Eternal

ALEC

The memory of her sweetness is still on my tongue when I search her out the next morning. She’d said no to sleeping in my bed and dammit, I shouldn’t have listened to her. I’d broken down some of those barriers around her when she’d exploded under my mouth. Giving her space is just going to give her enough time to build them back up.

With that on my mind, I get dressed quickly to find her and check on the girls. Much as I want to head straight to her room, my priorities are Gemma and Paisley. I find them in the living room with my mom, but no Tana.

“Is Tana up yet?” I ask Mom, trying not to seem too eager.

“I sent her out to take a break. It looked like she needed it.” Mom gives me a pointed look.

She wants to chew me out I can tell, but I ignore the bait. “Thanks for coming over to help. We didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Mom’s expression shifts. “I heard about the fire. Any news?”

“Not yet. The state fire marshal is investigating it as a possible arson.”

Mom shakes her head and clucks her tongue. “That’s crazy. Who would want to burn down that old thing? It’s not worth anything.”

“Could be a lot of reasons.” I tip my head to the girls who have stopped listening to the movie they were watching and are now paying close attention to us. “We’ll talk about it later. How are you girls feeling?”

Both are eating a pile of crackers and sipping on sports drinks. Gemma is the first to perk up. Of course. “I feel a whole lot better, Daddy.”

Paisley slams back into her nest of pillows. “I’m so tired,” she says.

“Why don’t you ladies rest, and I’ll clean up the explosion from upstairs.”

Now that the interesting conversation is over, their attention goes back to the movie. I nod at my mom and head back upstairs to deal with the mountains of laundry. How is it we go through every sheet and towel in the house every time they have a stomach bug? It doesn’t make sense. It’s up there with the physics of losing socks in dryers and never having enough hair ties. #GirlDad

I get the first set of sheets and towels in the washer and finally then myself in the shower. I groan as soon as I step beneath the hot spray. The scalding water feels fantastic on my sore muscles, and the last twenty-four hours of sweat and grime sluice down the drain.

It’s then that I allow my thoughts to drift back to her. Although they’re never far away. I imagine her bent over as she was in the garden and then spread before me on the counter. My cock hardens instantly. I let my head drop back into the spray and try to think of anything else, but the images are burned into my brain.

If this were any other day, any other time, I’d be able to resist the need to grip my hard length in one fist, but with running on no sleep and my need for her at a fever pitch, I resistance is a thing of the past. A breath hisses out of my lungs as I stroke myself and think of all the ways I would have showed her my appreciation if she’d come to bed with me.

I imagine her on her hands and knees the bed in front of me, ass up in the air. Her cheeks spread wide for me, teasing me with a glimpse of her wet, swollen femininity. She would arch her back and make that little sound in the back of her throat that drives me crazy. I groan again at the thought of it. My dick becomes impossibly hard underneath my stroking hand. The sounds of the shower and my surroundings fade away as I imagine her moving her ass against me. I would tangle her hair in one hand and pull it back as I teased my cock against the entrance to her pussy. She’d make a desperate sound, and that’s when she’d start begging. Damn, but I love the sound of her begging.

My hand strokes harder as my breath comes in desperate pants. This isn’t gonna take long, I can tell already. Just like I know it wouldn’t take long if I ever get my hands on her again. I’ve missed her. So fucking much. Last night wasn’t nearly enough to sate how much I want her.

I’m not even embarrassed that even the thought of pushing my hard cock inside her wet heat has me coming all over my hand. A sound rips from my chest, and I slap my forearm on the wall to keep myself upright. The orgasm is quick and ruthless. Not nearly enough to slake all the desires I have inside me, but enough to clear my head. At least for now.

I finish the shower with an efficiency born from habit. I wash my hair, scrub off the last twenty-four hours, and get dressed.

I know I fucked up pushing Tana away the way I did. It probably hurt her feelings, and she didn’t deserve it. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It was me. Just because this is hard on everyone doesn’t give me the right to take it out on her. Besides, we need to talk about what happened the night before.

When I’m dressed, I get fresh sheets and make all the beds. I don’t know what it is about a fresh, clean bed that makes me feel better, but as soon as they’re done, I’m reassured. Tana used to do all this stuff for us. She practically decorated the whole house and couldn’t seem to go a month without changing something around or finding the perfect accessory.

Mom takes the girls for a long nap so Tana and I can get some much-needed rest—well, at least Tana will get some rest, I hope. After that feverish shower, I doubt I’ll be getting any sleep for the foreseeable future while we’re under the same roof. I spend the next hour cleaning up the carnage from the night before, switching over laundry, and scarfing down a bowl of Mom’s homemade chicken noodle soup. By the time I hear the front door creep open, I feel almost human again.

I stride into the living room, fully intent on delivering an award-worthy apology. Then, I’m going to grovel. And if that fails, I’m gonna convince her to let me have a taste of her again until she forgives me. Except the sight of her stops me in my tracks.

“What in the holy hell is that?” I ask, eyeing the ball of patchy fur in her hands with trepidation. It lifts its head, revealing glowing yellow-orange eyes, and I frown. “Is that a cat?”

“Don’t be mad,” she says and cuddles the purring mass closer to her chest. Great, now I’m jealous of a cat.

“I’m not mad,” I say softly. I consider bringing up what happened between us, but set it aside, at least for now.

“It’s a stray and doesn’t have anyone else. She needs a place to stay while I figure out a home for her.” Her eyes are big and bright. Even if I were going to say no to her—which, let’s face it, rarely happens—the look of desperation in her eyes would have swayed me. I’d give her anything—everything—at this point.

“You don’t have to convince me. This is your house too. You don’t need my permission.” I move closer to pet its soft fur. Giving her a wry smile, I say, “You realize once the girls see you’ve brought a cat home, they’re going to riot. You’ll be lucky if you can convince them to let it leave if you do find another home for her.”

She groans. “I didn’t even think of that, oh my god. What are we going to do?”

“Why don’t we start with cleaning her up some, and you can tell me what happened.”

“And the doctor says we can either leave the leg the way it is and deal with the disability or schedule a consult with an orthopedic surgeon, which could be expensive.” Tana is nearly out of breath as she rambles on after we dry off a very distressed cat. “I’m sorry again about springing this on you. I should have called and asked first, but I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t know what else to do, and I couldn’t leave her to starve.”

Her eyes plead for me to understand, but she doesn’t really need to explain anything to me. She may not remember her past, but the woman she used to be would have done the same thing. My wife has always had a heart of gold and would give the shirt off her back to someone if they needed it.

“Looks like she’s in luck. Have you decided on a name yet?”

Tana blinks owlishly at me. “I didn’t get that far,” she admits with a laugh. “Maybe we should let the girls decide?”

“Probably a good idea. They’ve always wanted a pet.”

The cat settles into Tana’s lap, tail wrapping possessively around her wrist as it begins to purr. Tana studies me. “Why didn’t we ever get one?” she asks.

I lean against the door frame and lift my other shoulder. “Never enough time, I guess. Since we had the girls back-to-back, you had your work, and I’m not home all the time, it never seemed like the right moment to commit to something else.”

As she runs a hand over the cat’s back, she says, “Seems pretty hectic.”

“Yeah, I guess so. We always seemed to like it that way.” But there isn’t a lot of conviction in my voice. My thoughts go back to the night of her accident, and my stomach sours with regret. Did we always like it so busy, or did we simply let our commitments become more important than everything else? More important than each other?

“And you’re sure we can keep her? I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

I cross to her and lift her chin, setting aside the urge to press the pad of my thumb over her lower lip. “You’re not an inconvenience. Why don’t you get some blankets from the closet for her? We’ll make up a bed in the laundry room where she’ll be nice and toasty and comfortable. Did you get food for her?”

“It’s in my car,” she says. “Our closet?”

The urge to kiss her is overwhelming, but I don’t want to push her again. Not yet. So I merely nod and retrieve the food, dishes, and litter box from the car. There are also toys, catnip, and a scratching post. I carry the lot of it to the laundry room at the back of the house. I’m filling up the water dish when I hear Tana’s footsteps in the hallway.

“Did you get enough for her?” I tease as I stoop to put the water dish next to her food bowl. Turning, I find Tana holding the cat in the doorway, her face ghost white.

My heart falls to my feet. “What’s wrong?” I move to her. “Baby, what is it? Are you hurt?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks.

And then I realize.

She knows.