TIMBER: The Bad Boy's Baby (14 page)

M
y parents arrive
a few days after the hospital scare with Harper. She and I are cleaning up breakfast dishes when we hear the RV pull up to the cabin.

“My folks are here,” I tell her. I’ve filled her in on my mom and dad, how they are about as homegrown as you can get, but I know that after the drama with her parents earlier this week nothing about family sounds all that safe right now.

“Do I look all right?” Harper asks. I smirk, never once having heard this woman utter something self-conscious about her appearance. She grew up in a fucked-up house, but one thing her family taught her was that humility was important. Harper never seems caught up in the way she looks.

It reminds me that this really is a big deal. The woman I am engaged to marry, who will give birth to my parents’ first three grandsons, is about to meet the people who raised me.

“Harper,” I say, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “you are amazing in too many ways to count. My parents are fools if they don’t love you. Fuck, they won’t be welcome in my home if they don’t recognize how important you are to me. You are my everything.”

“Shush,” Harper says, pressing her hand over my mouth. She always cuts me off when I compliment her, but it doesn’t stop me from letting her know how I goddamned feel.

I pull open the front door, cup of steaming black coffee in my hand. Jameson runs into the driveway, hollering at their ride. Harper sidles up next to me, cream and sugar balancing out her mug. She finds my hand, and I squeeze back, hoping my parents react the way I’ve been promising her.

Their RV is massive, and it’s barely stopped before my mom jumps out, barreling toward us.

“Harper, my darling, look at you!” She’s pulling us both into a hug before we can say hello. “I never thought I’d see the day my boy found himself a wife, let alone one as pretty as you. And triplets to boot!”

Harper’s blushing within seconds, and I try to suppress a grin. My mom here is going to relieve a hell of a lot of pressure. She’s wanted grandkids since I was in high school. Which is weird, but also the motherfucking truth.

“Let the kids breathe, Sandy,” my dad calls out, stepping out of their rig.

“Oh, they’re fine, Stu.” Mom waves Dad off, kissing me on both cheeks. “They’ve been shacked up in this cabin for a while. It’s high time they have some company.”

“No one’s arguing with that, but you’ve just met the girl,” Dad says, before pulling me into a hug. He then offers my fiancée his hand. “So good to meet you, Harper. And, sweetie, I’m guessing you’re a special one if you’ve decided to spend your life with this fool. Not every woman would be up to the challenge.”

“Or want to be,” Mom says, then realizing her statement could come off as a little awkward, she waves us into the house. “You know I meant nothing by it, Harper, I’m sure you know the way Jax has been these last ... well, forever. Jax has never found himself wanting to commit. But my guess is, he was just waiting for you.”

“I’d like to think that,” Harper says, her eyes wide as she takes in our little family dynamic. Mom speaking her mind, Dad making the peace, and me being the stereotype.

“You got anymore of that coffee?” Mom asks Harper.

“Sure do.” Harper and my mom head to the kitchen, where my mom starts asking all sorts of personal and detailed questions about her life, the pregnancy, and her plans for the birth.

I don’t want to talk about vaginas with my mother.

“You good, Harper?” I holler. When she nods, I make a beeline out the front door with my dad.

I have a few projects in store for him the next few months, and I need to be sure he intends to stay around.

My stomach is officially enormous. I knew it would be big—I mean, triplets—but this is something else. And I still have three months to go.

“These boys are gonna each weigh ten pounds, I swear.” I sit in the leatherback chair, trying to catch my breath after climbing down the ladder leading to the loft. “I’m not climbing up there again; it isn’t safe,” I tell Jaxon, who smiles as he offers me an ice-cold glass of tea.

“Okay, no worries.” Jaxon shrugs, his mouth turned into a perfect smirk. Sex appeal drips off him in ways he doesn’t even know.

But still. Right now, I have no space for joking. This nesting instinct is real. And the corner of the cabin filled with baby supplies is a growing mountain. I have no idea where it will all go once unpacked. Or where I will even sleep.

“No worries? Jax ... we really need to make a plan with this house. I mean, your mom has been so great with helping us get things for the babies, but last time she took me to town, and we walked around Target—babe, there are a hundred more things we need. And this cabin is....”

“Way too small.”

“It is.” A sigh escapes my lips. I’ve been trying not to overthink, not to overanalyze Jaxon’s choices ... not to get huffy about the fact he and his dad trudge into the forest all day, every day, chopping wood or whatever they say they are doing. But, as I look around, all I can think is that we need a bigger home.

“Your parent’s RV is better equipped to handle the triplets than this cabin is,” I say, trying to stay calm. “I’ve wanted to be positive ... but, Jaxon, this isn’t going to work.”

“It’s just the cabin that isn’t working, right, not you and I? Not our life, our plans, right?” Jaxon asks, kneeling before me the same way he did when he proposed. I see the concern written on his face and it warms me to him.

The last few months together have been everything. Jaxon and I are finding a groove. A sometimes awkward, sometimes all-out fight, groove. A groove that gives me rug burn, and a groove that gets him hard when I least expect it.

I often find myself whispering in his ear, urging him to get his parents out of the cabin so we can ... well ... enjoy one another’s company.

His parents being here for three months has been an absolute godsend. Sandy and I have sewn a hundred and fifty cloth diapers—which is a lot, but somehow she was game when I suggested the project. I couldn’t imagine using disposal diapers and creating that much trash out here in the woods. She and I have spent hours debating baby names as we cut and pin fabric.

And Jaxon and his dad have been in the woods most days; the giant trucks from the mill have come and picked up all the wood he’s felled these past months since he moved out here. I’d think they’d be tired of chopping wood day in and day out, but somehow they always come in at the end of the day with sweat-soaked shirts, and filthy dirty.

I don’t mind Jaxon taking a shower, I only wish I could join him ... but the baby bump, Jaxon, and I aren’t all going to fit in a space that small.

As Jaxon kneels before me, wanting me to confirm that the problem is the cabin and not us, love surges through my heart.

“Of course it’s just the cabin.” I lean forward, kissing him softly, my lips melting to his instantly. Pulling back, I look into his eyes. “And I’m not trying to be dramatic. Maybe we can make it work. Maybe bring the mattress down here, take out these chairs. Use pack ’n plays instead of cribs.” I bite my lip, not knowing how that is realistic.

“Honey, that isn’t going to work. Look at this place. It’s filled to the max with you and me and the damn dog, and there aren’t even any babies here yet.”

“I know—but, Jaxon, but where would we go? You don’t want to leave the mountain; you’ve found peace here, your family here. The city only holds bad memories for both of us.”

“I know,” Jaxon says, his eyebrows knit together as he places his hands on my belly. “I want to stay out here. I can’t imagine moving back, working for Dean in town, and putting up with the bullshit of people who don’t know how to mind their own business.”

“I want to stay out here, too,” I tell him truthfully. “I want my boys to grow up here, learn to walk in the green grass and throw pebbles in the rippling creek. I want to make love to you in the shade of the pine trees, and I want to grow old in front of a fire, built from the logs you’ve hewn.”

“Truly, Harper, you’ll be okay here? Because I don’t want you to sacrifice any more for me. You’ve given up a hell of a lot already.”

“What, like my virginity?” I smile, knowing he likes it when I get haughty. He grins, and a baby does a somersault under his palms. For a moment, the world is still, and our life is complete.

Once the baby settles back down, I run my hands over Jaxon’s scruffy, sexy beard, and rub my thumbs over his cheeks. I hold his face in my hands and kiss him softly.

“Jaxon,” I say, “our life will be simple, but it will be ours. Not the life my parents tried to carve out for me. I want this life, the life born from the melted snow, that came alive in the gentle spring, that grew in the heat of the summer. I want this life with you, and if that life is built in a six-hundred square foot cabin, so be it.”

“This isn’t good enough for you, or our sons.” Jaxon speaks slowly, his hands still firmly on my tummy. “I want to give you more.”

“Baby, don’t,” I start, shaking my head. I wish I’d never complained, never made him question this life we’ve chosen.

“No, Harper. It isn’t enough.” He stands, grabs my hands. “But I will show you what is.”

I wanted to catch her off guard. Wanted to take her breath away. Wanted her to know that, fuck, I’ve been a bad boy for twenty-eight years, but now I only want to be man. Her man.

And a man takes care of his woman.

Especially a woman as perfect as Harper.

Sure, I proposed, but now I needed her to know I fucking meant what I said. That I’ll take care of her and our boys.

“Where are we going?” she asks, as I pull her out the front door.

It’s a hot summer day; Harper is in this thin white flowing dress, barefoot, her blonde hair loose around her shoulders.

My parents step out of their RV, where it’s been parked for three months.

“Morning, you two. Where you headed?” Dad asks, a gleam in his eye. He knows exactly where we’re going.

“Harper, do you need shoes?” my mom calls to my woman.

“I’m good, Sandy. Jaxon’s got me.”

Holy shit, this woman makes me hard anytime she uses words insinuating that, yeah, she fucking wants me to be her knight in shining armor.

Harper waves good-bye to them as I offer her my hand. She steps into my truck, that curiosity I fell in love with filling her face.

“Where are we going?” she asks, stretching the seat belt over her beautiful belly.

“It’s your wedding present.”

“We haven’t even set a date, Jaxon.”

“An early one, then.” I wink at her, loving this sweet torture.

“Jaxon, this is totally off-topic, but can I be honest with you for a second?” she says as I put the truck in reverse, backing out of the driveway.

I turn up the mountain before answering.

“Uh, sure,” I say. “What’s up?”

“I love your parents being here, but, baby, I am so horny lately. Like, I think it’s a pregnancy thing. My dreams have been out of this world.”

“What kind of dreams?” I turn my head to her, already feeling my cock twitch in my jeans.

“Sex dreams.” She buries her head in her hands, and I laugh. Harper can seem so removed from her fucked-up childhood, but then she blushes when she says
sex
and can hardly look at me.

Me, who’s seen her naked flesh drenched in sweat, slick with one another as we’ve made love all night. Me, who has licked her pussy in this car, in the woods, on every surface of the cabin. Me, who has enjoyed her tits as I’ve come all over them.

She shouldn’t be blushing over the word
sex
.

“How sexy are these dreams, Harp?” I ask.

“Very. Like, the most. Like, so sexy that all I want to do is repeat them. But we can’t really do that with your parents so close.”

“Honey, we’ve been fucking for a month with their RV right outside the door.”

“I know, but … in these dreams, I’m really loud.”

I let out a snort.

“Fuck, I’m glad I’m giving you your present now, because we can practice these sex dreams when we get there.”

“We’re going somewhere where you swear no one else is? Because I can’t have the kind of sex I’m looking to have around anyone else.”

“I swear. But, honey, there’s no one for miles anywhere on this road.”

“Then stop the truck. I can’t wait, baby. I need you now.”

“Are you for real?” I ask, shaking my head. I’m about to give this woman a surprise, and all she wants is an orgasm.

“Jaxon, can you stop? Please?” She reaches under her dress and unclasps her bra, maneuvering herself out of it. She pulls it out of her dress and tosses it on the truck bench. “I’m about to lose my mind. I need you. Like, ten minutes ago.

“Good lord, Harper.” She is a crazed, horny, pregnant woman, and—surprise be damned—I can’t help but love her enthusiasm.

I park off the side of the road, and she nearly jumps out of the truck.

“Come on,” she hollers. “Not car sex, I need you to take me against a tree.”

My eyes almost jump out of my head, but this woman isn’t joking.

“You’re unbelievable,” I tell her, following as she darts into the woods. Pine needles cover the forest floor—thankfully, as Harper is barefoot. She doesn’t seem to mind; her mind is singularly focused. “You sure you’re not scared of a bear?”

“Are there bears here?” she asks, whipping her head back toward me.

“No, calm down.” I don’t tell her that, hell yeah, there are bears. We’re in the fucking forest.

She stops in the middle of the path, a fallen log covered in velvety green moss cutting us off from traipsing deeper.

“Here,” she says, her voice filled with desire. “I want you here.” She reaches down to the hem of her dress, lifting it over her head. Her pussy is bare—I have no fucking clue where her panties went—and her tits are full, round globes, waiting to be sucked.

I pull my tee shirt over my head and unbuckle my belt, unzip my pants, take everything off.

We stand naked, in the woods. The timber around us is strong, reaching to the sky, and our toes sink into the earth, and I feel grounded like I never have before.