CHAPTER 37 KAYLEE
“Oh fuck,” he grunts while he fucks me on the balcony. “I’m gonna come, baby. I’m gonna come so goddamn hard.” He moves his hands from where he holds them around my body to my breasts, which he fondles and massages and worships.
I can’t form words. I can only reply with groans because I’m right there with him.
He reaches down between our connection to thumb my clit, and my body responds to him like it always did.
The tightly coiled spring snaps, and I cling onto him as my body contracts over and over in an intense wave of pleasure.
He grunts out a string of curses as hot come jets into me, the pulses of his cock prolonging an already intense climax.
As our bodies start to slow and come down from the vicious pleasure, he doesn’t pull out. Instead, he leans his forehead against mine, like he’s saying a silent prayer of thanks that we found our way back to each other.
Things will change. Life will change, and it won’t always be like this. It won’t always be easy, but it never was easy. It was secrets and lies, and hidden truths, and manipulation from others. It was time apart on top of more secrets.
But it’s all out in the open now, and it feels like what we just did was a promise to keep it open going forward.
No more secrets, and especially not because we think we’re protecting each other from something.
He tilts his head so his mouth finds mine, and his tongue moves languidly around my mouth in a slow, sensual kiss that leaves me wanting only more.
Eventually, he slows the kiss then pulls back. “Damn, woman. Was it always that good?”
I laugh. “It was, but this did seem particularly good.”
“Maybe because it’s all out there now. No more secrets.”
It’s like he can read my mind.
And then he does it again as he pulls out of me. “Are you hungry?”
I move off him and locate my clothes. “I’m pregnant with twins. I’m always hungry.”
“What’s good around here?” he asks.
“I have pizza pretty much every night. There’s a box of S’mores in the pantry, too, if you need a quick fix.”
“I see I’ve influenced you positively,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.
“The babies like them. They’re definitely your children.”
He laughs. “Pizza it is, then.”
I order and he offers to go pick it up while I rest after that romp and this morning’s event. I direct him where to go, and he takes off.
I want to text my family to tell them Ben and I are back together. I want to tell them I’m pregnant. I want to go back to Vegas—or even better, I want to go back to Montana.
There’s a lot I want to do.
But I want to do it all with Ben.
He’s gone nearly a half hour when I start to get worried. It’s usually a fifteen-minute walk round trip with a few extra minutes to pick up the food.
I’m about to send him a text to check on him when he walks in the door.
He’s grinning, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“What are you smiling about?” I ask.
He shrugs. “You know how some things are just meant to be?”
“Like us?” I ask, using the cheesiest line I can think of.
He sets the pizza down and reaches into his pocket. He kneels down on the floor in front of me and pulls a small box out of his pocket. “Exactly. Or, you know, like the jewelry store directly next to your pizza place.”
My eyes widen.
“We did it all wrong the first time, Kaylee. Today feels like the fresh start we both needed, and I can’t see a future where you’re not in it.
I want to be your husband, and I want you to be my wife.
I want to raise these babies with you. I want more than two.
I want a whole football team. Will you marry me? ”
I giggle. “I don’t know about the part about having a whole football team, but I want all that other stuff. And yes, I will definitely marry you. For real this time.”
He opens the box and slides a gorgeous and huge diamond onto my finger.
He stands and kisses me, and this feels right.
This isn’t the pressure of friends and family watching us.
This is us. The two of us by ourselves with our babies on the way and pizza and he even stopped and got me some cheesecake.
When he pulls back, I poke him in the chest. “You better show up this time.”
He laughs. “You better show up, too.”
My stomach chooses right then to growl. Loudly. We both giggle.
“Pizza?” I ask.
“Fuck yeah,” he says.
A text comes through from Cooper shortly after we finish eating.
Cooper: Is it safe to come home in a few hours or do I need to find somewhere else to stay tonight?
I giggle and turn the screen so Ben can read it. He’s right next to me, and I’m snuggled into his chest as we continue some Netflix show we started binging when we were in Montana.
He chuckles and pauses the show. “Considering I want to fuck you on every surface in this apartment, I know what my answer would be. But given that you’re pregnant and exhausted, I guess I can give you a break tonight.”
I narrow my eyes up at him, the glint of my new ring in the light catching my eye on the way by. “What if I don’t want a break?”
“Then I’m here to deliver.” He clears his throat. “It’s fine for him to come home. This is, after all, his apartment too. I promise to play nice.”
I text him back.
Me: It’s all good. Come on home. [smiley face emoji]
“He’s a good guy,” I say. “He really never did make a move. He’s coming off a pretty rough break-up himself, and neither of us were in the place, you know? He’s like an older brother to me.”
“Great. Because you didn’t have enough of those to begin with,” he mutters.
“Speaking of my brothers, when should we tell them the news?” I hold my hand up so we’re both looking at the ring. “All of the news, I mean.”
“Whenever you’re ready.” He shifts a little so we’re looking at each other. “I know this is all brand new, but what do you want to do?”
My brows dip. “What do you mean? Like eat our cheesecake?”
He shakes his head. “No. I mean…do you want to stay in San Diego? Do you want to move back to Vegas? Do you see us landing somewhere else?” He shrugs.
“It’s you and me now, babe. Forever. But I’ve got to get back to Vegas tomorrow night.
I have a check in with the doctor on Monday morning to see how the shoulder is coming along, and then it’s back to work for me. ”
“Oh,” I say. I guess I’ve been living in bliss the last hour or so and haven’t really thought ahead to any of that. “I don’t know.” Except I do know.
San Diego has been a fun adventure, but the entire reason I came here was to try to escape the pain Vegas represented to me.
It’s not painful anymore. Not with Ben back by my side.
Not with his ring on my finger. Not with the acceptance he showed before I even told him about the babies.
He wants them. He’s not staying with me because he feels obligated.
He’s staying with me because he wants me and them and the family we’re building.
And we can’t build that dream together long-distance. Besides, I miss my family.
“I’m ready to go home,” I say softly. “Except I want it to be our home. I want a place in Vegas that’s big enough for us and our babies, and I want it close to my family.
And when we’re in the off-season, I want to live in Montana, and I want to make that work with our kids for however long we can before they start school and our lives transition again. ”
“What about StrongFitKids?” he asks.
“Oh,” I say, shaking my head because in all honesty, I was only thinking about family and not myself or my career—not the things that will give me an identity aside from football sister and football wife and mom.
“Carla has been so good to me…I don’t know if I can just take off on her. ” And that’s when an idea strikes.
I need to talk to her about it, but if she likes it…
Well, it could mean huge things for my career. For my identity. For me.