Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning, Tristan woke to the smell of coffee, but it was too early.
Too early to open his eyes. Too early to move.
It was even too early for coffee as far as he was concerned.
Surely, he had just closed his eyes. There was no way it could be morning already.
Not when he was still exhausted and felt as if he could sleep a week.
He lifted his wrist, surprised he had slept in his watch, and squinted at the face of the expensive time piece.
Five-thirty in the morning? Why the hell was Cree up so early? She didn’t have to be to work until eight, or maybe it was nine. Whatever time she needed to be there didn’t warrant her being up at the butt-crack of dawn.
Since retiring, Tristan rarely got up before nine, and even now, he had every intention of going back to sleep. But first, he needed to check on Cree.
As he thought about his gorgeous woman, a smile crept across his lips.
The day before had been one for the books.
It was official. Cree was finally his again, and this time it was for keeps.
His win-Cree-back plan was working, but of course his life wouldn’t be complete until he had everything back that he had lost thirteen years ago.
He wanted it all and more—his wife, a home, and kids someday.
He wouldn’t give up on that dream. Life was short and could end in a heartbeat.
Tristan had found that out when he got hurt. Yes, he lived to tell about it, though at the time, he felt as if he was dying. One minute he was a superstar on the football field, and the next minute, doctors were telling him he wouldn’t be able to play again.
In his mind, his whole world had been ripped from him, and he hadn’t known what to do. Football was his everything, and when it was over, he’d had to take a long look at his life and what he wanted to do with it going forward.
That’s when he’d made the decision that he’d do whatever he could to get Cree back. Though he had tried years ago, this time failure hadn’t been an option. She had always been in his heart, and now she was a part of all his future plans. His life had been incomplete without her in it.
If Tristan didn’t learn anything else over the last few months, he learned you couldn’t take anything for granted. Time didn’t wait for anyone, and there were no guarantees that he and Cree would be alive tomorrow. So he wanted to take full advantage of every minute.
On that thought, he really should go in search of Cree and grab some coffee.
But before he got up, the bedroom door slid open, and there she was wearing his shirt while holding two coffee mugs.
Her hair was sticking up here and there and her face was scrubbed free of makeup.
Yet, she was still the most beautiful woman to him.
His shirt stopped just below her gorgeous ass giving him an unobstructed view of everything below that.
His gaze ran the length of her bare legs down to her hot pink toenails.
“You have the prettiest legs I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Not only were they flawless and shapely, but they were nice and long, seeming to go on forever.
Then memories of her performance the night before flashed through his mind. That and her incredible costume which had showed off all her most impressive physical assets. Tristan would love a repeat of her striptease.
“Good morning, Mr. Irresistible, and thank you. I’m glad you like them,” she said, her voice husky as if she’d just woken up. She lifted the mugs in her hand. “I took a chance on you wanting coffee. If not, you can pretend to drink it while I drink mine. So I don’t have to drink alone.”
He chuckled and leaned against the headboard while pulling the covers up to his waist. As Cree handed him one of the mugs, she bent down and gave him a lingering kiss on the lips. Yeah, this was how he wanted to wake up every day—with her wearing his shirt and her mouth anywhere on his body.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said when she pulled back. “Why are you up so early?”
Cree strolled to the other side of the bed and climbed in. “I usually wake up pretty early so I can ease into the day. Besides, we fell asleep before ten last night.”
That was true. They’d fallen asleep earlier than he usually went to bed.
After taking a few careful sips of the steaming brew, Tristan sat his mug on the nightstand and then reached for Cree’s cup to do the same.
“Come here,” he said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
When she was snug against his body, Tristan kissed her again, savoring her tantalizing lips.
When he dipped his tongue into her mouth, she tasted like coffee and chocolate which might’ve been from the creamer she added to her mug.
As their tongues tangled, he pulled her even closer to where she was draped across his chest and cradled in his arms. He dominated her mouth, savoring the moment, and seriously thinking about stripping her of his shirt.
His hand glided along the side of her leg, marveling in the softness of her skin. But when his hand inched below the shirt, her cell phone alarm went off.
“Maybe if we ignore it, it’ll shut itself off,” he murmured against her lips, and Cree laughed and pushed herself up.
“I don’t know what type of fancy phone you have, but mine is not that sophisticated,” she said as she turned off the alarm.
“Neither is mine. I don’t think.” He honestly didn’t know and had never thought about that type of feature.
She scooted back against the headboard. “Can you hand me my mug?”
He did and grabbed his too. “What time do you have to be to work?” he asked as they enjoyed their coffee.
“I’m working from home today, and I’ll probably start around nine.”
“How often do you work remotely?” Asking that question made him realize just how much he still didn’t know about her routines.
“Not often. Maybe once or twice a month. Since you stayed the night, I thought it would be nice to spend more time with you.”
“I like the way you think. Though it’s early as hell, I can think of a few things we can do before you clock in to work.”
Cree chuckled. “I’m sure you can, but you’re going to have to wait until I finish at least one cup of coffee.”
“I really enjoyed hanging out with your family yesterday.”
Shortly before they’d left, her sister Dorian and her fiancé, as well as Zion’s wife and twins arrived.
The cottage wasn’t very big. They all were practically on top of each other.
Still, he had a good time. Her father had mentioned that they needed to find a bigger place, but he was having a hard time convincing Mrs. Priestly.
She thought it more convenient to live behind the B & B, and since they both worked there daily, Mr. Priestly hadn’t pushed.
Tristan immediately thought that, if he and Cree got a place together, they could get one big enough to have both families over at the same time. He could already envision him having a man-cave for him and the guys to watch football on Sundays.
“I saw you with your niece and nephew yesterday,” he said. “You’re a natural with the babies, and it’s clear they adore you.”
“Aren’t they the cutest?” Cree gushed. “They are the happiest, easy-going babies I’ve ever met. Rarely do they cry, and they’ll let anyone hold them. But I’m curious to see if they’re going to turn into little terrors when they start walking. That’s how Zion was when he was little.”
Tristan smiled at how animated Cree was as she told him more about the babies and how they reminded her of her brother when he was little.
Though she didn’t spend as much time with the twins as she’d like, it was clear she enjoyed them whenever they did get together.
She explained how excited everyone was to have little ones around again because there hadn’t been any babies since her nephew, Tray, was little, and now he was in college.
“You used to want children,” Tristan said. “Is that still the case?”
Tristan felt her stiffen beside him, and he glanced at her. Her gaze was on the windows across the room, where the blinds were still closed, and she folded her lower lip between her teeth.
When she didn’t respond, Tristan bumped her shoulder with his. “Cree? What’s up?”
She stared down at the half-full mug in her hand and breathed in deeply, then released the breath slowly.
Unease clawed through Tristan. What was on her mind?
Did she not want children anymore? And how would he feel if she said no?
It wouldn’t be a deal breaker, but he would definitely be disappointed.
He wanted kids, and he wanted them with her.
“Yes, I’d love to have a couple of children,” she finally said, her voice low and raspy before she cleared her throat.
Why did he feel a but coming? She still wouldn’t look at him and that unease he had felt a few minutes ago was back but stronger.
“Talk to me,” he said and set his coffee down, then removed her mug from her hands again and set it on the side table. He turned to better look at her. “What’s wrong? Clearly something is bothering you. If you’re wondering if I want kids, I do, but only if I have them with you.”
“God, Tristan,” she said, the words sounding as if they were ripped from her. “I hate when you say sweet things like that.”
He could hear the tears in her voice, and now he was really concerned.
Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her against him. “What is it? If you can’t have children, that’s okay, we’ll figure something out. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
“I don’t know how to tell you,” she said barely above a whisper and then pulled out of his hold.
“Oh no you don’t.” He grabbed hold of her hand when she started to climb off the bed. “No more running, Cree. Remember, we’re in this together. You and me. So whatever is going on, we’ll deal with it together, but you need to talk to me. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what I’m dealing with.”
“Even if you know, there’s nothing you can do to fix it!” she snapped, her chest heaving as if she had just finished running a few blocks.
Still, Tristan didn’t let go of her, but that unease from before was turning into fear.
Whatever was wrong was bad. Really bad if her watery eyes were any indication. Cree shedding tears twice in twenty-four hours wasn’t good. Except for the day they’d gone their separate ways, he had never seen her cry until yesterday.
When she tugged her hand, trying to get out of his hold, this time Tristan let her go. She didn’t go far. She sat on the edge of the bed quietly with her back to him.
One thing Tristan had learned early on when dealing with Cree was that she didn’t share her feelings until she was ready to. While she sat there, he got up and slipped into his underwear. Grabbing his duffel bag from the chair, he went into the bathroom to shower.
He’d give her time to decide whether she planned to talk to him. While also bracing himself for whatever she might share. He just hoped that, whatever it was, they could get past it.