“Mine?” he repeated.
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes gone dreamy and smoky from his kiss. “And you’re mine.”
“Damned straight.”
An animal sound emerged from him as he rose up to gaze down at her sexy form.
He looked over her glorious body and grew even harder. He moved against her and in a fluid movement he slipped down between her full thighs.
His eyes feasted on that part of her that he had tasted in Chicago, and he craved to repeat the experience. She moaned as his fingers slowly opened her slick folds. He loved how wet she was, the tactile evidence of her desire.
He groaned when his tongue first made contact with that small nub that made her hips buck against him. It took but seconds to bring her to release. She dug her fingers into his hair and pulled hard. He could see her head twist from side to side.
“Yes, baby,” he told her. “Mmm, yes. That’s it. Come for me again. Oh … yes.”
When he moved up her body and centered himself at her opening, he propped himself above her and their eyes met. Sylvie wrapped her legs and arms around him.
As he pushed against her, slowly opening her wider and wider, she groaned and lifted her hips. She drew him ever closer, ever deeper.
She whispered things that he could hardly hear, and yet he understood the sentiment. This was the ultimate consummation of everything they had gone without for the past year.
It was a miracle they’d been brought back together. It was an equal miracle that, as he rocked inside her as deep as he could go, it was even better than his memory. The perfect joining. The fit of her, the way she opened for him. Exquisite.
He thrust into her harder and she met his rhythm. More. More. They wanted it that way. They wanted it in the same way.
He brought her to climax twice, holding off his own until Sylvie was gasping for air and raking her nails down his back. Then he let the wave overtake him and as they rode their release together, he watched her face and knew the truth.
All he wanted to do was make her happy.
That’s all. Nothing else really mattered. Sylvie … happy.
Sylvie’s lips parted, releasing a sexy little sigh as she came down from her orgasm. His faded along with hers and he dropped down beside, pulling her with him so he could stay inside her. He pulled her leg up over his hip and stroked down her silky thigh.
“Mmm.” He hadn’t felt peace like this in forever.
She smiled at him and twirled a lock of his hair around her tapered finger. “I think we forgot something again.”
So Heath wasn’t the only one who had noticed.
“I assume you’re protected?” he asked.
“I can’t believe you’d assume anything.” She laughed. “Don’t look like that. I’m covered. I learned my lesson the last time.”
He smiled wickedly. “Damn you’re sexy when you laugh. I have another game for you. You’ve got two minutes, and then I hope you’re ready to go again.”
“You’ll wear out before I do,” Sylvie said confidently.
Heath winked at her. “What are we betting this time?”
Chapter Twenty Three
SYLVIE’S LIFE CHANGED OVERNIGHT. NOW that Heath was a part of it, everything about her daily routine needed to be revised. She was disappointed that Heath eventually returned to Seattle for some meetings, but he returned to Zeke’s Bend for long weekends, spending every waking moment with her and the twins.
She understood that she couldn’t expect him to move there permanently, although they hadn’t discussed it, so who knew what might happen. When she was missing him during the week, she’d sometimes fantasize about him selling everything, giving it all up to come live in Zeke’s Bend with her and the twins.
She didn’t see any reason now to hide the fact that Heath was the babies’ father from her family. Most everyone was fine with it, although some weren’t impressed that they’d been led to believe the father was Alan. She tried to explain as best she could, but in the end, she knew they’d get over it. She was family and they had to forgive her.
For certain, the news hadn’t landed well with Sylvie’s mother. She demanded that Sylvie have a paternity test done to definitively prove that Heath was the father. Sylvie was annoyed. She only slept with two men during that time-frame and if the babies weren’t Alan’s, then they were definitely Heath’s unless nature had gone whacky all of a sudden.
But Momma had been insistent. Sylvie gave in just to get some peace and quiet. Plus, she hoped once Momma saw the evidence in black and white, she’d accept that Heath would be part of their lives now.
Fortunately, Heath graciously agreed to the tests once Sylvie explained everything to him.
It hadn’t been any surprise when the paternity test came back positive. Heath was definitely the twins’ father. With that last bit settled, it started to make it around the Zeke’s Bend rumor mill that Sylvie’s babies were actually fathered by the reclusive billionaire that Sylvie had met in Chicago.
And that was another new development. With Heath’s frequent travel, no one was buying his cover story of being a writer anymore. She didn’t give any credence to the rumors, choosing instead to remain silent. People needed to get to know Heath for who he really was, a good man.
Nobody needed to know that he had billions of dollars. Certainly, to her, it didn’t matter. She just wanted him. Everything else that came with him was nothing but window trappings.
He still hadn’t come clean to her about his real name, and she wondered at it. She couldn’t ask him, though. If she did, then she’d have to admit that she’d known who he really was all along. Probably it was best to let that sleeping dog lie.
The part that proved to be the most difficult and comical to navigate was Heath’s interactions with the babies. He really was pretty hopeless with them. The little bit that he had learned during the first couple of weeks in Zeke’s Bend provide to be woefully inadequate as Sylvie started to fully integrate him into everything that went along with taking care of the twins.
For being such a smart businessman, he was really a slow learner when it came to babies. She’d begun to think he was hopeless when it came removing an old diaper and quickly strategically positioning a new diaper to avoid getting hit in the face with a stream of baby pee.
The first time Heath got nailed by Jadyn, Sylvie had laughed herself half sick. Heath was a good sport, but not all that amused.
The second time it happened, she got it on video. Heath wasn’t a good sport at all on that one, threatening she’d regret it if she showed the video to anyone. Of course, she’d shown it to everyone in town. And because he “punished” her in all sorts of delightful ways in her bedroom, she never did regret it.
There never was a third time, or if there was, it happened when Sylvie wasn’t looking or taking video.
Whenever he changed a diaper without getting hit in the face, he?
?d strut around her house, all cocky with his success.
She couldn’t resist it.“What? You want a sticker?” she teased. “I’ll make one that says: “Kiss me! I didn’t get a face full of pee today!’”
He chased her around the apartment and gave her a relentless tickling that left her breathless.
After that, she tried to show him the best ways of taking care of two babies at the same time. She knew it was exhausting. She’d already been on the front lines doing it for four months now. But it was still all new to Heath.
She admired his perseverance. Even when she offered to help, he frequently said that he wanted to try and do it on his own. He proved to be stubborn that way. He said if she never let him do it, he’d never learn how to do it on his own. Heath was intent on being as hands on with the babies as possible.
Finally, he insisted that she go out and have a girls’ night with Neesa and Phae. He said that he would stay home with the twins by himself.
Sylvie didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but she had more than a few reservations. In the end, though, she agreed, telling herself she was being overprotective. After all, the man ran a business with a gross income higher than most countries in the world. If he could run that, he could take care of a couple of little babies for a few hours, surely.
She went over the list of everything that he needed to do and made sure he had Phae’s cell, Neesa’s cell, and the number of the restaurant they were going to programmed into his phone in case anything happened. He laughed as he cradled both boys in his arms and gently shoved her toward the door.
“Go, woman. We’ll be fine. Stop worrying. Nothing can go wrong. I stopped using pins on their diapers ages ago.”
She laughed and kissed her men on their cheeks, one after the other, two smooth baby cheeks and one rough and scruffy manly cheek. Yummy.