.” Emotion lodges behind my ribs because aren’t we a pair? Both of us so intent on proving we don’t need anyone that we can’t get out of our own way to let each other in. “But you can also ask.”
Her eyes go shiny, and she blinks and looks away. “I’ll remember that.”
We head up the walk together, and Ian opens the door before we can knock, grinning like an idiot. “How was it?”
“Your suit might never recover from these thighs,” I say, earning a laugh from Piper. It feels like I won the lottery every damn time. “How’s Ellie?”
“Asleep on Riva with Sadie watching over them in the family room. She actually sat on my lap for our Bluey marathon.”
“That’s progress,” Piper says as we step inside the house.
“I have Beast to thank.” Ian shrugs his big shoulders, but it’s obvious how happy that progress makes him. “The dog adores me, and I guess Ellie trusts his judgment. I’ll take what I can get.” He looks at Piper. “You look lovely. I assume my baby brother didn’t make too much of a scene?”
“He did alright,” Piper says, and I catch the teasing note in her voice.
“High praise.” Ian closes the door behind us and then claps me on the shoulder. “No white steed needed.”
Piper gives us a funny look before heading to the family room. Sadie is curled up in the armchair with a book. Riva is sprawled across the sectional, Ellie zonked out on her chest with one hand curled into a fist near her mouth.
My heart swells up so big I can barely breathe around it.
“Look who’s back,” Sadie announces, setting down her book. Her gaze goes straight to Piper, who’s still wearing my jacket. “How was it?”
Piper glances at me, then back at her sister. A soft smile tugs at her lips. “It was good.”
Sadie arches a brow. “Good good, or good as in you survived?”
“I had a great time.” Piper’s cheeks flush pink. “Once my personal wedding crasher showed up.”
“Always the life of the party,” I say, moving toward the couch. Ellie stirs slightly at the sound of my voice, but doesn’t wake. “Looks like you wore her out, Rivs.”
“She asked for you maybe fifty times,” Riva reports quietly. “But other than that, easy peasy.”
Ian snorts. “She begs for Felix. Meanwhile, Uncle Ian tries to engage, and she looks at me like I’m going to force broccoli on her.”
Damn. My brother referring to himself as uncle is powerful in a way I didn’t expect.
I crouch beside the sofa and focus on Ellie so the adults in the room don’t see how close I am to completely losing my shit.
“I have a way with the ladies.” I smooth back Ellie’s hair, and she makes a soft sound in her sleep.
“Thanks for watching her,” I tell my niece.
“Anytime.” Riva shifts carefully, and I slide my arms under Ellie, lifting her against my chest. She immediately burrows into me, her chubby fingers curling into my shirt.
“Hey, Bean,” I murmur. “Time to go home.”
She makes a sleepy sound that might be my name.
Piper moves to my side, gently tugging Ellie’s striped shirt down over her toddler belly. Warmth spreads through my chest at the automatic and innately maternal gesture.
“We should get her to bed,” Piper says softly.
“Yeah.” I look between Riva, Sadie, and Ian. “Thanks for stepping in tonight.”
Sadie waves me off. “That’s what family does.”
Another hit straight to the feels.
The drive home is quiet with Ellie asleep in her car seat. I’m not even sure she realizes she’s doing it, but Piper keeps one hand on my thigh, her thumb making light circles that are both comforting and distracting as hell.
When we pull into the driveway of her little house, she glances toward the front porch light. “Home.”
“Yeah.” I kill the engine and look at her. “Home.”
We get Ellie inside and upstairs without any fuss. She rouses slightly when I lay her in the crib, her eyes cracking open.
“Fee,” she mumbles, reaching for me.
“I’m here, sweetheart.” I lean down to brush a kiss across her forehead. “Sleep tight.”
“Love Fee.”
Oh, shit. The words take me apart in an instant. My heart stumbles, my throat tightening until it’s almost impossible to speak. “Love you too, Ellie Bean.”
She’s out again before I finish tucking the blanket around her. I stand there for a minute, watching her breathe and wondering how the hell I thought I could let this kid go. There’s no way I can hand her over to Julie’s aunt or anyone else when every cell in my body is screaming that she’s mine.
I slip out of the room, pulling the door mostly closed behind me.
My brain short-circuits for a second when I find Piper waiting for me in the hallway.
Having shed the jacket and her heels, she’s standing there in just that flowing dress with her hair still pinned up but coming loose around her face.
“Did she go down okay?” Piper asks.
“Out like a light.” I take a step toward her. “You tired?”
“Not really.” She reaches out and takes my hand. “Come with me.”
She leads me down the hall to her bedroom, with its white iron bed frame and fairy lights left over from the girl she once was strung along the headboard. There’s a stack of books on the nightstand and a framed photo of Max on the dresser.
Piper closes the door behind us and leans against it. “I want to say thank you.”
“You already thanked me.”
“Properly.” She moves closer, her hands sliding up my chest to loop around my neck. “I didn’t realize how much I needed someone in my corner today until you showed up and—”
I kiss her before she can finish. Not because I want to stop her from talking, but because I can’t wait another second to taste her. She makes a surprised sound against my mouth, then presses her body flush against mine.
We’re both breathing hard when we break apart.
“Are you sure?” I whisper. “You don’t have to—”
“Shush, you.” Her smile is wicked and sweet at the same time. “Stop overthinking and kiss me again.”
So I do.
This time, there’s no hesitation. My hands find the zipper at the back of her dress while she works at the buttons of my shirt. Fabric pools at our feet, and then her hands are on my skin, tracing the lines of muscle, her fingertips flicking over my nipples.
“You’re beautiful,” she murmurs. It sounds strange applied to me, but I’ll take the compliment coming from her. I’ll take anything she’s willing to give.
“Right back at you.” I move her toward the bed, my hands skimming down to her hips. She’s in a simple white bra and panties, nothing fancy, but she’s never looked more perfect. “God, Piper. You’re so fucking beautiful.”
She moves the covers and scoots back against the headboard, those hazel eyes blown wide with need in a way that will haunt my dreams for years to come if I’m lucky. “Lose the pants, Barlowe.”
I grin and comply, kicking off my shoes and shucking the dress pants Ian loaned me. When I’m down to my boxer briefs, I notice her gaze drop, lingering on the undeniable evidence of how much I want her.
“See something you like?” I ask.
“Maybe.” She bites her lower lip, a motion that goes straight to my dick. “Come here.”
I climb onto the bed and settle between her legs. She reaches behind her back and unhooks her bra, tossing it aside, and my brain momentarily forgets how to form words. Her breasts seem even fuller than the last time, and when I cup one, she arches into my touch.
“Sensitive,” she breathes. “Everything’s more—”
“Tell me if there’s anything you don’t like.” I lower my head and take one nipple into my mouth, swirling my tongue around the peaked flesh. She gasps, and her hands thread through my hair, which I take as encouragement.
I worship her gorgeous breasts, alternating between gentle licks and firmer suction, until she’s squirming beneath me. Then I kiss my way down her stomach, pausing when I reach the slight swell that I can now see and feel.
Our baby growing inside her.
The thought makes my pulse thunder in my ears as I pause to press a kiss just below her navel.
“Are you having second thoughts?” There’s a thread of uncertainty under the teasing lilt to her voice.
I look up and find her watching me with wide eyes. “Not even a little,” I say, placing my hand over the slight curve of her belly. “This just makes you more beautiful.”
She lifts off the bed and kisses me hard, and it feels like she’s trying to tell me something she doesn’t have words for yet.
I kiss back just as fiercely, then work my way down again, hooking my fingers in the waistband of her panties to drag them down her legs. She raises her hips to help, and when she’s bare, I take a moment to savor the fucking perfection spread like a feast before me.
She lets out a husky laugh. “Take a picture, it lasts longer.”
“Let me look, Hart.” I spread her thighs wider. “I want to see what I’m about to taste.”
“Oh,” she breathes as I lower my head and drag my tongue through her folds, groaning at what is quickly becoming my favorite flavor—Piper Hart. She’s sweet and salty and perfect.