Kristen Ashley - Wild Man

His fingers stopped moving, his eyes closed and his forehead came to mine and when he groaned, “Tess,” I knew it came from his gut because I felt it in mine.

My fingers slid into his hair and my lips went to his cheek, I moved them across, lifting my head and, in his ear, I kept whispering.

“And the way you were looking at me, I knew in my blood you were mine.”

“You were right, sweetness,” he whispered back.

Then he kissed my neck, lifted his head again, I dropped mine and both my arms gave him a squeeze.

“Thanks for drinking champagne with me.”

“Thanks for makin’ me drink only a glass so I could move on to beer.”

I smiled at him and his eyes dropped to my mouth.

Then they came back to mine and I felt my body still at what I saw.

Then he spoke words that described the feeling I saw in his eyes.

“My Dad was a dick, I grew up fast, I lost Bree the way I did and lost all our history with her and I found Olivia and she made my life shit. Then I had a job where you wouldn’t believe the shit I saw, the shit I did and I hope to God, baby, you never get to a place you do.

But all that was worth it, all of it, since my reward is you.”

“Shut up,” I whispered, I didn’t know why, it just came out of my mouth but what he said meant so much, it filled me so full, it felt like I was going to burst.

A beautiful pain.

But he didn’t shut up.

Instead he went on, “McManus said he started with a good one and I was lucky I was ending with one and he was not fuckin’ wrong.”

Both my hands moved to either side of his face and I begged, “Please, Brock, be quiet.”

“No fuckin’ way, baby,” he whispered. “Today, I been thinkin’ a lot about McManus and he lost his good one and there is no way I’m gonna find mine and not know right to my fuckin’ bones she doesn’t understand precisely what she means to me.”

I felt the tears well then slide out the sides of my eyes as my thumbs moved over his cheeks and I told him, “Well, I’m lucky too. I had it shit for awhile and I found you.”

He shook his head then his hand captured mine, he turned his head and pressed my palm to his lips where he kissed me then his fingers curled around mine and he held my hand to his shoulder.

“It isn’t the same. You’re made of sugar, Tess, and it’s a given you’d eventually get it good because people like you, sweet to the core, they deserve it. What I’m sayin’ is I’m glad I’m the one who gets to give it to you.”

Oh God. I loved this man.

“You’re sweet too.”

He grinned.

Then he muttered, “I see, all this time, you still don’t know me.”

I didn’t grin. My hand tensed on his face as the other one clenched in his.

“You’re a manly, macho, rough, wild, hot guy kind of sweet but you’re sweet. I’m a mountainous swirl of frosting with a moist, rich cake as my core but you’re smooth, delicious dark chocolate that tastes good from the second it hits your tongue and makes you want more the minute it melts away.”

His grin got bigger. “Shit, Tess, you’re makin’ me hard again.”

I took my hand from his face and slapped his shoulder, snapping, “I’m being serious.”

His grin faded clean away and his mercury eyes locked with mine.

Then he whispered, “I know.”

I stared in his eyes and what Vance said hit me as truth so pure and undiluted, it felt like I was touched by a rainbow.

Vance thought he was the lucky one that he had his wife and one of the reasons he thought that was because he knew she felt like she was the lucky one.

And I was lucky and so was Brock.

“We should go to Vegas,” I announced. “We’re on a streak.”

His brows drew together. “Babe, not sure you’re payin’ attention but, shit that’s flyin’

around us does not say ‘winning streak’.”

“I’ve got a naked hot guy bad boy on top of me that proves you wrong.”

At that, his brows relaxed and he smiled.

Then I informed him, “You and your boys’ birthdays are next week and I’m telling you now I’m giving you and the boys an all-inclusive, five-star beach getaway for Spring Break for all your birthdays and I’m not taking any lip and I don’t care the shit that’s swirling, we’re going no matter what.”

His smile didn’t die when he said, “We’ll talk about it later.”

“We won’t. I’m doing this.”

That’s when his smile faded. “Babe, you’re not payin’ for me and my boys to go on vacation.”

“Honey, I need a vacation, you need a vacation and the boys freaking need a vacation. So much, it’s got to be a really, really good one. And I don’t bust my hump baking cakes not to live the good life and give it to those I love. So I’m going to give it to those I love.”

“You got a bakery to launch.”

“I got a vacation to take.”

He held my eyes and I held his right back.

Then he decreed, “I’ll buy the plane tickets.”

“Brock –” I started to protest but he talked over me.

“Tess, I’ll… buy… the plane tickets.”

He was being firm in that way of his I knew he was taking charge of his woman so that firm was unyielding.

“Oh, all right,” I gave in and he grinned again.

Then his head dipped so his mouth was at my ear, “Now, let’s go back to me bein’ like chocolate that melts in your mouth.”

“That isn’t exactly what I meant,” I told him, his arms went around me and he rolled to his back, taking me with him.

Then his hand sifted into my hair, fisted gently and my head came up.

“I would hope not, darlin’, seein’ as every time you take me in your mouth, the last thing I do is melt.”

Hmm.

This was very true.

“This is true.”

And, again, he grinned.

And, it must be said, I liked it when my man grinned.

Then he brought my mouth down to his. Then he kissed me hard and I kissed him harder.

Then I took my time kissing other parts of him.

And when I did, those parts did not melt.

“Thank you,” I mouthed to the clerk at Dillard’s in Park Meadows Mall who was handing me my bag which held six pairs of boys swim trunks, this purchase made because, in two days, Brock, Joey, Rex and I were boarding a plane headed for Aruba and I’d found upon asking them to check that the boys were growing so fast none of their old swim trunks fit.

The clerk smiled at me as I turned away and I smiled back. I had my phone to my ear and a man named Raul was talking to me through it.

“It’s going to take another week,” he said.

“Um…” I started, moving through the store and already feeling Brock getting pissed even though he wasn’t there, in fact, he was nowhere near and he didn’t know that the contractor we hired to cut renovate my basement in order to build another bedroom downstairs was delaying even further.

However, since we contacted Raul the last week in February, this was the third delay taking us to the last week in March. Brock was not happy with the first delay, he was unhappier with the second and I had a feeling his unhappiness would significantly escalate with this one.

We needed this room because Olivia had caved or, at least, her attorneys had talked her into doing so mostly because, with Dade out of the picture, if she racked up a huge bill fighting a case she had no hope of winning, there was no one around to pay it. The stuff Dade gave Brock was useful but even without it, Hector had dug up so much dirt on her, Brock was sure to win. Hector had found they were often late to school and they were often hanging around after school because she was late picking them up. Furthermore, Olivia had not made loads of friends amongst the other mothers and therefore these mothers had happily chit chatted with hot guy Hector, telling tales of Olivia dropping the boys off late then not staying at the boys’ junior football and little league games or calling random Moms at the last minute during the game to ask another Mom to take the boys home and she’d pick them up later and her later meant later. Sometimes, the boys would be asleep at their friends’ houses before Olivia would show which meant she left them for hours.

And when she did all this, she was not at the soup kitchen spreading her benevolence amongst those less fortunate but shopping or getting laid by her bevy of boy toys.

Of this, Hector, too, had photographic proof.

Luckily, I did not see Hector’s proof. Unluckily, Hector had to considering he took the photos and his face upon handing over the evidence to a Brock, who was even unhappier to learn that his ex was less of a mother than he thought, shared the knowledge that Hector was of the same opinion as his bad boy brethren that bony wasn’t beautiful.

So, the papers had been drawn up, everyone signed them, a judge stamped his approval and the boys’ custody flip-flopped. Olivia had them every other weekend, Brock and I had them the rest of the time. Therefore, he wanted them settled and in what would be their permanent rooms. The first delay on the renovation meant that when they moved in with us, Rex had moved into my office upstairs that we converted to a bedroom and Joel into the guest bedroom (now his bedroom) downstairs. This was something Brock did not like because it didn’t say to Rex, “You’re home and settled”. He also didn’t like it because Rex was right next door to our room, the walls weren’t paper thin but they weren’t soundproof either and the reasons he didn’t like that were obvious. But there Rex was – a bathroom and hallway away.