Chapter 29 Jackson
Now
The sweet smell of cinnamon and sugar fills the air and it’s like a beacon leading me to the kitchen where the sight of Taevin bent over in just my T-shirt and oven mitts as she pulls out a tray of muffins has me stopping dead in my tracks.
My dick twitches in my gym shorts I threw on before I came out here as I take her in.
“Baby,” I groan. “You look so fucking good in my shirt, and you know I can’t resist you when you’re baking. Let alone the sight of you baking in our home.”
I close the distance between us, and once she closes the oven door and sets the tray of muffins on the stove to cool, I pounce on her, wrapping my arms around her from behind.
“It’s about time you woke up, sleepy head. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough time to seduce you before you had to head to the rink for morning skate.”
“Seduce me, eh?”
“Yep,” she says, popping the “p” and nodding her head once.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Wearing nothing but your shirt, for starters.”
“I mean, I knew you weren’t wearing a bra, but no panties?” I question, drawing the hem of the shirt up so I can see for myself. And, Jesus, would you look at that—she was telling the truth and her pretty pussy looks like it’s begging for another round.
“Are you sore after last night?” I ask her.
Tae shakes her head, but I quirk a brow in question. “I mean, I’m not sore but I do feel gloriously stretched.”
“We can do other things. I seem to remember you loving my tongue and my fingers.”
“I do, and you’ve already proven to me that I still love them. But I would like the one thing I haven’t been able to have in far too long.”
“You’ll have to be a little more specific,” I goad her.
“I want your cock. Inside me. Preferably right now. Is that specific enough for you?” She quirks one sassy brow at me, and my dick jerks in response.
Even though I want her, I can’t help but question if this is the right move. “It certainly is. But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not sore and last night didn’t hurt me. Besides, I don’t know how the chemo will make me feel.” Tae wrings her hands together, and I rest my palms over them.
“We’ve got the rest of our lives, there’s no rush,” I remind her, rocking us side to side in our embrace.
“I know.” She arches her back, causing her ass to rub against my erection, taunting me like she does best. “What if I told you that I’m just really fucking horny right now?”
I let out a low chuckle, leaning down to rasp in her ear. “Then I’d tell you that I’d hate to leave my wife feeling needy and unsatisfied.”
She spins in my arms, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Good. Then do me a favor and give me your mouth, fingers, and cock.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I murmur as I lift her up and carry her over to the dining room. I lay her back on the table before pulling up a chair. “Spread your legs for me, T.”
She does as I say, and I can’t help but feel like the luckiest man alive to get to see her this way—in a way no one else ever will again.
For some deep-seated reason, I have the profound urge to mark her.
Scooting her hips toward me, I pepper light kisses along her right thigh before doing the same to her left.
But when I reach the apex of her left thigh, I bite down on the soft, creamy flesh enough to leave a mark before soothing the skin with my tongue and lips.
“Did you just bite me and then leave a hickey?”
“I did.”
“Jax!”
I shrug. “What? You’re making me a feral beast.”
Before I can continue to act on that, Tae looks at the clock on the oven and curses. “Shit! You need to go, you’re going to be late for your morning skate. I’m so sorry we got carried away.”
I chuckle and pull her closer to me, wrapping my arms around her waist in the way I’ve come to love so I can keep her close to me. “I’m not going to morning skate.”
“What? Why not? Did it get canceled?”
“No.”
“Then why in the world would you miss morning skate? If you miss, you’ll be benched for tonight’s game, won’t you?”
“Yeah if I were planning on playing tonight. But I’m not.”
Her eyes widen, and I find it cute that she’s so shocked, but she really shouldn’t be. “What do you mean you’re not playing tonight?”
An adorable crease appears between Tae’s brows and I brush my finger over it before placing a kiss on her forehead. “I’m taking you to your appointment this afternoon and then I’m taking care of you afterward.”
She scoffs in disbelief. “You could still take me to my appointment this afternoon and not have to miss morning skate or your game.”
I shrug off her comment. “I could. But I’m using my leave of absence time to take care of you.”
“Jax, you can’t miss your first home game to stay here with me. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re having your port placed and receiving your first round of chemo this afternoon, there’s no chance in hell I’m going to my game.
Especially considering it’s preseason. What if something happened to you while I was playing?
You’ll likely feel sick. I’m not going, T.
I told Scarlett, Coach, and management that I’m not going to be there today or at practice tomorrow after I researched and found out the first two days after chemo are the worst.”
Tears well in her eyes as she soaks in my words and my determined expression. There’s no talking me out of this, and I think she realizes that. “I-I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You don’t have to say anything, T. I’m right here.
” Pulling her in for a hug, I keep my arms wrapped snuggly around her as I inhale deeply.
“Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m about to eat at least half a dozen cinnamon apple muffins.
Fuck, maybe even eight considering I don’t have a game tonight. ”
Tae squeezes me tight around my waist and tips her chin, resting it against my chest so she can look up at me. “It’s nice to see some things haven’t changed.”
“Baby, if you bake it, I’m gonna eat it. That will always remain true.” I waggle my brows like an idiot and we both break out into a fit of laughter.
She shakes her head. “God, you’re weird.”
“Yeah, but you love me.”
“You’re right. I really do.”
The nurse just left the curtained area we’re sitting in as Taevin awaits her first chemo treatment.
Her port was placed beneath her collarbone through an outpatient procedure, and after an X-ray ensured it was properly installed, Tae was wheeled to the cancer center wing.
She’s still a bit loopy I think from the light sedation though, because she keeps staring at me with the most smitten look and saying the most off the cuff things.
Like telling the nurse to “look into my sea glass eyes because they’re the most mesmerizing thing she’ll ever lay eyes on.
” I managed to bite back my chuckle, but she had me full on chortling when she said “and not only does he look like that but he fucks like a god too. Some men have all the beauty but nothing to show for it. But not my husband—he’s got the looks and the goods to back it up. ”
So it’s only now as we’re alone again and she’s staring at me with hearts in her eyes that I lean in for a chaste kiss.
Tae tries to pull me back in to deepen the kiss but I turn my head and place delicate pecks along the inside of her wrist.
“I’m the luckiest woman in the world to have you.”
Lacing my fingers through hers, I bring the back of her hand to my lips for a kiss. I’m so grateful to have her now, but I wish there wasn’t so much of each other’s lives that we’d missed out on.
But before I can say anything Tae asks, “Hey, Bear?”
I smirk at her use of my nickname. Playing along, I ask, “Yeah, Thorn?”
“I’m not sure I can do this alone.” It comes out as a whispered confession, so quiet I almost miss what she’s said.
My heart sinks at the fear in her voice, and an ache I’ve never experienced spreads throughout my chest. “And you’ll never have to, baby.
I’m right here,” I assure her, rubbing slow circles on her hands before kissing her forehead, hoping like hell I can pour every ounce of my love for her into this kiss.
I wish more than anything in this moment for the ability to ease her fears and assure her everything is going to be okay; but the thing is, I can’t guarantee that.
I don’t know what this fight looks like for her, but the one thing I do know is that I’m going to be by her side.
And beyond anything, Taevin will not only know but feel that she’s not alone.
My phone buzzes incessantly on the bedside table, and I muffle a growl of frustration when I finally reach over and see Senator Satan on my caller ID. Standing from the bed, I leave Taevin resting in our room before making my way down the hall.
Swiping to accept the call, I sigh in annoyance at his interruption as I flop down on the oversized sectional sofa that takes up a good portion of the living room.
“Yeah?” I answer, not bothering with niceties since I know exactly why he’s calling.
“What’s this I hear about my son missing his game tonight? Tell me it’s not true.”
“Who’s your source?”
He lets out a displeased scoff. “Does it matter?”
“I guess not, but considering your other son isn’t on speaking terms with you, I figure it wasn’t him.”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. What matters is that I had to have been misinformed because there’s no way in hell you’re missing your game tonight for some school yard crush you never managed to get over.”
I see red. “See, that’s where you’re wrong, because I am missing the game tonight.
And it’s to be by my wife’s side to take care of her.
I know being faithful to your vows isn’t something you take seriously or place importance in, but I meant every word; especially in sickness and in health,” I seethe at him.
My sperm donor apparently can’t comprehend my tone over the phone because he chuckles at that—fucking cackles like we’re shooting the shit. “For fuck’s sake. You were a teenager. No one expects you to uphold those vows.”
I’m not sure I’ve ever hated someone more than I do at this moment. I clench my jaw three times before I finally grind out, “I do. It doesn’t matter how old I was or wasn’t, what matters is I am a man of my word and my mother raised me better than to turn my back on my family.”
“Enough!” he shouts. “You will get your ass to the hockey rink and you will beg your coach not to bench you after missing your morning skate. And while you’re at it, it would be a wise decision to evict all distractions from your home before your hockey career goes to shit.”
A menacing chuckle escapes but honestly I could give a fuck less.
“Get fucked, old man.”
I hang up and smile, feeling proud of myself for finally standing up to the man who considers himself my father when he’s been anything but practically my entire life.
“Jax?” Taevin calls out in question from the bedroom. I leap to my feet the moment I hear the weakness in her voice.
“I’m here, T. What’s up?” I ask, pausing in the doorway when I realize she’s no longer in our bed. That’s when I hear her heaving echo off the walls in the bathroom.
Rushing to her side, I pull her long black locks back with one hand while rubbing her back with the other. Helplessness fills my chest mixing with confusion at the relief I feel that I’m able to be by her side right now.
This woman is the most important person in my life. There is no place I’d rather be tonight than right here caring for the girl who stole my heart at eighteen and so graciously never gave it back.