The Love Series Complete Box Set (113 page)

Braden’s pudgy little fingers pinch and tickle at my belly and he tries his hardest to blow some raspberries, but all he manages to do is drool on me.

When I’m red faced and barely able to breathe, Reid lets go of my hands and helps me stand. He lifts Braden up and all three of us stand there as our bubbles of laughter subside.

“I’m gonna get you back. You just wait and see,” I threaten.

“I can’t wait to see you try, Mrs. Connely.” He counters with another sexily arched eyebrow and an innocent peck to the cheek.

“Cocky bastard.” I swat him playfully on his chest.

“Listen to the mouth on you!” He switches Braden to his other hip, before asking him, “Can you believe Mommy has such a dirty mouth?”

“Me?” I gasp and poke him in the arm. “You have the filthiest mouth ever. His first word is probably going to be F-U-C-K at the rate you say it around here.” I spell out the letters just to prove to him that he’s worse than I am and then stick out my tongue for added insult—and to up the maturity level, of course.

“Can I make you breakfast, now that we’re done with the presents?”

“I doubt you can, but it’ll be fun to watch you try.” He turns to Braden and holds up his hand to high-five him at my expense and Braden actually manages to hit him on the hand this time—of course, Reid’s been practicing with him. They’re teaming up on me already, but I can’t deny that I love my boys to death.

Making my way into the kitchen, I decide on scrambled eggs. They’re fairly easy to make and fairly difficult to screw up. Toast, on the other hand, is apparently my archenemy. Those Kitchen Divas are going to have their work cut out for them.

Over the clanging of the pan and the cracking of shells, I hear Braden and Reid cleaning up the wrapping paper that’s strewn about the floor. I catch of glimpse of Reid handing Braden a wad of paper and showing him how to slam-dunk it. When Braden actually makes it into the bag, Reid claps wildly and tosses Braden in the air telling him what a good job he did. Watching Reid with Braden, witnessing the man I love and the child I gave birth to become best friends brings tears to my eyes. It’s the most perfect thing to see on Christmas morning.

Of course that bubble of perfection is broken, when Reid hands me the tied up bag of wrapping paper claiming that he needs to go change my son’s stinky ass—funny how when he smells, he becomes
my
son. I slide my slippers on and wrap myself in my grey, wool pea coat to take the trash out to the dumpster.

I nearly trip over my own two feet as I step out the front door. Mouth agape, bag dropped to the floor, I’m completely speechless as I stare at what I assume is my new car. It has a giant red bow on top of it and everything. The sun’s rays sparkle and dance across the shiny, black exterior of the Nissan Murano. Still frozen by both disbelief and the cold, I jump a little when I feel Reid’s jacket-covered arm snake around my waist from behind.

“Merry Christmas, baby.” I simply stare at him in shock as he dangles the keys in front of me.

He hits a button on the key-fob and the engine purrs. “Reid, you didn’t have to . . .”

“I know I didn’t
have
to, but I
wanted to.
So I did. Well actually, we did, right, buddy?” I’m just now noticing that Braden is outside with him, all bundled up of course. The freaking garbage was just a diversion. Smooth. I’ll have to give him credit for that one.

“Come on. I want you to see the inside.” He loops his arm through mine and pulls me over to the truck. It’s gorgeous and I love it instantly. Standing outside of the driver’s side door, he hands me the key-fob explaining how the keyless entry and ignition work. He can be such a guy—getting lost in all things cars and sports sometimes—but honestly, all I need to know is that the green circle starts the thing. The rest might as well be in Japanese.

We sit in the front seats for a few minutes, me staring at the clean interior and shiny features while Reid explains what all of the buttons do. There are so many buttons, but I’m sure I’ll at least remember the important ones. Just as he’s wrapping up his little tutorial, I realize I didn’t see my old car in the lot.

“What did you do with the Civic? I can’t imagine that you were able to get anything for it?” Knowing Reid,
he
probably had to pay someone to take it off our hands.

“Yeah, that wasn’t happening. The dealership wasn’t even willing to take it as a trade-in.” I figured as much. But as freaking ancient as that car was, I still had some good memories with it. It was really the only thing I ever had from Aunt Maggie, though the fact that my fondest memory of her is of the car she left me is pretty sad.

“So what did you do? Drive it off a cliff like you’ve been promising to do?”

“Momma told me about a children’s cancer center she’s worked with before that takes old cars as donations. I guess they fix them up and sell them or something to make money, but I figured since we really weren’t going to be able to get more than ten or fifteen bucks for it, I might as well just give it to someone who could actually get something out of it.” He shrugs his shoulders deflecting the praise he knows is coming.

There have been a handful of moments in my life, that have really defined who I am—that have really altered the way I view the world. This is one of them. Time and time again, Reid reminds me that there is genuine kindness and love in world that is so often filled with ugliness and hatred.

Leaning over the center console, I cup his jaw reveling in the feel of his rough stubble scratching at my fingertips. “You’re a good man, Reid.” I softly press my lips against his as Braden wiggles in his lap clearly getting fidgety and probably a little hungry. “I love you and thank you for this. It’s too much, but I love it.”

“Anything for you, Maddy. Anything in the world.” We share one more kiss before stepping out of the car.

Reid takes care of the trash while I take Braden inside to get him his breakfast. We have a few hours to spend together at home before we head over to Momma’s for Christmas dinner. Melanie and Bryan will be there. Since he lives there now, so will Evan too. Dylan will be joining us as well and considering all of the stuff that happened the other day with Lizzy and Cane, I hope he’ll be in better spirits.

Knowing better than to ask us to bring anything really important, I was assigned the task of making the cheese and cracker platter. Yep, it’s pretty clear to see that Momma has very little faith in my cooking abilities. Though, I can’t say I blame her too much. Sending someone to the hospital with food poisoning is not the best way to celebrate Christmas.

Sometime close to midnight, we leave Momma’s. The day was filled with good food, hearty laughter and happy memories. Braden is fast sleep within five minutes of being strapped into his car seat and about two minutes after that, I feel my eyes begin to droop with heavy sleep.

The icy cold blast from the door opening makes my teeth chatter. I grumble in protest at the gentle nudge I feel on my shoulder. “We’re home, Maddy. You take Braden, and I’ll get the rest of the stuff.” Since we changed him into his feetie pajamas before we left, all I really need to do is change his diaper quickly and tuck him in. He’s had such a busy and exciting day that I doubt he’ll put up much of a fuss.

When I successfully change him without a peep, I have to stifle a laugh remembering those early diaper changes. I didn’t believe her then, but she was right—Momma
usually
always is. I did get more comfortable with him; we did develop our own routine. Things did get easier.

Braden nuzzles into the crook of my neck as I sing him a sweet lullaby before tucking him under his blankies. Just as I close the door to his nursery, I hear Reid step back outside for one last trip to the car. That leaves me just enough time to get my surprise present for him ready.

Seeing as we kind of did this whole marriage and a kid thing backwards, and at a ridiculously early age, we never really had much of a ‘honeymoon’ phase. This last gift will help to make up for that. At least, I hope it will.

After grabbing my things, I slip into the bathroom as I hear the front door close one last time. Reid lightly taps on the door. “I’ll be right out, hun.”

After I hear his footsteps drift away from the door, I open up the Victoria’s Secret bag and step out of my clothes. The satiny smooth fabric of the black silk and lace chemise slides over my skin, hugging the curve of my hips. Both side panels of the lingerie are sheer, black lace—almost completely see through. The tops of my breast are mostly exposed. I’m pretty sure if I take a really deep breath, they’ll fall out completely. I step into black sheer stockings and clip the lacey tops to the garter belt. Smoothing the fabric out one last time, I check myself in the mirror. I have to say, that even though my body has changed so much in the last year and a half, I look hot and I feel sexy.

A quick fluff of my hair, a swipe of some sheer lip gloss, a spray of perfume and I’m ready to go. One last touch—four inch, red, peep-toe heels. Yeah, I’m good to go now.

I’m careful to tiptoe across the hallway, conscious not to make any noise with the clicking of my heels on the old, beat-up hardwood floors. Waking up Braden is the last thing I want to do.

Quietly, I push open the door. Reid doesn’t hear me because he doesn’t turn around immediately. He’s standing in front of the dresser unbuttoning the cuffs from his dress shirt. Watching him toy with his wedding band before slipping it off his finger is sensual and arousing as I imagine his fingers sliding into me. Leaning up against the doorframe, I clear my throat to get his attention.

When he turns to face me, I can actually see his ice-blue eyes blaze with lust. The muscles in his neck tense as he clenches his jaw. The cords of his shoulders bunch and pull as he removes his undershirt and tosses it on the bed. Silently, with predatory stealth, he struts over to me. Without saying a word, he runs his nose from my shoulder up the column of my neck, stopping only to pull my earlobe in between his teeth.

Sliding his hands over the cool fabric of the nightie, he nearly groans in pleasure. “You like?” I roll my head to the side and he nibbles on the sensitive spot where my neck meets my shoulder. Toying with the thin spaghetti strap, he lets it fall off my shoulder. He takes a step back and inspects my outfit—though I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually need to look at it again to know that he loves it.

“Like?” His throat shifts as he swallows, hard. “I’ve never seen you in anything like this.” His hands roam over my back and he cups my ass.

“You didn’t answer me. Do you like it?” A seductive look takes over my face and my lips curl into a devilish smile. I know he more than
likes
it, but I just want to hear him say it.

Slowly, he moves his hands from my ass and runs his fingertips up the lacy sides, causing a shiver of pleasure to follow in their wake. My nipples pucker instantly straining against the satin.

Reid brushes his knuckles over my diamond hard tips, gently grazing over them oh-so-lightly. “No, Maddy. I don’t
like
it.” He hefts the full weight of my tits and then pinches the stiff peaks of my nipples. “I fucking
love
it.”

Without warning, he begins fucking my mouth with his tongue. The kiss is hot and wildly passionate. Reid is in pure alpha mode and I love it. He nips and bites at my lips, sucks on my tongue and tastes every single inch of my mouth. Snaking my arms around his neck, I tug the hair that curls at the nape.

In an instant, he’s got his hands around my waist, effortlessly lifting me up onto the edge of the dresser. His biceps bulge and my mouth goes dry at the sight of his hard chest.

With my ass on the edge of the dresser, Reid stands in between my legs. Running his fingers over my arms once more causes another round of shivers to run across my flesh. He lowers his head to my breasts and licks a heated path across the satiny edge of the fabric. Through the thin fabric, he pulls a taut nipple into his hot mouth. My head rolls back and a contented sigh passes through my lips. When he blows a cool breath on my breast, I roll my hips forward searching for some kind of relief from the surge of pressure he just set loose.

After he does the same to the other nipple, he pulls both straps down my shoulders and off my arms completely, fully exposing my breasts. Pinching, rolling, pulling, kneading, sucking—he assaults my breasts and it’s a delicious combination of pleasure and pain.

His rough hands skim up my thighs pushing the fabric up around my waist. He stands, frozen to the spot, when he catches sight of what he’s just unveiled. Tracing the line of the garter belt, under which there are no panties, I can see him trying to restrain himself.

“I have no clue what the fuck this is,” he pulls at the edge of the garment, “but it’s the hottest fucking thing I have
ever
seen. If it was up to me, you would wear this and only this every single day.”

I arch my hips as much as I can, given the small space on which I’m perched, to give him a better view. He growls when he sees my lips, swollen and wet, beckoning for him to touch. “Damn, you’re gorgeous, Maddy.”