Banded Together (Rebel Walking #2.5) (8 page)

I keep seeing his
new tattoo and I'm struggling with an array of emotions that are confusing
me.
 
I want to jump in and follow him
into the marriage idea of a happily ever after, but I'm just afraid to give
that part of me up.
 
I'm Ivy Adams.
 
Ivy Walker doesn't portray me.
 
I'll consider his feelings in all of this and
make a decision of how to respond to his crazy idea to get a wedding band
tattoo when we aren't even getting married.

I'm trying to
breast feed Heaven again.
 
She seems to
be doing well with feeding, almost
too
well.
 
She's two days old and wants to
eat constantly.
 
My milk hasn't come in
yet, so I'm sure it'll get easier when it does.
 
Right now my breasts are sore as hell.
 
Taron
seems to enjoy the view a little too
much.
 
I can only imagine where his mind
is and the plans he has for the girls when I'm cleared for sex in six weeks.
 
Who am
I kidding?
 
It won’t be six weeks.
 

We get to go home
this morning.
 
Both Heaven and I are
completely healthy and I'm
so
ready
to get out of here.
 
Taron
says he has the important stuff ready in the nursery.
 
I wish I would've had time to get it ready
because I really wanted her to go home to a beautiful room even though we'll be
traveling.
 
She needs her room and a space
that can be hers when we
do
get to
come home.
 

She’s a little
smaller than we expected, too.
 
She only
weighed 5.5 pounds when she was born because she was early.
 
Her clothes are going to swallow her, except
for the few that
Ev
found in preemie size yesterday.

"Looks like
you're ready to get out of here!"
 
The nurse walks in with all of our papers.
 
Heaven is sleeping on me now, so I lift her
to
Taron
who's waiting to buckle her into her car
seat.
    
       

"We're going
home, baby girl!"
 
His voice is so
different with her and I love when he sings to her.
 
It's so relaxing to hear him soothing her
cries.

We finally make it
home and
Taron
runs circles around me trying to get
everything in the house.
 
This is the
first time our family will be home together.
 
He manages to hold the door for me and carry Heaven inside along with an
armload of stuff from the hospital.
 
He
quickly removes her from her carrier and starts showing her around the
house.
 

"You ready to
see your room?
 
Tell Mommy to come see
your brand new bedroom."
 
We make
our way down the hall to the doorway of her nursery.
 
I can smell fresh paint about halfway there
and I know what he's done, but nothing prepares me for how breathtaking the
room looks.
 
Everything is put together
and completely perfect.
 
The walls are
painted with glittery paint that illuminates the room.
 
The crib and furniture that I wanted to get
her is all here.
 
My emotions get the best
of me and I tear up, AGAIN.
 
Seriously.
 
I need to
check these tears at the door.
 

"
Taron
, when did you do all of this?"
 
He’d been with me almost the entire time at
the hospital so I know there is no way he did this by himself.

"We did most
of it when you were trying to look at dresses with
Ev
.
 
We had the room painted and most of the
furniture in when
Ev
called me.
 
Luke and Lilly finished it up for
me."
 
He's holding Heaven like a
football in his arm, trying to show her everything.
 
I can't hold back any longer.
 
I step right in front of the man who is
trying so hard to make me happy in life, wrap my arms around his waist and lean
in to his chest.

"Thank you."

"For
what, Ivy?"

"For already
being a great father to our baby."

"You don't
have to thank me; this is one of the moments that I've been waiting
for."
 
I know exactly what he means.

This would be a
nice moment if my boobs didn't hurt like a big bitch right now.
 
No one prepared me for the sensitive nipple
issue.
 
I pull back and hold my hands
over each one to try to rub out the pain.
 
"Damn, my nips are
killing
me!"

"There's that
cream they gave you."

"Yeah, I'm
going to shower and try to take a nap.
 
Can you wake me when she's hungry?"
 
He nods in approval as he leans down to kiss me.
 

I leave the room
and it’s a matter of moments before I hear her crying.
 
Taron
brings her to
me so I can feed her and we sit on the bed enjoying our new baby girl.
 
He begins to talk to her and runs his finger
over her cheek while she's breastfeeding.
 
His tattoo is so blatantly obvious and reminds me that we need to talk
about this.

"You really
should have talked to me before you got that tattoo."

"And what
would you have said?
 
You'd have told me
no and that doesn't work for me.
 
Ivy,
get over it.
 
I can tattoo your name all
over my fucking body if I choose to.
 
Just because
you
want to hold
back doesn't mean
I
have to."

"I just want
us to agree on what's going on here."

"Yes, we both
want forever.
 
I've already committed to
that and I'll wait for you to do the same."
 
This is getting out of control.
 
I love this man and he's obviously hurt by my
reaction to his odd as hell proposal.

"I love you
and I want to spend forever with you, but like I've already said, I don't want
either of us to feel trapped.
 
Your life
is just beginning with Rebel Walking and you need to focus on that."

"Uh,
no.
 
My life is just beginning as
a
father
and my family is more
important than any of that shit.
 
I'll
only do all of that if it doesn't mess up what we have.
 
The second I see it tearing us up, I'm
walking."
 
I take in his words and
watch his demeanor.
 
He isn't bluffing in
the least and I see his determination to make our family work.
 
I want to do this with him, but on
my
time.
 

"Okay.
 
I understand.
 
I still think you're an ass for asking me the way you did."
 
His laughter startles Heaven and I work to
adjust her so she can continue eating.

"I
agree.
 
That was probably the worst
proposal in history!
 
You can't say I
wasn't original!
 
How about I do it the
right way one day when you're ready?"
 
Original is exactly right, but that’s why I love him.
 
We are both so sporadic and unpredictable
that life is always going to be a roller coaster with us.
    

"I can live
with that.
 
What are we going to do for
this bachelor/bachelorette party?
 
I'm so
damn tired but we can't let them down."
 

"I think they
wouldn't mind if we did a small get together somewhere.
 
Talon called while you were resting and asked
when you could get together with
Ev
to get the
dresses picked out."

"I'm the
worst bridesmaid in the world.
 
Thankfully, she understands my situation and doesn't hold it against
me.
 
Did you tell him I could do
something in the morning?"
 

"Yeah, we're
going to spend part of the day over there tomorrow.
 
Luke and Lilly will be there along with Holden
for sure, that I know of."
 

We spend our first
evening at home as a family.
 
The way
Taron
makes me feel is really undeniable.
 
I know one day I'll take him up on his offer,
but for now this works well for us.
 
I
love this man.
 
How can I not?
 
He gave me the best gift in the world.

Chapter Nine

Eaven

I can feel him
start to stir behind me.
 
Waking up in
Talon's arms every morning is my life.
 
He makes me complete and I think I do the same for him.
 
Seeing him like he was yesterday reminded me
what all he's been through and it honestly broke my heart to see him hurting
like that.
 
Even big tough guys have
demons that haunt them.
 
Sometimes it
takes just stopping to relive the horrors to move on with life.
 

His happiness is
so important to me and I know
Taron
having a baby has
to be affecting him in some way.
 
My
instinct is to fix everything and this is something that can't be fixed.
 
His tragedy will somehow always live with
him, but I hope to bring him memories that help put some shine into his darkened
past.

"
Mornin
'."
 
I roll over to snuggle with him and place my chin on his chest to watch
his face.
 
Damn, just enough
scruff
to be sexy as hell.

"Good
morning.
 
What's the plan for your last
day of freedom?"

"Well, I
really need a dress.
 
This dress thing
has not worked out at all.
 
Every time I
try to go it’s a complete fiasco."

"I have that
taken care of."

"What is that
supposed to mean?"

"Today,
Taron
is bringing Ivy over and I'm having dresses delivered
for you to choose from."
 
His
thoughtfulness always amazes me.
 
Who can
say their man thinks about things like this?
 

"How did you
manage that one?"

"Let's just
say the girl at the dress shop had a hard time saying no to me.
 
Actually, come to think of it, she had a hard
time saying
anything
to me."
 
His sexy laughter fills the room when I begin
to pinch at his sides for flirting to get me a wedding dress delivered.
 

"Are you
kidding me?"
 
My pinching turns into
him pinching and tickling me back,
which
leads to more
laughter and screaming on my part.
 
Can
every morning be like this?
 
It takes him
no time at all to pin me down so that I can't move anything.
 
He's straddling me and holding my hands
against the bed over my head.
 
I'm not
losing at this game, you see, because I have the best view I could ever ask
for.
 
He realizes my victory when I lick
my lips and give a little moan of appreciation.

"You like
what you see, Mrs. Walker?"

"
MmmHmm
."
 

"So do
I
."
 
And just
like that, it's on.
 
His mouth covers
mine and he releases his hold on my arms, which I appreciate because I like to
explore and let my hands travel over every inch of him.
 
He starts to slide down my body, leaving a
trail of kisses along the way.
 
I know
where he's headed and so does my tingling body.
 
His tongue runs up the seam of my core, just as he wedges his shoulders
under my legs.
 
Damn he is so good at this
.
 

A breathy exhale
releases from my lungs when he uses more pressure to quickly bring my 'O' to the
surface.
 
I wrap my legs around him and
let him work his magic over and over.
 
He
slides his finger inside me and I can't help but want more.
 

"I need you,
now.
 
Please, Talon."
 
He slides up my body, stopping to devour my
breasts before his face meets mine.
 

"Where do you
want me?"

"Everywhere.
 
Just please hurry!"
 
That sexy as fuck grin of his flashes across
his face because he knows how he affects me.
 
He knows I need him like I need my next breath.
 

I wrap my legs
around his hips when he moves between my legs.
 
His movements are sensual and his restraint is perfect to bring out all
the sensations yet again.
 
The slow, deep
thrusts have forced me to the edge of the bed and I let my head hang off the
side.
 
The blood rushing to my head makes
for a completely different experience as my orgasm flows through my body all
over again.