Once Written, Twice Shy (The Broken Men Chronicles) (13 page)

“Glad you could join me,” I said, smiling down at
her, our naked forms pressed together.

She smiled.  “Anything to make you happy.”  She wrapped
her arms around my neck.

I arched my brow. “
Anything
?”  My hands
grabbed onto her bare bottom making her clutch onto my shoulders to maintain
her balance.  She nodded.  “Then make love to me, right here, right now.”

“Not here,” she said with a playful swat on the
shoulder and I cursed the darkness for engulfing her blush.

“Why not?” I asked and began to pepper her face
with kisses.  “I want to know what it would be like to do it under the stars.” 
I sucked on the skin below her ear.  She shivered under my grasp.

“B-but…” she said and stopped when I thrust a
finger into her heated core.  “Mmm…Pax…o-okay…beach.”

I kissed her senseless and began to walk us out of
the water toward the blanket while she held on with her legs wrapped around my
waist.  I lowered us to the blanket, sitting on my legs with her perched on my
lap.  She shivered beneath my touch as I kissed down her neck, letting my
fingers trail up her back.

When she reached down between us and began to
guide me to her entrance, I stopped her.  “Wait, I’m not-”

Her kiss was soft and sweet but all too brief.  “It’s
okay,” she said, “I’m on the pill.”

“Are you sure?”

“I want all of you, Paxton,” she said, holding my
eyes as I released her wrist and let her position me just so she could slide
down the length of my shaft.

Never having gone bare-backed with any woman other
than Julie, I revelled in the silken feel of Alissa’s swollen core, the
rightness of the moment.  “You feel amazing,” I said as I was seated completely
within her depths.

“Mmm…”  She began to rock her hips; the sensation
was pure heaven as we bonded closer than we’ve ever had.  She was utopia.

Alissa arched her head back and I began to kiss
down the column of her neck, to the valley between her breasts.  She was
intoxicating under the bright moonlight which seemed to illuminate the spot we
were in enough so that all we could see was the shimmering waters in the
background and each other.  It was nothing but us and nature as we stroked our
respective heats into the highest of tensions.  Our moans merged into a sensual
song of pleasure, carried away by the night’s breeze.

I’ve loved only three women in my life: my mother,
Julie and now Alissa.  Each had been loved in very different manners but I can
tell you this for a fact, none of them but Alissa have made me feel like I
wouldn’t be able to survive without them in my life.

What started as an evening of fun and distraction
from life had turned into something beautiful and heartfelt.  It killed me to
think that Jasper could possibly never live to see how beautiful the love for a
woman other than his mother could be.  How possible it was that I would never
see his first day of high school, his first date, his first broken heart, and
all that would follow.  Life was fragile and filled with so many unexpected
surprises, both good and bad.

“Come back to me, Pax,” she said and pulled back
enough to look me in the eyes and palm my face with both her hands.  “I love
you.”

“I love you too,” I said.

To say Alissa took the pain away would be giving
her too much credit.  No one was that capable.  What Alissa did for me was
lessen the blow of it all without much effort.  She made it so that this
downward spiral that was my family life was bearable.  I was able to keep
breathing, be the strong person in all of this for my son and keep one foot in
front of the other as each day rolled by.  I wanted to know that I was the best
damn father and man I could ever be for everyone in my life.  I just had to
work harder to prove it to myself.

Lost in the sweet and blissful moment with Alissa,
I felt our impending releases coming blindingly fast.  She was looking at me,
and I at her.  Her beautiful face was flushed; her lips seemed a deeper pink as
we took each other over the edge.  I could have sworn that I saw a life with
her flash inside those cerulean pools of hers the moment we had hit the
pinnacle of our climax.

Spent, our bodies glistened with a cooling sweat
from our love making.  I showered her with soft and lazy kisses.

“I love you,” she said into the skin of my neck
and kissed me in that spot.

“And I, you,” I said.  “More than you’ll ever
know.”

I held her tight to me as if letting go would cause
her to disappear and all of these emotions I held for her and the feel of what
had just transpired between us washed away with the waves and became nothing
but a dream.

A month had passed since Jasper’s diagnosis.  I was
dealing with the conflicting reality on a day-to-day basis.  Daily
conversations over the phone with Alissa were about the only thing keeping me
sane.  She seemed to have developed a sixth sense about when things were going
the roughest with me.  We hadn’t seen each other again since her departure a
few days after Jasper’s diagnosis; her job being the culprit.  Things had been
busy for the woman and it didn’t seem like there was going to be any respite
for her in the near future.

“The joys of doing a good job,” she had told me
once.

In fact, she had done such a great job organizing that
conference that she had landed a coveted promotion—one she thought she had
wanted.  It hadn’t taken long for her to voice her dislike to her new role, despising
the fact that she was at her boss’ beck and call around the clock.  Neither was
I since our conversations had grown shorter and more sporadic as time went on.

Jasper’s health was deteriorating despite the
chemotherapy.  On some days, he was his old self with so much rambunctiousness
that my energy was drained dry by the time my boy went to bed.  On others, he
was so dead to the world, pale and sickly that we’d stay in.  Those days
typically ended with me falling into bed, mentally exhausted with additional
worry.  There had been two instances where Jasper had ended up in the hospital
for testing only to find out he’d come down with another infection of some sort
that could compromise him further.  Those days had sent me to bed crying and
praying that it would all just go away.  I wanted my son back—not for one day—I
wanted him to be the healthy little four-year-old he should have always been.  On
those days, I cursed Doctor Messing and his diagnosis.   On those days, I ached
to feel Allie wrapped around me to soften the blows.  Our calls, although
soothing in nature weren’t completely cutting it for me.  I wanted to see my
woman in the flesh.

***

A second month had come and gone and I still hadn’t
seen Alissa.  As a matter of fact, I hadn’t heard from her except for the one
email three days ago that assured me that everything was going well, that she
loved me, and that should I need her, she was reachable through her assistant. 
I hadn’t bothered calling as I knew that she had more than enough on her plate
with her latest project.  I could wait.

Jasper was in bed after a long day of treatment at
the hospital.  My son was in need of regular blood transfusions in conjunction
with his chemotherapy.  After all my procrastinating, I had painted and
decorated my son’s bedroom as I should have six months ago when I had first moved
into my townhouse.  I felt horrible for not doing it sooner.

I was sitting on the couch, perusing channels in
order to find something that would strike my fancy.  Taking a drink from the
bottle of beer I had decided to indulge in, my phone rang.  One look at the
caller ID and I smiled—Alissa.

“Hello, beautiful,” I said.

“Hey, handsome,” I could hear the smile in her
voice, “how’ve you been, love?  I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” I said.  “How’s your week been
so far?”

“Pure hell.  I need out…a change,” she said. 
“Listen, do you think Jasper would be up to a blueberry pancake fest tomorrow?”

“I’m sure he’d be open to it every morning, sweetheart,
but why can’t it wait until the weekend?  Did something come up?”

“Yeah,” she said, “it’s been too long, baby.”

“I hear you,” I said.

I heard a knock.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Someone’s at the door,” I said.

“Expecting someone?”

“No,” I said and wondered who it could be at this
time of night.

“Go answer, babe.  I’ll wait,” she said.

Walking to the door, my phone still in my hand, I
opened.  The device dropped to the floor, the battery cover went flying as I
stood there, shell-shocked.

I stared.  “What are you doing here?”

“I believe we have a pancake date in the morning,”
she said, “and I doubt Jasper would appreciate me missing it.”  She stuffed her
phone in her purse.

I pulled Alissa in and gave her a bone crushing
hug.  She had floored me with this unexpected surprise visit.

I kissed her and asked, “What about that project?”

“What about it?  Someone else can handle it, I’m
not going back,” she said into my chest.

“What?”

“You heard me, Paxton Lowell.  I’m…not…going…back,”
she said.  “I’ve been sick of that place since before the promotion.  The money
may be phenomenal but it also gave me the push to leave.  I thought I would
have been happier with the change but I’m miserable.”

“So what are you going to do when you go back?”  I
closed the door, locked it and dragged her to the sofa.

“You’re not listening, Pax,” she said. 
“I’m…not…going…back.  Period.  I’ve been here for a full day and I’ve already
found the perfect place to rent but I wanted to know how you felt about me
being closer before I signed the lease.  I was thinking of staying and seeing
where everything went with us.”  She kissed me.

“You did what?”

“I thought that you’d be happy.”  She eyed me,
searching for the answer I would provide next as she pulled back but I didn’t
let her move away.

“Truth is I’m ecstatic,” I said, “but are you sure
‘bout this?”

“I already have a job lined up,” she said.  “This
little event planning place that handles local stuff was looking for someone
with my experience and they practically begged me to partner up with them.”

“Are you serious?” I asked and she nodded.  “That’s
fantastic.”  I grabbed her face between my palms before kissing her like
nothing else mattered.  I heard her giggle into our kiss before her arms came
around, pulling us closer.

***

When I brought her luggage to my bedroom, what had
started as a simple kiss of appreciation had evolved into one filled with pure
carnal desire.  Her soft hands ran up my chest as mine ran down to her tight
bottom.  She pulled away and reached for her shirt, stripping it up and over
her head, making her hair cascade down on either side of her face and
shoulders.  I caught on to her obvious hint, pulling mine off and chucked it to
the side.  She made haste of her tight jeans while I looked her over, licking
my lips.  She rubbed her hands down my bare chest, kissed me as her hands
trailed lower to my belt buckle and undid it.

“I think I need to remind you that Jasper is in
the other room,” I said.

“As hungry as I am to fuck your brains out, baby,
I want this to be nice and slow.  I’ve missed you too much for a rough romp,” she
said.  “Besides, now we have all the time in the world to explore that kinky
side of yours.”  She winked, pushed me back onto the bed and pulled my jeans
off.

As she straddled my waist, she laid kisses over
the heated skin of my chest, her fingers trailing not too far behind the
wetness her lips and tongue were leaving behind.  I felt the tension of the day
melt away.

“Why does my man seem to be wound so tight?”  She pecked
my lips.

“It’s been a rough week.  Hell, it’s been a rough
couple of months,” I said.  She laid her body over the length of mine.

“I’m sorry, honey,” she said against my ear.  “We
need to do something about that now that I’ll be closer.”

“I definitely agree,” I said.  I kissed her shoulder
while pulling down the strap of her bra.  I reached around her and undid the
clasp to slide the garment off.  “You know, it would be easier if you stayed
here with me.”

She looked down at me.  “Pax.”  I kissed her into
silence before rolling us over so I lay over her.

“You have to admit,” I said and kissed her
collarbone and trailed further up until I reached that sweet spot below her ear
that I knew sent shivers through her body whenever I nibbled it.  “It would
make what we’re doing right now, a hell of a lot easier.”

“Yes, but-” she said.

“And coming home to you every night would make it
even better,” I said with a nip at her earlobe.

“True.”

“I cook, I clean, I’m self-sufficient and-”

She pushed me back so she could see my face and I
saw her arched brow.  “Paxton Lowell, are you trying to seduce me into moving
in with you?”

I smiled.  “Is it working?”

“Hmm…maybe,” she said with a slight head tilt
showing her amusement.

“Let me see if I can convince you then.”  My smile
widened to a full grin, causing her to laugh.

I kissed down to one of her breasts and took a
nipple into my mouth.  I made her gasp as my tongue twirled around her erect
peak, giving it enough attention before I switched to the other.  Her breathing
picked up.

“You,” I said between kisses, as I headed south, “can
have this,” I paused, wrapping my fingers around the waistband of her undies
and pulled them down, “every night.”  I hovered above her core and blew hot air
before giving her a quick flick of my tongue, causing her hips to arch up in
want and a whimper to escape her parted lips.

“Oh…” she said, her face flushed from her arousal,
its scent permeating the valley of her legs.

“Say you’ll stay with me, Alissa,” I said before
sucking on her clit.

“Oh, my God!  I-I…”  I nipped at her clit this
time around and she jumped.  “Ah!  Pax, what’s gotten into you?”

“Say it,” I growled as I slid two fingers into her
heated core and felt her clamp down on them.  “Say it Allie.  I love you, let’s
be together.”  I could tell that she was overwhelmed by the sensations I was
inflicting on her; maybe too much so for her to answer.  I stopped the
thrusting of my fingers.  She whimpered at the loss of movement.

“Fine,” she said.

“Tell me what I want to hear,” I said and resumed
the thrusting of my fingers and clamping down on her swollen bud with my lips.

“I-I’ll stay with you, Paxton,” she said as I followed
through and sent her over the edge with her first orgasm.

Not wasting any time, I pushed my boxers down and
plunged myself into her hot sheath.  She was still riding out the high from her
orgasm and the feel of those tremors was amazing as they circled my bare shaft.

I engulfed her mouth with mine and began to thrust. 
She held me close to her as I buried my face into her fragrant hair, its scent
one of my favourites.

Surrounded with nothing but our deep-seeded
emotions, I showed her how I loved her much like she had showed me that night on
the beach.  I felt her tremble under me as our passions heightened and the
world collapsed all around leaving us both in a haze of carnal bliss.

I fell asleep with the largest feeling of
happiness I hadn’t felt in a long time.  I had my woman by my side and it was
no longer for a few days or a week at the most.  It was for however how long we
dictated it to be.