Page 31 of Under The Cherry Blossoms
Suddenly and without warning, I am hoisted over Ben’s shoulder into a fireman’s hold, and the sound of his large hand cracking across my rounded ass echoes throughout theroom.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Squeak,” he says as he strides briskly across the apartment, heading straight for my bedroom, where he spends the next few hours fucking me, and loving me in equalmeasures.
I lie in bed the following morning watching the sunrise through the sheer curtains, completely overwhelmed with my happiness. The road we took to get to this moment was rocky, and there were moments I definitely feared we wouldn’t make it. But lying here with the steady drum of Ben’s heartbeat playing under my ear, and his hard, sinewy chest beneath my fingertips I am sure that every bump, every stumble, every faltered step was worth it. Would continue to be worthit.
Turning my head, I place a kiss on Ben’s shoulder, careful not to wake him; and as I close my eyes to chase the slumber that has eluded me, I send out a silent prayer of thanks to whatever entity exists out there, for bringing me exactly what I didn’t realize I needed. I guess the dick-pic gods had my back afterall.
Five YearsLater
BEN
There arepeople everywhere I turn, and I am seriously going to lose my shit if this party doesn’t get started soon. The sooner it starts, the sooner it ends, and the sooner I can lay my girl out beneath me and watch her face as she comes apart under my fingers. My mouth. My cock. I feel my dick start to thicken at the memory of her ass bent over the sofa last night. Her back arched as I fisted a handful of hair, that juicy ass marked pink by the crack of my hand, and her eyes glazed with lust as she held my gaze over her shoulder. Fuck, I need to put this shit on lockdown unless I want to be sporting a giant hard-on at truly the most inappropriatemoment.
Mason steps forward from his spot next to me with a ridiculous smirk on his face, and my impending boner deflatesimmediately.
“You alright there, man? You look like you’re about to bust out of yourskin.”
“Yeah, I’m good. I just need this fucking party to start already. Five years is a long time towait.”
Five years. I shake my head in disbelief. It was never supposed to take this long. But life, man. It has a way of giving you exactly what you need, before you realize you needit.
“I wouldn’t let Skye hear you refer to this as a ‘party’, she’ll kick your ass.” Mason laughs but I shrug it off. I love Squeak’s feistiness as much as I love her sweetness, and any ass kicking she wants to give is just fine with me. God knows I take plenty of liberties with herass.
My attention is drawn to the crowd up ahead as some sort of commotion appears to be happening. Suddenly a flash of pink bolts through the legs of the upstanding adults, and I spot the curly-haired demon that is my daughter running up the path, headed straight toward me. However, she pulls up comedically short when she spots Sebastian, her best friend, standing beside his Grandmother, and the three-year-olds throw themselves into each other’s arms, as if they haven’t seen each other in months. I roll my eyes. I’m pretty sure it’s been about forty-fiveminutes.
Turning to Mason, I bite out, “We’re in trouble with those two, aren’t we?” But his answering chuckle does little to calm myworries.
“Summer!” I holler across the crowd, and her bright green eyes, so much like her mother’s, meetmine.
“What, Daddy?!” Summer hollers right back. Holding back a smile, I consider, not for the first time, how much of her mother’s sassiness she has alsoinherited.
“Come here, Sass!” As her little legs propel her forward, I notice my father and Fiona following her down the path, but before I can greet them, Summer throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck, and leaning in to whisper something in myear.
“Daddy, guesswhat?”
“What?” I replyconspiratorially.
“Seb said he’s gonna marry me one day!” Her excited whisper carries, and I hear Mason snort out a laugh beside me, while I try to muffle mygroan.
“Here you go, Ben.” My father arrives next to us, my youngest daughter wriggling in his arms, reaching out for me. Shifting Summer to my other side, I extend my left arm and take hold of Poppy, who immediately lies her head on my shoulder and lets her eyes fluttershut.
Looking at my girls in my arms, I marvel at their differences. Poppy is the calm in the storm, while Summer is usually the storm. And I wouldn’t change either of them foranything.
My phone vibrates in my back pocket, so I place Summer on the ground, and reach around to pull it out. Seeing Cassidy’s name light up the screen, I put the phone to my ear and answer with a short, “Yeah?”
“We’re here, fady, send the monkeys up to the entrance,” shedemands.
“Oka– wait, what the fuck is a fady,Alexander?”
“Well, let’s just say, I finally got Skyballs to admit something last night.” She sniggers like a schoolgirl, much to mychagrin.
“I probably don’t want to know,right?”
“Ugh, dude, look it up on urban dictionary, ‘kay? We don’t have time for this shit right now! Send the rugrats up to us, so we can get this partystarted.”
I hear some rustling in the background, followed by the unmistakable voice of Squeak. “Jesus, can you pleasenotrefer to my wedding as a party,Cass?”
I laugh, and for the first time since she kicked me out of her hotel room last night, the tension leaves myshoulders.
