He looks at me. “You actually think having a baby will necessitate maternity leave for Jessica?”
I grin. “No, but it’ll necessitate the fuck out of her taking it for me.”
As he walks away, I think about all the ball busting Jessica will do in her attempt to delay getting pregnant. I also think about how I’ll step the fuck in. And fuck if all these thoughts don’t get me hard again.
I find Jessica’s eyes across the room as she taps on her phone.
Jessica: I’ve changed my mind again. I want you to fuck me in our room in front of that mirror. I want to watch your fingers inside me.
Jack: They say women want sex more when they’re pregnant.
Jessica: They also say they vomit a lot.
Jack: I can live without your lips around my dick for a few months.
Jessica: Why are you still over there when I just told you I want to watch your fingers inside me? Jesus, Jack, have you gone soft since getting married?
I start walking.
Jessica starts walking.
Jack: I have a wedding present for you.
Jessica: You already gave it to me.
I gave her a necklace that’s been in my family for generations yesterday afternoon before she kicked me out of our room. That was another tradition she followed that I never saw coming. Jessica, Mira, and Lorelei stayed in the penthouse last night while Ashton, Will, and I stayed in a suite with the kids.
Jack: I have another present for you.
Jessica: What is it?
Jack: I’ll show you in our room.
We meet at the door.
Jessica slips her phone into one of my pockets and brings her hands to my chest. Eyes glued to mine, she says, “I don’t want to wait. I’m tired of waiting for things. Waiting a month to marry you was the longest month of my life.”
Fuck, I love this woman.
I put my arms around her and rest my hands on her ass. One of my favourite places for them to be. “Undo the top buttons on my shirt.”
She presses herself against me. “Are we going to start fucking in public now?”
I brush my lips over hers. “You have a filthy mouth, Mrs Kingsley.”
She moves her hands to the top button of my shirt and slowly undoes it. “You love this filthy mouth, Mr Kingsley.”
She undoes the second button.
And the third.
Her eyes flare with heat as they meet mine. “I really like the way your mind works sometimes.”
“Only sometimes?”
“Well, sometimes you get some hare-brained ideas. But it needs to be said that I am here for this idea.”
I wore one of my twenty grey shirts underneath my dress shirt for her.
“My mother suggested you could take up wedding planning if your COO gig ever comes to an end. I have to agree. This is my favourite wedding I’ve ever been to.”
“That’s because it’s your wedding.”
“Yeah, baby, but also because it’s not even nine, and everyone’s happy, and done, and leaving.”
She kisses me. “I have another present for you too.”
Jessica gave me new cufflinks yesterday. She engraved tiny stars on them, along with her updated initials jk x.
“Do I get it now too?”
“Well, it’s a house, so no.”
“A house?” We’ve discussed looking for a new home, but I assumed we’d find one together.
“Yes, that house at the end of Will’s street. We’re going to flip it.”
“Does this mean you’re going to get your hands dirty with me?”
“Honestly, I feel like I need to tattoo some things about me on you so you stop asking me useless questions. You know I never get my hands dirty. I bought this for you because God knows you’ll need something to do with your hands when you get me pregnant and I refuse to let you put your dick anywhere near me.”
“Sweetheart, you’re going to be all about the dick while you’re pregnant.”
“You always did like to live with your head in the clouds.” She presses her hands to my chest. “Are we going to stand here talking all night, or are you going to do something useful?”
I scoop her into my arms and stride towards the lifts. I don’t need to be told twice.
When the lift doors close behind us, I let Jessica down and back her up against the wall. Reaching under her dress, I say, “We’re starting a new tradition, Mrs Kingsley.”
A sexy smile flares across her face. “I like it when you talk dirty to me, Mr Kingsley.”
That Mr Kingsley is the best damn sound in the world.
I will move heaven and hell, battle demons, and go to my knees to hear her call me that every day of the rest of our lives.
I will be Jessica’s front runner always and forever.
“But just so you know, I’m still mad at you.”
Epilogue
Jessica
Three Years Later
“Those two are so cute together,” Mira says, joining me and Lorelei on the terrace of mine and Jack’s Carbon Beach home overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
“Are you referring to Jack and Ashton or Stone and Dana?” I say as I watch my husband and his best friend try to wrangle our one-year-olds down on the beach.
“Well, it’s amusing watching Jack and Ashton, but I would never use the term cute to describe them.”
“Do you know what’s not amusing?” Lorelei says.
“What?” Mira says.
“The fact Dana’s dress is now dirty. I told Ashton not to let her near that sand.”
“Not to mention the fact his and Jack’s suits are also now dirty,” I say. “Honestly, those men are clueless sometimes.” When Mira laughs, I say, “What’s so funny? I’m not seeing anything that’s funny right now.” Jack’s movie premiere starts in two hours. We don’t have time for dirty clothes.
“I was just thinking how I was when Olivia was one. I don’t worry about half of the same things anymore,” Mira says. “Dirty clothes, meh. You can brush that sand off, babe.”
“He’s got more than sand on Stone,” I say, eyeing the dirt on my son’s white shirt. I make a mental note to dress him in black the next time Jack might dirty him up. Jesus, who am I kidding? Jack is always finding opportunities to dirty him up. Stone should just live in black.
The delighted squeals of our children, Olivia and Hazel included, float up from the beach, and I can’t help but let go of some of my annoyance.
I wouldn’t want our children to not experience this kind of fun with their fathers.
“Where did Will go?” Lorelei asks, glancing around for him.
“He went in search of sunscreen,” Mira says.
“Thank God one of our men has some sense about him,” I say.
“Yes,” Mira agrees, “but he could have done it sooner.”
“Jessica,” Rose says from the door to the terrace. “We need to leave in the next ten minutes.”
I look at Jack’s publicist and nod. “Yes, so am I going to round him up, or are you?”
She’s been with Jack for long enough to decode my code. She steps out onto the terrace. “You sort everyone else. I’ll sort Jack.”