Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) (21 page)

Seeming to snap out of it, Megan declared, “Oh! Don’t forget their art folders.” She ran over, grabbed two folders and brought them back to me. “Today’s project was for them to draw their family.”

I took the folders in my hand and raised them in a wave. “Thanks. Have a great evening.”

We made our way out of the daycare and over to my Jeep where I loaded the twins in the booster seats I’d bought to keep in my car. As I buckled them in, I couldn’t help but remember just how appreciative Kenzie had been when I informed her I bought my own seats so we didn’t have to keep switching. She showed her gratitude with her mouth…and her hands…and pretty much every one of my favorite parts of her rockin’ body for hours.

Just like Lori had said. I was a lucky,
lucky
man.

Walking into Brett’s house after work, I was beyond surprised to see dinner was almost finished and the twins were sitting at the dinner table coloring. In all the years I had been with Lance, he never once cooked dinner for me. That had always been my job, or, in Lance’s words, the
woman’s
job.

“Hi, Mommy!” Callie called when she saw me. I dropped my purse by the door and walked over to the table.

“Hey, honey pot.” I leaned down to place a kiss on her head before walking over to do the same to Cam. “You and bubs have a good day?”

“Yeah,” she answered, Cameron still silently engrossed in coloring a picture of Spiderman.

I walked over to the stove where Brett stood, stirring a pot of something that smelled delicious.

“Hey, beauty,” he said, planting a kiss on my lips.

“Hi,” I smiled. “You’re making dinner?”

“Mmmhmm. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and homemade gravy.”

I leaned over the stove, inhaling deeply before whispering, “Dear Lord, I’m so hot for you right now.”

Brett chuckled and pulled me flush against his strong, hard body, saying, “That so? Well then, maybe you’ll be willing to show your gratitude tonight.”

“Mommy,” Cameron called. “We got to go to Viwgie May’s after school. We gots to see Emmy, and Brett bought a whole bunches of yummy food for dinner!”

I pulled away from Brett with a glare and walked over to the trashcan. Sure enough, a bag from Emmy’s diner and a bunch of to-go containers filled the can.

“It’s the thought that counts,” he informed me. “You’re lucky I went this route. Can’t cook for shit.”

My head fell back on a laugh. Whether he cooked or not didn’t matter to me. The fact that he even thought to handle dinner before I got home was what really counted. He was so getting lucky.

“Mommy, look it.” Callie came running up to where Brett and I stood. “We drew pictures of our family at school today.”

I took the picture from her hand and studied the stick figures she’d drawn on the page. Brett’s chest pushed against my back as he leaned over my shoulder to take a look.

“Dats me and bubs and you and Brett. See? He’s wearing a toow belt.” She pointed to a yellow scribble around one of the stick figure’s waists. The breath whooshed from my lungs as she spoke. My little girl drew a picture of her family, and there Brett stood, right there in the middle of stick figure Callie and stick figure Cameron.

Brett’s solid body went stiff as a board behind me and I could have sworn he’d stopped breathing.

“Do you like it, Brett?” Callie asked, staring up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

Brett’s chest rumbled as he cleared his throat, his voice thick with emotion as he answered, “Yeah, ladybug. I love it.”

She jumped up and down excitedly, clapping her little hands. “Can we put it on the fwidge?”

“Heck yeah.” He stepped from behind me, took the picture from her, and stuck it front and center on the refrigerator door.

“YAY!” Callie yelled as she bounded up to Brett. “Now evewyone will see our family.” She hugged his legs tightly, muttering a quick, “Love you, Brett,” before going back to the table to finish her coloring.

When I turned to catch Brett’s eyes, the love I saw shining in their warm brown depths made my heart squeeze.

“Christ, I love that little girl,” he mumbled in a hoarse, gravelly voice.

Walking up to him, I put my arms around his waist and squeezed tightly, burying my face in his chest and inhaling his clean scent. “Thank you,” I whispered against the ball in my throat as tears pricked the back of my eyes, threatening to spill over.

He reached up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “For what, beauty?”

I pulled back and stared up at him, hoping he could see the sincerity in my eyes. “For being so wonderful. How’d I ever get lucky enough to have you?”

The kiss he placed on my lips was feather light, but full of emotion. “I’m the lucky one, baby.”

God
, this man undid me in every way. I had no walls left. He’d shattered through ever defense I had. I could finally admit it to myself.

I was crazy in love with Brett Halstead.

“Oh, God. Harder, Brett, faster,” I begged helplessly, writhing beneath him as he thrust into me with slow, torturous strokes.

“Eyes on me, baby,” Brett panted as he continued to drag his cock in and out, driving me out of my mind.

Using all my strength, I peeled my heavy eyelids open and stared up at the man doing insanely erotic things to my body, manipulating it in ways no one ever had before.

“Fuck me, your pussy’s so perfect,” he ground out, making my walls clench around him. I was never much for dirty talk, but there was just something about when Brett did it that set my blood on fire. Just his words were usually enough to send me careening into a blinding climax, but this time was different. It was as if each thrust was calculated to drive me closer and closer, but not enough to send me over. He was intentionally denying me my release.

“Baby, please,” I whimpered, on the brink of tears if he didn’t let me come soon.

Slow thrust in. Slow drag out.

“Say it, beauty.”

Thrust in, drag out.

My brows dipped in confusion. “Say what?”

Thrust in, drag out.

His deep brown gaze bore into me. It was as if he was seeing every single thing I felt. “Say it, beauty. I know you feel it. I want to hear you say it.”

Thrust in, drag out.

Oh shit. He knew. He
knew
how I felt about him. My breath stalled completely. “Brett,” I whispered on an exhale.

Thrust in, drag out.

“Say it, Kenzie. Tell me what I want to hear and I’ll let you come.”

Thrust in, drag out.

My head shook frantically, my eyes wide as fear took over.

Thrust in, drag out.

“Yes, baby. I know you do. Just say it.”

Thrust in, drag out.

Fear took hold of me. Yes, I knew I loved him. But knowing it and saying it were two different things. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was still terrified that admitting it aloud would change everything…would change Brett.

Thrust in, drag out.

“I’m not going anywhere, beauty,” Brett murmured as he dragged his nose against the side of mine. Sweat coated our bodies and I could feel him tensing up. He was as close as I was but refused to let go. “I swear to you, Kenzie, I’m not going anywhere and I’ll never change on you,” he said, reading my mind. “This is me. This is
us
.”

My hips moved up against his as I fought him, trying to grab at my climax. “
Brett
.”

Thrust in, drag out.

“I love you, baby. I love you. Just say it.
Please,
just say it.”

Thrust in, drag out.

Oh, God. He loved me. Brett loved me. I could see the honesty reflecting back at me in his eyes. I knew they weren’t just words to him. He meant them. He truly did, and that thought alone cracked my heart wide open.

Thrust in, drag out.

Lifting my head to bury it in the crook of his neck, I moaned, “I love you. God, I love you so much.”

That was all it took. With my admission, Brett’s control snapped. He pulled almost all the way out and drove back into me with a fierce snap of his hips, causing me to cry out as that sweet combination of pleasure and pain began to take hold.

“Again,” he growled as he pounded into me, fucking me like a man possessed.

“I love you.”

“Fuuuuuck, beauty,” he groaned. “Love. You. Too.” Each word was punctuated with a violent shove of his cock. “Want you to come, baby. Want you to scream it as you come all over my cock.”

That was all it took. I spiraled down into a climax so strong I thought I might drown, yelling out
I love you
as it pulled me under.

“That’s it, Kenzie. Give it to me, baby. Fuck, you’re so beautiful when you come.” His erotic words only fueled my release, causing tears to slide from the corner of my eyes as I came long and hard.

“So close, baby. So fuckin’ close. God, I love you.” I felt him swell even thicker moments before he buried himself to the hilt and dropped his head into my neck, groaning out my name as his climax filled me, each twitch of his dick sending tremors through my sensitive pussy.

“Fuckin’ perfect. So fuckin’ perfect,” he mumbled minutes later once we’d both managed to catch our breaths.

When he pushed up on his forearms and looked down at me, I couldn’t help but smile at what I saw staring back at me. “Love you, honey,” I whispered, pushing a strand of hair from his forehead.

Lowering his head to nuzzle his face against mine, I felt his own smile against my cheek as he told me, “Love you more, beauty. Always.”

Only moments later, exhaustion pulled me under into a peaceful sleep. My life had never felt more wonderful.

I honest to God believed that the Cloverleaf Fall Festival was created in order to kill me. That wasn’t an exaggeration.

Brett, unable to deny the twins’ manipulative innocence, had already gotten them cotton candy, funnel cake, and hot chocolate topped with three inches of marshmallows to wash it all down with.

I had to put my foot down on the caramel apples. Callie and Cameron were running around, screaming at the top of their lungs like—well, like two five-year-olds hopped up on sugar. But it wasn’t just the twins who had my head pounding so bad it felt like my eyeballs were about to pop out.