Kimber

It’s been three weeks since we brought Grayson home from the hospital. I’m amazed more and more every day at how much I love this beautiful baby boy. I cannot fathom how his biological father could ignore his existence. I don’t know why it bothers me so much because Julián more than makes up for Caleb’s absence.

He is an amazing man. I’d go so far as to say he’s perfect. Maybe not for everyone but he is for me. Some women might not understand his goofy side or want to deal with his occasional bouts of immaturity but that’s what makes him, him. And I adore him.

A streak of dust mot ridden sun streams in through the floor to ceiling windows this morning as I rock a content Grayson and I wonder if it’s even safe to breathe this air. Becoming a mother makes you worry about the strangest things. Becoming a father must do the same thing because Julián has suddenly become a neat freak.

When we met I was surprised that a successful Marine was so unorganized in his personal life. Being an interior designer, we made the perfect couple. He had a mess and I loved cleaning it up.

I took his bachelor pad disaster in California and turned it into a home full of character and charm just in time to be moved across the country and do it all over again. I was pretty excited about it to be honest. His house in San Diego sold for much more than it would have before I redecorated and did a few small renovations.

And as if Karma weren’t blessing me enough with Julián, his permanent change of assignment was a move to my home state of North Carolina. My life is surreal now, a new husband, well almost. A new baby, new house, and I get to be back home near my family, life is perfect… and that’s what has me worried.

The one drawback of moving back to North Carolina is that Caleb is here. That’s why I left in the first place. It was too painful seeing him in all our familiar places and running into our friends who couldn’t believe we had broken up. We were the ideal couple or so they thought. Caleb had them all fooled, even me.

He wasn’t physically or emotionally abusive. He was indifferent. I hadn’t experienced love like I have with Julián then. I didn’t know any better. We weren’t any different than our friends. We went out to dinner occasionally, had missionary vanilla sex once a week and went to a movie when there was something Caleb wanted to see in the theater. Our marriage was normal, boring, lackluster. I thought it was supposed to be like that.

Wow, was I wrong.

Now I’m engaged to a sexy Latin lover and we live in the sweet little town of Jewel Falls with our new son. We’re twenty minutes from the base and my family and a solid hour from Shipton where Caleb and I built our life together for three years.

I couldn’t be happier except for the annoying sensation that something or someone is out there waiting to steal my little slice of paradise. It’s probably stupid but after having the rug ripped out from under me by Caleb when I got pregnant, I’m leery of anything that feels too good to be true.

And Garcia and Grayson feel too good to be true.

“Hey there, my beauty and my little beast, how are you two doing this fine morning?”

I sensed him before he entered the room. I smelled the aroma of almond lotion on his warm freshly showered skin and felt the atmosphere lighten with the smile that is sure to be gracing his face.

I look up when he stops my chair from rocking from behind and find him, as I knew he would be, smiling down at Grayson and me. He winks and kisses the top of my head before rounding to sit on the coffee table in front of me. He places his hands on my bare knees and slides them up to my thighs. His eyebrows pop up and he whispers, “Only three more weeks.”

I chuckle because I know we will never last three more weeks. We have exhausted every avenue of oral sex, heavy petting, and even a touch of anal so far during our six-week no penetration prison sentence.

I had an easy delivery, Grayson was only seven pounds and I’m pretty surprised at how comfortable I am but Julián refuses to break the rules. He’s come close, pun intended. I’m sure we won’t be able to hold out. Technically, we are still in the early dating stage of a relationship, we’ve only been together six months.

We had a nonconventional start when we met, with me being five months pregnant and all. We had sex, a lot of it, but I could tell he was holding back, afraid he would hurt the baby or me.

It’s been like a slow burn building for months. When the doctor gives us the green light to go full-out we may have to get a babysitter for a few days.

He describes the things he’s going to do to me, the positions and sensations, everything in detail right down to the smells and how he’s going to make me orgasm over and over until I beg him to stop.

He’s talented, the way he expresses his desire and whispers dirty scenes in my ear while he’s slowly, carefully having his way with me. He could make a fortune writing erotic romance novels but I’ll never suggest it. I want his dirty sexy thoughts to be all mine. His words turn me on but it’s the visuals that get stuck in my head on repeat like naughty little movies staring Garcia and me.

I can’t wait. I literally cannot wait.

“You have that look.”

“What look?”

“The I know something that you don’t know look. What’s going through that pretty head of yours this morning?”

I shake my pretty head and smile. “You. You’re so charming and handsome and horny.”

He shrugs and kisses the tip of my nose. “It’s your fault. I was born handsome, I’m naturally charming but if you weren’t so fucking… shit, I mean darn irresistible I wouldn’t be so horny. And look who’s talkin. You’re been pretty frisky when this little man goes down for his naps. What ever happened to sleep when the baby sleeps like we learned in Lamaze?”

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“You’re gonna be one tired mama then.”

“Maybe so, it’ll be worth it.”

“You better believe it.” He smiles a I promise you that smile and glances toward the front door.

“Expecting someone?”

“Yes, I have a surprise for you. Remember Major Valentine that I met in California? The one who’s friends with my grandpa?”

“Yeah, the one who’s girlfriend’s brother is being convicted of murdering their aunt?”

He groans. “I was hoping you hadn’t heard about that part.”

I cock my head to the side, “Why, Garcia? Why were you hoping I didn’t know?”

“Well, Valentine lives straight across the street and his girlfriend lives with him now. She’s been having a really hard time since her brother kind of went crazy and I invited her over to spend time with you this morning until your mom gets here.” His explanation started out slow and calculated but it ended in a jumble like he was just trying to get it over with.

“Oh.”

“Oh? Oh, good I’m glad I won’t be alone when you go to work. Or, oh shit, I don’t want a stranger with a killer brother in my house?”

“Oh, I’m surprised and Oh, I’m not sure how I feel about all that.”

“I met her a couple days ago when she was outside helping the Major do yard work. He’s going blind. Did you know that? Well he is, it sucks. He got a service dog two weeks ago, it’s so cute. Maybe we should get a dog? He’s a great guy and she seemed really cool but lonely, ya know? I think she could use a friend.”

He’s nervous and rambling. I feel bad for making him this way but I’m honestly not sure how I feel about having company. Especially someone I don’t know but they are our neighbors so I should make some effort.

“Okay. I’ll hang out with her for a while. When is she supposed to be here?”

“Like, right now.”

“Are you leaving for work?”

“I’ll introduce you guys then I gotta go. Major Valentine is home, though, so she won’t stay too long if you want to nap before your mom gets here. What time is she coming again?”

“She’s bringing lunch so probably noon.”

“So you’re okay with this?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks, baby. This block is pretty cool, there are several military couples living here. We can watch out for each other.”

“I like that. Reminds me of ’it takes a village’ and all that stuff.”

“Yep, I think we’re the only ones with a kid, though, but Valentine’s marrying his girl Tiana and I bet they have a kid pretty soon. I have another surprise for you.”

“Two in one day?”

“Yep. More neighbors.”

“You sound excited about this one, should I be nervous?”

“Not unless living two houses away from your friends Mattie and Belle makes you nervous.”

“Shut up, now way! She’s out of the hospital? How is she? The last I heard she was having memory problems from her head injury.”

“It’s been a long recovery but she’s doing better.”

I grew up with Mattie here in North Carolina. We were part of a group of military brats who were lucky enough to go all the way through high school together without getting relocated. Violet, who now lives in Oceanside with her fiancé Major Steele was one of those friends. Her brother Taye was best friends with Matt, or Mattie as we always called him.

When Mattie and Belle were getting married they had a big weekend long party with activities and outings in Oceanside and that’s where I met Garcia. Garcia was best friends with Major Steele who swept Violet off of her feet and asked her to marry him not long after Garcia asked me.

Before Mattie and Belle could get married there was a terrible earthquake that injured both of them. Mattie had a badly broken leg and Belle was in a coma with a severe head injury for weeks. I had no idea they were being relocated out here, and what a coincidence they’re living on the same block in the same tiny town.

“That’s a lot of Marines living on the same block in a town that’s not known to be a military town, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, well I think the relator has it out for the old lady across the street. Drake says she had a hissy when he bought a house next door to Jayden who is Tiana’s brother. She doesn’t like military men, she thinks we’re dangerous.” He wiggles his fingers stretching out the word dangerous. “And that Jayden guy went and proved her right.”

“Well, maybe we can restore her faith in Marines by being awesome neighbors.”

He snorts, “Good luck. She’s already told me to keep off her property and that I don’t keep my grass short enough.”

“Give me some time, she’ll love us.”

A knock at the door signals the arrival of my new neighbor. Grayson stretches in his sleep flopping his arms up above his head and demanding more space on my lap.

Julián stands and I eye his glorious muscular ass in his khaki uniform pants as he strolls to the front door. For a couple of seconds, I wish the whole world would fall away so I could strip him down and bite his ass cheek.

My God, what have I become? I sound like a nymphomaniac. I never had thoughts like this about Caleb. He never made me feel like Julián does, though, nowhere close.

He swings open the door and standing there holding a giant Tupperware container is a drop-dead gorgeous, tanned, toned woman. She’s dressed in fluorescent pink jogging shorts and a tank top that accentuate her dark skin so much it’s glowing. She looks like a model for Nike sportswear.

“Hey, thanks for inviting me, I brought you guys some cookies. Drake made them, you wouldn’t want them if I had.”

Julián reaches for the box with a little too much enthusiasm. He is my true soulmate because he loves cookies as much as I do. “Don’t underestimate yourself, we love cookies, I bet we’d even eat yours.” He takes the box from her hands and steps aside so she can come in.

“Tiana, this is my fiancé Kimber and our son Grayson. Kim, this is Tiana.”

Her face instantly squishes up into that face people make when they see a new baby. She oohs and aahs while squatting down to get a better look. She shakes my hand congratulating me and then turns to do the same to Julián.

When she looks up at me I almost gasp at the sight of her unique eyes. One is as blue as the Caribbean on a still sunny day and the other is brown like the richest coffee beans.

“Babe, you okay?” Julián asks when I stare a little too long at Tiana.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry it’s just, your eyes, they’re so…”

“Unique? Yeah, it’s okay. That’s the first thing everyone notices about me. My mother-in-law-to-be says I have two souls, one that belongs to each eye.”

“I think I’ve heard that before, too. You should model, I bet you’d make a killing.”

Shit. How could I be so stupid? You can always count on me to stick my foot into my mouth when talking to someone new. The three of us freeze and Julián’s eyes pop.

He’s pretty famous for saying stupid things but this time I’ve beat him to it.

Tiana stands clasping her hands together trying to ignore my faux pas. “A couple people in New York mentioned that to me but I was focused on singing at the time.”

I reach out and take her hand, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean…”

She squeezes my hand and I know right away we are going to be fast friends. She shakes her head, closes her eyes and furrows her brow. “I know, it’s fine, it happens all the tie, I’m learning not to be so sensitive about words like that.”

“Ladies, I’m really sorry but I have to get going.” He holds out his hands palms down, “Everything going to be all right here?” he asks with his eyes darting between Tiana and I looking for quick confirmation.

“Yes, of course silly, get to work before you get into trouble.”

He looks at Tiana. “Oh my gosh, yes, I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for, you’ll understand that better once you get to know me.” Juliàn grins ear to ear and I roll my eyes. Yep, he’s right. There’s no doubt she will learn that it’s usually him embarrassing himself with goofy comments and slip-ups and not me. “Bye, baby, I love you.” He places a soft kiss on my lips. “And bye, little man, I love you, too.” He bends to kiss Grayson on the forehead and I whisper ‘three weeks’ into his ear. He pauses before standing and smiles seemingly at Grayson but I know it’s for me.

I watch him grab his duffle bag and leave. It’s hard to watch him go after having him to myself for two weeks. Something pinches at my heart and I tell myself that it’s the hormones making me so needy.