Chapter Forty-Five
Hayes
Inever needed Lochlan’s approval when it came to Liv, but hearing him call her one of our own here at the sanctuary is probably the nicest thing he’s ever done for me.
This place has been my home and my lifeline since I got out of prison. It made me the man I needed to be to get Liv back. I’ll never be able to express how important it is.
“Do you want to tell her?” Thea asks, looking at me thoughtfully.
“Tell me what?” Liv twists to lean on the back of the couch to look at me. Her eyes are wide with uncertainty.
She can’t handle any more bad news today, but luckily, that’s not what I have.
“I won’t try to pretend that I know what you need to slam dunk this case, but I think Nathan can help us.”
“Nathan?” She asks.
He’s been sitting off to the side, quiet as usual.
“He recognized Jeremiah when we came to watch the trial today,” Callie informs her.
“I think you need to put him on the stand,” I tell her. I’m not qualified, and she knows this, but as her wheels turn while she looks at me. She knows I’d never overstep unless it was important.
“Nathan wants to go on the stand?” Liv asks.
“No.” He shuts her down immediately, but she doesn’t even flinch at the rejection.
“Yes,” Callie insists, crossing her arms.
“Nathan, if you know something that will add years to Jeremiah’s sentence, then it’s your civic duty,” Thea tries to convince him.
He sighs. “I’ve done enough civic duty for a lifetime.”
“He’ll do it because I need him to,” Callie insists, stepping towards her husband, applying the full weight of guilt onto him. “Seeing everyone from that family punished for their crimes will give me the closure that I need, too.”
That did it. I can see it all over his face.
“Fine.” He wraps his hand around the back of her knee when she steps between his legs and rests his head against her hip.
Whatever Callie went through fills him with anguish.
I recognize the signs. The lack of control makes it impossible for him to be apart from her. As if touching her will erase all the fear and grief.
“Perfect. Now tell me everything. Don’t mince your words.” Liv sets up her phone to record him, and we all fall silent as she forces him to talk through his and Callie’s story.
Her Hail Mary.
* * *
“Are you going to be able to sleep?” I whisper, brushing my fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp. It’s been a long-ass day, and we have to be up in three hours to get ready to be back in court.
She grilled Nathan for hours and then spent another couple of hours preparing her questions for his testimony.
She’s a heap of exhaustion in my arms, and reluctantly sharing my bed in the bunkhouse. She’d rather be at home, and I would rather have her all to myself. But it’s safer here when we’re exhausted, and she’s doing everything she can to focus on tomorrow’s trial.
“I’m so tired, but my brain is wired. I’ll blink, and the alarm will be going off.” She sighs, snuggling into my chest. “I already feel like I’ve blinked and my entire life has passed by.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was supposed to be settled by now. Starting a family. Thea and I were going to have babies at the same time, but I called off my wedding. Now she’s having another baby without me.”
“Did you tell Thea how you were feeling?”
“No, but I don’t think I need to. I think that’s why she waited to tell me,” she admits solemnly.
“Waited? She’s still pretty early along.”
“Yeah, but with Kate, she sent me a picture of her pregnancy test while the pee was still wet,” she giggles at the memory.
“So, how soon until you can send that type of picture back to her?”
“What do you mean?”
“If we start right now.”
Her body stiffens, and then she whips her head back to look me in the face. “That’s not funny.”
“I’m not trying to be funny.”
“You would want a baby right now?”
“Olive, I would do anything you wanted. If you had called me up after ten years and asked for my sperm to create your own laboratory baby, I would have done it. I’d probably counteroffer doing it the old-fashioned way so that I could feel your pussy wrapped around my cock just once… But I would have done it all the same.”
“You’re insane.”
“Yeah, but you like me that way.”
A slow smile stretches her cheeks. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
She hooks her leg over my hip, pulling her body on top of mine until the covers fall away. “So, if I sit on your cock right now and beg you to give me a baby?”
I tip the band of my boxers down, fisting my hard shaft and positioning it exactly where she needs it. “It’d be the easiest answer of my life.”
A soft gasp escapes her as she shifts her hips to line up over my crown. She’s naked under my t-shirt, and the warmth of her pussy cloaks my cock as she sinks down on me. Always the perfect fit.
“We’ve never used any protection, but I am on the pill.”
“I know, baby. I saw them on your bathroom counter. But there’s no harm in practicing.”
She grinds back and forth on me languidly, rolling her neck as she takes her pleasure. “Maybe the odds will be in our favor, and you’ll beat the birth control.”
“Yeah, or I’ll flush them down the fucking drain and fill your womb until you give me twins.
” Her walls clench around me, and I grunt.
“You belong to me, Olive. Always have. If you were going to have anyone’s baby, it was going to be mine.
Always mine.” I thrust into her from below, cupping my hand over her mouth as she whimpers.
We’re not alone here. There are seven other men in the bunkhouse, some twenty yards away. My bed is the most secluded, but it isn’t private by any means, and it squeaks.
“I only ever imagined my future babies would look like you,” she admits softly, biting my palm.
Dammit, she’s going to do me in already. I work her clit, demanding her orgasm before I lose it inside of her. She’s so fucking perfect, and imagining her carrying my child is like kryptonite.
I can’t beat it.
Her hips jerk back and forth in my lap as she nears her climax, and I only press harder, fuck her faster, drawing it out until her pussy is clenching my cock like a vise. “Yes, baby, take my cum,” I groan as she forces my release from me.
She twitches and grinds against me, sucking every lost drop from me until I collapse back on the mattress with her sprawled on my chest.
“Do you think someone heard us?” She whispers.
“Probably.”
She giggles against my chest, and I smile, despite deciding how I would kill anyone across the loft who might’ve gotten off hearing her moans.
“I bought a wedding dress because it made me think of you when I tried it on,” she whispers her confession, making my hands still on her spine.
“When?”
“Last year.”
A surprised breath escapes me. “Do you still have it?”
She settles back beside me on the bed, and I cover her up. “Yes. Does that freak you out?” She asks hesitantly.
“Not even a little bit. Will you show me?”
“Well, if you plan to marry me one day… Then it would be bad luck to see the dress.”
“You tell me that you bought a dress with me in mind and you’re going to make me wait to see it?” I utter in exasperation. “Can we get married tomorrow? We’ll already be at the courthouse.”
“No, absolutely not.”
I grumble in frustration against her head. “This is going to kill me.”
“I don’t know, I think it feels nice to have something to look forward to. It finally feels like the good things are ahead of us, and not just in the past.”
“I’ve never looked forward to anything more than having a future with you,” I admit, pulling her in tighter. “And, I’m going to celebrate every fucking milestone with you, baby. I can’t wait.”
She smiles against my cheek and snuggles closer. “I love you, Jensen.”
My lips capture hers, kissing her deeply.
My Olive.