The Love Series Complete Box Set (108 page)

In a lightning quick move, I kneel on the floor at the edge of the bed and pull her ankles so that her legs dangle over the side. Pulling a leg over each shoulder, I run the length of my nose up the inside of her thighs. The way she smells, the way she looks drives me fucking crazy.

Oh so gently, with just the lightest touch of the tip of my tongue, I lick down the center of her pussy. “More Reid, more . . . please.” She arches her back, trying to push her wetness into my face. I tsk at her and press her hips back down to the mattress. Feeling her stiffen as I touch her belly is like taking two steps back. “I felt that. Do we need to start all over again?” I chide her playfully, but I can tell that no matter how turned on she may be, her insecurities are never far away. Kissing a seductive path up and over her mound, towards her stomach—which she obviously still hates—I let my lips linger on her belly button for a few seconds. Planting a reverent kiss there, I look up into her jade eyes. “You grew a person in here. Our baby. A tiny, little perfect boy who is half you and half me. No matter how you see it, your body is
more
perfect to me now than it ever was before. Your body gave me, gave us, the most beautiful thing in the world.” I catch a flicker of emotion on her face as she lets my words register in her brain. Hoping that they’re sinking in and not pissing her off, I finish what I need to tell her. “You might not think you’re perfect, but I think you’re flawless. Every,” a soft kiss, “single,” a gentle bite, “inch,” a hot, wet, lick, “of you is absolutely perfect.”

I don’t wait to see if she accepts my declarations because I have every intention of showing her just how beautiful I find her new body. When I slide two fingers into her, I swear I hear a sigh of relief hiss through her lips. Curling them forward, I massage her relentlessly in a rhythm that has her pulsing and clenching around my fingers. Her clit pokes out from behind her glistening lips, begging me to lash it with my tongue.

Challenge accepted.

Alternating between rapid flicks and broad strokes, my tongue works its magic on her body. “Fuck . . . Reid . . . I’m close . . .” I see her fists clench the sheets in a white-knuckled grasp. If the vise grip her pussy has on my fingers is any indication, she’s going to come hard and soon. But I need her to come around my cock. I need her to feel as connected to me as I do to her. She whimpers, actually fucking whimpers, when I pull my fingers from her pussy. I lick my fingers clean as she watches, wide-eyed, but I know it turns her on when I do this. She’s told me as much.

Standing before her, with her legs still draped over the side of the bed, I pull both her ankles up to my shoulder. Kneeling in the inch of space at the edge of the mattress, I drive into her, hard and fast. Hot, wet, tight—perfect. “Fucking . . . Maddy . . . my God, baby.” My hips are angled up on each thrust, and I feel her tighten around me as I hit that spot that drives her crazy. With her legs in one hand up against my chest, I reach down to tweak her nipple with the other. Her body goes limp as I feel the ripples of her orgasm against my twitching cock. It’s too soon; I don’t want to come yet. It takes every ounce of restraint I possess to let the tsunami of her climax pass without coming myself.

When the rapid fluttering of her pussy slows to a seductive beat, I flip her over and she balances her weight on her knees and elbows. “Your ass is a work of art.” I bite it not-so-gently, and I can’t repress the smile which spreads across my face when I see her skin prickle under the pressure of my teeth. She crawls more toward the middle of the bed and now I really have some leverage. Banding my arm around her waist and digging my other into her hip, I sink into her—inch by agonizing inch. I pull out slowly only to pound into her with such ferocity that her body actually goes limp in my arms.

“Maddy . . .” Her name comes out on a low groan as my orgasm gathers at the base of my spine and erupts with more force than is humanly possible. We collapse together on the bed—her back to my front, curled in a spoon. I sweep her hair away from her neck and plant a kiss on her shoulder. “Before you had Braden, you were the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. And now since you’ve had him, you’re the most stunning woman on the planet.” She turns around in my arms; her lips pull up in at the corners in a shy, but beautiful way.

“Thank you for saying that, even though . . .”

“No,” I say with finality. “There is no ‘even though.’ And if you need me to remind you more often, you know I’m up to the challenge.” I squeeze her ass and press my groin into hers to let her know just what I mean by
reminding
her.

“Wanna remind me again later?” A quirked eyebrow and girlish smile accompany her question, and I have a feeling my plan worked at least a little.

“Absofrigginlutely.”

Relaxing quietly in the haze of our morning romp, we go over everything we need to do for the day. The party is around noon at Momma’s house, so if we want to get everything together and over there in time to set up, we need to get our asses in gear. When we hear Braden start babbling to himself in the next room, we get dressed and get on with our day.

Chapter 3

“Hey, birthday boy!” Momma reaches for the baby and he smiles and laughs at her silly faces. Walking into Momma’s house will always feel like coming back home.

“Let me help you there, Reid.” Evan walks out of the kitchen tossing a dishtowel over his shoulder.

“Thanks, Evan. Good to see you again.” Reid and Evan do that guy greeting that still makes me laugh—a handshake, half hug, half back-slap kind of thing—and then they bring the bags into the kitchen where Evan is putting the finishing touches on the food.

Momma and I bring Braden into the backyard, which has been transformed into a little boy’s racecar dream come true. There are balloons everywhere and the tables are covered in racing stripe tablecloths. “What do you think?”

Gasping through the hand covering my mouth, I squeal in delight. “Momma! It’s perfect. Thank you so much for letting us do this here.” She pulls the ‘are you kidding me’ face and puts Braden in his pack-n-play where a new set of toy cars waits for him. Melanie and Bryan join us in the back and help us get everything else set up. “Wow, Mom. When you go for a theme, you really kill it, huh?” Melanie whistles as she scans the yard before walking over to Braden and kissing the top of his head.

“It’s an important day, so I just wanted to make sure everything was perfect.” Momma winks at me before she makes her way back into the kitchen to help Evan with the rest of the food. “Bryan, can you come help me carry out some of the drinks?” Momma calls from the back door and Bryan pops a kiss to Melanie’s cheek before running off to help her.

“So . . .” I elbow Melanie in the side, but she just shrugs her shoulders.

“So what?”

“Oh cut it! Did you talk to Bryan last night?” I elbow her again and she blushes. Bryan and Melanie just moved in together last week, and while the last few months of their relationship has been smooth sailing, to say they got off to a rough start is an understatement.

“Kinda, but not really,” she responds rather shyly.

“Oh, so that’s how you’re going to play it, huh? Come on, spill it, girl! You got out of it last night by bringing up your newest book boyfriend, but that’s not going to work now.” I arch an eyebrow at her. She’s not getting out of it this time.

She flops down onto the bench at the picnic table and starts picking at a non-existent piece of fuzz on her shirt. “You want the truth?” She still hasn’t made eye contact with me.

“Of course I want the truth, Mel.” I place my hand on top of hers and squeeze gently. “Is something going on?”

“No, nothing’s going on . . . it’s just, I guess it’s not as easy as we thought, and that’s not exactly an easy conversation to bring up, you know.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I know how closed-up Melanie can get and I hate what it did to her last time her world was in upheaval. So even if she tells me she doesn’t want to talk, I’ll get it out of her.

But, much to my surprise, she actually opens up. “Things between Bryan and I are great, actually. It’s just weird to be so settled down and be so young. I know Bryan loves me and I love him, but we’re only in our early twenties. I guess sometimes I get a little freaked out thinking about how young we are that’s all.” I’m so proud of her for finally being able to open up about what she’s afraid of, that I can’t help but smile at her.

“Does it help to know I feel the same way about me and Reid?” Melanie turns her head to me so quickly that she almost falls off the bench.

“But you guys are married and have a kid together.”

“I know, Mel, and I really do love our life, but I can’t say it’s not scary to think about how young we are. But you know what? At the end of the day, I know I’m happy. If I can end each day feeling happy about the life we’ve created, then who cares how old I am.”

“I know you’re right, Maddy. I am deliriously happy with Bryan; I just hope he’s happy with me.”

She huffs at me when I shoot her my best ‘you’re out of your freaking mind’ face. “He wouldn’t be inside with your mom helping and spending the day with your family if he wasn’t crazy in love with you.”

“You don’t get it, Maddy. You’re perfect through and through. Reid will never look at another woman the way he looks at you. I still feel less than perfect some days and I hate that I let those feelings seep into my relationship.” Reid’s words from earlier this morning flash through my brain and I instantly feel the weight of his love, settling deep in my chest, alleviating some of my perceived imperfections.

“I get it more than you think, Mel.” Without getting into the sexier details of my morning, I share with her just how uncomfortable I feel about my post baby-body. Being able to talk to another girl about body issues somehow helps me feel much better about them. We’re able to boost each other up without bringing each other down. We joke about grandma arm-flab, Freddy Kruger-like stretch marks, and junk in the trunk. Somehow, by the end of our chat, we’ve exorcised some of our demons—ones that we see in a much worse light than anyone else ever would.

By the time everyone else comes back outside, we’ve moved on to laughing about the shortcomings of our significant others. “I know seriously, how difficult is it to drop the dirty clothes
in
the laundry basket instead of
next
to it.”

“Pfft. That’s nothing. Reid dutch-ovened me the other night. I seriously thought I was going to throw up.” I make a mock-gagging noise, which Braden finds hilarious. He starts making farting noises with his tongue, which only adds to our laughter.

“Oh my God, the farting. Seriously, I had no clue guys farted that much.” Melanie laughs hysterically just as Bryan and Reid walk up behind us.

“You better watch it there, Maddy. You’re no better.” Reid pulls a face at me as he lifts Braden up into the sky. “Little man here takes after you in more than just being cute, you know.”

“Yeah, well at least I don’t suffocate you under the sheets! And for the record, girls do not stink nearly as bad as boys.” Sticking my tongue out at him only adds to the childishness of this exchange. When Reid looks over to Bryan to weigh in, he pretends to be busy not hearing a word Reid just said.

“So you’re just going to leave me hanging like that?”

“Um, yeah, I am.” Pulling Melanie to his side, he smiles wide. “I sleep with her. I’m not that dumb.” We all get lost in a fit of giggles joking around with each other. In the midst of it all, Melanie and I share a look of understanding, of sisterhood. In that split second of eye contact, we know we’ll both be okay—all four of us will be okay. Despite our insecurities about our bodies, and our concerns about our age, the four of us seem to share something that can never be taken away from us.

The bonds of being a family.

The rest of the afternoon passes in more laughter and happy conversations. For the most part, the guys man the grill. Men and their meat—don’t even get me started. As I watch Reid try to put out a burger that has somehow caught on fire, Dylan struts up beside me. “Hey! I was wondering when you were going to get here.” He hugs me and pops a quick kiss on the top of my head before reaching for Braden.

“Hey, little man. Happy birthday.” Dylan tosses him in the air a few times to which Braden’s reaction is giggles. Mine is to stop breathing. Seriously, why do people feel the need to toss my baby into the air?

Reid comes up behind Dylan and claps him on the shoulder. “Hey, man. Good to see you.”

As if it’s written into their DNA, Reid and Dylan immediately start talking about some baseball game that went into forty extra innings or something like that. I just tune them out and greet the rest of the guests as they arrive.

After dinner is done and it’s time to serve the cake, I go into the kitchen to get out my masterpiece. Okay, fine. It’s so not a masterpiece, but when I put the “1” birthday candle into the center of the best racecar-shaped cake I’ll ever make, I get a little emotional.

Reid surprises me as he wraps his arms around my waist from behind. “It turned out great, babe.”