Page 51 of Because of Them

My admission unleashes something almost feral inside him. He doesn’t hold back, scooping me into his arms to carry me down the hall. He places me in the centre of the bed, propped against the pillows, then stands back to admire me, laid out for him. Heat pools in my belly when he rips his T-shirt over his head and crawls over me. I run my hands along his firm chest and down his muscular arms. The veins bulge as he supports his weight over me.

“You’re perfect,” he growls.

I shake my head, pressing my lips together in a thin line.I’m not.The thought doesn’t belong right now, so I don’t voice it, but he hears me anyway.

He kisses my nose, my ear, my shoulder, the inside of my elbow, the side of my belly where the excess weight I’ve put on flattens against the mattress, my hips, my thighs. All the bits I don’t like, all the bits I wish hadn’t grown along with my baby bump.

“This is perfect,” he says after each gentle peck. “This is perfect. This is perfect.” And then, nestled between my legs he looks up with a goofy but charming grin, “You’re perfect.”

My core throbs at his closeness and my breaths turn heavy. “Michael,” I moan, remembering what he can do with his mouth.

“May I?” His fingers dip below the waistband of my leggings. I push my hips off the bed so he can pull them down. He stares at what I’m sure is a very wet patch in the centre of my grey, boring, panties. Licking his lips he runs a thumb along my centre, pressing down on my clit until I’m trembling under his touch. Desperate for friction, I rock my hips into his hand.

He growls, dipping his head and using his teeth to tease me further. My hands reach to his head, fisting his hair as I grind against his face.

There’s a tearing sound, a flash of searing heat, and then his warm tongue straight on my pussy. He tore my underwear clean off, but the thought only passes through my mind for the tiniest of moments. Because he devours me like a man starved, bringing me to the edge of oblivion. He swirls his tongue around my clit, flicking the sensitive bud over and over until I’m aching for more.

“Please Michael.”

“My pleasure.” He doesn’t stop to answer, instead speaking the words directly into my pussy. His hot breath sending a firethrough my veins. He strokes through my wetness, spreading it around before dipping his finger into the source. I gasp at the way he immediately curls up to find that delightful spot inside me. Teeth graze against the apex of my thighs as he pulls his finger out to add a second.

I’m trembling beneath him as he pumps his fingers into me, nipping and sucking at my clit until I’m soaring. Hot moisture pools as I tumble, releasing my grip on his hair to fall back into my nest of pillows. My head spins, my chest heaves.

Michael kisses his way back up my body, pulling my tank over my head as he does. When he reaches my mouth, the taste of my arousal on his tongue sends a new heat blooming through me. He kisses me the same way he devoured my pussy, like there is nothing on earth he would rather do. His hand is in my hair, his tongue exploring my mouth as he notches himself at my entrance. I lift my hips and he slides inside me, stretching me, filling me, owning me.

“I love you,” he whispers as he presses in until I’m taking all of him.

I wrap my hand around his neck to hold him close. “I love you, too.”

Our hips rock back and forth in sync. It’s not rushed or frenzied, it’s just … bliss, wrapped in each other’s arms in the most sensual way. And when my orgasm builds, so does his. Until we leap off the cliff together.

“I want you to stay,” I tell him later, after we have showered and curled under the blankets for the night. We lay on our sides, foreheads touching, hands clasped together, legs entwined.

“I thought that was a given when I brushed my teeth and got into bed with you?”

“I don’t just mean tonight, I mean when the babies come. You deserve to see them, they deserve to be with you as much as they are stuck with me. And I want you here.”

Michael nods his head against mine. “Then I’ll stay.”

MICHAEL

My father stands in his too-clean work boots, arms folded across his chest. The wind whips at the ends of his greying hair.

“Why am I here?” he complains, and I should have brought my mother for moral support.

Hereis my block of land in Melbourne’s South East outer suburbs. Close enough to Audrey’s current house that the custody agreement she has with her ex would still be suitable. Maisie would still be able to go to the school they enrolled her in.Hereis the place I want to build our future.Hereis the land I bought when I was young and smart enough to know it was a good investment but dumb enough to not care about building on it.Hereis exactly where the front door will be.

“Michael?” My father’s grating voice snaps me out of the house I want to build and back to the mud I’m currently standing in.

“I want to build.”

“It’s about bloody time.”

He’s not wrong, but I shrug away the condescending tone.

“Start thinking about your floor plan and we’ll set it all up,” he adds. He throws his hand around in front of him before tucking it back under his arm and side stepping towards the car.

I’d bet he is itching to get back to his pristine office. When I first started working for him, he hated being confined behind a desk all day. He jumped at any chance he got to get outside and on the tools. Now though, he hardly ever shows at a job site unless things have gone terribly south. He prides himself on the way the business runs immaculately with him at the helm. All the right people in all the right jobs making sure every task is completed on time, and to the highest quality. Everyone except me. I still feel out of place at the project manager’s meetings, despite Noah’s winery build running seamlessly under my—somewhat questionable—guidance.

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