Fulfillment (Book 3 in The Temptation Series) (34 page)

He was
controlled in his delivery, fashioning our love making to last a
long time so that we could savour each other without a care in the
world. I wanted to roll him over and slide my tongue down his neck,
chest and follow the happy trail to a happy place. But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t move without hurting my ankle. So I accepted submission
and let him take control of my body, which he did with a blinding
talent. He owned every part of me and made it known by leaving no
surface of me untouched.

“I hate not
being able to move, Bryce. I want to climb on top of you and ride
the fuck out of you,” I said breathlessly.

He lowered his
head and tongued my neck just below my ear. “I love it when you
ride the fuck out me, too. But right now, you
will
lie here, and you
will
let me
fuck you.”

I dragged my
nails down his back as he escalated his pace, feeling my own orgasm
at the breach of explosion. “You feel so good,” I moaned.

He grabbed my
hands and held them above my head. “Tell me, you love me and only
me,” he demanded, as he dragged his length out to the tip.

“Bryce!” I
pleaded, closing my eyes and wanting the feel of him to return.

He slowly slid
back inside me then pulled out just as brutally slow. And grazing
his teeth on my lobe, he breathed into my ear one more time. “Tell
me. I want to hear it again.”

I arched my
neck and moaned louder. “You know I love and only you.”

He leisurely
slid back in then out. “Again,” he growled, his long strokes, pure
bliss.

“You, Bryce,”
I breathed languidly.

Another long
delicious stroke followed by an animalistic groan. “Alexis.”

“You,” I
replied more aggressively.

He increased
his pace, sliding in and out, harder and deeper.

“Only you,” I
cried out and released as he spilled into me while jerking and
kissing my neck. “Only you, Bryce,” I repeated as I gasped for
air.

His mouth
found mine as he let go of my hands. I instantly grabbed his face
and pulled his head back, looking at him intently. “I love you and
only you.”

“So you
fucking should,” he smiled, before seizing my lips.

We lay there
laden in sweat for several minutes, entwined in each other’s arms.
I was limp, exhausted, and thoroughly sated. I was also relieved to
once again feel I had jumped another hurdle in my life. Although
this particular hurdle wasn’t one I wanted to forget or put behind
me. There were hurdles or road blocks in our life that we wanted
nothing more than to make a distant memory or disregard even, but
my miscarriage was not one of them. Yes I wanted to move forward
and carry on with my life, but I wanted to acknowledge what I’d
lost and remind myself daily of what I already had and what I could
still attain. I wanted to be always grateful. If I had learned just
one thing in life, it was that pessimism hurt only the ones that
could not and did not want to be optimistic.

***

Bryce and I
decided we would go to Nate and Charli’s school and surprise the
kids by picking them up ourselves. I also needed to see my friends
and break through that initial awkwardness that always plagued a
terrible situation. I accepted that those types of reactions were
natural responses to a sad event and were inevitable. But it didn’t
mean I liked to let that awkwardness linger or dwell, or drag out
before things went back to normal.

We pulled into
the school carpark in the Lexus, and I spotted Tash, Lil, Jade and
Steph. Tash had not long left City Towers herself to pick up
William and Thomas, and I loved that Bryce had been so wonderful
when organising her role as an event supervisor. She now had a
flexible job she loved and was able to work hours where she could
still drop her kids off and pick them up. He’d mentioned she was
always thanking him for it.

“Wait there,
Hunny and I’ll help you,” he said, as he switched off the
engine.

He exited and
gave the girls a wave as he crossed over the front of the car and
opened my door. I went to grab my crutches when he lightly gripped
my arm and pulled it toward him.

I
automatically protested. “No, you are not carrying me in the
carpark of my kids’ school. I absolutely and unequivocally put my
foot down, Bryce.”

“You can’t put
your foot down, remember?” he said with a tinge of arrogance.
Smartarse.

“Bryce, I mean
it,” I said sternly.

“Okay, okay,”
he chuckled. “Your friends are coming over here anyway, so I won’t
need to carry you.” He nodded toward the girls who were making
their way over to the car. “Just let me help you out, Hunny.”

“Okay,” I
said, as I abandoned my stance.

He took hold
of both my hands and slowly pulled me up and out of the passenger
seat so that I was standing on one leg. I put my hands on his
shoulders for support, when he took advantage and placed his hands
on my sides, lifting me flush against his chest and quickly
wrapping his arms around my arse.

“You lying
arsehole, put me down,” I said through gritted teeth, while
scanning the carpark for onlookers.

“Settle down,
I’m only carrying you to the bonnet. Although, we can stay just
like this if you’d like.”

“Bryce Edward
Clark—”

He gave me a
wicked smile. “Bonnet it is then.”

As he placed
me down on the hood of the car, I glared at him with a smile that I
tried desperately to suppress but couldn’t. He was just so
aggravatingly adorable and I had to secretly commend him on his
efforts.

Standing there
facing me with his back to my approaching friends, I looked up at
him and let out a long frustrated breath.

“I hate this
part,” I said, with a regretful groan.

“What
part?”

“The sympathy
and sadness part.”

He lifted his
hand and put his knuckle under my chin, tilting my head up. “It
goes hand in hand with progression.”

“I know, I
just hate it.”

He winked at
me encouragingly as Steph stopped beside him.

“Lex, how are
you?” she asked as Bryce stepped aside.

She moved
forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, giving me a
squeeze.

“I’m getting
there, Luv.” I replied, while smiling reassuringly over Steph’s
shoulder to the others.

“That’s good,
Hun. One step at time,” Lil said, always calm, supportive and first
to offer encouragement. Jade agreed and gently squeezed my thigh. I
placed my hand on top of hers as a gesture of thanks, that being
all Jade and I needed to exchange. She was like me in that way;
sometimes less is so much more.

Tash stepped
up to me next, pausing before she leaned and hugged me tight,
sending me a message through her body-hugging squeeze. The
beautiful bitch brought a tear to my eye.

“Don’t you
dare start singing,” I warned, as I choked back more tears.

I heard her
sniffle next to my ear. “I won’t...I’m just...so sorry, Lex.”

I whispered
back. “I know, Hun.” I patted her back to let her know I was
grateful for her thoughts, but that I was alright.

She pulled
away and wiped a tear. “If you need anything, you know where I
am.”

I nodded. “I
know, Tashy.”

“You know
where we all are,” Lil reaffirmed.

“Yes, I do”. I
smiled then quickly changed the subject. “And as soon as this boot
is off and my foot is dance ready, we are going out.”

Tash playfully
rolled her eyes. “You can still dance with crutches, Lex. You’d
pull of a decent zombie in ‘Thriller’.” She proceeded to slump her
arms and twitch her shoulder and neck.

“You idiot,” I
giggled. “No, I’m not going out in public and dancing with
crutches, forget it.”

***

Bryce asked
Tash how the job was going while I talked to the girls about the
surgery and when I was expected to be walking properly again. I
also reminded Lil and Steph that Charli’s birthday was next month
and that she wanted to have a sleepover with her friends, which
included Lil’s daughter, Jasmine, and Steph’s daughter, Katie. Both
Lil and Steph sounded over the moon at the prospect of
relinquishing their daughters over to my care for the evening.
Me...not so keen. I remembered all too well how loud, fun...and
loud, a sleepover could be for a young girl.

The bell
sounded and children began finding their waiting parents. Nate
spotted us first and excitedly jogged our way.

“Bryce!” he
shouted, right before he kicked the football in his direction.
Bryce was quick and took off, marking it before it hit any
cars.

“Nate, not
near the cars,” I rebuked.

“Sorry,” he
called back.

I noticed
Charli skipping happily toward us when a girl I did not recognise
walked up beside her and said something Charli did not like,
causing her to stop and turn toward the girl. I noticed Charli’s
fists ball at her sides, and I knew that was not a good sign.

“You’re just
mean,” she yelled at the girl.

The little
girl shoved Charli nearly causing her to fall backward.

“Hey,” I
called out ready to hop my way over there when Nate saw the
commotion and went to Charli’s aid in my stead. The little girl saw
him coming and ran off.

“What did she
say?” Nate asked Charli as they walked closer.

“Nothing, she
is just a bully. I hate her,” she answered.

“What was that
all about?” I asked, as Charli pressed her head into my stomach and
wrapped her arms around me.

“Nothing, Mum,
she just sucks and she smells like cheese.”
How does a child
smell like cheese? I wasn’t sure.

“Charli, why
did you yell at her?”

“Because she
said babies are dumb. They are not dumb. My sister wasn’t dumb,”
she said angrily, with her head still pressed against my
abdomen.

Tash put her
hand to her mouth, Bryce looked in the direction the little girl
took off in and I just held Charli tightly.

“Little girls
that smell like cheese are dumb, Charli. Not babies.”

“I hate
cheese,” she said as Bryce opened the car door for her.

“No you don’t,
silly rabbit.”

***

We sat around
the breakfast bar watching Bryce make dinner after we got back to
the apartment. It had taken a while to douse Charli’s raging anger
toward the cheese-girl—who Charli refused to identify by real name.
I decided to let it go because, like me, she was incredibly
stubborn, and I knew from my own experience that constant probing
would only make her clam up more.

Switching my
attention from an uncooperative Charli, I offered to help Bryce
with the dinner preparation instead. He refused, so I turned my
offering into demanding and was rewarded with dicing the onions. I
made a point never to offer or demand again, as the onion fumes
singed my eyeballs, forcing tears to spill out onto my cheeks.

“So,
Charli-Bear...God damn it! My eyes...” I wiped my sleeve across my
face. “Urgh! Have you thought of a name for...who invented onions
anyway? Stupid smelly things.”

Bryce was
laughing as he the chopped carrots.

“Laugh all you
want. I’m never offering to help you again.”

“Good,” he
arrogantly replied.

I glared at
him, but it must’ve resembled a winced, screwed up, ugly looking
glare, as I could not yet open my eyes without them burning like
fuck.

“Sorry,
Charli. Have you thought of a name for your sister yet?”

“Yes,” she
said happily.

“Well? Let’s
hear it, Sweetheart.”

“Bianca,” she
said confidently.

As soon as she
said it I loved it. “That’s a beautiful choice. Why did you choose
Bianca?”

“Because it’s
pretty, and I like it, and it has all our initials in it.”

Bryce stopped
chopping and just stared at Charli. I was speechless, too. She had
put so much thought into it, much more thought than a six-year-old
should have. It was so endearing.

She noticed
our pause and continued. “And any way, I didn’t like Blanche or
Cinba.”

I looked at
Bryce and smiled, trying not to laugh and also thankful she had not
chosen Cinba—it reminded me too much of the Lion King. He put his
knife down, picked up Charli and sat her on the bench so that she
was his height.

“Bianca is
perfect, Charlotte, thank you.” He leaned in, kissed her on the
head then went back to the chopping carrots.

I noticed a
tear in his eye as I wiped my own. “I’m chopping onions, what’s you
excuse?” I said to him, lovingly.

“I don’t have
one,” he replied.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

I’ve never
liked cemeteries, even as a young teenager when it had been ‘cool’
to sneak into the local one at night and pretend to call upon the
dead. I’d hated that game, and at the time I’d hated my brother for
blackmailing me and my sister Jen to go along with him and his
idiot friend. I can’t say as an adult that my dislike for
cemeteries had decreased over the years, because it hadn’t, and as
I hobbled along the gravel path in between row upon of row of
headstones, that became hugely apparent. It wasn’t that cemeteries
gave me the creeps—unless I was at one during the night with said
stupid brother and idiot friend. No, it was more that they held
such sadness and loss of people dearly missed.

As reluctant
as I was about being at Melbourne Cemetery, I wouldn’t have wanted
to be anywhere else other than with Bryce at that very moment. I
had promised him I would be there to support him on the anniversary
of the accident that claimed the lives of his parents and little
brother, Lauchie. It was also the accident that subsequently led to
Gareth suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Gareth, Lucy
and Nic were walking a few meters ahead of us. Lucy was carrying
three large lillies, Nic carried Alexander, and Gareth held a book
called the
The Hunger Games
.