Chapter 38
SAGE
There are things no one ever tells you about having a baby.
Things like, you will never have a clean shirt at the end of the day, or that you’ll develop a sixth sense for hearing the slightest noise your baby makes, or you’ll desperately want to have a caffeine IV inserted permanently. If such a thing existed.
Then there’s the good stuff. The addiction to the scent of your baby when she’s cuddled on your chest, the obsession with the sweet little noises she makes, and my personal favourite, the sight of your partner asleep on the couch, shirtless, with your baby held protectively in his arms.
I’ve been lucky to witness a lot of beautiful moments in life, but nothing beats watching Brady be a father. The tenderness he shows Ivy echoes the tenderness he shows me. And I know I couldn’t ask for a better man for me or my daughter.
“Are you planning on staring at me like a perv all day, or can you come and get out a fresh pack of wipes? This one is empty.”
I startle, pushing off the doorway to Ivy’s nursery where, yes, I was ogling him as he changed our daughter’s clothes following an epic poop-splosion.
“How did you know I was watching?” I ask, moving to the closet to grab a new pack of wipes. I open it and hand them to him before stooping down to kiss Ivy’s head. “And how the heck do you keep her so calm during diaper changes? She screams like a banshee with me.”
“She’s a daddy’s girl. We have a deal,” he replies before shifting into a soft, babyish voice. “Isn’t that right, Ivy? You’re my mini-hurricane, aren’t you?”
“What kind of deal?” I laugh as he scoops her up and cradles her, turning to face me.
“The kind where I agree to let her stay awake until midnight if she doesn’t fight me on diaper changes.”
It’s impossible not to grin. “Really. So, you’re telling me she screams during diaper changes with her mother in exchange for sleeping solidly for five hours?”
“Are you or are you not getting some sleep each night?”
I nod and he smirks.
“Well, there you go. It’s a trade-off, little mama. Sleep or screams.”
“I’ll take the sleep.” I hold my hands out, but he turns away, adopting a protective stance. “Hey, come on, she’s going to need to nurse soon.”
“Nope. We’re gonna read first. I’ll bring her to you when she’s hungry. This is my time.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I put my hands down as he moves to the rocking chair in the corner, next to the small table where he has a stack of books. Some are baby books, and some are his that he reads at night when Ivy just wants to be held.
“And yet, you still love me.” He sits down, carefully shifting Ivy’s position so he’s holding her with one arm as he picks up his glasses with the other and puts them on. “If you don’t interrupt, you can join us.”
“Nah, I’ll leave you two alone. I should shower now, since Ivy and I have to go to our last midwife appointment later, anyway.”
“Oh right. Sorry I can’t come with you.” Brady grimaces. “But it’s the last team workout before we officially break for the season.”
“It’s fine.” I step closer and kiss Ivy’s head before kissing Brady’s upturned lips. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
As I leave the nursery, I hear him say softly, “Okay, Ives. Are we gonna start with farm animals or baseball? Of course. Baseball. Good choice.”
Later that evening, after getting the all clear from Enid at our midwife appointment, I look down at my beautiful baby girl, who’s nursing like a champ.
“So, is that a plan? Are you going to cooperate like the good baby you are?” I murmur. “Because Mama really needs this. And it’ll make your daddy so happy.”
As if she can actually understand me, Ivy’s eyes start to slowly flutter closed.
“Good girl,” I whisper.
It took some careful planning, and a whole lot of hoping that today wouldn’t be an off-the-rails-because-she’s-a-baby kind of day, but everything is lining up perfectly. Brady should be home any minute, I freshened up before I sat down to nurse, and once I get Ivy into her crib…
I feel her little body relax into a deeper level of sleep and silently cheer. Ever so slowly, I stand up and move to her crib, where the white noise machine and monitor are already turned on. Gently, I lower her down, holding my breath.
It’s more delicate work than disarming a bomb, but I manage to successfully transfer her, and then I tiptoe out of her room, pulling the door closed. Then it’s a race against time, one I just barely win, stepping out into the living room right as I hear Brady’s key in the door.
He steps through the door and comes to an abrupt stop. His bag drops to the floor by his feet.
“What…what's going on?” he asks, his voice gruff and deep.
I toy with the hem of his jersey, the only thing I'm wearing. “Ivy's asleep, and Enid gave me the all clear today. What do you think is going on?”
“Hurricane,” he rumbles. “Are you sure you're ready for this?” He takes a step toward me and then another.
“If I wasn't sure, would I really be standing in front of you with no panties on?”
“Fuck.” He sweeps me into his arms, carrying me swiftly through the apartment to our bedroom, only to pause at the foot of our bed after setting me down. “And Ivy is okay?”
My heart melts. Even now, with sex hopefully minutes away, he's thinking of our daughter. I point to the monitor standing on top of our dresser. “Fast asleep with a full belly and a clean diaper. We've got some time.”
“It won't be enough to do all the things I've thought about doing to you over the last couple of months.”
He slowly starts to peel off his clothes, a striptease that has me burning with need in seconds.
“Oh really. I wonder if any of those things are the same as I’ve been thinking about?”
He chuckles, low and sexy, before kicking off his pants, leaving him clad only in tight black boxer briefs that do nothing to hide the evidence of his desire.
“Well, let’s see,” he starts, planting his hands on the bed on either side of my feet. “I keep wondering if your breasts are still as sensitive as they were before. How long can you go with me playing with them before you combust?”
Shit. I wince, feeling some of my desire fizzle as I let out a nervous laugh. “Ah, no, that’s not on my list. Breastfeeding has definitely changed that. I’m not sure I’ll enjoy it the same way right now.”
Brady simply shrugs, his gaze still dark and heavy. “No problem.” He climbs up onto the bed on his knees before bending and kissing the tops of my shins. “What if I start at the bottom, instead? I'll cover every inch of your skin with kisses, starting here.”
And just like that, my desire comes roaring back. I would never have said my legs could be an erogenous zone, but something about Brady's touch, his fingers and lips grazing lightly over every bare inch of skin, makes my breath quicken. “That…that sounds like a good start.”
I gasp when he lays a kiss on my inner thigh, then whimper when he does the same to the other side, only this time he follows the kiss with a nip, the sharpness of his teeth an erotic counterpoint to the soft pleasure of his kiss.
Part of me wants him to move faster, to touch me where I’m desperate to feel him. The other part of me wants time to slow down, so I can be in this pure bliss forever. But there’s a baby in the other room that could wake up at any moment.
“Brady, please. Hurry.”
He chuckles against my skin, lifting his head as he runs his hands up the outside of my thighs, gathering his jersey as he goes.
“Impatient, Hurricane?”
The jersey goes over my head and is tossed to the side. I grab his head and pull him to me for a kiss. “Yes, and very aware of the fact that we’re on borrowed time.”
“Valid point.”
Lifting me under the armpits, he moves me up the bed until I’m resting on the pillows.
“But I’m not rushing this.”
His lips land on my lower belly a second later in an open-mouthed kiss. He trails more kisses over the soft, jiggly skin that still hasn’t bounced back from being pregnant. I suck in a breath, contracting my weak stomach muscles, before I can remind myself I don’t need to.
Of course, Brady notices, lifting his head to look at me, his hands resting right over the part of my body I’m feeling vulnerable about.
“You’re the most gorgeous woman on this planet, Sage. Every single inch of you is beautiful to me. But especially the parts of you that gave me our daughter.”
He lowers back down, kissing my belly again. “This part,” —kiss— “and this one,” —kiss— “and this one, too.” Kiss.
His lips land just above my clit, but instead of another kiss, he flattens his tongue and swirls a circle around my pussy, letting out a rumbling moan of pleasure that sends shivers through my core.
“You’re perfect.”
Two simple words. And then he descends on me like a starving man.
Strong hands hold me in place as my hips start to buck and writhe, his tongue devouring me as he licks and sucks and drives me higher and higher.
He adds a finger, and then two. There’s a slight pinch of discomfort as my body adjusts to the intrusion, but the second he curls his fingers and finds my sweet spot, I detonate.
Grabbing a pillow just in time to muffle my screams.
When I blink my eyes back open, Brady’s stripped off his underwear and is rolling on a condom. He gives me a wink. “I know it didn’t do much last time, but I’d rather not have two under two.”
“Me too.” I laugh.
Then he lines up his cock and thrusts in, grabbing my thigh to wrap around his back. His fingers dig in deep, no doubt leaving marks.
My hips rock up to meet his, moving in a way that’s familiar and instinctual. Like my body knows exactly what it needs, and Brady is the one man to give it to me.
“So…good…don’t…stop…” I gasp out in between thrusts. Everything feels so much more sensitive. I have no idea if I can climax again, but having Brady inside of me, being connected to him this way, is so incredible. So perfect.
“Sage,” he grunts, dropping his forehead to meet mine. He slows his rhythm, moving at a more languorous pace. “God. The way you feel. I’ll never have enough of you.”
“Never,” I echo, tangling my fingers in his hair and tipping his head so I can kiss him. It’s messy, sloppy, and I whimper when he captures my lip between his teeth, his hips speeding up, pistoning in and out of me.
This time, when I feel my orgasm coming on, I pant out his name. He muffles my cries with his mouth, kissing me through my release before dropping his head to my shoulder. His movements grow jerky, and then his cock swells and he comes.
All too soon, he’s collapsing on top of me, rolling slightly to the side. We’re both panting heavily, our limbs tangled on top of messed-up sheets.
“Think we can rally for round two before she wakes up?” Brady asks after a few minutes.
I half laugh, half groan. “Maybe you can, but let’s remember what my body did just a few weeks ago. I might need a day in between.”
“Ah, right. Fair enough.” He presses a kiss to my lips, then rolls off the bed, swaggering into the bathroom.
He comes back a minute later, and goes to climb back into bed, just as Ivy cries out through the monitor.
And it isn’t the gentle sounds she makes when she wakes up happy.
Oh no, this is the piercing cry that demands immediate attention.
The I’m-hungry-and-wet-and-all-alone-and-someone-had-better-come-and-get-me cry.
Brady freezes. “Shit.”
I scramble out of bed and grab the clothes I’d changed out of earlier. Brady’s faster, pulling on a pair of shorts and heading to the nursery. By the time he gets back with a screaming, red-faced baby girl in his arms, I’m already in position, ready to stick her on my boob.
She settles as soon as she’s latched on, and Brady sinks down on the bed beside us. I let my head fall to his shoulder.
“She’s quite the hangry little drama queen sometimes, isn’t she?”
“More like a cuddle-blocking menace,” he says, kissing my hair. “Good thing she’s cute.”
I turn to face him for a proper kiss. “Luckily, she’ll be back asleep eventually. She didn’t cuddle block, she cuddle postponed.”
A tiny hand slaps my chest, and Brady laughs. “Drama queen for sure.” He bends down and kisses her head. “But she’s our drama queen, and she’s perfect.”