Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tessa
I lie in the bed on my side with Matthew lying behind me, his heavy arm slung over my body. I’d washed the sheets, which Matthew had seen as a challenge because we’d dirtied them up twice more. The man is a machine, his sexual appetite insatiable. I hear a stirring down the hall as Jackson makes little noises in his sleep. I roll my head to look back at Matthew, but he isn’t stirring, so I ease out from under his arm slowly, stopping every so often to make sure I haven’t woken him up.
I search the floor for my panties and tee. Finding them, I slip them on and head for Jackson’s room. When I round the door, he’s standing in his bed, sucking on his fingers. He lights up when he sees me. “Hey, little man,” I whisper as I cross to his bed, taking him under his outstretched arms and lifting his tiny body out of the bed. “What are you doing up at this hour?” I snuggle him close to my chest as I sit us both down into the old fashioned, refurbished rocker.
I rock, producing a rhythmic creaking of the wood as I move us back and forth. Jackson snuggles down into my arms with his head on my chest, his little rear sticking out over my arms I’ve tucked under it. The warmth of his little body fills my soul with hope that life can be better.
He lifts his head and rubs his nose on my shirt, wiggling down deeper into my arms. He still has that hint of baby smell, and I can tell Matthew had laid him down for the night, his aftershave still hanging to the little man’s bed clothes.
“You smell like your daddy,” I whisper to him, his hazel eyes lighting back up with the mention of his father. “I like him too, a lot,” I confess to the child that resembles the man I’m falling too fast for.
I begin to hum my favorite song my mother hummed for me as a child and continue to rock the little boy in my arms. I’ll never be able to understand how a woman could create something so perfect and disregard it, only thinking it’s just a paycheck.
I lay my nose against the top of his head, his light hair tickling it. I rock until he falls still in my arms, but I’m not ready to lay him back down just yet. The feel of his little warm body in my arms is comforting and calming. I lay my head back, still humming, and close my eyes.
~~~~~~
Matty
I roll to my side, finding her side of the bed empty. I sit straight up, looking around the dark room. “Tessa?” I whisper into the dark. I hear nothing but a light hum coming from down the hall. I turn and place my feet on the floor and grab my gym shorts. Pulling them on, I make my way down the hall and the humming gets louder. Tessa’s voice, and the sound of the old rocker I had restored, fills the room.
Peeking around the doorjamb, I find her holding my son, using her toe to push against the floor to rocking the chair back and forth. Jax is snuggled down into her arms as she hums a song to him. She holds him as if her life depends on it. His eyes are closed and his breathing is even.
She’d asked me to make her forget, and I had for a little while, but the softness of her features as she rocks my sleeping son is something only the innocence of a child can bring about. She’s so beautiful, even with her bruises and cuts, and she looks right with my son in her arms. I lean my body against the doorframe and cross my arms over my chest as I stare at her, marveling at how perfect she is. My son seems so peaceful in her arms.
An ache forms in my chest when I think back over all the shit this woman has been through. I made her a promise and I intend on doing everything in my power to keep her safe, regardless of what lengths I’ll have to go to, to make sure I keep that promise. I know my brothers will have my back.
The humming has stopped, along with the creak of the rocker, and I see she’s fallen asleep. I take in the scene one last time before I cross the room and bend to take Jax under the arms and lift him from her chest, but when I do, her arms tighten protectively around him as her eyes fly open. The panic I see in them only makes me fall that much more for her.
“Hey, babe, it’s just me.” I watch as she comes out of her sleepy haze. “Let’s get this boy back into bed,” I tell her as I begin to lift him from her arms.
She relaxes. “Oh, sorry.” She kisses Jax’s head before I remove him from her arms and cradle him in mine, still just as peaceful as he had been.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Tessa.” She comes to stand next to me as I lay him in his bed. I feel her arms around my waist as we both stand there, looking down into Jax’s bed, watching him sleep. “Don’t ever apologize for protecting my son,” I tell her. Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I guide her back down the hall to our room. Our room. Fuck me. I never thought I would have a woman here, where my son lives. That wasn’t the man I was. But for Tessa, I would become a fucking astronaut if she asked me to. The feelings and wants Morah stirred up in me, I found a week later in Tessa.
I push my shorts down my legs and feel as she watches me crawling back into the bed beside her. I lift my arm, inviting her to settle her body down into mine. She smiles down at me. “He really is great, you know?” She lays her hand on my chest and I cover it with mine.
“Yeah, he is. Thank you.” I lace our fingers together with one hand and rub her back with the other. “Get some sleep. I’ve got a surprise for you tomorrow.” I feel her body tense under my arm. “Nothing bad. You’re gonna love it.”
She snorts. “You can’t tell me something like that, good or bad, and expect me to go back to sleep. I’m like a little kid when it comes to surprises.” She pauses when I scoff, but continues. “Well, surprises that I’m aware of. You, I wasn’t expecting.”
“Same here, babe. I didn’t expect you either,” I assure, feeling as she relaxes into me.
She rubs the reddish scar on my leg with her fingers. The area is still so very sensitive, but her touch is light and soothing, making the hairs on my whole body stand on end. “Maybe one day you’ll tell me why you were shot.”
“One day,” I mutter, feeling her breaths even out as she drifts back to sleep in my arms. I place a kiss on the top of her head. “Sleep, baby,” I whisper across her hair, taking in her vanilla smell.
I lie awake with her in my arms, looking up at the ceiling as I wonder what the next couple of days will bring. There are certain things that need to be done, and I’ll call my father in the morning to see how those things are coming along. I have no doubt that he’ll come through for me, and for her. What lengths we will have to go to for it to happen is what has me worried, even though there’s no limit to what I will do for her.
~~~~~~
The early dawn sun sneaks around the curtains. Tessa and I are still lying in the same position we’d fallen back to sleep in. I gently remove myself from under her, stilling only to make sure I didn’t wake her. I have phone calls to make and plans to push through. I’m over this not knowing shit, and I intend on rectifying it. We need to find Jake and find him now. I have a message to deliver to him personally.
I check Jax before going downstairs to my office and close the door behind me. Retrieving my phone from the drawer, I dial my father, knowing he’ll be awake.
He answers on the second ring. “Hello, son.”
“Hey, Dad.” I lower myself into the chair behind my desk and cut right to the chase. “How’s it all going?” He sighs, setting my nerves on edge. “Fuck, what?”
“It seems it’s going to be a little more difficult than just a run-of-the-mill divorce. Her husband, Jake, seems to be mixed up in more things than one would think, and his father supports him. He actually helps him. He’s one dirty politician.” I sit for a minute, letting the information sink in.
“What kinda shit are we talking about?” I pinch the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.
“The things you deal with on a professional basis. Somehow, he buried the charges Tessa filed before leaving him. Nothing hit the news. His father has significant pull here in Georgia.”
“More pull than we have?” I ask him, feeling the dread pour over me.
He chuckles, and I knit my brows together in confusion as to what my father thinks is so funny. “Now, son.” And I listen as my father explains what he has in mind.
~~~~~~
Tessa
As always, I wake to an empty bed. I roll to his side, burying my face in his pillow. He smells so good, all musky and male. I smile when my legs fall together and the slight pinch I feel in my pussy when my knees meet. The man is a sex machine that’s fine-tuned to hand out orgasms and give pleasure unlike anyone I’ve ever known. Jake cared only about getting himself off in me, then rolling over and passing out, not ever once caring if I got mine or not. Plus, he had a little dick. But not Matthew. He has a goliath in his pants and knows exactly how to use it. I guess in all those years of him being a manwhore, he perfected the fine art of fucking, and I’m the lucky girl reaping the benefits.
I jump from the bed and rush downstairs, and find them both in the kitchen. I walk up behind Matthew and wrap my arms around him. “Good morning,” I say to him, burying my nose in his back.
He turns in my arms. “Good morning to you too,” he says as he wraps his arms around me. I smile up at him, eager for him to give me the surprise he has for me.
“Well?” I say.
“Well, what?” he asks with a gleam in his eyes.
“My surprise.” I tighten my arms around him. “What is it?” I push up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.
He smiles and looks up at the clock hanging over the sink. “You can have it in about two hours.” He looks back down at me with a satisfied look on his face.
“Two hours.” I pout. “Can’t you give me a hint?”
He purses his lips and tilts his head to the side, acting like he’s thinking hard about my request for a clue as to what he has planned for me. He holds up the index finger on his right hand. “I’ll give you one, that’s it.”
I clap my hands together, acting like a giddy child. “Yay!”
He levels his eyes at me. “After you shower.” He leans in to drag his nose up the side of my face. “Because you still smell like sex, added to the fact that I can still taste your sweet pussy on my lips. It’s turning me the fuck on.” A not so sedate shiver runs up my spine with the feel of his hot breath washing over my skin, and my body physically shudders. So does he, and I hear him laugh quietly in my ear. “You’ll need to wear jeans, and no flip flops.” He bites my earlobe, a low groan escaping from him.
As much as I’m enjoying what he’s doing to me, I back away and look up at him. “That’s it?”
His mouth turns down in a frown. “What do you mean?”
“That’s all of a hint you’re going to give me?” I ask. “That tells me nothing.” I push against his chest, feigning disappointment.
He tugs me back to him, wrapping his arms around me again. “Well, that’s all you’re gonna get.” He takes my mouth with his before I can protest, kissing me until we’re both breathless. “I’m crazy about you, woman.” His eyes are so intense, I can feel them branding me with the fire they burn with. Had he not been holding me in his arms, I would be a puddle at his feet.
~~~~~~
Matt
The words come out before I can stop them, and now we both stand in an uncomfortable silence floating around us. So I do the only thing I can think to do, I lean in and take her mouth again, pushing my tongue past her lips.
When I pull away, we’re both breathing heavily, her lips full and flushed from the force I put behind the kiss. I move my hands from her back to her face and cup it. Her deep green eyes glisten with moisture, and that alone tells me she feels the same way without having to say a word back to me.
“Want some breakfast?” I ask, right before I lean in and peck her nose with a kiss.
She smiles up at me, the motion pushing the moisture that had pooled in her eyes down her cheeks. I take my thumb and wipe it away. “None of that, Tessa.”
“I know, but you—” she starts, but stops to pull her bottom lip through her teeth as she thinks. “I keep waiting to wake up, only to realize this has been a cruel joke and the best dream I’ve ever had at the same time.”
I pat her cheek lightly, making a popping sound with my palm. “Not asleep, and yes, this epic shit between us is happening.” I smile, hoping I’ve lightened the mood between us.
Instead of pulling away from me, she tilts her head to lean her face into my palm. Her face a content canvas of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on.
She sighs as she opens her eyes again. They’re the greenest I’ve ever seen them as she looks up at me with a softness to her gaze. “Me too.” Her words are breathy.
“Why don’t you go up and get a bath while I make us some breakfast?”
“Sure.” Her eyelids flutter closed as she gently nods her head against my skin. Every minute I spend with this woman, I can feel her digging herself deeper into my soul, and I find it hard to breathe thinking about this woman not being by my side. I wish I could read her thoughts, hear what she’s thinking about my declaration.
But if I take from her actions what I would love to hear her say in words, she feels the same, but is being cautious because of her past and that’s completely understandable. The last thing I want to do is rush her into anything she doesn’t feel comfortable with. I kiss the top of her head and turn us both towards the steps and release her from my arms.
“Don’t forget you have a surprise coming,” I remind her as she backs away from me with an award-winning smile on her gorgeous lips.
She claps her hand together, her eyebrows flying up into her hair line. “Okay.” She turns and almost runs to the base of the steps. Turning to blow me a quick kiss, she takes off up the stairs.
I turn to Jax, smiling. “So, I think that went well.” He shoves a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, nodding his agreement.
~~~~~~
Tessa
I rush through the shower and for the first time in four days, I take the time to fix my hair and throw a bit of makeup on my face. The bruises and cuts are starting to fade and heal, so there’s no need for me to cake on the foundation. The jeans I choose are snug and make my ass look nice. The tee has a deep V in the neckline, giving just a hint of my ample cleavage. So much so, I have to adjust my boobs in my bra several times, just to get the tight-fitting tee to sit right on my torso. I shove my feet into the only shoes I have, other than my flip flops. I look at myself in the full-length mirror I’d found on the back of Matthews closet door. I’m not completely satisfied with what I see in my reflection, but considering what I’ve been through, I look damned good.
When I walk into the kitchen, I stop, waiting for him to turn and see me, fidgeting from one foot to the other in anticipation. When he finally turns, he quietly studies me from head to toe, and when his eyes land on my feet, he cringes. “White tennis shoes?”
I look down and then back up to him. “Yup. It’s all I’ve got.” I hold my hands out to either side of my body. “What about the rest?” I ask, a little dejected he didn’t notice the effort I’d put into my appearance.
He takes out his phone and sends a quick text, then looks up at me, smiling, motioning with his head for me to come to him. I don’t go to him, but I cross my arms over my chest, pushing my boobs up. “What’s wrong with my white tennis shoes?”
“There’s nothing wrong with them, they just don’t go with your surprise.” He points to the area right in front of him. “Come here.”
I don’t move. “So what kind of foot attire goes with this big surprise of yours?” I ask, shifting from foot to foot in a show of defiance.
He growls as he reaches out and pulls me by the front of my shirt to him. I screech in pleasure as his caveman actions melt my underwear. He bends down and wraps his arm around my ass before standing with me over his shoulder. He gives my ass a quick smack, making me squeal even more.
He stalks into the living room where Jackson is playing, the sight of us making the little boy stop and laugh at us. I feel as I’m falling backward and the air is forced out of my lungs when I land on the couch. Matthew kneels in front of me, taking my right foot in his hand to pull off the offending shoe and tosses it back over his shoulder, never saying a word. He does the same with my other shoe, and I giggle at the devious smile on his full lips.
He leans into me, his lips barely grazing my ear. “Do what I say from now on.” I inhale a deep breath as a rush of lust surges through my body, bottoming out between my legs.
I lean my head back to look into his eyes. “Yes, sir,” I smirk.
“I have your approved footwear on the way.” He stands, offering me his hand. With a lift of his eyebrow, he looks from my face to my cleavage as he shifts himself in his shorts with his other hand. “I do like that a lot though.” He says raising his eyebrows and tips his head in the direction of my V-neck tee.
I take his offered hand, making sure my upper arms squeeze my boobs together as he helps me up. “Do you now?”
“And this,” he reaches around my body, out of sight of Jackson, and grabs a big handful of my ass, “looks completely fuckable.” He whispers in my ear, his deep, sexy voice makes my nipples harden and poke through my shirt, giving my arousal away.
I let him lead me past Jackson and watch him bend and ruffle the little boy’s hair as we pass. I take a seat at the dining table, tapping my fingers anxiously as I watch Matthew move. The sight of his body does ease the pain of having to wait a little, and I smile at the thought. I know what he looks like under the loose tee and board shorts. His feet are bare and sexy as fuck. I study the tattoos on his arms and watch as they come to life with every movement of his toned, muscular arms.
His words flood back into my mind. It wasn’t an ‘I love you,’ but they were just as heavy and had the same impact on me as if he’d told me he did love me. I’m just as crazy, if not crazier for him than a woman should be after seven days. But the moment he’d said those words to me, my mind had gone blank. My heart nearly beat out of my chest and my body heated to the temperature of the sun. Then he’d kissed me, nearly bringing me to orgasm right in the middle of the kitchen.
“How much longer?” I ask again, sounding more like a spoiled, impatient child than the thirty-something-year-old woman I am.
Matthew turns to me, offering me a genuine smile. “Five minutes from the last time you asked.” He leans a hip against the counter and crosses his big arms over his chest eyeing me. I stop my fidgeting with the weight of his gaze on me. “He didn’t give you a lot of happy surprises, did he?”
I try not to let my shoulders slump as Matthew once again brings him into our bubble. I take a deep breath, knowing I owe him every explanation to any question he asks me. “No, not the good kind at all. But if you count a surprise slap when I didn’t answer a question he asked me fast enough, or a punch out of nowhere to the gut when I didn’t have his beer opened and waiting for him when he walked through the door, then yes.” I look up to see his face is flushed, and the muscle in his jaw ticks as he grits his teeth. “I got those regularly.”
He unfolds his arms and crosses to me quickly, pulling me up to his chest. “Well, those days are over. There’ll only be good and happy surprises from now on.” The safety I feel when he holds me is like a nice warm blanket that’s bulletproof. I can’t resist burying my nose in his chest and committing this moment to memory. I close my eyes and shut the fear up that keeps telling me Jake will get his way and have me back, meaning I’ll have to say goodbye to this man in my arms that I’m losing myself to more and more every minute I’m around him.
How I wished what he said about the surprises were true.