Chapter 16 #2
“Kissing my girl,” he says, causing a million butterflies to take flight inside my belly.
The kiss starts gently, his lips meeting mine with a careful touch as we learn one another. He pauses, just long enough to move between my thighs, and I wrap my legs around him as the kiss deepens in both intensity and intention.
Our mouths move slowly, our motions syncing into a rhythm that feels natural and practiced. Time slows around us, where only he and I exist, as we savor one another.
His palms rest softly against my cheeks, and my hands grip his shirt, tethering him to me. It’s a kiss that says I’m here without words, one that lingers not just on the lips, but in memory long after it ends. It’s a kiss that says that we’re in this together, no matter where it might lead.
A loud knock has Baker pulling out of the kiss and resting his forehead against mine. “They’re here,” he says huskily.
“You should let them in.”
“They’ll let themselves in,” he says.
I push at his chest, and he wraps his arms around me. “They’ll see us,” I tell him.
“I’m not hiding you, Sloane. You’re not a secret.”
“But this is so new,” I say, my heart beating double time.
“It’s new, but it’s not. We’ve been dancing around this for a while now. If you really don’t want them to know, I’ll back away. In fact, I’ll tell them plans have changed, and they can get lost because there’s no way that I’m going to sit here all night and not have my hands on you.”
His words bounce around in my head. I hear the front door open, and Landry calls out that the party can start now that he’s here. I grin and shake my head.
“What’s it going to be, Sloane?”
His hazel eyes bore into mine, and I get lost in not only the heat but the longing that I see in them.
He’s right. Wasn’t I the one who was thinking earlier that there needs to be nothing but honesty between us?
Hiding what’s going on is taking two steps back.
So instead of answering him, I place my hands on his cheeks and kiss him.
I show him with my actions, knowing that our friends are about to walk in on us.
He groans and pulls me forward so that our bodies are molded together. He kisses me as if I’m the oxygen he needs to live.
“Whoa, I was not expecting that,” Landry says.
My body shakes with laughter as we break our kiss. Baker turns so that his back is to me, still nestled between my thighs. “What were you expecting?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest as if nothing is amiss.
“You’ve been holding out on us.” Landry smiles.
“Leave them alone,” Rowan tells her husband.
“What did we miss?” Reid asks, leading the pack of the rest of our friends and baby Coral to enter the kitchen.
“Did you all know about this?” Landry asks them, pointing at us.
“Yep.” Foster nods.
“What? How?” Landry demands.
“I pay attention.” He shrugs.
“I had my suspicions,” Bellamy speaks up.
“Me, too.” Rowan smiles.
“Same,” Corie tells them.
“Not me.” Amanda grins. “But I’m happy for you all.”
“Hey, where’s Ethan?” I ask her. She’s always hanging out with us without her husband. “You know he’s welcome, right?”
“Yeah, he’s working on a big case.”
“He’s always working on a big case,” Bellamy says accusingly.
“He’s trying to make partner,” Amanda says, but not really in his defense, just explaining.
“Well, next time, you need to drag his ass with you,” I tell her. She nods, then the timer goes off on the oven.
“What’s that?” Landry and Reid ask at the same time.
“I made brownies,” I tell them. I tap Baker’s shoulder to get him to step away so I can hop off the counter and get them.
Instead, he turns, kisses my lips softly, then swivels and steps away, pulling the brownies out of the oven. My eyes find Corie’s, and she nods, grins, and waggles her eyebrows.
“They need to cool,” I tell Landry as he makes his way to the stove to get a closer look.
“I like them warm.”
“They’re hot, not warm. You’ll burn your mouth.”
“Worth it,” he says, eyeing the pan.
“Until you can’t kiss your wife because of the pain,” Baker tells him.
“Yeah, I think we’ll let them cool off a bit,” Landry says, stalking back to where Rowan is standing and tossing his arm over her shoulders.
“So, is this officially official?” Reid asks, taking Coral from Bellamy.
“Yep,” Baker answers.
“Cool.” He nods, and that’s it.
The people closest to us have easily accepted that we’re together.
Just as if it was always meant to be, and maybe it was.
I’ve always been a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and maybe, just maybe, losing my job was meant to happen.
That journey of unemployment led me here, to a man and his little boy whom I’ve known for a while, but never considered could become more to me.
And they do. They mean so much to me, and I’m still scared of losing them. Losing this incredible group of people as my friends and the connection we have as a group, but I won’t hide behind that fear. Instead, I’ll embrace it and face it head-on, and hope like hell this ends in happily ever after.
Yeah, I can see Baker and Camden being my happy—hell, they already are—and my ever after. I’d love that, but this is a marathon, not a sprint, and we’ll take each day as it comes.
“Any special requests for pizza?” Baker asks.
A few requests are called out as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and places the order. We all move to the living room to settle in and wait for the food to get here. Baker has his fingers laced with mine, and when he sits down in one of the recliners, he pulls me onto his lap.
I glance around the room. Corie’s on Knox’s lap, Rowan is on Landry’s, Bellamy is on Reid’s, and Foster is making faces at Coral, the sound of her baby giggles filling the room.
Something about this moment feels right.
“Right where I want you,” Baker whispers, and my heart melts.
I don’t have a chance in hell of resisting this man. I don’t know what’s next for us, but I do know that I’m in for whatever it is. My mind plays out visions of what we could be, what our future might look like, and damn, do I want it.