Page 42 of Power Forward

The game was rough tonight. I don’t know if it’s because my head wasn’t fully in it or if St. Louis brought their A game, but it’s safe to say I was preoccupied. I couldn’t think about anything except whether the kids were doing okay and if they were feeling any better or if they were worse. And whether Hayden was coping because despite him saying he was fine, I know he wasn’t. He was in pain, and he was stamping it down to save face.

For me.

Shrugging out of my coat, I hang it in the coat closet and toe off my shoes. I try and keep my steps light against the wooden floor as I head down the hall to the living room. The TV is showing some infomercial selling some kind of food mixer, but it’s the sight on the couch that has me stopping in my tracks. Hayden’s asleep on his back with Isabela curled into his side. Her head rests on his shoulder, and her elephant is tucked close under her chin. There’s a blanket over the two of them, and Ryan is fast asleep at the other end, his head tilting back against the cushions with his legs stretched out next to Hayden’s.

Something swells in my chest at the sight of them. My kids are my everything. They are my entire world. And once upon a time, so was Hayden. Seeing him with them and how they must have been so comfortable with him to fall asleep… This means more to me than I can explain.

With an uncontainable smile on my face, I take my phone out of my pocket. I need to take a photo of this to give me something to look back on when this becomes a memory.

Picking up the remote, I switch the TV off, then move to scoop Ryan up into my arms. The movement must jostle Hayden because he wakes up with a stir.

“Jax?” he croaks, sleepy gray eyes blinking up at me. “What time is it?”

“Hey,” I whisper. “It’s just after eleven thirty. I’m gonna take Ryan upstairs, then I’ll come back for Isabela.”

At the mention of her name, he glances down at where my daughter is snuggled up against him, and a gentle smile spreads across his lips.

Guess she warmed up to him quicker than either of us expected.

“They fell asleep earlier, and I didn’t have the heart to move them. I was trying to stay awake until you came home. I didn’t mean to doze off.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be back down in a minute.” I smile reassuringly.

I carry Ryan up the stairs, tucking him into his bed and turning on his night-light. When I get back down to the living room, Hayden has shifted slightly, allowing me to pick Isabela up more easily. Her head flops against my shoulder when I scoop her up, but she doesn’t wake as I take her to bed and turn on her night-light. I carefully check their temperatures, and I’m pleased to see they are almost back to normal. Hopefully, this means they have nearly kicked whatever bug they had.

When I’m finally back downstairs, I find Hayden in the kitchen. His tired features are lit up by the refrigerator light. He’s pushed his glasses up his face slightly to rub his eye with his fingers as he peers inside.

“Would you like anything to eat?” he asks, turning his head to me.

I step in close to him and breathe in his spicy cologne.

“I can make you?—”

I don’t let him finish. I cup his face with my hands and press my lips to his. His body goes stock-still for a brief moment, and then he relaxes into me. His hands land on my hips, rooting me in place, while my fingers sink into his hair.

I part his lips with my tongue, but compared to the kiss we shared in the bathroom at the party, it’s tender when my tongue sweeps into his mouth. This isn’t frantic or desperate.I’m hungry for him, but in a way that I’m trying to tell him without words how much him being here means to me. Not just here in my house, taking care of my kids, buthere. Literally. Living and breathing in my arms.

I swallow the small noise he makes, and then a jolt of pleasure rushes straight to my cock when he sucks on my tongue.

Fuck, I’ve missed this. I’ve missedhim. I’ll never regret my relationship with Laura. We had some great years together, and she’s the mother of my kids, but what we had pales compared to the connection I have with Hayden. The strength of the pull between us is magnetic. He lights me up like nobody else. He knows my body better than I know myself.

I take another step forward, causing him to stumble backward into the refrigerator as I deepen the kiss. He drops his hands to my ass and gives my cheeks a squeeze. My fingers tighten in his hair, and I press my hips into his. There’s no doubt he can feel how hard I am. I’m pretty much dry humping him, both of us groaning into each other’s mouths. I fucking love the taste of him. I want to feast on him all night. Spend hours becoming reacquainted with every inch of his mouth with my tongue and the feel of his body against mine.

It’s only when something falls out of the refrigerator and hits the floor with a thud that we pull apart. His gray eyes are hazy with pleasure, cheeks pink with exertion. My heart is thumping wildly in my chest, threatening to break out from behind my breastbone.

“Wow.” He lets out a ragged breath. His voice comes out in a whisper when he asks, “What was that for?”

I loosen my hold, but I don’t drop my hands from his head.

“I don’t want to fight this anymore, Cas,” I say, sweeping my thumb over his cheek. His day-old stubble scrapes against my skin, and it sends a shiver trickling down my spine that goes straight to my balls. “You’ve shown me how genuine you are about us. Like,fuck, Cas. You dropped everything and flew across the country to come take care of my kids without me even asking…” I shake my head. The back of my eyes sting with the magnitude of how much his actions mean to me. “Thank you.”

His face softens. “I’ll do anything for you, Jackson. I know I don’t deserve it, but I?—”

I quickly cut him off. “No, we’re not doing that. If we’re doing this, then this is a fresh start. What you did today means more to me than you’ll ever know.”

He chews on the inside of his lower lip and presses them together to try to disguise his smile, but the sparkle in his eyes gives him away. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “I know we need to talk about it at some point, but I don’t want what we used to have. What we used to have was toxic and unhealthy. So this time, it’s a clean slate. We’ll talk about it, then that’s it. It’s in the past, and it has to stay there.”

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