Page 43 of Nothing to This (Nothing to… #8)

With her back to the wall by Kye’s bedroom door, she waited while JD put their son under the covers and checked his nightlight.

Appearing, he pulled the door closer and smiled when he saw her. Linking their fingers, she led him into his room.

“Why are we in here?”

“Because we shouldn’t share a bed,” she whispered, sliding her arms around him. “And I want to say goodnight.”

“Do you now?”

Her hands slid upward, finding their way under his tee-shirt. “I do.”

“I think we should share a bed.”

“I know you do,” she said, loosening her robe to show her nude body beneath.

His gaze slithered over her. “And I’m going to keep those thoughts to myself,” he said, snatching her hips to pick her up and drop her on the dresser. “Until after action.”

“Wouldn’t want to do yourself out of sex, would you?”

“No.” His volume stayed low like hers. “I would not.”

He kissed her slow, she leaned away. “We have to be quiet.”

“I’m being quiet.” His hands skimmed up her body to the side of her neck, with the slightest pressure, he tipped her head aside and kissed her jaw. “Think you can control yourself?”

“I’ve never done this… with the kids at home.”

“Better get used to it.”

Her eyes closed as his lips trailed to her neck, to her breasts, back up to her mouth.

Damn, he was good at this. Good at being everything she needed.

Not just physically but in her heart, in her soul, in her bed.

Even in disagreements, the power shifted back and forth.

Neither was more than the other; they balanced each other.

“More,” she breathed out the word in unison with his fingers slipping into her.

“Breathe for me, Siren…” Withdrawing and advancing, he teased her clit until her body undulated with the welcome invasion. “You’ve got it, baby.”

“JD…” If he kept on going, she might break her own rule. When his hand drifted away and his knees bent, she grabbed for him. “No, not tonight, I can’t.” Panting out the words, the effort it took to keep her eyes open was too great. “Oh, this was a bad idea.”

“This was a fucking amazing idea,” he growled and ignored her plea to crouch and slip his tongue into her.

Tasting her juices, he slowly advanced and stopped only to lick his way up to her clit.

Biting her lip wasn’t enough, she’d bloody herself if he didn’t show some mercy. “J… Jamie,” she gasped his name with the arrival of a climax that squeezed her tight from within.

“Come here.” Holding her face, his tongue plunged into her mouth as he forced their kiss harder, faster, more.

“More.”

The word was her talisman. There was no more because they’d never be done, more was eternity, the forever they’d spend together.

Delivering his promise, he slammed into her, forcing the air out of her. As her mouth opened, her eyes did too, and there he was, feral, smiling, so happy to weaken her.

No, it wasn’t weakness; he gave her strength by exposing her to their truth. Nothing else out there would match this. Resisting was a useless waste of time. And having him there, inside her, was the only time the universe made sense.

Clinging to him, moving to meet his thrusts, her body wanted its pleasure, but that was nothing to its desire to give him his. For all they were, for all he gave her, she couldn’t demonstrate how deeply he’d reached inside her.

With a yelp, her nails dug deep into his flesh and he growled against her, emptying himself inside her.

Neither of them moved. His hands were on the wall behind her, her grip on his shoulder and waist, and there they stayed, breathing into the night together.

“I don’t know if I can sleep without you next to me,” he said. The humor of the quip quickly died when his hands fell and he saw her face. Instant concern seized him. “Did I hurt you? Siren, what’s wrong?”

Why was he asking if…? Only when he touched the dampness on her cheek did the gravity of emotion really hit her.

“This…” she breathed. “This is it, isn’t it?”

“It?” he asked, his brow lowering. “I don’t understand. Are you saying we’re—”

“Forever.”

“Yes.”

“This is it. Our gift. We don’t have to look anymore.”

Though his eyes still probed hers, his expression relaxed. “I love you, Rylee. I meant what I said. And no, we don’t have to look anymore. You’re my woman. My only woman. I’ll wait as long as you need me to wait. I’m not going anywhere.”

Her shoulders dropped. Somehow there was relief in that. Relief in being with him.

The door handle moved, and JD jumped back to straighten himself up. Luckily whoever was on the other side dropped the handle without opening the door. She tied her robe on the little one’s second attempt and slid off the dresser just as the door opened and their sleepy daughter peeked in.

“Daddy,” Sky yawned. “What’s banging?”

He glanced at her, then back at their child. “Well, Sproutette, sometimes when two adults—”

“That’s not what she meant,” she whispered, slipping past him. “You mean the banging noise? It’s stopped now.”

JD folded his arms. “Might come back.”

“Not tonight it won’t,” she said, smiling at her child even as she felt his grin burning into her. “You want to go back to bed, sweetpea?”

“Mm,” Sky said, nodding.

Rather than retreat, their daughter went past her parents to climb up on her father’s bed.

“Looks like you won’t be sleeping alone after all.”

Sky pulled back the covers to lie right in the middle.

“Daddy has to have a shower and get ready for bed,” he said.

Their daughter yawned and turned to bury her face in the pillow.

“Sleep well,” she said.

He blocked her route out. “Siren—”

“I’m okay. Look after our girl.”

When he raised her hand to his lips, she rested a hand on his abdomen for a second and then departed.

Time for bed. Alone. Was that what any of them wanted?

***

Was it what she wanted? Breakfast simmered away, coffee dripped through the machine, and the thought just kept coming back. What did she want? Mores the point, what was she waiting for? It should be a simple decision.

“We’ll ask Grama, okay?”

Spinning around, her smile automatically shone at the sight of JD with Kye on his back and Sky clinging to his neck at the front, like a pair of monkeys hanging onto a tree.

“And I thought there would be three separate entities joining me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m bigger and stronger than these two tearaways,” JD said, plucking Sky from him to sit her down.

“We’re gonna ask Grama,” Sky said, wriggling in her seat.

“We’re going to ask Grama what?”

JD poured milk for the kids. “They missed her this weekend. I said we’d invite her over for dinner.”

“Okay.” Did he read her tone? Still pouring, his questioning gaze ascended to hers. “Or they could eat at Grama’s.”

He winked and put down the jug. “Or that.”

“Baird is supposed to call from Italy at three.”

“His time or our time?”

“Our time.”

He stopped spreading jelly on toast to frown at her. “What’s he doing calling you at midnight?”

“You’d have to ask him.”

“I will ask him,” he said and finished the spreading to cut the toast in triangles, giving two quarters to each of the kids. “Mommy made your snacks already, but you’ll have lunch upstairs with us.”

“Is Daddy staying?” Sky asked, bypassing the man at her side to blink at Mommy.

Always at Mommy. “Yes.” This obsession was strange. “Why are you suddenly so worried about—”

“Gabby said Daddy lives in her house. He can’t live here if he has another house.”

Their eyes met.

JD pushed out his chair to take their daughter into his lap.

“I told you Gabby isn’t well. My house is here, my place is with you and Kye, and with Mommy.

” Tucking her hair back from her face, he curled a finger under Sky’s chin to raise it up.

“If anyone ever tries to tell you different, you laugh right in their face, okay? Because, Sproutette, I’m not going anywhere.

” Reaching over, he caught Kye’s hand too.

“We’re a family. Nothing gets in the way of that. ”

Nothing except her.

He put Sky back in her chair and like nothing had happened, Sky got to work educating the boys about mermaids.

After breakfast, she cleaned up the kitchen as JD got the kids washed and dressed. She went through her own motions and stepped into the hallway as the three of them traipsed down it.

“We’re all ready, Momma, how you doing?”

How was she doing?

And right then, in a snap, it felt urgent.

“Go play Kye’s game for a minute,” she said to the kids.

“Mommy, we’re ready for—”

“Yes, and we’re leaving. Mommy needs to talk to Daddy for a second.”

“Play nice and you’ll get a cookie in the car,” JD said.

They turned on their heels to run into Kye’s bedroom.

“What is it?” he asked, all concern. “What happened?”

“I…”

Her mouth dried. She’d never been nervous talking to JD, talking to anyone really. Something about the gravity of her clarity got her worrying she wouldn’t do it justice.

He stroked her hair above her ear. “If you don’t feel good or need the day to—”

“We have to tell them.” In surprise, his mouth opened to no words. “You told me—you said that, uh, that you missed out on the pregnancy.”

“Yeah.”

“And I didn’t get it—it didn’t occur to me until… I missed out too.”

“You missed what?”

Her mouth was still dry, but she kept going anyway.

“I never saw you hold them, feed them, change diapers, put them down at night…” She swallowed.

“You missed the pregnancy. You missed witnessing me as a mother to them, and I missed watching your devotion to them grow. I want to…” Her heart raced.

“I want to see you with them. I want to see you hold their tiny, wriggling little bodies and soothe them to sleep. I want to see you up in the night talking about whatever you talk about when they lie there so innocent and helpless. I want to come home and find you in a mess of toys and chaos, asleep with our little one.”

“You missed out,” he murmured.