Lexi, Baby (16 page)

“Baby, you fell asleep in the water and I
panicked when you didn’t answer me.” He stood me up on unsteady
legs, grabbed a towel and started drying me off. Luckily my hair
wasn’t wet.

“You’re shivering, Lexi. Fuck. I knew should
have come in here sooner, but I didn’t want to upset you more.” He
sounded really disappointed with himself. He wrapped the towel
around my body, picked me up like a bride and carried me back to
his room. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and spoke against
his neck. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to relax a little bit. I didn’t
think I’d fall asleep.”

When we made it to the bed I noticed the
covers had been pulled back. He took off the towel and laid me down
naked in the middle of the bed. He undressed, climbed in after me
and tucked my body into his. He was amazing.

“Where’s Layla?” I asked quietly.

“She’s with Trish. That was the only good
thing about you falling asleep in the bath; it gave me a chance to
straighten some things out with Trish. Layla’s helping her move in
to the apartment.” I turned my head and looked at him
questioningly. I was curious to know what they talked about.

His hand cupped the side of my face and he
gave me a soft peck on the lips. “I told her we’re getting married.
I made it clear to her that I was never leaving you again or
fucking this up. If you try to leave me, you wouldn’t get far. She
was hesitant to stay in the garage apartment because of everything
she said to me, but I told her I didn’t care. I know she was just
looking out for you and I can appreciate that. I convinced her to
stay.”

“I trust you,” I whispered to him. His amber
eyes lit up and the corners of his mouth turned up in a small
smile. “I know you do, and I’ll work hard to keep it. I love you,
baby,” he responded.

I scooted closer to him. “I’m still cold.”
His arms constricted around me and he threw a leg over both of
mine. I could also feel his erection prodding against my
backside.

“I want you inside me,” I whispered.

I felt him shake his head. “Baby, you’re
exhausted. You just fell asleep in the bath. We can play later.”
Well that wasn’t going to do. “I don’t want to have sex, I just
want to fall asleep with you inside me,” I requested softly.

“Lexi,” he growled my name, warningly.

“Please,” I whispered. I felt his mouth at
my shoulder. He pressed a tender kiss to it before working his way
to my neck. I felt his hand moved between my legs and he began to
caress. “That feels so good Lan,” I breathed.

“Baby, you know once I’m inside you, you
won’t be falling asleep.” His fingers continued to work my clit. “I
don’t want to fall asleep,” I whispered. Suddenly his hand
disappeared. He rolled onto his back taking me with him until my
back was flush against his chest. My head was at his shoulder and
when I turned to face him he kissed me. He rocked his erection
against my sweet spot.

I arched my back to give him access and he
entered me. “I love you, Lexi,” he whispered. One hand kneaded my
breast softly as the other massaged my clit and it felt amazing.
His thighs held my legs spread wide open as he slowly pumped in and
out; I met his thrusts.

“I love you too.”

I felt like we had all the time in the
world, but I knew I wouldn’t last much longer.

When I moaned his movements became
faster.

“I’m going to come soon Lan,” I
whimpered.

“I’m right there with you baby.” His voice
was rough. I licked my lips. “Fuck, hurry Lexi; I’m not going to be
able to stop.”

My inner muscles clenched as I cried out his
name and came. “Kiss me,” I vaguely heard him demand right in the
middle of my orgasm. I turned my head and he devoured me. “I love
you,” he groaned against my lips as I felt him pump once more
before he planted himself deep inside me.

After we finished and calmed, he maneuvered
us so that our bodies were back in original spooning position
except now he was inside me. I was drained. Through my haziness,
just before drifting off to sleep, I heard myself say, “I love
feeling like I belong to you.”

His arms squeezed me almost painfully. “You
do belong to me, Lexi. Just as much as I belong to you.”

Then I passed out.

“Baby, wake up.” I heard Landyn and he
sounded far away. I stretched and opened my eyes to see Lan sitting
on the bed next to me. He was fully dressed and he had a smirk on
his face.

“I love watching you wake up,” he said as
his hand reached out to trace my bottom lip. I instantly felt
self-conscious and moved to run my hand through the rats nest
called my hair, but he stopped me. “Don’t. You’re beautiful.”

“Yeah, right,” I mumbled. “Why are you
dressed? What time is it?” I asked.

“It’s seven and I got called to come into
the office. I have something important to take care of and I’m not
sure what time I’ll be back. It would be a perfect time for you to
get familiar with your new home.”

He continued to trace my bottom lip.

He was so sweet. “Okay,” I whispered against
his thumb.

“Layla’s already asleep in her room and
Trish is downstairs watching T.V.” I groaned. “Layla going to sleep
early only means she’ll wake up early.” After taking this nap I
wasn’t going to fall asleep until late.

“I called your boss and told him you
wouldn’t be coming back,” Landyn said, catching me off guard. I
jackknifed up in bed. “Oh my God! I completely forgot about work!
What do you mean you told my boss I won’t be coming back? I haven’t
made that decision.”

“Lexi, that job is too far away from me. If
you want to work, work at the bar with me. You can do whatever you
want there, bartend, help me with paperwork, sit across from me and
look beautiful... I really don’t care. I just want you close.”

“Lan, you realize we’ll have to be apart
sometimes right?” When I saw the puzzled look on his face I almost
laughed. He looked like the idea was offensive. “Lan, there’ll be
times when I need to run errands across town, take Layla somewhere
or go see my parents. You never know what life will throw our way.
What if Trish and I decide to take a girls trip somewhere?”

He lowered his head and got right in my
face. It would have scared me if his face didn’t look so soft and
relaxed. “Baby. So much shit has happened between us lately that
this is not a very good time to talk about being away from me.
We’ll jump those hurdles when they’re thrown our way, just not
right now.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

He pushed the hair out of my face. “Call me
if you need me for anything and keep your phone on you. I love
you.”

“I love you too.”

Then he was gone.

It was now nine o’clock at night and I was
bored out of my freaking mind. After Trish and I made up, we
managed to search the whole house in two hours. Looking for what I
didn’t know, but it was fun snooping while it lasted. Landyn really
didn’t have many possessions other than his furniture and clothes,
and we only managed to find one item of interest.

In the top of his closet I found a shoe box
filled with things he saved from the time we were together in high
school. I still had all my stuff too, but it was currently in
Trish’s garage apartment with all my clothes. Apparently Lan asked
the movers to come back tomorrow to unpack because he wanted me to
get some rest. Trish was going to sleep in one of the guest rooms
for tonight.

Seeing what was inside the box immediately
made me tear up. The box wasn’t hidden. As soon as you entered the
closet, it was on the lowest shelf that sat just above his hanging
clothes. I wondered if he looked at it often or if he just recently
got it out of hiding since I came back in his life.

Inside there were pictures of us from all of
our favorite hang outs. In every picture we looked happy.

There was picture after picture of me
smiling or laughing at the camera while Landyn smiled back, not
looking at the camera, but gazing at me; eyes always on my face.
There were also souvenirs from carnivals we went to, our
homecomings, prom and more.

I couldn’t believe he kept it all after all
these years.

So I called him.

“Lexi, baby,” he answered in his deep, rough
voice. He sounded happy to hear from me. I immediately started
crying.

Stupid hormones
!

“I love you, and I miss you,” I sobbed into
the phone. I suddenly heard things shuffling around in the
background and his voice was panicked when he spoke. “Baby, what’s
wrong? I’m on my way.”

“No! I’m sorry, nothing’s wrong. It’s
just... I kind of... I sort of found your box in the closet,” I
whispered hoarsely. I couldn’t even find it in me to be embarrassed
that I just gave my snooping away.

He sighed out loud. “Lexi, you scared the
shit out of me. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone through
your things-”

He cut me off. “Baby, I know how you are
already. Don’t you think I knew you’d sneak through my things? I
have nothing to hide Lexi, especially from you. I love you. I kept
that box because I’ve always been in love with you. If you notice
some of the pictures that are bent, torn or aged, it’s because I
took them with me while I was in Afghanistan; they always stayed
with me. After some of the things I saw overseas, those pictures
were the only thing that kept me sane.”

I hated visualizing him going to war or
being in danger. I hated that he had to use these pictures to help
him get through difficult times when he could have had the real
thing.

“I love you, Lan,” I continued crying
softly.

“Lexi, stop crying. I’m trying to finish up
and I’ll be home soon,” he said gently.

“Okay, but try to hurry, please. Trish and I
have snooped through the entire house already and we’re getting
bored. Maybe we’ll search the garage. What about the attic, do you
have an attic? Or some kind of secret passageway behind a bookcase?
Lord knows the place is big enough to have one.”

He started laughing so loud I had to pull
the phone away from my ear. I guess that meant he wasn’t taking me
seriously. “Baby, you have no idea how cute you are. I’ll try to
hurry so I can help you get into the attic. Just don’t try to get
in there on your own. The last thing I want you to do is get hurt
while
snooping
.” He said all that through his laughter which
I thought was a little rude.

“It wasn’t that funny. I was being serious,”
I grumbled.

“Trust me baby, I know. I love you and I’ll
see you in a little bit,” he said.

“Oh, alright. I love you too. Bye, Lan.”
“Bye baby.” We disconnected.

Now Trish and I had nothing to do except
watch T.V. which was tiresome. And Trish for some odd reason was
acting strange; stranger than normal. I couldn’t quite put my
finger on it, but she wasn’t acting herself.

“Trish, I’m bored.”

“I know, me too. You’d think ‘hot stuff’
would have something to hide that we could find; something juicy,
like pictures of other women that look like you.”

“Trish!” I gasped her name before screaming,
“That is so fucked up. Why would you say that? And why are you
acting so weird?”

She just shrugged her shoulders and waved me
away with her hand. “It was just an example. I only meant that we
need something scandalous to happen immediately. And I’m not acting
weird, I’m just bored.”

“Whatever T, the last thing I need is for
something scandalous to happen.”

At that very moment, the doorbell rang. We
both jumped off the couch and looked at each other. “Who do you
think it is?” I asked T in a whisper not wanting whoever it was to
hear me.

“I don’t know, but let’s find out,” she said
excitedly, while walking away.

“Hey! Hold on. Let me grab that bat we
found, you never know. What if Ryan got out of jail and that’s him
at the door.”

“Lex, Ryan wouldn’t know where Landyn lives
and he sure as shit wouldn’t ring the doorbell. Hurry up and get
the dang bat.”

I ran, got the bat and met Trish at the
front door. “Ask who it is,” I whispered to Trish.

“Okay,” she whispered back.

“Who is it?” Trish yelled so loud I
jumped.

“It’s Detective Adam Bryant with HPD!” the
guy behind the door yelled back in response. Trish didn’t even look
my way before opening the door. I stood behind her and I watched as
Detective Bryant’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“Are you planning on beating me with that
bat?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

I immediately let the bat fall to my side;
embarrassed. “Sorry. I didn’t want to take any chances,” I told
him.

A sudden look of remorse crossed his face
and then, just as suddenly, his head dropped and he lifted a hand
to rub the back of his neck. He shifted on his feet
uncomfortably.

I knew right away that something was wrong.
I glanced at Trish who was staring at hottie Detective Adam Bryant
in wonder, but I disregarded her and spoke, “Come on in Detective.
We were actually just starting to die of boredom here, but you look
like you’re about to shake things up.”

He gave me a small, regretful smile, but
that small smile lit up his entire face. Sweet baby Jesus, he was
hot! I looked to Trish again who had yet to move from her spot.
“Trish, snap out of it,” I hissed her way.

Finally her eyes hit mine. “I thought you
were lying about him when you told me. I didn’t think there could
be anyone as hot as Landyn, but he’s gorgeous,” she whispered
excitedly back to me. I rolled my eyes at her.

Yeah, Detective Adam Bryant was
nearly
just as hot as Landyn, but in a slightly different
way.

His black hair was in a buzz cut; almost
bald, but he wasn’t balding. He had a slightly rounded face with
high, chiseled cheek bones and his skin was completely smooth. He
had a baby-face. He had bright green eyes and straight, bright
white teeth. The best part was that he was also built very similar
to Landyn. He was huge; had to be at least six-foot with muscles
pulling at his suit. The only bad thing that I could see was that
he wore the same damn buttoned-down shirts Ryan did.
Ugh
!