Happily Even After Read online

  “You might be familiar with the casing.” She reached down and cupped her hands over his. “But not the gift inside.”

  That made absolutely no sense to him. “Why is this gift any different from the two before it?”

  Her eyes were somber, as if she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Because she isn’t yours.”

  Not this shit again. Dean sucked in a deep breath in an effort to keep his temper in check. Blowing up because Creigh still wasn’t 100 percent sure he was going to be able to accept things was no way for him to prove to her that he’d changed. “But she’s yours,” he said firmly and with as much conviction as he could. “And that’s all I need to know in order to love her.”

  Creigh looked down at their hands on her belly. “I bet you think I’m silly for worrying about this.”

  “Not silly, but it’s not necessary. I love you.” Dean moved his hand from underneath hers and cupped her cheek in his hand, gently forcing her to meet his gaze. “And I love her, and I want to take care of both of you. Not because I have to, not because you need someone, but because I love you and it pleases me to do for you.”

  “A few months ago, you saying you want to take care of me would have sent me running in the opposite direction.”

  “We’re not the same people we were then.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  Dean took his hand down and answered honestly. “I think good, because of where we are now.”

  “In bed, naked?”

  “I meant in our relationship,” Dean corrected with a smile. “But naked in bed is always good too. Speaking of nakedness…” Since they were obviously in talk mode and not fuck mode, Dean figured he might as well get a little something cleared up. “We didn’t use a condom earlier. Everything happened in the heat of the moment, but I should have still made an attempt to suit up.”

  Amusement curved the edges of her mouth. “You worried about getting me pregnant?”

  “No, I just want to alleviate any fears you might have,” he said, meeting her gaze head-on. They hadn’t discussed their time apart since the night she told him she was pregnant, and he didn’t want them going further with things if there was something she might have been worried about in the back of her mind. “When we were apart, I—”

  Creigh covered his lips with her finger. “Dean, you don’t have to say anything.”

  Dean moved her hand out of the way. “I do.” For his peace of mind as well as hers. “I was careful. I used protection every time, but since we both know accidents happen”—he glanced teasingly down at her belly—“I want you to know I went and got tested last month. Everything is fine, but if you want me to use something…from here on out, I will.”

  “I had my doctor run tests too, and other than you know, the bunny dying, everything else came out fine. As for you wearing something, I think we’ve had enough between us to last a lifetime. I don’t want anything else. Just you.”

  “Then you have me.”

  Creigh climbed from the bed, then took his waning cock in her hand and smiled. “And I know exactly what I’m going to do with you.”

  Her smile was purely sensual. Gone was the bashful woman from just moments earlier; in her place was the wanton woman he adored. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Then I’m willing to bet you’re going to like the feel of this even more.” Creigh grabbed a pillow from the bed and tossed it on the floor at her feet, then slowly lowered herself to her knees in front of him on top of the cushion.

  From her position on the floor and the promise swimming in her eyes, Dean was willing to bet she was right.

  Chapter Eight

  “So is this your way of ending arguments from now on? Sucking my dick.”

  She could think of worse ways to say I’m sorry. “If it pleases you, I’m sure we can make some sort of arrangement.”

  “Oh it pleases me.” He hurried to assure her. “It pleases me a lot.”

  Creigh could tell that just from looking at his hard shaft. A few minutes ago she would have sworn they were done for the night, but one touch of her hand and a simple change of her position had Dean’s cock standing at attention and raring to go. The drops of precum beading on the tip of his thick weeping crown made her mouth water in anticipation. She couldn’t wait to take him between her lips again.

  “You going to stare or are you going to suck?”

  Someone was impatient. “Can’t I do both?”

  “Not today.” Dean took his cock in his hand and gave it a few strokes. “Right now I want your mouth.”

  “Bossy.”

  “Cara.” Dean entangled his hand in her hair and took a step closer to her. Close enough the plum-shaped head of his cock was pressed against her lips. “Open your mouth and suck my dick.”

  Put that way, she couldn’t refuse. Creigh pulled her head back a bit, fighting his hold on her just so she could get in the right position. While maintaining eye contact with him, she slipped her tongue out and lapped at his slick crown. “Hmm…”

  “Tease.” He tightened his grip on her hair and guided her closer to his cock. “You’re a cruel, cruel woman.”

  “With the mouth of a saint.” She closed her lips around his shaft and instantly became lost in the taste of him. All desire to tease and torment him fell to the wayside as Creigh tightened her lips around Dean’s cock and familiarized herself with him once again.

  After his initial attempt to control her movements, he relaxed and allowed her to suck him. Taking her time, she took him deep into her mouth before slowly pulling back, then sinking down once more.

  “Fuck.” Dean let out a deep groan as she swallowed the length of him. “I don’t think saints do this.”

  She could live with that, she thought as she pulled back to the crown, then plunged down once more. She repeated the same cycle two more times, making sure to get his sex nice and wet before adding her hand to the mix. Dean enjoyed the double pleasure of a handjob combined with a blowjob, so she gave it to him. Milking his cock with firm, sure strokes, she followed her hand movements with her mouth, sucking and polishing his knob until his knees began to tremble and curses began to tumble out. Before she could progress too far into the groove of it, however, Dean entangled his hand in her hair once more and pulled her off and away from his spit-slicked cock.

  “Get up,” he ordered her huskily, reaching down to help her to her feet. As soon as she was standing on her own accord, Dean crushed her to him and covered her mouth with his.

  Creigh moaned into Dean’s mouth and wrapped her arms around him, wanting—no, needing—to be as close to him as possible. Her tongue danced over his, sharing with him the heady taste of him that drove her wild. And from the way Dean was frantically running his hands over her back and ass, Creigh could tell she wasn’t the only one frenzied.

  With a last lingering kiss, Dean broke the embrace and stepped back. “On the bed.”

  He didn’t have to tell her twice. Creigh immediately turned and climbed into bed. She lay back against the pillows, curious to see what he had in store for her next.

  “Up on your knees,” he said hoarsely as he stroked his still-erect cock. “And scoot back to the edge. You know how I want you.”

  She did indeed. One of their favorite things about the bed was its height, which enabled Dean to fuck her long and hard for hours on end while standing without having to bend or arch up on his tiptoes. It put her pussy and, depending on how she situated herself, her ass at the perfect angle for him to fuck her deep. Just the way they both liked.

  With a wicked smile, she moved to the center of the bed and positioned herself on all fours. She carefully scooted to the edge of the bed until her toes were hanging off, then reached over to the head of the bed and grabbed a pillow. Turning it on its side, she tucked it under her armpits and leaned forward. The pillow gave her a little extra cushion on her chest as she braced her upper weight on her folded arms. When she was all set, she glanced over her shoulder at him.
“I’m ready.”

  “So I see.” Dean moved himself behind her. Spreading the lips of her pussy with his cock, he stroked her clit with his slick crown.

  Groaning, Creigh opened her legs wide for him and canted her hips in blatant invitation for him to enter her. “Please. Please. Please.”

  “So eager, cara.” Dean gripped her hip in one hand and guided his hard cock to the entrance of her pussy. Pressing forward, he slid slowly inside her tender flesh. Creigh bit her bottom lip and groaned as her body stretched to accommodate his thick member. It was a tight fit, tighter than it should have been after their very vigorous round only hours ago, but Creigh didn’t let that stop her from bearing back on him and taking his cock as deeply as she could into her welcoming warmth.

  “Mmm, yeah.” His fingers clenched her sides as he went in deep and he went in hard. She bit back a moan of lust. “Feels good. So good.”

  “Feels like coming home.”

  “I hope you’re not coming”—she put an extra spin on the word to let him know she was teasing—“home too soon.”

  “No, cara, for you, I’ll go all night.”

  The idea of fucking for hours on hours just didn’t appeal right now. Creigh wanted fast and rough. It didn’t have to be pretty. It didn’t have to be sweet. All she wanted to do was to come around his cock and have him spill his seed inside her. Creigh didn’t think she was asking for too much. “I don’t want all night. I just want it hard and fast, and I want it now.”

  He flexed his hips, eliciting a groan from her. “Then brace yourself, baby, and I’ll give you everything you desire.” Dean placed one hand on her lower back, the other on her hip. He began a steady yet intense rhythm inside her that damn near drove her out of her mind with pleasure. Creigh could barely tell if she was coming or going; all she knew was she’d never felt this alive before in her life.

  “Oh yes. Yes.” Her words soon blended into inaudible sounds as he pounded into her. Gripping her tightly, he pulled her back onto him and pushed into her, causing her ass to smack into his pelvis with every thrust.

  Over and over he powered into her body, fucking her with wild abandon. He was relentless, just the way Creigh craved. His forceful mastering of her body drove her closer to orgasm with every thrust of his big cock.

  “This is what you wanted, right, cara?” He thrust even deeper as he spoke. “My cock, fucking you hard and good.”

  “Yes. God yes.” Creigh pumped her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust without shame or worry. The angle they were in was perfect; it enabled Dean to take off the kid gloves and fuck her the way they both loved. She’d never felt so aroused in her life, or so loved. “Give me your cock. Fuck me. Fuck me. Dear God, fuck me.”

  There was a fierce passion to him that only came out when they were lost in the moment like this. The smack of his flesh against the flesh of her ass rang out louder than their moans.

  “Dean,” she sobbed his name, milking his cock with the contractions of her pussy as she came. Her orgasm triggered his, and with just a few pumps, he released a torrent of seed inside her.

  Trembling, Dean leaned forward and rested his head on her back. Creigh released her death grip on the pillow and blindly reached back for him. She touched his arm and squeezed, letting that simple gesture do the talking for her, because he had literally fucked the words right out of her. Apparently there was a first time for everything.

  ———

  Creigh heard them before she saw them, but she couldn’t believe her ears. Sitting up in bed, she glanced with horror at her alarm clock. It wasn’t even eleven in the morning yet. Her mother had offered to watch them until midafternoon. Ten forty was nowhere near midafternoon.

  “Fuck.” Creigh quickly got out of the bed and grabbed the navy blue maxi dress she’d worn for a little bit last night off the floor and slipped it on. Rushing to the bathroom, she threw the door open and shouted, “They’re back early,” then slammed the door quickly, praying Dean could sneak out the bathroom window before anyone was the wiser.

  Shaken she made her way to her bedroom door. This is not happening. It can’t be. She wasn’t ready for—

  “Mom, we’re home.” Harlow’s voice preceded her by mere seconds as Creigh’s daughter came barreling into Creigh’s bedroom with Hamilton and Creigh’s mother, Ginny, hot on her trail. The kids were exuberant, and for a moment Creigh wondered if the two of them had been too much for her mom, but one look at the slightly amused expression on Ginny’s lovely brown face allayed that fear. Her mother didn’t look as if she was running away from the kids out of frustration. In fact, given the Looney Tunes scrubs Ginny was wearing, it appeared as if the only place she was running was to work.

  As if reading her thoughts, Ginny shrugged her thin shoulders. “Sorry. The flu bug is going around.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Creigh said, rushing over toward them in hopes of shepherding them out of the bedroom before Dean appeared out of the bathroom. “Thanks for watching them while you could. Let’s go into the living room and—”

  “Is Dad here?” Hamilton demanded before Creigh could move them even one step in the right direction.

  “Here?” Creigh asked, trying to buy herself some time. Good Lord, she was so unprepared for this. Although Dean and she had been seeing each other for the last couple of months, she’d never come up with a plan for how to break it to the kids if they decided to continue their relationship. The decision was officially now coming back to bite her in the ass.

  “Yes, his car is out front,” Harlow said, as if Creigh didn’t know. “Are we going to his house for the weekend?”

  “Yeah, are we?” Hamilton asked, hopping up and down like a Mexican jumping bean. “Are we?”

  “Uhh.” Creigh couldn’t think that fast. Dean hadn’t mentioned taking the kids to his house for the weekend, but truthfully other than the random “fuck me, fuck me, oh yeah,” not much had been discussed last night. Her plans for the evening were ones more of action than those of talking. “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, where is he?”

  “Yes, dear,” her mother chimed in drily. “Tell us.”

  Creigh shot her mother a withering look. Ginny wasn’t exactly helping the situation. Something she didn’t think was entirely accidental. Her mother had never kept her feelings about their divorce to herself. In fact, Creigh was pretty sure Ginny never had an opinion she didn’t share, whether the person she was annoying wanted to hear it or didn’t. Her verbal swiping of late had been directed solely at Creigh, who Ginny believed was following in her own footsteps by marrying and divorcing young.

  True, her mother had separated from Creigh’s father before Creigh had even been born, but Ginny wasn’t one for seeing the forest for the trees. All she knew was Creigh was making a big mistake by pushing Dean away. If there was anyone who would be more pleased that the two of them were reconciling, it would be the smug dark-skinned female version of Chuck Woolery standing in front of Creigh now. “Where is,” Ginny continued, “my favorite former son-in-law?”

  The bathroom door opened, and Dean spoke from behind Creigh, much to her dismay. “I’m here.”

  “Dad!” Harlow gasped as she looked over Creigh’s shoulder toward the bathroom.

  From the look of shock on her mother’s and the children’s faces, Creigh just knew this wasn’t going to end well. Sighing, she turned around and spotted him standing in the bathroom doorway, wearing only his jeans and a smile. His dark hair was damp and spiky. Despite the very tempting picture he made standing in the steam-filled doorway, irritation filled Creigh for a brief second. How is it possible that a man who normally wears two shirts everywhere can’t find one to put on now?

  Hamilton was the first to recover, his astonishment giving way to pleasure a lot quicker than Creigh thought hers would have if the situation had been reversed. Hell, there were parts of her that were still stunned, and she was the one who’d been seeing Dean for the last couple of months.

  “What are you
doing here, Dad?” Hamilton bypassed Creigh and went to his father’s side. Even though his voice was heavy with confusion, joy filled his soot-covered face. “Fixing something?”

  Dean ruffled Hamilton’s curly hair and smiled welcomingly at Harlow as if the kids finding them together was an everyday occurrence. “No. I was here visiting with your mom.”

  “And you decided to take a shower?” Harlow asked, slowly joining her brother at her father’s side. Unlike Hamilton’s, her face wasn’t filled with joy; instead there was an edge of hope creeping into the smile slowly rising.

  “Well, that is what I normally do in the morning when I get up.”

  Creigh’s mouth dropped open as Harlow squeaked, “Get up?” her smile zooming past slow straight to beaming.

  “Oh dear,” Ginny said from behind Creigh.

  That wouldn’t have been the exact phrase Creigh would have gone with, but it was a start. A start to something she was in no way talking about right here and right now. She needed to get things back on her home court and far, far, far away from the bed she’d just made love with Dean in less than fifteen minutes ago. The scent of their union still lingered in the air and on her body, since she’d yet to shower, unlike Dean.

  Taking a deep breath, she faced her brood and the problem head-on. “Before we start with the twenty questions, Harlow and Hamilton, go unpack your bags in your room; then head into the kitchen for breakfast. Your father and I were about to go down and make something.” Well actually, the plan had been for him to make something while she lounged about in bed like the Queen of Sheba, but somehow Creigh didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon now.

  “But, but…” Harlow’s shock had obviously robbed her of coherent thoughts.

  “No buts.” Dean gave their daughter a light tap on her rear. “Go get started. There will be plenty of time for questions later.”

  “Fine,” she grumbled. “Come on Hambone.”

  “’Kay.”

  Harlow led a disgruntled Hamilton out of the room, pausing long enough at the door to peer back at them inquisitively. Creigh could tell from the sour expression on her face that Harlow wouldn’t be happy until she knew exactly what was going on. It was a look Ginny was wearing as well, but unlike Harlow, Creigh knew her mother wouldn’t leave the room without an explanation or without giving her opinion on what was going on, no matter how much Creigh might want her to. Sighing, Creigh made her way back to bed and sat on the edge. If she was going to receive a lecture, she at least wanted to be comfortable.