Chapter 16 #2
My core wakes the hell up at his touch and his words.
Placing my hand over his at my stomach, I ignore the arguing I hear happening in the lounge room and say, “You’ll be lucky if I’m not passed out by the time you get home.”
He turns me to face him. “Do you need me to take the day off?”
I smile at him and shake my head. “No, I’m good. Just tired after the weekend.”
His brows pull together. “You’ve been tired a lot lately. What’s going on?”
I place my hands to his chest. “We’re both tired. Kids. Work. Life. I think we’re going to be tired for a good decade straight. I’m just strapping in for it. You don’t need to worry about me. You’ve got enough on at work to worry about.” It’s true. He does. I do not need to add to his worries.
He moves into me. “It’s my job to worry about you, Layla, so let me.”
I slide my hands out across his hard chest and around his sides to wrap my arms around him. Donovan’s body is still as sculpted and built as it was when I met him, and the sheer size of him never fails to make me feel safe. Protected. Loved.
“Honestly there’s nothing to worry about. As far as me saving energy for you today, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. Your children are going to wear me out at the beach.”
“Maybe you should cancel today.”
My eyes widen. “Are you serious? I mean, you can tell the kids it’s off and see how well they take that news.”
The serious look in his gaze intensifies. “They could wait until tomorrow.”
“Ah, no. Tomorrow we have swimming lessons and a playdate with Velvet and Zeke. Wednesday, we have haircuts and lunch at your mum’s.
Thursday, we have the day at Dreamworld with Chelsea, Christian, and Georgia.
Friday, I’m doing Christmas shopping while Harlow has the kids.
And then on the weekend, we’ve got all the things we’ve planned with you.
” I release a long breath. “This week is hectic. There’s no room for postponing anything. ”
I see his brain processing all this, trying to figure out how he can ride on in and save me from myself and all the fun things I’ve planned for our children during their holidays.
“No,” I say.
He arches a brow questioningly. “No?”
“No, you can’t do anything to help me. You’re busy with work and I won’t have the busy schedule I brought upon myself interfering with that. So stop trying to figure out how to fix it all for me.”
He watches me silently for a few moments before saying, “I’m sure I knew how argumentative and stubborn you were before I married you, but I seem to keep forgetting.”
I smile. God, I love this man. “Well, I’ll just keep reminding you, okay?”
He bends his face to brush his lips over mine. “I have no doubt you will, sweetheart.”
I tighten my arms around him when he makes a move to let me go. “Kiss me properly. That wasn’t enough.”
His lips twitch while his eyes flash with approval.
He then slides his fingers through my hair and gives me his mouth.
I melt into him, body and soul, as he deepens the kiss, his tongue seeking mine.
We soon become a mess of need, Donovan’s hands moving to my ass to lift me up onto the kitchen countertop. Taking hold of one of my legs, he curves it around his body where he prefers it and grinds himself against me.
The house is filled with the sounds of children arguing and morning cartoons on the television, and now, our desperate desire for each other in the kitchen.
“Fuck,” he rasps, pulling his mouth from mine. He’s as breathless as I am. “If we don’t stop now, I won’t be able to.”
I nod, biting my lip and gripping his shirt. “I know.”
He doesn’t move, though. He stays right where he is, with my leg around him, his hand on my breast, and his eyes all over my body.
I know my husband well. He’s trying to figure out how to fuck me with three kids in the house who are likely to come looking for us any moment.
When he removes his eyes from my body to search mine out, I know he’s figured out we don’t have a hope in hell of having sex right now. With one long exhale, he says, “Tonight. I don’t care if it’s the fastest sex we’ve ever had. I need you.”
It’s those last three words, said with Donovan’s signature intensity and darkness, that cause me to nod in agreement. Because even though I know I’ll be almost dead with exhaustion tonight, my husband’s need for me always pulls me in.
I kiss him. “I love you.” One last kiss. “Tonight.”
Layla
11:10 a.m.
I send my husband a text as I sit on the beach watching the kids make sandcastles.
Me
I’ve been thinking.
Me
We should cancel all our plans for this weekend, ask your Mum to have the kids, and you should take me away somewhere, just the two of us.
Me
I want to spend the weekend naked with you.
11:20 a.m.
Me
I’m thinking about all the filthy things your tongue is capable of.
11:30 a.m.
Me
Is that a no?
11:40 a.m.
Me
Too bad if it’s a no from you because it’s a yes from me and I just called your mum and organised her to have the kids from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. You’re taking me away. To the beach. And you’re going to fuck me for 48 hours straight. Just FYI.
12:30 p.m.
Me
I’ve booked a hotel. Tell me you can get away from work by lunchtime on Friday. I may start without you if not. I’ll be sure to keep you updated with videos until you get there. I know you like to watch.
12:45 p.m.
I check my phone to see if Donovan has replied to my messages.
My husband is not a fan of texting, so I never really expect him to reply to my messages.
I just like sending them and imagining him reading them.
He’ll always respond if it’s something important, but I didn’t really expect him to respond to the ones I’ve sent him today.
There’s no reply from him.
That doesn’t bother me. I know he’s busy. I just like knowing he would have been thinking about me each time he received a text.
“So, J’s on the couch tonight?” I say to Madison who has just spent ten minutes telling me about the fight they had this morning that she’s still annoyed over.
“If he comes home in the same mood he was in this morning, yes,” Madison says. I don’t doubt her. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to sleep on the couch, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I don’t know any other couple with as much fire between them as these two.
She looks at me. “How has Blade never had to sleep on the couch? My brother can’t be that perfect.”
I laugh as I reach for the sunscreen in my bag. “Trust me, he is far from perfect.”
“But still, no couch?” she says.
I arch a brow. “You seriously think I could get away with telling Donovan to sleep on the couch?”
“You have a point,” she says.
Donovan and I have had many fights over the years, but I know better than I know anything that there’s no way he’d stand for us going to bed separately.
Even after one of our worst fights, I woke to his arms around me, and although I didn’t like him very much that day, I wanted his arms right where they were.
“Oh, shit,” Madison says, jumping up from the sand where she and I are sitting under a beach umbrella. “Something’s happened.”
Madison and I have been watching the girls while they make sandcastles, and Harlow has been with the boys. She took them up to the park to play on the swings and is now coming our way with Keaton and Sawyer who is crying and holding his arm.
I stand and run to them, my eyes firmly on my son who appears to be in pain.
“He fell off the swing,” Harlow says, her voice filled with worry. “I’m concerned he’s broken his wrist.”
I crouch in front of Sawyer and find his eyes. “It’s going to be okay, baby.”
He nods through his tears. There aren’t a lot of tears, though. My son is like his father: made of stone at times. And always fiercely brave.
I look at the swelling in his wrist and note the tenderness I can see simply by the way he’s holding his arm. “I’m going to take you to the hospital.”
Sawyer nods again, swallowing hard.
I stand and look at Madison and Harlow. “Can I leave Elizabeth with you guys while we go to the hospital?”
“Of course,” Harlow says. Then, pulling a pained face, she says, “I’m so sorry this happened.”
I place my hand on her arm. “There’s no need to apologise. These things happen.”
I gather my bag and my son, and we make our way to my car. I send a text to Donovan to let him know what’s happened.
Me
Sawyer fell off a swing and hurt his wrist. I’m taking him to the Gold Coast hospital to get them to check him out. I’ll keep you updated.
He calls almost instantly.
“Hey,” I say as I help Sawyer into the car.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital. I’m about forty minutes away.”
His voice calms me like it always does. I didn’t realise I was tense until this moment. “I know you’re busy today. I can keep you updated with texts.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Donovan, you don’t have to come. Sawyer’s okay. It may not even be broken.”
“I’m not just coming for Sawyer.”
I finish helping Sawyer buckle in, close his door, and release a long breath. “Thank you.”
“I’ll see you soon,” he says and ends the call.
I exhale another breath.
This.
This is why I love my husband and will love him until the day I die.
He always knows when I need him, even when I don’t know I do.
Blade
2:20 p.m.
I stride into the Children’s Emergency Department, scanning for Layla and Sawyer. Traffic was horrendous on the way here, so it took me longer than the forty minutes I anticipated.
When I don’t see my wife or son, I speak with a nurse at the desk and am told Sawyer is being seen by a doctor. The nurse directs me where to go and a few minutes later, I locate them.
Layla’s eyes meet mine the way they always do. I always know she’s happy to see me. “Hey,” she says softly.
“I’m sorry it took me so long. There was an accident,” I say as I move next to her at the bed. I shift my gaze to Sawyer whose face reveals his relief to see me here. “Hey, buddy. How are you doing?”