No Place Like Home: The Coming Home Series, Book 1 (11 page)

“Yep.”

“But I thought you were taking me to the school so I can get settled in.”

“You said take you home. So I did.” He exited the vehicle and walked around to her side.

Love and thankfulness expanded inside her until it nearly split her in two.

As soon as he opened her door and her feet hit the ground, reality hit her. “Oh no. Cole, I forgot. I don’t have any of Lord Voldemort’s stuff with me. Well, a little bit of food but that’s it. I thought I was going to get in much earlier so I could go shopping.”

“It’s all taken care of.” He tipped up her chin and kissed her mouth. “He’s already all set up here. Litter box, food, toys, cat bed. Addyson and I went shopping. Last week.”

“I thought we talked about taking it slow.” She said what she thought she was supposed to say.

“We did.”

“And this is taking it slow?”

He shrugged unapologetically. “Ish.”

Charlie chuckled.

He pulled her close and she settled against him, wondering how she went so long without having him—them—in her life.

“Let’s get the kids inside and then we can…chat.”

“By chat do you mean have sex for hours and then fall into an exhausted sleep and then try to wake up and do it again before Addyson wakes up?”

“Why yes. That’s exactly what I mean by chat.”

“Best. Definition. Ever.”

“Charwee?” Addyson’s sleepy voice had Charlie leaning back in the vehicle to see behind the seat.

“Yes?”

“I have kitty cat.”

“I know. He trusted you so much he fell asleep in your lap.”

“With me. Like a sleepover.” The way she said it made Charlie think of the Holy Grail.

“Absolutely.”

Addyson’s eyelids grew heavy and her head lolled to the side again, her little mouth open in a round “O”.

“Can I put her to bed?” Charlie faced Cole as he stared at her. “I would really like to put her to bed.” Love at first sight, apparently it really did exist, and for Charlie it happened twice.

“Nothing would make me happier. I’ll get the rest if you’ve got her.”

They whispered as they moved things and he went and unlocked the front door. Cole picked up the cat and he started purring immediately. “I like you too, buddy.”

Charlie lifted Addyson out of her car seat and carried her inside and up the stairs.

It didn’t take long to get her tucked in, but stayed longer just to watch her sleep.

When she turned around, there stood Cole, shirtless in the doorway to his bedroom. Moving toward him, she had the flash of realization she’d never wanted anything or anyone as much as she wanted him.

“Sorry I took so long,” she apologized as she stepped into his arms and he pulled her into the room before shutting the door. “I just couldn’t stop watching her. I almost crawled into bed with her. You’re the only reason I’m still upright.”

He stripped her naked and ditched his shorts and then tugged her into bed beneath the covers. “Don’t ever apologize for spending time with her. You slay me with how you look at her. It’s almost as if you…”

“What? As if I care for her? Worry for her? Love her maybe?”

Cole rolled on the condom he had ready on the nightstand and then moved between her legs. “Tell me what you need. What you want, so I can make this good for you.”

Grasping behind his neck, she pulled his face down to hers and spoke against his lips. “You. Inside me. That’s…uhh…what I need.”

Each pause was him working his shaft inside her. Each thrust made her slicker and slicker. Always ready to take him.

They moved together, finding a pace somewhere between frantic and perfect.

“Love her,” Cole whispered.

“What?” Charlie asked, knowing she wasn’t going to be able to keep from coming. Not with him so close, so hard.

“When you look at her, it’s almost as if you love her.”

“No ifs about it. I do love her, and—”

Cole fucked into her faster, harder. He knew exactly what to do to make her come. “And?”

“And you.” Charlie’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart exposed. Her need for him. For them both. He could do anything with it.

“I love you, Charlie. Fuck, I love you. Didn’t see it coming. Complicates everything. So worth it. Need you with me. Need you here. In my house. My bed.” His cock swelled inside her, making her moan. “Our bed.”

“I love you. I think I always have.”

“Fuck. Say it again. You’re going to make me come.”

She scored her fingernails down his back, wanting to mark him in some kind of permanent way. Just as he marked her with his love.

She was forever changed because he loved her. All of her. The girl she was. The woman beneath him now. The mother she longed to be. Her core tightened around him and he growled.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”

He grunted, his whole body shaking as he stared down at her. “Love. You.”

His orgasm triggered her own. She shattered in his arms. “Cole.” She jerked in his hold and he held her tighter. Kissing her roughly, he worked his shaft inside her, infusing her with pleasure.

“Mine, Charlie. Mine. I know this is crazy. I know things like this don’t happen. But they are. They did. You’re stuck with me. Us.” He chuckled as he rolled over onto his back and took her with him, still inside her. “This is me not going slow. Life’s too short to wait on something so perfect.”

She went limp on top of him, her body, mind and spirit finally sated for the first time ever.

“Mine, Cole. Love at first sight happens, because it did. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life.”

“Thank you.” He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her gently as their heartbeats slowed and meshed into the same rhythm.

“For what?”

“Loving me back, and Addyson. For not running scared. You’re incredible.”

“My love.” Charlie kissed his chest a moment before she succumbed to sleep with him still inside her.

Chapter Nine

“Wake up, sleepyheads.”

Charlie peeled up one eyelid to find Addyson standing next to the bed.

“Hi,” she whispered and laid her head on the side of the mattress.

Thankfully they’d gotten up a couple hours earlier to put some pajamas on so Addyson didn’t come in and find them completely naked.

Of course they’d also taken advantage of the time, and Cole had made sure she remembered exactly how it felt to have his mouth between her legs.

She moved her foot backwards and slid it down his shin.

“Hmm,” was all the response she got out of him.

“We have a munchkin invasion.”

“I spray for those,” he mumbled and then stretched with a roar.

Addyson ran around to his side of the bed. “Daddy,” she mock-whispered. “I’m hungry. Can we have pancakes?”

“Maybe. Do you love me?”

“Yes. Whole bunches. Like this much.” Addyson stretched her arms as wide as she could make them.

“Then I’d think pancakes are a small price to pay for all that love.”

“And bacon?” Charlie added as she tried to convince her eyes to both stay open at the same time.

“Same question applies to bacon. Maybe even more so since it’s crazy hazardous. Love me?”

“So very much I think we need to invent a new word for it.”

“I’d say that’s earned everybody bacon and pancakes. Wanna do it together?”

She rolled onto her back and raised an eyebrow at him with a devilish grin.

“Breakfast. I specifically meant breakfast. Later we can cover a larger variety of answers to that question.” Charlie rolled up and out of bed and Cole did the same.

“Umm…” Charlie looked around. “Where’s Addyson?”

“Already downstairs with the TV on and playing with the cat and creating her own language. She’s like a ninja.”

“Good to know.”

He hugged her to him, and a hard cock made its presence known.

“Mmm…” Charlie’s mouth watered.

“I’m going to attack you later. Be afraid.” He gave her one last squeeze. “Be very afraid.”

* * * * *

Sitting at the table after breakfast, Addyson had cleared her plastic dishes when she asked, “Can I tell her now, Daddy?”

Cole ruffled her hair and kissed her forehead. “Yes, you can.” And then he gazed at Charlie.

“Tell me what?” Charlie asked as Addyson climbed up on her lap.

“I wuv you.” She hugged her tight and then scrambled off again. “And I have a present for you. Daddy and I got it for you.”

Staring after her, Charlie knew exactly how people felt when they won the lottery. “She loves me?” It. Was. Amazing.

“Yes, she does. Nearly as much as I do.”

“Got it!” Addyson came running back in with a little treasure chest that had something rattling around inside. She crawled back on her lap. “I wuv you.”

Charlie laughed and kissed her head. “And I love you. Why did you have to ask permission to tell me?”

“Daddy said I couldn’t tell you until he told you. And he wasn’t going to tell you until you were here. I had to wait forever.” She drug the word out and made a zombie-esque face to go with it.

“Some things are better in person. I must admit.”

“You wuv Daddy too, right? Like a whole bunch?” Addyson swept her arms in a big circle. Obviously demonstrating what a whole bunch looked like.

“A whole bunch. Both of you.”

She wiped imaginary sweat from her brow. “That’s good.”

“Why?”

“’Cause Daddy has a question for you and he said you had to wuv us a whole whole bunch to say yes.”

Charlie looked from Addyson to Cole, then back again. “Ask me what?”

Addyson handed her the treasure box. “I got to keep it safe until you came back.”

“That’s wonderful. I bet it was so safe with yo—” Charlie gasped and started shaking.

It was an engagement ring. But it wasn’t the traditional diamond ring you saw on every left hand. The larger stone in the center was a ruby surrounded by a rainbow of gemstones around the entire sterling band. She looked up at him and he shrugged.

“Seemed appropriate.”

“Look inside, Charwee. It has gravy.”

“Engraving,” Cole corrected.

“Yes. Gravy.”

Charlie read the words and emotion tightened her throat. “Cole?”

“My job. It’s not always easy. It can get scary. But it’s important.” He looked at Addyson. “And I don’t want to give it up.”

“I would never ask you to do that.”

“I know you wouldn’t. But those words. They will always bring me back to you.”

She tried to hold it together. She did. But he’d just torn past every wall she’d ever built. Right to the core of her.

Addyson hugged her tight. “What does it say?”

Charlie swallowed several times and turned the ring around so they could both see the words. “No place like home.”

Charlie scooped up her soon-to-be daughter and settled in the lap of her soon-to-be husband. She handed the ring to him and held out her left hand.

He slid it on and then kissed her knuckles. “So…is that a yes?”

All she could do was nod. Tears slid down her cheeks and she laughed. Emotions overflowed as she hugged her family with a silent vow never to let them go.

“Yes, my love. From every inch of me. Yes.”

* * * * *

A year, almost to the day, later, Charlie walked hand in hand with Addyson, her newly adopted daughter, down the aisle in a wedding chapel that looked distinctly like a yellow brick road.

At the end stood Cole, dressed in a tuxedo.

Charlie wore a bright white dress and carried a bouquet of poppies. She’d traded the streak of purple in her hair for red to match her flowers.

Addyson wore a dress with every color in the rainbow.

And peeking out from beneath their long flowing skirts on every step?

Ruby red slippers.

After she and Cole took their vows and said, “I do,” they took hundreds of photos. Then Cole pulled her onto the dance floor and held her close for their first song.

What played?

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

He held her tight as she sang it to him, just loud enough so only he could hear.

“I love you, Mrs.”

Looking up, seeing the love and devotion in his eyes, she knew she’d never let him go. “You’re my magic. You know that?”

He ran his nose along the bridge of hers and kissed her forehead. “And you’re mine.”

They gazed at one another.

Lost in each other.

“Shall I start with forever?”

She stared at him and ran her fingertips across his lips. “Forever for what?”

“To love you.”

Emotions surged inside her with his three little words. “Forever, huh?”

He nodded and thumbed away her tears.

“Forever. I think that’s an absolutely perfect place to start.”

About the Author

Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother and business owner living with her mini-man in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. She’s the Amazon top seller and award-winning author of the “Elite Warriors” series, “Members Only” series and the “Surrender” series along with quite a few standalone novels and novellas. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

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The Surrender Series

Final Surrender

The Coming Home Series

No Place Like Home

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Ultimate Surrender