Chapter 41
Forty-One
Sadie
L ucas comes out of the shower, standing in nothing but a towel around his waist as he uses another to dry his hair. I’m sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring at him with adoration in my eyes.
Watching him take his punishment tonight felt like an out-of-body experience. He didn’t just apologize or make excuses for his actions. He showed me.
After about an hour on the bed in the Ethereal Room, we drove back to his house, and he went straight into the shower. Dean covered closing the club tonight so I could go, and I’m grateful for that. I think Lucas and I need to be together.
Neither of us says a word as we stare at each other. I notice the way he keeps looking down at my stomach. It has grown a lot in the last couple of months. It’s no longer a cute belly but a full, round mass that makes everything difficult.
I want to ask him about the baby. Does he really mean what he meant about raising this child with me? Is he saying he wants to give us a try? Is he actually committing? Does he fully understand what he’s getting into ?
Tossing the towel in his hand onto the counter, he switches off the bathroom light and comes toward me. Sitting on the bed in front of me, he stares into my eyes before dropping down until his face is close to my stomach. His lips press against my belly before he rests his head completely in my lap.
“Maybe we should talk about this before we go any further,” I say softly as I stroke his hair.
He lets out a heavy breath as he nods. Part of me worries that he’s just preparing himself for the hard part. That he’s about to say something difficult like how he wants me but isn’t prepared to be a father. Anything less than unwavering confidence might break my heart right now.
“You don’t owe us anything, Lucas. Just because you want to be with me doesn’t mean you have to be ready to raise a child. But we can’t do this if you’re not?—”
“I’m ready,” he says. His tone sounds assured, but I’m still skeptical.
“If you want me, then he or she comes with me. You’re not just getting a girlfriend; you’re getting a child, too.”
“I know.”
“Are you ready to raise someone else’s child?”
He stares up into my eyes with his hand resting on my stomach. “Sadie, this is my child.”
Tears prick intensely behind my eyes. I blink to keep them from brewing more.
Lucas sits up and brings his face level with mine. Then he stares into my eyes. “You are mine, so he is mine. Understand?”
I try to nod, but it only makes my tears spill over, so Lucas pulls me into his arms. Softly, he murmurs against my head. “I never understood family until now, Sadie. I share blood with my own father, and he never showed me a day of love in my life, so I’ll be damned if I let genetics determine how much I love this child. I’ll love him or her with my whole fucking heart. And I’ll tell them every day.”
A sob racks through my chest as I squeeze myself closer to him. This feels like a dream. It’s everything I ever wanted. I just started imagining the wrong person at first, but now I know that this is how it was meant to be all along.
When I’ve dried my tears, I sit up, and Lucas presses his lips to my forehead. “Come here. I want to show you something.” He climbs from the bed and reaches a hand toward me.
I stare at him with confusion before letting him help me up. Then I follow him out of his bedroom and down the hall to the room I once occupied.
As he opens the door, I look at him, wondering what this is all about. Does he want me to move back into this room? I was sort of hoping that he and I could take our relationship to a new level and I’d actually sleep with him.
But then he turns on the light and I let out a gasp.
“It’s not finished, but I sort of had to make sure you’d talk to me again before I got it all done.”
I press my fingers over my lips as I step into the room and take in the new furniture. There’s a dark-brown crib against the wall and a changing table on the right. In the corner, a rocking chair with a stuffed elephant sits on the seat.
Suddenly, I’m crying again because I’m standing in my child’s future bedroom, and it all feels so surreal. When I finally turn back toward him, he has tears in his eyes, too.
“Lucas…” I whisper through my tears.
“I wanted you to know that I was serious. I wanted you to see that if I was making room for you, I was making room for him or her too.”
He nods toward my stomach, and I squeeze my eyes closed, feeling another round of sobs rack through me.
Then I’m crossing the room and burying myself in his arms. He squeezes his tightly around me and I’ve never felt more safe and at home in my life. Lucas is my home. He sees me the way no one else ever has. He has carved out a space for me in his heart and I know if I spend the rest of my life with him, I’ll never doubt his love for a single moment .
He and I fit together like poetry. We are different, messy, and melodic, but we fit. It’s not seamless, but it is beautiful.
“I love you so much,” he mutters into my neck. “I promise nothing will come before you.”
“Thank you,” I cry in return. “I love you too.”
When I pull away from our embrace, I stand on my tiptoes, and our mouths come together with passion. His kiss is needy and gentle at the same time, but the more he kisses me, the more I need from him.
Desperate hands roam my body, caressing every inch. I pull him out of the nursery and down the hall to his bedroom. We eventually reach his bed without ever having to separate our lips from each other.
I tear his towel from his hips and he lifts my shirt. I shrug it off in a rush and we both move for my leggings next. I’m eager to be naked for him but nervous at the same time. Will he still find me attractive? Will he be too scared to fuck me in this state?
Lucas doesn’t falter for one second. He releases my bra with one quick swipe at the back and then moves to his knees to help me out of my pants.
And then he rises in front of me and lets his eyes cascade over the length of my naked body.
“God, you’re so fucking beautiful,” he mumbles under his breath.
He grips my breast in one hand, squeezing as his lips find the other. I let my head fall back as I succumb to the pleasure of his mouth on my body. My long hair drifts down my back as he fondles me appreciatively.
With every swipe of his teeth around my nipples, arousal detonates in my core. I’m so turned on for him, I feel like I could die from it. I need him so desperately.
“Please, Lucas,” I groan as he moves to suck on the opposite breast.
“Please, what?” he asks with my nipple in his mouth.
“Please fuck me,” I beg .
Letting out a husky sound, he grabs my ass and grinds his hard length against my leg. “Such a dirty mouth on you, Miss Green.”
“Please,” I cry.
As he straightens up, his hands continue their way downward, stroking slightly around my belly before stopping between my legs. As he slides his middle finger through my folds, I let out a gasp.
The other hand holds me by the back of the neck as we stare at each other. When he finds me wet and ready for him, I watch the way his lips part and his eyes dilate with arousal.
Then, he sinks his middle finger inside me and doesn’t let me avert my eyes from his for a second. I’m so needy for him, it feels like I could come already. The intensity of his gaze and the comfort of his touch is almost too much for me.
I let out a mewling sound as he fucks me slowly with his middle finger. Then he adds another one and I have to cling to his arm to keep me upright.
“Does that feel good, Miss Green?”
“Yes,” I cry out. “Please, more.”
He picks up the pace, thrusting harder until it feels as if my body is wound so tight I’m about to explode. I need more. Rougher, harder, faster.
I moan with pleasure, but then a gasp leaves my lips as he grinds the heel of his palm against my clit. I’m writhing, chasing my orgasm as Lucas backs me up to the bed.
I nearly fall back onto it, holding myself up and staring into his eyes as he continues to fuck me with his fingers.
“Come on my hand, Miss Green.”
I let out a raspy cry. With my legs spread wide for him, I let his talented fingers carry me straight down a landslide of pleasure. As my orgasm slams into me, the feeling is so divine, I nearly cry. Back arched and pulse thrumming, I scream through the sensation as it swims through every extremity of my body.
I collapse onto the bed, trying to catch my breath. My gaze catches on the hard length of his cock, jutting out toward me with a droplet of cum leaking from the tip. Without touching himself, he lifts his arousal-soaked fingers to his lips and licks them with one long stroke of his tongue.
“I love the way you come for me,” he murmurs around his digits. “Now get on the bed.”
He nods toward the pillows, so I shimmy my way up. I’m lying naked on my side as I stare at him with love in my eyes. As he slowly crawls up toward me, he peppers my body with kisses. Starting from the tops of my feet, to my calves and my knees, up over my thick thighs, and then across the soft flesh of my belly.
As he situates himself behind me, he gathers me in his arms. The warm comfort of his long, strong body engulfs me in bliss. I turn my head and stare into his eyes. He’s perched on his elbow, staring down at me as his lips softly find mine. It’s a slow, sensual kiss that feels like a vow. When Lucas kisses me, I know it means that he takes us seriously. This is more than our bodies seeking pleasure—it’s our hearts seeking a bond stronger than sex.
It’s love.
When I feel him guide his cock toward my core, I hum with anticipation. As he presses himself inside me, his lips find mine. He moans into our kiss as he slides all the way to the hilt.
Our legs are tangled, and our hands intertwined as our bodies move together rhythmically. Having Luke inside me feels so natural to me already. He belongs here. We belong together.
I open my eyes to watch his face as he finds pleasure in my body. His moans in my ear. His breath on my face. It’s enough to warm my body all over again so I feel as if I’m about to come again.
His thrusts grow faster and rougher, and I cling tighter to him as we chase our orgasms together.
“Harder,” I plead. He pounds into me from behind, but the angle is awkward so he moves to his knees, lifting me to all fours.
Gripping my hips in his hands, he fucks me harder, grunting with every thrust .
“No one else will touch you for as long as we live, understand? You’re mine, Sadie. All fucking mine.”
Squeezing the blankets in my fists, I push back against him. “Yes,” I scream. “I’m all yours.”
“I’m about to come. Are you going to take every drop?”
“Yes,” I moan into the mattress. “Give it to me.”
With another three forceful thrusts, I begin to shudder and shake from the intensity. Then he stills, and I feel his cock flex inside me. He groans out his release as his grip on my hips tighten.
We’re moaning and trembling together, and the sensation is so good I don’t want it to end.
It feels as if Lucas comes, and comes, and comes. Honestly, it makes me wonder if he’s even touched himself since we’ve been together last. But the idea of his full load filling me up makes me shiver with contentment. I want to take every part of him.
When he finally does finish, he pulls out and drops onto the mattress next to me. I curl onto my side, feeling him drip between my thighs. But I love the stickiness of him there, so I don’t move to clean it up.
I rest my head on his arm and drape my top leg over his. Breathlessly, he turns and places a kiss on my forehead.
“I love you,” he mumbles against my skin.
“I love you, too,” I reply, squeezing him tighter.
And there’s not a doubt in my heart that he means it.