He kisses the tip of my nose, then each of my eyelids. One of his hands goes to the zipper.
Seconds later, my dress is pooling around my feet. Then he spins me around, placing both my hands on the bedpost. He pushes my panties to one side, stroking me until my thighs quiver. Then he slides the panties all the way down, tracing the back of my thigh with his tongue, and I grip the bedpost tighter. My hips arch when he slides inside me, just the head, rubbing it against the tender flesh until I’m out of my mind turned on. He hugs me from behind, flattening my back against his shirt.
“I love you so much. Sometimes I wake up in the night and look at you and still can’t believe you’re mine. I’m the luckiest man on earth.”
“Alex....”
My voice trails away as he pulls out of me, and we move to lie on the bed. He climbs on top of me, loving me fast and deep until I pull at the bedsheet with both hands. He covers my mouth, kissing my sounds of pleasure before giving in to his own release.
“I love you more every day, Summer. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper. “It’s the same for me.” I run a hand through his hair, then pull him closer. “I love you so much.”
***
Libby wakes up ten minutes before we’re set to leave. Through a miracle, we actually do make it out the door in time.
Once we’re in the car, I check my phone to see if anyone has written in our family chat group. Considering the sheer number of people in it, I always have to catch up.
My e-mail inbox is hopeless these days. I have no clue how the public got wind of it, but it’s cluttered now.
“Oh, look. I just got the seven hundred and forty-fifth request to post a pic with you and Libby on social media.”
He smiles. “They’ll wear you down eventually, babe.”
“Nope, the two of you are
for me. Just for me. I’m territorial like that.”
“I love that you are.”
I found out I was pregnant with Libby two months after we married and one month after I opened my gallery. We’d planned to wait a while longer before having children, but we were over the moon anyway.
Needless to say, things got a bit out of hand after she was born. Most days I’m still trying to figure out my ass from my elbow. But when Alex looks at me with those molten green eyes and says, “Babe, we’re in this together,” I remember that life isn’t about perfect. It’s about figuring it out together, every step of the way. I don’t know what I would do without him, or my family. My parents hover over Libby every chance they get, and so do Alex’s parents. The desire to be closer to their grandchildren outweighed their fear of Alex’s fame, so they moved to San Francisco a few months ago. They’re working on mending their relationship with their son.
Things are mad at my parents’ house when we arrive, but that’s nothing new. Mom and Dad had to extend the gazebo because it was too tiny for all of us.
Not, of course, that everyone attending today will fit inside. My parents’ wedding anniversary events are usually a crowded affair, but for today’s event, every single adopted Bennett seems to have shown up, as well as all of our cousins. A soccer match is already being planned. Business as usual in the Bennett clan. Mom takes Libby into her arms as soon as she sees us.
“You won’t give her back to me until I have to feed her, right?” I tease.
“You have her all the time,” she coos. Mom is very sweet that way. Whenever a newborn pops into our family, she’s all over the baby.
“That tip for the tummy ache worked like a charm, Mom. Thanks.”
“Anytime, sweetie.”
Alex tucks me into his side as Mom heads with Libby to my dad.
“You know what? I think Libby needs a brother or a sister. Or both, really,” he murmurs.
“Oh no. I knew it. Your dad gene has been unleashed.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Put the leash back on for another few years. Unless you can convince me otherwise.”
Now, see? Why in the ever-loving hell did I say that? I just gave him free rein to use his persuasion techniques on me, and I know for a fact I don’t stand a chance against half of them.