Chapter 19 Kelly Kaplan

A Holiday Surprise Adventure

Four Days Until Christmas

I wake with a jolt as I hear chatter coming through the baby monitor. “Mama, Dada, Mimi, boobah doodoo boo.”

Mia’s awake, and she’s cooing happily…for now. But like a switch she can turn on and off, it won’t last forever, and the sweet coos will turn into ferocious demands like the little firecracker she already is.

I glance over and see we fell asleep right where we left off. I’m still stark naked, and he’s wearing just his boxers, and somehow we slept all the way to morning after all the sex right here in the middle of my bed.

Man, he’s good at what he does.

He knows my body like no other man has taken the time to get to know it, and he’ll do anything I ask him to do. Harder, faster, slower, whatever—he does it, and he does it well. What a gift.

I lift his arm gently off me, and he puts it right back where it was, caging me in.

“Stay right there, woman.”

I chuckle, but I really do need to get up, use the bathroom, and get dressed before Mia flips that switch. “Mia’s up.”

“So’s Austin.” He thrusts his hips against me to prove he isn’t talking about the man but the dude below deck, and I moan softly.

“We should’ve gotten up a little earlier if you wanted to do that before we get our girl.”

He chuckles, and his lips move to my neck and then down toward my tit.

I moan, not sure I can move when he’s already starting with this.

“I’ll be quick,” he promises, and I push my tit more fully into his mouth as my way of consenting.

A second later, he’s hovering over me and pushing inside me, and my head rolls back as he takes his time. He’s a little slower, a little gentler than last night, but just as I asked him to fuck me so hard I wouldn’t be able to walk, it’s like he’s making love to me now so gently that he’s healing anything he might’ve hurt last night.

I claw at his shoulders, needing him to move faster as the ache builds inside me at the feel of him, but he doesn’t pick up the pace. Instead, he slows it even more—just slow, lazy drives into me as he cranes his neck down to catch one of my nipples between his lips.

He sucks hard, driving me crazy with lust, and somehow the slow drives paired with the magic on my nipple does the trick.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” I moan over and over as my body tightens over his, the pulsing of pleasure radiating all through me.

“Fuck, that’s so hot and tight,” he mutters, and he lets out a growl before he starts to come, too. His lips move back to my neck, and he sucks there as he battles through the onslaught of his release. “I love you,” he whispers in my ear before he pulls out of me.

Tears spring behind my eyes at his sweet sentiment after the way he just made me feel so cherished and loved. I grab his face between my palms before he moves off me. My eyes meet his. “I love you, too.”

His lips drop to mine for a sweet kiss, and then the cooing starts to turn a little angry.

She gave us just enough time, and she doesn’t even know it.

I rush to the bathroom to clean myself up, and I toss on the clothes I meant to sleep in. Austin uses the bathroom while I get dressed, and then we rush together across the house before the anger turns to fury.

“Mama,” she says happily when she spots me. She’s standing in her crib, using the railing for balance, and she gives me that sweet little smile that melts my heart. “Dada!” she says when she sees Austin.

I can’t imagine how confusing it must be for this little one to only see her daddy one day every week, but I think we’re in a position to change that.

And I couldn’t be more excited.

We go through the morning routine together, and he feeds Mia her breakfast while I take a nice, hot shower to ease my aching muscles. By the time I emerge dressed for the day, Austin has breakfast waiting for me—another one of his famous omelets.

“I need to head over to the Complex for workouts, but I want to take you on a holiday surprise adventure. Is that okay?” he asks.

I sit down and take a bite of omelet, and after I swallow the first bite and close my eyes like I’m in heaven, I say, “I need to stop by the bakery today for a couple hours since I’m off for a week starting tomorrow, but I can do that while you’re at workouts. And a holiday surprise with you sounds really nice.”

“When do you leave for Chicago?” he asks.

“Tomorrow morning.” I’m nervous, though I haven’t had much time to think about it. But I need to pack for Mia and myself still, and I don’t have the first clue how to entertain a baby on an airplane. I don’t want to shove a tablet in her face, and she’s starting to get more and more active. It’s not the first time we’ve flown together, but she was very much in the carry me around phase the last time, and now she’s very much in the I’m learning how to walk and don’t want to be carried phase, so I can’t wait for all the looks I get from people who don’t have kids this age as I do my best to parent both gently and firmly.

“I’ll take you to the airport,” he says.

“Don’t be silly. I can just park there or get an Uber.”

“It’s not silly,” he says firmly. “I want as many seconds as I can have with you two.”

I’m tempted to invite him to come, but I know he’ll just have to decline. The team has practice this week even though it’s Christmas, but part of me wishes I wouldn’t have booked this trip at all and I could just stay here with Austin so we could celebrate our baby’s first Christmas together.

I’m excited to see my parents. They don’t get enough time with Mia, and I wish they’d move out here. Maybe I can convince them while I’m in Chicago. I’m also excited to see my grandparents. They’ve been married fifty-seven years now, and my mom was an only child who had an only child, so I’m their only grandkid, and Mia is their only great grandbaby.

“Then I’d love that,” I say. “I wish you could come.”

He twists his lips. “So do I, to be honest. Or I wish you’d stay.”

“I do, too. But they’re all expecting us.”

“I know,” he says quietly. “And it’s fine. I’ve never really celebrated Christmas much, anyway.”

“How come?” I finally ask.

“I found out my parents were getting divorced the Christmas I was five.”

“Oh, God. I’m so sorry,” I say.

He lifts a shoulder. “It was fine. My dad basically bowed out of the picture, and my mom got remarried shortly after. My stepdad never really took to me, and I was the extra kid nobody knew what to do with. So I turned to football.” He clears his throat when he catches my sympathetic eyes at him. “Anyway, that got a little deeper than I was expecting over breakfast.” He chuckles a little awkwardly and shoots me a tight smile, and then he gets up and brings his plate to the sink.

But it explains a lot.

He was abandoned early on, and I don’t think he’s ever recovered from that.

And I don’t know the rest of his history when it comes to dating, but I don’t think he’s been in any sort of serious relationship in his adult life until he met me. The rest were short-lived or only for one night. I think I get why now. He was scared he’d be abandoned again.

So why me? I’m the one who keeps running, who keeps telling him I’m not ready, but he continues to pursue me anyway.

It’s yet one more instance where I find myself falling just a little deeper for him. There’s something about our connection he trusts, and I need to be careful with what I choose to do with that.