Chapter Thirty-One

All New

Juliana

As I make my way over to Carly, I can tell she is progressing very fast.

“How far apart?” I ask.

“Seconds, seconds.” She’s near panicking.

“Okay, you and I are gonna slowly make it upstairs to Brand’s room. He has a nice, big bathtub. Can you do that?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do this. I need a midwife, a doctor, a—”

“I just graduated from nursing school. I’ve helped deliver a dozen babies. It was my favorite part of my rotations.” I kind of guide her toward the stairs, which isn’t easy on crutches.

When we get to the bottom, she sits down, and I know she’s having a contraction.

“I say we let them call the ambulance and just get you into the bath in case your water breaks.”

“Okay,” she says through her teeth.

We are scooting up the stairs on our bottoms, while Bell and Brand are carrying my crutches, when her husband comes running out of the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” he asks as he bounds up the stairs.

“We’re going to get in a bathtub,” Carly grits out.

I move to the side as he starts to pick her up.

“Don’t!” she yells at him.

“Baby, don’t doesn’t work for me right now,” he says, trying to remain calm.

“Your hands on me doesn’t work for me right now, you ass,” she hisses as another contraction hits.

I look up to see Garrett is next to me.

“Can you start the bath in Brandon’s room?”

“Hell no,” Jase gasps.

“Just until the ambulance gets here,” I tell him.

“She’s not—”

“I need to push. I need to push now,” Carly grits out.

“Bathtub,” I tell Garrett.

“Jesus Christ, this is not happening,” Jase growls, picking her up. “Baby, fucking breathe!”

“Garrett, get there.”

He picks me up then takes the stairs quickly. “What else do you need?”

“Bag for my cast, towels, scissors.” I can’t help smiling.

He kisses the top of my head and sits me on the chair next to the tub where I read stories to Brand, and then starts the water.

“They said half an hour,” he tells me.

“Half an hour?” Jase asks, starting to set Carly in the tub.

“Shorts need to come off. Panties, too,” I tell him.

“Fuck me. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chants, while Carly leans against him, trying to remain calm. He tosses her bottoms to the side and stands. Then he grabs her face and closes his eyes. “Baby, you need to fucking breathe, you hear me? You need to, because we’re not in a damn hospital this time.”

She nods, and I notice she’s holding her breath.

“Please, Carly. Please, baby, breathe.”

She nods again, and then he kisses her forehead, her nose, her lips, and she finally breathes out.

“That’s it, baby, just like that.” He picks her up and sets her in the tub.

What happens next shocks me.

He climbs in, fully clothed behind her.

She leans back against him as he whispers in her ear. She smiles, and then laughs.

“Not fucking around, Carly,” he says, smiling at her.

“I know.”

“You and I are gonna be getting a little bit more personal here, Carly.” I lean over the side of the tub. “I’d like to check your cervix. Can you try to put your feet up on the sides of the tub?”

“She does yoga; she can put those pretty, little things behind her head, right, baby?” Jase says, rubbing her arms up and down.

“Not quite,” she groans as she lifts them.

“Well, good news,” I say, trying not to panic myself. “I’m pretty sure you are fully dilated.”

“How?” She pauses and holds her breath.

“Baby, breathe,” Jase says calmly.

“How do you know?” she asks as she breathes out.

“This head of jet black hair”—I take her hand and put it between her legs—”that’s your baby’s head, Carly.”

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God,” she cries out, and then clamps her mouth shut.

I look at Jase, who looks scared as hell. Can’t blame him. I am pretty nervous myself.

“If your body is telling you to push, Carly, you can,” I tell her.

Garrett walks in with a pile of towels.

“Look away, man. That’s all mine,” Jase snaps at him.

I look at Garrett and smile. He winks at me, avoiding looking into the bath.

“You got this?”

I nod as I try to reach in.

When I slip and hit my leg against the tub, I wince.

“Jase, you’re gonna need to move up here,” Garrett tells him.

“For what?” he asks through his teeth.

“Juliana can’t lean in like that. And unless you want Carly to tear, you’re gonna have to stretch her,” he says.

“I’m fine,” I assure him.

He looks at me. “No.”

“She said she’s fine, Garrett. I need to remind her to breathe.” Jase scowls at him.

“Not the time to have a battle, man.” He smiles at Jase. “But my girl has bruises on her belly, and...” He walks over and leans down, whispering in Jase’s ear.

Jase’s eyes open wide, and he nods.

“Baby, lean forward,” he says as he begins to stand.

“Jase,” she pants. “I can’t.”

Garrett moves behind her and leans in, putting his hands on her back. “You have support back here. He’s gonna deliver your baby.”

“He’s not a doctor!” she cries out.

“I’m invested, baby,” Jase says, squatting down in front of her. “And I know this part of your anatomy better than any fucking doctor. Tell me what to do, Juliana.”

I talk him through the stretching, while Garrett holds her back, and she pushes.

“Eye to eye with our baby, Carly. Gotta push so we can find out what sex it is,” he says soothingly as he stretches her.

“Jase!” she cries. “I know, I know. I’m sorry. I know we said we’d wait, but I know.”

“Baby, I don’t give a fuck right now, okay? We’ll fight about it later.” He smiles adoringly up at her, and then looks back down.

She pushes a few more times, and then begins holding her breath.

“Baby, you gotta breathe,” Jase begs.

“This is the hard part—the shoulders. Then it’s all over, Carly,” I tell her.

Garrett reaches down and grabs behind her knees. Jase looks at him like he wants to be annoyed, but shakes it off.

“Push, baby, fucking push,” he says, and she does.

For ten minutes, he coaches, demands, begs, and then...then their child is in his hands.

“Baby, you did it, you did it!” He pulls the baby up, and I quickly wrap it up. “It’s a boy. Carly, we have a son.” He laughs.

She leans back against the tub and laughs, too. “We do. I want him in my arms. I want to see him.”

Garrett hits the lever and the water starts to drain.

“They’re here, Momma Carly! The paramedics are here!” Bell yells as she runs into the bathroom and slips on the wet floor. Garrett catches her before she falls.

“Careful, little Bell.” Jase smiles as he puts the baby boy on Carly’s chest, and he starts to cry on his own. “Thanks.”

Bell walks over carefully to Jase.

“You have a little brother, Bell. Look at him. He looks like you did.”

She smiles and nods. “We can’t name him Hillary.”

“No, we sure can’t.” Jase laughs.

“We also can’t name him Donald.” Carly smiles as she looks at her little boy.

“That was the deal, baby.”

Bell snickers. “Ew, no way.”

The paramedics come into the bathroom.

“Got it all covered,” Jase tells them, grinning like a proud father.

“She hasn’t delivered her placenta,” I tell them. “He needs tests, shots—”

“Ma’am, we got it from here,” he cuts me off.

“Respect, man,” Jase tells him.

“Much respect,” Carly says, still looking down at her son.

“Momma?” Kiki, their little girl, comes in now.

“You have a brother, Katherine,” Jase says, picking her up and putting her on his knee.

“Not Donald, Daddy.” She scowls at him.

“Of course not.” He kisses her cute, little nose.

***

With the Steel family all at the hospital, Kat, Phoenix, and I sit on the deck, looking though bridal magazines, with Kiki on my lap; Natalia, Kat’s step daughter, on hers; and Bell by Phoenix’s feet. We are planning three very different weddings. Well, the little girls are. Mags is laughing at all of us, and all three of the Falcon boys are down at the cabin.

My wedding will be here in a month. I will have Phoenix and Kat next to me, which is probably the most ironic thing ever, but it will work. And I will be in Phoenix’s wedding, and Kat wants me to be part of hers, as well. She says she needs practice.

I rub my belly, knowing I probably won’t be showing for any of the weddings, but secretly hope I will.

Kiki looks up at me and smiles. Then she puts her hand on my belly and rubs it herself. “Momma had a baby.”

I smile at her. “She sure did.”

“You helped her.” She smiles bigger, and then reaches up and hugs me. “I love you.”

“Oh, well...I, um, I love you, too.” I hug her back.

She leans back and looks at me. “I love Brand, too.”

“He’s very loveable,” I tell her.

“He’s cute, like Daddy.” She grins.

Three hours later, I found my dress. Kiki Steel picked it out, actually. She makes me want a little girl, but it doesn’t matter to me either way. I just want everything and anything that includes Garrett Falcon.

When I start to get tired, Garrett and Brand walk in the door. Behind them are Grayson and Gage.

Garrett looks me up and down. “Tired?”

I nod. “But I’m fine.”

He looks at Brand. “Gonna take your mom down to rest. You wanna come or do you want to stay here?”

“Is it okay if I stay here?” he asks Gage.

“Do you even have to ask?” Gage shrugs. “Of course you can.”

“Mom, got a minute?”

“Sure, Brandon,” I say as I follow him into the other room.

He pulls a box out of his pocket and opens it. “I’m gonna give this to Bell. Dad helped me pick it out, but I wanna make sure you like it, because you’re a girl.”

I open the box, and inside I see a dainty but beautiful little horseshoe necklace with diamond chips.

“It’s beautiful, Brand. Any girl would like it. Can I ask what it’s for?”

“Planting the love seed. I mean, friendship.” He rolls his eyes.

“I’d go with friendship.” I close the box and hand it back to my little cowboy.

“That’s what Dad said, too. But I love her, I do.”

“I know, Brand, I know.”

Outside, Garrett insists I ride on his back to the barn where we will take the tractor down to the cabin. I will rest while he plans to start filling those holes.

He looks over his shoulder at me. “Impressed the hell out of me today, Juliana.”

“Well, thanks.” I smile, rubbing my hands on his chest, moving slower over his pierced barbells.

A low rumble vibrates in his chest. I know that sound. I remember it from all those years past. It’s a sound I craved until it wasn’t from him.

His steps lengthen until we are in the barn. He sets me on the ground then pulls his shirt over his head with one hand before tossing it on a stack of straw bales beside me. Then he grabs me by the hips and sets me on top of it. Walking toward the open door, he closes it then is quickly walking back toward me. He’s coming at me like he did every day after school.

When he gets to me, he grabs both sides of my face and kisses me. His trimmed beard is soft, and his beautiful full lips wet and hot. His tongue lunges into my open and wanting mouth harshly, but then he slowly licks inside my mouth, up and down my tongue. The sensation and promise of it starts the fire in my core.

I wrap my legs tighter around his trim, narrow hips, kicking off my lone flip flop and sinking my heel into his hard, muscular ass, pulling him forward, closer to where I burn for him.

One hand leaves my face, and he slides it slowly down my arm, moving across my hard, sore nipple, all the way down my electrified body until I feel the callused roughness of his palms sliding up my sundress and underneath the only thing I can wear as underpants with this cast on—his boxer briefs.

He slides his fingers in the seamed front, and I think momentarily how much I love men’s underpants and the access given without the elastic biting into my skin.

He slowly moves his fingers into my core and groans into my mouth.

I wrap my lips around his tongue and suck on it like I want to his big, beautiful, pierced cock. Never have I wanted to suck a cock, not ever. It was sickening to me, until him, until that night when he told me I had to.

My mouth waters at the thought of his taste, his scent, the way I want it deep in my throat. I want to feel the metal against the sides of my mouth. I want to feel it against the sides of my throat as I nearly gag myself because I can’t get enough of it.

He pulls back, eyes hooded, and sucks on my lip. He groans and bites down while sinking another finger inside of me. My back arches, and my hips thrust into his touch.

“Yes,” I whimper.

“You fucking want it, don’t you?” he asks, curling his fingers inside me and hitting that spot. A spot that has never responded to anyone but him. My love, my life, my everything.

“Please,” I beg as I rock against his touch.

“Fucking soaked. I need to eat that pussy, baby. I need you to come all over my fucking face. Need it bad,” he says, kissing down my neck.

I reach behind me and tug out the hair tie that cinches the boxers to my waist as he yanks them down.

He rubs them against his face as he breathes in my scent. “Christ, baby, if it gets to be too much, fucking stop me.”

He grips my knees as he sinks down to his then buries his face between my legs.