Winter by Michelle Love (15)

“Hey!” I shout, stopping her retreat which I find she’s making hastily. “What in the cornbread heck does that mean, Madge? I mean I’m wearing next to nothing as it is.”

Slowly she turns back around. “So then you get it, right?”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t. Tell me in some plain words.”

“You’ll be wearing a nude thong as will the guys and nothing else.” She turns and takes off again.

“I will not!” I shout.

Madge keeps walking as the young girl who handed me the robe hands me a paper with my signature at the bottom of it. “She said to give you this. You can keep it, it’s a copy of the contract you signed to do these book covers.”

Ross and Marcos look over my shoulder as I look over the paper and see the words, ‘some scenes will be done in the nude or nearly nude by all parties, by signing this contract you agree to these conditions.’

I turn to Marcos. “Did you see this on your contract?”

He nods and then Ross says, “I thought you knew, Lexi. Didn’t you read yours before you signed it?”

“Obviously not! I’d never agree to this.” I say then step away from them.

Marcos reaches out and grabs my arm. “Look, get dressed let’s all go grab something to eat and we can talk about this. It’s really not a big deal, Lex.”

“It’s not your tits that’ll be on the cover of a book for eternity, Marcos.”

Ross smiles and I find I’d like to punch him in his perfect face. “Get dressed, Lexi. It’ll be fine. Our asses are already on the covers of several of these books and you don’t hear us crying over it.”

I stomp off to get dressed and wonder what the heck I can do to get out of this. I pull on a white T-shirt and my blue jeans and slip on a pair of flip flops and go out to find the guys waiting on me. They each take one of my hands and pull me along to go eat in the mall our studio is located in. I catch a glimpse of the bed that’s getting red, satin sheets put on it.

“This is bad guys. What will they do to me if I refuse?” I ask as they tug me along with them.

“Lexi, we’ve been doing these covers for the last three weeks and have been super close, so what’s the big deal?” Ross asks.

Marcos gestures to a table in the food court. “You two go sit down and I’ll grab us some salads and waters. Lexi, you should get over this thing. You know you’re not going to refuse to do this and mess yourself up over something as trivial as your boobs.”

Ross takes me to the booth Marcos pointed us towards and I slide in as he slides in next to me. I look up just as a couple of young women walk by us then stop and back up. One of them smiles and says, “OMG! It’s you guys, the people on the cover of the books we’re reading!”

She looks at her friend and they both do a jumping thing then one of them pulls a paper and pen out of her purse. “Please sign this for us. No one will ever believe we saw you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I ask as Marcos comes up with the food.

The women turn and look at him and do a little scream thing. “You’re here too! I knew you three really had a thing going! I told you so, Jenny.”

“No, we don’t,” I say and find Ross signing his name on the paper.

“Who do we make this to?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Don’t sign that. No one knows our names!”

The tall girl wearing green says, “Sure we do. I Googled all three of you. You’ll are gorgeous. Alexis, we’ve both been wondering about what happened to the first guy in the pictures with you and Marcos. You did a lot of things together then he just vanished. His name was Max something or other.”

Marcos smiles and says, “His name is Max Lane, and he didn’t want to be a model anymore. He’s a billionaire and never needed to do it anyway.”

I kick him under the table. “Stop giving them so much information.”

The girl in the yellow T-shirt frowns. “I’m really sorry you think we’re being so intrusive. I promise we don’t know any more than is already out there about you, Alexis. Right down to the kidnapping.”

“I was unaware people knew of that,” I say.

Ross puts his arm around my shoulders and hugs me. “It was on the news, sweetheart. Everyone knows everything about all of us.” He moves the paper to me and hands me the pen. “Here, you sign in the middle of mine and Marcos’s names, just like you’re in the middle in all the pictures.”

“So, you are all together. How does your wife fit in?” one of the women asks Marcos.

He laughs. “We aren’t really together. It’s just pictures. I’m a happily married first time father and these two are single.”

The women look at me and Ross as he still has his arm around me. One asks, “Do you think you two will ever get together for real? I mean, you look great together and the pictures show you have a lot of chemistry.”

Ross gives my shoulders a squeeze. “If she’d have me, I would love to start seeing, Lexi.”

“Ross, please!” I shrug his arm off me. “What have I told you about that?”

The woman in green gives me the craziest look. “You mean you don’t want to hook-up with this gorgeous man?”

“I don’t want to hook-up with anyone, not that it’s any of your business. Ross is a fantastic man, don’t get me wrong. Any woman would be lucky to have him. I work with two of the best men I know, but I don’t want to be in a relationship. Love isn’t what I want in my life. It’s only served to mess it up.”

I sign my name under Ross’s and push the paper to Marcos. He grabs the pen and signs the paper then hands it back to the girl in yellow. She smiles. “Would it be possible for us to get a selfie with you three?”

I shake my head, but Ross has my hand and is pulling me out of the booth as Marcos gets up and I find I’m in the middle of them as they both kiss my cheeks and the two girls stand in front of us and take a selfie.

Fantastic! I can see this going viral!

“Thanks,” they say as they walk away.

“Can we eat now?” I ask as I slide back into the booth.

Marcos smiles at me. “You really should give Ross a chance, Lex.”

Ross takes a forkful of salad and leans his shoulder against mine. “You really should.”

“I’m not quite the nympho I play on book covers. I’m sure you’d be disappointed in me, Ross,” I say then go ahead and tell him the truth. “Plus, I’m still hung up on Max and I’d go back to him with a snap of his fingers.”

“Really?” Marcos asks. “After all that’s happened, you’d go back?”

I nod. “I think about him every day and especially at night. If he ever gets out of the funk he’s got in and looks me up, I’d marry him in an instant, if he asked me again.”

“You should think more of yourself than that, Lexi,” Ross says with a bit of a snip to his tone. “The man dumped you pretty harshly from what you’ve told us about the whole thing.”

“He had his reasons I suppose. His childhood was rough and after all I pulled he was right to have done it. I just hope one day he can really forgive me for my stupidity. See, that’s why I don’t want my boobs on the cover of a book. He might see it and think a whole lot less of me.”

Ross smiles and says, “Look, Marcos and I can stand behind you about this. I’m sure you’ll have to go topless and wear whatever she tells you to, but we can keep the goods out of sight.”

I look up at him and give him a smile. “That’s why I like working with you two. You always have my back.”

Marcos grabs up the empty salad bowls and takes them to the trash. “Come on, let’s get back and get naked, so to speak, and get this shoot done so I can go home and play with my baby girl.”

I allow the men to take my hands and we walk back to a place where I know I’ll be uncomfortable, but at least I have friends to help me get through it all.

Max

Sissy lies in the hospital bed and I sit in a chair in the room I made for her on the first floor. A nurse with long, black hair wipes at her thin skin with a wet cloth. “Don’t you have someone you’d like to be with you when the time comes, Mr. Lane?”

I shake my head. “I need to do this alone, anyway.”

“This isn’t a thing people should go through alone. If you have someone who has been special to you, you should give them a call and let them know what’s happening.” The nurse’s hands run over my mother’s nearly gone hair. “I’m sure in her prime, your mother was a real beauty.”

“The woman I remember from when I was ten years old, was pretty. I can’t say I recognize who she became.” I sit up and look at my mother as she looks peaceful, but not like the woman I remembered as a kid.

The nurse places the cloth in a bag and looks at me before she leaves the room. “Mr. Lane, I’ve been a hospice nurse for twenty-four years and believe me when I say you need to come to terms with your life with your mother. You need to come to terms about your life and where you’re going with it.” She walks out the door but turns around. “You need more in your life than what you have now. Put the past where it belongs, Mr. Lane.”

As the door closes something in me breaks and I start crying. “Why did this have to happen, Momma?”

I fall on my knees beside her bed and take her nearly lifeless hand in mine. “Why did you chose drugs over me? Was I bad? Was taking care of me so hard?”

My lips touch her cool hand, I take in a deep breath. “Momma, should I forgive you?”

My head falls on the side of the bed as I lose all the strength in my body. “I’ve hated you for so damn long. It seems like forever. You killed my child, Momma. You took that away from me and in the process I turned into a hard man who threw away a love I never knew I could find.”

My mother’s fingers move against my hand and I look up to see her eyes are open. It’s the first time since they brought her here. “Randy?” she asks.

I lean over her so she can see me. “I’m here, I’m here, Momma.”

“Why are you cryin’ son?” Her pale blue eyes glisten.

“Because I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I judged you so harshly. I’m so sorry I wasn’t more understanding. I should’ve tried to find you when I made my billions, instead I changed my name, hoping you’d never find me.” My sobs choke me.

Her grip on my hand tightens. “Randy, I don’t blame you, son. I did awful things in my life and the most awful things I did were to you. I hope the good Lord will forgive me for what I’ve done to you. But if he doesn’t and I have to face the Devil then I deserve whatever punishment I get. I love you son and what I did was wrong. If I could go back to the first time I ever took a drug, I’d make sure I walked away from that person who offered them to me. And I heard you asking if you were bad and the answer is no. You were a wonderful blessing, and I didn’t deserve you.”

My body shakes with the words she’s telling me. “Mom, you deserve to go to Heaven, don’t think you don’t. This isn’t all your fault. I left you all alone in this world and I had plenty of money to help you many years ago. With my help you might be fine right now, but I turned my back on you.”

With a weak shake of her head, she says, “Don’t you do that to yourself, son. I made my bed and now I have to lie in it. None of this is your fault. Where is that beautiful girl who was here last time?”

“I sent her away,” I say with a whimper. “She was right about me and I sent her away.”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“She was worried about marrying me and having children with me because of how I’ve been about you. You know, turning my back on you not once, but twice. She had fears I might do the same thing to our children if they ever found themselves with an addiction or something like that. I told her we would raise them so that never happens, but it wasn’t enough for her, and I’m beginning to understand why now.”

“You sent her away?” her words weak. “Fix it, son.”

“I should, shouldn’t I?”

Her hand tightens on mine then her eyes close as she mumbles, “Fix it if you can, before it’s too late and she finds another man.”

I hold my mother’s hand until her grip relaxes and I know she’s fallen asleep. With a heavy sigh I leave her room and make my way to find Hilda and see what she thinks about things.

I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand as I walk into the kitchen. Hilda has the television on as she chops vegetables. I look up at the television screen and I see Lexi and a man has her wrapped in his arms. I stare at the television as the picture turns to one of her, me, and Marcos. It’s one we did when we all modeled together. The reporter for the crap celebrity news show says, “Alexis Mathews may have moved on from hunky billionaire, Max Lane, to gorgeous fellow model, Ross Stevens. It seems Ross has taken the place in the threesome that was Marcos Rios, Alexis Mathews, and Max Lane who started making racy ads earlier this year.” The reporter pauses while the picture changes to one of Marcos, the other man, and Lexi as she looks to be naked between them on a bed on some book cover. “The racy threesome has reportedly been hanging out together and a couple of lucky women managed to get a selfie with the three hotties in a food court in Dallas as they all dined together in a cozy little booth where Ross kept his arm around the gorgeous, Alexis. Good luck you three!”

Hilda looks at me and says, “You can’t believe that tabloid television, Max. If you want to know the truth all you have to do is call her and you know that.”

“Funny thing is I was just about to talk to you about calling her, but that just answered my question. She’s moved on and I’ll not be dragging her back to my nightmare.”

She’s better off without me.

Alexis

Red is the color I see as I watch the latest edition of the show that lies about celebrities. Ross and Marcos watch in horror with me, once it’s over Marcos grabs his cell to call Kate to make sure she knows those are all lies.

I throw my arms up. “See, I told you not to talk to those women. Everyone is so nosy these days and they don’t care if they have their stories straight or not. Now people will look at me like I’m a piece of trash, sleeping with two men, when I’m not even sleeping with one.”

“Now, Lexi, don’t go getting upset. Everyone who matters knows the truth.” Ross’s arm goes around my waist and he pulls me to his chest in a tight hug. “Come on, let’s go get something to drink and go back to my place. We can watch something funny and get your mind off all this. It’s really nothing anyway.”

“You like it! I can tell.” I pull away, but he won’t let me go.

“Well, I have to admit, there’s worse people to be linked with.” His smile is genuine and I want to slap it off his face.

“You don’t seem to understand me, Ross. While it might not hurt your reputation as a man, it hurts mine as a woman. And if Max see’s this, which he might, it’ll tell him I’ve moved on, which I haven’t.”

“But you should,” he says as he pulls me along with him out the door and towards his car.

“That’s not your call,” I say and wish he’d let me go. “I love him and I don’t want you to think anything is going to happen between you and me.”

His deep blue eyes roll. “I don’t, I just think you should loosen up about this tabloid thing, that’s all. Now come on let’s get drunk and cry on each other’s shoulders about how hard our lives are.” He laughs and opens his car door and I slip into the seat of luxurious leather and frown at how things are.

Ross gets in the driver’s seat just as my cell phone goes off and I pull it out of my purse to find Max’s name blinking at me. “It’s him! After almost five months, it’s him!”

Ross takes my phone and rejects the call. “Make him work for it, sweetie, trust me, he’ll call back and after the third time you reject it, he’ll come find you.”

“Do you really think so, Ross?” I ask with high hopes. “Do you know how happy that would make me?”

“By the way your face lit up, I’d say, real happy.” He gives me his best smile. “I know you’re telling me the truth now, Lex. I can see it all over your body how much you miss him. Trust me, send the next two calls straight to voice mail and he’ll figure out how much you mean to him.”

God, I hope he’s right!

Max

I can’t believe she sent my call to voicemail. I was so shocked I didn’t even leave a message. It’s all too clear now that she didn’t answer, she and that model guy have something going on. I bet they’re together right now and he told her not to answer my call. Perhaps he’d be right to do that. It wasn’t my intention to call her. My fingers seemed to do the thinking as I told myself it was for the best she moves on, but my hand took the cell phone from my back pocket and found her name and pushed the button.

Now I know though and that’s all I needed was some type of evidence she’s moved on. I stand outside my mother’s room and suddenly the slow but steady beeps her heart monitor has been making go into one long beep.

I open the door and go to her side, placing my hand on her chest, finding nothing pounding under my hand. As tears fill my eyes, I place my head on her chest and give her the last hug I ever will. “Momma, I love you. May you finally find the peace you so desperately sought after here on Earth with our Lord in Heaven. Please take good care of her, Lord, she deserves that.”

Hilda comes into the room and pats my back as I let myself cry like I never have before, letting the tears cleanse my soul and hopefully bringing me out of this and to the man I know I can be.

Alexis

Ross and I drink some silly drink he made us with vodka and cherries. We sit on his sofa, watching a very old Saturday Night Live episode with Chevy Chase and laugh like hyenas. A light emits from my cell phone which sits on the coffee table in front of me.

Ross picks it up and rejects the call. “Oh, look at that! It’s only been three hours since the first call and already another. You should get ready to see him tomorrow I bet.”

“Oh my God! Do you really think so, Ross?” I ask as I pull my feet up underneath me, nearly ready to spring off the sofa and jump around.

Another light shines from my phone and Ross picks it up. “He’s sent you a text.” He hands it to me then pulls it back real quick. “No, I know you’ll answer him right back and then it’ll be ruined. Don’t talk to him until he comes to you, make him sweat it out. Don’t worry, he’ll be here before you know it. He must be figuring out he really does love you.”

My head goes into the clouds and my heart feels light for the first time in months. “I should go home,” I say.

“Uh, uh,” Ross says as he puts his arm around my shoulders. “You’re staying right here. I know you and you’ll end up answering his call or calling him back. You’re staying right here with me.”

“I hope you’re right and this doesn’t blow up in my face.” I lean back and fight the urge to grab my phone from him.

Max

After a phone call this morning to Lexi that went straight to voicemail for the third damn time, I called Kate and got her address in Dallas. I have to go see her to give her a piece of my mind about not answering one of the most important phone calls I’ve ever made.

She could’ve at least answered my text about my mother’s death. It’s not like Lexi to be cold like this. If nothing else, she should want to know about Sissy’s passing, whether she’s moved on from me or not.

It is noon when I pull up to her apartment and her car is parked in front of apartment 105. I march straight up to the door and ring the bell, then feel that isn’t enough so I pound on the door. “Lexi, God damn it! Open this door!”

I hear the sliding of the chain on the door then it opens and there she stands wearing shorts and a white T-shirt and she looks so damn beautiful I’m at a loss for words. I pick her up into my arms and walk inside, kicking the door closed behind us.

My mouth lands on hers as I place her back on the ground and she parts her lips, letting my tongue rush in and roll around with hers. My heart beats like a base drum in my chest and I run one hand to tangle in her hair. My other hand runs down and takes her legs, picking her up, never letting our lips part.

I open my eyes to find out where the sofa is and make my way to it. Sitting down as I hold her on my lap. Finally, I pull my mouth from hers and our foreheads touch as we each catch our breath. “Why didn’t you answer my calls, especially after I sent you the text about Sissy?”

She pulls back and looks at me. “What about your mother?”

“You didn’t even bother to read my text, Lexi?” Her head shakes and I can’t believe it. I pick her up and sit her next to me then stand up and look down at her. “How could you not read my text? How could you not answer my calls? After all we’ve been through, how, answer me?”

“Ross told me if I didn’t then you would show up and he was right.” Her eyes sparkle like she’s done something brilliant.

“Ross? That fucker you’re with now?”

“I’m not with him. That stuff on T.V. isn’t accurate. I model with him and we’re friends just like me and Marcos are, that’s all. He was right though, you have to admit that.”

“My mother died yesterday. A few hours after I called you the first time.”

Her face goes pale, and she stands up and wraps her arms around me. “My God! I’m so sorry, Max. What happened to her?”

I nuzzle her cheek. “She got sent home with stage four lung cancer and a brain tumor and it took her only about three weeks to succumb to it. I had her at my place and she was kept comfortable until the very end. I told her I loved her and that I was sorry for what I’d done to her, turning my back on her twice.”

“Max, you should’ve called earlier. Baby, I would’ve been there for you. You should never have gone through that alone.” Her soft lips touch my cheek.

“I know what you were talking about when you told me you were afraid of how I might treat our children and you were absolutely right. I could’ve helped her instead of hiding from her. No matter what all she’d done to me, she was a sick woman who needed help, and I turned my back like a coward. I swear to you, I’ll never do that to our kids, Lex.” I pull the engagement ring I gave her before out of my pocket and let her go and get down on one knee in front of her. With tear-filled eyes I look up at her to find her hands over her mouth.

“Alexis Mathews, would you please, please, please, forgive the stupid man I’ve been and marry the man I’ve become. My life won’t be the same if you’re not in it forever and always, baby?”

Alexis

Max kneels before me with the engagement ring in his shaking hands and I look down at the most beautiful man in the world and have to wonder if this is only because he’s lost the only person in this world who was blood to him and aches to have his own children so badly he’d come running to me to get them mere hours after his mother’s death. I’m a sure thing in his mind.

But is that all I want in my life is to be the wife of a billionaire and mother to his children?

Part 10 Secrets of Delight

Alexis

Golden rays fill my small apartment as Max kneels in front of me, my engagement ring in his hand and a question hangs in the air, ‘Will I marry him?’

As unorthodox as it is, I kneel down in front of him so we’re both in the same position. “I want to marry you, Max.” I stroke his cheek. “So much has happened and to tell you the truth the last time we were together I felt a terrible sense of pressure to get pregnant. I felt as though you couldn’t be happy if it was just you and I. I want a husband who loves me and if no children ever come along, it won’t mean the end of us, or that I have to live with a depressed man for the rest of my life.”

He blinks rapidly, but still holds out the ring. “You don’t want children anymore, Lex?”

With a shake of my head, I say, “I didn’t say that. I do want them, Max. I just don’t want to be with a man who makes that the most important thing in our relationship. I want us to be the most important part in the relationship. You and I should be able to be perfectly happy together alone. If children come, great, if not our lives can be great anyway. So what do you say to that? Can you be happy with me if we never have children, not that I’ll do anything to stop that, but just in case it never happens? Do you love me enough to be happy with just me?”

Max looks at me for what seems like an eternity. I find I’m happy to know he’s actually thinking about what I said, rather than giving me the answer he thinks I want. His hand is still holding the ring out so I’m taking that as a good sign.

Finally, his lips part. “Lexi, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want no other woman to sit next to me on the sofa as I watch television. I want no other woman in my bed, and I want no other woman to be in the rocking chair next to mine as we watch the sunset when we’re eighty years old. I only see you in my life. So the answer is, yes, I can be happy with just you if no children ever come to us.”

My heart pounds and my eyes fill with tears. “Then my answer to you is also a yes, Max. I’d love to be your wife, forever and always.”

My hand shakes as I hold it out for him to slide the ring on my finger where it’s felt the absence of it for far too long. He pulls me into his strong arms and hugs me tight. Then he pulls back and kisses me, soft and gently as our tears mingle on our cheeks.

Max pulls his lips from mine and takes his thumb and wipes my tears. “Can we go make love before I explode? I’ve missed you so damn much, all I can think about is getting you into bed.”

“You’re going to hate this, but no.” I say and I’m really unhappy that we can’t, but I have work to do. “I have to be at the studio in an hour to do a shoot with Marcos and Ross. It should take about four hours, then we can do that. You can come to the shoot, it’ll be fun.”

“Damn it, girl, quit that job. You don’t need to make money, I have plenty if you’ll recall,” he says with a smile and stands up, taking me with him.

I lean into him, loving how we fit together and part of me wants to make the call, but the other part of me knows it’ll hurt both, Marcos and Ross if I do. “I have to, for Marcos and Ross.” I look up at him. “I’ll only finish out this book cover contract and then I’ll quit, I promise.”

His dark green eyes move over every inch of my face. “I love you, I’ve waited this long, I can wait a few more hours.”

I give him a smile and kiss his cheek. “I love you, I knew you’d understand. Do you want to surprise Kate?”

He pulls me down to sit next to him on the sofa. “She knows I’m here. She’s the one who gave me your address.”

“Really?” I ask as I run my hand over his tight abs and wish I didn’t have to be anywhere else but right here. “Well, get her on the phone and tell her to go to the studio with Marcos so you can hang out with her while we take the pictures and you can play with their baby.”

“Hmm. Holding a baby, might be a bad idea,” he says with a slight frown.

I pull my head back to look him in the eyes. “Max, you have to face things, stop hiding from them. We lost a baby, but that doesn’t mean the world ended. Our friends have a child and we should want to get to know her. Kate is our little guardian angel anyway.” I lay my head on his broad chest. “To tell you the truth I’ve not allowed myself to even hold their baby. It’s time I moved on with life as well. You aren’t the only one who wishes that accident never happened.”

His lips touch the top of my head. “You’re right, let’s move on and start this thing all over again, for the last time. I’m not letting you go again and I hope you don’t let me go either.”

“Till death do us part, Max,” I say with a laugh, but I know I have to mean it this time.

Max

Darkness fills the small studio where I sit with Kate and hold her baby in front of me to block the view of Lexi sandwiched between Marcos and the way too hot for my fiancé, Ross. “This doesn’t bother you?” I ask Kate.

“No, it does bother me. I never come up here anymore. I’m only here for you, my prince.” Her sweet French accent makes me smile as I’ve missed hearing her small voice.

“Perhaps we should’ve hung out at your place until they finished. I had no idea of just how many damn pictures they had to take in all sorts of kinky positions to get just the right one.” I look at Lexi’s engagement ring on the middle of my pinky finger. “I can’t believe they wouldn’t let her leave the ring on. This is a lot to take, you know?”

She wiggles the gold chain she wears around her neck with Marcos’ wedding band on it. “Tell me, I wear Marcos’ ring around my neck while he does these pictures. The producer wants it to look like they really are some sexed up threesome. It’s disgusting and I’m from France where they invented this stuff!”

With a quick glance I see Lexi laid out on a red covered bed, no top on and a red, satin sheet is thrown over her, covering only her boobs and then its spread between her long, cream colored legs. She looks really hot, but then the damn guy, Ross, is placed strategically in a straddling position across her chest as if his monster sized dick, which is clad only in a nude G-string, is about to be put into her mouth.

I fight the urge to get up and kill everyone as her legs are spread apart and Marcos is placed in between them as if he’s about to go down on her. I look at Kate. “Okay, I’ve had all I can take. Let’s go to the food court until this is done.” I stand up and put baby, Celeste on my shoulder and grab her diaper bag.

Kate gets up and follows me. “It’s awful for you too? I’m glad I finally have someone to commiserate with. Marcos tells me I’m overly sensitive.”

As we make our way out, the photographer, Devin, notices me and stops taking pictures. “Max, damn it man, where have you been?”

“I was sitting back there in the dark, trying not to kill anyone, but that’s quickly getting away from me so we’re going to be in the food court until this is over.”

He laughs. “No, I meant where have you been in the last several months, you dope.”

“It’s a long story and has a lot of ugly twists,” I say and hold the door open for Kate to walk out of.

“After the shoot let’s go for drinks, I want to catch up with you,” he says.

I give him a nod though all I want to do is leave here and get Lexi back to her tiny apartment and devour her. After she’s had a nice, long shower to rid her of Ross and Marcos germs that is.

Kate looks up at me as we walk down the corridor to the main walkway in the mall. “So, how about we look in at the jewelry stores and pick out a set of wedding bands for you and Lexi?”

“That’s a great idea and it’ll get the image of her in those terrible positions out of my head, I hope,” I say as we make our way to the first jewelry store.

Celeste begins to wiggle on my shoulder and I pull her back to give her the once over and see what’s bothering her. Her eyes are bright blue like Kate’s and her hair is nearly the same color as Marcos’. She’s a doll and I’m happy to say she’s not upsetting me one bit.

She’s gnawing at her hand, so I reach down into the side of her diaper bag and pull out the bottle that’s waiting there for her lunch. I cradle her in my arm and pop the nipple in her tiny mouth where she sucks at it hungrily. “Aww, was baby Celeste hungry?” I ask as though she’s going to answer me.

Kate laughs. “Marcos would’ve already handed her to me. He’s not comfortable handling her yet. I hope he’ll get better at it as she grows larger. He says she’s too tiny right now.”

“In the home I grew up in, there always seemed to be new babies coming in and moving out. They’d get adopted pretty quickly. Still we had a steady stream and our house parents made everyone help out. At one time, there were ten kids from three months to eighteen years old living at that house.”

“How did the house parents deal with that many children, Max?” Kate asks.

I shrug and say, “I can’t tell you. All I know is we all had chores and responsibilities to the other kids, and we were expected to uphold them and for some reason we all did. No questions, no griping, no arguing like you see kids do now days with their parents.”

Kate’s eyes light up as she spots a set of wedding rings. Her small, slender finger points at a couple of wedding bands, then she looks at my pinky finger where Lexi’s ring is. “That metal looks like the metal of her ring.”

The sales clerk makes her way to us. “Well, hello there. I see you’re looking at our most expensive set. May I see the ring, your fiancé is talking about?”

I hold up my finger. “This is it, but this isn’t my fiancé. This is my little guardian angel, and she’s helping me find a set of wedding rings to match the ring I gave my fiancé.”

Dollar signs light up the clerk’s eyes as she sees the engagement ring is indeed made out of rhodium. She licks her lips and says, “That is a very expensive engagement ring, sir. So I naturally assume you’d like wedding bands to match and this set right here is a gorgeous combination. Not too flashy, but obviously fabulous.”

I look at Kate. “What do you think?”

“Lexi will love them, I think. I know she wouldn’t want anything flashy and the engagement ring already has that one large diamond and the little ones around it. A nice, simple wedding band would accent it nicely and I do believe she’d love it. But should you wait for her to be sure of that, Max?”

I glance at the sales lady and she makes a frown. “I tell you what, sir, I can make you a fantastic deal if you want to buy them right now. If she doesn’t like them we can buy them back from you, but I’m almost positive she’ll love them.” She quickly pulls them out of the case and holds the smaller one up. “Can I see her engagement ring?”

My pinky I hold out and she takes the ring from my finger and holds it up to the other ring. “Look at that,” I say. “They’re the same size.”

The sales lady takes out the men’s ring and I move the baby to my other arm and hold her bottle with my chin as she slips the ring onto my ring finger and it fits perfectly. “Imagine that, both rings will fit you both perfectly, no need to wait for them to be fitted. That is fantastic, no?”

I look at Kate and smile. “It looks like she’s picked up your accent, angel.” The women both laugh and I look at the ring on my finger.

“I’ve waited a long time to see a wedding ring on this finger and I tell you what, I think this is just the one I could stand to look at for the rest of my life,” I say then look at the eagerly awaiting woman who chomps at the bit in front of me. “I’ll take them.”

She nearly jumps for joy as this has to be the highest commission piece in the whole jewelry store. “And to think I came in on my day off because the other saleslady called in sick.” The lady pulls the ring back off my finger and places Lexi’s engagement ring back on my pinky.

“Umm, Kate. I need to grab my wallet,” I say and gesture to the baby.

She takes her from me and the baby looks back at me like I just handed her off to a stranger. I smile as Kate frowns. “You’ve stolen her from me already, you handsome devil.”

I tickle the baby’s chin. “I’ll get you right back in just a minute, pumpkin.”

The sales lady smiles at me. “Do you have children?”

I shake my head. “Not yet, but I hope we have some soon.”

“You’re a natural,” she says. “I wish my son’s father was a quarter of the man you are. He took off a year ago and hasn’t been seen since. A real winner I picked.”

“A single mother you are then?” I ask.

She nods and places the rings in the black boxes and puts them in a bag. “Yeah, it’s not always easy to keep a roof over our heads or food on the table, but I manage. This commission will set me up pretty good for a while.”

The woman goes to run my credit card and I take the opportunity to look in my pocket and see how much cash I have. I’m not usually one to carry very much cash, but I did load up in hopes I could talk Lexi into running off to Vegas to get married, which I see now she won’t be able to do.

I find two, one thousand dollar bills and take them out and fold them together so they look like hundreds. As the woman comes back to me she hands me a pen and the paper to sign. Another bunch of papers she places in the bag as she explains, “These are your warranties and things. Plus I added the agreement to buy the rings back if you aren’t satisfied.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate your help. Um, what did you say your name was?” I ask as I hand her the paper back with the cash underneath it.

“My name is Pam, Pam Stevens, and it’s been a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Lane.”

“You too, Pam.” I pick up the bag and give her a smile then take the baby back from Kate and start to walk towards the food court.

“Oh, wait!” Pam calls out. “You accidentally put some cash with the receipt.”

With a wag of my finger I look back. “That’s for you, a tip for all your help, Pam. Have a great day.” I keep walking and notice Kate peeking back.

She laughs. “You should see her face, Max!”

“It made her happy?” I ask.

“She’s jumping up and down, so yeah it made her happy,” Kate says and wraps her small arms around me and gives me a hug. “You’re such a good man, my prince. I’m so glad I found you that day.”

“Me too, my angel. Me too.”

Alexis

Quiet chatter fills the large restaurant we all went to after the shoot. Devin, the photographer, has Max in a captivating conversation. I suppose it’s captivating as he’s monopolized Max’s attention nearly the whole time we’ve been here.

Ross sits on the other side of me, something that had Max giving me the stink eye. I look across the table at Marcos as he handles his baby very awkwardly then hands her back to Kate who is looking a bit put out.

An arm runs around my shoulders, drawing my attention to Ross. “For a man who hasn’t seen you in quite some time, he certainly isn’t paying enough attention to you in my opinion anyway.”

I lean in to whisper, “Well that’s Devin’s diddly dang fault. He won’t quit bothering him about doing more modeling.”

Ross’s eyebrows raise. “So our little threesome could become a foursome?”

“You know I hate you to call us that,” I say as I smack at his chest.

He grabs my hand and holds it to his chest, running it down his abs and leaving it on his leg. “That’s what we are, baby. And a really hot one. Please don’t let this thing you have with this guy take that all away. There’s so much money to be made and we all look so good together. Plus I’ve had an offer for some work using only you and me.”

“Only the two of us?” I ask. “Why’s that and what type of work is it?”

He gives me a wink. “We’ll talk about it at another time. I want you all to myself when I tell you the details. I think you’ll be very happy with the amount of money I’m negotiating, but I don’t wish to rub it in Marcos’ face, you know?”

I nod and sit back, taking my hand off his leg. Ross has been a little free with touching me. I understand since we’ve been spending several hours a day in various lovemaking positions. But he has to stop or Max will get furious and I want us all to get along.

“Max doesn’t want me to continue modeling. He said he understands about the commitment I made for the book cover deal, but after that he thinks I should put this behind me. Once we’re married, which I think will be soon, all that money he has will be mine too, at least that’s what he said.” I sit back and look over at Max’s back.

A tug on my hand has me looking back at Ross. “Is that what you want? To be taken care of. I thought you liked being an independent woman.”

I look at my hand as he has it clasped in his, tightly. “Ross, I want to be married to him, not a career.”

“Why can’t you have both?” he asks with a devilish grin.

“He lives in Houston and the work we do is here. I won’t be sending him home alone.”

“Do you mean to tell me that a man worth over a billion dollars can’t buy himself another palatial estate in the area around Dallas, Lexi?” He pulls me close to him and whispers, “Don’t give in all the way, men can grow bored if their woman hands them everything they think they want. Make him meet you half-way and don’t quit your career just yet.”

He makes sense, and he was right about after three times of not answering Max’s call he came to find me. But the bad part was I wasn’t there for him as his mother was dying and that’s like a real bad thing. But he did show up and ask me to marry him again so that’s a point on Ross’ side.

A tap on my shoulder brings me out of the Ross cocoon and Max is frowning at me. “You about ready to go, Lexi? It’s been a bit of a long day for me, love.”

I nod. “Of course.” Max stands up and pulls my chair out and takes my hand, lifting me up.

“Did you tell your friends our good news?” he asks.

“Yeah, I did. We all talk a lot while they stage us.” I laugh and look at Ross.

Ross smiles and says, “We call it pillow talk.”

Marcos kind of cringes as Kate shoots him a look that could kill. “You never told me that, Marcos!”

Marcos looks across the table at Ross. “Do you have to tell every little thing, bro?” Marcos looks at me. “We need to get him a girlfriend so he can understand what it means to be in a relationship.”

Max pulls me to him, his arm wrapping tightly around my waist. “Okay then. See you guys later.” We walk around the table and he looks at Kate. “You want to get the bag out of the diaper bag for me?”

She reaches in and pulls out a bag from a jewelry store. “Here, take pictures. I want to see her face.”

Max gives her a smile and out of the restaurant we go. I look up at him as we go out into the dark evening. “What’s that?”

“When we get back to your place I’ll show you, but you can’t have it until it’s time,” he says as he opens the car door for me.

I slide into the luxurious leather seat of his Jag and lean back into it. He gets in the driver’s side and I smile. “I missed this car.”

He takes my hand and kisses it. “I missed you.”

As we pull out of the parking lot and head towards my apartment I ask, “Max, do you think you’d like to get a nice place here and we could live here so I could keep on doing what I am now?”

His gorgeous face looks confused. “You don’t want to go back to Houston?”

“Well, it’s just that I have a great thing going on here and Marcos and Kate are living here now. It would be nice and I’d have something to keep me occupied too, just like you have your things going on.”

“Is one of those things to keep you occupied, Ross?” he asks with a not so undetectable sarcasm to his deep, velvety voice.

“Now don’t go getting all jealous on me, Romeo,” I say as I bring our clasped hands up and give his a kiss.

“Jealous? I’m not real sure you see that dude like I do. He salivates over you, Lex.” His eyes meet mine. “You’re about to be my wife. I can’t very well let some guy drool all over you, now can I?”

I roll my eyes. “That’s just his demeanor. He knows I love you with everything in me, Max. He wouldn’t try anything with me.”

“I’m not sure he really has to, the way you’re all over each other during the shoots.” His face makes an awful frown. “It’s not a thing I want to see my wife doing, you know? The photo shoots were never this nasty when it was Marcos and us.”

“I know, it started out really uncomfortable, but the guys have been so nice I got over it quickly.” I look out the window and try to picture how I’d feel if the shoe were on the other foot.

“Want to know what kind of offer Devin was making me, Lex?” Max asks without looking at me.

“Sure, baby, what was it?”

With a quick glance he says, “He’d like me and this woman who is a gorgeous Hispanic woman to make twenty-seven book covers, as the couple in the series. He said our bodies look like they’d match up perfectly and our appearances match those of the characters portrayed in the book. The author even asked for me.”

Ouch! There’s that ding dang shoe, and it’s on the wrong foot!

Max

Lexi vetoed the modeling gig Devin offered me. I have to admit, I’m relieved. It’s not something I wanted to do at all. All I can think about is getting Lexi in my arms and she needs to be naked.

I wait in her small bed that is not nearly comfortable enough to sleep in for more than tonight. She’s in the shower. I couldn’t take smelling the cologne that’s all over her. Somehow I have to talk her out of wanting to do anymore modeling after this horrible book cover thing is done.

I hear the water go off and seconds later there she is, standing in the doorway in nothing but a white towel. “Good, you’re still awake. I was afraid you might fall asleep. Not that I’d blame you, you’ve had one long day and on the heels of your mother’s death, no less.”

“There’s nothing more I want than to hold you again, Lexi. You do realize it’s been months since we’ve made love, right?”

Her smile captivates me, but I quickly lose focus on her face as she drops her towel and walks slowly towards me. “I do realize that, Max.”

I’ve already undressed and I grow hard instantly at seeing her like this. “Damn it, Lexi, you are so fucking hot!”

I’m sitting up in the bed with my back against the headboard and she comes to me and straddles me. Her deep blue eyes are mesmerizing and I can’t stop starring into them. “Kiss me, Max.”

I cup the back of her head in my hands and pull her to me. Our lips touch and the magic flows through me, just as it has with every kiss we’ve had. I breathe her in, she smells of vanilla and strawberries. Her mouth tastes minty fresh as I run my tongue all over and tangle it with hers.

I pull my mouth from hers to taste every inch of her body. I kiss her cheek then move down to her neck, making her groan. I smile and trail kisses down her throat, over her chest and take one of her breasts in my mouth as I take the other in my hand and squeeze it.

Lexi arches her back and her ass moves over my cock which grows harder with each passing second. It’s been so long, too long and I find I can’t wait. In a swift movement, I turn her over and she’s lying on her back with a smile on her face. “Oh! Max, you are strong, aren’t you?”

“I have to have you, it’s been too long. We’ll go slower next time. I’m about to explode as it is,” I say, and she nods so I thrust into her and she exhales as if I’ve knocked her breath from her lungs.

Her fingernails run over my back as she arches up to me. “Yes, oh baby, I’ve missed you. Fuck me hard, Max.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear, baby,” I say then slam back into her.

Her hot, wet pussy seems to be pulsing around me already and I thrust into her harder and harder, then grab her leg and pull it up so I can go deeper into her as she moans and tangles her hands in my hair, pulling me to her, then she leans up and takes my mouth with hers.

I kiss her so hard her head sinks into the pillow as I ram into her over and over. Her breath is hot, and she’s moaning into my mouth, then she arches up and takes her mouth from mine as she screams. Her body shakes and her vagina goes ultra-tight, sending me over the edge and I burst inside her, sending my juices into her as she quakes around my still pulsing cock.

Soft kisses she leaves across my chest as she leans up and wraps her arms around me, pulling me down to lie on her. “I love you, Max.”

I whisper in her ear, “I love you, Lexi.”

I feel as if I have to be crushing her and try to roll off her, but she holds me tight.

“Don’t move, not yet. I just want to feel you like this for a little while longer. I didn’t feel the real weight of how long it’s been until now.”

Her words make me feel awful because it was me who sent her away. “I’m so sorry, Lexi. I promise I’ll never do that to you again.”

“And neither will I. No matter what, we’re sticking together like we should have from the start,” she says then kisses me sweetly and I know home is wherever she is.

“Do you want to see the wedding rings I bought today?”

“Okay, you can get off me now, because heck yes I do!” I roll off and she sits up.

Grabbing the bag out of the nightstand I open it up and take out the two black boxes. I hand hers to her and I open mine and put the ring on my finger. “It’s so crazy,” I say as she puts hers on and looks up at me, surprised it fits. “Both rings fit perfectly, like it’s meant to be.”

“I wish I could keep it on, I don’t want to take it off, Max.” She looks at her hand and the rings on it then back at me.

“Can you take tomorrow off?” I ask and cross my fingers she’ll say yes.

“Why?” she asks with a smile.

“So we can go to Vegas, why else?” I give her my best smile.

She hesitates then throws her arms around me. “Yes, let’s do it. Let’s go tomorrow and get married!”

Finally!

Pulling her into me, I hug her tight and kiss the top of her head. Snuggling down into the bed I draw the blanket up to cover us both. She looks at her rings one more time and pulls off the wedding band and puts it back in the box, then I do the same. “After tomorrow they can stay on forever, Lex.”

She turns back and snuggles into my chest. “I can’t wait, Max. I’m going to have such a tough time sleeping.”

“I’m not, I finally have you in my arms and peace has found me once again.” I stroke her soft hair and hum a little as we both fall asleep.

Alexis

Madge was completely ticked off that I told her I was taking a four day weekend to get married and have a little bit of a honeymoon. She told me I was not holding up my end of the contract and I told her I didn’t give two flips about it. My soon to be husband could buy me out of that easily and if she wanted me to return after the four days to finish I would or she could find someone else. It didn’t matter to me at all.

She caved and said she’d see me on Tuesday. I sit next to Max on his private jet as we cruise at a high altitude to Las Vegas. My stomach is a little jittery as I think about becoming his wife and all that entails. I look up at him then lay my head on his broad shoulder.

His hand runs through my hair. “You ready for this, love?”

“More than ready. I want us to be married like yesterday, Max.”

His soft lips brush the top of my head as his hand takes mine and squeezes it. “Me too. I find myself thinking about how long we’ve been together, with all the stupid things in between. I’m thinking how, if we would’ve gotten married in the beginning how much could have been avoided.”

“How dull is that, Max. Then there wouldn’t be any ups and downs and I think every couple should experience them, don’t you?” I ask.

He laughs and his chest vibrates and I remember how much I love this feeling. “Okay, whatever you say, princess. I guess you didn’t mind all the near death stuff, but I kinda did.”

I laugh. “You’re so sensitive. Near death you call it, I call those experiences life changing. I know it brought me to a whole new level of understanding and I think it did a lot for you too.”

“I never told you this, but your new found love for all things and acceptance of the most horrific things I found to be annoying.” He ends his insult with a sweet kiss to my cheek.

“Wow! Annoying, huh?” I look at him and find him smiling.

“I don’t anymore, Lex.” His lips touch mine and take all the ire out of me.

As he pulls his lips from mine I ask, “Do you suppose a day will come when your kiss doesn’t make me forget everything but you?”

“I hope not,” he says with a laugh. “Yours does the same for me. You don’t know how hard I fought not to run to you when I told you to leave. I knew if you kissed me I would change my mind. In hindsight, I wish you had.”

The pilot comes on the speaker, “Please fasten your seatbelts you two because we’re here!”

“OMG!” I say and find I’m so giddy.

Max gives me that monster great smile he has, and it’s time.

Max

I’m waiting in our hotel room for Lexi to change into the dress that we picked out, and it’s making me crazy how long she’s taking. I had my tux on an hour ago. I should have taken her to get her hair and make-up done, but she wouldn’t allow it, stating I needed to be looking at a version of the real her and not something someone created on her face.

The door cracks open a bit and I spot her, then she almost shuts it again, but I jump up and run to grab it. “Just come out here and let me take a look at you. I know you’re being hard on yourself, like you always are.”

She moans and lets the door go so I can pull it open. My eyes look up and down her gorgeous body as the white dress clings in places it should and flows over the areas it needs to. I smile and she smiles back. “So you like it?” she asks.

I shake my head and see her frown. “Lexi, I love it, baby. You look gorgeous.” I take her in my arms and quickly grab the boxes with the rings in them and hurry her out the door.

“Goodness, Max!” she says as I hurry her down the long hallway. “What’s the rush?”

“Seriously?” I ask as I pause, but then hurry along again. “I have to get us hitched before something goes wrong and stops us again. I wish I had some power to teleport us to the little chapel thingy.”

“What could happen?” she asks as I pull her along.

“Don’t even ask that!” I say and pick up my pace.

“I have on heels, you silly nitwit.”

I slow a bit. I’d pick her up and carry her if she’d let me, but I know she won’t let me go that far. We chose a hotel only a short distance from the little white chapel where we decided would be the best place to get married in. It looks a lot like a tiny church.

With only one street to cross I pray one of us doesn’t get hit by a bus or something worse. I stop at the street corner and see cars coming from both directions. “Damn traffic!”

“Max, really the cars are far enough away, we can make it across.”

I look at her in astonishment. “Lexi, this is you and me we’re talking about here. Only the worst things happen to us, remember. No, we’ll wait until there are no cars.”

“But look, the signal says we can go.” She points up at the sign that tells us we can walk.

“Look at those cars waiting at the red light. They could take off at any time and that would be just our luck. No, we wait until there are no threats.” I look nervously around to be sure there are no other hidden dangers lurking around to mess this up.

My cell phone rings and I take it out of my pocket. “Who is that?” she asks.

“Hilda,” I say as I answer. “Hello, Hilda. No, not yet. We’re waiting to cross the street. I’ll call you when we’re married, I promise.”

“You have her nervous too, Max. Calm the diddly do down Mr. Fraidy Cat!”

Finally I see cars, but they’re far away. I look at Lexi and decide I can take no chances, so I scoop her up and walk quickly across the street as she pounds at my chest and yells, “Put me down!”

Once safely across I do as she demands and take her hand and hurry to go inside the chapel. As we enter the small thing, I close the door behind us and say, “Safe!”

Lexi smooths out her dress as an older woman approaches us with a sweet smile. “I suppose you two want to get married.”

I nod and say, “We do. How long will it take?”

“Well, it’ll be a bit. The minister just stepped out for lunch. You can wait or come back in about an hour or so.” The woman looks so sweet and I have to fight the urge to strangle her.

I take Lexi’s hand and hold it to my heart. “But the sign says, open twenty-four hours.”

“We are, darlin’ but the man was starving. He’s been real busy today. I have some champagne if you care to wait.” She gestures for us to follow her and I look at Lexi.

“I guess we wait, or should we go on to the next one?” I ask.

“Let’s wait. I like the way this one looks,” she says. So I lead her to where the lady has gone and we sit on one of the pews as she pours us something to drink and we wait.

My heart is pounding and I drink the awful tasting stuff down in one long gulp. “How much longer do you think?” I ask the lady who smiles.

“I’ll get you the papers to fill out so as soon as he gets here he can get started, okay?” She walks away and I get up and pace back and forth then decide that’s a dangerous thing to do. I could fall and break my leg, get a blood clot and die.

Lexi is so damn calm and I can’t see how, she must be hiding her fears. “Don’t worry, Lexi, everything will be fine.”

“Duh, I know,” she says with a laugh. “Come on, Max. Chillax a little. I know you don’t want me to say anything to tempt fate, but we’re here already. We made it.”

I pat the pocket with the ring boxes in it and pull them out to look at them to be sure they’re in there and that hasn’t been messed up. As I open the boxes I blink to be sure I’m seeing what I’m seeing. “Look, Lex.” I hold the boxes out for her to inspect.

“Yes, Max, the rings are there, safe and sound.” Her hand touches mine and she closes both lids and then her lips touch mine.

It all goes quiet in my head and my arms wrap around her. Lost in her sweet kiss I finally calm down.

Someone clears their throat behind me and I reluctantly pull my mouth from hers and turn to find a short, old man. He’s holding a Bible and has a smile on his round face.

“Looks like you two are in a hurry to get married.”

“You have no idea how long we’ve waited and how much we’ve been through,” I say. “The story is long and there are way too many sad parts. So if you could get us married already, it would be such a blessing.”

Lexi holds out her hand and the old man shakes it. “Hi, I’m Alexis Mathews. This mess is Max Lane and you might think he’s a little crazy and you’d be right, but he’s my crazy so if it’ll make him happy, can you do your best to hurry? Don’t leave anything out though. I want the full deal. We’re only doing this once so I do want it to be memorable.”

The lady hands Lexi a bouquet of flowers and I smack my head as I forgot to get her some myself and that’s such a terrible thing to have done. “Sorry, Lex, I forgot about flowers.”

The lady smiles. “They’re part of the package, don’t sweat it kid. We have rings too if you forgot those.”

I pull out the boxes and hand mine to Lexi. “No, I have them.”

“So are you ready?” the man asks as he makes his way to a little stand then stands behind it. “Take your places here in front of me and let’s see if we can’t get you two hitched.”

My knees feel weak as I take Lexi’s hand and walk up to the man with her. I look at her and then back at the man then at the lady and I can’t believe it’s happening.

It’s finally happening!

Alexis

Candles bring a dim golden glow to the hotel room. Max and I lie in bed and breathe rugged breaths. “Wow!” I say. “Who knew just getting married could make it so much better?”

“Me,” Max says and turns to look at me. “I knew, Mrs. Lane. I knew all along.”

His hand runs up and down my arm as I look into his deep emerald green eyes. I take a chunk of his long dark hair and twist it with my finger. The silkiness of it is a thing I love. “So, you’re a smarty pants I see. I’m not sorry we waited, Max. We know each other much better than the first time you asked me to marry you. It feels right now, don’t you think?”

“Damn right, it feels right. You are too delicious, Lexi. I need another taste of you,” Max says as his eyes grow dark with desire and I find I’m desiring him just as much.

He kisses slowly down my neck. I giggle and ask, “Is this how it will always be? Like we can’t get enough of each other?”

“That would be great, but I doubt it so we should enjoy it while it lasts.” His tongue moves over my breast and down my stomach.

The moment his lips touch my clit my stomach clenches and I moan, then push his head down to take more of me in. He does and I arch up to meet his hot, wet lips. He runs his tongue through my folds until he finds my vagina and pushes his tongue in and out of it.

My body gets a light sheen of sweet covering it and I let go of his head and grab the sheets, clutching them so I don’t pull his hair out with how crazy hot he’s making me feel.

Up to my clit he goes again and as his tongue taps it I come undone and cry out in ecstasy. Before the orgasm is over, he flips me over and pulls me back to him where he slams into me from behind and the orgasm not only continues but multiplies.

One long groan I make then I have to put my face in the pillow and scream as each thrust makes me explode inside over and over until he sends his hot juices inside me. I pulse around him, drawing out every last ounce of his cum.

Our bodies finally stop pulsating and he pushes me gently to the bed. Moving his body to lie beside mine he whispers, “Thank you, Mrs. Lane. That was some encore.”

“Thank you, my dear husband. I didn’t know I could climax so many times.” I turn over and lie my head on his large bicep and he wraps his body around mine, in a protective semi-circle.Max

Sun shines into the hotel room and I cover my eyes. “Wake-up, sleepy head,” Lexi’s cheerful voices calls out.

“You opened the curtain,” I mumble. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“When did you become a vampire, my sweet husband?” She laughs and plops down on the bed just as my cell phone rings.

Reluctantly, I sit up and answer my phone. “Max Lane, here.”

Someone is speaking some very chopped up English and then I realize it’s the man I’ve been talking to in Germany. “We need you here, next week, please.”

“Next week. Umm… Well… I just…. Oh, man…. Got.” I stop and look at Lexi as she laughs.

“Wow! My stammering rubbed off on you.” She smiles and gets up and makes her way to the bathroom.

“What you try to say, Mr. Lane?” the man says.

“I got married yesterday. Next week is a bit soon. I can’t get my wife a passport that quickly. I mean I may be able to but she has things to do. I don’t want to leave her so soon.” I sit up and pull the sheet up as my mind spins on how to handle this.

“We need you here. To help us with the process. It won’t take long a week to a month.”

A week to a month without Lexi!

“Damn it. I’ll see what I can do and get with you early next week. Perhaps I can make it by the end of next week,” I say and already hate that I have to do this.

“Okay,” the man says then hangs up.

Lexi comes out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a smile. “Come, let’s take a shower then go do some sight-seeing or take in a show or gamble, though I doubt I’m any good at it.”

I get up and go scoop her up and take her to the giant shower and try to think of how I’m going to tell her that I have to leave the country for a week to a month. Her lips touch mine and take all the thought from my head.

This can be dealt with after our few days of honeymoon time. What could it hurt to wait to tell her?

Part 11 Secrets of Luxury

Alexis

Whup, whup, whup, the helicopter’s blades cut through the air as Max makes his way back to me, after two very long months in Germany. I rush to the door and go out by the pool to wait for him to land.

After a tiny honeymoon, my new husband had to leave me and go to Germany where he helped some German engineers develop a bullet proof glass cheap enough to install on all their cars.

I guess the German’s know something we don’t!

Lucky for us, Max has used our cars as the prototypes for the new glass. So in case of a zombie apocalypse we’ll be safe. Fingers crossed!

I’m officially out of the modeling business. I wrapped up the book cover job and quit. Instead of finding a home in Dallas, I decided I wanted to come back to Max’s mansion in Houston. It feels like home to me. And with the news I have for Max, I’m all about making a home, and sticking with it.

The helicopter lands and here comes my handsome husband. In his hand is a fancy gift bag.

Yes! A present!

I find myself running to meet him as butterflies romp around in my stomach. His smile runs clean across his face.

“Happy to see me?” He holds his arms wide open and I run into them.

I hug him tight. “I missed you so much.”

I’m lifted up in his arms. “I missed you too, princess.” Then his lips touch mine.

Another place, his kiss takes me to. A world with no pain, or suffering. A place only he can take me, and I’d never leave it if I didn’t have to. I run my hands into his shoulder length waves and relish the silkiness of them. My tongue twirls with his.

His kiss softens, and he pulls his mouth from mine. I rest my forehead on his as he carries me towards the house. It is night already and the lights outside are gorgeous, yet they pale as I look into his emerald eyes. “I love you, Max. I’m so glad you’re home. Don’t leave me alone that long anymore, promise me.”

“If I have to go anywhere again, you’re coming with me, baby. I’ll not go that long without you ever again. It was supposed to be a week to a month, and it went much longer.” He stops at the door and puts me back on my feet.

“Hilda made you her famous enchilada dinner. She’s been waiting for you to come home so she could cook more food. She complains I don’t eat enough,” I say with a laugh.

“That’s sweet of her, but I’m afraid food is the last thing I have on my mind.” He looks at me hungrily and a shiver runs through me.

His arm wraps around my waist and I lean my head on his shoulder and wrap mine around his. “Well, that will have to wait until you eat, or she’ll bang on the bedroom door until you do. So, I’d say it’s best to get dinner out of the way.”

He hands me the bag as we make our way to the kitchen. I smile and look in it, then reach in and pull out a T-shirt that has something written on it, ‘My husband went to Germany and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.’

With a look that says, ‘you’re a jerk’ I say, “Nice, babe!”

“Keep digging in the bag, princess.”

Stopping, so I can really dig, I find a black, velvet case. I open it to find a large diamond necklace with intermittent sapphires, a matching set of ear rings, and a bracelet, plus a ring.

My eyes must be sparkling as I look back at Max. “Max, this is beautiful! What did this cost?”

He shakes his head. “You’re never allowed to ask me that question, princess. In the helicopter I have some gorgeous gowns I bought you. This set will go amazingly with the dark blue one I found.”

“You went shopping for me while you were over there, supposedly working?”

He moves us along again. “I had to do something with my free time and as I was always thinking of you, it had me looking at things for you, my love.”

My heart fills with how wonderful this man is. He makes me feel as if I’m the most special thing in his life.

Hilda’s face lights up when she sees him. “Mijo!” She runs and grabs him, hugging him. “We all missed you so much!”

The smile on his face lets me know he really loves this woman. “I missed you all too. I hear you’ve made me my favorite meal.”

“I sure did. I have it all, the queso and the guacamole, plus my homemade chips.” Her eyes go to me and she smiles then she looks back at Max. “And I made a tres leches cake, just to celebrate your return.”

With a laugh he says, “You spoil me, Hilda!”

“No, you deserve it, Mijo, follow me to the small dining room I’ve prepared you two. I know you missed each other, and I wanted to create a wonderful experience for you.”

Even I was unaware that she’d done anything this special. We follow her to one of the small dining rooms and I see she’s outdone herself. It’s prettier than any five star restaurant. The chandelier is dimly lit as there are so many candles I can’t count them all. They fill the room with a golden glow and large vases of beautiful flowers sit around. The air smells rich with their aroma.

“You’ve been busy,” I say as I look around the room then back at her. “This is gorgeous. Thank you so much.”

Max squeezes me and kisses the top of my head then says, “Hilda this is so nice. I can’t thank you enough for how well you treat us. You’re a saint and we’d never make it without you.”

I see her eyes going glassy and she waves at us. “Go, sit and I’ll serve you. There’s some wine on the table.” She looks at me and winks. “It’s a new wine, fortified with nutrients, and there’s no alcohol in it.”

Max pulls the chair out for me and I sit down. He looks back at Hilda. “No alcohol? Is it any good?”

Her eyebrows raise. “Have I ever served you something that wasn’t?”

Max sits down and looks as if he’s been scolded. “No, ma’am. I didn’t mean to imply that. I’ll drink it, I’m sure I’ll love it.”

He takes my hand in his and holds it on top of the table. Hilda hurries out of the room and he leans over and kisses me again. My head is spinning and I find I’m not hungry in the least and all I really want is for him to take me to our bedroom and never let me out of it.

He pulls away and says, “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”

I shake my head and run my hand over the lacy white top which shows a black, silk camisole underneath it. A tight black skirt I have on and some sky high, black heels. My hair is pulled back in a high ponytail with curls spiraling down my back.

What can I say, I had a lot of time today to get ready to see my husband and got bored and made myself kind of spectacular for his return!

He has on a tight, black T-shirt that shows off every muscle of his torso and tight blue jeans and running shoes. His dark waves hang around his tanned face and I find myself getting worked up and I have to chill and get this food down so Hilda’s work hasn’t been for nothing.

“Anyway, tell me how the flight went and the food, how was that?” I ask, trying to get my head out of naughty time and back to dinner time.

“Really?” he asks as he reaches out and strokes my cheek, making me lean into his touch.

“Mmmm,” I moan. “Please, Max, go easy on me, baby. It’s been too long and if you knew what just seeing you was doing to me you’d try harder not to entice me. We need to show Hilda how much we appreciate her hard work, don’t we?”

“We do,” he says then takes my hand and pulls it under the table, then runs it up and down a very thick, long, and hot erection.

I blush and look away. “You’re a very bad boy!” I whisper.

Hilda walks back in with some chips and the dips, and thankfully Max releases my hand and says, “Thank you, Hilda. I can’t wait to dig in.”

“Enjoy, you two. I’ll be back in just a little while with the main course.” She hurries off again.

Max dips a chip in the cheesy dip and holds it to my mouth. I open it and take the bite. “It’s good,” I say.

Max leans forward and kisses me, moving his tongue into my mouth which still has the food in it. At first I’m all, ‘Yuck’ but then he swirls his tongue just before he pulls away, and I’m all, ‘Don’t go.’

I must be looking at him with my mouth hanging open because he takes a napkin and dabs at my lips then pushes at my chin and my mouth closes. “Did I surprise you?” he asks as he dips another chip in the guacamole.

I nod and he puts that chip up to my mouth and I take the bite. He leans in and instead of kissing my lips, he kisses my neck and nips at it as I chew and swallow.

This man is going to make me orgasm right here at the doodley-dee dinner table!

Not sure how I’m going to get through this dinner and on to the dessert if he’s going to keep this up. Soft kisses he trails up to my lips, leaving a kiss on them, then he pulls back and picks up my wine glass. He touches it to my lips and I take a drink.

He places it back on the table then his mouth is on mine and his tongue is back in my mouth and he thrusts it all over my mouth as his arms wrap around me and he pulls me to him until our chests are touching and my body is on fire.

The sound as someone clears their throat makes me push at him, and he reluctantly pulls back. “Sorry, Hilda,” he says as his eyes never leave mine. “I really missed my wife.”

His wife! I wonder if it will ever not make something inside me quiver when he says those words. I am Max Lane, Billionaire’s, wife!

Hilda puts the plates down and smiles. “I know, Mijo. Young love, is so sweet. Now eat as much as you want. You won’t upset me if you have more on your mind than my food. Then I’ll bring dessert. I made the cake special for you, so I do want you to take at least a bite of it.”

“I will, Hilda. And I assure you, I am enjoying what you’ve made us, very much,” he says as he smiles at me.

I blush and look down at the plate of delicious food and find I’m more than ready to dig in if Max is going to continue to show me this much attention.

A forkful of enchilada he picks up and asks, “How about you feed me and I’ll feed you?”

I nod and know he’s going to make me even hotter than I already am, but damn it, I just can’t tell him no!

Stabbing at a bite of enchilada, I take it and place it on his lips as he places his on mine and we both take the bite and watch each other chew it and then swallow. I reach for my glass to take a drink, but he gently grabs my hand and picks it up and gives me a drink.

After he sets it back down he turns and takes my face between his hands and kisses me, but keeps his tongue to himself. Then lets me go and picks up his fork again.

At this rate, it’s going to take an hour to eat dinner!

Max

Lexi glows like I’ve never seen her do before. I’m not sure if it’s the lighting as there are a lot of candles or if she really did miss me that much.

I know I missed her. The damn thing went on for far too long and I’ll never be away from her that long again. We finally finished dinner and all I want to do is drag her to the bedroom and strip off her clothes and take her nine ways to Sunday.

Hilda comes in the room holding a platter with the cake which I don’t even want, on it. I smile because she’s worked so hard on this meal, and I feel terrible for not paying more attention to it. She exchanges a glance with Lexi and I find myself feeling anxious.

“What’s that about?” I ask Hilda.

Her eyebrows go up and she looks innocently at me. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She places the platter on the table in front of me like it’s my birthday and I’m about to blow out some candles, which there are none of on the cake.

“I don’t think I can eat the whole thing, Hilda,” I say then notice something on the top and look at the cake.

One word is written in orange across the white icing, ‘Congratulations.’

I look back at Hilda. “Thanks, I guess it is kind of a big deal, this new glass.”

Lexi takes my hand and smiles. “That’s not what she means.”

“Oh, the marriage!” I say and look back at Hilda. “Yeah, I guess you haven’t been able to tell me that. Thanks, Hilda.”

Lexi pulls at my hand and I look back at her. “That’s not what she means, either.”

“Well, just spit it out then, because I’m clueless,” I say as I look at Hilda.

Her hands go to her cheeks. “Oh! I guess it would be better if he had the card.” She reaches into her apron pocket and pulls out a yellow envelope and hands it to me.

I open it and find a card with a picture of a couple holding hands and smile at Lexi. “Do you know what this is about?”

She just smiles. “Open the card.”

I open the card and everything goes blank in my head except for the words on the white page, ‘You’re going to be a father.’

My mouth falls open and I look at Lexi. “Really?”

She nods and I have her up in my arms and twirling her around as I laugh like a crazy man. “I’m going to be a father!” I stop and hold her back. “How long have you known this, you little sneak?”

“A whole month,” she says. “It’s been killing me not to tell you when we talked on the phone every day. I’m two months, you knocked me up on our little honeymoon, you devil.”

I hug her then hug Hilda. “You kept it a secret too, huh?”

“Of course, we knew you’d be over the moon and we both wanted to see your face. I love you, Mijo!”

Lexi smiles at Hilda. “I had to tell someone, and I knew Hilda would be the best one to confide in. She’s kept me so well fed, only the best foods have passed through these lips since she found out.”

Hilda smiles and says, “Well, I’ll leave you two be alone. I’ll clean up after you’re done.”

I take a bite of the cake and look at Lexi. “Want some?”

She shakes her head. “I’m stuffed. It was delicious, Hilda. Thanks so much.”

“You are very welcome. It was a joy to make it all.” She turns to leave.

“You can clean up now,” I say as I pick Lexi up, surprising her. “I’m taking my wife to bed.”

Lexi giggles and Hilda laughs as I make my way out of the room and to the staircase leading up to our bedroom. I nuzzle Lexi’s neck as I walk up the stairs. “I can’t believe you kept that a secret for a whole month.”

“I had to see your face when you found out and it was priceless. I’m glad I waited.” Her lips touch my neck and I’m about to come undone.

I move my face to catch her lips and have to stop as I feel dizzy with the sensation. Letting her down, I walk, moving her backwards until she hits the bedroom door. Her hands run over my back and mine run through her hair, pulling the ponytail out. Her hair falls and I moan at the softness of the curls.

My hand runs down the door until I find the knob and twist it, putting my arm around her to make sure she doesn’t fall when I open it. Picking her back up into my arms, I never let our mouths part. I open my eyes for a second to make sure I’m going towards the bed and see the décor of the room has been changed.

I pull my mouth away as Lexi groans and takes my face in her hands. “Don’t stop.”

My head swivels as I look around the bedroom which used to have dark accents, but now is all bright and cheery and I kind of hate it. “You did this?”

“Yeah, but you can see all the pretty stuff I added later.” She pulls my face to hers, but then stops and looks at me. “Put me down, I have to pee, like right now!”

I put her down, and she dashes off to the bathroom. There’s dozens of little throw pillows on the bed that has a flowery comforter covering it. Tossing them off as I take my shoes off I see the television is gone and wonder why she’d take that out.

Yellow curtains hang on the windows. I pull my shirt off as I walk over to one to see if the dark, wooden blinds are still on the windows and I see they are. That’s all I used to have on the windows. I don’t really like curtains, they look cheap. I unbutton and drop my jeans to the floor and shimmy out of my underwear.

The light I turn off so I don’t have to be distracted with the new look of my bedroom. I have to remember this is our bedroom now, not just mine. But, shit! It’s not just hers either. Hopefully we can come to a compromise.

I pull back the comforter and find some bright ass, yellow sheets that glow a little in the darkness. With a shake of my head, I laugh. The girl is clueless about style.

Light falls into the room as she opens the bathroom door and I can see her smile already. A smile finds me as well as I see she’s ditched her clothes and is making her way to me.

Who cares about what the hell is covering the bed and windows anyway?

Alexis

Max’s eyes smolder as he watches me come into the dark bedroom. He looks completely gorgeous as he lies back on the pillow and the yellow sheets contrast with his tanned skin, making him appear to glow a little.

I knew he’d look great in them!

Stopping at the end of the bed, I take his foot in my hand and massage it then kiss the top of it. He wiggles his foot. “What the hell are you doing, get up here, girl!”

“I was going to kiss every last inch of you,” I say as I wait to see if he wants me to do that.

His head shakes. “Nope, get up here. I want your body all over mine and vice versa, you can kiss me all over later on.”

Crawling up the bed I make my way to him and can’t help starring into his dark green eyes. “I hope our baby has your eyes,” I say and lick my lips as I’m just about to pounce on him like the tiger I feel like right now.

“Uh, uh,” he says in a deep husky voice. “No talk of babies right now. This is me and you and that’s all I’m about right now.”

Finally, I am near enough for him to reach out and take me by the shoulders. He pulls me to him then kisses me hard. I’m on my back without knowing how I got here. My head is mashing into the fluffy pillow, his mouth is so hard on mine.

Feather light kisses cover my shoulder as he moves his lips from mine. The change from hard and hot to soft and warm is other worldly. I stretch my neck to entice him further, and he moves his mouth to it. A quick nip at the nape of my neck then softly he sucks at it. My body flashes with a fire which runs from the tip of my toes to the top of my head.

I want him now!

My stomach flutters as he moves down, and places his warm mouth over my breast. I arch up as he bites at it, making my insides quiver. He sucks at it as he rubs the other breast, then takes the nipple between his fingers and squeezes. His dark, shoulder length waves beg me to run my hands through them. The silkiness makes me crazy and I want him in me now, but he’s still toying with me. His mouth travels between my breasts up to my neck, then finally to my mouth.

The sweet taste of vanilla fills my mouth as Max’s tongue rolls around mine in a tangle of sweet desire. Moving my hands over his shoulders, and down his back, they grip his hard as a rock ass. I hold him, pressing his monster sized erection to my hot, wet and more than ready, aching for him pussy.

With a wicked laugh, he whispers, “Not yet, princess. I need to taste you.” He moves down my body which is slick with a light sheen of sweat.

My body shakes as his lips touch the little pearl already pulsing with desire for him. His tongue runs over it, and my hands tangle up in his luscious locks as I hold him to me, and groan in ecstasy.

His strong hands grip my ass and he pulls his mouth away to say, “You taste like Heaven, princess.”

I ache for more and say, “Let me taste you while you taste me.”

Even in the darkness of the room I can see surprise etching his handsome face. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” I say with a smile.

He moves to lie down next to me and I climb over him and make my way south. My mouth slides over his hard erection, just as his hot mouth closes on my clit, his tongue stroking it with hard strokes. He moans, vibrating my clit as his tongue runs over it. I shudder with the sensation.

The touch of his mouth on me excites me more than usual. I run my mouth over his hot, throbbing dick up and down in long strokes. My hands stroke as I run my tongue over the tip, and down the long, hard shaft.

Suddenly Max rolls me over. I’m on my back and quite surprised, then he flips me over and I’m on my knees as he pulls me back by my waist. With one hand he grabs a fistful of my hair as he fills me from behind, jerking me back to him. He pounds into me, and I quiver with how hard he’s breathing, and how wild I feel with him.

He rams into me and I yell with each thrust as he groans and leans over my back and bites my shoulder hard and that’s it. Stars fill my head as I fall apart. I quake inside and lose it. An orgasm rips through me as I shriek. My face I push into the mattress to stifle the noise, as Max pounds at me even harder, and faster.

My legs shake as he slaps my ass hard and I feel it starting up in me again. Max pulls out and flips me again. On my back I see him coming to me and his face is shiny with sweat and he’s smiling. Then his mouth is on mine as he slides back in and makes long, deep strokes.

I moan as he grabs my leg and pulls it up, my ankle near my ear. The orgasm that was pending reignites as he fills a space in me he hadn’t yet. His body rubs my clit with every hard stroke and I rake my nails across his back as I orgasm hard and he moves faster and kisses me harder.

I arch up and wrap my other leg around his waist. Moving my hands down his back, I grip his ass and push him with every thrust. His body stiffens, and he shoots hot cum into me as he groans in my mouth.

With slow strokes, he keeps going until neither of us pulse anymore. His lips move to kiss my neck and his breath is hot on my ear. “I love you, Lexi Lane.”

Trying hard to catch my breath, I say, “I love you to, hubby.”

With a low groan, he rolls off me, but pulls me to lie of his chest. His strong arm holding me tight to his broad chest. His heart beats beneath my ear and I find I’ve missed the sound more than I realized.

My Max is home and life couldn’t be better!

Max

I wait nervously for the person to come to the examination room to run the magic wand over Lexi’s now protruding stomach to tell us what we’re having. Lexi looks relaxed as she lies on the table. “Max, why do you look so nervous?”

“What?” I ask and try to calm down. “I’m not. Don’t be silly.”

“Is it what the doctor said before she left?” she asks.

I look at her in astonishment. “Lex, she listened to your tummy and said she’d be right back, and hauled ass out of the room! Don’t you feel the least bit uncomfortable about her actions?”

She shrugs. “Maybe she needed to pee. It happens to me all the time. Literally I won’t have any urge to pee at all. Then, in an instant, boom! I gotta go!”

I shake my head and laugh. “She’s not pregnant, sweetheart.”

“So, she’s a woman and some women have to pee a lot.” She wrinkles her nose. “Let’s stop discussing our doctor’s bathroom business. It’s kind of gross. So anyway, you can tell me now. What do you really want, a boy or a girl?”

“No way, you know damn good and well I don’t care. As long as our baby’s healthy that’s all that matters to me.” I run my hand over her large belly. “It’s going to be a big baby, that’s for sure. You’re getting big so fast. It must be all the healthy food Hilda’s feeding you.”

“I don’t wish to discuss my weight,” she says and waves her hand around.

“I wasn’t talking about your weight, Lexi.” I take her hand and pull it to my lips and leave a kiss on it, then hold it to my heart. “It’s all baby, you look the same from behind. Well, maybe a bit of weight you’ve gained in those monster knockers you got going on.”

She blushes and looks away. “They are huge. Do you think they’ll go back to normal after the baby’s born?”

Running my hand over her breast I sigh. “I hope not, but they won’t be mine once the baby’s born anyway. They’ll be all for the baby. What a waste of great tits.”

She laughs and pulls my hand from her breast and pulls my arm so I have to lean down. “Kiss me, you crazy man.”

Her lips are pink and full and they’re all mine. I kiss her gently then just like I knew would happen, the doctor comes back in. I stand up and see the woman has pinks cheeks.

“Sorry, guys.” She gestures to the man moving a machine in front of him who is coming in behind her. “This is Sam, and he’s going to do the sonogram.”

Sam smiles and moves the machine to one side of Lexi. “I can’t believe I have the great luck to get to do you two’s sonogram. You’re famous around town.”

Lexi sighs. “We’re done with being famous for anything. Just a couple of old homebodies who get excited when The Wheel of Fortune comes on.”

Moving to the top of the bed, I place my hands on Lexi’s shoulders. “It’s a blissful peace now we reside in. Thankfully, the crazy seems to be over.”

The screen comes to life, and the man pushes Lexi’s shirt up, revealing her large stomach. He puts some clear jelly on it, making her grab one of my hands. “That’s so cold!” she says.

“I get that a lot,” Sam says and places the wand thingy on her belly and a grainy picture comes up on the screen.

I find myself on pins and needles. “What is it, can you tell yet?”

The doctor laughs and Lexi squeezes my hand. “Patience, Mr. Lane,” the doctor says.

Okay, maybe I am a bit on edge!

Looking harder than I’ve ever looked at anything I see what looks like a little baby head and a little hand. Then it moves and I see another thing that looks like a head. My heart stops and I ask, “Dear, God, does our baby have two heads?”

Lexi strains her neck to look harder. “Oh, no!”

Sam moves the wand around and the other baby’s body comes into view. “No such luck, Mr. Lane,” he says. “You have twins, not a two headed baby.”

Twins! We are having twins!

I kiss Lexi’s forehead. “Look what you went and did, Lex, you gave us two at one time. At this rate, you’ll have the mansion filled in just a few years.”

The other hand she runs up to grab my other hand. She holds them both tightly as she shakes. “Two! Oh, I’m not ready for two! How will I ever take care of them both? Oh, I can’t do this, Max!”

The doctor looks at Lexi and pats her leg. “Never fear, dear. Many women have twins and you have the best husband to help you.”

Lexi looks up at me and I see the fear begin to fade a bit. “I do, don’t I? You’ll really help me, won’t you, babe.”

I nod. “Now what kind of babies are we having?” I ask the man.

“See this here,” he says as he points to the screen and takes a picture. “That there is a little, tiny tally whacker. Don’t worry folks, it’ll grow.” He laughs and Lexi frowns.

“So that one is a boy, you’re sure?” she asks.

I find my heart racing and I squeeze her hands and kiss her cheek. “A son! Lexi, you gave me a son! I didn’t realize just how badly I wanted one until I saw his little body. We’re going to have a son!!!!”

The man moves the wand around and zeros in the other baby’s bottom. Another click he makes, and he looks at us. “Did you want a girl too, ‘cause you got one of those too.”

Lexi pulls my hand to her lips and kisses it. “You gave me a baby girl, Max.”

“One of each, how lucky can we be?” I ask and kiss her lips.

As I pull away I see her eyes are filling with tears. The doctor and Sam say something I can’t even understand as I look into Lexi’s eyes and see the woman I will look at until the day I die. The woman who is giving me more than I ever thought possible, love, a happy home, and a family to share it all with.

The door closes and I finally look up to find we’re alone in the little room. I move to Lexi’s side and pull her up into a hug. “Max, I’m afraid I’ll be a terrible mother. I don’t know a thing about babies and now I have two I may mess up.” Her tears I can feel on my neck as she begins to cry.

Moving my hand over her head, I run it down until it reaches her shoulder, then I pat it as I say, “Lex, you’ll be a great mom and we can go to classes if you want. Hell, we can go hang out with my old house parents and practice on whatever baby and kids are there now.”

She pulls her head up and looks at me with tear stained cheeks. “Do you really think I can be a great mom?”

I nod. “Of course I do. I saw it in you from the very beginning. Our kids are lucky to have you as their mother.”

With a shake of her head, she says, “They’re lucky to have you as father. I’m just a plain old girl who got really lucky.”

“I’m the one who got lucky, and you are no plain old girl, Mrs. Lane,” I say as I take her by her narrow shoulders. “Please, never think of yourself like that again. Promise me, princess.”

The door opens, and the doctor pops her head back into the room. “I said you could go, didn’t you hear me?”

I shake my head and so does Lexi. The doctor gestures for us to leave, so I help Lexi off the table and grab a tissue as we pass the box and hand it to her. Lexi smiles at the doctor as we pass in front of her. “Thanks, doc. I’ll see you next month.”

“Make an appointment on the way out. I know your family will love to hear your happy news,” she says then disappears into another room.

My arm wraps around Lexi’s shoulders and I pull her to my side. “Looks like Hilda gets to finally throw her baby shower.”

Lexi laughs. “She’s been champing at the bit to do that since I told her I was pregnant.”

“It’s what she lives for after all,” I say.

Twins! Wow!

Alexis

I lie on the bed like a beached whale.

Twins! Oh my God!

Two babies in one stomach is a bit uncomfortable, and the doctor told me they probably will be born only weighing about five pounds each. I just want to know why it feels as if I’m carrying around fifty pounds in my stomach then.

Rocking my monster sized body back and forth, I try to get up. Max wakes up and sits up. “I got ya, babe.” He rolls off the bed and stumbles over to my side. Sliding his arm underneath me, he lifts me up with a bit of a grunt.

I still cannot believe he can lift me up, I’m huge!

Just as he places me on the floor I feel the urgent need to pee and run as fast as my feet will carry me to the much too far away bathroom. I glance back over my shoulder. “Thanks, sweetie!”

Max has been so good to me and my parents adore him. At times I find myself wishing I hadn’t been such an idiot for such a long time. His devotion to me is not a thing anyone would question. He’s always right there, waiting on me hand and foot.

With how well he handles babies and understands what each little cry means, I have a confidence that he’ll be able to teach me his baby gift. One day I should know how to be a mom.

I waddle back into the bedroom. Max lies on his stomach, fast asleep again. Easily I lie down so as not to wake him. I cozy up to his side and cuddle him, my stomach keeping us from sleeping as close as we used to.

A hard kick one of the twins gives me and it hits Max in the back, making him jump. He looks back at me. “What the Hell, Lex?”

“I didn’t do it.” I look at him in surprise. “It was one of your kids.”

He rolls over and puts his stomach against mine. His hand he runs over my cheek and smiles as he looks into my eyes. “I’m sorry, it just surprised me. How hard this must be for you. Your poor body is all stretched to its limits and yet you still have two more months to go.”

His bare shoulder is calling my name and I run my hand over it. “Thanks for being so there for me, Max. I never imagined just how hard being pregnant is. With you here, it makes it so much easier to take.”

I slide my leg in between his and rub the inside of his thigh. His eyes light up and he smiles. “Are you feeling a bit naughty, Mrs. Lane?”

With a nod, I say, “Care to take a ride on the big bus?”

He chuckles. “The big bus, Lexi? Don’t talk about yourself like that. You still look a lot like you from behind.”

“Don’t lie, Max.” I laugh. “I’m enormous and I know it.”

Wrapping his body around mine, he kisses me and in an instant I feel light as a feather. Chills run through me as he runs his hand over my stomach and presses his into mine. One of the baby’s kick, and he pulls away. “Wow! What a little kicker we have there. I felt it clean through to my back. I bet it’s the girl, don’t you?” he asks.

“No, I bet it’s the boy. I bet he’s going to be strong like his dad.” I run my hand through his shoulder length waves he told me he’s going to get cut tomorrow. He wants to look like a respectable father for some stupid reason.

Three more swift kicks I get as they both seem to be having a tap dancing contest inside me. I laugh as Max flinches with each kick as they hit his stomach too. “You’re tough, Lex.”

“Yeah, I’m real tough.” I run my finger over his lips and he brings them back to mine.

Softly and gently he kisses me. That’s how he’s made love to me every time since I started getting big. “No rough stuff.” he told me. “I don’t want to take any chances.”

The thing is I love the rough stuff, and it’s got me aching for him to grab me and toss me around a little. A good hair pulling as he rams into me would be great.

I decide to try to make him a little more heated than he usually gets. My hands go to hold the back of his head, pushing his lips harder onto mine. My tongue swirls with his and my heart starts to pound harder in my chest as I rub my leg between his legs and find his cock getting hard pretty quickly.

We sleep with nothing on as anything I wear wraps around me and makes me uncomfortable. I run one hand over his large bicep and down between us, taking his hard dick in my hand and stroking it in hard strokes. He groans and kisses me harder.

His mouth goes to one of my breasts and he puts the nipple in his mouth, the whole thing won’t fit anymore and his hand massages it as he licks and nips at it. I moan with the electric currents it sends through me.

My hands flow over his muscular back and I run my nails over it. He kisses his way back to me and gives my neck a bite. I think I have him ramped up and try my best to send him over the edge. “Fuck me, Max. Fuck me hard,” I whisper, huskily.

He groans and bites my neck harder. I grab his hard dick and stroke it, then find somehow he’s off me and has me turned over and on my knees. My hips he grabs and holds me steady as he slowly moves his hard as nails dick into my wet and wanting pussy.

With a low moan, I nearly fall apart with his touch. It’s been missionary only for the last few months and there are parts of me that have missed him. “Pull my hair,” I say and toss it back so it flows over my back.

He makes a growl and grabs a lock of it and pulls gently as he strokes slow and steady. “Fuck, you're beautiful, Lexi.”

One hand pulls the lock of hair as the other moves through it, sliding it over my back. I can feel his abs each time he moves in and they’re tight with tension as he has to force himself to go slow.

I push myself up against him. “Harder, Max, please, fuck me harder!”

He lets go of my hair and both his hands run over my ass and it makes them quiver and beg to feel his hard slap. “Your ass is perfect and the creamy color is making me…”

“Do it,” I scream. “Do it, Max!”

A slight slap he leaves on one cheek and he moans and moves a little faster. “Fuck, Lexi! Baby, I want to fuck you so damn hard. You have no idea!” he says through gritted teeth.

“I do have an idea. Please, Max. Go harder!” I beg and push myself back to him.

“Fuck it!” he says and grabs my hair and pulls hard as he slams into me.

I scream in ecstasy and move back to meet every hard thrust. “Yes, Max! Yes, oh, God, yes!”

Every hard thrust of his wide, hard dick sends me further and I feel the climax begin to mount deep inside me. My walls start to tighten around him. “Lexi, baby, come for me!”

He leans over me and reaches around running his fingers over my swollen clit. Each stroke takes me closer and closer, then with his free hand he slaps my ass hard and I can’t hold back any longer. I explode and shout, “Fuck me, Max! Oh, fuck!”

With no words he moves himself harder and faster until he stiffens and makes a loud groan. “Lexi, fuck me! Damn it!”

Heat fills me and my body pulses around his, pulling every last drop out of him. He eases out of me and moves me to lay on my side and he lays behind me and drapes his arm over my swollen belly. His lips near my ear he says, “I love you, baby.” A little kiss he gives my neck and I shiver with how good it feels.

Every part of me is relaxed and calm flows through me. “I love you, Max. I can sleep now. Thank you.”

With a little squeeze, he says, “No. Thank you, Lex. Good night and have sweet dreams, love.”

I could never have picked another man to love me better than he does!

Max

I hold my wife after some of the best sex I’ve ever had. We’ve been playing it safe for the last several months and I didn’t realize just how much she and I needed a bit of our usual stuff.

We both got hot and sweaty and the smell of our juices mixing has my head a little loopy as I love it and find I could take her again. If she wasn’t sleeping like the dead right now.

Yeah, I fucked her righteously!

I pray we have a few more of these times before the babies get here and then it’ll all stop for at least six whole weeks. And we’ll be tired from waking up all night and tending to crying babies who want fed and held and pretty much constant attention.

But it’s worth it and I have to admit I can’t wait to see the little monsters. The names we haven’t settled on as I want them to rhyme, like any good twin names should. Lexi wants them to be separate individuals with separate identities.

The word, ‘twins’ is not to be used when speaking to them. She has already established this rule and I have a bet with Hilda that Lexi will be the first to break her own rule. She doesn’t even realize she already calls them that all the time.

I think the fact they’re twins should be embraced. After all, most people don’t have them and they’re lucky to have a sibling to go through all the firsts together with. The first day of school is such a hard day, but it won’t be for our twins, because they’ll be together.

I know I probably have it all wrong!

It’ll most likely be the fact we don’t have one crying kid who doesn’t want to go to school, but two of them and that’ll make it twice as hard. Lexi will probably be crying too and the whole mess of them will all be on me and it’ll be such a horrible day.

I find myself looking into the future way too often!

‘One day at a time,’ I keep telling myself. I have to take each day as it comes and enjoy it for what is happening at that moment in time. And at this moment I should be concentrating on getting some much needed sleep so I can get up a little later and help my wife get out of bed to pee, which usually happens at four every morning for some odd reason.

With a few deep breaths I begin to clear my mind and try to fall asleep. My arm lies over her stomach and I run my hand over our babies as if I’m putting them to sleep to.

It comforts me, what can I say!

Morning sun filters through the curtains, waking me up and I can’t believe we slept through the night without Lexi needing to pee.

It’s a miracle!

Wait! What’s that?

I’m all wet. Lying behind her back, I have her held to me and I’m wet all the way to my toes. I can’t believe I fucked her so hard, it made her sleep like the dead and she peed the bed.

This is so gross!

She’s going to be so embarrassed! I pull the blanket back to get out of the bed and nearly pass out. Blood is everywhere. It’s not pee, its blood.

“Lexi!” I shout and take her by the shoulder and shake her as gently as I can, but firmly. “Lexi, wake up, baby!”

Her arm moves and she rubs her eyes. “Why?” she says, groggily.

“We have to get you to the hospital. I have to get you cleaned up and in the helicopter and get you to the hospital now!” I get up and walk around the bed to pick her up.

Her eyes go wide. “Max! I’m all wet! Diddly dang, did I wet the bed?”

I shake my head. She pulls the blanket back and starts to cry.

What have I done?

Part 12 Secrets of Content

Max

Beeping sounds come from everywhere and the smell of sterile alcohol burns my nose. It’s all over and it’s all my fault. Just one thing. Why can’t just one damn thing go right for us?

I pace in the small waiting room as they stitch Lexi up and the babies are in the neonatal unit of the hospital. They weigh a shocking three pounds and two ounces each. Dark hair covers not only their tiny heads, but their tiny bodies have a thin covering of it as well.

On a good note, Lexi only had a couple of hours of labor pains before they were delivered so she was in great spirits about that. Her spirits went south as soon as she saw how tiny they were and fragile. It took her a while to stop crying and once I got her under control, I had to lie and say I had to go to the bathroom.

I found an unoccupied private bathroom and cried my eyes out. So here I am, trying to be the foundation for this very fragile family and I don’t feel up to it at all. Somehow I have to pull myself together and take the brunt of this, so my wife doesn’t have to.

Our plans of breastfeeding are over. I mean she can pump her milk, but it will be served to them in sterile bottles once they can eat on their own that is. For now they’re wired up to so many damn things they look like little science experiments.

This is not how I wanted their lives to start!

I am beginning to think we have a curse, Lexi and I. I love that woman with all I have. But since we met things have been so crazy and horrible at times.

Horrible at too many times!

Life was never this hard before. Sure I had a hard time finding nice women, but that was primarily because I was seeking already rich women. Other than the relationship mess my life was in, everything else was good, great actually.

Well, I was lonely even though I had beautiful women on my arm and partied like a rock star more often than I should have. Then Lexi came along and at first it was like she was the plainest thing I’d ever laid eyes on. For some reason though something about her pulled me to her. Even as she wore those stupid khaki pants and that white button up shirt with a God damned pocket protector, something about her made me want to be around her.

Then when she got out of those ridiculous clothes and put on that bikini that actually fit her, and let her hair down out of that bun, man it was like lightning flashed through my entire body. Now that I look back and really think about it that could have been a sign for me to stay the hell away from her that she was dangerous for me. She always said that to me and I really never believed her until now.

And now we’re married and have two babies whose lives hang in the balance. Lexi’s and mine have, but how fair is it to put two, tiny angels through what we went through?

It seems impossible, but I actually feel more nervous about them making it through this than I did about myself when I was in the ocean for three days. My heart aches worse than when Lexi was kidnapped. How can that be?

I thought at both of those times, I could never feel more nervous and upset.

It never occurred to me how wrong I was!

My blood runs through their miniscule veins as does hers. Is it too much for them? Is our luck, or lack of it, a part of any being we will create together too much for a body or soul to bear?

I know I sound crazy, but so much has happened. I have to ask myself the question, are Lexi and I really cursed? What kind of horrors will we bring down on our children if we continue on this path? Is our happiness together worth the pain it will cause our children?

Selfishness is in me, but I don’t know if I can be that selfish to keep having kids who pay for what the hell ever we did in a past life to get the shit end of the stick we both got.

My mother was a horrible person, and I was neglected so badly the state made her send me somewhere safe or they’d put me in foster care. Lexi was beaten by a bunch of mean teenage girls when she was just fifteen, just for being nerdy.

The fact I became rich is just a fluke I bet. Even that has proved not to be helpful at the hard times in my life. All the money in the world couldn’t get me out of the ocean. It couldn’t find Lexi and it can’t keep my children alive.

If these babies don’t make it, then things need to be different. Maybe Lexi and I can stay together, but have no more children. Never thought it would end like this, but who am I to question it?

Alexis

Though birds chirp happily outside the window of our bedroom, I am anything but that as I wake up and know my babies are still in the hospital and still their future is not certain.

We went with Max’s idea of names that go together for them, the girl we named Zoey and the boy is Zane. We have, X’s, and they have, Z’s. It’s cute and the nurses who take care of the babies thought so too.

It was supposed to be me and Max taking care of them, not strangers!

It’s been four weeks since I had them. They can’t come home until they each weigh five pounds, which is still unbelievably tiny. Max and I have not been talking a whole lot. When we do, its trivial things. I suppose neither of us wants to talk about the ‘what if’s’ it’s just too hard.

I overheard one of the nurses saying that Zane’s lungs weren’t maturing as fast as Zoey’s. That one sentence made me nearly fall to the ground, it devastated me that ding dang much. Max heard it too, and he left the room for about an hour.

Later, when we went home, I asked him if he was worried about Zane and he told me he was worried about them both, not one any more than the other. He asked me if I thought he and I had a curse.

Maybe we do.

Our misfortunes shouldn’t be ignored. With all the money he has, it didn’t allow us to stay together after we were married. He had to leave only five days after we had our small wedding. I had to finish out the contract for those book covers, or I would’ve gone with him. His job went a month longer than anticipated and I was so lonely. Married to the man I love more than life itself, but I had to sleep alone in this monster-sized home.

It may seem very bratty of me to whine when others have it really bad, but even I get down sometimes. When your husband asks you if you think your relationship is cursed it can do that to a person. Our poor babies, their lives still hang in the balance. What if that is our fault somehow?

What if I was right all along and we are dangerous for each other, and now our children too. The overwhelming love and need I have for Max and he seems to have for me is not something I thought was real. Only in the movies had I ever seen two people need and want and love each other the way he and I do.

Max lost it when I left him. Drank himself into oblivion and nearly died because of it. That’s not normal to do just because a ding dang girl brakes up with you. Again, neither is agreeing to marry a man after a short time who you know you don’t love like that, at all! Then agreeing to have his children.

I still want to kick myself for doing that!

Another thing I’d like to kick myself for is listening to that idiot Ross who told me not to answer Max’s calls and the poor guy’s mother was dying. It’s something he should’ve never forgave me for, but he did and then we ran off and got married.

There’s no accounting for the man’s sanity, nor mine. So what if the babies don’t make it? Then what? Should we break up and try to live life apart?

We’ve gone that route more than a few times. Or should we give up our dreams of having kids and becoming a real family?

Maybe I could get my tubes tied and we could just live life alone, just the two of us.

Tell me why that sounds so lonely!

Max

It’s been five weeks since the babies were born and last night things became worse. Twice Zane stopped breathing and Zoey is having problems with her kidneys. The pediatrician told us these things happen in premature babies and we can expect them to have some problems in the first part of their lives. I sit in the neonatal unit and stare at the tiny beings who are mine and Lexi’s as they struggle to hold onto their lives.

Odd how even the smallest life has the will to hang on to it!

No knowledge do these babies have as to what life is even about. Suffering, pain, struggles, unfairness at every turn, and then there’s love. The heartache of love that’s lost and sometimes it’s lost forever. And sometimes, like the love Lexi and I have for each other, it can be detrimental to their own children.

If they knew all these things, would they still go through all this to be here? To be our children? I bet not!

Delayed development, both physically and mentally, is what we can expect, if they make it. One would think with each passing day, it gets easier, but it doesn’t. They could have problems with their retinas detaching and Zane can expect to have problems with his penis developing inappropriately, he may have problems urinating and have to have multiple surgeries to correct it.

He’ll love us for that!

If only I had been easier with Lexi that night. I don’t know why I went all out on her. I did this to them all because I had to feel their mother in the way I wanted to. I’m a selfish monster and don’t even deserve to be a father or a husband.

Maybe my father was a jack-ass like I am. Never knowing the man and knowing how my mother was, I just bet he was selfish like me. It seems I never think about what my actions can cause. It’s all about me and what I want, all the damn time. A hell of a lot like my mother was.

If she was selfish and my father was too, what chance did I have of not being that way too? Though neither raised me, it might be coursing through my veins the same way mine and Lexi’s bad luck is coursing through our poor babies.

One might think I can change, but I never even realized that about myself until I put our kids’ lives in danger all over a fuck. I just had to fuck her. The easy making-love stuff just wasn’t enough, I had to go all out and pound her.

It’s me who should be on the machines. It’s me who should have my breath taken away. It’s me who should have my life in danger. The babies don’t deserve to be punished for what I did.

A hand runs over my shoulder and I look up to see Lexi’s sad blue eyes. Tears glisten in them and I feel horrible I did this to her. She smiles, weakly at me. “We have to have faith, Max. We’ve been down long enough, it’s time to get ourselves on the path of believing without a doubt that everything will be okay and we’ll be taking our babies home soon.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, if something happens…”

Her finger’s touch my lips, stopping my words. “We can’t talk like that anymore. Doubt needs to be put out of our minds. Both of us have been walking around like a couple of zombies and that has to stop.”

“How can you do that to yourself? You’re just going into denial, Lex. It won’t help a thing if we lose one or both of them. And what about if they do make it. There may be surgeries and all kinds of health issues in their futures. I did that to them.”

Lexi’s eyes go wide, and she looks confused. I now realize I haven’t said a word to her about how I’m blaming myself for taking her so roughly the night before she went into labor. There was so much blood we had to get a new bed. Yet every time I said I was sorry, Lexi looked at me in confusion, telling me the doctor had said it’s extremely rare to carry a set of twins to full term. She said it over and over how this was normal.

Her lips part, but she closes her mouth and looks around as we are not alone. In the neonatal unit there are nurses all around us. She takes my hand and makes me get up as she leads me out of the room and down the hall to a private waiting room.

I look around the small room with a coffee machine and a vending machine with all types if snacks and then there’s a coke machine. This is what I can look forward to if these babies make it. Lots and lots of time in the hospital with them. Lots and lots of small waiting rooms I’ll be hanging out in as my children are operated on because I had to go and fuck their mother uber-hard.

Lexi sits and pulls me to sit down next to her on a little, green love seat.

“Now tell me why those words escaped your lips, Max?”

“You noticed that?” I ask, but I know the answer, I’m just stalling because I feel like I’m about to bawl like a big ass baby.

“This isn’t your fault, Max. This is no one’s fault. It just happens sometimes. Have you not noticed there are more babies in there than just ours?”

“Not really, I only see ours, to tell you the truth.” I look away as her eyes are sadder than I think I’ve ever seen them and it makes me sick to know I caused that look on her beautiful face.

“You are going to go see our doctor and you are getting help with your depression this time. I won’t let you sink as low as I know you can go. The reason I came to the conclusion about putting doubt behind us is because I was talking to an eighteen year old girl who just had her baby. She had a girl, and the baby was born with a hole in her heart, and an extra pinky and toe. Her head is misshapen as she was stuck in the birth canal for a good while before the girl’s parents took her to the hospital. They claimed they thought she was faking being in labor.”

“Damn, that’s bad, Lexi,” I say as I think of the pain the poor girl must have been in. “There’s no father in all this. She just had her parents?”

“The guy hauled butt once she told him she was pregnant. The baby was full term, and still things went wrong. You see, it isn’t anyone’s fault. Things just happen. Do you know that young girl is still pushing forward with the best attitude? She told me she has no doubt that baby will make it through everything.”

I shake my head. “Probably because she is so young and obviously clueless.”

“Let’s get a little more clueless. We don’t know the future, we don’t know those babies won’t make it through this and never have another problem. We don’t know a damn thing, Max.” She takes my hand and holds it to her heart.

“But, I feel like I have to think about the future.” I look away and scan the small room again.

“Stop that!” She grabs my chin and makes me look at her. “Stop looking at this room like it’s where you’ll be the rest of your life. You don’t know where you’ll be or how happy or sad you’ll be, but you will be.”

“You never answered me when I asked you if you thought we might be cursed. Has it ever occurred to you that most people don’t have this rough of a life?” I ask as I search her eyes for the truth.

“So what if we are? Are you willing to give this up?” she asks and I don’t know the answer.

“If they die, Lexi, it is something we should think about,” I say and am immediately sorry as she drops my hand, covers her mouth and runs from the little room.

Alexis

Time stands still as my heart breaks into pieces. I thought Max, and I were on the same page about if we have kids great if not great too, but it seems that isn’t the case.

He thinks we have this curse and now, after I’ve really analyzed it all, I feel he’s not a real safe person to count on in life. When hard times hit, he hits rock bottom. I was all about getting him help with the depression he gets when things go south, but now I don’t know if I even want to try to get him to get help with it.

I’m tired of tying my boat up to a dock that’s falling apart. When things are good, Max is fantastic. When things are bad, he’s not anywhere near the person you want to be tied to.

We should be there for each other through this thing and he’s been quiet and aloof. Physically, he holds me as we sleep and tells me he loves me. Mentally, I am on my own.

I made a commitment to him and by having those babies I have made one to them as well. If they survive, I will stay in this marriage as I promised the Lord above I would. If for some awful reason they don’t, then this marriage is over, I think.

Still dabbing at my eyes, I walk out of the small restroom and find Max standing in the hallway. His eyes downcast as he fiddles with the hem of his black T-shirt. His dark waves fall across his face. He never had the chance to cut his hair like he wanted to. He wanted to look like a respectable father and maybe it’s time I started acting like a real wife. The way my mother has been telling me to.

I call her every night to tell her the progress on the twins and she tells me what I need to be doing to keep this marriage and family going.

Have I done anything she’s said so far? That would be a big, fat, no!

I walk up to him and touch his stomach. His tight abs flinch as I touch them. “Come with me, we’re going to see if Cake can fit you in and get you that fatherly haircut you wanted so bad.”

He takes my hand as I extend it and looks up at me with tears running down his tanned cheeks. “I’m sorry I said that, baby. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“You have clinical depression, or so the symptom checker on Web MD said anyway. We’ll get you the help you need to get back on track. First a haircut and then an appointment with the doctor. It’s time I started taking my role in this family.”

Max’s lips turn up a little. “What does that mean?”

I run my arm around his waist as we walk down the long hallway, and his arm goes around my shoulders. “It means, my mother told me it’s the wife’s job to keep things going. When someone gets sick, I need to make sure they get better. When someone is sad, I need to cheer them up. And probably the most important thing that I haven’t been doing is to make sure that my husband is happy.”

“It’s not your fault I’m unhappy, Lex,” he says and I find he’s wiping his tears away with his other hand.

I stop and turn to him, taking a tissue from my purse. Gently I wipe his wet cheeks and dab at his red rimmed eyes. “Even rimmed with red, your emerald eyes are still captivating, my love.” I leave a kiss on his cheek and when his lips curve into a real smile, I kiss them.

It’s been so long since we kissed on the lips. Since that night as a matter of fact. A peck on the cheek here and there and he’s kissed the top of my head some, but not the lips and suddenly the fire rips through me as it always had before.

His hand runs up to cup my neck and his tongue pushes into my mouth. I can hardly think as he moves me back until the wall stops us. My arms wrap around him and hold him to me. I never want to let him go.

Our bodies mash together as he pushes his body as close to mine as he can get. Heat fills me and I ache for him, but we can’t do that just yet, it’s one more week before I get cleared for any of that kind of activity.

Slowly he eases up his hard kiss and my heart seems to be healing after its break. His lips leave mine pulsing and he rests his forehead on mine. “I really needed that,” he says in a ragged breath.

“Me too,” I whisper. “Let’s not wait that long to do that again.”

“I won’t,” he says then wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me to his side then we walk down the hallway and out the doors to get Max’s head screwed back on right.

Max

Cake smiles like a crazy person as she turns my chair around and I see a man I’ve never seen before. It’s me, but a more mature looking me.

“I’m gonna miss those long locks of silkiness between my fingers,” Lexi says as she gets up and stands behind me. “You’re still sexy as hell though.”

Cake laughs. “He’s still making my panties wet!”

Lexi smacks her on the arm. “Hey, back off! That’s my man.” Her arms run around my shoulders and she leans in and kisses my newly exposed neck. “I love you.”

I reach up and run my hand over her arm as our eyes meet in the mirror. “I love you too, princess. Thanks for making me do this. I feel better already.”

“Good, now let’s go get some lunch at an insanely expensive restaurant and have us some fun before the twins come home and we get saddled down with them.” Lexi steps back so Cake can remove the drape.

Cake says, “Oh, you two are about to smell like baby puke all the time and look like a couple of zombies as you’ll hardly get any sleep. How I remember those days.”

She surprises me as she pulls me into a hug. “Max, you take care of yourself.”

I hug her back. “Okay, I will.”

She squeezes me. “I mean it now!”

“Yes, ma’am!” I say as I laugh.

She lets me go and takes a step back. “Now I don’t know if you guys know this but I have five of them little rugrats, so if you have any questions, I’m only a phone call away.” She winks at me. “And, Max, let me tell you something about my third baby. That little monster was two and a half months early and scared me and my husband nearly to death. The boy is sixteen years old now. Not a thing wrong with him. He still scares us to death every now and then, but it ain’t from being sick or having anything wrong with him.”

“Really?” I ask. “How long did it take you to get over being afraid for him all the time?”

She takes my arm and leads me towards the door. “You never stop being afraid for your children, Max. It never ends, and that isn’t just the ones who start out scaring you, it goes for the ones born perfectly healthy as well. You just learn to live with that fear is all. You’ll get it, don’t worry, it happens to all parents.”

I turn and hug her one more time. “Thanks, Cake.”

Lexi waits by the door for me with a smile on her beautiful face. I walk up and take her by her already thin waist. “What are you smiling about? We’re going to be afraid for them the rest of our lives.”

“And when more come, we’ll have to be afraid for them too,” she answers with a giggle.

I run my hand over my newly shorn hair. “More! How will we ever make it through more of them?”

Cake laughs as the door closes behind us.

I hope she was just fucking with me!

Alexis

“She’s crying and I can’t get her to stop,” I say as I hold Zoey every which way I can think of, but she still screams as if I’m burning her with a hot poker.

Max gets out of his rocking chair which is next to mine in the neonatal unit. Zane is sleeping peacefully, so he places him on my shoulder and takes Zoey from me. I put my hand up to hold the tiny boy on my shoulder and watch as the moment her father touches her, Zoey stops crying and snuggles into his wide chest.

“Traitor,” I say as I look at the tiny pink bundle.

They are ounces away from coming home and we are supposed to be getting used to handling their still tiny bodies, which are appearing much more normal in size to me. Max is winning as usual. I’m an awkward mess, as usual.

“Tell me how you do that,” I whisper as I don’t want to wake Zane up.

Zoey’s eyes close, and she’s asleep. He speaks in a normal voice and it shocks me that he doesn’t wake her up. “You’re too nervous and she could feel that.”

“You know, ever since you got those diddly dang anti-depressants you’ve been on fire with these two.” I shake my head. “You really annoy me.”

He gives me a wink. “How about you, princess? Am I on fire with you?”

He’s horrible and I look around the room and see two of the nurses smiling at each other and I know they know what he’s talking about. I give him a stern look then roll my eyes towards the eavesdroppers.

A smile I earn and he blows a kiss at me. The rat!

My doctor said I was good to go a few days ago and we’ve made up for lost time. Though not quite as rough as I’d like to, but I can’t really complain. She put me on the pill and told me I had to stay on it for at least two years to be sure my body was really healthy enough to have another baby, or babies. This may sound crazy, but I know I want more.

It’s getting late and Max gets up and takes Zoey back to her little incubator. I try to get up while holding Zane on my shoulder and am stopped by one of the nurses. “Here you go, I got him for you, Mrs. Lane.” She takes him from me and turns just in time to nearly run into my husband. “Oh, sorry!”

He steps aside. “It was me who got in your way.” He runs his hand over Zane’s head. “See you tomorrow, buddy.”

I watch the nurse’s face light up. “You’re going to be the best father, Max.”

A green wave fills me and I begin to ride it as I stand up, but Max sees my face and grabs me quickly. “Let’s go, princess.”

I glare back at the nurse, but she’s oblivious to me. Our precious son she gazes at, and I know what she’s thinking. She’s thinking I’m a dumb person with no hope of ever taking care of my children and that Max is out of my league.

Well, guess what, lady! He picked me!

Max laughs as he pulls me into the hallway. “Wow! What the hell was that about, Lex?”

“You’re going to be the best father ever!” I roll my eyes. “What a bitch!”

“Yeah, I guess that was a pretty awful thing to say to me. I totally get it now,” he says as he drapes his arm around my shoulders. “Next thing you know she’ll say something really awful to me, like I have a beautiful wife and that I am so lucky, the horrible bitch she is!”

“You don’t get it, she was flirting with you. I see all of them and how they all look at you, like ‘what is he doing with her’, is their look. And what’s up with her calling you by your first name? They’ve been calling us Mr. and Mrs. Lane.”

“I think it was yesterday when I popped in after lunch and you were taking a nap that I told everyone to call me Max. So that’s why.” He opens the door and ushers me out to the Jag.

“Well, I don’t like that,” I say as I slide into the passenger seat.

He gets in the car and hands me my sunglasses. “Put those on so you can stop glaring already, hot head. Man those pills are already fucking with your hormones. What a jealous woman they’ve made you.”

“How can you blame my hormones?” I screech.

He holds his hands over his ears then looks at me. “I guess because you’ve never made that particular noise before.”

Sitting back, I look out the window. I’ve never been on any kind of birth control before, maybe he’s right. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut and that would be better until my body adjusts. “Sorry.”

His hand touches mine. “Don’t be. I should be more sensitive to your changes. I tell you what, let’s go buy something fabulous for the babies, and then go out to a nice dinner. I’m sure the babies will be coming home any day now and we want to be prepared.” He takes my hand and kisses the top of it and a calmness flows through me.

“Sounds good,” I say and lean my head back against the soft leather and try to relax.

Max

The phone call I’ve been waiting for since the twins were born has finally come and we can bring them home tomorrow. Lexi is already in bed and I was just down stairs getting her some ice cream and we were about to watch a movie, but I put the ice cream back in the freezer and my plans have changed.

We’re about to be very busy parents with little time for intimacy with each other, so I’m bringing some whipped cream and she can have me for her late night snack.

I open the door and find her reading a book as she lies in our king size bed. The pale blue comforter covering her, and a light pink, silk nightgown covers her back to normal size boobs.

I was hoping the fun size would stay around a little longer, but they didn’t.

She looks up. “What’s that and where’s my ice cream?”

After I close the door, I pull the T-shirt off over my head. “We have to take care of each other tonight.” I drop my pajama bottoms and her eyes go wide. “For tomorrow, our babies come home and we will be taking care of them.”

Her face lights up. “Are they really?”

I nod and shake the can of whipped cream. “So I thought you might like a little of what you asked for along with a lot of what you didn’t.”

“Oh my God, Max! Are we ready? I mean are we really ready? I know I’m no good with them, but you can help me, right?”

She seems to be starting to panic so I hurry to her and push her back against the pillow and shut her up with a deep, long, and completely wet kiss. The silky nightgown I begin to pull off her. I let her lips go only long enough to pull it over her head.

Her blue eyes sparkle as she smiles at me and I’m back to her luscious mouth. I grab the whipped cream and ease my kiss, pulling away a little I spray some in my mouth then kiss her again. She moans as I move my tongue into her mouth. Her hands flow over my hair and she grabs the small amount at the nape of my neck.

I may let it grow out just enough for her to grab hold of.

I push her back and pull my mouth from hers. A bit of cream I squirt around her nipple which is erect and ready to play. I lick it, then suck at her flesh, giving it little nips which make her arch up to me each time I do it.

A long trail I run down her stomach and lick it all away. She smiles as I look up at her. “I thought you brought that for me?”

I hold the can out to her. “You want some too?” Moving to lie down next to her, I hand her the can. “Be my guest.”

“Why thank you, you are quite the gentleman.” She gets on her knees and gets between my legs. Spraying a generous amount of the stuff on the tip of my super hard dick.

“That looks weird, like frozen cum,” I say and she giggles.

Her mouth glides over my cock and the cool of the cream and the heat of her mouth combine. “Mmmmm…,” she moans.

“You like that, baby?” I say as I watch her move her mouth up and down along my long, hard cock and get even harder.

I close my eyes and lie back as her mouth does things to me that make me feel unbelievable. Her strokes get faster and her fingers begin to massage my balls and she’s doing such a good job I’m about to lose it, but I don’t want to yet. “Stop! Come up here, princess. I want this to last and you’re about to make it end.”

With one long pull on my dick, she pulls her head up and smiles. “We don’t want that.”

She climbs on top of me and eases herself onto my dick and now it feels like home. My body loves hers. We fit perfectly together. I lift her up as I grab either side of her thin waist. Slowly I lift her up and down as she runs her hands all over my chest and stomach. “Faster,” she moans.

I move her faster and it just doesn’t seem like it is fast enough to suit her. “Harder,” she groans.

“Fuck it,” I say as I sit up and turn her over on her back. “Let’s get dirty, baby. This may be the last time we can make any noise for a while. Tell me how you want it and that’s how I’ll give it to you.”

Her eyes light up. “I want you to fuck me hard.”

I ram into her. “Like that?” I stop and ask.

The way her body moves up to mine makes me hot as hell as she whispers, “Just like that. I want you to fuck me just like that. Make me scream your name.”

I smile and nuzzle her neck as I pound into her. Soft kisses I leave on it at first, then her nails rake across my back and I bite her hard, making her scream and arch up.

Soft bites I make as I trail them over her soft flesh, down to her tight breast and I bite it hard as her vagina tightens around my thrusting dick. She screams as she comes, making us wetter than we were. “Max! Oh, God! Max! Don’t stop!”

I’m not about to stop. I pull out and flip her over, dragging her back to me by her waist. Her breath is coming in gasped waves. I ram into her again and her whole body quivers. “Max! Please, don’t…” I ease up a little as she screams and I find her body contracting like crazy as she comes hard, pulsing around my dick. Once she stops screaming, she moans, “God, don’t stop.”

I ram into her harder, amazed at how hard she’s orgasmed and still wants more. Harder I thrust into her as she continues to contact around me, making it hard to hold on. I slow a little and she pushes back against me to make it harder. “My ass wants to feel your powerful hand, Max.”

Small slaps I give it. “Stop teasing me!” she shouts.

I slap it hard and she screams at the top of her lungs and comes hard again, but this time I can tell she’s had enough as the top part of her body she lies down, leaving only her ass in the air. I let it go then, I’ve held it back so long I shudder as the juice shoots out of me and I find I’m being a lot louder than I usually am. “Fuck!” I shout as the orgasm makes me feel as if I’m falling apart.

Slow strokes I make until neither of us pulses anymore. Then I pull out of her and lie be her side. Stroking her long, blonde hair as she lies in front of me, I say, “I love you, Lexi. We’re going to be a real family. Tomorrow starts it all.”

“I love you, Max. I can’t wait to get them home with us,” she says, sleepily.

Alexis

Wailing fills the air as I sit on our bed and feel like joining them in their crying. Max is taking a shower, and I was left with two, peacefully sleeping babies, then one woke up and he woke up his sister. Now I’m panicking.

Neither wants their bottles, neither wants me to hold them. Neither have messy diapers, so I just don’t know what in the world these two little screamers want from me. And it’s making me mad that the minute Max comes in here, he’ll get them all squared away.

I’m their mother, for goodness sakes!

“Come on guys, please stop crying and tell me what you want.” I run my hands over each of their little bellies and make a shushing sound.

Wow! They both turned it up a notch as I made that sound!

“Hey, you guys should stop crying.” I begin to hum a little, mostly to calm myself down. I’d like to start screaming and run out of the room while I’m pulling my hair out, but that seems inappropriate right now.

Softly I rub their bellies as I hum a little louder so they can hear me over their deafening shrieks. Zane stops crying and just sniffles and whimpers a bit. The redness is leaving his little face, making him cute again. A little louder I get, to see if Zoey wants to join in the family unity Zane and I are having here.

I laugh a little as she looks at her brother and stops crying too, making little whimpers and her color starts to go back to normal. They look at each other for a minute then at the same time they look at me. I hum away and they stare at me and Zoey puts her tiny fist in her mouth as Zane gazes at me.

For some reason I find it the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and tears start flowing out of my eyes as my two babies listen to me hum a tune I made up. “Momma loves you, twins,” I whisper.

“I win,” Max says as he comes into the room, running a towel over his short hair.

“You win what?” I ask, then continue to hum.

“The bet with Hilda.” He sits down next to me in his pajama bottoms. “She and I had a bet that you would be the first one to call the babies that. You said not to ever call them twins when you’re talking to them. Do you remember that?”

Humming away, I shake my head, but I do remember, I just don’t want to tell him that. He rolls his eyes, most likely knowing I’m bullshitting him. “I got them to stop crying,” I say in a sing song voice as the babies look at Max and then me.

Max reaches out and runs his hand over Zoey’s little head. “I can see that. I heard them screaming like you were trying to kill them, then they went quiet and for a second there, I was afraid you’d actually done it.” He laughs and I frown at him.

“Max! Don’t be ridiculous!” I stop humming and say. The babies seem content and look around everywhere. “It’s taking me a while I know, but I’ll get the hang of this being a mother thing.”

With a gentle kiss to my cheek, Max runs his arm around my shoulders and pulls me to him. “I know you will, baby. I have all the confidence in the world in you.”

I’m glad he does. To tell the truth I’m afraid of just how long it’ll take to get into the groove!

Max

The year has flown by and the twins are in perfect health. I guess all my worrying about them was for nothing. Its odd how a person’s mind can be so consumed about what might happen that they stop wanting to live a life that’s full of people.

I’d have it no other way now. I sit back and watch Lexi as she plays in the shallow pool that we had put in just for the babies. That girl was a mess at first. She couldn’t hardly get anything right with those babies. Then one day, out of the clear blue, she got it. She fell ass-backwards into motherhood, kinda like she fell into everything else.

This crazy woman is planning on filling this house with children. She can’t wait to have another baby, though her doctor is making her wait one more year before we get going on that. Lexi wants to do it all over again with a newborn since she thinks she’s discovered what she calls ‘my gift’ with babies.

She’s not quite as good as I am, but she’s getting better all the time.

We take bets on who’s right about certain ways the babies cry. She almost always gets the wet diaper one right, but I get the hungry one right every time. We both get the cry when they’re tired, which is often.

It’s hard to believe just how many years she and I have been together, off and on. Now it’s on and I’m never letting her go and I hope she feels the same way about me. I’m pretty sure she does too.

“Come out here,” she shouts as she waves at me. “You won’t believe how they’re kicking like they know how to swim, the little geniuses.”

I get up and go sit in the shallow water with my family.

My family! Man, that took some damn time, didn’t it?

Alexis

Sunlight trickles into the bedroom as I watch my husband sleep, a toddler under each arm. Peaceful and quiet for now, but as soon as they wake up the whole mansion will be bathed in their laughter and the occasional screaming fight they have now and then. These two are both stubborn as mules and I have no idea where they got that from.

Or do I? Perhaps their parents are a little bit on the stubborn side. Max more than me, obviously.

We celebrated Zane and Zoey’s second birthday a couple of months ago. Then we got started on the next baby. When Max wakes up I have good news for him. I wonder just how happy he’ll be this time.

I just told him yesterday that I’d not be taking a pregnancy test until I missed at least two periods, but I was two weeks late and got antsy to know for myself. So, I placed the positive pregnancy test on a tissue on the nightstand, hopefully Max will pick it up before one of the twins does.

I sit and watch just to be positive they don’t. Everything they get a hold of goes in their mouths and that might make me toss my cookies if that went into one of theirs.

He’s starting to move a little and I can see his eyes beginning to open. Like every morning, he starts off kissing each of the little munchkins’ heads. His eyes meet mine and he says, “Good morning, beautiful. What are you doing? Watching us sleep?”

With a nod, I say, “I woke up and went to the bathroom and couldn’t fall back to sleep.”

Gently he slides his arm out from under Zane’s head, then does the same with Zoey. He climbs over Zane to get out of the bed without waking them up. “I can’t imagine that. These two woke us up three times last night, the little demons.”

I watch as he walks right by the little pink stick on the night stand and rubs his eyes. “You may want to look on the night stand, if you want to know what kept me awake.”

His nose wrinkles and his eyebrows come together. “What? Why is that?” He turns back and looks at the nightstand and then his face brightens. He looks back at me. “Is that what I think it is?” I nod and he goes to pick it up. “You said you weren’t going to do this yet.” He picks it up and the smile on his face lets me know he’s happy.

“Fertile Myrtle is your new nickname, Lexi.” He places the stick back on the tissue.

“Nope,” I say, gesturing to the table. “Pick that thing up and take it to the bathroom and throw it away now that you know. I don’t want one of the twins to get it.”

He laughs and picks it back up. “Straight into their mouths it would go, gross!”

As he passes me, he stops and picks me up into his strong arms. “I love you, Lexi.”

“I love you too, Big Daddy,” I say with a giggle.

His lips touch mine and I’m lost, just like I always get when we kiss. This is it for us, marriage and family and all the ups and downs that go with that.

And we couldn’t be happier!

The End