Chapter 44
Five Years Later
Alex
I screwed up my eyes against the morning sun breaking through the blinds and turned over, burying my face in Devon’s back. Arm snaked over her waist, I pulled her closer until her ass fit snugly against my pelvis.
A sleepy, fluttery moan, and a mumbled, “Five more minutes.”
She was so hot when she was half asleep. I gave her a squeeze and guided her to roll over onto her back.
“Only if we can snuggle,” I murmured, and cuddled up to her with my head resting in the crook of her neck.
Devon breathed a sigh of contentment. There was some more incoherent mumbling as she ran a hand up and down the bare skin of my back.
I tilted my head and placed kisses on the soft skin under her chin, pausing to gently suck her neck between my lips, then teeth.
The action elicited a moan from her, a slight shiver creeping through her body.
It really was my intention to grab a few more minutes of sleep before the madness of the day ensued… But she smelled so good, her naked body warm and inviting in my arms. I dipped my head to kiss the top of her shoulder, my hand moving down to squeeze her hip.
Devon held me back, her hand over mine. “You said you wanted to snuggle.”
A light chuckle fluttered from between my lips as I repositioned myself, dragging my tongue along the fleshy mound of one perfect breast.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is how I snuggle.”
Devon opened one eye–her version of a lazy Sunday morning stare-down–and watched me suck her nipple into my mouth.
Bottom lip between her teeth, she inhaled sharply, arching her back despite herself.
She looked so good, I couldn’t keep from capturing her mouth with mine.
The kiss was purposeful, but soft, and we both melted into it.
When I finally broke the kiss, Devon was looking at me through narrowed eyes and shaking her head slowly.
“You’re the worst,” she murmured, a soft smile on her lips.
I straddled her thigh, pushing my own against her heated core as I rocked my hips. “Want me to stop?”
Her answer was to take my mouth again and this time, the kiss was deeper, more hungry than before. Our tongues thrashed as we delved into each other, drinking in the sleepy bliss of waking up together.
My grip on her hands tightened, and I pushed down on her thigh, grinding myself harder. She shifted to hook her foot over my ankle, holding me in place as she rode my thigh. And all the while we were kissing, not coming up for air, not daring to break apart.
A breathless moan escaped me, and Devon instantly swallowed it in, consuming me with a kiss that obliterated the need for trivial things, like breathing.
I rocked my hips, feeling the ache in my clit begin to throb.
Feeling just how much Devon was turned on only made it worse; her arousal was hot and slick on my thigh.
“Your clit feels so fucking good,” I moaned, taking a gulp of air. “You’re so hard… swollen…”
“You get me this way, baby,” she whimpered, fingers digging into the soft flesh of my hips.
I loved taking the credit for her ecstasy, and it spurred the rocking motion, increasing the pace that would finally carry me off into oblivion.
Devon mirrored my movements, grinding herself hard against me as she searched for her own release.
I pressed my mouth to the hollow of her throat where tiny beads of sweat had sprung up, and felt the flush in her skin seep into me too.
Our bodies moved together, picking up a synchronized rhythm as we groped and kissed our way to our ultimate demise.
Heat twisted and roiled in the pit of my belly, the pain in my swollen clit threatening to unravel with every move of my hips.
“Oh, God, Devon.” My muscles pulled tight, twitching under the pressure of my looming climax.
Breath came ragged and hot in her face, mixing salaciously with her own desperate panting. Devon’s hips were moving at a more frantic pace, beckoning for me to follow suit. My brow creased and I was overcome with the need to fall over the cliff with her. Together.
Devon lifted her hips and I pushed down some more, increasing the pressure for both of us. It was like a delicious struggle for dominance where there could be no loser. Not in this game.
My name fell from Devon’s lips as she threw her head back, fingers raking along my back as her body was thrown into spasm.
Feeling her come was all I needed, and wave upon wave of pleasure wracked through me.
I collapsed onto Devon, shuddering through a mind-blowing orgasm that stole the breath right from my lungs.
With my forehead resting on her collarbone, I tried to slow my breathing by using the rise and fall of her chest as my guide.
“We can try again next week,” Devon said. I couldn’t see it, but the smile in her voice was unmistakable. “Snuggling can’t be too hard. I hear people do it all the time.”
A throaty laugh spilled from my lips and I trailed soft kisses across her chest. She tasted of slight musk and salt thanks to the thin layer of perspiration she’d worked up. My favorite.
Then, as if on cue, my jaw tightened and my mouth began to water. Because the taste of her skin reminded me of another that I loved even more. I lifted my leg so that I was between her thighs and started moving down her body to get where I wanted to be.
Just then, the charged tension in our bedroom was broken by a shrill wail from the baby monitor. My head snapped up and we locked eyes.
“Your turn,” we said at the same time.
Devon
“There’s my little opera singer.” Alex rushed over to grab Griffin from my arms the second we stepped into the kitchen. “You had a good lung workout this morning, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
Gracie giggled as she watched Alex drown her baby brother in kisses. His morning bottle was already prepped and waiting on the counter in front of her.
“Thank you, baby girl.” I kissed the top of her head. “You’re the best big sister ever.”
She gleamed, pushing out her chest proudly. “I also started the pancakes, and have some of the picnic stuff packed and ready.”
Alex and I shared a look. For Gracie to have gotten all this done, it meant she was up early. Early enough to maybe bear witness to her moms having a Sunday snuggle…
I fought back the heat rushing to my cheeks and pretended there was something very urgent that needed my attention in the pantry. Alex’s stifled laugh followed me all the way there.
“What time were you up this morning?” I heard her asking. The scrape of the wooden stool at the counter told me she was taking a seat.
I stood in the pantry and fanned my face, feeling utterly mortified. Surely, there was a way to navigate a healthy sex life with a ten-year-old daughter and new baby. We just had to find it.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t hear anything this time,” Gracie replied. “Griffin needed a change. Then I thought I’d get a head start on the picnic stuff to give you guys a break.”
“Uh… what do you mean, ‘this time’?” It felt good hearing the trepidation in Alex’s voice. At least I wasn’t alone.
Gracie was in a fit of giggles when I walked back into the kitchen. Alex looked at me, eyes wide, pleading for help. I could only shrug hopelessly.
“I only know because your hair was all messed up when you came in here,” Gracie told her, holding out Griffin’s bottle.
Alex was dumbstruck, her mouth open in a round ‘O’ as she proceeded to feed our son.
I cleared my throat. “I’m, uh, I’ll fry off this pancake batter. Gracie, you can grab the picnic basket and start packing. We have to be at the orphanage in an hour.”
It was a long shot but landed well, and in a few minutes the kitchen was buzzing with activity. The orphanage’s annual picnic was always a highlight for Gracie, who cared more about meeting up with her friends than what her parents might have been up to in their bedroom that morning.
“Did you remember the syrup?” Alex asked, spreading out our picnic blanket under her favorite tree in the park beside the orphanage.
Gracie stuck her hand into the basket and pulled out a full bottle with a huge grin on her face. “I always remember the syrup. Can I go now?”
I ruffled her hair. “Go on, honey. I saw Jacob over by the swing set.”
I’d barely lowered Griffin into his rocker seat when his big sister was gone with the wind, her pigtails bouncing wildly as she sprinted across the park.
“Great turnout this year.” Alex settled onto the blanket and pulled out the juice bottle. She grabbed two plastic cups and filled them both halfway. “Cheers.”
I took the cup she held out to me and tapped it against hers before taking a sip. “It’s a great turnout every year, babe. Hayden was right when she said it’s the easiest angle for free marketing. Besides, the kids love it.”
“Please promise me you’ll never tell Hayden that.” Alex smirked. “She loves hearing that she’s right a little too much for my liking.”
I laughed softly and watched her recline on the picnic blanket with her arms folded behind her head. There was a smile on her face as she closed her eyes, soaking up the dappled sunlight dancing through the branches.
“Who would’ve thought,” I said, checking that Griffin was still sleeping soundly before lying down beside her.
She hummed as a sign she was listening but didn’t open her eyes, didn’t move.
“I remember a time when you’d spend your Sunday mornings at the office, bogged down with work.
Then you’d get home grumpy and stressed out. Now look at you…”
“Yeah, yeah…” She chuckled lightly. “Happy you finally got your way? I’m officially on the path to retirement.”
“It was never about getting my way, Alex,” I replied, tracing feathery lines down the inside of her arm. “I was just worried about you, that’s all. And yes, seeing you this way makes me happy. It makes all of us happy.”
She peeped through a slit in one eye, still smiling. Then she twisted over onto her side, head resting on her open palm.
“I love you, you know that? And I love our family,” she said, the sincerity clear in her voice. “There’s no way I was going to trade days like this for being cooped up in my office. Waking up with you, making breakfast with Gracie-”
“Having morning sex interrupted by hungry cries from Griff,” I added.
We both laughed, and Alex stretched to have another look at our sleeping boy. The pure love and contentment on her face warmed my insides and made my heart swell. But there was something else, a more pressing matter that had been gnawing at me.
“You mean it, don’t you?” I ventured a little hesitantly, avoiding eye contact.
She looked back at me with a slight frown. “Mean what?”
I motioned at our setup under the tree. “That you’re okay with all this. You’re not bored out of your mind by domestic life? I mean, I know you thrive on the excitement and pressure that comes with your work, but-”
Alex took my face in her hands, forcing me to look at her. Her loving gaze poured into mine, and she said, “I mean it more than I’ve ever meant anything in my life.”