We cleaned up together in the bathroom before turning in.
“Night, baby.”
“Night,” I murmured, burrowing closer to his skin.
Chapter 11
“Soph,” Ax’s voice cut through my deep sleep.
“Hmm. Mmm?”
“I gotta go. Mad’s in his crib. Ry’s on the couch. Get some sleep,” he murmured, his lips brushing my neck.
“Mad?” I rasped, feeling more awake.
“Ry brought him back. Everything’s good,” he assured me.
“Where’re you going?” I mumbled.
“I’ve gotta take care of some loose ends,” he answered vaguely.
It wasn’t until hours later when I was fully awake that I realized what that really meant.
I fell back asleep after he left, for how long I wasn’t sure, before Maddox was cooing from the other room. I stretched out briefly, Axel’s side of the bed cool to the touch. My entire body felt sore but I didn’t feel as bad as I would have expected. I opened the office door, finding Mad sitting up in his crib with a big grin on his face.
There was never a finer sight.
When I moseyed out to the kitchen with Maddox on my hip, I stopped short at Ryker snoring on the couch. I’d nearly forgotten he’d be there.
I was intending to be as quiet as possible but almost immediately, Maddox let out a loud shriek of glee at seeing his bottle. Ryker was so shocked, he toppled off the couch.
“Sorry,” I apologized through laughter as he looked around, as though he had to remember where he was.
“Jesus, that kid is loud,” he groused, running a hand through his hair and rising to his feet.
“Babies tend to be loud,” I agreed. “I’ll make coffee.”
“Thank God,” he muttered.
“Heard from your brother?” I asked, my tone deliberately casual.
“Unless he spoke to me in my sleep, then no,” he retorted.
“You’re not a morning person then,” I surmised dryly.
“She’s quick on her feet,” he muttered sarcastically. “How’re you feeling?” His tone was softer as his eyes swept over the visible cuts on my arms and my swollen lip.
“I’m okay,” I assured him as I rummaged around trying to make coffee.
“I can take him,” Ryker offered, cocking a brow at Mad.
“Really? Okay,” I shrugged, passing off my son. He seemed perfectly content in his uncle’s arms.
“You’re really okay? That was a fucked-up night,” he pressed, dodging Mad’s attempts to grab his lip.
“I’ve been better,” I admitted. “But I know your brother’s gonna take care of it.” I realized how much that soothed me as I said it. I had a man at my back who would willingly take on an army for me.
“Yeah, he is,” Ryker agreed. “Never thought I’d see the guy be such a goner,” he commented, but the look on his face gave me pause.
“Is that a bad thing?” I cajoled with a grin.
He shrugged. “Just can’t see one chick doin’ it for me.” His eyes shifted to the side and I was sure I detected something there.
A lie?
I cocked my head to the side.
“Except for one,” he allowed so quietly I barely heard him. “Don’t ask.”
I studied him for a moment. “Okay,” I agreed, biting back my intense curiosity.
“Whether it’s this mystery girl or someone else, when you meet your lady I’m gonna give you so much shit,” I promised, lightening the mood.
“Did you just cuss, sis?” he teased. “And fine, if I fall off the cliff like my brother has, you can give me all the shit you want.”
“I’m counting on that,” I nodded with a grin.
******
Axel didn’t get home until close to lunchtime. He walked in with a dark expression, scanning the room as though searching for a threat. My eyes shot to his bloody knuckles and back to his eyes trying to find the man in there I knew.
The man I loved.
“Hey, honey,” I greeted softly, moving to greet him by the door where he still stood, his posture stiff and unwelcoming. I was in unfamiliar territory with him and I hoped like hell I could pull him out of this mood. “You hungry?”
He shook his head. “Where’s Maddox?” he asked in a hoarse murmur.
“Napping. Your brother’s downstairs on the computer. What is it?” I asked quietly, placing a tentative hand to his chest.
He pulled me to his chest, lifting me up so that I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. “He’s gonna be on the computer a little while longer,” he stated gruffly, carrying me to his –our –room.
My entire body hummed as he carried me briskly back to his room. “Ry! Stay downstairs,” he barked.
“Yeah, man,” I heard Ry reply through the walls as Axel strode into our room and all but kicked the door shut.
He really needed to learn to be quieter with a baby in the house but now definitely wasn’t the time to remind him.
“What?” I tried to ask but was cut off by his lips covering mine with a kiss that made me forget all thought. His hands were all over my body, tearing at my clothes as his chest heaved.
“You good?” he demanded, his tongue finding the spot behind my ear that made me crazy. Who would have thought?
“Yeah,” I replied breathlessly. I wanted to be the balm that soothed him. I knew he needed this, needed me and I was more than willing.
I pulled his shirt up over his head, my hands roaming the chiseled muscle and warm skin I found underneath. Then I shocked myself by dropping to my knees, looking up at him as I unbuckled his belt and pulled his jeans down his legs.
“Christ,” he swore, watching me with stormy eyes as I licked him from root to tip. I’d never done this before but I wanted nothing more in the world than to please him this way.
Moisture pooled between my legs as I relished the taste and feel of him. He was all velvety smoothness and coiled tension.
Suddenly, I was pulled up and practically thrown on the bed. “You keep doing that I’m gonna lose it, and I need to be inside you,” he explained as he sheathed himself with a condom. His large body came up over mine, his muscles tense and rippling as he moved. Then he was inside me with one fluid thrust. I bit back the cry threatening to break free as he moved with an urgency I’d never seen in him before. Every time with him had been a claiming of sorts but this was utterly primal. His body completely owned mine as his lips found every surface they could reach, his teeth raking across my flesh.
The temperature of my skin blazed with my impending orgasm and I was nearly afraid of what it would do to me.
“Let it go, baby,” he commanded, his hand reaching between our bodies, his fingers dancing over my clit. That was it. I reached desperately for a pillow, clamping it over my face as I let out an uncontrollable cry. He pulled it away almost immediately, looking down on me as his movements became more erratic before he groaned low and deep, collapsing on top of me.
I held him to me, wrapping my legs and arms around his big body as we both fought to catch our breath.
“Are you okay? Shit, I didn’t mean to be so rough,” he admonished himself as his fingers swept over my lip and down my arm.