We make the collective decision to return to Baton Rouge together. None of us want the media to get wind of a certain hot shot and with the way photographers and reports are following, calling, and getting in our faces, it makes sense to lead them all to where we want them.
The Rogues multi-million-dollar arena.
Plus there is a wedding we want to have at some point.
Soon.
I want Shelby and Gannon to be there but that’s proving difficult to organize.
In the end, we put the wedding on hold and concentrate on the other things going on.
Like the press conference to announce my retirement.
The Knights graciously allow me to dictate where that will take place. Laken even offered to fly down to Baton Rouge to do it.
She’s proving to be a competent team owner, although I’m sure Rafe is helping her a lot.
As much as I appreciate her offer, and because I don’t want to appear as though there is any animosity between me and my old team, Oakley and I fly back to New York three days after we leave it.
The trip serves two purposes.
This morning’s announcement that was completely anticlimactic after the recent days of media attention.
Laken made the announcement, shook my hand, offered me the best for the future, and I answered a few questions about what’s next for me and that was it.
There was only one question about Oakley. We’d spoken about the possibility of that and decided to give them something to hopefully lessen their interest.
I confirmed our relationship and that we’d been friends for months before the friendship took a romantic turn. When someone asked about my knowledge of the Rogues, I chose to cut it there.
Surprisingly, we were left alone after that. Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact Laken had a second announcement about the Knights that put the spotlight squarely on her and my old team.
Oakley wants to stick around for a while to make sure Laken doesn’t need anything which leads us to this afternoon.
And packing.
“What about this? Need any of it?” Oakley holds up a stack of dishes.
“Do I?” I have no idea where we’ll be living. I’m assuming it won’t be in the company apartment where we stayed the last few nights.
“Probably not. But do you want it?”
“You know…” I shut the cupboard door where my coffee mugs are. “I don’t really need anything but personal items. I’m sure you’ve got household goods.”
“I do. Although…” She looks at me uncertainly.
“What?”
“I live with Pa.”
“Okay. So, it’s already furnished.”
“As soon as we get a chance, we’ll look for somewhere to live.”
“Why? You don’t want to live there anymore?”
“I didn’t think you would want to.”
Walking over, I wrap her up in my arms. “Oak. I’ll live in a box under a bridge if I get to do it with you.”
“Well, we don’t need to go to that extreme.” She grins. “The house is big. And Pa’s room in on the ground floor, far away from my room.”
“Will he object to us living there? Together? He might be okay with his granddaughter living with him but adding me to the house could be a deal breaker for him.”
“No. He’s talking about moving out to give us the house.”
“Why would he move out of his home?”
“I don’t think he’s serious. At least I hope not. I think maybe he thought you wouldn’t want to live with him.”
“Huh. I guess I need to make it clear I’m not about to usurp his place in your life and home.”
“Funnily enough, I think he might want you to. I think he’s hoping for great grandchildren.”
“I’m ready to give him those whenever you are,” I tell her.
“You… I…” She shakes her head, and I have to smile that I’ve managed to make her speechless. It’s not something easily done.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t given kids much thought, but I do know I want them.
“I know we’ve got a lot going on. We don’t need to add to the chaos right now but when you’re ready, I’m game.”
“We’re not even married yet?” she argues. Although we’re not fighting because as I said, whenever she wants them is fine with me.
I shrug. “I’m not worried about that.”
“You’re not one of those men who needs the mother of his children to bear his name?”
“No. Do I want you to? Yes. Need you to? No. Besides, I thought you’d want to keep your maiden name.”
“James?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It’s your family name and I know you’re the last of your line to pass it on.”
“Right, well, it’s actually not my birth name.”
“Sorry, what?”
“My mother was Pa’s daughter. My father’s name is Doyle. When Pa came and got me, he had my last name changed to James.”
I’m so surprised by this information that I don’t speak for several seconds. But then something occurs to me that I can’t believe I haven’t noticed before now. “You don’t talk about your parents. At all.”
“No. My mother died when I was two and my father didn’t want me after that and didn’t take care of me very well. Pa and Grams came and got me when I was three. I’ve lived with them since.”
She hasn’t mentioned her grandmother before either and I have a feeling I know the answer to my next question but ask anyway. “Grams?”
“My grandmother. She died when I was twenty-two.”
Saying sorry in these situations always seems useless so I go with something else. “I wish I’d gotten to meet her. She raised an amazing woman.”
“I have no idea where I would be if they hadn’t come for me. Probably dead in a gutter like my father.”
“Wait. Your father is dead?”
“Yes, he was walking home drunk and got hit by a car. Grams said it was a blessing because after my mother died, he turned into someone she didn’t recognize, someone she didn’t like.”
I tighten my arms around her for a second before letting go and palming her face. Lowering my head, I bring our lips together in a quick kiss. “There’s so much about each other we don’t know.”
“We’ve got time.”
“We do, but I have the urge to rush through it all because I want to know every part of you.”
“I feel the same.”
“It still surprises me how much I feel for you.” I press my forehead to hers. “It’s all-consuming.”
“Glad I’m not alone in that.”
“We’re a pair.”
She grins. “Yes, we are.”
“A perfect pair.” I hate how cliché I sound but it’s how I feel. She’s perfect for me. She’s not perfect, neither am I, but together we’re a perfect fit.
“I’ve always known what a healthy marriage looks like because Pa and Grams had one but I never understood how they could fight like dogs one second and love on each other the next. But I get it now.”
“We haven’t had a fight yet.”
“No. But I can’t imagine not loving you through it.”
“My mother used to say she knew she loved my dad completely because other than her children he was the only person on the planet that could make her want to strangle him and kiss him at the same time.”
She laughs, her face still cradled in my hands, my forehead on hers. “Grams used to say something similar. She’d tell me Pa made her want to kiss and kill him in the same breath.”
“Yeah, that’s it exactly.”
“We’ll have that.”
“Yes.” Neither of us is questioning it. Which says more than anything how deep we both are.
I never saw myself falling in love. Yes, I’ve dated, screwed around too, but love has never been on my radar.
Not until a smokin’ hot woman came out from behind blinding lights and metaphorically took me to my knees.
And suddenly I can’t wait any longer to get on with our lives. Letting her go, I step back.
“Okay, let’s pack some of my clothes so we can get back home. As much as I want Shelby and Gannon there, I want to marry you more.”
“Wait, what? You’ve giving me whiplash, Walker.”
“Let’s grab a few things and leave the rest. I can have movers come in and box everything up, ship it to Baton Rouge, and worry about it then. For now, I want to get home as quick as we can so I can reassure your Pa that if he’s happy to have me living under his roof, that’s where we’ll be.”
I grab her hand and tow her toward the bedroom.
“I also want to get married as soon as we can. We can video call Shelby and Gannon if they can’t make it down.”
“Oh, well, Pa has a friend who can marry us.”
“He does? When do you think we can organize it?”
“If you don’t want anything fancy, we could probably do it as soon as Uncle Merle is available.”
“Uncle Merle?”
She shrugs. “He’s married to my Grams’ best friend.”
“Jeez, all these people, this whole life I know nothing about. I can’t wait to discover it all.” Spinning her around, I tug her against my chest and press my lips to hers. “I’ll never know enough about you to get bored.”
I back her up to the bed and when her legs hit the mattress, I give her a little shove.
Laughing as she bounces on the bed, she pushes to her elbows and asks, “What are you doing?”
“Getting to know you better.”
“I think you know me pretty well when it comes to this.”
“Maybe.” I pull my shirt out of my pants and over my head then grin at her wolfishly. “But I better check just to be sure.”
And then I’m on her. My mouth on hers, my tongue thrusting between her lips to tangle with hers.
My hands aren’t idle either. They work at her clothes until I have to break our kiss to get her naked from the waist up.
She’s not wearing a bra. Why didn’t I notice that before?
“No bra? All morning?”
“No, the shirt you just ripped off me has a built-in shelf bra.”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know what that is. And I don’t care because…” I wave a hand toward her chest.
Her perfect tits are on display and in the next breath my hands get busy testing every millimeter of them. From the fullness of their curves to the weight of them in my palms to the beaded tips that beg for my mouth.
Which sounds like a fantastic idea.
Lowering my head, I suck one peak deep and press it to the roof of my mouth with my tongue. My suction is hard and the sharp breath she pulls in tells me I’ve hit the edge of her pain threshold.
I’ve toyed with her tolerance over the last week. She likes the barest edge of pain to go with her pleasure but it’s a fine balance. One I’m still learning.
In spite of what she said, and what we’ve done together so far, I don’t know her completely.
But I will.
I’ll spend the rest of my life learning every little thing that turns her on. Everything that turns her off.
I’ll know when to push her and when to pull back. Know when to take it fast, when to take it slow.
But most of all, I’ll know she’s mine.
“Walker.”
Her breathless voice, the squirming of her hips, the clench of her hands in my hair, all tell me it’s time to take it fast.
In seconds I have us both stripped naked and I’m lying over her, my weight supported by my arms.
“I’m going to love you so hard.”
The smile she gives me is all sass. “Can you do it now or are you waiting for an invitation?”
“Minx.”
I cut off anything else she might say with my mouth on hers. I take the kiss deep, push it hard, and while I’ve got her distracted with my mouth I wiggle my way deeper between her legs until the hot wet flesh I’ve explored again and again is pressing along the length of my cock.
The groan that leaves me is guttural. It’s pain and pleasure and the end of my plan to explore her more because in that moment my restraint snaps.
With a hard stab, I impale her slick heat with my hard dick.
A cry leaves her throat and for half a second I panic, but then she rocks up into me, claws at my shoulders, my back, and I’m left with no concern I’ve hurt her in my rush.
“Oak.” I search for her mouth again.
I love kissing her, as much as I love fucking her.
The two together blow my mind.
Then again, it’s Oakley who does that just by breathing.
Together we rock and roll and it’s only a few minutes later that I’m gritting my teeth in an attempt to hold off my release.
But that fucker is barreling toward me like a defenseman on the ice in the final seconds of a tied-up Cup game.
Except I’m not about to get slammed into the boards.
Not before she does.
Lifting up on my hands I shift the angle of penetration and am rewarded with the most delicious sound and clench.
The cry is one of blissed relief, the clench a hot grip capturing my cock inside her.
Her orgasm sucks her under and drags me along behind. I can’t stop my release even if I want to. And I don’t.
Coming together, reaching that peak and shooting off it at the same time is the most pleasurable experience I’ve ever had, and I held the fucking Cup!
But this, Oakley under me, me inside her, both of us lost to the pleasure coming together brings is the highlight of my life.
I have no idea how we top this. If we can.
Well, not without dying anyway.
Panting for breath, I slump on top of her and wonder if I haven’t just come as close to death as anyone can get and still be alive.
“Walker.”
“Sorry.” I move us to our sides, keeping us joined, but take my weight off her.
“That’s not what I was trying to tell you.”
“Oh?” My brain is buzzing and I’m not sure if it’s lack of oxygen or if our climaxes destroyed my ear drums.
“Your phone.”
“Huh?” I lift my head and look at a very mussed Oakley. “My phone?”
“It’s going crazy in the other room.”
Tilting my head I try to listen but the drum of my heart is hard to hear over. How she’s capable of hearing is beyond—
The buzzing starts up again and I realize it’s not my brain making that sound.
“Shit. That’s the door. Which means whoever is on the other side has access to the building.”
Not wanting to leave her but knowing I’ve got no choice, I disengage our bodies to the sound of our mutual disappointment. “I know,” I soothe, “We’ll get back to this after I tell whoever that is to fuck off.”
She laughs as she rolls off the bed. “It’s probably Shelby.”
“Again?” Although I am impressed she hasn’t just used her key to come in. “Huh. Guess she learned not to barge in after the other day.”
“She’s showing both of us respect. Before I came along, she had unlimited access to her brother. Now she knows that’s no longer the case and being respectful because of it.”
“You give her too much credit. She’s probably just forgotten the pass code.”
“I’ll go let her in.” Oakley pulls my discarded shirt over her head.
“The hell you will! Not dressed like that. I’ll go.” I hop into my pants as I head out of the room.
By the time I get to the front door my pants are done up and the buzzer is going again.
“I’m coming!” Twisting the lock, I grab the handle and yank the door open. “This better be—”
My words are cut off as Shelby, followed by a grim-faced Gannon push inside.
“She’s all over the internet, says the kid is yours, and you’re refusing to take responsibility for him.”
“Who is? What kid?” I close the door and turn to face my sister.
Shelby shoves her phone in my face, but I can’t focus on the screen before she pulls it away and yells.
“Kristina and the little boy who looks like a mini you!”