Page 43 of Healed Hearts (Mended Hearts #2)

Chapter Forty-Two

Julian

W hen I push open the door to Wren’s room, I’m not at all expecting to see Holden clutching her to his chest with huge tears pouring down his cheeks. Given the way his face is splotchy and red, it’s been going on a while.

My stomach falls straight to my feet as I rush across the room. I cup his face in my hands and force his gaze to mine. “What’s wrong, Hold?”

He shakes his head, and lets out a little sob. “Nothing,” he says, sounding like he’s choking on the words.

I stare into his eyes as more tears escape. “Something, darlin’. What’s going on?”

He squeezes his eyes closed, forcing more tears to drip out. “She…” he says, stopping and inhaling a shaky breath.

He’s starting to worry me. Like actually, truthfully, starting to freak me the fuck out. “You’re freaking me out, darlin’.”

He takes another shuddering breath. “Wren called me Daddy,” he says, and then dissolves into almost hysterical sobbing. Relief washes over me. My beautiful, tender-hearted man. God, I fucking love him.

I scoop him up and sit down on the love seat behind me, holding him against my chest, while he holds Wren against his. “I’m assuming these are good tears, then?” I ask, pressing my lips to his hair.

He lets out another hiccuping sob and nods. “Uh-huh.”

I smile to myself as I hold my entire world on my lap.

Finally, after what feels like forever, Holden’s crying calms, and he wipes at his face. “Doing better, darlin’?” I ask, squeezing him a little tighter to me.

He releases a shaky breath and nods. “Yeah, I’m not sure why that made me cry so much, but it so did.”

I chuckle and he giggles. “I can tell.”

He sighs. “Yeah, I’m a hot mess.”

I don’t get a chance to answer because there’s a knock on the door and then Beck and Roman are walking in. “Hey, guys,” Roman says, then stops short when he sees that Holden has been crying.

But it’s not Roman who asks what’s wrong. It’s Beck. I don’t even know if he realizes he’s become the protector of their little group, but he definitely has. “What’s going on, Hold?”

Holden lets out a manic-sounding laugh, then taps me. “Can’t say it. Will cry. You,” he chokes out.

I bite my lip to stifle my laugh. He is too damn sweet. “Wren called Holden Daddy, and he’s feeling very emotional about it.”

Beck and Roman share a look, then both of them laugh. “Well,” Beck says. “It’s probably bad timing on our part, then. But we’re here to relieve you of your duties for the night.”

Holden makes a low, growly sound that should not turn me on, but kind of does. “I’m not going anywhere. She just called me—” His voice cuts off abruptly, and he takes a deep breath. “Anyway, I’m not leaving.”

Roman sighs, but he’s not deterred. “Hold, you guys have been here day in, day out, for three weeks. Go home. Spend the night with Julian. Come back in the morning. Beck and I will stay here. Seriously. You all need it. Please?”

Holden stubbornly shakes his head. “Hey, darlin’,” I murmur, and he looks up at me. “I’d really enjoy a night alone with you. And the two uncles are here, offering. If there’s anything you need to learn about being a parent, it’s that when someone trusted is offering you a kid-free night, you take it.” I wink at him, so he knows I’m not being mean.

His bottom lip juts out in a pout. “You want to just leave her?”

“Well, no. I don’t want to just leave her, and I wouldn’t be. She’d be with Beck and Roman. Yeah?” I lower my voice, leaning in a bit to whisper in his ear. “Don’t you want to spend the night… cuddling with me?” I add a little pause and emphasis on cuddling so he hopefully picks up what I’m putting down.

He nibbles on his bottom lip, then looks at Roman and Beck. “Ugh. Fine. But I’m not happy about it. Let me tell you two about her recovery care.”

Beck’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline. “Woah. First off. She’s got a medical staff here, and second. I’m a PA, CT. She’ll be fine. I know her recovery care.” He’s looking at Holden like he’s daring him to argue.

I glance at Holden, damn near holding my breath to see if he’s going to pick up the gauntlet that Beck just threw down.

He glares at him for a moment and the second he opens his mouth, I know, just know , something sarcastic is about to come out. “Yeah, but you’re not a—” To my absolute surprise, he stops mid-sentence and takes a breath. His expression softens and he nods slightly. “Yeah, actually. Yes. You’re right. If there’s anyone I’d trust to watch out for her, it’s you. And Ro. But you, for sure.”

I dart my eyes back to Beck. Jesus, this is better than a reality show. Beck swallows hard and nods. “Thank you, Hold. That… that really means a lot to me.”

Roman claps. “Okay, now you two get out of here before we all dissolve into tears again.”

Holden drags in a shaky breath that sounds like he might not be far off from that, and Beck is still staring at Holden, his eyes a little wet.

Roman nudges Beck’s side. “Go snatch Wren from Daddy Hold. I know you’re dying to.”

Beck doesn’t hesitate to step forward and hold his arms out in front of him. Holden climbs off my lap carefully and transfers Wren’s sleeping body into Beck’s arms before leaning forward and kissing her forehead.

“Okay, so we’ll just… go?” he asks, sounding a little lost as he turns to me.

I smile at him before standing. “Yep. We just go. Well, after I give her a kiss too.” I lean over and kiss her cheek.

We both give Beck an awkward side hug, since he’s got his arms full of Wren, then we hug Roman goodbye too. When Roman hugs Holden, he keeps him wrapped up for a long time. “We’ll take good care of her, Daddy Holden.”

It’s easy to hear the pride and love in his voice, but Holden pulls back quickly and glares up at him. “Don’t. You’ll make me cry again.” Roman laughs and pulls him back in, squeezing him tightly.

The second we step into the house, I lift Holden and pin him to the wall, before slamming my mouth onto his. It’s absurd to me that I spent three years of my life raising Wren and being basically celibate because after three weeks in the hospital, I’m dying for this.

The way Holden is moaning into our kiss and tugging on my shirt is all the confirmation I need that he’s feeling the same way. I pull back just long enough to carry him into our bedroom, and drop him onto the bed. His chest is heaving and his cheeks are flushed, and I’m so glad he agreed to leave Wren with Beck and Roman because I’ve missed him. We’ve spent every waking moment together for three weeks, but not like this. Not just him and me and no nurses and a fucking bed .

Even if we do nothing but sleep, it’ll be the perfect night. It’s been far too long since I’ve had his body sprawled across mine. Judging by the heat in his eyes, sleeping is the farthest thing from his mind, though. “You should get undressed,” he says, proving me right.

I strip down slowly while his eyes follow the movements. Then he’s sitting up and taking his own clothes off. The second he’s naked, he grabs at me and pulls me toward him. We collapse on the bed in a pile of limbs, our mouths easily finding each other.

When his tongue slips past my lips, I roll to my back and pull him onto me. He ruts against me, feeding me little whimpers as he does. Fuck, he always gets to me like this. I think he always will. “Want inside you,” he mumbles against my lips.

“Yeah. Yes. So on board for that,” I moan, tangling my hands in his hair and kissing him again. God, I missed this.

He sits up quickly and reaches into the nightstand to grab the lube. He stops when he grabs it and looks at me, then he chuckles. “Hey, why didn’t you have lube that first night?”

All my blood is currently in my cock, so I’m really not sure what the hell he means. “Huh?”

He grins. “The first night we hooked up. You didn’t have lube. We used lotion. Why?”

I laugh. “Well, I wasn’t having sex, so I didn’t feel like I needed it. Didn’t even think about it when I brought you home with me. I wasn’t planning on bringing you home at all.”

He cocks his head. “What do you mean?”

I tug him back down to me and roll to my side, so I can stare at his beautiful face. “Well, I was planning on a bathroom hookup or car blowjobs. I didn’t expect to take a little chaos twink home and fall in love with him.”

He bites his lip, trying to suppress his smile. He can act as if he hates that name all he wants. I know he secretly loves it. “I bet you weren’t expecting me at all.”

“I most certainly was not. I was looking for easy and detached.”

He giggles. “And instead you got me.”

I smile, pulling him in to brush my lips over his. “And instead I got you,” I whisper. “Best thing I’ve done in my life was bringing you home from that club. I think we were always destined to meet, though, darlin’. Either way, I would have brought Wren to the hospital. I would have met you. I would have tripped over those pretty eyes of yours. It was a foregone conclusion. It was always going to be you.”

Holden sighs, then kisses me deeply. “I love you,” he murmurs when he pulls back.

I drop another soft kiss to his lips. “And I love you.”

Holden gives my shoulder a little nudge and I get the hint, so I roll to my back. I smile when he wastes no time climbing up my body. He grabs a fistful of my hair and tilts my head to the side before kissing along my neck. Fuck. I love when my little darlin’ lets loose and takes control.

He starts working his way down my body and when he makes it to my stomach he rubs his cheek against it and then sits up between my legs. His eyes find mine. “You still want this?”

I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. “Always, darlin’. I will always want this.”

He nods, and pushes my legs back. He grabs the lube and spends a few minutes prepping me. I should really say teasing me, since he’s going so damn slow. “You’re not going to hurt me, darlin’,” I groan, trying to rock my hips to get more of his fingers inside me.

He looks up at me and his eyes are pure mischief. “I know. This is just for fun.”

“Fun?” I ask, gasping when his fingertip grazes my prostate.

He leans forward and drags his tongue along the bottom of my aching cock. “Yeah, fun,” he whispers before closing his lips around the head of my dick and taking me to the back of his throat. My hands find their way into his hair on instinct. I freeze for a second, worried that this will scare him, but he groans around my cock and hits my prostate again. My fingers tighten as I resist the urge to thrust into his mouth.

He slowly pulls off my cock and looks up at me with deceptively innocent eyes. “You want to fuck my mouth, don’t you, Jules?”

I’m not sure of the correct answer to that because yeah, I really do. But I won’t even think about it if it’s a no-go for him.

“You can,” he practically purrs, still staring at me with those fucking eyes. “You know you want to.”

Part of me wants to ask if he’s sure, but I’m not going to insult his intelligence. He knows I’ll respect his boundaries and stop any time he asks me to. So I nod. His eyes light up in triumph, and he sinks his hot mouth back over me. He bobs up and down for a second, but then he stops and stares at me, my cock stretching the edges of his lips. Holy fuck. I tentatively thrust my hips up, and I’m rewarded with his fingers pressing onto my prostate.

I do it again, a little more sure this time. He moans, working his fingers in and out of my body as I slide my cock along his tongue. He’s massaging my prostate and my cock is pulsing, and he’s still staring at me with those eyes. I’m close—so, so close, and I need him to keep going and stop all at once. “Fuck,” I groan. “We have to stop. I want you inside me when I come.”

I force my hips to still, and he pulls off me with a loud pop before sitting back and reaching for the lube to coat his cock. He watches me as he lines himself up and slides into me in one smooth movement. My dick jerks as the head of his cock brushes my prostate. It feels like an electric shock and I nearly come off the bed. “Fuck, Hold,” I gasp. He pushes my legs to the side and presses his upper body against mine.

He sets an easy rhythm, rolling his hips in a way that has me groaning. Reaching down to cup his ass, I urge his movements along, moving with him as his stomach rubs against my dick. He inhales a shaky breath, and thrusts into me faster.

“You feel good, Jules,” he says breathlessly. “So good. Warm, and perfect, and mine. So mine . You’re mine, right?”

Oh fuck. Yes. His for sure. I nod, unable to say words. He adjusts slightly and when he thrusts back in, he hits my prostate dead on, and I’m coming. Falling right over the edge as pure fucking ecstasy flows through my veins. “Say it,” he murmurs. “Say you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” I choke out, practically vibrating with the force of my orgasm. At my words, his hips stutter, and he collapses against me, whining into my chest as he rotates his hips and fills me with his cum.

“Jesus,” he mumbles into my skin.

“Yeah, that’s about right.”

He pops up and hits me with those eyes. “I’m pretty sure I like topping better.”

That makes me laugh. “I’m so incredibly okay with that.”

He grins, then sobers quickly. “But maybe sometimes… you could?”

My heart does a funny little flip in my chest. “Anything you want, darlin’. You just say the word.”

He nods and rests his head back against my chest while we catch our breath.

After we’ve cleaned up and are back in bed, he settles his body on mine and buries his face in my throat. “Mmm, missed this,” he mumbles, sounding half-asleep.

“Me too, darlin’,” I whisper, running my fingers through his hair.

He doesn’t respond, which is not a shock at all considering it’s less than thirty seconds later that his breathing evens out, and he’s dead asleep. It doesn’t take me long at all to join him.