Chapter 16
Sixteen
Adrian
It takes my wife a full half hour to sweet-talk me into joining the rest of the family in the main house for dinner.
We got married twenty-six hours ago. I think we should stay sequestered in our cabin for a few days at least. Hide out.
Stay naked a lot. Feed each other grapes.
Take baths together. Lie in bed. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
But Blair wants to get to know my family, and I can’t blame her.
So I agreed to one hour with them. Not a minute more.
In exchange, she has agreed to spend the rest of the evening wearing one of the pieces of lingerie I bought yesterday morning.
I invested in several. I think I’ll choose the red tonight. I’m feeling spicy.
As soon as we step inside, my sisters-in-law surround her, and they quickly corral my new wife, intent on rushing off to the kitchen for what they call girl-talk.
I could growl, but Asher and Emma are here, and he’s not growling, so I smile, kiss my wife on the temple, and tell her to have fun. And then I watch her ass in those fucking sexy jeans as she sashays. I think it’s intentional.
“So, how’s married life?” Adam asks, smirking.
“It was great until we got dragged to family dinner,” I grumble, though I’m also grinning, because how could I not be? I’m married, and my wife is a gem.
“You love it, and you know it,” Aaric says. “I’m glad she’s so open to our giant family. Did you say she’s an only child?”
“Yep. I think she was probably lonely, so this is a blessing for her.”
Andrew’s brows are furrowed, and he glances toward the kitchen area, where the women are leaning around the island, before quietly asking, “What have you heard from her family?”
“Nothing since what I texted you earlier. I don’t have a clue what to expect, but Blair is convinced someone will show up with the intention of dragging her back to New York.
I assume they will be condescending, as if she’s a foolish child who ran away from home, instead of a grown-ass adult with a master’s degree.
” I’m seething as I try to keep my voice down.
“Well, she’s married to you now, so they can’t have her,” Aaron points out.
Asher smirks. “She’s probably pregnant, too.”
I double his smirk. If that’s a thing. I hope she is, but it doesn’t matter. It changes nothing. Blair is mine. I’m feeling pretty fucking possessive and combative. I hope I don’t have to throw any punches, but I will if needed.
“We’re all taking turns watching the monitors. We’ll have a warning when a vehicle heads onto our property,” Aaric says.
I know they’re right. And the sensors are all set to send alerts if a car or truck crosses onto our land.
No one will be able to approach undetected.
Plus, I have no reason to believe anyone from Blair’s family would try to sneak in.
I expect them to arrive civilly and demand she return, scolding her like a naughty child. It just ain’t happening.
“Unca Adrian?” a small voice says while grabbing onto my leg.
I reach down and scoop Eve into my arms. “Hey there, squirt.”
She giggles and tugs on my beard. “Can I still come to your house since you have a wife?” she asks, eyes wide. She’s barely over two, but she has the vocabulary and comprehension of someone older. She’s wise beyond her years. I’d say she’s an old soul.
“Of course you can still come to my house. Did you know Aunt Blair used your bubble bath?”
She giggles again. “She did not.”
“Yes, she did. Would I lie to you?”
She shakes her head, her blond pigtails flying around. Then she kisses my beard and wraps her tiny arms around me, holding on as tightly as she can.
Rubbing her back, I glance up to find my wife watching us. She has a hand over her heart, and I’m pretty sure tears glisten in the corners of her eyes. She’s so beautiful, and she owns my soul.
“I love your family,” Blair tells me as we lounge in the bathtub after dinner. We ended up staying almost two hours, which made me twitchy, but she was so happy I couldn’t bring myself to drag her away.
I’m convinced that she’s going to thrive on the chaos that accompanies a large family.
In her childhood home, there were always people around her.
She wasn’t alone, but those were employees, housekeepers, tutors, and friends of her parents.
She didn’t have siblings or cousins to play with, and my wife was never truly young.
I trail a finger along her shoulder. “I’m glad, baby. We’re stuck with them.”
“They’re so kind even though I’m an outsider, and they probably think I’m pretentious.”
“They do not. None of them are judgmental. Are you judging Hannah and Rebekah for coming from poverty and having no education?”
Blair twists her head to glare at me. “Certainly not.”
“Then why would they judge you for being born into a different family dynamic?”
She sighs. “I guess so. Emma’s research is fascinating. She knows so much about the flora around here and all over the world.”
“I figured the two of you would have a lot to talk about since you’re both science-y.”
Blair giggles. “Science-y…”
“What else would you call it?” I tease as I slide my hand to her belly. I touch her here a lot, wondering if there’s a baby growing inside her and when I might notice. Obviously not for weeks, but I still have the urge to palm her stomach as if it brings me closer to our child.
“Yeah, I guess science-y works. And Jaclyn. As an attorney, she’s pretty badass, too.”
“She definitely is.”
“And Cheri. I can’t imagine what it must be like inside her head. So many stories. I can’t wait to read one of her books.”
“I’m sure she’ll let you have one.” I kiss my wife’s neck. In some ways, it seems like we’ve been together for years, and then I remind myself I met her two days ago. This will be our third night together. We got married yesterday. It’s mindboggling. I’m a fucking lucky asshole.
We click, and that’s more apparent with every passing hour. We already finish each other’s sentences. I can read her moods pretty well. I can guess what’s bothering her.
I know my wife really likes me to cook for her and is nervous about entering the kitchen for fear she will disappoint me with her own cooking.
In exchange, she jumps up to clean after we eat, but I haven’t let her do that, either.
I want her to feel pampered. It’s not the same as the type of pampering she experienced in her childhood.
Those people were paid to cook and clean for her.
I’m her husband. I’m doing it from a place of love.
I want to do things for her because it makes her smile. I want to please her.
After a few moments of silence, Blair says, “You’re so good with your nieces.”
“They are adorable. I love them to pieces.”
“You’re going to be a great dad,” she murmurs.
I drag my fingers up and down her arms, giving her goosebumps. “You’re going to be a great mom, too, baby.”
She shrugs nonchalantly.
“Hey… What kind of reaction is that?”
“I didn’t have a good role model. I mean, my parents were fine. They were good to me. They provided me with everything money could buy, but there’s more to life than material things. What if I’m not good at nurturing a child?”
I slide my finger to her chin and tip her head back so I can look in her eyes. “Baby, you’re going to be amazing.”
“But what if I’m not? What if I suck and our kids hate me and run away from home like I did after twenty-six years of feeling stifled?”
“I don’t know your parents, of course, but it doesn’t seem like raising a child was a priority to them.”
“It wasn’t at all. Sometimes, I think they had me so they would have an heir, and that’s even scarier because I worry about what they might do now that I’m about to inform them they, in fact, do not have an heir.”
All I can do is kiss her temple and try to reassure her. “The fact that you’re aware of what you didn’t like about your childhood speaks volumes, princess.”
“I want to be totally different as a parent. I want to be present. Instead of sending a nanny to play Go Fish with my kids, I want to get on the floor and play with them myself. I want to put clothes on Barbies and have tea parties. I want to play dress-up and color outside the lines and make messes. I want them to sit on the counter and help me bake cookies.” She sits upright and twists around, eyes wide. “I don’t know how to bake cookies.”
Laughter bubbles inside me, but I hold it back.
She’s serious about this. It’s bothering her.
I need to be sensitive and understanding here.
Cupping her neck, I bring my lips to hers.
“Baby, you’re already so self-aware that you’re light-years ahead of your parents.
If you want those things for your children, we’ll make them happen. ”
“I never pictured myself having kids. I never imagined I’d have time. I figured I would be in a lab twelve hours a day and come home to a frozen dinner and an absent husband.”
“Where would he be, princess?”
She shrugs. “Off with his friends playing tennis, or fuck, I don’t know, with his mistress? Someone who sucked his cock better than me or spread her legs with more eagerness than I did.”
I grit my teeth. This is what my wife expected out of a marriage.
That makes me sad and livid. “I will never leave you sitting at home alone in the evening while I’m out entertaining myself somewhere else.
I promise. You will always be number one to me.
I can’t imagine a day when I won’t be counting down the minutes until I can be with you again.
Maybe, instead of having a career, you’d rather be home with our kids? ”
Blair shrugs.
“Don’t take me wrong, baby. The last thing I want to infer is that a woman’s place is in the home.
I don’t believe that for a second. I want you to do whatever makes you happy.
If that means working in some capacity, you should do so.
If you’d rather be with our kids, you should do that.
I can tell you that I intend to follow in my brothers’ footsteps and be a hands-on dad; the kind who comes home for lunch and throws a ball in the yard.
I have a lot of fucking money, princess, and I’d rather use it to make sure I have time for my family than waste decades of my life, working eighteen hours a day, so my wife and kids don’t even know me. ”
She looks at me again. “I’m not sure you’re a real person.”
I chuckle. “I’m real. You’ve just been surrounded by robots.”
Blair sighs. “Yeah. I guess so. Thank goodness I decided to move to the mountains.”
“Thank goodness I found you and warned you to get out of that house.”
“You’re a knight in shining armor.”
“Just jeans, baby.”
“Fancy jeans.” She giggles. “Mr. Fancy Jeans.”
I lift her hips and turn her around. “Straddle me, princess. Let me show you what I can do with the shaft I keep in my jeans.”