A Kiss of Color: The Complete 3 Book Collection (44 page)

And that had been the beginning of XTech Comprehensive Computer Security, or CCS for short. The program had exploded not only domestically, but worldwide, and within a year, XTech was the major security provider for classified servers around the globe. Xavier made enough to set his sister up with her own chain of offices in the downtown area and bring her back into doing the full-time law she so loved.

He bought controlling stock in companies that his parents had once invested heavily in, releasing Hank’s parents from the threat of disenfranchisement and significantly cutting down on his mother and father’s luxurious lifestyles. Helena heard from Brandy that once the money disappeared, Xavier and Brandy’s younger sister Emily had too. They hadn’t heard from her since.

Hank, of course, had re-married Brandy the instant that he could, and Xavier soon set him up with a job at XTech, through which he convinced his boss and brother in law to share his programming expertise with the world at large.

And so, everything had come full circle. Xavier had overcome his parents’ expectations and had made his own way in the world. He was being recognized as one of the world’s most hardworking and generous men and Helena couldn’t be prouder of him.

Then again, she supposed she hadn’t done too badly herself.

Helena had gone back to medical school about eight months after Isaiah’s birth, determined to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a full-fledged physician. Susan and her patients, had, of course, welcomed her back with open arms, and she and Xavier had hired a nanny to help them look after their infant son as Helena crammed for her exams and finished her trials.

After months of grueling work – of studying long hours, nursing until her breasts were sore and falling asleep exhausted seemingly every night, Helena had finally graduated. She was awarded her MD in pediatric medicine, and Doctor Forge quickly snapped her up for residency before any other hospital in the area.

Since then, she’d been doing what she loved: keeping children healthy and their parent’s content. Helena truly felt like she touched each and every patient she worked with, just as her father had done when he was alive. After laboring for what seemed like an eternity, she had finally achieved her dreams, and she could feel her father watching her, his pride bathing her in a warm glow.

When she did happen to find herself with time off, she spent it with Brandy. Though Isaiah and Lucy were almost a year apart, they seemed to be fast friends. Isaiah inexplicably understood his cousin’s soft babbling, though he could hardly speak himself. Helena, however, took pride in the fact that he had learned to say ‘Mama’ before ‘Dada’, which she teased her husband constantly about.

As Brandy placed Lucy in her arms, stepping away from the dressing room to select another dress, Helena’s lips curved upwards as she remembered the day she and Xavier had been married.

Their wedding hadn’t been a grand affair, like Brandy’s had. Of course, her husband’s older sister was used to the best of everything, and Xavier always made sure that she had it. Her ceremony had involved over a hundred guests and they had rented out the largest chapel in town.

Helena and Xavier had been married in a quiet ceremony in their backyard. The only people present had been Brandy, Hank, Lucy, Margaret, Miranda, Susan, and their son. Helena couldn’t think of anyone else she might have wanted to invite. Anyway, she couldn’t think of anyone else who might have been able to endure her and Xavier’s sloppy kissing once the vows had been said.

It had been over a year now, and Helena wasn’t quite sure wedded bliss would ever end. Of course, she and her husband sometimes butted heads, but Helena liked that Xavier didn’t let her get away with everything. That he wanted the best for her and wasn’t afraid to tell her she was wrong.

That he loved their son deeply, and put his family before anything else.

They would celebrate him at the end of the week, and she was looking forward to it immensely.

“Ok, Helena. Try this one.” Brandy returned, thrusting a length of emerald silk at her. “I think this is it.”

The young woman grimaced before handing her drooling niece back to her mother. Once she unfolded the fabric, however, her expression changed.

The gown wasn’t half bad. In fact…she quite liked it.

“You look absolutely breathtaking in that thing.”

Helena smiled into the mirror as her husband wound his arms around her neck, kissing her neck hotly. “I’ve thought about getting you out of it all night.” Her cheeks flushed at his words. It wasn’t the first time that evening he’d uttered them, or, indeed, the tenth.

As much pomp and circumstance as there had been around Xavier receiving his award, it seemed all he could think about were his
just
rewards. Helena laughed softly as Xavier growled, lifting her into his arms to deposit her on the bed.

“Shhh…” She covered his mouth, trying to stifle her own giggles. “You’ll wake Isaiah.”

Xavier rolled his eyes. “You know as well as I do that the kid is
out
. He sleeps like his mom.”

“Hey!” Helena slapped her husband’s shoulder playfully. “It’s not a crime to enjoy sleep!”

“Nor is it a crime to enjoy other things…” Now Xavier’s hands had found their way beneath the skirt of her gown and were creeping slowly, inexorably over the sensitive skin of her thighs. Helena raised herself onto her elbows, molding her mouth to his.

She would never get tired of tasting him. Not for as long as she lived.

As their tongues tangled, Xavier worked desperately to undo the laces at the back of her gown. When he couldn’t free them, he merely flexed a powerful arm and ripped, tearing the delicate fabric. Helena gazed up at him, mortified. “Xavier! That dress cost more than I make in a week!”

But her husband was too busy removing the fabric from her body to listen. “I’ll get you another, later.” He promised huskily, as he tossed the ruined garment off into the darkness. “
Much
later.”

Helena couldn’t pretend to be mad for long. Not when Xavier was kissing and nipping at her neck in a way that made her squirm, teasing her nipples with the tips of his fingers. She moaned, softly, pushing his suit jacket from his shoulders before undoing his tie hurriedly. Even though they had all the time in the world, it seemed they were always in a rush to have each other. His cummerbund came next, and then his fancy dress shirt. The button holes were so damn stiff that Helena cursed and Xavier laughed, tugging it over his head once half the buttons had been undone.

His body was
glorious
.

She had no idea how he did it. Between running an internationally acclaimed company, being a father and keeping her happy, she never
saw
him use their home gym. But she certainly saw him when he was finished – drenched in sweat and so acutely male she ached to have him inside her.

“This is…
divine
.” He growled, tugging at the strap of the intricate green lace bra she wore. “Did you pick this?”

“Brandy did.” Helena admitted breathlessly as Xavier undid the clasp, one handed.

“I will have to thank my sister.” Xavier dangled the scrap of lace before his vision before it joined the gown on the floor.

Without another word, he lowered his head to pull the tip of her breast into the heat of his mouth and Helena cried out softly, arching against the hard length of his body. As Xavier plied the tender nub of flesh with his tongue and teeth, she whimpered, her hands roving through his newly shorn hair. He’d cut it for the banquet, but he promised to grow it out long again, just for her.

She did
so
love when it was long. It gave her something to hold onto while he worked his magic.

Xavier’s teeth grazed the underside of her breasts before his lips touched each of her ribs. His large hand covered the warmth between her legs as he whispered against her thigh. “These panties are so nice I don’t think I can bear to take them off.”

“You’d better.” Helena shot back threateningly, the heat surging through her blood rising to a fever pitch.

“If the lady insists.”

The lacy wisp was gone with a tug of his teeth, and before Helena could draw breath, his fingers were inside her, probing deeply and expertly as she moaned his name.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” The man rasped sensually against her ear. “I
adore
it when you moan for me.”

He exploited a spot within her that drew his name from her on a low cry before she was yanking frantically at his slacks. To Xavier’s merit, they weren’t nearly as flimsy as her gown and she actually had to exercise patience and wait until he managed to get out of them. But he shed the pants and his underwear in a single move so he was soon blessedly naked against her.

“Mmm.” Xavier lifted her into his lap, laying back against the coverlet as he gazed up at her. Helena looked down at him, realizing that one of the most influential men in the world belonged to her.

And to her alone.

She eased down on him slowly, watching every facet of his expression as she enveloped him in her heated, clenching haven. Xavier’s eyes slid closed, his mouth parting as he embraced her hips tightly, fighting the urge to thrust up into her.

He let her set the pace, and Helena rode him slowly.

She wanted this to last.

Undulating her hips again and again, she took him in, deeper each time, until his groans turned to gasps for mercy. She memorized every detail of his face, his features contorted in passion, and her body tingled as her arousal only heightened.

He was beautiful. Utterly beautiful.

Xavier came apart beneath her with a shout, and Helena moaned softly, her own completion washing over her at the sensation of her husband’s seed coating her womb. She collapsed atop him, kissing his cheek with a fond, exhausted smile.

Xavier’s lips curved against her neck. “Best part of the whole evening.”

And somehow, Helena didn’t think he was bluffing.

Xavier’s appetite was ravenous that night. They made love twice more, and by the time Helena’s trembling from her last orgasm had ebbed, the sun was lightening the sky in the east.

Xavier lay placidly with his head on her stomach, gazing up at his wife with drowsy eyes. “So, now what?” He murmured in inquiry.

Helena graced him with a lazy smile. “What do you mean ‘now what’? That was the third time, I’m exhausted.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Xavier slid up the length of her body, pecking her lips before settling in the bed next to her. “Where does XTech go after this?” He folded his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Where do
we
go?”

Helena shrugged. “Anywhere we like I suppose.” She turned to face Xavier, admiring his mussed hair and deliciously sculpted chest. “I’m sure you’ll come up with another winning idea in the next year or so, and the company will grow even further.”

“Oh, is that what you think?” He teased her softly, brushing dark hair back from her brow. “That I’m just a dispensary of amazing ideas that I can produce at will?”

“You’re certainly a dispensary of
other
amazing things.” Helena quipped, a moment before Xavier covered her mouth with a single finger.

“Hush.” He warned her lowly, his gaze shining with renewed lust. “Be careful what you wish for.”

Helena merely chuckled softy before her gaze turned contemplative. “You know, I can think of one thing we probably need to do pretty soon.”

“What’s that?” Xavier gazed down at her fondly, toying with the hem of the sheet at her bosom.

Helena took a deep breath, her heart beginning to pound. “Maybe move into a bigger house.”

For a moment, Xavier merely stared at her, and Helena waited with baited breath, anticipation winding her nerves taut.

All at once, realization dawned on Xavier’s face. His eyes lit up and his gaze slid from his wife’s face to her flat stomach and back again. “We’re…” He managed, before he tripped over his words. “You’re…I mean…” He pressed his hand against her belly, his expression awed. “We’re going to have another baby!”

Helena laughed in unadulterated joy at his enthusiasm. “Something like that.” She might as well let the whole story out. She remembered two weeks ago when she’d complained of back pain and nausea in the office and Susan had immediately presented her with a pregnancy test. Helena had been skeptical, but at least this time, she could admit to not keeping up on her birth control.

Sure enough, she was expecting. Not only that, but she was an astounding three months along and had barely begun to notice the physical changes in her body, despite being pregnant before. When Susan had offered to give her an ultrasound afterhours, they’d both been astounded at what had popped up on screen.

Slyly, the gray-eyed woman held up two slender fingers.

Xavier’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “Twins.” He exhaled on a breath. Then again, on the edge of a laugh. “
Twins
!” He swept his wife against him, enveloping her in both his embrace and his undying love. “We’re going to have twins, honey!”

When he said it like that, Helena was even more excited. This time around, she would share every detail of her pregnancy with her husband. He would be there to support her, to laugh with her, and to cry with her. He would watch their children grow inside her, and introduce them to Isaiah in an affection-filled voice.

And it would be amazing.

In that moment, Helena realized that she thought not of her mother, not of all that had happened to her or of all the hardships that she and Xavier had endured, but of their bright future together. Of a house full of children, and a heart full of hope that could never be taken from her again.

About the Author

Hello,
So this is the part where I'm supposed to talk about myself. I write so many stories but I often I have a hard time telling my own. Funny how that works.
My name is Cristina Grenier and I have been writing stories for as long as I could remember . I'm a sucker for romance. I draw from past experiences and from others around me when I write. I enjoy creating characters that everyone can relate to.
Besides writing, I also enjoy painting and figure drawing. I'm a bit of a homebody, my ideal night consists of a chilled bottle of wine, some pasta and Netflix. I really hope you enjoy the stories I create. 
If you want to keep updated on my new releases and receive a
FREE
full-length romance, please visit my website and subscribe to my email group.
cristinagrenier.com
On Social Media?...
Let’s Connect!