Chapter 23
I stare at my lap when James stands, takes Grayson from my arms, though I’m reluctant to let him go, and lays him down in his crib. James stands before me like a pillar, and I still can’t face him. I don’t want to move, not if this is going to be my last time in the nursery.
I’m not at all prepared for him to pull me up and into his arms in a fierce hug. “I’m so sorry, angel,” he whispers with a broken voice in my ear. “So fucking sorry for the way Mara spoke to you. It’s not a pet name. You are my angel. And if I knew what an asshole she was, that she would talk to you that way, I never would have been friends with her.”
“What she said about me…you don’t think I’m dumb or—”
He twists us and sits in the rocking chair, pulling me sideways onto his lap. He tips my chin so he can look me directly in the eye. “It was all bullshit. Every last bit of it was nothing but bullshit. I’m so damn sorry that I froze in shock and didn’t shut her down immediately like I should have. I hate that I let her get one ugly word out of her mouth. I hate myself for it, and I wouldn’t blame you if you hate me, too, though I hope you can forgive me.”
The dim light the whale nightlight provides is just enough to see the sincerity in his eyes and the way he looks like he’s on the verge of tears himself. That sincerity bleeds from every part of him, and I soak it in, using it to wash away the insidious insecurities I had let Mara’s words build up inside me.
“I was scared you thought she was right. That maybe you were embarrassed about me and wouldn’t want me anymore. You’d want someone like her, who’s older and can give you so much more than I can,” I admit in a barely audible whisper.
With his fingertips under my chin, he tilts my head so we’re eye to eye. “Believe me when I say that you, Grayson, and Angelainey are all I’ll ever want or need—my whole world. No one else could give me you,” he says, almost reverently, and pulls me down to meet his lips.
I kiss him with all that I am, silently echoing his sentiments. I try to adjust my position as the kiss heats up so I can straddle him and get more comfortable, but the rocking chair is too narrow. The sound of a bottle falling on the table or the floor in the kitchen reaches us through the door, and I snap out of this tender moment.
“Is she…?”
“Gone and never welcome back. Not here, and not at Isaiah’s or Martin’s houses either. But the guys are still here because they want to make sure you’re ok. I can tell them to leave if you’d rather not talk to them.”
“No,” I say a little too loudly and lower my voice. “No, you don’t have to do that. I already screwed up your night enough as it is.”
“You haven’t done a damn thing wrong, angel. What Isaiah said is true. This has been the best game night we’ve ever had until Mara went and ruined it with her bitter bullshit.” He sighs and pinches his brow. “I just don’t get why she acted like such a shithead toward you. I’ve never seen that side of her.”
“She’s in love with you, you know. Or at least, in lust.”
He curls his lip in disgust, which makes me giggle. “She is not.”
“Yes, she is. That’s why she kept touching your arm, which, by the way, I wanted to rip off of her and beat her with it.” I feel my cheeks heat at the confession, and he chuckles.
“So that’s what that was. Honestly, I thought she was just a little drunk or something and couldn’t keep her balance.”
“No, you did not!” I whisper-shout, managing to keep my voice low enough not to wake the babies.
“Swear to god, I did.”
“So it’s all one-sided? You’re not attracted to her or anything like that?”
He rubs his hands up and down my sides, kisses my jaw, and whispers in my ear, “No. She’s not my type.”
“Oh really? And what is your type?” I ask, spearing my hands in his hair and tipping my head back to welcome more of his kisses along the length of my neck.
“You. My angel is my type.”
“Because of my pretty face and big tits?”
He mimics me, sliding his hands through my hair, and kisses me on the lips, slow and sensual, only drawing back to say, “Because of your pretty soul and big heart.” Then his lips are back on mine as I drink in his words, his affection, his sincerity, and they tattoo themselves upon my heart and soul.
My lower belly flutters, and because I can’t straddle him like I want to, I stand up, pulling him up with me. I wind my arms around his neck and hike my knee up by his hip.
James takes the hint and boosts me up with his hands under my thighs so I can wrap my legs around his waist. He adjusts my weight so he can slide his hands under my skirt to palm my ass cheeks.
I moan at the feel of his large hands kneading my flesh. Fisting my hands in the back of his thick hair, I grind against his swelling erection and plead, “Take me to bed, J—”
There’s a soft rap of knuckles against the door before it swings open a few inches, and Isaiah pops his head through the crack, smirking at me wrapped around James.
“Whoops, sorry to interrupt. Do you, uh, want us to leave?”
“Yes,” James says.
“No,” I say at the same time, making James pout. He actually pouts his lips, and it’s the cutest thing ever. I give him a quick kiss that turns into two that he then tries to deepen, and Isaiah makes a choking sound.
I break the kiss with a sigh and slide down to my feet. I tug on James’s shirt to make him lean down, then whisper in his ear, “We can pick up where we left off when your game is over. We’ve got those condoms, remember?”
James grips me by the hips and pulls me flush against him, his erection bulging against my belly. “Fuck yes, I remember. You sure I can’t make them leave right now?”
I push him away and out the door, closing it behind me so I can laugh without having to muffle the sound. “Yes, I’m sure. Now go. Have fun.”
He pulls me in for one more heated kiss, then makes his way back to the kitchen after adjusting the bulge in his jeans. I distinctly hear the sound of a back slap and Isaiah filling Martin in on what he caught us doing.
“You’re fucking kidding me. I thought he was making it all up when he said they were together,” comes Martin’s deep voice. “I told myself I was going to warn her about his delusions so she could make a break for it. Walk her across the street myself if need be.”
“Yeah, me too,” Isaiah says with a laugh. “Thought we’d have to pull some kind of intervention.” There’s a grumble that I know must come from James, and Isaiah says, “Better put a ring on her finger before one of us gets there first.”
“The fuck you will, asshole,” James says with a growl.
I was so wrong. James did tell his friends about me, and they simply didn’t believe him. It leaves me feeling giddy and lightheaded, though it does give me pause that they thought it was so outlandish that we could be a couple, the same as James’s siblings. I just don’t get it. James is amazing, so sweet and caring, and he is honest to god, the sexiest man I’ve ever seen in real life. I mean, have they not seen his six-pack abs or something?
I may have told James to go back to playing his game, but that doesn’t mean I’m not counting down the minutes until he’s done. Then we can play our own games, just the two of us.