Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Ken
Home gooood.
Soooo good.
He carried the first load of luggage upstairs to their bedroom, not even caring what happened to any of it right now.
He dropped it in the corner of their bedroom, out of the way, and headed back down to grab more stuff from the vehicles.
He’d spend tomorrow unpacking—after sleeping in, if possible.
Fortunately, there was little laundry to do, because he’d kept up with it while in Idaho.
The flight had been blessedly uneventful, other than Asia’s kids eagerly chattering at each other and staring out the windows while planning various activities they wanted to do and which theme parks they wanted to visit.
Beck and Martin met them at the small airfield with a couple of large vans to drive them all to Dewi’s house. Now that Ken was home, he didn’t want to leave it for a month or longer, if possible.
On his way back down the front hall to go outside and grab more things, he met Dewi coming in with the baby in her carrier in one hand and the diaper bag in the other.
“If you’ll take her,” she said, handing Lyssa off to Ken, “I’ll go back out for another load.”
“Okay.”
For tonight Asia and Gillian would share one of the guest rooms, and the kids would spread out between the living room and family room.
Both couches opened into sleeper beds, plus they had air mattresses.
Tamsin would take the pool house tonight, and when she went home in the morning they’d reconfigure the sleeping arrangements for the next couple of days until Badger purchased two RV trailers and moved them onto the property for the kids to stay in.
Once everyone returned home, they’d still keep the trailers for visitors or to use as temporary office space.
Okay, getting the new houses built on the expanded property will be a priority.
Having too many family members staying over was a problem Ken had absolutely zero experience with, but he was glad to see the Bleacke kids were apparently unfazed by sleeping in the living room and just happy to be in Florida.
Well, and ecstatic to learn Peyton was alive and well. They’d waited until the flight took off to reveal that—and it turned out Asia already knew— but Badger, Duncan, and Dewi quickly worked to ensure their silence on the matter.
Jake had already been moved to Martin’s, who’d been told who Jake was and sworn to secrecy. Peyton didn’t want anyone else knowing about him yet. Jake would return to the UK in the near future to help prepare for the lab raid.
Ken gladly carried the baby upstairs, nearly sobbing with relief to step into her nursery.
Home.
Okay, yes, he loved Idaho, and also yes, he’d meant it when he thought he’d be happy living in the little cabin.
But this was home. And after so many years of feeling like he didn’t belong anywhere, this was his home now, and he’d damned sure missed it.
Especially when he flew to the UK, terrified as he contemplated what their immediate future might hold.
Maybe I’m just really stressed and emotional and…
Fucking stressed. And silent swears also don’t count toward the swear jar.
He fought the urge to laugh because he didn’t want to wake up the baby, but he’d have to remember to tell Dewi that one. He had a feeling she’d wholeheartedly agree.
By the time he had Lyssa changed and safely tucked in, Dewi returned upstairs with the remainder of their things.
“She asleep?” she whispered.
He nodded, turned on the baby monitor, and gently closed the door behind him before they headed to their bedroom.
“What do you want to do now?” she asked, staring at the pile of stuff they’d carted upstairs.
He caught her hand, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. “I was thinking a shower.”
She smiled, draping her arms around his neck. “That’s not what you’re thinking, exactly, but I’m game.”
He slanted his lips over hers in a long, sweet kiss.
For this brief but blessed moment in time, there was nothing to worry him except making sure he didn’t fall asleep in the shower in the middle of foreplay.
She finally broke the kiss and laced her fingers through his, leading him to their bathroom.
A moment later, they were naked and standing under the water, kissing again, her arms draped around his neck and his hands cupping her sweet, rounded ass. “So when do I start buying pallets of bubble wrap for you?” he teased.
She ground her hips against him. “Hey, I didn’t kill myself last time. Maybe now that I’ve been through it once, my body will adapt accordingly. I hope.”
His erection pressed between them, trapped by their bodies. “I hope so, too, or I’ll need a ton of Xanax to keep me sane.”
She gasped. “You’re sane? How’d you manage that? Share your secret!”
Dewi
She loved the sound of Ken’s laugh, the way some of the tension eased out of his face, the way his eyes crinkled at the outer corners.
“I honestly don’t know what counts as sane anymore,” he admitted. “My previous benchmarks have been completely erased.”
“But we’re the good kind of insane, right?” she joked.
“Usually.” He kissed her again, slowly, his lips slanted over hers, both of them savoring this simple joy of being together.
Of being home.
Before Ken entered her life, Dewi hadn’t realized that this building wasn’t actually a “home” to her. It was where she lived and slept and worked, returning to it after going out on runs.
Now she understood the difference between a house and a home.
It would be nice to finally have their home be a full-time sanctuary and not a part-time office.
She wanted Badger and Duncan to live with them, if they wanted to keep living with them, but there would be blessed relief knowing she could walk around in her PJs and not worry about someone showing up and needing to talk to her. She’d have real office hours, and—
“Earth to Dewi,” Ken gently said.
She blinked. “What?”
He chuckled. “Obviously I’m not doing a very good job tonight if you’re so distracted.”
“Sorry.” She kissed him again. “I finally processed that we’ll have the house to ourselves in a few months. Us and Badger and Da, I mean.”
“I know.” He tucked her against his body, her head resting on his chest as she listened to his heartbeat. “I’m looking forward to an actual office I can lock the door on and leave for the day, barring emergencies.”
He nuzzled the top of her head while they stood there under the water and the bathroom steamed up.
“Thank you for being patient with me,” she said. “Once we’re through all of this we can finally settle into whatever’s normal for us.”
“If Peyton and everyone come through it okay,” he finally said. “I’m trying not to think about that. I know if we lose him you have to take over the pack. But right now, I’ll keep my hopes up.”
“Me, too,” she said, unable to accept any future possibility where Peyton wasn’t alive and well.” She pulled him in for another kiss, wanting to silence her noisy brain and make love to her husband.
He braced a hand against the wall, her back to it as he kissed her, taking over, deepening it as his other hand skimmed down her side to her hip.
Dewi’s body hummed under his touch, the perfection of their connection never failing to awe her.
Her thighs parted as he pressed his thigh between them and she couldn’t help but start rocking against him. The delicious friction sent tingles of pleasure through her nervous system.
“That’s it, baby,” he said through their mate bond without breaking their kiss. “Grind on me.”
She whimpered, melting against him. Her nipples were still so sensitive that just the friction of them brushing against his chest nearly disengaged her brain.
They’d come a long way since the bathroom at the sports pub, learned each other’s bodies, sweet perfection.
He changed position a little, pressing even harder between her thighs, and suddenly chasing her pleasure like this immediately transformed into the center of his universe.
She ground against his firm thigh while plunging her tongue into his mouth, dueling with his.
Squirming and desperately needed, she nearly cried out in disappointment when he chuckled and stepped back, pulling her into his arms.
“I know, that was mean of me, wasn’t it, baby?”
“Uh, yeah it was!”
He spun her around, one arm hooked around her waist and holding her with her back pressed along his chest. His other hand slipped down and between her legs, parting her folds.
“Better, baby?” he whispered into her ear.
“Oh, yeah!”
She closed her eyes and tipped her head back against his shoulder, shuddering in pleasure as he quickly brought her over the first time. Standing there gasping for breath as she recovered from that one, she felt his erection pressing against her back.
“Your turn,” she said.
He gently nipped her shoulder. “Not yet. I want to be in bed. Shower sex is fun, and I love it, but tonight I want to go right to sleep after and not drown.”
She giggled. “Deal.”
They finished their shower. Ten minutes later, after climbing into bed Ken crawled between Dewi’s legs, his hands clamped around her thighs and flashing her a smile before burying his face in her pussy.
She closed her eyes and threw her head back, softly moaning and burying her fingers in his damp hair. “Yesss!” she hissed. “Damn, that’s good!”
He lifted his head. “Swears don’t count during sex, either.”
She froze, processing, then burst out laughing. “Please go back to what you were doing.”
He grinned and resumed licking and teasing her, quickly building her up to another climax.
It was decadently sexy watching him lick his lips when he sat up and crawled up the bed to kiss her.
She wrapped her arms around him and her legs around his hips, both of them happily sighing when his erection easily slid home.
“That’s the stuff,” she whispered. She stared up into his sweet brown gaze, lost in it, wishing she could freeze moments like this in time and preserve them forever.
His mouth curved in a sweet smile. “Love you so much, baby.”
She lightly raked her fingers along his back. “Love you, too. Now please fuck me!”
He caged her body with his arms, taking his time and kissing her as he slowly stroked, knowing exactly what she liked and even teasing her like this. She didn’t understand how he could have such control because all she wanted to do was flip him over and ride him hard.
He nuzzled her nose. “But taking my time is fun, too,” he whispered.
“Oops. I think loud, don’t I?”
He nodded, his eyes gleaming with sexy, playful energy. “But it’s sure great for a guy’s ego.”
He trailed kisses along her jaw and down her throat, lightly raking his teeth over her flesh and making her shiver in pleasure.
“Do it!” she begged.
He chuckled, kissing the side of her throat before biting her. Not a hard, deep mating bite, but just hard enough she gasped and her body took control of her brain and drop-kicked her over the edge into yet another climax.
“There you go,” he rumbled against her flesh. He picked up the pace, harder, faster, sliding his hands under her shoulders and holding on to her so he didn’t drive her up into the headboard.
She was still coming, his cock perfectly sliding along her clit with each thrust and it didn’t take him long to join her, his body tensing as he took a few last strokes and then fell still deep inside her.
Dewi tightly held him, her hands splayed across his back, deeply breathing in their scents, nothing but the sound of his breath in her ear—
The baby monitor went off, Lyssa fussing in her crib.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered, making him snicker.
“Sex swearing doesn’t count, lucky for you.” He kissed her and sat up. “I’ll take care of her.”
“But you want to go to sleep.” She sat up and, faster than he could move, she shimmied out from under him, kissing him as she did. “Lie down and I’ll be right back.”
He flopped onto his side and pulled her pillow into his arms. “Hurry back.”
She grabbed his robe and pulled it on, blowing him a kiss.
She returned to their bedroom less than fifteen minutes later and he found Ken sound asleep.
She stood there for a moment watching him, smiling, feeling contented.
If only the world could always be like this, it’d be perfect.
Carefully, so as not to awaken Ken, she managed to get her pillow out of his arms and slide in next to him.
In his sleep he rolled toward her, his arm curling around her waist.
Yep, this was the only place she wanted to spend the rest of her life—with her family and with this beautifully perfect-for-her man.
Thank you, Goddess.