Noah's Journey (Sawyer Brothers #3) (15 page)

“You sure about that?” He brushed his lips over mine, teasing me, taunting me to accept the challenge.

My mind was racing so fast, I could only nod. “I think we need to move this to the bedroom, baby,” he whispered, and I didn’t argue. My legs were already growing weak with anticipation.

We stepped out of the shower, and Ryan dried himself before running the towel over my body as he scanned my every curve. Never once had he made me feel anything but beautiful. Ryan was the kindest, gentlest man, and every touch from him was perfection. Without speaking, he led me to our bedroom. As I lay back on the bed, he spent just a few moments admiring the view. The heat in his eyes made me blush.

“I love you, darlin’,” he whispered as he crawled over me and lowered his body against mine.

“I love you,” I said breathlessly.

“I want more kids, Amber.” He hovered above me, staring down at me. His words shocked me. We had once talked about filling our home full of the laughter of kids and used to tease Olivia that she would have ten brothers and sisters, but that was the extent of the conversation.

“You do?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I know our time is limited, and I know at times we feel like we’re going crazy with the hectic days and nights. But every time I look at Rory and Rogan, I just get this overwhelming need to have more. I want a little girl with your eyes and your smile. I want Olivia to have the experience of having both brothers and sisters.”

“You do know we don’t have a say-so in the sex of the child?” I asked as he continued to watch me. “I mean, we could have another boy.”

“I know, but then we’ll just have to keep trying.” He wiggled against me, and I parted my legs.

“Is that so?” I said before I bit down on my lip.

He began rotating his hips, pressing his hardness against me. “That’s so.”

I was just about to keep teasing him when he lifted his hips and thrust forward. My back arched, and I closed my eyes tightly.

“I’m ready, baby,” he whispered against my throat, his voice strained and husky. “And I think tonight we should get a good start on that baby-making goal.”

I was too far gone to protest, not that I would have, even if I’d had a clear mind. The idea of carrying another one of Ryan’s children made the love I had for him grow even stronger. I hadn’t thought that was possible.

***

Jackson

“Woman, you are asking for it.” I swear, to this day Bailey still tested me at every turn.

“Just move, you stubborn ass. I said I got it,” she argued, and I wanted nothing more than to bend her over my knee and swat that plump ass of hers. Just the idea was making me hard.

“Yeah, I know you said you got it. That doesn’t make it any better.” I grabbed the hammer from her hand and held it high above her head. She glared at me, and fucking hell if it didn’t have the opposite effect she was hoping for.

I took a step closer and grinned when she took in a deep breath. I knew she was feeling it too.

“You may want to prove me wrong. I also know you feel the need to be independent, which is fine, sweetheart. But over my dead body am I gonna stand back while my very pregnant wife attempts to climb up on a chair to hang a damn picture on the wall.”

My determined, hardheaded wife placed her hands on her hips, and her nostrils flared with irritation. “You, Jackson Sawyer, are a stubborn fool. I’m only pregnant, you ass, and in no way does that mean I can’t fend for myself.”

I tried not to laugh, because that would only make matters worse. And let’s not forget the last time I pissed her off. Hell, sleeping on the couch sucks when you have a sexy woman sleeping in the next room. That was the longest three days of my life.

“Baby, I am not saying you can’t do it,” I assured her in my best forgive-me voice. “I just don’t want to see you slip, sweetheart. The safety of you, and our son, means more to me than some picture on the wall.”

The hardness in her eyes softened. I, of course, took things one step further and placed my hand over her protruding belly. She was just over seven months pregnant with our second child, and seeing her carrying my child always gave me this sense of domineering possession. She belonged to me, and every man in town knew that.

The front door opened, and the giggles of Isabella, our three-and-a-half-year-old, filled the house. My ma followed close behind, wearing a smile that only her grandkids seemed to bring out. She truly loved every moment she had with each of them.

“Hey, baby girl, did you have a good day with Granny?” I bent down to wrap my arms around my blonde-haired beauty. She looked just like her momma.

“We made cupcakes,” Bella announced proudly as she held up a small container. The cupcakes had tipped sideways, leaving icing smeared along the side.

Being a father had really changed something in me. Yes, I was still a knucklehead, and I still had wild, random sex with my gorgeous-as-sin wife whenever the mood struck. We still got caught getting busy around the ranch, or, hell, even in our own backyard, but that was unavoidable. I mean, come on, who wouldn’t act like a horny teenager when they had a good-looking woman at their side? Bailey was my happiness, and I wasn’t about to let anything or anyone change that.

No, what had changed was I now understood that need to protect. I had watched Ryan struggle with it for years when it came to Olivia and wondered why the hell he felt the need to smother his daughter, keeping her from going out and enjoying her teenage years. But now that I had a daughter of my own, I understood it. The thought of someone hurting my family ignited a rage inside that scared me. Hell, thinking about Bella being old enough to date made me want to tuck her away in a safe, secluded spot and stand guard at the fucking door. No little punk boy was getting anywhere near my sweet angel.

“Those look real good, Bella,” I told her before I placed a kiss on her forehead. “You staying for dinner, Mom?” I looked up at my ma, and she nodded. Between all of us, she was rarely alone. She was surrounded with enough grandkids to keep her busy, and the rest of us filled in any downtime she may have been blessed with. I was sure my ol’ man was looking down from above with a huge grin on his face. He was watching her enjoy the next generation of Sawyers, and he was proud of them all. I had no doubt about that.

***

Bailey

“My feet hurt, my back aches, and my hands are swollen,” I whined as I tried to get comfortable.

“But you are still the most gorgeous woman I have ever laid eyes on,” Jackson said, and I knew he was just biased. He had to say those things; it was his fault I was fat and cranky in the first place. The man was always horny.

I smiled to myself as the thought rolled through my mind. Who the hell was I kidding? I was always horny too. Jackson had that effect on me. He always had. Since that first kiss in the bar that night, I was hooked. The man had one lethal tongue and the dirty mouth to support it.

“Do you want me to rub all the sore spots?” he asked with a grin.

“Yeah, because that worked out so well last time.” I lifted my head, daring him to argue.

“Well, sweetheart, any action that leads to you naked and writhing beneath me I would say is definitely a win.” His smile grew wider, and those perfect teeth of his shined in the dim lighting of the bedroom.

I was getting closer to the eight month mark, and this pregnancy was so different from Isabella’s. My sweet little boy growing inside me had me feeling nauseous more often than not. I had spent the first four and a half months barely able to keep down ice chips. It was more sporadic now, but when it hits me, it’s miserable. Thankfully, I had only gained just under twenty pounds this time around, but with Bella, I gained three times that.

But carrying Jackson’s babies was worth it all. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Yes, the road to our happiness was not a smooth one. We fight, and we are both stubborn as shit, but we are passionate. That passion kept everything between us so fresh and intriguing.

“I won’t argue with you,” I whispered as I let my head fall back against the pillow. “You have a way of making all the yuck turn to yum.”

His chuckle filled the room, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Baby,” he said through his laughter, “not that being inside you doesn’t sound like heaven, but I think I should stick to helping you relax.”

He slid his hands down my legs and brought them to rest on my feet. “You do too much during the day, babe. You need to stay off your feet more.” I didn’t have time to argue, because he began massaging my feet then.

“Mm, that feels so good,” I mumbled between moans.

“You keep moaning like that, beautiful, and I’m gonna need a cold shower.”

I bit my lip to stop the pleasurable sounds. Not that Jackson being turned on wasn’t pleasurable in so many ways, but this felt too good to interrupt.

“I love you, darlin’,” Jackson added, and my body began to relax from him rubbing my aching muscles. “You and our kids are my world, and making you happy is all I’ll ever want.”

“I’m so happy, Jackson,” I assured him as I began to fade. “I love you too, cowboy.”

***

Noah

I stood in the spare bedroom of my cabin, which had been converted into a nursery full of purples and yellows as I nuzzled Nora, my four-month-old daughter, close. She loved when I placed her against my bare chest. I think it made her feel safe.

Over the last few years, Alena and I went through some pretty dark times, and I wasn’t so sure we would make it, but I refused to let her give up. We found out she was pregnant just a few months after we were married, close to three years ago. But before she reached the twelfth week, she had a miscarriage. She fell into a depression shortly after, and I too was hurting from the loss.

For months we were always at one another’s throat, and I think we were both just looking for someone to blame. They say you always hurt the ones you love, after all. After I began to heal, I realized I hadn’t offered her the comfort she needed during that time because I was so consumed with my own grief. I felt like I deserted her, and I hated that feeling. But the truth was she didn’t want me anywhere near her.

I’m not proud of the road I took after the loss of our baby, but I’ve spent every day since then trying to make up for those choices.

Now here I stood, holding our daughter, the sweet little angel that had her mother’s nose and mouth but looked just like me in every other sense. She had her daddy wrapped tightly around her finger.

“Hey, Dad,” Austin said from the doorway behind me.

I turned around to see my little boy, who wasn’t so small anymore. He was now almost eight and looked more like me with each passing day. He still split his time between my place and his mother’s but preferred it here. We added on to the cabin about a year ago, and he now had a room he called his man cave. I chuckled when he referred to it like that, but it wasn’t far from the truth. He had a full-size bed, a flat-screen television, and all the games a boy could wish for. He was spoiled, but that was fine by me because he appreciated everything I had ever given him.

“Hey, bud,” I answered as I continued to rock Nora from side to side, still holding her close.

“Alena just called. She said she’s bringing dinner home. She wanted you to know so you didn’t throw anything on.” He paused as if he was running their conversation through his mind. “Oh yeah, and she said Trinity is coming over too.”

I nodded. “All right. We still on for a game of basketball later?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s fun beating you,” he said with a smile. Little shit had been hanging around his Uncle Jackson too much. He was getting too good at giving me hell.

“You ever think maybe I don’t just let you win?” I arched an eyebrow, and my little tormentor actually laughed.

“Yeah, right, Dad. Face it, you ain’t got game.” He turned around and walked down the hall, leaving me behind to chuckle and shake my head. Damn kid. I had no doubt he would be talking smack better than Jackson in no time.

Nora stirred in my arms, and my attention instantly shifted back to my sweet little girl. “Shh, I got ya, darlin’,” I assured her in a soft, soothing voice. “Daddy will always have you, sweet angel.”

Life teaches us all types of lessons, and it’s up to us to decide what we do with those lessons. I chose to never repeat the same mistakes twice. Yes, I hit a snag in the road when Alena and I went through a hard time in our marriage. Hell, it hit us during our honeymoon phase, and I’ll be honest, the idea of losing her scared the shit out of me, but we made it. And today we are stronger and better than we were in the beginning. We’ve learned to lean on one another, to understand that no matter what happens, we have each other. I will never again think otherwise.

Right here under this roof I had everything a man could every wish for. I had my son and daughter, who were both healthy and happy. And I had my best friend, the woman who I fell in love with more and more each day. She kept me grounded and made me feel whole.

I was definitely one helluva lucky man.