LUCI (The Naughty Ones Book 2) (6 page)

Mummy

Luci

We all end up at Gruffy’s house after the doctor appointment from hell. I’m still reeling and staunchly denying it all as I sit on the sofa and stare blankly at the wall while everyone seems intent on laughing and joking around me.

Of course I am the butt of all their jokes, but right now I’m too done in to beat them to hell as I have visions of four little genius babies running circles around me.

Oh God in heaven, what am I going to do? I was at the point of actual hysteria just contemplating single motherhood this morning, and now…

I can’t look after four babies!

They’ll kill me. I just know they’ll be little geniuses with my evil temperament. Oh Jesus, I’ll be raising savages.

“Snap out of it already, you wee kelpie, and grow your balls back already! So what you have four in there? You think it was easy for me to raise the likes of you lot after Grampa Landry left me alone with you? Five! I had five of you Naughty wee bastards to raise and look at me.”

I do. And promptly start wailing when I see the wrinkles and grooves lining her face. Oh, I know what this is! This is karma hitting only me for every wicked, naughty, terrible thing the Naughty Ones ever did.

Why me? Why not Callie who needed a muzzle till the age of twenty when she finally stopped fighting with her teeth? Why not Indie who constantly used to have Gruffy in the principal’s office when her family refused to go anymore? Why not Percy with her freaking uncontrollable need to beat the tar out of the cheer squad just for existing?

I won’t mention Dotty because I love her and she’s a rock star—she hasn’t made fun of me once today, not once after finding out that I’m carrying a freaking litter.

Cage hasn’t left my side and Woody can’t stop grinning and congratulating him.

As if he has a reason to be happy right now and…

And now I won’t ever get to seduce him after I stop being a hippo, I wail internally, my damn and blasted optimism truly crumbling beneath the news.

              “WHY?!”

I can’t help the wail from bursting free, and I also can’t help actually shaking my fist at the ceiling.

I can’t even imagine what I look like right now, but I don’t care and I definitely ignore the chortles around me as I start muttering to myself and planning shopping lists and the battalion of cars I’ll need to get it all home, and now I’m gonna have to move back to my apartment.

“Shh, baby. Come on now, Luci, it’s not that bad,” Cage croons, pulling me into his side and kissing my forehead.

I don’t want him to kiss me there. I want lips and some tongue and maybe some nipple action since my boobs are sensitive enough to get me off, and dammit, I wanted sex with him again and now I won’t ever have it because how will he ever get hard for me when I look like this?

“It is. Oh God, it is. I just, I need to go home.”

“That does it. Woody, get the car. The rest of you say good-bye.”

I’m not even present as they all rush to greet and kiss me and I hardly feel it when Jack hugs me tightly and kisses my hair with a few whispered words of encouragement.

All I feel are Cage’s arms around me and I savor it as I know tomorrow I could be on my own again. This could be my very last Cage hug.

              I think I’m somewhat calm when the car that Woody called pulls up outside Cage’s and I’m at least able to walk on my own when we get out off the elevator and enter the apartment twenty minutes later.

Cage doesn’t say a thing as he leads me to the sofa and pushes me down before stalking out again. It’s not totally unexpected that he may need a few minutes to himself to think about this whole day, so instead of following behind him and begging him to stay and talk to me, I rise slowly and walk to my room, my shoulders slumped.

I need to make this easy for both of us now and do what I need to do instead of forcing him to be the bad guy and give me the “this is way too much” speech I know is coming. I drag a suitcase out of the closet and start packing, my heart breaking a smidge more with every article of clothing I pack.

As I do this I start planning my path and even make a mental note to go over to see Mummy and Daddy tomorrow and break the news. Oh boy, I wonder what they’ll say. How they’ll feel at the prospect of not only one but four grandchildren, although God knows I thought Mummy was going to orgasm when she found out I was making her a grandmum.

I think of a million ways that I can possibly do this all alone and raise and care for four children at once when I hear Cage stalk in right before he bellows and just snatches me up, takes me down to the mattress, and shoves at my suitcase to send it toppling to the floor.

I’m a little dazed at the fast change in position and I finally blink up at him only to see him hanging over me on his outstretched arms, his hips cradled between my legs as he glares down at me.

He looks so angry I feel another piece crack, and I can’t stop the single tear that rolls free and glides into my hair.

“What the fuck are you doing, Luci?!”

              “Making things easier on you. I know you’re probably in an awkward position here and I didn’t want to have to let you be the bad guy and send me home. I just, I wanted to do the right thing after you’ve been so great.”

Cage’s blue eyes go so hot and furious, I don’t even want to examine the fact that my sex spasms and I feel myself get wet.

“So what are you planning on doing? You were just going to pack your shit and walk out on me? That easily, Luci!” he yells, making me flinch.

“No. I mean yes. I mean…dammit, Cage! You’re being a douche again. You and I both know that we’re never going to be anything more than friends again, and I also know that even if I wanted to make love with you, and trust me, my hormones and vagina are so onboard with that, that’s all it will ever be. This, whatever chemistry we still have going after everything, is all fine and well but it doesn’t mean that you have to pretend to want me here when we both know—”

“Don’t,” he growls, cutting me off midsentence, his eyes flaring again. “Don’t you dare fucking put words in my mouth. I may not have you anymore, and you may not want me in that way, but fuck it, Luci! We’re friends at least, aren’t we? I’ve spent over a month now trying to show you that we’re friends and that I’m here for you. That’s not going to change just because you’re having four babies. Shit, that just means that you’ll need me more from here on out.”

Responsibility. I suddenly get what Callie was talking about all those months ago when she pushed Jack away because she was afraid that she and the baby would be just another responsibility to him.

I laughed at her at the time, but now that I’m in that same boat, damn, it freaking sucks. Especially knowing that Cage does love me, but only as a friend. Fool me once…

“No. I don’t need or want to be coddled anymore, Cage. I am a grown woman who made these choices and it’s about damn time I faced up to them and started acting like the mother I’ll be in a few short months. I can’t continue living here and depending on you for the most basic things just because it turns out I’m a ninny. I can’t afford to be that way anymore, and I sure as hell cannot afford to get comfortable when I will soon enough be all alone with my babies. I need to grow the hell up and stop letting everyone else fix my problems.”

“Problems? Those babies are not problems, Luci! They’re a blessing and a gift and by God I will make you believe that if I have to drag you kicking and freaking screaming.”

I’m cut off from replying when Cage slams his mouth down on mine and starts kissing me like a man starved. I should push him away, but as his tongue spears through my lips and I feel his naked erection settle over my slit, all I can do is moan and push closer.

Oh yes. Oh, that feels so good.

My sex responds to the pressure of his shaft rubbing against the wet, narrow crevice, and I feel the slow, hot slide of my arousal when he twists his hips and hits the bundle of nerves with just the right amount of pressure to have me moaning into his mouth and gyrating against him.

I’ve wanted this, needed this for so long that I can barely breathe when he finally pulls himself away and starts tearing at my clothes in a frenzy.

I’m still panting and trying to recover my wits when he pushes himself back over me and takes my mouth again, the head of his cock settling over and rubbing, sliding against my hard clit.

“Christ, yes,” he growls into my open mouth when I moan and grind up, needing him harder, wanting him to fill my empty, clutching sheath. “Shit, Luce, ahh, you’re so hot I can feel it.”

My response dies when he finally stops tongue-fucking me and immediately latches on to a straining nipple.

“Cage!”

I can’t help my screams or the fingers I dig into his head to pull him closer because right now all I can do is feel his teeth, tongue, and strong suckling as my sex goes molten and starts sucking at thin air.

His cock is still sliding through the moisture coating my labia, hitting my clit, teasing me so perfectly that before I know it I’m coming, the added stimulus of his mouth switching between my sensitive breasts pushing me over the edge of the abyss.

“That’s it, baby. Come all over my dick. Yeah, scream my name just like that,” he growls, speeding the slide of his now shuttling cock.

I’m still coming down from the intense pleasure when I feel Cage shift down a little and then push home in one hard thrust that sends my tremors straight back up to an explosion that has me screaming and pumping back at him.

It feels so right, so perfect, as his large girth fills me that I can’t stop from using him to keep the pleasure streaking through me from going higher.

It’s one long, hard orgasm from there on out as he starts thrusting and pulsing into me. I feel his heat, see his pleasure, and I can’t help but want more as I grab his ass, spread myself wider, and pull him as deep and hard as I can.

This, oh God, this pleasure, the rightness, the pure and absolute knowledge that I was made to fit him perfectly has my climax strengthening more as he starts pushing in harder, faster, his thrusts going sloppy and desperate.

We’re kissing again, a wet, uncontrolled melding of lips and tongue, when I feel him stiffen and swell inside me.

What I feel as his release hits my walls is an implosion that shatters me to the core and has me coming so hard and intensely, I see stars as my sex clamps down and sucks harder, refusing to let him go.

When I finally stop and feel my body go liquid, it’s to see Cage looking down at me with a satisfied smirk and a growl of pleasure when I ripple in the aftermath.

“Tell me you don’t need that as much as I do, Luci. Tell me you can walk away from this so easily.”

I can’t say that because to even utter those words would be a lie, so instead I just stare up at him and enjoy the afterglow of one of the best climaxes I’ve ever had.

“I didn’t think so.”

His lips are tipped when he finally pulls out with a groan of regret and falls down beside me to take me into his arms and pull me closer, spooning me.

“We need to talk.”

It’s the last thing I hear as I let the tension of the day’s events drain away and allow sleep to fall over me.

Mine

Cage

Her even breathing lets me know she’s asleep and dead to the world moments after sharing the most intense lovemaking I’ve ever felt. Not even the night I took her virginity can top the strength and intensity of what I felt, and believe me, that should have been damn near impossible since I came so hard that time that the condom split under the force of it.

At that point in my life, being who I was, I thanked God when Luci told me she was on the pill and we were fine, but as I lay and hold her and think about all I’ve done and how wrong I was then, I wish like hell she’d been unprotected and my sperm had taken root.

Not that I can maintain the wish when I trace a hand over our babies and feel her hard belly beneath my palm. I wouldn’t change this for anything.

This is all mine now, and while I’m shit scared of what’s to come and the thought of simultaneously raising four babies, I’m also so happy and excited at the prospect of being a father that I don’t know what to do with myself.

I’ve got her now. I have to because I can’t go on another day without her in my bed. Just as I’m thinking about the logistics and going over my plans for the upcoming week in my head, my phone beeps and I reach over to the floor gingerly to grab it before it can start ringing and wake Luci.

“Yeah?”

“She okay?”

Woody’s concerned voice brings a smile to my mouth and I can’t resist squeezing her tighter to my chest as I look down at her and feel my heart thud.

“She will be as soon as she wakes up and I tell her we’re getting married.”

Woody is silent for long seconds and I’m on the verge of telling him to screw off, as Luci always says, when I hear him let out a relieved sigh and almost see him grinning.

“About the babies…”

“They’re mine and I don’t give a shit what anyone else says, so you may as well stop there, buddy. I love her and she loves me, I know she does, and we’re going to raise our babies together and be a family, no matter what I have to do to make it so. Don’t say another word or I’m hanging up,” I warn when he tries to cut in.

“You’re willing to raise—”

“Mine. They’re mine and so is she.”

“She know that?” he chuckles.

“She will. Now, you calling to bug me for a reason or is this just another ‘Woody coming to the damsel’s rescue’ moment?” I tease, loving the way that Woody, no matter what, always has his mind set on comforting and coddling women.

The man may be a complete whore, but he’s got a heart of gold and enough drooling women who are more than willing to adore him, even after he’s done with them, to prove that he’s a decent person.

“Fuck you. I called because your father showed up here this afternoon when I got back to the office. I had to pull Jack off him at one point when the old fuck started mouthing off, but I managed to get him out in one piece and even took the letter he was bringing in in case you refused to see him in person.”

My relaxed stance disappears in a moment and I feel my body go tense as anger and disdain fill me at this news. Leave it to my Goddamn parents to sweep in when I least need them to and ruin my freaking moment.

“I’ll get on it tomorrow when I come in for the morning. Is Jack back full time now or what?”

I sure hope so since I intend to take paternity leave after wrapping up the deals I’m in the middle of. Luci is going to need me more and I will be here for her every step of the way.

“Yes, Daddy, so don’t even stress about the time you’re gonna need. Besides, you can still run some of your stuff from home if need be. Now, the letter?”

“Keep it for now. I’ll get it tomorrow at breakfast. I’m going to bring Luci to the office with me while I wrap some stuff up. Do me a favor and make sure security keeps them out if they come back.”

“Sure thing. Now get back to your woman and relax. Congrats by the way. I’m happy for you and Luci.”

“Yeah, man. Thanks. I’m stoked, too.”

We ring off and I go back to holding Luci and thinking for the next hour or so before the need for food and movement drags me away from her. I can never sit still for too long after I’ve been in contact with one of my parents, and though it’s only now been through a phone call I still feel that restless energy course through me as I pull on my underwear and pad softly out of the room.

Cooking is not my strongest suit, but I do okay, and it gives me something to do while I go over what they could possibly want now. My parents were almost broke by the time I inherited my trust fund.

They came crawling to me, all warmth and parental caring, when I got my money and was still too young to know any better than believe they’re irredeemable assholes.

I was just all too glad to want to believe that the last twenty-one years of neglect and loveless disdain was over, so I ended up helping them some.

I took a small chunk of my millions and invested for them and they’ve been living comfortably off the interest ever since. I’ve always been good at spotting a good thing and that’s just what happened when I took a chance and put it all into an app that some young punk was developing. The thing took off and reinvented social media and hasn’t stopped growing, so I know the old man can’t be after me for money. They have more than enough to live off comfortably for the remainder of their lives.

By the time I’ve finished the pasta and grilled some cheese rolls I hear Luci moving around down the hall and turn just in time to see her walk into the kitchen, her step hesitant as she looks anywhere but at me.

I walk over to her in three strides and pull her into my chest, kissing her breathless before she can say a thing.

“Don’t start an argument you can’t win, Luci. Come on, let’s eat this fine meal I slaved over and then we can talk about the shit you’re obviously thinking. I have to warn you, though, I won’t take no for an answer so you may as well settle down and stop planning a move I won’t let happen.”

“Cage—”

“Oh, and I spoke to Jack while you were trying to pack and run earlier and he told me Gruff already called your parents, so don’t worry about them finding out and freaking. Your mom started yelling about knitting booties and your father is apparently already planning rugby lessons.”

That makes her smile a little and I watch as her shoulders lose the tense set and fall as she sits down at the table and takes a deep breath.

“This smells and looks good.”

“Good, it’s the only thing I can cook besides eggs that don’t taste like shit. Eat, Luci, and then we seriously need to talk.”

She obeys with a frown and pursed lips but I see her tension ease further when she starts eating and groans around her fork.

“Hmm, I love bacon and mushrooms together.”

I hate fucking mushrooms, but I know how much she loves that stuff so I added them anyway. I’ll soldier through it just to make her happy. We eat in silence, a comfortable one that makes me feel at ease, and I even get her to eat half a roll with the pasta before she pushes her plate away and groans while rubbing at her stomach.

“I’ll pop if I eat another bite. Stop feeding me more, Cage, I’m done.” She laughs when I go to add more food to her empty plate.

“You’re eating for five, lady. You need to keep your strength up so they don’t drain you.”

“If I eat for four I’ll be rolling before long. Besides, you just fed me enough for three healthy people. I’m done.”

I relent only because she’s right and I myself am having trouble finishing the large portion. As I load the dishwasher minutes later and grab two sodas before pulling her to the sofa, I’m satisfied with her color and the sparkle I see in her eye.

Luci may not know this yet but she definitely trusts me. I see it in the way she lets me just take over, whereas before she’d have kneed me in the nuts and told me to sod off.

“Cage.”

“Luce.”

I laugh when we both start talking at the same time and instead of being a gentleman and letting her go first, I place a finger over her lips and shush her so I can say what needs saying before she can say some stupid shit about leaving again.

“You’re not leaving, so you may as well get that through your head right now before we go any further.”

“But—”

“And I’m also not accepting any of that nonsense you’ve got floating around in your soft head either, lady. Here’s the deal, Luci. I’m your friend. Now I know that I may not be worthy and I may be an asshole as far as you’re concerned, but you have to admit that I make a good friend. I care about you. A lot.”

I would tell her I love her again but the last time I let that shit slip out she didn’t hardly say two words to me for over a day.

“And I care about those babies. Like a lot. Enough to know that if you leave here and go home alone all I’m going to do is worry about you and what you’re doing. You heard the doctor, Luci. This pregnancy isn’t just high risk. You’re so small and they’re so big. You could literally go into labor at any time between a month from now and the seven-month mark.”

It gives me freaking nightmares just thinking it.

“That won’t happen.”

“Why? Because you intend to follow orders to the letter and spend the next three or four months on light bedrest like he said you have to? I don’t think so, kid. I know you, Luci. You’ll spend one day maximum resting and being good and then you’ll be running round the city getting baby things and trying to stay busy so you don’t think about it. Face it, Luci, you’re having quads in a matter of months and that can’t be changed. You need to stay healthy and rested as much as possible and I don’t see that happening if you’re left to your own devices.”

She has the grace to blush and bite her lips as guilt clouds her face and I take it as a sign of victory, though God knows, the woman is stubborn enough to fight this till the bitter end.

“You’re staying here.”

“But, but I need to start getting the nursery ready and—”

“And we will. Woody already called a buddy of his to come in and see if we can knock down the wall between the two guestrooms so we can turn them into a nursery.”

Her brow seems to furrow before her eyes go round and bounce back to mine as the realization of what I just said settles.

“Here? But—”

“And that’s another thing. My babies will have my name, so sometime before this week is out we’ll be going down to city hall and getting married.”

“But—”

“No buts, Luci. It’s time for you to think about our babies and do what’s right instead of what you think will be best. They need a father and I’m more than ready and willing to be that man. You can sleep on it, but mark my words, by next week you’ll be my wife.”