Breathless (Meadowlarks) (21 page)

“I want you,” I breathe
d, my voice low and dripping with need. “Touch me, Alex. Tell me what you want, baby.
Please
.”

He pull
ed away from me, panting, his chest heaved up and down and he lowered his head, closing his eyes. When he started to speak, he didn’t lift his head right away, he kept it hanging and all his hair fell on his forehead.

I reach
ed up, and touched his hair, the soft strands twisted into my fingers. “Babe?” I asked, unsure of why he was quiet.

He exhale
d, and opened his mouth. “Take off your pants.”

I chewed
my lip down to smother my excitement. This was the Alex that drove me absolutely crazy. My hands flew to my zipper and I eagerly unzipped them. Before I got the chance to pull them down, Alex gripped the waist and jerked them down my hips, I rose up as he lifted my legs to take the jeans off.

“Turn over, and get on those knees, Riley.”

Ho-ly shit.

I was
almost ready to orgasm and he hadn’t even done anything to me yet. His words alone—those deep, low tones escaped from his perfect lips—left me breathless, and aching.

I turn
ed over, and I saw his shirt fly past my head and land on the floor. I heard his zipper, and his breathing made me push my face into the cushion with anticipation.

My fingers
dug into the fabric of the sofa, and his hands slowly caressed my behind. I felt a finger slide under my panties and pull them to the side, then his hand came down, cupping my cheek and smacking it hard.

“Ah!” I cr
ied out, wanting more. “Alex,” I moaned.

He pushe
d into me, and growled so loudly I felt it ripple through his body and into mine. Over and over he plunged, so deep I could almost pass out; my eyes full of star bursts and my teeth clenched hard.

“Did you miss this? Huh, Ry? Did you miss me?” He groan
ed, slamming harder with each syllable.

“Y—yes,” I whine
d, and a second later I cried out again when he pulled out of me and my body screamed at him.

Alex kick
ed off his pants and boxers, then reached down and turned me over. “Come here,” he said.

I
sat up as he lifted me up over his shoulder, and carried me to the bedroom. Inside the room, he gently set me down on the bed and I climbed backward up the sheets into the center.

“I love you,” he whisper
ed, smiling slyly.

“Love you,” I returned
, leaning back on my elbows, eagerly awaiting what he was going to do next. I gazed up his body, drowning in his perfect skin, his muscles and his abso
freaking
lutely delicious trail of hair below his belly button.

He
took my foot, and kissed my ankle. His tongue trailed along the back of my calf and up to my knee. He bite the inside of my thigh and I leaned my head back into the bed, closing my eyes.

I want
ed more. I
needed
more.

I must have momentarily left my body, because when I open
ed my eyes and looked up at Alex he was wearing his cowboy hat.

“Oh, my… Alex,” I covered my face
and laughed. “Very
woof
.”

“Ready for it, ‘lil lady?” He chuckle
d, and stroked himself slowly with his firm hand. The veins in his forearm bulged with each of his gripping rubs.

“Mmm, yes,
please
.”

“Please, what?” He growl
ed.

“Please…sir?”

Alex cocked his head slowly, and tipped down his hat, covering his eyes.

Oh, my God.

He was actually going to make me say it.

“
Cowboy
,” I managed to say without giggling. “Please, cowboy…give it to me.”

Alex
sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth, and grinned a scandalous smile at me. He grabbed both of my ankles, and leaned down to put my legs over his shoulders. His hands pulled my hips down to meet his body, as he rubbed his length slowly over me.

I
couldn’t take anymore, I was ready to start convulsing already. With my knees bent at his shoulders, he dipped down and kissed me…hard. Our tongues lapped and tasted; feverish for the other. He sat back up with my ankles now resting on his shoulders, he slowly pushes into me, filling me once again.

My eyes flutter
ed, and my mouth falls open. I softly whimpered from the mouth-watering stretching.

He
roared, “Oh, fuck.” His voice breathy, as he licked his bottom lip before turning his face to suck on my ankle.

My hands
flew to my face, and I bit down on my the side of my thumb to stifle my screams, I lifted and bucked my hips up and down, pulling him faster and harder into me.

When I
felt the buildup, my eyes met his. He pushed his hat off his head, and took my ankles off his shoulders. Bending my knees, Alex pressed them up into my chest, and rocked my body back, angling it for a deeper penetration.

Only a few seconds into
the change, I was ready to start crawling the walls. “Alex, I can’t…Oh, please no more!”

“No more?” he whisper
ed. “I don’t think so.”

I clench
ed my muscles as hard as I could around him, knowing that my heart would probably fail if I had to endure another minute of this beautiful and earth-shattering torment.

“
Damn, Ry…” he hissed. “You’re killing me, here.”

I let go, not able to hold on another second; trembling on the bed, under his body and out of my own mind.

***

There was another rodeo this weekend. And I still hadn’t gathered the strength or courage to go back to one since my first and last experience. I couldn’t help but associate it with bad things. So, I stayed home with the kids, while Alex, Blaine, Addison and Seth headed to their next event.

“Good luck, I love you,” I had said to Alex before he left, while I straightened the collar on his shirt.

Alex pressed his forehead into mine, and sighed. “I love you, too.”

Scarlett and I were sitting on the porch, playing with her little baby dolls when a small, single-cabbed truck pulled into the driveway. I lifted my hand up, to shield the sun from my eyes, and waited for the person driving to get out so I could see who it was.

“Hi,” the pretty brunette said, as she approached me.

“
Hi, how are ya?” I ask, inquisitive as to who she is.

“I’m looking for Jeremiah Sanford. Is he around?”

I exhaled.

Shit
.

“Umm, no, I’m sorry. Jeremiah passed away over a year ago. Is there something I can help you with?”

The brunette’s bottom lip got trapped between her teeth, and she shifted her eyes around, like she was unsure of her surroundings. “I—I didn’t know. Sorry for bothering you.”

She start
ed to walk away, so I stood up and walked toward her.

“Did you know Jeremiah?” I ask
ed.

She turn
ed around. “Yes, briefly. We…went on a few dates. My name is Lucy.”

I don’t remember hearing about a Lucy before. “Nice to meet you, I’m Riley.”

“Is that Jeremiah’s daughter?” Lucy asked, pointing to Scarlett.

“Oh. No, that’s my daughter. We live here now, Jeremiah was a good friend. Are you sure I can’t help you with something?”

Lucy looked around again, her eyes wide and anxious. “Well, I’m sick, and I was hoping that he was around…to take care of my son.”

I furrow
ed my eyebrows. “I don’t understand.”

Lucy turn
ed and opened the door of her truck. She pulled a baby boy out of a car seat. He had brown hair, and…I’ll be damned—Jeremiah’s dark eyes. “This is Chase,” she whispered.

My lip tremble
d as I gazed upon the baby. He sat happily in Lucy’s arms, chewing on his fingers. “H—How old is he?” I managed to mutter.

“He’ll be a year old in September,” she
said, looking down at her son. “I never wanted to bother Jeremiah. I was the one who broke things off with him. But when I found out I had less time than I thought, I knew that Chase needed at least one of his parents in his life.”

“Can I hold him?” I ask
ed, smiling.

“Sure,” she
said, and handed me the baby.

The moment I h
eld him in my arms, I felt tears prickle in my eyes. In no natural world is this actually happening. My heart broke knowing that this child would never get to know his father and the amazing man that he was.

“He’s…perfect.” I smile
d. “He looks just like him.”

Lucy nod
ded. “I know, I think of him every day when I look into Chase’s eyes.” She frowned. “How did he die?”

I sniffle
d my nose, trying to push away my emotion. “Jer was killed last July, he was crushed by a vehicle.”

“Oh, my Lord!” Lucy whisper
ed, covering her mouth with her hands. “I just can’t believe it.”

“I know, it’s been…hard.” I rock
ed back and forth, swaying with Chase in my arms. “Would you like some tea, coffee? Anything?”

“Tea would be nice, thank you.”

Lucy and I sat on the porch, with Chase and Scarlett, and she explained how she knew Jeremiah.

“I met him in the fall of twenty-eleven. He was in the diner I work
ed at, with two of his friends. They had just come from an auction, and were celebrating, I guess.” She shrugged. “He flirted, and I gave him my number. I remember when he was going to leave that day, he almost tripped and fell while he was walking. He was so funny, I just…loved his smile.”

I pull
ed the tea bag out of my mug, and agreed with her.

“Jeremiah actually called me a few weeks later. We went on a few dates…nothing special. Just to the movies a few times, or he would drive me to the lake and we would sit on the tailgate of his t
ruck and talk.” Lucy’s lip curled into a tiny smile. “That truck, actually,” she said, nodding her head toward the Dodge.

“Jeremiah left everything to his best friend Blaine, and he gave it to me and my…Alex. He liv
ed here with Jer before he died.”

“I started to feel…too much, and I didn’t want to scare him away. And when I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t want him to think I wanted anything from him. But no
w, in retrospect, I should have told him.”

“Lucy, what do you mean
you’re ‘sick’?” I asked.

“I have cystic fibrosis, I’m not going to live to be very old,” she
said, her eyes beginning to water. “I never wanted to have kids for this reason. He’ll never know me.”

“I’m sorry…I…” Damn, I
had no idea what to say to this girl.

“It’s okay, don’t be sorry. Thank you for talking to me, I appreciate your kindness.” She
stood and bent down to pick Chase up from the porch.

“What are you going to do now?” I ask
ed, unsure of what exactly
I
was even going to do now that I knew this.

“I don’t know. I don’t have any family, but I’m sure
children’s services might help me figure out something.”

“Give me a minute, kay?”
I pulled out my phone and texted Addison.
Call me. RIGHT NOW.

“Riley, what’s going on? Are the kids okay?” Addison
asked, calling me within a minute of me texting her.

“
Addy…” I looked up at Lucy and smiled. “Are you sitting down?”

Chapter
Thirteen

Blaine’s truck pulled in the driveway, two hours later, and everyone but Blaine climbed out. Through the window I saw Addison say something to him, frown, then shut the passenger door and walk toward the house. Alex carried in Seth, and when he walked through the door, he almost went white.

Lucy
was sitting on the sofa in the living room, with Chase on her lap. “Hello,” she said, smiling at the Cole siblings.

“Hi.
” Addison smiled. “I’m Addison.”

“Nice to see you again,” Alex
said, wide-eyed and monotone.

“Where’s Blaine?” I as
ked, taking Seth from Alex’s arms.

“He’s not ready,” Alex mutter
ed.

Lucy
got up from the sofa. “I’m sorry, this was a mistake. I didn’t mean to come here and upset everyone. I should go.”

“No!” Alex shout
ed, then lowered his voice. “Sorry. Please don’t go, this is just a surprise…we’re still dealing with losing him. But we’re happy to have you here. Both of you.”

Lucy
sat back down, but looked like she was regretting coming. “I should probably go, the baby will need a nap soon.”

“Can we help you with anything, Lucy?” Addison ask
ed. “Do you have anyone to talk to?”

Lucy
shook her head, then looked at me. “No, but I’ll be okay. Thanks again, Riley…for everything.”

“We’re
here if you need anything else,” I told her.

Lucy carrie
d her son out of the house, and waved at us before climbing into her truck. She didn’t even look at Blaine’s Ford, even though you couldn’t see through the dark windows, I was sure he was in there having a breakdown.

“You guys hungry?” I ask
ed, my words cutting the silence like a blade.

“Starving,” Addison and Alex both
said.

While Alex
as barbecuing the steaks for dinner, Blaine’s door finally opened and he stepped out of his truck. He walked across the lawn and sat down in a chair.

“Babe? You okay?” Addison ask
ed.

He
shook his head, but didn’t look at any of us.

“You should have come in to see him.”

“I saw him when she left,” he said quietly. “Shit, Addy…he looks just like him.”

“Blaine, Lucy is sick. She isn’t expected to live much longer. Chase won’t have anyone,” I
spoke up.

He put
his head in his hands, and sighed loudly. When he lifted his face back up, his eyes were glistening and he looked like he was ready to explode. “Chase,” he whispered. “He’ll have us. Addison, we’ll adopt him. He’s Jer’s son…shit. Jeremiah has a son!”

“That’s a big decision…“ Addison start
ed to speak.

“It’s
no
decision, it’s not even a question!” Blaine snapped. “If that was Riley’s kid you would take him in a second! Wouldn’t you?

“Well, yeah…”

“Well, there ya go, baby. Did Lucy leave a number?”

“She gave me her number,” I pipe
d up.

Blaine’s eyes lit up
. “Good.”

Dinner
was quiet, and more than awkward as no one spoke at all during the entire meal.

“Okay, time to talk about this,” Addison
said. “I can’t just sit here, ignoring what just happened. We left the rodeo, drove like mad back home, met Jeremiah’s child…and now we’re considering adopting him.”

“Considering?” Blaine ask
ed.

“Well, yes! Blaine, it’s not like it’s a puppy! He’s a baby, for crying out loud! It’s another life,
and one that we would be responsible for. I think it’s something we need to actually discuss!”

“If I can say something,”
Alex said, holding up his index fingers.

“No!” Addison and Blaine both growl
ed.

I actually snort
ed, trying not to laugh.

“Well, fuck ya both then!” Alex pout
ed.

“Sorry, I just…don’t know how to go about this.” Addison
softened with a sigh. “Can we give this the weekend, and call Lucy on Monday?”

“Okay…Monday.” Blaine half-smile
d.

***

Monday—“Decision Day”—came and went, and so did another month.
It was now almost August, and Blaine and Addison were two days away from bringing Chase into their home…to raise as their son.

Lucy, with the help of family services, was able to give up her rights
to her son, and the Blackstock’s filled out their adoption paperwork.

Addison wanted Lucy to stay at their farm. Lucy’s doctor stated that she wasn’t going to live past the summer, and she needed to rest comfortably during her final weeks.

I sat in Addison’s living room, holding Lucy’s hand, while she cried and tried to smile while regretting Addison’s offer.

“I can’t,” she said, and a smile whispered across her pretty face. “I just…don’t want to spend the last of my life in Wyoming. I know it sounds stupid…but there is a place in Hawaii that I can go to…to wait.”

Addison and I cried too.

Lucy only lived for three
days after she landed in Hawaii. Long enough to dip her toes in the ocean, and wear a hula skirt at a luau. That’s what the hospice worker said when they phoned to let Addison and Blaine know Lucy had passed away.

There
was a picture frame on the dresser in Chase’s bedroom. Two wooden frames, hinged at the centre. On the left, was a picture that Addison took of Lucy holding her son, sitting on the couch before she left for Hawaii. And on the right, was a picture of Jeremiah. He was leaning forward against a fence, one leg propped up on the wood, and he was smiling the biggest grin across his handsome face.

“He may not get to know them, but he’ll forever know who they were.” Addison smiled, setting the photos back down on the dresser.

“You’re amazing.” I leaned my head down on her shoulder.

She sigh
ed and took my hand. “Let’s go see what the boys are up to.”

Outside, Alex and Blaine
were sitting on the grass with the four—yes, four, kids. Isaac drove around little toy cars in the dirt with Seth and Chase, and Scarlett brushed Alex’s hair with Luca’s dog brush.

***

It’s almost ten PM when I finally
laid my head down on the pillow. Alex was watching TV, and I found myself drifting off to a very restless sleep.

When I
woke, Alex was sleeping beside me. He laid there, shirtless, with one arm reaching up and under his pillow. The other arm at his side with his hand spread across his abdomen.

I
may have watched him sleep for at least an hour. His chest rising and falling, his pulse throbbing in a vein on his neck, and his mouth curling into the tiniest of smiles when I softly kissed his shoulder. I touched the stubble on his jaw, ever-so-slightly with the tips of my fingers, feeling those little sparks again. The contact started to stir him, and I pulled away placing my head back down on the pillow to pretend I’m sleeping.

“I
feel it the moment you wake up, you know,” Alex grumbled quietly. “If you had of touched me anywhere else, you would have known that.”

I open
ed my eyes, and gazed at him. His face was turned toward me, and he was grinning his perfect white smile at me.

“Maybe I wasn’t finished touching you
.”

“Oh, then by all means. Continue.” He smirk
ed, and rested on his back again.

I gingerly walk
ed my fingers up his arm, across his broad chest, and down the side of his body. I felt his eyes on me, but I watched my hand, and not his face. Every touch sent little invisible embers, ignited from my fingertips.

Alex’s breathing deepen
ed as my fingers reached the sheet, just below his belly button, I stopped.

“I was thinking,” I whisper
ed softly. “I want to sell houses again.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I miss it.”

Alex inhale
d and put his hand over top of mine, slowly pushing it beneath the sheet and on to his remarkable erection. My grip and movements sent his eyes into a flutter, and he closed them tightly. His mouth opened, but no sound escaped his too-sweet lips.

“So, what do you say?” I ask
ed, coyly.

“I’d agree to pretty much anything, right about now.”

“Good, thank you!” I said, pulling my hand away, kissing his cheek quickly, and jumping off the bed. “I’m going to shower!”

I squeal
ed and ran for the bathroom, with Alex hot on my heels. I laughed when I stumbled into the small room, leaning up against the counter top while he approached me with extremely predatory eyes.

“Get on your knees, baby,” I growl
ed, mirroring his words.

Alex’s eyes
lit up as he fell right to his knees in front of me.

Where’s a palm leaf and bowl of grapes when
a girl needs them? Never mind…His mouth is all I need right now.