Worth the Fight (Accidentally on Purpose) (25 page)

“Hurt me!” she yelled and roughly squeezed her own nipples between her fingers.

I was unable to deny either of us anymore. I yanked her ass to the very edge of the bed and slammed into her the hardest I could. I yelled out expletives as Emmy screamed. I hesitated for a moment to be sure it’s what she really wanted.

“Do it,” she gritted out through clenched teeth.

I began hammering into her so hard that it was hurting my balls to smash up against her ass. I held her tightly to keep her from sliding back on the bed with each thrust. Emmy screamed incoherently and clawed at my arms as I fucked her fast and hard. I felt her pussy squeezing my cock as she came, but I didn’t slow down to accommodate her orgasm. I kept g
oing, harder and faster until I saw tears in her eyes.

“Don’t stop!” she sobbed. “Don’t stop!”

My orgasm hit me suddenly, without mercy. I shouted and growled as I began to come violently inside of her. Emmy convulsed and thrashed on the bed as her orgasm swam through her body.

My movements slowed and gentled again as I moved i
nside of her with my erection softening. I was over sensitized, but I loved feeling the warmth of my semen inside of her. When I finally pulled out, Emmy shuddered and her legs closed on their own accord. I gave her a moment to recover before helping her get properly into the bed, under the blankets. I lay down beside her and kissed her gently.

“I love you,” she murmured a little while later as she b
egan to drift off to sleep in my arms.

“I love you, too, Emmy,” I said and kissed the top of her head. “Always.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“I’m getting so fat,” Emmy said, frowning down at her belly.

I rubbed her protruding belly affectionately. “Stop calling my daughter fat,” I warned.

“I didn’t call your daughter fat. I said
I’m
fat.”

“You’re not fat,” I promised her and kissed the top of her head. “You’re pregnant and beautiful.”

“I’m pregnant, beautiful,
and
fat,” she said flatly. “And here I am in a muffin shop of all places, to feed my face.”

“I think you’re gorgeous,” Iris said, passing a small box across the counter.

“That’s something that attractive people tell unattractive people to make them feel better about themselves,” Emmy pouted, picking up the box.

Iris laughed but then narrowed her eyes on me like I did something wrong.

“What?” I asked, on the offensive.

“Take your wife home and make her feel like the beaut
iful woman she is.”

“I did that already this morning – twice.” I grinned.

Both women rolled their eyes at me. I chuckled and dropped down to kiss Emmy’s belly.

“See you later, baby girl,” I said to my unborn daughter. I stood up and kissed Emmy in a completely publically indecent manner. When I released her, she was breathless, but smiling. She glanced over at Iris and gave her an apologetic look, but Iris grinned at her and gave her a wink before turning away to handle some other business.

I put my hand on the back of Emmy’s neck and planted a lingering kiss on her lips. “I’ll see you tonight, baby.”

“Okay,” she said.

“Be careful going home,” I said firmly as I walked backward towards the door.

“Yes,” she said with mock impatience. “Get out of here. You’re going to be late to court.”

“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get you a cup of tea?” Iris said to Emmy as I walked out.

I threw one last glance back at my wife and Iris before rushing back to the office.

Emmy was seven months pregnant and we had been married for a mere two months. We hadn’t planned a honeymoon yet because of the pregnancy, but Em didn’t seem to be in a hurry to take one. She never even mentioned where she would like to go if she could. She had been to so many places in the world already, I had no idea where I could take her that would be different from the places she had already been, but one day when our baby girl was old enough to leave behind, I was going to take my wife on a real honeymoon.

“Fiji?” Iris had suggested one morning over a cup of co
ffee in her shop.

“She’s been there already,” I said.

“Bora Bora?”

“Been there, been there.”

“Cabo?”

“Three times.”

“Australia? Africa? Virgin Islands? Japan?” Iris asked, her eyes widening with each shake of my head. “She’s been to
all
of those places?”

“And a few more,” I sighed. “Her best friend used to travel a lot for her line of work. Emmy often accompanied her, and some of the other places she had gone to with her family or boyfriends.”

“That’s amazing,” Iris said, looking impressed. “But she hasn’t been
everywhere
, and it’s not really about where you take her, Luke. It’s really about the time you get to spend with her there. I’m sure if you took her to any one of those places again, she would be delighted just to be there with you.”

That had made me feel better about the situation, though I still hadn’t had a clue as to where I would take her.

A month after we said our I Dos, Emmy’s father Fredrick had a mild heart attack. Emmy had snapped at me after I delivered the news to her and tried to calm and reassure her with the words “It was only a mild heart attack.”

“A heart attack is a heart attack!” she had yelled. “That’s like saying Lena
only
had a
mild
case of breast cancer!”

Point taken.

We flew down to Louisiana as a family. Emmy insisted that she and Lucas would be okay going with Emmet and Casey, but I wasn’t having any of that. They weren’t traveling any further than the surrounding Chicago suburbs without me again, especially since Emmy was very pregnant.

Emmy was laden with guilt for not spending enough time with her dad over the years. She had worked so hard to avoid her mother, that she had inadvertently avoided him as well. I understood how she felt. I had moved away from my family and rarely visited for many years. When my dad died, I was grief stricken and completely mulled over with guilt for not giving us the opportunity to have an adult father and son relatio
nship. At least Em had an opportunity to make up that missing time with her dad. We stayed down south for a week and a half before I had to get back to work.

I couldn’t be happier with my life. I didn’t think we were untouchable, but after all of the bullshit we had gone through over the years – together and alone – I felt as if we could ove
rcome anything. There wasn’t anything in the world that could come between us. We were like the song said, solid as a rock.

*~~~*

Emmy stopped feeding me breakfast.

“I’m a gazillion months pregnant!” she had yelled at me one morning when I asked her what was for breakfast. “I don’t want to get out of bed to make you breakfast – why don’t
you
make
me
breakfast?”

She was trying to be crabby, but she hadn’t expected me to actually go into the kitchen and make her eggs and toast and bring it to her in bed. She burst into tears. After I reassured her I wasn’t angry and that I didn’t need her to make me breakfast, she finally looked at the tray of food and smiled through her tears.

“You’re the best husband ever,” she said and kissed me.

“I know,” I agreed and kissed her back. “I have to go.”

Lucas shuffled into the room, holding his stuffed whale, rubbing his sleepy eyes. He held up his arms and I obliged. I ruffled his hair and asked him if he slept well. He yawned in my face and nodded. I chuckled and kissed his head before putting him in bed with his mom.

"What are you going to eat?” Emmy asked, looking guilty.

“I’ll get a cinnamon bun and some coffee at Iris’s,” I said.

“Tell her I said hello and thank her for the cookies she sent with you yesterday. Lucas loved them. Maybe we’ll stop in later today.”

“I will.” I kissed her one final time, kissed her belly, and then kissed Lucas. “Have a good day, guys.”

“Good day, Daddy,” Lucas called after me, making me grin.

“Want to share some breakfast, Lucas?” I heard Emmy ask him before I headed downstairs.

When I walked into Iris’s shop a little while later, I no
dded at a couple of the regulars and made my way to the counter. I didn’t see Iris around, but I figured she’d be out shortly. She rarely left the front unattended. She didn’t have any kind of bells or anything on the door to let her know when someone entered. I had warned her that wasn’t exactly safe, especially since she worked alone, but she seemed unconcerned.

I checked my watch. I had been standing there a good two minutes. I had a busy schedule ahead.

“Iris?” I called in the direction of the little hallway that led to her office, kitchen and storage room.

“I’ll be there in a second,” she called back and then I heard a distinctive grunt.

“You okay back there?” I asked, moving around the counter. I hesitated before going to the back. What if she was back there with a guy and that’s what the grunt was? I definitely didn’t want to walk in on that.

“Yeah,” she called from one of the rooms. “I’m just tr
ying to…gah! Trying to move something.”

I walked back and checked first the kitchen area, but that was empty. I found her in the small storage room, on her knees trying to push an enormous box across the floor. I stood there for a moment, shaking my head.

“This is amusing,” I said, leaning in the doorway and crossing my arms.

She threw me a murderous glance. “The damn dolly tipped and now I can’t move these damn books.”

I shook my head and stepped into the room. I offered her my hand. She looked at it.

“I promise you that my hand is clean. Mostly.” I waved it, indicating that she take it.

Finally, she took my hand and stood up in her ridiculously tall shoes.

“Where do you want the box?” I asked her and effortles
sly lifted it.

“What
are
you?” she asked, looking at me in awe. “A demigod? Kin to Hercules?”

I flexed a bicep. How could I not? “Where do you want the box, woman? I need my cinnamon bun so I can get to work.”

She pointed to a corner. “Over there, please, Hercules.”

I put the box where she requested.

“Thank you, kind sir,” she smiled and did a small curtsy. “Your cinnamon bun is on the house today.”

“I’ll take that as payment,” I shrugged and followed her back out into the shop. There were more customers waiting, but she took me first. As she got my cinnamon bun and coffee, I told her what Emmy told me to tell her.

“I hope they come by,” she smiled warmly. “But she needs to stay off of her feet. Maybe I’ll send some muffins home with you tonight. She loves the cranberry.”

“I have to be in court this afternoon,” I said. “Out of the city. I won’t be back this way until you’re closed.”

“I’ll be here late tonight prepping for the morning,” she said, handing a regular their order. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Don’t wait,” I said, backing towards the door. “If you’re not here, it’s fine. I’ll take her some tomorrow.”

She nodded that she had heard me and focused on her customer. I walked out of the shop with my nose in my paper bag.

By the time I made it back to the office and wrapped up what I needed to do there, it was late. I usually don’t work late anymore if it can be helped, but sometimes it is necessary. I made sure that Emmy was okay with frequent phone calls and would often send Lorraine’s oldest daughter, Haley, over to check on her after school and help her out. Lorraine insisted that I not pay my sixteen year old niece, but I always ignored this and paid her on the sly.

I didn’t expect to find Iris’s shop open as I started to walk past it, and sure enough most of the lights were off and the sign was flipped to closed. I was almost past the shop when subtle movement inside drew my attention. I stopped and moved a little closer to the window. In a dark corner, with her back to me, Iris was seated at a table. It was pretty dark inside, but there were some lights from the back rooms casting soft lighting into the main café area.

I was ready to walk away. She looked like she was just having a quiet moment at the end of a busy day. I wouldn’t want anyone bothering me, but as I started to move away, I saw that she had bottle of alcohol at the table with her. Still. It wasn’t my place or my business and I wanted to get home to my wife and son. Suddenly, she pushed herself up from the t
able and stumbled in those damn high heels. She caught herself, and held onto the table until she was able to balance herself. Then she grabbed the bottle and a coffee mug and slowly turned around to walk away from the table.

Again. I should have left, but honestly, I wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to fall on her face and bleed out all over the floor. She took a few steps before she noticed me in the window. She smiled and said something I obviously could not hear because I was on the other side of the glass. I held up my hands, indicating I had no idea what the hell she just said. She rolled her eyes and walked unsteadily to the door. She set the bottle down on the counter behind her and unlocked the door, waving me inside.

I hesitated before crossing the threshold, but when she turned around to walk deeper into the shop, she stumbled again and started to fall. The coffee mug crashed to the floor, but I caught her around the waist before she could, too.

“Holy shit, Iris,” I growled and steered her to a chair. “Sit the hell down.”

“I have to clean up,” she mumbled and started to stand up, but I roughly pushed her back down.

“I’ll get it,” I snapped. “Where can I find a broom?”

She told me where to find it and I went to get it. I turned the lights on overhead and started sweeping up the mess.

“What are you doing drinking in here in the dark?” I asked.

“Should I drink in here in the light?” she asked dryly.

I glanced over at her, but didn’t respond. I wanted her to answer my question. She could have seriously injured herself.

“Thanks for cleaning that up,” she said instead of answering my question. “I appreciate it. I still have those muffins for Emmy if you want them.”

Carefully, she got to her feet again. She was trying to stand still, but it was obvious she was still pretty drunk.

“Do you need me to help you home?” I asked, though I really didn’t want to. I really wanted to get my own ass home.

“I’ll take a cab,” she said, straightening her back. “I’ll be fine. Thank you.”