Flint

ONE YEAR LATER

“How does it feel to be the sister of a senator?” Sabrina sips on her coffee, sitting at the counter in the kitchen of the cabin.

“Feels about the same as not being the sister of a senator.” Wren matches Sabrina’s sip of coffee with her own as I stand at the stove scrambling eggs.

“She’s hard to impress, isn’t she, Flint?” Sabrina looks my way with one of her authentic smiles. I’ve learned her professional expressions versus her real-life ones, and right now, she’s real and I’ve grown more fond of her than I expected.

“Dunno. I sure managed to impress her.” I joke as I spoon out the heaps of steaming eggs onto plates already accented with thick-cut bacon and toast made from homemade bread.

“Uhh,” Wren raises a finger and wags it at me. “You didn’t impress me, you stalked me. Big difference.”

“Potatoe. Po-tah-oe.” I slide a plate in front of each of them then fist my hands onto my hips and wait.

I watch as Wren takes the fork and scoops eggs to her lips. Her eyes close, and she lets out a low sigh as she takes the first bite.

As much as I try to fight it, my dick hardens at the sight of her taking pleasure from the food I cook. There’s not many things she does that don’t make my dick hard, now that I think about it.

“Eat.” I nod to Sabrina.

“I’ve gained five pounds in the last twenty-four hours from your cooking.”

“Just eat.” Wren holds a hand over her full mouth as she speaks. “He won’t give up until you eat. Trust me. Resistance is futile.”

I stare at Sabrina until her shoulders drop. She lets out a breath and picks up her fork. Only then do I brush my hands down the front of my open flannel and turn to the stove. I eat early, five a.m. when I get up, so now it’s just about cleanup. The girls chat and eat while I rinse the pans and set them in the sink to soak.

I’m overwhelmed when I turn back around to see them giggling. Sabrina is rubbing Wren’s swelling belly as our baby moves.

I’ve often wondered how I made it through so many years without this. Without her.

Every day when I wake, life has new meaning. This cabin, all but done now, was once what I thought gave me purpose, but I know how wrong I was. Being the man my wife needs, planning to be the father our children need, that is what gives me purpose.

It drives me to be better every day. To prove myself to her over and over that I deserve her.

Wren has kept the salon, I shored up her finances, and she does a lot more work with senior citizens pro bono. It’s not a profitable venture, but it brings her joy and that in and of itself is priceless, so I will foot the bill for as long as she wants to keep that going.

She’s got six full-time stylists as well, and the regular business is picking up. I can see how proud she is that her little dream is still managing to fly.

“I’ve got to get rolling.” Sabina looks at her watch. “Flight from here to LA won’t wait, even for a senator. No one up here seems all that impressed by me.”

“Well, once you get to LA, I’m sure you’ll have your fill of fake ass-kissing,” I add as I come over to put my arm around Wren and lean down to kiss the top of her head as she takes the last bites of her breakfast.

“Your parents have been very supportive.”

“Of course.” I keep my voice steady.

Sabrina and my parents have found common ground. Brought the families together a bit even though Wren and I will never venture back into that life. Mom and Dad did come to the wedding. It was just a few of us. Danny was my best man, and Sabrina stood up for Wren.

My mother insisted I take my grandmother’s ring and give it to Wren. She still struggles wearing that monstrous emerald. I also had a friend of mine forge her a simple rose-gold wedding band, which she wears all the time. Surprisingly enough, she and my parents get along better than I ever did with them. They also insisted I take my trust fund. No strings attached. I haven’t touched the money, actually gave Wren full access, hoping she would buy anything her heart desired.

You know what she bought? Nothing. She donated twenty-thousand dollars to the Emmetsville animal shelter in exchange for a puppy because she thought Hercules would get jealous once the baby came.

Once my parents found out we had a baby on the way, something changed for all of us. They’ve changed, and maybe I have as well. Bottom line, I’m all for bettering our relationship, and Wren and our baby seem to be fostering a new connection for us all. For that, I’m more thankful than I imagined I would be.

“Okay. I’m going to hop in the shower and get ready to go.” Sabrina stands from the kitchen counter and retreats up the stairs to her bedroom, leaving Wren and me.

“I’m the luckiest man in the world, you know that?” I whisper into her ear.

“So I hear.” She turns, and I take her lips in a deep kiss, one hand curling around to cup her growing baby bump, and my cock jerks upward.

I tell her how lucky I am every day. More than once, usually, and until I’m dead in the ground, I will continue to tell her every day because it’s the fucking truth.

Her round curves have grown and only made me more insatiable for her. I made love to her when I woke her at eight a.m., and now it’s just pushing onto nine-thirty and I need her again.

“Come on.” I spin her around on the counter stool and sweep her into my arms, carrying her a few steps before taking one hand and leading her down the hallway to our room.

“How many times today?” She chuckles.

“As many as it takes.” It’s become a joke, my need for orgasms.

“Takes to what?”

“Make you forget anything and everything that’s ever made you cry.”

It’s another one of what’s become our jokes, this back-and-forth about her orgasms and how many I need from her each day and why.

“Well, let’s get on that because I’d love to forget anything that ever made me cry.”

In the bedroom, I’ve got both of us naked and her pussy on my face in a sixty-nine, licking and sucking her to the first of a few orgasms.

When she collapses on my face, I let my load go down her throat. My body twitches as we come down from our mutual release. Once she is done soaking my beard and I’ve lapped up everything she has to give, I spin her around to lie next to me, her head on my chest.

“Do you know how much I fucking love you?”

“I do.” Her voice is soft as one hand plays across my chest hair.

“Do I make you happy? Am I the man you need?”

“More than you will ever know.”

“Good. Because you know you’re never getting away from me. You and our family, this baby and all the ones that will come after, that’s my reason for living. You’ve given me that, and nothing will ever take you or our family away. Ever.”

Wren shifts up onto her elbow, looking at me with her still half-lidded sparkling gray eyes, making my heart skip in my chest.

“I’ve never had a place that felt like home. My whole life I was on the road or in places that never quite felt right. Until here.” She looks up at the ceiling then back at me. “Until you, Flint Rendell. You are my home.”

She leans in to kiss me, and for a second, that picture of her I snapped the first moment she came into my life flashes through my mind. Even in that first moment, I knew. I knew we would be here. Like this.

Together.

Forever.