Everly
EVERLY
With my eyes glued to room eight, and my thighs coiled to run should Paul appear, I counted out fifteen long minutes before the first cop car arrived. Thankfully, the message had gotten through and they arrived silently. Sirens would have tipped Paul off, and like Nico kept telling me, none of us knew his state of mind. He’d left me unconscious on the floor of my living room. For all he knew, I was dead, and he was being hunted as a murder suspect.
My head constantly throbbed, and I dealt quietly with the ever-present nausea swirling in my stomach. If Nico had an inkling how ill I felt, he’d insist I leave it to the cops and go straight to the hospital. But I had to be here for my baby. I wanted my face to be one of the first he saw as soon as the cops did whatever they needed to do to free Rhett from Paul’s clutches.
What the hell were you thinking, Paul?
He must have lost his mind. No sane man could possibly think they’d get away with assault and kidnapping, although given how Paul had lied to me for four years, I believed anything was possible.
I recognized one of the cops from the school. He came straight over, his face stern, lips a firm, white slash.
“Mrs. Lawson, you really should have left this to us.”
“He’s in room eight,” I blurted. “Please, go get my son.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” he replied. “We have to wait for the hostage negotiator to arrive.”
A ball of frustration exploded in my gut. “What the hell are you talking about? You know he’s in there. Nico saw them.”
“I understand your distress, Mrs. Lawson, but there’s a process. Trust us. We know what we’re doing.”
“It’s Miss Maxwell,” I bit out, a sudden urge to drop Paul’s name hurtling out of me.
The cop’s brow wrinkled in confusion, but he let it lie. Probably thought I’d lost my mind due to the stress I was under.
“Please stay back. We’ll handle this.”
He spun on his heel and returned to his car. I wanted to scream, to vent, to pummel the ground.
I did none of those things for fear Paul might hear the commotion and come to investigate.
“C’mere.” Nico wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest. “You have to trust them, love.”
“I know.” I drew in a deep breath, blowing it slowly through pursed lips, and snuggled against his solid chest. “But, hell, it’s hard.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Maxwell, huh?”
I leaned back and looked up at him. “I don’t know why I did that. I couldn’t stand Paul’s name being associated with me for a second longer.”
“The poor cop must be scratching his head.”
I snickered, despite the hollow emptiness in my chest. “He has to be okay, Nico.”
His arms tightened around me. “He will be.”
I watched from afar as the police got into position. A man with a megaphone stepped in front of Paul’s room. I guessed he must be the hostage negotiator. As he brought the device to his mouth, I froze.
Twenty minutes later, the door to Paul’s room opened, and he appeared, his arm around Rhett’s shoulder. I moved, but Nico’s arms locked around my waist and he held me back. “Don’t. Let them do their job.”
From our vantage point, I couldn’t hear what the cop was saying, or Paul’s replies. Rhett appeared stunned by the number of police officers surrounding the building, his eyes wide and fearful. Every maternal instinct screamed at me to run, to snatch him from Paul’s grasp, to hold him in my arms and never let him go.
The next moments passed in a blur. Paul dropped to his knees and placed his hands behind his head. One cop sped forward, slammed him into the ground, and snapped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. Another picked up Rhett and ran to one of the cop cars. I wrenched out of Nico’s embrace and sprinted toward my son.
“Rhett,” I cried. “Oh God, baby.”
The cop put him down, and Rhett ran to me. He barreled into me so hard I almost fell over. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I hugged him, smelled him, kissed him all over.
“Don’t cry, Mommy,” he said, rubbing his tiny palm over my face. He frowned at the makeshift dressing, then touched it. “What happened?”
“Nothing, baby,” I sobbed. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” A small frown appeared between his eyebrows as if he were completely unaware of the hysteria surrounding his disappearance. “Daddy bought pizza, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. And he said we couldn’t have ice cream because it’d melt.”
I almost collapsed with relief. “We’ll get you ice cream. As much as you want.”
“Really?” He grinned broadly, his smile stretching further when Nico appeared beside me. “Nico!”
“Hey, buddy.” Nico picked him up and swung him into his arms. “I need a big favor.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I need you to help me persuade your mum to go to the hospital. She bumped her head, but she wouldn’t go without you.”
Rhett canted his head. “Mommy! You said it was nothing.”
I laughed, despite the thumping headache. Getting a scolding from a six-year-old was pretty funny. “Okay. I’ll go.”
“Good,” Rhett said. “Hmm, I wonder if they have ice cream at the hospital.”
As the three of us headed back toward Nico’s car, I glanced over at Paul being put in the back of a cop car. He caught my eye and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
I turned away. If he was hoping for forgiveness, he’d come to the wrong place. Even though Rhett seemed completely unharmed, I’d never forgive Paul for putting me through hell for the past seven hours.
The doctor at the hospital examined my injury and he sent me for a bunch of tests. An hour later, he pronounced a minor concussion, as well as needing four stitches to close the cut on my head. He also insisted I stay overnight for observation, just to be on the safe side. Nico wanted to stay with me, but I persuaded him to take Rhett back to his place. Sleeping in a hospital chair was fine for an adult, but Rhett needed a good night’s sleep.
The following morning, the doctor said I was well enough to go home, although he prescribed bed rest for a couple of days. After the horror of the past twenty-four hours, an excuse to lounge around in bed without feeling guilty sounded like heaven.
Or so I thought.
“If you plump that pillow one more time, I will seriously lose my shit,” I said to Nico after he’d fussed around me for thirty-six hours straight. “I’m fully recovered.”
“You have a concussion , . ”
“I’m aware.” I slid my tongue over my bottom lip, drawing his eye. “I’m also suffering from no-sex-itis, which is far more dangerous for my health.”
“,” he groaned. “Stop.”
I threw back the covers. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “What…? When…?”
“Why, who, how?” I grinned. “I had a feeling you’d fight me, so I thought a little motivation might be in order. I changed while you were putting Rhett to bed.”
The hunger in Nico’s eyes as he ran his gaze over the claret-red, barely there nightdress I’d slipped into almost made me come.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered, but the certainty had left his voice, leaving behind a husky rumble filled with want.
“The only way you’ll hurt me is if you walk out and leave me unsatisfied.” I ran a fingertip up his jean-clad thigh, then cupped the growing bulge in his groin. “What’s it going to be, lover boy?”
“Fuck, woman,” he ground out.
I grinned. “That’s the spirit.”
If a world record attempt existed for removing clothes, Nico would smash it out of the park. Standing gloriously naked before me, he yanked the covers off the bed, then caged me with his body.
“If you feel even slightly unwell or dizzy, you’ll tell me to stop, right?”
I rolled my eyes. “Buzzkill, Palmer. Total buzzkill.”
A growl erupted in his chest, and his mouth closed over mine. I arched my back, needing to feel his body close to me, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, feathering the soft hair at his nape.
“God, I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you,” he hummed against my lips. “I thought I’d lost you.”
I squeezed him tighter, guilt stealing my breath. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to do.”
“Shh,” he soothed. “You’re here now, and you’re going nowhere.”
“I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I just… I went into a spin. But I was wrong to do what I did. I don’t deserve you.”
He cradled my face, his eyes full of love. “I understand why you did what you did, even if I didn’t agree with it. It’s over. Forgotten. We have our whole lives to look forward to. I love you so much, .”
My eyes filled with tears. I blinked them away. “I love you, too. With all my heart.”
His lips journeyed down my body. Wound tight after the trauma of the last few days, I exploded in seconds. Wave after wave of pleasure coursed through me as I came undone, releasing the tension that had built up since Paul came back to town.
“I’ll be gentle,” Nico said, lining the head of his cock up with my entrance.
“Dear God, I hope not,” I said.
He let out a bark of laughter. “What my woman wants?—”
He thrust forward, one single movement that buried him to the hilt. I groaned, reveling in the fullness.
“Wrap your legs around my neck and hang on tight.”
I did as he asked, meeting him thrust for thrust.
“I love you,” Nico groaned.
His declaration set off another climax, my inner walls clamping around his shaft. I clung to his damp shoulders and glanced down to where our bodies were joined.
“I’ll never tire of the sight of you inside me,” I said.
“Good,” he ground out through a clenched jaw. “It’s a sight you’re gonna see often.”
His hips thrust forward, his cock sliding in and out. I carried on watching, fascinated. The second he stilled, I shifted my gaze to his face. He’d closed his eyes, and an expression of pure bliss sent an upsurge of emotion crashing through me.
He opened his eyes and gave me his smile, the one that made the dimple I freaking adored appear. “Thank you.”
I wrinkled my forehead. “What for?”
He rolled to the side and tucked his arm around me, resting my head on his chest. His fingers played with my hair. “For years, I thought control was the be-all and end-all. Everything I did, I carefully measured, crafted it to ensure the right outcome. Then I had the accident, and I almost lost everything. I fought to regain the control I’d held so dear, and finally, after some dark times, I did. Then I met you and Rhett, and my life spun out of control again, this time in the most wonderful of ways. I never want to go back to the guy I was B.E.A.R.”
My brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”
“Before and Rhett.”
I laughed. “Not even if it meant you could race again?”
“I’ll always miss the thrill of racing, but I now know there is so much more to life. Bigger and better thrills than crossing the finish line in first place. The joy of waking up in the morning to find you beside me. The kick I get out of watching Rhett’s confidence grow as he breaks his own personal best, time after time. The simple pleasure of sitting in a diner, enjoying a burger and milkshake with you and Rhett right there enjoying it with me. My life was one-dimensional before, but now it’s full of so many possibilities I’d never even considered, and that’s all down to you.”
My heart swelled. I traced a path over his chest, his abs. I wrapped my hand around his cock, spent now, but hardening in seconds under my firm grip.
“You should sleep,” Nico said, even as he raised his hips in silent invitation.
“I will,” I said, sliding down the bed. “As soon as I’ve taken care of this.”