Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Tears welled in my eyes as I waved once again to my son while Mom, with her hand in his, led him down the airbridge to the plane. Time seemed to have gotten away from me; it was already school holidays and Drew was leaving to go spend a week with John in Hawaii. I was going to miss him.
It was as if I’d blinked and the months had zoomed by. Although, I had been run off my feet with orders, and right up to the due date for deliveries to be sent out, I still hadn’t been sure if I’d make it. If it hadn’t been for Drew’s understanding of how busy his mom was, or for my mom, who handed over her whole house for when my help arrived en masse, I would never have hit the deadline. Molly, Clint, Kenzie, Lori, and even Evelyn supported me, and as well as Kenzie friends from her work Dara, Angelia, Darby and Abby. Plus Vice, Grayson, Dylan, and Trent, of course, were willing workers. If it was not for all of them, I would have gone stir crazy, no doubt curling over in fear with the deadline looming.
My friends and family pulled through for me in big ways. After we’d organized a schedule for when they could help, we’d all put our heads down and bums up to make it work, and in the end, I got it all done. In fact, Darby, who was so very good using all the tools to make the delicate pieces, enjoyed it so much, I’d had no hesitation offering her a job just before everyone had left for the night.
Vice stumbled forward, Grayson coughed and then choked, and Kenzie cried, “Oh, yay. That would be so amazing. What do you think, Darby?”
“She already has a job,” Grayson clipped.
I gulped and heard Vice chuckling. “Now she’s not only my pain in the ass, but yours.”
Rolling my eyes, I snapped, “I’m not a pain in your ass, Vice.”
“Uh-huh,” he murmured, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissing my temple. “Which is why you fight me at every turn.”
“I don’t fight you. I merely state my opinion, which you sometimes don’t agree with.”
“That’s right, baby. And no matter how much cute you show me, I’ll not allow you to buy me dinner when we go out ever. Or pay for the movie. Or the fucking carwash so we can—” My hand landed over his mouth.
“So you can what?” Drew asked. When no one said anything, Drew rolled his eyes and said to Grayson, “They do this all the time. Argue, and then BAM, next they’re kissing. I’m never getting a girlfriend. I think I’ll have a headache all the time.”
It was later that night, after Darby agreed to come work with me once her contract was up soon for Grayson, I asked Drew as I tucked him in, “Honey, is mine and Vice’s arguing upsetting you in any way?”
“No, why?”
“I was just worried, is all.”
“Mom, it’s okay. I know it’s different when you and Vice do it than when you and Dad used to do it. Vice gets this look on his face that tells me he likes arguing with you and then when you’re kissing, that tells me you aren’t too much annoyed with him for it.”
Smiling, I nodded. My boy was so dang smart. “That’s right. It’s more playful when Vice and I bicker.”
“I know. He’s cool for you, Mom.”
“Thank you, honey. However, no matter what, I need you to know if anything bothers you, you can come to me and tell me. Anything at all. We’re a team.”
He holds out his fist, and I bump it with my own. “Our team is awesome. We have a big one now.”
“How?”
“Well, it’s not just me, you, Nana, Molly, and Clint anymore. We have Noah, I suppose Makala too, but she dribbles a lot. And Mr. Grayson, Ms. Kenzie, and all their family.” He searched my face. “Why are you crying, Mom?”
I laughed. “Because I’m happy you’re happy.”
“’Kay. Can Vice come in and read with me again tonight?”
“I’m sure he’d love to.” With a kiss, I walked out, taking the darn cat with me again, and went to find my man. He saw me enter the living room and was standing in seconds.
“Reading?”
“Yeah.” I sighed contently. “He wants you to do it again.” His own soft smile could melt hearts and make women swoon. As he walked past me, I got a quick lip touch, and once he was gone, I turned to Mom.
“You won the lottery in that one,” she said.
“I honestly did.”
Vice’s days, as always, were busy, but his evenings and nights had become mine and Drew’s. Even if he was tired, he’d come to Mom’s to either help me or spend time with Drew. Actually, Drew and Vice always seemed to be hanging out with each other while I was neck deep in bling. It was beautiful to witness the two guys in my life sharing their time and watching them care and love for one another grow. They shared words, looks, and even hugs. If Vice wasn’t helping Drew with homework, he was taking him to the skatepark to teach him to scoot.
Vice Salvatore was something special.
“Baby,” he whispered into my temple before kissing me there. “He’ll be back in a week.” Vice stood next to me, his arm tightly around my shoulders, while I cried over my boy leaving.
“I know.” I sniffed. “I-it’s just hard to see. I’ve never been apart from him. Oh, God. How am I going to handle his first school camp?” Turning into him, once Drew and Mom were out of sight, I gripped his tee and rambled, “Maybe I could go with him or at least follow and book into the same place they’ll be staying.”
“Adalyn, he’ll be fine.”
“But the teachers might not know what to do,” I whispered, my tone frantic.
He tried to keep his smirk at bay, but he failed, and I glared up at him. As I was ready to bite his head off, he leaned down and touched his mouth to mine. What started out as a touch of lips, soon changed when I slid my arms around his waist and held on tight. Vice took the kiss to the next level, and when I had Vice’s mouth on mine, everything else around me and in my mind disappeared. It was just Vice and me.
So when we broke apart to gain oxygen, I realized we were still standing in the airport kissing like we were teens.
Vice chuckled, ran the backs of his fingers over my cheek. “There it is.” I knew what he was talking about, my blush. “Want to know one good thing about Drew going and having you caught up with your orders, for now?”
He was right, the orders were constant, but I’d caught up with most of them. “What?”
“Means you’re staying at my place, and fucking finally, I’ll get the chance to be inside you.”
My clit spasmed along with my walls. Due to everything going on, Vice and I hadn’t really had a private moment… until then.
Biting my bottom lip, Vice smirked, and I asked, “Can we go back to your place now?”
His eyes darkened. “Yeah, baby.”
* * * *
The drive gave my nerves time to appear. The walk up to Vice’s front door gave me time to second guess my skills in the bedroom, and the front door being pushed wide from Vice gave me time to ask myself if it would look bad if I made a run for it. What happened if I couldn’t please Vice in some way? Heck, I hated the smell of semen, and I hadn’t even told the man of my dreams yet.
Once I stepped in, I faced Vice. He came in studying me and shut the door behind himself with a flick of his wrist, not even looking at it. “You okay?” he asked.
“I hate semen.”
His approach stopped, his body locked, and he muttered, “Sorry?”
Throwing up my arms, I paced in front of him and admitted, “Ever since I was young, well not too young, but when I became sexually active, I discovered the smell and taste of semen makes me gag and feel nauseous.” Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair and added, “I’m sorry, I should have told you right from the start. Then again, no man would want to hear his partner could vomit from his scent or taste. God, I’ve led you on, and now we’re finally at this stage, I wanted things to be perfect because you’re perfect, and I was really looking forward to getting horizontal with you in so many ways. I swear just the sight of your naked body I could climax over it, but now I’ve ruined it. I should go.” I started to walk around him when my waist was seized in a strong grip.
With his front pressed against my back, his mouth touched my ear. “Been waiting a bloody long time to have you in my house alone. You’re not leaving, baby. You’re scared. I get it. Don’t care about your dislikes, Adalyn. Well, I do, but we’ll do it in a way you’ll never have to care about it.”
“O-okay.”
“Good,” he clipped roughly and then sucked my lobe into his mouth. I gasped and shifted my head to the side, while he licked and sucked on the outer shell of my ear.
Never thought I would be an ear woman, yet there I was getting drenched from it.
Vice took one hand from my waist and slid it around to my breast. He gripped. My head fell back and hit his shoulder.
“Want me to stop now?”
“Don’t you dare.”
He chuckled. “I want you on my bed, baby. Been picturing it for a long time.”
“Yeah?” I breathed.
“Oh, yeah.”
“D-do you touch yourself while thinking it?”
He pinched my nipple, and my legs shook. Dipping in, he bit my neck and then glided his tongue up to my ear again. “All the damn time.” He sucked in my lobe, and I quivered. “Jesus, I bet you’re wet already.”
“Are you hard?” I asked, then gasped when he thrust his cock into my lower back.
“That answer your question?” He massaged my other breast.
“Vice?”
“Right here, baby.”
“Please.”
“What do you need?”
“Take me to your room.”
“Gladly.”
I let out a squeal when he swooped me up bridal style and stalked toward the hall.
“I’m too heavy. Put me down.”
“Shut it.”
“Vice,” I snapped. “Do not tell me to shut it.”
“I will when you talk silly about yourself.”
I wasn’t sure if he realized my heart just contracted hard, but it did, which was why I exclaimed, “God, I love you.”
His steps faltered for a second. He glanced down at me, and I had never seen his eyes so soft or warm. “What did you say?” In his room, he let go of my legs. They dropped to the floor, and before I could step away, he swung my front into his. “What. Did. You. Say, Adalyn?”
“Um… I love dew? It’s lovely to see in the mornings.”
“Baby, say it again.”
“I love dew?”
“No. What you really said.”
Sighing, I glanced to the left, the right, and then up at the man who held my soul. “I love you. It just popped out. I’m so—”
His hand covered my mouth. “Don’t. Don’t take that away from me by apologizing.”
When he slid his hand from my mouth, and both palms cupped my cheeks, I took it as a chance to start talking. “But—”
“No,” he clipped, interrupting me. I glared, and he replied with a smirk. Leaning in, he touched his mouth to mine, once, twice. “I was enchanted by you from the first sight, I was falling when you pissed in front of me,”—I groaned—“and I fell in love with you when you searched my pants for stains.”
Blushing at the memory of eyeing his crotch, I licked my dry lips. His hands went to my waist and mine to his chest. “You love me?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
He grinned. “Yes, baby.”
Nodding, I shifted my gaze to his neck and nodded again. Okay, Vice loved me… holy shit.
“Adalyn, are you going to stay shocked for a while or can we move things forward?” Vice asked, humor lightening his voice.
Clearing my throat, I met his gaze. “Moving forward sounds good to me.”