A Davenport Christmas: A Bad Boys Serial Novel (Always With You Book 1) (2 page)

CHAPTER THREE- OLIVIA

“I figured a boy like that would have the most potent sperm
known to man. Like the kind where he can just walk by your panties and get you
pregnant,” Ginger says in her blunt, Ginger way.

“That’s what worries me,” I admit, meeting her twinkling
eyes with my own.
 
“He probably
does.”

“Oh, honey,” she says, curling her fingers around mine where
they rest on the little round table at the café where we’re having brunch.
 
“You think it’s you?”

“Of course I think it’s me.
 
Like you said, Cash is so virile, so
damn manly and alpha male, I can’t imagine this being
his
problem.”

My best friend considers me.
 
“What does
he
say about all this?”

I exhale, but I don’t feel relieved. It’s like I’m holding a
breath that I can never quite let out all the way.
 
So much tension lately.
 
I feel like I’m about to crack at any
moment.

It seems I can’t shake this feeling of dread, this feeling that
I’m going to give Cash the biggest disappointment of his life.
 
That I’ll
be
the biggest disappointment of his
life.

“He says it’s probably him. He tries to act like
it’s
no big deal, but I know it is.
 
Ginger, he wants a baby so bad.
 
It’s precious the way he gets so excited
talking about it.” I have to pause when my eyes start to water and my chin
starts to tremble.
 
“He keeps
telling me he’ll be fine either way, like he’s so casual about it, but he’s
not. Not really.
 
I know him better
than that. He’s as disappointed as I am every time that stupid test comes back
negative.”

“Have either of you been to the doctor?”

“Not yet.
 
I
think we’re both hesitant to make it real.
 
At least I know I am.
 
If
they tell me I can’t have kids…”

This time I can’t hold back the tears.
 
They come out on a choked sob.
 
When I bury my face in my hands, I wonder
if they’ll ever stop at all.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ginger says, scooting her chair around to
my side of the table where she can put one arm around me to give my shoulder a
comforting pat.
 
“It’s not the end
of the world.
 
There are options.”

“I-I-I
know
. I j-just wanted to
give h-him
our
baby.”

“Maybe you still can. Don’t give up so easily.”
 
She leans her head against mine and we
sit like this for several long minutes, until the worst is past.
 
When my quiet sobs have died down to wet
sniffles, I raise my head.
 
Before I
can say anything, Ginger surprises me with an offer.
 
“You’re like family to me, you know that
right?” I nod and give her a watery smile.
 
“I’d carry a baby for you if you needed me to.”

My mouth drops open.
 
“What?”

She eyes me for a moment before she sits up straighter, as
though she’s warming to the idea the more she thinks about it.
 
“Hell yeah. I’d do that for you.
 
You just might have to provide me with a
tasty
manwhore
to use and abuse until I deliver. I
hear pregnant chicks are wicked horny.”

I can’t help laughing. “Like you need any help in
that
area.”

“Right?
 
I’ve got
the hormones of an eighteen-year-old boy.
 
It’s one of my strengths.”
 
She gives me her most devilish grin.

“I appreciate that, Ginger, but you know I could never ask you
to do that.”

“Lucky for you, you don’t have to. I just offered.”

“But-but, I don’t even know if Cash would agree to it.”

“If it meant having a baby with you, he’d agree to it.
 
Trust me.”

My mind is spinning.
 
I don’t really even want to think about having to get someone else to
carry my child.
 
I’m not ready to
give up just yet.

“I guess we can cross that bridge if we ever get to it.”

“And just so you know, if I had to sleep with him to get
this done, I’d make a point to be terrible in bed. I wouldn’t want to make you
look bad.”

The gleam in her eye is Ginger.
 
All.
 
Ginger.
 
“I’m so glad you’re willing to sacrifice
so much for me,” I tell her dryly.

“What are friends for?” she asks, deadpan. But then her nose
wrinkles and she laughs outright.
 
“You know I’d never do that to you.
But the other one?
The twin?
 
I’d do
that
in a split second.”

“I thought you liked Marissa.”

“She’s okay, but he’s…I mean
damn!
 
I’d do it, enjoy
the hell out of it and then move to a different country. I have a feeling that
woman would hunt me down and sew up my girly bits for sleeping with her man.”

“You’re probably right.
 
I think she’s pretty fond of him.”

Ginger sighs loudly. “Yeah, seems like those Davenport boys
are happy and very much taken. Dammit.”

I eye her knowingly.
 
“But Gavin’s not.”
 
I see
Ginger fidget, which she never does.
 
She’s about as cool and
confident
as a woman is
likely to get.
 
“Oh my God, you
like him!”

How have I not seen this before now?
 
Ginger’s a flirt, sure.
 
So is Gavin, but this is…is…
more.
 
She might actually be
into
Gavin.

“
Psshhh
,” she hisses, waving me
off with her hand as she looks anywhere except at me.
 

“Don’t you ‘
psshhh
’ me.
 
You do! You like him!”

She squirms in her seat again then looks down to study her
suddenly-interesting
fingernails.
 
“He’s okay.”

“Ginger,
ohmygod
!
 
Why didn’t you say something?”

She turns dubious eyes to me.
 
“To you?
 
And have it get back to him?
 
Or worse, have you try to set us up?
 
Ummm
, thanks,
but no.”

“But why not? You two are perfect for each other!”

“He’s a baby!
 
I’m probably a good 5 years older than he is.”

“So? I get the feeling if anybody’s man enough to take on an
older woman, it’s Gavin.”

“
If
he’d even be
interested, which he probably wouldn’t.
”

“You won’t know until you try.”

“And make it weird when we’re all together?
 
I think not.”

“It won’t be weird.
 
Even if you two just hook up, we all love both of you. That will never
change.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing.
 
He’ll be at Christmas dinner. So will you.
 
Wear something irresistible and be your
normal, charming self.
 
Just see
what happens.”

She tries to act nonchalant with her shrug and her casual,
“Meh, we’ll see,” but I know the wheels are already turning.
 

And Ginger just gave me something to look forward to,
something to take my mind off my own problems.
Even if it’s
just for a few days.

CHAPTER FOUR- CASH

Dec 25

Olivia comes skittering onto the dance floor from where she
was decorating the Christmas tree in the back corner of Dual.
 
“Stop!” she yells.
 
Nash, who’s on the other end of the table
I’m carrying, stops so suddenly I nearly lose my grip on the edge and drop
it.
 
Gavin and Darrin, Olivia’s dad,
are carrying the second long table.
 
They stop, too, Darrin just smiling and shaking his head.
 
I’m sure he loves seeing his daughter
orchestrating her first Christmas dinner as much as I do. I love that she’s so
determined to have one big, happy family holiday.
 
Even though the rest of us are pretty
sure it’ll be a disaster in one way or another.
 
“I need to put the rugs down first.”

I help her spread out the two twelve-foot-long red rugs she
got to go under the tables and protect the dance floor from the chair
legs.
 
She stands back to make sure
they’re in exactly the right position before she smiles at me and nods.
 
“Perfect.
 
Proceed.”

She looks so damned satisfied and adorable, I have to grab
her around the waist and drag her into my arms for a hard, loud kiss. If it’s
anything less playful, we’ll end up embarrassing the shit out of her in front
of her father.
 
While that might not
bother
me,
I feel sure it would
mortify
her.
 
So, I stick with quick and fun.
 
But it doesn’t stop me from thinking
about more.

“Find me when it’s time for your shower,” I whisper in her
ear before I let her go.
 

Her lips are curved when she looks up at me.
 
“Okay.”

Just like that, I’m already looking forward to this
afternoon.

We men start stringing up lights once the tables are
positioned and, after the tree is finished, Olivia, Ginger and Marissa swoop in
to decorate them.
 
They spread
Christmas covers over the tops and start arranging all kinds of useless
decorative stuff on them–greenery and sparkling ornaments, candles and
sequined balls, Christmas dishes and folded napkins.
 
I have to admit the end result is pretty
damn nice, though. It looks like we’re having our family dinner on the set of a
magazine rather than in the middle of my empty nightclub.
 

Dual isn’t exactly the ideal place to have a dinner, but it was
really the only place with enough space for everyone.
 
The house Olivia and I are having built
isn’t near enough to completion for us to host something like this, but she was
determined to have a big gathering.
 
So, here we are.
In Dual.
 
For Christmas dinner.
 
But I’ll be damned if she isn’t knocking
it out of the park despite the unusual circumstances.

But I’m not surprised.
 
She never ceases to amaze me.

When everything is ready except the food, which I talked
Olivia into having catered since we don’t really have the facilities to make
and store a feast of this size, I find that I’m waiting anxiously for her to
get rid of everybody so she can get herself ready.
 
I couldn’t care less about everyone
else’s plans for the couple of hours until dinner starts.
 
The only thing on my mind is getting my
wife naked in the shower and then devouring every inch of her wet body right up
until she has to put her clothes on.

CHAPTER FIVE- OLIVIA

Whether my conversation with Ginger yesterday or the
emotions of the seasons, I’m not sure, but I’m a giddy mess!
 
I feel like a high school girl counting
the minutes until she can meet the quarterback under the bleachers for some
alone time.
 

All day, I’ve found my gaze drifting to Cash, even more so
than usual.
 
And at least a dozen of
those times I’ve found him watching me, a hungry look in his black eyes. I love
those eyes. I love that look. I always have. Even now, after being loved by him
a zillion times, it makes me feel all dewy and squirmy, like we aren’t in a
room full of our closest friends and family.
 

I don’t know what’s gotten into me.
 
Cash and I have always had an amazing
sex life, and I’d rather be wrapped up, naked, in his arms than anywhere else
in the world. But today…for some reason…the heat is turned up.

No one has ever affected me the way he does. He possessed
me, heart, body and soul,
a long time ago.
 
And I’ve never wanted more to
be
possessed.
 

He’s never far from my thoughts and his touch is always
enough to turn my brain to mush and my body to a quivering puddle of pure lust.
 
What we have is exceptional and amazing,
and it’s the most important thing in my life.
He’s
the most important thing in my life.

But today, I’ve found my gaze gravitating toward him even
more than usual.
 
Time and again, I’ve
watched the muscles in his shoulders bunch as he lifted and repositioned tables
for me.
 
I’ve watched his strong
legs carry him up and down ladders as he hung lights for me. I watched his
shirt ride up to show off a wedge of his flat stomach as he stretched up to
hang the mistletoe.
 
My fingers have
itched and tingled with the desire to touch him, to feel his smooth, warm
skin.
 
And my body…God, my body has
ached since he grabbed me and kissed me and made me promise to include him in
my shower.

He’s a dreadful tease, I’ve decided. I think he did that on
purpose, knowing how the images and the thoughts would torture me all day long.
 
Because they have.
 
Sweet mother, have they ever!

Finally, I
shew
everyone out the door, giving them strict orders
to go and get ready and be back here by six o’clock.
 
I’m practically vibrating with
anticipation when I close and lock the front doors and turn to find Cash.

He’s nowhere to be found, which causes me a pang of
frustration, so I go in search of him.
 
I find him when I go through the office into the apartment where we are
still living in until the house is finished.
 
We split time between this place and the
condo that Cash used when he was “Nash”.

All the lights are off, but the room is suffused with the
soft, golden glow of Christmas lights.
 
Long strings of them hang from the ceiling in decadent, sparkling swags
that
criss-cross
. A clump of mistletoe is holding the
strings together in the center over the bed, which is covered in dozens of rose
petals.
 
The air smells warm and romantic,
and my insides are on fire. I feel like I’ve waited a thousand years to get my
husband alone.

“Cash?” I call quietly.
 
It’s not a big room. He should be able to hear me from any corner of it.

“In here,” comes his husky reply.
 
The skin on my arms pebbles and my
breasts throb with my want of him.

I walk toward the bathroom.
 
Again, all the lights are off. The
flicker of candlelight paints the walls and I see that every available surface
in the room is set with dozens of white pillar candle.
 
The air smells warm and sweet, and
another,
complementary floral aroma is rising with the steam
pouring out of the nearly-overflowing tub. And in the center of the room,
shedding the last of his
clothes,
is my husband.

His bronze skin gleams in the low light, like brushed satin.
The muscles flex and shift underneath and this time I don’t try to resist the
urge to touch.
 
Walking to him, I
start at his collarbone when he straightens and I run my fingertips over the
bulge of one pectoral, circle one erect nipple then following the ridges of his
abdomen to his navel.
 

I dip my thumb inside, reveling in the way Cash’s stomach
contracts against my hand.
 
After
all the times we’ve made love, he still reacts to me.
 
He still wants me.
 
Every bit as much as I
want him.

“What’re you
doin
’ in here?” I
ask, my voice already hoarse like I’ve repeatedly called out his name in
ecstasy.
 
I guess it knows what’s
coming, too.

“Making you the best bath known to man,” he explains as he starts
unbuttoning my work shirt.

I move my hand lower to wind my fingers as far as they’ll go
around his enormous erection.
 
His fingers
still right between my breasts and air hisses through his gritted teeth.

“You don’t
wanna
poke the bear
right now, sweetheart, or you’ll never see the inside of that tub.”

“Oh no?” I rub the smooth tip of him and then slide my palm
down his length.
 
“And why is that?”

“Because I’ll have your back against the door before you can
blink.”

“Promises, promises,” I tease, leaning in to nip his chin
with my teeth.

In movements so quick I really don’t have time to blink,
Cash has stripped my jeans and panties off and is lifting me effortlessly off
my feet and onto him.
 
My legs wrap
automatically around his waist, opening me to his sweet torture.
 
I feel him prodding at my entrance as he
takes the three big steps that bring my back up against the cool wood of the door.

I’m breathless and dripping with need when he pulls one bra
strap down and takes a nipple into his mouth with a sharp tug.
 
He moves his hips enough that the crown
of him strokes between my folds, back and forth, bringing me closer to an edge
I hadn’t realizes was approaching.

His lips nuzzle, his tongue flicks, his teeth graze.
 
His fingers reach under my legs where he
holds me to spread me wide, wide for the smooth touch of his broad head. The
muscles of my sex clench, sucking wetly at him, a plea for more.
 
I crave all of him and he seems content only
to tease.

“I could feel your eyes on me today,” he admits, his voice
rough with need.
 
“I couldn’t
concentrate because all I could think about was what it feels like to be inside
you.
 
What it feels like when you
come around me.
So tight.
 
So wet.
 
So hot.
 
It’s my favorite thing in the whole
world.”

I gasp, my ache for him nearly painful.
 
My mouth is dry from panting, but still
I try to lick my lips. I need to be able to form words. I need to be able to
beg him to end this, to put me out of my misery.

But before I can plead, before I
must
plead, Cash simultaneously sucks hard on my nipple and drops
my body onto his.
 
I crash down on
him, sliding effortlessly over him, sheathing him until he’s seated deep within
me.

“
Ahhh
, God,” he groans, flexing
his hips to rub the most sensitive spot inside me.
 
I gasp again, my head swimming with
pleasure and abandon.
 
“You. Feel.
So. Good.”

Cash withdraws from me slowly, both of us savoring every
slick inch of him.
 
But then, as
though the sated beast turns suddenly into a voracious animal, he growls and slams
violently back up into me.
 
He
steals what’s left of my breath with a kiss as he drives his body into mine,
nailing me against the door like a silk-and-steel jackhammer.

I break apart long before his back slicks with sweat, every
thrust of his body prolonging the most intense waves imaginable.
 
I know when he’s close.
 
I hear his velvety voice as he drags his
mouth over my skin. He whispers, “You’re mine. All mine. I love you. I love
you.”
 
He always talks to me before
he comes. Always.

I feel the first pulse of him just as my phone rings.
 
The ringtone indicates that it’s my
mother calling.
 
And just like that,
the bubble is burst.
 

Cash stills, his body rippling inside mine, warmth gushing
up through me, then he raises his sparkling onyx eyes to mine. In them there’s
a quiet dread.
 

I know she’d only be calling if there
was
a problem.
 
And my wonderful husband
knows me well enough to know that our moment is officially over.
 
That woman has a way of ruining
everything without even trying.
 

Cash raises me off his length and lowers my feet to the
floor.
 
He holds me, a small,
satisfied smile curving his wicked mouth, until my knees decide to start
working again.
 
When they do, he reaches
for my jeans and hands them to me before he moves to collect his shaving
supplies from the cabinet.
 
I perch
naked on the edge of the tub, my eyes glued to him as I listen to the ring on
the other end of the line.

She answers with a shrill question.

“Olivia, where
were
you?”

I sigh.
 
She’s in
a twirl already and she’s not even here yet.
 
And I feel a headache coming on,
even
though
she’s not even here yet.

“Sorry, Mom. I couldn’t get to the phone before it stopped
ringing.”
 

My husband had me
pinned to the wall when you so rudely interrupted,
I add silently.

“Well, you need to keep the phone nearby.
 
Lyle is terrible with directions and this…this…
place
isn’t exactly in the best part of
town.”

I bite my tongue and close my eyes, massaging the aching
muscle between my brows.
 
“Mom
you’ve been here before.
 
It’s easy
to find.”

“Don’t get hateful with me, Olivia.”

I was far from hateful, even though I’d
kinda
like to be.

“I’m not. I just meant…just follow the directions, Mom.
 
You won’t have any trouble.”

“We’ve already had trouble,
smarty.
 
One of the
street signs is as old as Methuselah and I couldn’t read it, so we missed a
turn.”

My frown deepens.
 
“You’re already in Atlanta?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

“You didn’t have to be here for almost two hours.”

“Well, if we aren’t welcome, we can certainly find somewhere
to–”

“Of course you’re welcome, Mom,” I declare in
exasperation.
 
“I-I just wasn’t
expecting you so soon.
 
I haven’t
even had a shower yet.”

“Well, you’d better get on the ball then, young lady.”

The note of disapproval in her tone, the condescending way
she treats me like I’m a silly child rather than a married woman grates on my
nerves, but I do my best to ignore it.

“I’ll see you shortly then, Mom.”

“Keep your phone nearby,” she reiterates in her snappy way.

“I will.”

I hang up and meet Cash’s eyes in the mirror.
 
His cheeks are lathered with shaving
cream–he knows my mom likes it best when he’s clean shaven and he knows
that when she has less to complain about, I’m happier–but that doesn’t
stop him from turning and squatting down in front of me.
 
He rubs his hands up and down my legs in
a soothing arc.
 

“Just breathe.
 
Hop
in the shower and do what you need to do. I’ll take care of your mother when
she gets here.
 
And then I’ll fix us
all a drink.
 
A very strong
drink.”
 
His wink is
mischievous.
 
It makes my heart
swell.
 
He
makes my heart swell.

“Where
will
you
get the liquor?”

“I’m sure I’ve got a bottle or two stashed somewhere.”

He starts to get up, but pauses to brush my lips first.
 
It’s a short, sweet kiss, but it carries
all the love and support of a kiss to my soul.
 

He pulls the plug in the bottom of the tub and I’m sad to
see the steamy, scented water circle down the drain.
 

“So much for a perfect Christmas.”

I knew it would be a challenge, what with all the different
personalities, but I thought maybe, just maybe…
 

But I was wrong.
 
So,
so
wrong.

Cash pulls me to my feet and tugs the rubber band from my
hair.
 
“As long as you’re here, it’s
already perfect.”

He finishes undressing me, sprinkling butterfly kisses
across my neck and shoulders.
 
That
familiar heaviness settles in the lowest part of my belly. Desire.
 
Hot and moist.
 
It’s never far from the surface when my
husband is near, even if he’s just quenched my thirst.
 
My need of him, my
want
of him knows no limits.