Page 12 of Stay With Me
“Of course. You and Eli’s mother. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you, Kels,” Ember says with a watery smile. Tears spill onto my cheeks, but I don’t wipe them away. I’m filled with love and admiration for my best friend.
“What about this big guy?” Everett says, holding their baby boy tightly against his chest. The vision of Everett, all tattoos and hardness, holding a sweet little baby is enough to send liquid heat shooting through my body. I shift in my seat, trying to push the incredibly inappropriate thoughts of everything I want to do to that man from my mind.
“Silas Everett Harding,” Ember says, smiling softly at her brother. He stares down at the baby’s sweet face, tears welling in his eyes. Clearing his throat, he raises a hand to wipe at the corners of his eyes and nods solemnly.
“Good pick. He’ll be a badass for sure,” Everett says, and we all roll our eyes.
Sitting here, I take in the scene in front of me. My best friend, now a mama with her own little family. A vice clenches around my heart, squeezing tighter and tighter at the thought that I may never have any of this for myself. I feel the lump in my throat swell, threatening to block my airway completely. Painful tears burn my eyes and I try to play them off as tears of happiness. I stand, kissing each baby on their forehead and congratulating the new parents one last time before excusing myself from the room.
In the hall, I press my back against the wall, leaning my head up to the ceiling, gulping in deep breaths to calm the sadness rising inside me. Tears fall freely from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. How can I possibly feel such loss for something I’ve never had? An ache beneath my sternum has me rubbing my palm across my skin to try to quell the anguish. My breaths come in short, rapid bursts and my head starts to feel dizzy. Heat creeps across my skin like pin pricks and I desperately look around for something to ground me, something tohold me here on this earth, while I feel like my body is floating away.
Suddenly, I’m surrounded by the scent of leather and mint, clean and warm and completely Everett. His hands come down on each of my shoulders firmly, rooting me in place and making my staggering thoughts instantly still. His golden hazel eyes reach into mine and drag me back to him, as if he can see exactly what I’m thinking. He was there the moment the doctor told me what my future holds. As he pulls me tightly against his chest, I let myself break. I sob into his shoulder, the emotions of the day finally pulling me under. He softly brushes a hand over my hair, calming me as I cling to him.
“It’s gonna be okay, Kels. You’ll have your day too, some day,” he says reassuringly.
“You don’t know that,” I mumble, my face still buried in his chest, soaking up his warmth and strength.
“You don’t know either. So what good is it to mourn something you don’t know if you’ve lost?” He pulls me back and places his hands along my jawline, angling my head so I have to look him in the eye.
“You were there, Ev. You heard them say my chances are very slim that I’ll ever be able to carry a baby.” I close my eyes, the reality soaking into my bones and making me ache all over again.
“Well, goddess, there’s a very slim chance I won’t fuck this up, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try.” Before I can ask him what he means by that, his lips areon mine. They’re soft and warm, so familiar to me, like I’ve been kissing him my whole life. He pulls my body flush against his, and a deep moan escapes my throat. I feel his hands flex against my skin at the sound. His tongue slides across my lips, begging for entrance, and I give it to him. I’d give him anything. His spicy taste explodes on my tongue, and I pull him closer, trying to fuse our bodies together indefinitely. He growls into my mouth and the sound sends goosebumps across my skin. My core clenches at the feeling of him consuming me so completely. When it comes to the art of kissing, Everett Blake is a fucking professional.
The snarky nurse from reception clears her throat next to us, giving us both a disapproving look. I try to find it in myself to give a damn, but I really don’t.
“Excuse me, this is a hospital. You’re gonna have to take that somewhere else,” she says, lifting her nose in the air haughtily. But I don’t miss the way she eye-fucks Everett like I’m not standing right here. Jealousy unlike anything I’ve ever felt before blazes under the surface of my skin. Sliding a hand up Everett’s chest possessively, I mold my body against his hip and give her my most innocent look.
“Oh I’m so sorry, my man is just so delicious I get carried away sometimes.” He wraps a possessive arm around my hip, smirking at me. She rolls her eyes and stomps back to her post.
“Your man, huh?” Everett says as soon as she’s gone.
“Sorry, I just hated the way she was blatantly checking you out, like we weren’t just making out right here in the hallway. Hello bitch, obviously he’s literally standing here with somebody,” I say, putting my hands out to the sides, annoyed.
“Don’t apologize, goddess.” His hands slide into my back pockets, pulling me flush against the hard ridge of his erection. Even through the denim, I can feel every inch of him. “I kinda like the sound of you calling me that.”
I fight my way through the haze of lust in my mind to process what he just said. “Wait, what? What’s that supposed to mean??”
“It means I like the idea of being yours, Kelsea. I don’t know how to do this whole boyfriend thing. It’s not something I’ve ever really wanted to try. But I want to for you, if you’ll have me,” he says, uncertainty painting his features like he’s scared about how I’m going to respond.
I slide my hands across the stubble on the sides of his jaw and around the back of his neck, breathing in the gravity of the moment. Pushing up onto my tiptoes, I bring my lips up to his ear, where only he can hear my whispers. “I’ll have you any way you want to give it to me, baby,” I say, nipping at his earlobe. I feel him push himself harder into me, not a single atom of space between our bodies.
“Yeah, we’re going home right fucking now,” he says,grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hall. I giggle as I hurry to keep up with his powerful strides. His fingers lace with mine as he drags me to the parking lot and opens the passenger door to his truck for me to climb in. Before I can step up into the cab, his arms cage me in between the truck and his delicious body. He brings his lips an inch away from mine.
“Teasing isn’t a nice thing to do, goddess. Now I have to spend the entire drive with my cock hard as fucking steel for you, knowing there’s nothing I can do about it until we get home.” His lips brush mine as he says the word home, and I find myself thinking about how badly I wish he would just bend me over the passenger seat of his truck and fuck me right here. I’ve never been an exhibitionist, but Everett brings out the dirtiest parts of me, and I love it. Two can play at this little game.
I step into his space, but he doesn’t move an inch. I can feel the heat radiating off his skin through my thin t-shirt and my nipples tighten from the tension swirling around us. “Well, maybe if you’re lucky, we can do something about it when we get home.” I give him a noncommittal shrug and turn around to climb into the truck.
Before I can get a foot onto the step, I feel his hand wrap around my ponytail and tug. It’s not painful, but full of authority. My pussy clenches, a flood of wetnessgathering between my thighs at the way he commands my body.
“Oh, this is going to happen, baby. And when I’m balls deep in your sweet little pussy, I want you to think about how you told me you’d take me any way I wanted to give it to you. You just signed a deal with the devil, goddess.”
twelve
My skin is buzzingwith anticipation, my heart beating so fast I’m sure Everett can hear it from his side of the truck cab. This is what I’ve been waiting for since the first time I saw his captivating hazel eyes years ago. My leg bounces, an outward manifestation of my inner anxiety. I chew on my inner cheek, trying to quiet the thoughts invading my mind that keep telling me there’s no way this is a good idea.
I feel Everett’s palm slide across my thigh, the warmth radiating from it calming me instantly. Suddenly, all is quiet in my head and in my heart. Whenever he touches me, it’s like the world snaps into place. I feel like no matter how I got to this moment in time, it was all worth it just to be here next to him.
“I can hear your mind spinning from over here,babe.” Ev’s gravely voice breaks the silence. “What’s wrong?”
