Chapter 14

Sean: Am I adopted?

Dad: Not yet. I haven’t found anyone who’s willing to take you.

-Text from Sean to Big Papa

Sean

I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her in tight to my chest.

With her tiny body pressed against mine, I had the distinct impression that she was still reluctant for me to be there.

“I’m sorry.”

The words weren’t enough. I knew that.

I’d taken the hurt I’d felt when she’d left me in the dark for a week, and nursed it until it was unhealthy. I’d taken it out on her and repeatedly punished her for making the decision not to include me in her life.

I had no right to do that.

All I could say at this point was that I was sorry. That I wouldn’t be that dumbass guy anymore.

She dropped her head until it rested on my sternum, nestled between the hard wall of my pecs.

“I was a dumbass. I was hurt, and I overreacted. I should’ve just spoken with you, but instead of doing that, I punished us both when I didn’t need to.”

Her hand rose up, starting around my waist, and slowly moving in an upward motion along the line of my side. My ribs. My armpit, around my shoulder, then stopping just below my clavicle.

“I wanted to call you,” she whispered.

My eyes closed.

“I wanted you to call me, too.”

“I was afraid that by asking you to come, you’d feel obligated, and I wasn’t sure we were at that point in our relationship yet.”

I growled in frustration, wrapping my arms around her and holding on tight for a few long seconds.

“How about we both stop assuming what the other one is feeling or wants out of the relationship, and we just go from there?” I offered. “Start letting each other think for themselves.”

Her hand slid back down my side, then in and across my belly as she moved it to trail her fingers through the line of hair that led down the center of my abdomen.

I caught her hand. It was like ice in my palm.

“Naomi,” I tried to pull away, putting a little distance in between us as I spoke. “I’m in a real tight place right now,” I informed her, stepping back one more step. “I’m on the edge, and I don’t want to make this any more complicated. Plus, you just had surgery…”

“Four weeks ago,” she supplied. “I’m not hurt. I’m not delicate. And honestly, I’m fucking horny. You’ve done nothing but tease me with your hot, sweaty body for weeks. You’re here, I want you here, and I want you. There’s nothing else to say to that.”

There really wasn’t.

If she was being honest, then it was time for me to be honest, too.

“I would want nothing more than to fuck you right now,” I started. “But you make me lose my mind. I’m in a place that’s not my own, and I’m not even sure I’m welcome here at this point since I’m sure you shared with your entire family, and all of your friends, the reason for your impromptu visit.”

Her eyes shone with laughter. “You won’t die.”

I dropped my mouth to hers, kissed the ever loving shit out of her, and then released her lips. “I won’t die?”

Her mouth kicked up at one side. “Correct. You won’t die. They know, but they’re not going to kill you while you sleep.”

I moved until I could push her to the bed, Naomi's soft body moving compliantly with mine as we went.

The moment her calves met the bed, she fell back to her ass and waited for what I would do next.

“I’m fucking insane,” I murmured to her before dropping down on the bed between her thighs. “Your friend’s husband is going to kill me.”

“Drew won’t kill you,” she promised. “He might scowl at you, but he understands.”

I didn’t really care if he understood at this point or not.

All I cared about was the fact that I had a hot, welcoming woman underneath me that I’d done nothing but dream about for the last twenty days.

“You got any condoms?”

“One,” I grunted. “Enough for now.”

She hummed in agreement, then started to buck her hips in little tiny jerks as I ran my tongue up the length of her jaw.

“Need to be quiet,” I informed her as I bent low, taking her sweet lips.

The moment her mouth met mine, I started running my hands up the back of her shirt, slowly sliding it from her body, one slow inch at a time. However, since my hands were fumbling in the dark while I tried to contain the woman about to explode before I could even get inside of her, it took a lot longer than I would’ve desired.

“Had dreams about you and this,” I told her gruffly, my fingers playing along the ridge of her spine. “About how you’d feel underneath of me again.”

She bit her lip and stared up at me as I slowly let my fingers dance along the soft seam of her panties.

She sucked in her stomach, and I took the invitation for what it was.

The second my fingers met her pubic hair, she gasped. Her breathing was already ragged, as was mine.

Her hand moved, skimming over my belly, and stopping at my nipple.

As her soft finger played over the sensitive tip, my eyes closed and my hip jerked reflexively as my cock pressed into her bare, soft thigh.

She moaned into my throat, and my hand shifted deeper into her panties.

My fingers moved of their own volition once my hand was completely inside her silky underwear, seeking the heat between her thighs.

Due to the stretchiness of said panties, my movements weren’t constricted in the least as my fingers delved between the lips of her sex.

I felt the sharp nip of her teeth on my chest, and I grinned, dropping my nose to the top of her head and inhaling deeply.

“Missed the smell of you,” I told her. “Missed the way you felt underneath my hands. Missed the way you would laugh softly under your breath as you read your books. The way you twisted your fingers through a strand of hair and twirled it. Most of all, though, I missed talking to you.”

She shivered in my arms.

The next few minutes played out like my dreams.

I finally dipped my fingers into her pussy, and the minute I did, she came apart in my arms.

She bucked, rode my hand, and cried out against my chest.

Luckily my shirt—which she’d somehow found and shoved over her mouth—muffled her scream, or we might’ve had the entire neighborhood knowing exactly what was going on in here.

The moment I was ready to flip her onto her hands and knees and thrust my cock into her hot, willing body, she pulled away and pushed at my chest at the same time, causing me to stumble back in surprise.

“What the fuck?” I barked in confusion.

She whirled around, pointed her finger, and hissed at me.

“Shut up.”

Her hair fell over her shoulders, and she smoothed it back.

My brows rose, but I held my hands up in surrender.

“What’d I do now?”

She narrowed those beautiful eyes at me, then whisper yelled at me.

“What did you not do?” she growled. “You ignored me. Left me with your dad while you went out and did Lord knows what.”

She didn’t actually say the words, but I knew what she meant.

“I didn’t have any other woman since you,” I informed her. “In fact, there hasn’t been another woman since the day I met you at the station.”

Her chin jerked like I’d surprised her with my words.

“You’re lying,” she accused. “There’s no way a man like you would go weeks without getting some.”

I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Well, I have no way to prove it to you,” I informed her. “But I haven’t. There hasn’t been anyone but you because you’re fucking under my skin!” My voice rose. “You’re all I ever think about. It’s like you’re some fucking disease, like the goddamn clap, that won’t go away!”

Her mouth dropped open. “Did you just compare me to chlamydia?”

My mouth twitched. “If the pustule fits.”

She made a gagging sound, then walked forward and smacked me delicately on the chest.

Likely, she’d given it all she had, though, so I chose not to point out that it didn’t hurt.

I caught her hand when she went to hit me a second time, and pulled her into me, clamping my arms tightly around her back so she couldn’t leave.

“What else is bothering you?”

She frowned ferociously at me, and I was silently thankful that she was mine, even if she wasn’t acting like it at the moment.

“I don’t like seeing you with Ellen,” she reported bluntly, surprising me that she would just come right out and say it.

I pulled her even closer.

“I was talking to her about you,” I told her. “She told me to stop being stupid. I was already well on the way to pulling my head out of my ass when she said that.”

She sighed, bringing up her thumb to nibble on the fingernail.

“I was probably overreacting on my end, too,” she admitted. “But I was heartbroken, and sad, and probably PMSing.”

“Probably PMSing?” I challenged, standing up. “How is that a probably?”

“Okay, I’m not. At least not yet. But I will be soon,” she revealed, also climbing to her feet. “I can feel my cramps coming on as we speak.”

I grinned.

“I already said I’m sorry,” I told her soberly. “What else do you want me to say?”

She went up on her tippy toes and placed her mouth to mine.

I took control of the kiss, tangling my tongue with hers, and moaned when she sucked my tongue into her mouth.

“Fuck me,” she whispered against my lips.

I flipped her around by her hips, flipped her hair off her shoulders, and pushed her to her knees beside the bed.

Her panties were the first thing to go.

Moments later I had my cock lined up with her entrance.

Sinking inside of her, I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and moaned.

She felt amazing.

My memory didn’t do her justice.

The hot feel of her surrounding my cock. The way she felt so slick, wet and ready for me. The way her muscles clenched tight on the tip of my cock, a feeling that traveled down the length of my shaft as I slowly sank myself completely inside of her.

It was better than anything I’d ever had before.

Naomi mewled, pushing back against me to force me to participate.

I, on the other hand, had frozen the moment I was completely inside of her. The moment all of that dewy heat surrounded me, my balls had risen up, threatened to empty with less than a thought.

“Don’t move,” I whispered out roughly.

She moved.

Lifting one leg up on the bed, she started to force herself back on me, despite my hand on her hips stilling her movements.

“If you don’t start moving,” she snarled quietly, “I’m going to get myself off.”

Before she could so much as move her hand toward that pretty clit of hers, I had both of them in my grip, holding them high at her back.

“Can’t do that when you can’t move your hands,” I grunted.

Her head fell, and those beautiful blonde curls slipped even further from the band at the nape of her neck.

I couldn’t resist the urge to wrap my fingers around the silky mass.

The moment my fingers entwined with her hair, she stopped trying to writhe on my dick, and became so still that I was worried I had hurt her in some way.

“Naomi,” I whispered.

“Please move,” she whispered, sounding on the verge of crying. “I want you to move.”

I moved.

Slow, at first, to try to control the urge to release into her body within the first half a thrust.

After realizing it was futile, that I was going to go anyway, I let go.

Using my grip on her hands and her hair, I forced her to take me, over and over again. My cock hit so deep inside of her that it bumped into her cervix with each powerful slam home.

The only thing holding her head up was my grip in her hair, but I didn’t worry that I was hurting her. I had no doubt whatsoever that she’d tell me if I was, so I continued with my hold, keeping her head where I wanted it.

The fingers of both hands were clenched on tightly to my fingers and wrist, holding on the best way she could.

The leg she had up on the bed was giving me the backward force that I needed to keep her in place and allowed me to push so deeply inside of her that I wanted to bury myself there and never crawl my way back out again.

Our flesh met, slapping together so hard that we definitely weren’t being as quiet as we should have been.

My balls started to draw up, still slapping against her mound with each plunge forward, and suddenly it all came crashing down.

She came, clenching and unclenching around me like tiny little fists massaging the length of my cock, coaxing it to give it what it wanted.

I lost control, pounding so hard inside of her that it was mediocre at best.

But I couldn’t help it. The way she made me feel, I couldn’t think rationally.

Couldn’t make my brain move as fast as it should be.

And then, with a sudden understanding, I realized why she felt so fucking good. Realized why it was ten times better than I remembered.

I managed to pull out, barely, shooting my seed all over the soft lips of her sex, crack of her ass, and back.

I watched as my come ran down her leg, and released her hand to catch it.

She was faster, catching it with her hand and swiping it up her leg to cup her sex.

“I don’t have anything to clean up with, and I’m worried if I start moving, it’ll all go everywhere. And I really, really don’t want to explain to my mother why I got jizz on her carpet,” she murmured worriedly. “How am I going to clean this up?”

I found myself smiling.

Backing away from her, I looked around the room for something to use.

The glow from the full moon didn’t offer that much light, though, so I walked to the door and flipped on the light switch, wincing when the bright light lit up the room around us.

“You’re standing in front of an open window with a light on, and the street is right there,” Naomi whisper yelled.

I gave her a look that clearly said ‘really?’

She bared her teeth at me.

“You’re in a cul-de-sac. There are two elderly people on either side of you and a fifty something year old man that lives on the corner. He isn’t home, because as I was arriving, he was leaving. He had a travel mug of coffee, which indicates he wasn’t planning on coming back any time soon,” I informed her.

She blinked.

“That was Mr. Monk. He’s a marathon runner, and wakes up at the crack of dawn to get his ten miles in before work at nine,” she uttered.

My mouth twitched.

“So no, I’m not worried about anyone seeing me. Old people can’t see in the first place, and there are no lights on in their houses for me to be worried about them being up at four in the morning.”

She just shook her head and started waddling awkwardly to the bathroom.

I grinned at her retreating back the entire way.

***

The next morning, I rose with the birds, after two hours of sleep, to find the house full of people.

I could hear them all talking in the living room, not trying to be quiet in the least.

That didn’t bother me, though.

It was ten in the morning.

They didn’t know that I’d driven to Kilgore from Alabama on less than an hour of sleep. They didn’t know that I’d nearly wrecked my motorcycle yesterday on the way over here.

Though, that likely had to do with the motorcycle that had cut me off on the interstate.

I’d had the privilege of staring at his silver fucking ponytail on and off the entire way.

He’d actually taken the exit to Naomi’s house, while I’d had to go to my friend Jack’s place to get directions to Naomi’s and shake his hand for helping me get the information on her so fast.

Slipping into my jeans from last night and the same black t-shirt that had more than a little road dust on it, I made my way out Naomi’s door to find the entire population of Kilgore standing in the kitchen.

It didn’t surprise me to find the cool eyed stare of Drew, Naomi’s best friend’s husband, directly on me the moment I came out of the room. Nor the eyes of her mother, best friend, and another man I didn’t know.

The only one not looking at me was Naomi, who was busy turning bacon over on a large skillet in the corner of the kitchen.

Her friend was on one side of her, and the large man whose name I didn’t know was on the other.

I nodded my head at Drew, thankful that Jack had supplied me with photos of the best friend and her husband so I’d have an idea of who everyone was before I arrived.

Now, as I stared at the fiercely protective eyes of the older man, I realized that Naomi had a true ally on her side.

“Sean,” I held out my hand.

It took the other man a moment to take it, but eventually he did.

“You hurt her.”

I did.

“I made her all better,” I supplied.

His eyes narrowed.

“She’s had enough jerking of her chain. If you’re not serious, you need to leave now before she becomes attached.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the man unblinkingly.

“Sean, do you want four eggs like usual?”

I looked up then, found Naomi’s eyes on me, and nodded my head. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

She grinned at me and turned around to grab eggs.

“Take a seat,” Drew ordered.

I ignored him.

Instead, I walked up behind Naomi, squeezed in between her friend and the man, and wrapped my arms around her belly.

“Everything feel okay?” I whispered into her ear, running my hand over her belly in worry.

I’d forgotten in my haste to have her that she was still sore, but she hadn’t once complained about my rough treatment last night. And now, with the light of day and my sanity returning, I suddenly felt awful about how I’d taken her so hard the night before.

She shivered.

“Perfect,” she promised. “Have a seat and I’ll bring you your food.”

I placed a kiss to her forehead and retreated to the seat Drew had indicated with a tilt of his head a few moments ago.

The moment my ass hit the chair, I turned my attention to Naomi’s mother.

“Sean,” I held out my hand.

She grinned widely, the move so much like her daughter that it was eerie. “Masha.”

“Masha,” I shook the delicate hand she placed in mine. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Naomi is always talking about you. She forgot to mention how much y’all look alike, though. You look like her older sister.”

And she did.

She didn’t look like a mother to an almost thirty-year-old.

Masha’s cheeks pinked at the compliment. “I had my son when I was young. Sixteen. Naomi came two and a half years later. We don’t look like mother and child, that’s for sure.”

My eyes widened.

Masha’s eyes were lit with laughter.

“I graduated high school at seventeen, and married Danny and Naomi’s father a week after that. Naomi was actually planned. He was in the military. Was killed while he was overseas.”

My heart sank.

“She never got to meet her father, but she reminds me of him every time she opens her mouth.” Masha’s words were soft, only for me to hear.

“What branch was he in?” I asked hesitantly.

“The Army,” she answered. “He was a Ranger.”

I nodded.

One of the best.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I murmured. “I’ve lost a lot of friends during my time in the military,” I told her. “It was never easy.”

Her smile was soft.

“You know my daughter tells me almost everything, but you she kept close to her heart,” she murmured. “I heard about you very rarely, but every time she did deign to speak of you, I could tell you were beginning to mean a lot to her.”

The kitchen chair was pushed aside, and I looked up just as Naomi placed a plate with my breakfast down in front of me.

“Thanks, baby,” I murmured, picking up the fork she’d placed down next to the plate.

She followed up by bringing me a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice.

After squeezing her thigh, I dug in.

It wasn’t until I was pushing my plate away that I realized I was the first one served.

“Shit,” I said, looking around at the people looking at me. “Was I supposed to wait?”

Naomi’s friend, Aspen, started to snicker.

“No,” she remarked. “It’s just not every day that Naomi doesn’t feed herself first. She’s selfish like that.”

My brows rose. “That’s not selfish. She’s got that rockin’ body that has to be nurtured to continue to look as delicious as it does. How else do you expect her to keep it?”

Aspen stared at me for a few long seconds, then threw her head back and laughed.

Drew touched his hand to the top of Aspen’s head and took a seat on her opposite side. “You taking a seat, PD, or are you just going to stand there all day?”

PD, the man that’d voiced nothing since I’d entered the room, looked at Drew for a few long moments, and then came to take a seat on the other side of Drew.

The table that was in the middle of Masha’s bright yellow kitchen, decorated in sunflowers, wasn’t small, but the moment it had three very large men surrounding it, it looked tiny.

I finished off the last of my eggs, then placed my fork down on the plate and looked at the man who’d broken Naomi’s heart.

“So, you’re PD,” I drawled. “How’s the wife?”

PD’s face turned from stone to humor in three seconds. “My wife just found out she’s pregnant with our second child. She’s currently cursing me and every man with a penis between his legs.”

I snorted.

“She have morning sickness again?” Naomi asked as she started to set down plates.

“Yeah,” PD said, backing away so she could place his in front of him. “Bad. Worse than last time, according to her.”

The sad thing was that PD hadn’t been around for the last pregnancy, so all he had to go on was what she told him.

Naomi’s answering smile wasn’t one of sadness, but of happiness.

And when she sat on my lap to eat her own breakfast, I realized that she was just as over PD as I was over Ellen.

We’d healed each other.