Holding You Close (Ex-Con Duet 4)

“Owen’s still hanging out with Anthony,” he says. “Pretty sure he’s going to want to stay over there.”

“Is that code for something?” I ask.

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” he tells me as we pull into the driveway.

Noah leads me up the porch steps and inside to the bedroom. “Your mom and dad aren’t stopping by for at least an hour with the gifts,” he whispers across my neck, slowly undressing me.

“Oh this won’t take me long,” I say, then carefully waddle to the bed completely naked.

Noah’s gentle as he parts my legs and devours me like I’m his last meal. His tongue flicks and flutters against my clit, and as I suck in air, I feel as if I’m floating into outer space. My body begs for more of him while chasing my release, and when he slips two fingers inside, I nearly lose it.

My legs tremble, and he teases and sucks me until I nearly break in half. “Please,” I beg, running my fingers through his hair and tugging him back to my clit. Noah laughs against my inner thigh and presses kisses before returning to where I want him. “You’re such a greedy little thing, and I love it.”

“Make me come,” I demand, not wanting to teeter on the edge any longer.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replies, and when he places my bud in his mouth and sucks, I lose all control. “Yes, baby,” he whispers as my body convulses, and I ride the wave of satisfaction.

“Fuck me,” I tell him, positioning myself up on two elbows.

Seconds later, Noah’s grabbing my ankles and sliding me to the edge of the mattress. “I kinda like you being all dominant in the bedroom like this. It’s hot as hell.”

He takes off his belt, and the sound drives me absolutely fucking wild, then he slips down his jeans and boxers at the same time. Slowly, he places the tip of his cock in my opening. “You’re so goddamn wet, Katie.”

“You do that to me,” I admit.

Noah doesn’t wait any longer before entering. He goes slow and steady, not doing any rough movements even though my body desires it more than he’ll ever know. We’ve tried to be careful when it comes to sex even though our doctor has said it’s perfectly fine and normal. I lose myself in the moment as he thrusts in and out of me and notice his breathing growing more ragged and heavier. Eventually, he’s chasing his release too, and with a grunt, he spills inside me.

After we clean up, we dress in comfortable clothes and hold each other until my parents show up and unload all the gifts. I’m pretty sure the smile on my face might actually be permanent. I’m the luckiest woman alive to have a man like Noah love me so fiercely. I can’t wait for him to be my husband.

Epilogue

NOAH

“Are you ready to meet your brothers?” I ask Owen, taking his hand as we exit the elevator onto the hospital's labor and delivery floor.

“So ready!” He’s holding balloons in his other hand and proudly wearing the BIG BROTHER T-shirt Everleigh got him for his birthday.

Though Katie’s expected due date wasn’t until mid-December, we’ve known there was a high probability she’d deliver early. Four weeks early, to be exact. The boys were born a week before Thanksgiving, and their birthdays will be close to Everleigh’s. She turns thirty-three tomorrow and has been going on and on about how she’s going to “party it up” this weekend. I find it hilarious, but Tyler has had enough of his wild-child sister.

“Hi, sweetie,” Katie whispers when Owen enters. “I missed you.”

Owen leans in and gently hugs her. We’ve been here for over two days. After twenty-six hours of labor and keeping an eye on the boys’ heart rates, they finally came at 2:07 a.m and 2:10 a.m. Katie’s epidural wore off at hour eighteen, and the amount of screaming she did wasn’t something I was mentally prepared for. Not being able to do much for her pain made it hard to feel useful. She had horrible backaches and cramps in her legs, so I’d rub them out the best I could. After two hours of pushing, the first baby finally arrived.

“This one is Finneas, but we’ll call him Finn.” Katie nods to the baby on her left. “And this one is Lucas but Luke for short.”

“Finn and Luke.” Owen smiles. “Like from Star Wars.”

Katie and I chuckle. Though it was a running joke for weeks, we actually ended up liking the names and picked them anyway.

“They’re so tiny,” Owen says as Luke wiggles.

“Didn’t feel tiny to me…” Katie murmurs.

Though they were early, both boys weighed almost six pounds and only had to be on oxygen and monitored for a few hours. They passed all their health checks and will be able to come home with us in a couple of days.