“You’re such a man,” I reply with a giggle. “Trust me, you don’t want to seeallllthis.”
He lifts a brow. “And why the hell wouldn’t I?”
“Because nothing about my body right now is sexy,” I say, pulling on a pair of shorts under my towel before grabbing one of Graham’s t-shirts. “My boobs are rock hard and massive, my stomach looks like a deflated balloon, and I don’t even want to see what my poor vagina looks like.”
Admittedly, I’m having a hard time with my post-baby body, which I know isn’t fair, considering I’m only one week postpartum, but I can’t help it.
“Don’t talk about the woman I love like that,” Graham mutters. “You are beautiful and sexy and everything in between. You just did something miraculous… You brought our baby into this world, and I can’t think of anything more beautiful than that. You don’t need to hide from me, Sunny. When I look at you, I see strength. I see softness. I see the woman I love, and the mother of our child. And she isbreathtaking.”
My throat tightens as I give him a teary-eyed smile. I thought this cry-baby shit would go away when I wasn’t pregnant anymore, but the postpartum hormones are just as extreme. “Well, thank you.”
After I get dressed, I brush my hair and apply lotion to my body. Graham’s eyes are on me the entire time, and even though I feel the furthest thing from beautiful, I can’t help but relish the weight of his gaze. Every flirty, pervy thing he says, the way he holds me and kisses me, the way he’s always watching me… It feels good. Really good. When I climb back onto the bed, he’sgiving me this dopey, love-sick look that makes my stomach flutter.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask shyly, my cheeks heating.
“Because I just realized that I’ve gotten the chance to fall in love with you twice in this lifetime, Sunny.”Oh, lord, he’s about to make me cry, isn’t he?“When you went off to college, I thought I’d lost you. Lost whatever we could’ve been.” Graham leans in, kissing my forehead before continuing. “But here you are, all these years later, right where you were always meant to be. You are the strongest woman I’ve ever met, Charley. I don’t think you’ll ever know how much happiness I have being with you, getting to love you. I cannot even begin to imagine the feelings you have about yourself right now, but I need you to hear me when I say, I am so ridiculously in love with you, and that will never fade.”
I breathe a small sigh, a smile inching up my face as a tear rolls down my cheek. “You sweet, sappy man, what am I going to do with you?” I tease. “Constantly making me cry.”
He chuckles, and the sound warms my chest. “I’m serious.”
Cupping the side of his face, my thumb rubs along his cheek before I press my lips to his in a tender kiss. “I know you are, and I feel the exact same way. I’m crazy about you.”
Resting my head on his shoulder, we watch Baker sleep for a while, neither of us saying anything. The comfort I feel with Graham is something I’ve searched for my entire life. He never makes me doubt how he feels. I feel safe.
Graham is my safety, and I think he always has been.
Loving him isn’t anxiety inducing. It’s not frantic or unpredictable. It’s not demanding or conditional. It’s easy, and calm. Gentle. Loving Graham is true peace. His love holds space rather than takes it, and I don’t know what I ever did to deserve all of this, but I’m so glad we ended up here.
“I love you, Graham,” I declare softly, my voice rough with emotion.
Kissing the top of my head, he says, “I love you, Sunny.”
35
Graham, Twelve Weeks Later
Tiptoeing out of Baker’s nursery, I go to the kitchen and clean the bottle I used to feed him. He’s been extra gassy this week, which has made him fussier than usual. It was tough getting him to bed tonight, but thankfully, he finally passed out. After I make sure the house is locked up, I pop into Ellie Mae’s room to check on her really quick before heading down the hall toward my bedroom.
Expecting Charley to already be asleep, my breath catches in my throat when I find her not only still awake, but sitting on the bed in black lingerie. “Fuck, look at you,” I murmur, my body heating. She’s got a few candles lit around the room, and there’s music playing quietly. “What’s all this about?”
Her smirk is pure desire, and I feel it deep in my balls. “I’m ready,” she says softly, and I don’t have to get closer to see the flush take over her cheeks. “And I need you tonight.”
That one sentence has my dick rock hard. “Is that right?” I drawl, a grin curling my lips as I close the distance between us. I bring my hand to the back of her neck. “You’re so fucking sexy.”
A shiver wracks through her body as she nods, peering up at me from beneath her long, dark lashes and biting her full bottom lip.
Leaning in, I crash my mouth against hers. Charley moans, her lips parting as my tongue sweeps inside. Her fingers come to the hem of my shirt, pulling it over my head before dragging my sweats down until they pool around my ankles. Stepping out of them, I climb on the bed over her body, never breaking our lips apart. My body is already on fire, electricity swimming through my veins. Charley wraps her hand around my cock, the gentle touch enough to make me come already.Since Charley had Baker, the most we’ve done is some heated making out and dry humping, both of which were hot as hell, butthis… The skin-on-skin intimacy is what I’ve truly been craving. She was cleared weeks ago, but she wasn’t ready, and I don’t blame her. She tore during the delivery and was nervous about sex; not to mention, we’ve both been so exhausted since bringing him home. I wanted to wait until she was completely ready, and I didn’t want her to feel pressured to do something a moment before. Over the last week, Charley’s been a little more flirty and handsy, and I’ve been soaking it up.
Stroking me slowly, Charley says, “I wanna suck your cock.”
Fuck, it’s like lava through my bloodstream. Breaking our lips apart, I lie on the bed beside her, but as she moves to do just that, I stop her. “Ah-ah. I want my mouth on you too, Sunny.”
Deep red stains the apples of her cheeks, and her blue eyes darken. “So, what are you saying?”
I palm her round, plump ass, squeezing the flesh. “I’m saying, park that sweet pussy on my face while you put that pretty little mouth on my dick.”
She giggles as she turns around and throws her leg over my body. Her fingers circle my dick again, pumping slowly as shedoes what I say, and it’s not until right now that I notice the lingerie she’s wearing is also crotchless.
