Let Love Shine (3 page)

I strap Braden into his high chair and give him some
Cheerios to keep him occupied while Bryan and I get the stuff ready for dinner.

“Hey, are you and Dylan still getting that league together?”
Cheerios fly in the air and Bryan squats to get them.

“Yeah. Why? You think you want to join?” I mentioned it to
him last week, but never really thought he’d be interested. 

“I mean, I’m more of a soccer player than slow-pitch
softball, but yeah, if there’s a spot, I’ll take it.” He shrugs his shoulders
and leans back against the kitchen counter. The air around him suggests he
wants to seem disinterested, but from what Melanie tells Maddy, and then in
turn, what Maddy tells me, Bryan misses being part of a team; there’s only so
much high-fiving and nice-job ass slapping that you can get away with in a
computer lab.

“Cool, man. I’ll let Dylan know and I’ll get you a jersey on
Monday.” We exchange a quick nod and lightly tap fists before we finish getting
dinner ready.

“Dare we disturb their book boyfriend news story?” I ask as
I start opening the containers of Chinese take-out.

“Nah, they’ll smell the food eventually. I doubt they even
realized we walked in.” He laughs as he peers back out into the living room
where the girls are still glued to the image of some guy in a suit on the
screen. “What’s he got that I don’t, huh, Melanie?” Bryan’s words pull her
attention away from the screen—marginally.

“Him?” She barely even looks up at Bryan. “It’s simple
really. He’s got a red room of pain! Is there one in the apartment I haven’t
seen yet?” Melanie snaps playfully and pulls a face at Bryan to which his only
response is an eye roll.

She gets up from the couch and walks over to him. “Oh quit
it, would you!” Melanie quips from his side as he leans down to kiss her cheek.
“He’s only fictional. He’s got nothing on you.”

Looking like he could use a change of conversation, Bryan
clears off the table and asks, “So how did your cake baking go?” Taking stock
of the kitchen as I pull out the last of the take-out containers, it actually
doesn’t look half bad. Maybe Maddy’s finally getting the hang of it. This was
her fourth attempt, after all.

“Thanks to Betty Crocker over there,” she tips her chin at
Melanie, “it went fabulously!”

Maddy pulls some dishes out of the cabinet and hands them to
Melanie. Plates are loaded and passed; laughs are shared and Cheerios are
thrown. It’s a fairly standard meal where the four of us are concerned—well,
five actually. Ever since Melanie and Bryan moved in together earlier in the
summer, we’ve become a pretty tight-knit group. They only live about thirty
minutes away, so getting together once or twice a week isn’t all that
difficult.

There’s never really a lull in the conversation. Bryan and I
usually talk sports—soccer for him, baseball for me. The girls are usually
engrossed in talking about whatever book they’ve just finished, or whatever it
is that girls talk about. It’s nice having Melanie and Bryan here. It makes
Maddy and I feel less alone. All of the people at our jobs or at school with
Maddy, who we could make friends with, and who are the same ages as us are in a
completely different stage than we are.

There aren’t many married couples in their early twenties
and even though Melanie and Bryan aren’t married, they’re the closest thing
we’ll find. Most of the people our age are only interested in partying or
getting laid.

Not that I have anything against getting laid.

By the end of the meal, Braden looks like he’s about to fall
asleep in his chair, so I unbuckle him before he passes out in his food. “I’m
going to go put him down while you guys clean up, okay?” Melanie kisses him
goodnight and goes to help Maddy with the rest of the dishes.

Maddy peers over her shoulder from the sink. “Thanks, baby.”

After a quick bath, one where I got more water on me than
Braden, and a fresh set of pajamas, I rock him to sleep. I’m effortlessly
gliding back and forth in the rocker with my son nestled in my arms. These are
the moments when I know, that no matter what’s gone wrong in my life, no matter
what mistakes and trials my future brings, I will at least have done one thing
right.

Resting my cheek to the small tuft of light brown hair on
top of his head, I tell Braden, “You’re the best part of my life, little man.”

“And this is the best part of mine.” Maddy speaks softly
from the just-cracked-open door.

Braden squirms in my arms, but quickly calms down and
nuzzles back into me. Maddy sits crossed-legged on the ottoman of the glider
and stares dreamily at me.

“I think you’re his favorite,” she whispers quietly afraid
to wake him.

“Nah, he’s a momma’s boy through and through.” I kiss his
head again. “But his mom is pretty freaking amazing, so that’s alright by me.”
I wink at her and her face beams with pride.

“Mel and Bryan leave already?” I keep my voice low, but with
his cheek pressed up against my chest, he still moves slightly at the
vibrations of my words.

“Yeah, they had to go put together Braden’s gift for the
party tomorrow.” She shrugs her shoulders, but then adds, “I swear to God, if
they got him a drum set, they are
so
going to get it as a hand-me-down
when they have kids.”

After a few more minutes of rocking, he’s finally out cold,
so I put him down in his crib. Maddy moves to my side, and says, “G’night,
sweet boy. Sleep tight,” as she pulls a light blanket over him. We tiptoe out
of the room, and when we’re in the hallway, I pull Maddy close to me once
again.

Running my nose up the length of hers, I mumble against her
lips, “I think you owe me something, Mrs. Connely.”

“Oh yeah, and what would that be exactly?” she asks as she
squeezes my ass, pulling our bodies together again.

“You know perfectly well what you owe me, baby.” I rain
kisses on her lips, across her cheek and tenderly lick that sweet spot on her
neck before adding, “And I’d like to cash in on that now.”

Before she even has a chance to answer me, my lips crash
into hers. Nipping and softly biting at her plump lower lip causes her to
groan. The opening her groan provides is all the space I need to slide my
tongue into her hot mouth. Through the heated passion, I groan into her mouth,
“God, Maddy. You’re so fucking sweet.”

We stumble into our room—arms groping, tongues licking,
hearts racing. None too gently, I lower her onto the bed and revel in the feel
of my body pushing hers into the mattress. Her legs wrap around my hips and
pull us closer together.

“I want you.” Maddy pushes up into me and grinds her hips
against my cock. “Oh, God. Reid.” Her voice is throaty and filled with need,
and it drives me fucking crazy. My mind can’t even function enough to say
anything. I just want her and I don’t want anything to get in the way. I lean
back on my calves and unsnap her jeans. Just as she arches her hips so that I
can slide them off, Braden unleashes a wailing scream from his room.

We sit quietly for a minute and hope he’ll be able to calm
himself, but we’re not that lucky. “He’s lucky he’s cute,” I huff as I stand
from the bed. I turn around when I’m at the door and look back at Maddy. Her
golden hair is splayed out like sunrays across her pillow and her chest rises
and falls quickly as she works to calm her breathing. “Don’t you dare move a
muscle. I’ll be right back.” She nods as I wink at her.

The screaming is at an all-time high. Braden’s face is red
and streaked with tears, but when he hears me walk in the room, he quiets a
little. That doesn’t last long and his cries pick up in intensity. “Hey, hey,
what’s going on, buddy?” I try to calm him without having to rock him, but it
doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Standing up in his crib, he’s
reaching out for me. He’s been crying so hard that he can’t quite catch his
breath. “Okay, I gotcha. Shh, shh, it’s alright.” Tucking him under my chin and
against my chest, I sink down into the glider once again and rub his back.
While the screaming has subsided, he’s still uncomfortable, and more
importantly, he’s not asleep.

“Buddy, you gotta learn a little something about Mommy and
Daddy time. This is so not cool.” Braden grunts and I can’t help but chuckle.
It’s like he actually understood me—right, like I’d be so lucky.

Gently patting his back, I try to soothe him some more. When
he stretches out his legs rigidly and grunts once more, I know exactly what the
problem is. With a few more pats to the back, he lets it rip and his body
relaxes instantly. “Seriously, all of that screaming over a fart?” He coos and
cuddles into me. I kiss the top of his head and smile. “You’ve seen how hot
Mommy is, right? Do you hate me or something?” I joke with him even though he
has no clue what I’m talking about. “Just wait, little man. I’ll get you back
somehow. Just you wait.” He farts again as if he’s trying to tell me, “Take
that, Dad.” Shaking my head, I laugh at him once again.

I put him back in his crib after a few minutes. Whispering
softly, I tell him, “Night, buddy.”

Maddy’s light snoring is the only thing that greets me as I
walk back into our room. Slipping out of my jeans, I mumble, “So much for that,
huh?” I know she’s exhausted—hell, so am I—but we’ve really got to break out of
this once a week routine. It’s killing me!

I slide under the covers and Maddy curls over to her side.
Wrapped in the sheets, I spoon up behind her and fall asleep to the thoughts of
a very sweet wake up call.

As the sun filters in the next morning, I reach to my side
realize I’m alone. Great. So much for our early morning romp I was looking
forward to.

It’s just past six in the morning, and the apartment is
wrapped in a sense of calm and quiet which only appears before Braden is awake.

Very carefully, I peek into Braden’s room and see he’s still
sleeping. Walking out into the living room, I realize Maddy’s not here. She
must still be out on her morning run. Well, at least she’ll definitely be awake
when she gets home.

Hmm—thoughts of steamy, shower sex race around in my
blue-balled brain.

Just as I start getting the coffee ready to brew, Maddy
sneaks in the front door—obviously trying to be as quiet as possible so that
she doesn’t wake Braden. She catches sight of me in the kitchen and mimes a
sleeping motion with her hands. The gesture that I want to mime about what I
want to do to her will likely end in me having to sleep on the couch, so I
think better of it and just nod about Braden still being asleep.

I pull down two mugs for us as Maddy walks over to the
fridge to grab a bottle of water. Heat ripples off her sweat-glistened body as
she moves past me. My brain is stuck in some sex-crazed, slow-motion haze and
the droplet of sweat that has just beaded at her neck drifts slowly down the
upper swell of her breast before plummeting rapidly into her cleavage. She’d
always had a nice rack, but ever since she had the baby…yeah, really nice.
Really, really nice.

And the tops of those exceptional breasts are currently
popping out of her tight, hot-pink sports bra. Her chest is heaving as she
works to catch her breath while chugging her water. When a rogue drop of water
trickles down her chin and races behind the bead of sweat, lodged in between
her soft flesh, my cock twitches to life. Of course, she catches me staring and
immediately thinks the worst.

“Stop!” Maddy wraps her arm around her stomach as if doing
so is going to hide something. “Why do you look at me like that?” She always
seems the most self-conscious after she runs, which is ironic if you ask me. I
think she looks fucking hot. She should be all high on endorphins and shit like
that. But, for whatever reason, since the pregnancy changed her body, her runs
became less about doing something she enjoyed and more about doing something
she felt obligated to do.

I step closer to her and stare down into her bright, green
eyes. Swiping a piece of hair from her forehead, I angle my head to the side.
“Like what?” I question with a hint of annoyance in my voice. We’ve already
been here before, and while I can accept her body has changed, she can’t.

“Forget it. I’m not getting into
that
this morning.”
She chugs the last of her water. “I’m going to shower before he gets up.” She huffs
as she tosses her water bottle into the recycling and I’m left speechless at
our exchange.

It’s amazing how quickly her attitude shifts. Last night,
she was all hot and bothered at the idea of me wanting her; my attraction to
her was acceptable. But now, if I look at her like I want her, which apparently
makes me crazy, then I’m somehow insulting her.

I mumble, “Okay,” as she walks past me once again and inhale
deeply. She smells like a sultry mixture of clean and dirty—citrusy shampoo and
salty sweat; fresh, summer air and hot, sweaty woman.

There is no way on earth I’m letting her shower by herself,
especially if she thinks it’s wrong of me to be attracted to her “gross,
stretched out, baby-body” as she calls it.

When I hear the water start up and the shower curtain slide
closed, I quietly open the bathroom door and join her under the hot spray.

With her back to my front, she grunts—an exasperated
noise—and leers over her shoulder. “What?” she huffs with an attitude that I’ve
seen all too often—one of which I’m not too fond. Her light-blonde-turned-brown
hair is splayed across her back as she lifts her face to the water. When she
raises her arms to wring out her hair, I band my arms around her waist.
Immediately, I feel her tense.

Resting my chin on her shoulder, I nuzzle into her slick
skin and lick a path through the water sliding down her neck. “Talk to me,
Maddy. Please?”

Marginally, she relaxes into my embrace. Folding her arms on
top of mine, she laces our fingers together and turns to face me. “There’s
nothing really to talk about.” She shrugs her shoulders lamely.

Turning her around in my arms, I lift her chin with my
finger and gaze into her mossy-colored eyes. It’s tough to tell since we’re in
the shower and all, but I see the shimmer of tears there. Cupping her cheeks
tenderly, I silently will her to open up. When she doesn’t, I have to resort to
words. “There clearly is something wrong. Today is supposed to be a happy day.
And here we are in a shower, not doing what we do best in showers because
you’re obviously upset. So talk to me, please.” I lean down and kiss her
forehead as she wraps her arms around my waist and leans into my body.

The feel of her tits crushing into my chest, her nipples
grazing along my skin, drives me crazy. But I need for her to open up first
before I can push the moment any further. Scenes from some stupid cooking show
she made me watch the other day race alongside those of a ball game I watched
last night and miraculously, I keep my erection at bay.

For now.

I let my fingertips skim over the peachy skin of her back
and smile into her hair when I feel goose bumps dot her flesh. Maddy’s shuddery
sigh vibrates against my chest. “Today is a happy day, but I guess I just
thought I would be in a different place. That’s all. I know it’s silly to let
how I feel get in the way of our son’s birthday, but I just…I don’t…I still
feel disgusting.”

Laughter bubbles in my chest and she slaps my arm. “What?”
There’s anger in her eyes. She hates when she thinks I’m laughing at her, but
she should know by now that I’m laughing at how ridiculous she’s being.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? You? Disgusting? That
thought
never
crossed my mind.” I hope she can hear the sincerity in my
words, see the pleading in my eyes. No such luck, apparently. She just turns
away from me and shuts off the water, essentially putting her foot down on the
conversation we obviously need to have.

We move around the bathroom like two people who are
accustomed to sharing the small space. She steps to the right and wraps herself
in a towel as I move to the left to dry my hair. Her shoulders sag under the
defeat of her self-consciousness as she walks across into our bedroom. I follow
her and marvel at the sexy sway of her hips. The round curve of her ass dances
beneath the cotton and the soft slope where her neck meets her shoulder is
dotted with beads of water.

Braden is still sleeping peacefully, so I click the door
closed behind me and unhook the towel from around her chest.

“Reid! Give that back!” she huffs angrily as she tries to
cover up her breasts with her arms. If she thinks that’s going to keep me from
getting excited, then she’s most definitely wrong. The sight of her creamy
flesh spilling out from behind her lean arms makes my groin jump to life.

Insta-rock-hard.

I drop my towel from my waist and stand so close to her that
the evidence of just how hot I think she is pokes her in the thigh. “Drop your
arms,” I command with a gruff voice that she doesn’t listen to, of course.

“We have a lot to do today. Can we just deal with this
later?” Her annoyed words float over her shoulder as she turns away from me to
get some clothes from her side of the dresser.

Now, I’m pissed. I can’t say I understand her
insecurities—she’ll always be perfect in my eyes, but I can at least recognize
them and try to make them vanish.

I stand behind her and turn her around in my arms. “No, we
will deal with this now.”  She takes a step back away from me. Whatever clothes
she’s just pulled out of the drawer are dropped to the floor when she hears the
tone of my voice. “Oh, an eye roll. I’ve never seen that one before, Maddy.”
Yeah, that one just gets me another eye roll.

“Oh, it’s on now.” Waggling an eyebrow, I stalk toward her
as she moves backward. When the back of her knees bump into the bed, even
though she stumbles slightly, she manages to stay upright. Stepping into her
space, I motion as if I’m going to kiss her, but pull back from her lips at the
last second. I know she wants me, and the inch she just leaned into me, more
than proves it. I move into her again, snake one arm around her waist and pull
her toward me as my hand splays across her lower back. Fisting her hair at the
nape of her neck with my other hand, I tilt her head to the side and unleash my
tongue on her neck. Alternating between sweet licks and tender bites causes her
body to melt into mine. I press my fingers firmly into the dimples of her lower
back—fuck, those are sexy—and lift her slightly off the floor.

As I drop her on the bed, she gasps in shock. I lie beside
her and trail my finger down the middle of her body. “Now, you’re going to
listen very carefully. You. Are. Beautiful.” She turns her head to the side,
trying to deny me my words. Cupping her chin, I turn her face back to mine.
“You are. That’s it. Now, let me finish.” She’s still all pouty, so I straddle
her. Yep,
that
got her attention, real quick.

With one of my hands, I encircle both of her wrists and
raise them above her head. With the other hand, I slowly tickle the soft skin
of her arms. I catch her eyes roll back in her head and goose bumps race in the
wake of my fingers. “Leave your arms there.” She nods subtly at my command. Lips
replace my fingers and I kiss every inch I can reach. When I finally make my
way to her breasts, my cock twitches against her belly. She feels it and stares
at me—a look of disbelief flitting across her face. “Yes,” I answer her unasked
question, “you do that to me.”

My lips return to their previous job of bringing her to the
brink of pleasure. As they lick and nip at her neck and collarbone, I gently
squeeze her breasts. Strumming my thumbs over the puckered tips causes her to
groan. “So responsive…so beautiful.” I suck a nipple deep into my mouth while I
pinch and roll the other between my finger and thumb. Her hips thrash about
wildly and arch in the air searching for some kind of relief. “Soon, baby. Very
soon. Just let me finish convincing you.”

I rake my teeth over her hardened nipple one last time and
grumble a purely male sound of satisfaction when she calls out my name. My
restraint is paper-thin at this point. Whether she sees her beauty or not, I
need her. I need to taste her; I need to bury myself inside of her.

In a lightning quick move, I kneel on the floor at the edge
of the bed and pull her ankles so that her legs dangle over the side. Pulling a
leg over each shoulder, I run the length of my nose up the inside of her
thighs. The way she smells, the way she looks drives me fucking crazy.

Oh so gently, with just the lightest touch of the tip of my
tongue, I lick down the center of her pussy. “More Reid, more…please.” She
arches her back, trying to push her wetness into my face. I tsk at her and
press her hips back down to the mattress. Feeling her stiffen as I touch her
belly is like taking two steps back. “I felt that. Do we need to start all over
again?” I chide her playfully, but I can tell that no matter how turned on she
may be, her insecurities are never  far away. Kissing a seductive path up and
over her mound, towards her stomach—which she obviously still hates—I let my
lips linger on her belly button for a few seconds. Planting a reverent kiss
there, I look up into her jade eyes. “You grew a person in here. Our baby. A
tiny, little perfect boy who is half you and half me. No matter how you see it,
your body is
more
perfect to me now than it ever was before. Your body
gave me, gave us, the most beautiful thing in the world.” I catch a flicker of
emotion on her face as she lets my words register in her brain. Hoping that
they’re sinking in and not pissing her off, I finish what I need to tell her.
“You might not think you’re perfect, but I think you’re flawless. Every,” a
soft kiss, “single,” a gentle bite, “inch,” a hot, wet, lick, “of you is
absolutely perfect.”