Sadie Jameson’s hair was slightly mussed after the rec eption. A few strands of it fell across his forehead as he looked at me. His lips were a little swollen from all our kisses, his pupils all but swallowing those hazel irises. We stood together next to his — our — bed in his mansion at the Westwood Estate, that same summery scent wafting in on the breeze and the music from the rec eption carrying gently across the distance. Night had fallen outside. The moon, bright and full, rose sl owly into a sky glittering with stars and cast a silvery glow on Jameson where he stood in front of me. Those strong features were a study in contrast and shadow, but they were soft tonight. His eyes didn’t leave mine as we stared at each other in complete silence. There was nothing awkward about it, though. In fact, it felt kind of sacred. Just a quiet moment in the near dark of the opulent bedroom we would be sharing from now on. I was the first to break it. My hands drifted up so I could trace the sharp lines of his face with my fingertips, and I asked the question that had been burning on my tongue for a couple weeks. “I’m not on the pill,” I started quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. “I meant to talk to you about birth control before we got married, but we never got around to it with everything else that was going on. What do you want to do?” He caught my cheek in his palm, gently stroking his thumb across my cheekbone. A soft groan rumbled through his chest. “What I want is to have you as my wife for the first time without anything between us, but that could have consequences we haven’t spoken about just yet.” “That’s why I’m asking.” I smiled as I pushed myself up on my toes and nuzzled his jaw. “I want to be able to feel you, Jamie. Really feel you. I want to know what it feels like when you, well, you know...” “When I come?” He let out a low, throaty chuckle. His head shook slightly before he groaned again and tightened his grip with the arm around my hips. “Yeah, I want that too. For the
record, I also want you to be able to say stuff like that, or anything else, to me. Whatever you want to say, you never have to be shy, but we’ll shelve that for now.” I took the last tiny st ep closer to him. My body fused to his. I glanced up at his profile. “I guess it’s simple, then. We either surrender to what we both want now and face the potential consequences if they come our way, or we protect ourselves tonight, look into birth control tomorrow, and wait a while.” “I’m done waiting,” he said decisively, pulling back a little to look into my eyes, those hazel eyes moving slowly from one of them to the other. “I know we’ve only spoken about kids in a someday sense, but I’m ready to roll the dice. I want everything wit h you and that includes a baby or five. If you want to give it time ■ — ” “Let’s roll the dice,” I murmured, pressing my lips to the underside of his jaw again and speaking against his skin. “I love you, Jameson. I’ve been thinking about this and I don’t want to ke ep waiting either. We’ve already lost so much time together and I know that you’re my future. My present. My past. My everything, so really, what would we actually be waiting for?” His breath caught in his lungs, and the next thing I knew, he was carrying me the few st eps to the bed. Laughing, he tossed me down on the mattress and quickly covered my body with his own. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer, meeting his se aring kiss with one of my own. All the while, my heart was pounding and my insides had turned to liquid heat, anticipation bringing every nerve in my body to life. But instead of just sliding into me, Jameson dragged his lips away from my mouth to dot kisses on my eyelids, my jaw, my ea rs, and even my chin. I moaned and stroked my fingers through his hair, my free hand roaming the planes of his back. I shivered with need underneath him. Even then, he wasn’t hurried, hands trailing along my sides and exploring every inch of me while his mouth and tongue k ept that same slow, downward trajectory. Forcing myself to inhale a de ep breath, I arched my back when he sucked a nipple between his lips, grazing the hardened tip with his teeth before he moved over to the next one. “Jameson.” His name fell like a whispered plea from my lips. He glanced up at me, eyes dark and serious, but his own breathing harder now too. “Okay.” “Okay?” I frowned, holding his gaze and wondering if I’d missed something. “Okay what?”
Those lips curved into a lazy smirk, but the next thing I knew, he was bracing himself on his hands planted on either side of my head. The scent on his cologne wrapped around me like a blanket, rich and spicy, but with earthy notes that made me feel like I ’d come home. “I was going to take this slow tonight,” he murmured. “Really cherish every of moment of you being my wife now, you know?” “How noble.” I smiled and scraped my fingernails against his scalp, relishing the way it made him tremble above me. “It still doesn’t explain what you meant when you said okay.” “I was agreeing to take you hard and fast as a start, but don’t think for one second that I’m going to be done with you after that.” “What makes you think I wanted you to agree to that?” He arched an eyebrow at me, half - cocky, half - playful, but all the way tender and loving. “Oh, you don’t? The way you said my name kind of made me think you were begging for something. What was it, then? Soup? A salad?” I giggled, the sound husky but light. “A salad would be nice right now. Actually, it’s getting pretty chilly out, so maybe some of that veggie soup your mom ordered instead. With some of those specialty breads from the rec eption.” “That’s weirdly specific.” He dropped his forehead to mine and inhaled de ep. “All you had to say was that you wanted me.” “I do want you, Jamie,” I whispered, pressing my palms gently to either side of his neck. “Every part of you. Forever.” “Right now, you mostly want my cock though, right?” He grinned and planted a hard kiss on my mouth before wrenching away and jerking his head toward the window. “Or I could go grab you that soup and bread.” “Don’t you dare.” I locked my ankles around his hips and flexed my muscles as much as I could, meaning to let him know that I wasn’t about to let him leave. While I was pretty sure he got the message, the action also had the consequence of sliding his tip through my folds, stopping just short of my entrance. Both of us stilled. Jameson let out a string of whispered curses and his eyes screwed shut. My heart leaped and a flush spread from my chest to my cheeks. “Jamie...” “Y
Ep I’m with you. Now.” The words came out tight, like he was right on the edge of losing control. “Hard and fast, it is. For now. We’ll slow it down after, yeah?”
“You got it,” I breathed, eyes on his as he opened them again. Our gazes hooked and held as I felt him move, pushing first just the tip into me. His stomach dipped, his features hard with tension and his shoulders rigid. “Fuck, Sades.” Slowly sinking into me, he looked as de ep into my eyes as anyone ever had and the world around us seemed to fade away. He’d always felt incredible, but tonight, with the combination of feeling his bare skin against mine for the first time and the intimate magic in the air, he felt like every dream and every fantasy I’d ever had rolled into one. So smooth and hard, hotter t han I’d realized, I felt him in ways I never had before and I already knew there would be no going back for us. “I’m going to be obsessed with you for at least the next few weeks,” he murmured, voicing my thoughts as if he’d plucked them right out of my head. “Addicted.” “Agreed.” I lifted my head to kiss him, my toes already curling as he pushed in until he was fully seated. For a long moment, neither of us moved, but when he got started, there was no stopping either of us. Our kisses became frenzied, our bodies joining together faster and faster until the air was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing and wet skin. I ended up on top somehow, one of his hands on my breast and the other on my hip, our mouths still fused tog ether as I rode him until my muscles burned, but not even that stopped me. When I heard him growl, the sound torn from somewhere de ep within, I felt the first wisps of hot pleasure coil around me until those embers became a fire storm, engulfing me in the mother of all orgasms. I vaguely registered Jameson’s rhythm faltering unti l, with one final hard thrust of his hips, he emptied himself inside me. I collapsed on his chest, panting and planting a kiss right over his heart. “I think you melted my bones.” He chuckled, out of breath as he draped an arm around my back and held me to him. “Bones? What’s bones? I think you obliterated my brain.” “Who needs one of those anyway?” I joked, in absolutely no hurry to get off him as I let my eyelids flutter closed. It had been a long day. With him still recovering inside me, I wouldn’t have minded a quick nap, but it wasn’t meant to be. Faster than I would have thought possible, he was rolling us over and pulling out of me with a soft groan. Then he was on his feet and holding his hand out toward me.
“Where are we going?” I dropped my forearm over my eyes. “I’m not even sure my knees can take my weight just yet.” “Shower,” he said simply. “We’ve had a day, so we’ll go get cleaned up, then come right back here.” I lifted my arm and cracked an eye open to peer up at him, still standing not so patiently beside our bed with his hand stretched out toward me. “You really are insatiable.” He winked. “I warned you, didn’t I?” A slightly breathless giggle came out of me before I groaned and placed my hand in his, allowing him to pull me up and drag me to the shower. When we reached the adjoining bathroom, he flicked on the faucet to heat up t he water, then helped me remove the few clips in my hair. Steam started rising from behind the glass partition that made up the barrier between the huge shower cubicle and the rest of the bathroom, and he took my hand, guiding me under the spray, and thoroughly washing my body and my hair before kissing me again. With his chest pressed to mine and hot water cascading over us both, he teased my mouth with his teeth and tongue until my body had come to life again. So had his, though. His erection pressed into my lower stomach and I grinned against his lips before lowering myself to my knees in front of him. Those eyes followed my every move, widening before they shuttered when I licked a line from the root to the ti p of his shaft. “Fair warning,” I murmured as I wrapped my fingers around the base of him. “I’m far from done with you, too.” I took him into my mouth, ignoring my own need for the moment to make him feel as good as he always made me feel. Jameson often had a way of skipping past his own desires, but no more. He was my husband now and I wanted him to feel every ounce of my love, my loyalty, and my promise. His hands came to my shoulders, gentle but sure, and when I looked up at him, there was nothing but raw tenderness in his eyes. The rest of the world slipped away again in the steam of the shower, and I knew that whatever tomorrow held, we would face it to gether. Jameson Westwood was not only my husband. He was my home. My future. And I couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for us next. Epilogue Jameson Late Fall
Fall had settled in with the kind of crisp bite in the air that made me think of fires in the hearth, pumpkin spice, and cuddling up with blankets on the couch. I glanced out the window, anxiously waiting for my delivery to arrive. I’d been pacing at the front door for the better part of twenty minutes while Sadie laughed at me from the kitchen. She was learning a new recipe, which, in our house, was code for open every window and pray the smoke doesn’t set off the alarm. The open windows hadn’t made much of a difference so far, though. At this point, the entire first floor was a haze, the wispy tendrils of smoke warm and rich with something that would’ve been paprika heavy but now seemed mostly just burnt. When the delivery guy finally showed up, I signed for the order so fast that he probably thought I was trying to break a speed record, but I grabbed the boxes he handed over and headed back inside, kicking the door shut behind me. Back in the hallway, I got caught in a little stampede with Wanda marching past with a mop, muttering something under her breath as she chased Hooch, who was doing his best impression of I’m too old for this shit. The foster puppies didn’t seem to mind that he was trying to get away from them, yapping and pouncing like a squad of tiny, joyful maniacs. I waited for Hooch to pass, shot Wanda an apologetic smile, and managed to dodge the puppies as I carried my boxes into the living room. Kittens zapped across the back of my couch. A particularly cute little white one sat on the armrest, flicking her tail as she watched me with her curious expression on her tiny face. My life had officially crossed over into zoo territory, but I loved it. Every messy, noisy, ridiculous second of living with too many animals and a wife who genuinely, desperately could not cook to save her life but refused to quit trying. As I lowered the boxed onto the coffee table, I grinned at the kitten. “You’re going to love what I’ve got in here. Come check it out.” I grabbed the box cutter I’d gotten ready when I’d received the notification that the delivery was almost here, sliced into the tape, and cracked the packages open. Inside were new collars, chew toys, and a collapsible playpen for the fosters, as well as a cat tree for my office. The kittens had been scaling things I hadn’t realized could be scaled, leaving claw marks in places I hadn’t known they could reach. In the end, I’d decided it was better to give them something tall enough to ke ep them occupied that had been designed espec ially for them.
“Jamie!” Sadie called from the kitchen, a strangely emotional wobble in her voice. “I think we might have to order in.” Not surprised, I straightened up and abandoned my purchases. Crossing back to the kitchen, I found the dinner she’d attempted in the trash, charred so far beyond recognition that it might as well have been bits of a meteorite. “That’s okay,” I said, firmly shutting the garbage bin and smiling at her over my shoulder. “I kind of feel like pizza anyway. What are you in the mood for?” She stood in the middle of the kitchen with her red hair pulled up into a high, messy ponytail and her sweatshirt covered in something that looked like flour. Her eyes glistened with tears and her shoulders were slumped. “Pizza is fine,” she muttered, shaking her head as she surveyed the damage to the kitchen. “I can’t believe that turned out so badly. I followed the recipe to the letter.” In doing so, she’d also used every pot, pan, and spatula we had, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. I would’ve teased her about it, but this particular gastronomic disaster seemed to have hit her really hard. Frowning, I strode over to her, took her hips in my hands, and waited for those sad blue eyes to come up to my own before I kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry about it, baby. I’m sure you’ll knock it out of the park next time.” She sighed, leaning into me. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and placed our order. All the while, I k ept an arm around her hips, holding her to me and wondering why she seemed so upset. This was far from her first recipe gone wrong. In fact, all of them kind of did in one way or another. Still, this one seemed to have really gotten to her. She clung to me like she was trying not to crumble. I pressed another kiss to the top of her head once I’d confirmed our order. Then I slid my hand into her hers and started leading her to the living roo m. “Come see what I got. It’s going to cheer you right up,” I promised. “You might have to help me assemble that tree, though. I’m not sure it’ll be safe if I do it by myself.” I expected at least a smile from her, but all I got was a soft sigh and a barely there nod. “Yeah, okay. Can we do it later?” “Sure.” When we got to the living room, she rummaged through the boxes, occasionally picking up a toy and giving it a squeeze but not with nearly as much enthusiasm as usual. The puppies
clamored around our feet when they heard the squeaks and Hooch collapsed on his bed in the corner, giving me a look like he was thanking me for getting them off his back. Sadie wore a thoughtful expression in her eyes as she helped me unpack everything. After the food arrived, I carried our takeout to the kitchen and finally gave up waiting to ask her what was going on. “Is the food really bothering you that much?” I asked gently as I looked at her from across the island. “Why do you seem so bummed about it this time?” “I wanted us to have a special night together,” she said softly. “Something we would both remember and that we could look back on.” After sliding a slice of pizza onto a plate, I poured us each a glass of wine and slid one toward her with the pizza. “Every night with you is a special night for me, Sades. God knows, we waited long enough just to be able to have dinner together without having to worry about someone walking in and catching us in the act.” “Yeah, I know.” She glanced at the wine and pushed it back to me. “I can’t drink that. Thanks, though.” At first, I thought she was still upset about dinner, but there was something in her eyes, like a shimmer just under the surface, that made me think again. She’d been weirdly emotional about the food, and earlier, she’d run a mysterious errand. Now she was saying no to wine — one of Sterling’s bottles, which I knew she loved — but also not really saying no. What she said was I can’t drink that. Not I don’t want that. My brain caught up half a second before my mouth did. “Wait. Are you...” She bit her lip and nodded, blue eyes boring into mine with anticipation, anxiety, excitement, and worry all seemingly contributing to that shimmer. “I was going to tell you tonight. That’s why I wanted to cook something special, but we’re, uh, we’re pregn ant, Jamie.” The words landed right in the center of my chest and it felt like the whole world tilted on its axis as I processed them. Pregnant. Sadie was pregnant. With my baby. I hadn’t even realized I was grinning until I felt my cheeks hurting. A rush of warmth smacked into me, flowing from my chest to my extremities, sharp and overwhelming. There were a hundred things I wanted to say, but when I opened my mouth, all that came out was laughter.
“Are you serious? I mean, are you sure?” I was moving before I’d given the conscious command to my feet to do so, racing around the island until I was standing right in front of her, so close that her chest brushed mine with every breath we took. “We’re pr egnant?” She looked up into my eyes, a slow but real smile spreading on her lips. She finally dipped her chin into a nod. “I’m sure. I went to the doctor today to double - check that it wasn’t a false positive, and it definitely wasn’t. We really are pregnant.” I blinked hard against the pressure building at the backs of my eyes, then scooped her up in my arms. Laughing again, I spun her around. “Shit, I can’t believe this. Seriously? We’re really going to be parents?” She squealed with laughter, gripping my shoulders tightly and hanging on. “That’s generally what it means when someone is pregnant. You’re really happy about this?” “Of course, I am.” I set her back down on her feet and circled my arms around her waist, unable to quit grinning. “We said we were going to roll the dice, right? It seems to me that we won. How far along are you? Was it the wedding night? What did the doct or say? Is everything okay?” Sadie chuckled, tears shining in her eyes. She reached for her bag on the counter. Her hand disappeared into it, and a moment later, she pulled out a strip of black - and - white images. “Everything seems fine so far, and yeah, I’m pretty sure it was the weddi ng night. The dates line up. The doctor seems happy. We’ve got another appointment in a few weeks.” When she handed over the images, I took them and only realized once I was holding them that my hands were trembling a little. Sadie leaned against my side, staring down at the grainy pictures with me as I tried to decipher them. My grin faltered when I started comprehending what I was looking at. “Are these...” “Ultrasound pictures,” she confirmed breathlessly, glancing up at me with tears welling on her eyelids. “The doctor gave them to me this afternoon when I went for the appointment to confirm. I was going to do something cute with them. There are all these i deas on the internet, but then I got caught up in the cooking and I didn’t get around to nailing down which one I wanted to use, and then the food burnt, and...” She trailed off. I traced the little shapes on the images with my eyes, wondering how it could suddenly feel like the future was right there in my hands. I’d only found out about this a minute ago, but already, it felt like something was different. Better. Brighter. My life was already so full, but somehow, there was even more. “Why does it seem attached? Shouldn’t there only be one blob?”
Her eyes locked on me and a soft laugh es caped her as she shook her head. “Yeah, normally, there is only one blob, but it turns out that when we rolled the dice, we really rolled it.” “Twins?” I stared at her, eyes widening to the point of pain. Even our zoo faded into the background. The dogs were racing around, the puppies were nipping at Hooch’s heels, and the kittens zoomed around the boxes in the living room. Bells on balls tinkled as they smacked them with their tiny paws. “Really?” “Really.” She smiled, hesitant but hopeful. “Are you okay with that?” “Are you kidding? Twins?” I r epeated the word, and honestly, it was the best thing I’d ever said. “Hell yeah, I’m okay with it.” Catching her face in my hands, I gently pinched the pictures between two fingers so they wouldn’t get creased, and then I kissed her. I kissed her with all the joy, shock, and excitement coursing through my system right now. I kissed her through the chaos reigning supreme around us, puppies, kittens, Hooch, and Wanda all blissfully oblivious to how much things were about to change. Again. And I kissed her with all my hope for the future and with all the gratitude I felt right now. I couldn’t believe that this was my life. Our life. Messy. Wild. And about to get even better — as well as doubling in size. ***