Chapter 7
Ash Riley
Okay, I had to fucking breathe. I pulled out from his ass and figured I needed at least ten minutes to regain my strength.
“Hurry, they’re gonna be up soon,” Nate panted, getting onto his back.
“Your dirty talk needs some work.” I stifled a laugh and tried to catch my breath. Fuck me, that might’ve been the fastest fuck we’d had since our twenties. “I can’t wait till we get our own bedroom again.” With that, I nudged his legs apart and dipped down to suck him off.
He legit threw a pillow over his face, but I still heard all the desperation in that groan.
It was our own fault. We’d wasted a solid twenty minutes on cuddling and flirting, only to remember, shit, our cockblockers would wake up any moment and we hadn’t gotten off since last night.
No teasing today. I sucked him down my throat and swallowed around him, and his thighs turned into granite with how much he tensed up.
His body, man—and it wasn’t that he went to the gym these days.
Or, that wasn’t all of it. It was just…Nathan.
How he aged, how he wore our memories, how he evolved, how his laugh lines enhanced every smile, how the brown in his hair glinted with silver in some places.
I just fucking loved growing older with him.
He pushed away the pillow again and sucked in a breath.
I hummed around his cock and swallowed every drop of pre-come, and he slipped his fingers through my hair to hold me in place.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he breathed. “Just like that, baby. Close.”
I’ll get you there.
I rolled his balls in my hand and redoubled my efforts, and I could tell he was right on the edge.
Over and over, I sucked him down, and—there we fucking go.
He slapped a hand over his mouth and groaned, his whole body going rigid, and then he started coming.
I snaked my tongue around him and swallowed repeatedly, hot spurt after hot spurt, until he collapsed and melted into the mattress.
“Fuck me,” he panted.
Already did that, my love.
I sucked him clean before I crawled up his body, dropping kisses as I went.
He flinched and chuckled when I hit a ticklish spot.
Now we could go back to cuddling and flirting.
We met in a kiss, and he was too fucking cute. Post-orgasm, everything was good in the world.
“I needed that…” He stretched out underneath me and ran his fingers up my back.
“Despite that I gave it to you good last night.” I rubbed my nose to his. “You greedy slut.”
“You incorrigible troll,” he chuckled lazily. “You might wanna get off me unless you want me breathing down your neck in twenty minutes.”
“Damn, boy.” How was I gonna keep up with him? Then again… Feeling him like this, kissing him, being back in his arms, owning him again, belonging to him—I felt the same hunger. We had a lot of catching up to do.
But also, four kids. And I could hear feet padding away upstairs.
“Lily or Mikey?” I whispered against his lips.
He hummed. “Micah remembers to flush, so we’ll find out soon enough.”
The seconds ticked by, and we had ourselves another unhurried make-out session with wandering hands and sweet nothings.
“I’ll miss you today…”
“Me too.” I nipped at his bottom lip. “Good luck with your parents.”
He grinned. “Good luck with yours.”
At least mine were in another state. If Ma got too loud in her cheering, I could mute her or hang up the phone until she’d calmed down.
But it was time to tell them our family was reunited.
With Hallie down for the count, there wasn’t a chance in hell we were burdening her with babysitting this afternoon, so Nathan was gonna drop the youngest off at his folks.
That way, Nate and I could head out to Mclean to plan our Saturday fun without any stress.
“You know what we need?” He locked his feet against the backs of my calves, and he squeezed my ass. “A day off together. Next week—if you can. Just you and me and about fifty moving boxes. We’ll order takeout, pack, and fuck like crazy.”
Goddamn.
I was supposed to be exhausted, but my cock evidently disagreed.
“Just say when.” I kissed him deeply and shivered.
“I only have two patients on Tuesday. I can reschedule.”
Perfect. Tuesday, it was.
Dammit. We heard the sink. Then a door opened and closed, and that ended things for us.
We broke the kiss and sighed.
I did the hollering. “Flush the toilet, princess!”
“Okay, okay! Don’t yell!” she…yelled.
I smirked and faced Nate again. “Happy Friday.”
He rumbled a sleepy chuckle. “Happy Friday, my sexy husband.”
Oof, more flirting. I was here for it. Or I wanted to be, but our day was going to be insane.
Aside from work and the kids, Nate had lunch plans with Jordan, I was gonna have a one-on-one with James, we were telling our folks about everything, I was calling a Realtor, Nate was gonna cancel our internet for this house, all streaming services we’d doubled up on during our separation too, then the afternoon out at Mclean before we had spaghetti night with the kids.
First things first, shower.
“No, of course not. You go home and rest, sweetheart,” I said, trapping my phone between my shoulder and ear. “Do you want me to order you somethin’ to eat?” I checked the rearview and backed into the parking spot.
“Umm. I don’t know. Can I text you if I change my mind?” Poor Hallie. She sounded so pitiful.
“’Course you can. Just lemme know. Text me when you get home, okay?”
“I will. Bye, Dad.”
“Love you, bye.” I ended the call and released a breath.
“Everythin’ okay?” James wondered.
“Yeah—kinda. It’s Hallie.” I’d told him about her issues last night.
If her cramps got any worse, we’d need to look into things.
At this point, she was practically out of commission one day a month.
The internet gods said it was normal, but I wasn’t convinced.
I might ask Nate’s ma. Juliana had been a nurse before she’d switched careers to become a florist. “Okay, let’s eat. ”
We’d had no leftovers to pack today, so while I was opting for Costco’s finest in Arlington, Nate was treating Jordan to pizza because we had a coupon.
“I’mma splurge today,” I said, climbing out of the truck. “I’mma get a hot dog and a slice.”
God bless Costco prices.
We’d taken lunch early, ’cause we knew we weren’t the only workers eating here today. The place was always packed with neon yellow and orange between eleven thirty and one. Plenty of hard hats too.
We got in and aimed for the shortish line.
“So what do you think Nate and Jordan will talk about?” I asked. I was mostly curious about James’s take. I already knew that Nate was gonna let Jordan ramble, because the boy had been the one who’d suggested the lunch.
“All I know is that Jordan tore four pages of questions out of his notebook this mornin’,” he drawled.
I chuckled and folded my arms over my chest. “You know, I kinda wish you would do the same. You hide behind Jordan so that he will handle all the communication.”
He shifted where he stood and rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe I’ve heard that before.”
I smirked.
“In my defense, he handles it very well,” he added.
I snorted. “Boy, you don’t have a defense.
” I took another step as the line got shorter.
“I’ll make it real simple for you, Jamie.
If you wanna get in on the action, Nate and I need to hear from you what it is that you want.
Consent can’t be delegated to a third party. Same goes for preferences and limits.”
I let him mull that over.
“Ma, I gotta let you go—we’re looking for parking,” I said with my mouth full of food.
White lie. In reality, we were almost at Mclean.
“Oh, don’t you dare,” she replied. “I wanna talk to Nathan first. Is he there? By the way, if you’re going out to eat, why are you eating right now?”
I huffed. “Because I’m a growing boy! I had a tiny road snack. Here’s Nate.” I handed the phone to him and promptly picked up my burger again from the dash.
“Hey, Lynda.”
Good lord, I could hear her squeal.
I stepped on the gas a bit, the gravel crunching under the tires, and it wasn’t long before we reached the end of the dirt road.
“Yes, we’re very happy,” Nate chuckled.
Ecstatic.
Even more so because we’d just decided to move the whole family to the new house after the weekend. We really only needed to get Lily’s and Mikey’s stuff over there, and then we could grab some boxes here and there after work and when we were in the area.
I pulled in next to the carport because it was full—and so was the lawn on the left of the carport. In other words, plenty of members here tonight.
In fact, I spotted a few of the usual suspects out on the front lawn. Greer, Colt, Reese, and KC.
I took another bite of my burger and killed the engine.
Given that Ma had no plans on letting Nate go anytime soon, I gestured that I would go ahead, and he nodded and waved me off.
I grabbed my milkshake too.
The sun was about to set west of the house, and the last rays found me between the trees.
“If it ain’t the man of the hour.” Reese smirked. “August sent me a report this mornin’ on which posts had garnered the most engagement, and your dynamic update listing yourself as Nathan’s husband was the second.”
I laughed and walked a little faster. “Which one was the most popular?”
“A video of Kingsley striking Tate with a cane.” He offered a chef’s kiss at that, and I made a mental note to search for that video. It sounded like something I would enjoy. “Where’s your man?”
“In the truck, talkin’ to my ma.” I crammed the last of the burger into my mouth when I reached them, and I bumped fists with Colt, Reese, and Greer—but I knew better with KC. I shook his hand, to which he smirked.
Yeah, I remembered. He and Lucian had once had a conversation about fist-bumping being for kids. I’d obviously walked by at the right moment to hold out my fist.
“How the fuck are ya, boys?” I asked, chewing.
Colt toasted with his coffee mug. “Livin’ the life, man.”
“No complaints here.” KC smiled.