Lexi, Baby (20 page)

And the hair
! Even though Adam’s hair
was in a short buzz cut, I could tell it was jet black and thick,
just like Landyn’s.

There was also a little something in Adam’s
face that said he was older, but not by much. Maybe it was the
deeper laugh lines he had in the corners of his eyes.

“
You have got to be fucking kidding
me
!” I shouted when I finally put it together. I felt like I
had been slapped.

“
You’re brothers
,” I hissed furiously
without even needing them to confirm it. “I can’t believe you’re
brothers and neither one of you told me!”

“Holy cow,” I heard Trish say from somewhere
behind me.

“Layla, cover your ears and don’t listen,” I
ordered even though I knew little Ms. Nosey Rosy would be
eavesdropping. I still waited until she did what I asked before
facing Landyn who looked sheepish.

“Is that why you got so mad when I was
thinking about telling Trish how hot the detective was?
Because
he was your brother
?” I watched Landyn’s remorseful expression
rapidly change to anger. His lips grew tight, a muscle ticked in
his jaw and his narrowed eyes hit Adam’s like this situation was
his fault. I could feel the energy radiating off Landyn’s fury
infused body.

“Oh, don’t even pull the macho man,
possessive guy crap with me now Lan. You know I’m stupidly, madly
in love with you even though you make me want to pull out my hair
most of the time. I’m mad at myself for not figuring it out myself.
You two look so ridiculously alike.”

I turned to Adam. “And you’re such a jerk,
flirting so shamelessly with your brother’s woman. You were just
using me to bait him weren’t you?”

I didn’t let him answer and took a deep
breath.

“I
knew
you two were having some kind
of secret mind reading conversation last night. How did I not
realize this?”

I turned to Trish. “Why didn’t you see
this?” She opened her mouth to speak, but Landyn butted in.

“Baby, I was going to tell you, but I
assumed I’d never see him again and I didn’t want you to get
involved. I told you that the other times I’ve seen him were only
by chance. We’ve always known who each other were, but other than
that we haven’t talked, at least not until you came back into my
life. You brought him with you and now he’s not leaving. I got here
at two this morning. It took me nearly two hours to find out
exactly where he lived, but I knew he’d keep you with him.”

He quickly glanced at Adam and then back to
me. “We talked about a lot, Lexi, and we’re going to get to know
each other. It seems that in just one night you’ve made quite the
impression on him and he wants to get to know us as a family.”

I was stunned. I looked to Adam.

His eyes were already on me. “Brother or
not, if he fucks up again, I’ll be waiting to steal you away.” He
sounded completely serious, but the twinkle in his eyes gave away
his mischievousness.

“Watch it,” Lan mumbled. “You don’t know me
well enough to joke around with her like that.”

I sighed. Adam grinned. I heard Trish’s
broken sobs behind me.

“Please tell me my life won’t always be like
this,” I begged out loud to anyone who could tell me otherwise.

It was our two year wedding anniversary
today and we spent part of it putting the finishing touches on an
ad we were working on for the bar. Final revisions just so happened
to be due today which was a bummer.

I helped out in the bar when I could, but it
was mostly to feel like I could be more than a wife and mother. Not
that I didn’t love being a wife and mother, because I did; it’s
what I lived for. But I liked feeling in the loop with life outside
of taking kids to school, cooking and cleaning.

As I looked down at Lan sitting behind his
desk while I gave him suggestions, I couldn’t help but be
physically aware of how edible he looked in his tight white shirt
and jeans; one particular muscle straining against his zipper. I
started massaging his shoulders and before I knew it, I couldn’t
keep my hands off him.

My hormones needed him. We needed a
quickie.

That’s how we ended up on the couch in his
office...

“Lexi, baby, we’re supposed to be working,”
Landyn breathed in my ear as he slowly worked my clit.

“Mmmm hmmm...” I moaned as I lifted into his
hand.

“Lan, please hurry,” I begged. Immediately
he filled me with his cock and didn’t stop moving. His hand fisted
in my hair and he forced me to look into his eyes. Possession was
written all over his face and I was astonished to see he was still
on fire for me. That he was still desperate for me after all this
time and everything we’ve gone through.

After two kids, a couple more barely there
stretch marks and boobs that breastfed two babies instead of one,
he still wanted me more than ever before.

“I love you,” he murmured just before taking
my mouth with his. The hand squeezing my ass tilted my hips up and
angled them in a way that pushed him into my g-spot. I licked my
lips and moaned against his mouth.

“Just what I was waiting for, baby. Keep
licking your lips for me.” His movements gradually became harder
and harder until finally he slid in one last time and didn’t pull
back out. He continued to work his hips so that he rubbed against
my sweet spots, both inside and out.

“Lan!” I called out as I came so hard
everything went black for a split second. After a few more harsh
pumps I heard him grunt into my neck just before he bit down softly
and came inside me.

“Are you okay?” he whispered in my ear. I
nodded. He lifted off me and I frowned. I hated his body leaving
mine. “I’m just getting something to clean you up,” he said right
before walking to the bathroom and coming back out with a
washcloth; one of the many I kept in stock for occasions just like
this.

After he cleaned me up we got dressed.

“Are you still cooking tonight? You sure you
don’t want to go out for dinner?” Lan asked. “I could make
reservations at that seafood place you like.”

“No, I have something special planned for
us, and Trish offered to keep the girls at her apartment tonight. I
think she’s still leaning on the girls to keep her occupied.” I
shook my head at the thought of my best friend. “No matter how hard
she pretends, I know she’s not back to her old self yet.”

After two years of hoping, Trish had yet to
hear anything from Tony. She tried repeatedly for months to talk to
him to no avail. Sure enough she heard plenty about him from other
women. Tony had since become
closely
acquainted with most of
the women Trish and I knew.

It was obvious this was planned on his part
and I even understood why he did it, but because I knew the whole
story and Trish was my best friend, it was very disturbing. Last I
heard he moved away.

My best friend wasn’t the same anymore.
Sure, she acted the part well enough, but she lost all her spark.
She threw herself into work at the veterinarian clinic and she had
no outside life other than me, Landyn and my girls.

Oh yeah... and Adam.

“Lexi, baby, Trish is a grown woman. She’ll
be okay,” Lan said, breaking into my thoughts.

“I know that, but I can’t help
but
worry. I wish she would meet someone else so Tony would become only
a memory. I almost wish she would hook up with your brother.” I
made it sound as though Adam was a last resort and Landyn rolled
his eyes at me.

“Tell me again why you asked him to take you
to the grocery store and not me. What time is he picking you up?”
He sounded annoyed, but I couldn’t ruin the surprise for Lan.

I looked at the clock. “He should be here
already. I told you, I have a lot of things to buy and I need
help,” I rose up on my toes to kiss him.

“I’ll see you in a couple of hours. Don’t
come home without calling first,” I ordered.

His eyebrows drew together. “What are you up
to?”

“I told you it’s a surprise. Don’t spoil
it.” I lifted again to give him one more kiss.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too.”

Outside, I met Adam at his Tahoe.

Adam had become a permanent fixture in our
lives. He was the brother I never had. I could honestly say that I
loved him like one. He was always with us and always driving Landyn
nuts because he never stopped flirting with me.

Trish and I kept our promise of trying to
find him a good woman, but they never made it past the first date.
He never got serious about any of them and there were a few that
wanted it; badly. This man had so many secrets and it drove me
crazy.

“I can’t believe you’re pregnant again.”
Adam said as he drove out of the parking lot cutting off my
thoughts.

“I know, neither can I, but this is it, no
more kids,” I told him. I loved both my girls with all my heart,
and I would love this baby just as much, but three was the perfect
number for me.

“Do you want it to be a boy?” he asked as he
glanced at me questioningly. I thought about how to answer. “I know
the right answer should be ‘I don’t care as long as the baby’s
healthy’ and I really do feel that way, but after two girls, I’d
honestly like a little boy. It would add a different dimension to
the house.”

“A boy would be fun,” he said wistfully.

“Don’t you want kids, Adam?”

He glanced at me. “I love kids Lex, you know
that, but I worry about what kind of father I’d be, or husband.
Look at the kind of father mine was; the way he treated his own
son... sorry,
sons and wives
. I’m afraid I’d turn out just
like him.”

I was almost speechless... almost. I had
heard a few horror stories about their father, but both Lan and
Adam tried to keep me in a bubble so I was pretty sure I hadn’t
heard the worst of them.

“Adam,” I spoke softly. “You could
never
be like your father. You treat my girls as though
they’re yours. They love you and I know you love them. I can only
imagine how you’d feel about your own.”

“You’re right Lex, but it takes a mother and
a father to make a family. I might be good at the baby making part,
but I haven’t found the future mother of my kids yet, and I refuse
to just be someone’s baby-daddy; I want the whole package, white
picket fence and all. If it doesn’t happen, then it wasn’t meant to
be.”

He could be so depressing sometimes. I
didn’t mention the fact that he already had the house and white
picket fence; he just needed the family to fill it.

Adam parked when we got to the store. I got
out the SUV, he met me on my side and I continued to speak as we
walked. “Trish and I have gotten you tons of dates, but you always
find something wrong with them. You have to give them a chance
Adam.” I stopped quickly in front of him and spun around. He looked
down at me questioningly.

“And you have
got
to stop having sex
with them before you even get to know them
.
You’ll never
find out if they’re mother material that way,” I hissed at him
through my teeth.

He grinned at me. “No can do Lex. What
better way to find out if they’re mother material?”

Unbelievable!

“You’re an idiot,” I determined for the
thousandth time since I’ve known him, and then I walked away and
into the store.

While we walked around picking up all the
ingredients to make Landyn’s favorite filet mignon with mushroom
wine sauce dinner, and surprise “We’re having another baby” cake,
Adam kept throwing random items into the cart and it was really
grating on my nerves.

“Would you stop that?” I nearly shouted
after taking out the second package of Double-Stuf Oreo cookies he
threw in my cart. When Adam didn’t come back with a smart ass
remark, I looked up at him to see that his back was stiff and he
was staring straight ahead.

Great, what now?

Ryan stood a few feet in front us looking
back and forth between me and Adam. He was with a woman; a
beautiful red-headed woman who was staring at Adam in horror.

I hadn’t heard anything about Ryan since he
got out of jail after serving his time. A week after his attack on
me and from what I heard, a drunken bender, he finally showed back
up at his parent’s house.

Adam continually kept me and Lan up-to-date
with the progress of the case. Everyone assumed Ryan would get off
with nothing but a slap on the wrist, but it just so happened that
Landyn knew “someone of importance” that worked in the legal
system. Apparently, they were in the military together.

Ryan eventually served six months in jail,
twelve months’ probation and was ordered to attend anger management
upon release. I knew the day the verdict was coming down, but I
refused to go to court and watch; Adam called me with the news.

It was exactly three months after Laura was
born that Adam came to the bar after closing to let me know Ryan
had been released...

Landyn was just about to lock the doors when
Adam showed up. As soon as he walked through the door I knew
something was up. He walked straight up to me with determination
set on his face and in his stride.

I was leaning against the bar and my eyes
traveled to Landyn who looked just as curious as I was. When Adam
made it to me he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his embrace.

I was stunned at first and then grew
worried. “Adam, what’s wrong?”

When he spoke his voice was remorseful. “I
have bad news.” “What?”

I heard his long exhale. “Ryan was released
earlier today. I just found out, I’m sorry.”

I breathed a sigh of relief because I
thought he was going to tell me something way worse. “Adam, it’s
not your fault. We all knew he was getting out soon.” His arms
tightened at my response and I glanced again to Landyn who was now
glaring at the hold Adam had around my waist.