Page 57 of Collide

“Make love to me, Gage.” I want to yell all kinds of dirty things. A four-letter command and within seconds, I’m begging him, unable to help myself. “Harder.”

He’s so deep like this, once again hitting me in a way no one’s ever touched me before. His balls at my thighs as he rocks with increased intention into me. The room fills with the scent of us and the slap of slick skin.

“I never want to stop,” he grunts behind me, slamming into me in a way I know will bring stars to my eyes and maybe a bruise to my inner thigh. I don’t want him to stop as I’ve never felt this good before.

“Touch yourself, gorgeous.” His command has me scrambling for my clit, rubbing it harder than I’ve ever rubbed, circling, pressing, stretching until I can’t take it anymore. I scream into the pillow below me, stilling as I feel him pumping inside me. Tears come to my eyes as I’m overwhelmed with sensation. Him in me. In my body. In my heart. In my soul.

As he collapses over me, he catches himself, knowing I can’t lie flat. He kisses my shoulder while our breathing slows until he slips out of me with a suction sound. We fall to our sides, giggling at the noise.

“That was embarrassing,” I say although I’m too happy to truly care.

“That was incredible.” He sighs in satiation. He reaches for my sweaty hair and brushes it behind my ear. “I love you.”

“I love you.” And I mean each word. I love this man with all of me. I’m scared, and I’m happy. I’m concerned, and I’m comforted. There’s no way to predict our future, but I know one thing. “I’m right where I belong.”

He smiles, catching my meaning. “We collide, gorgeous. And it’s going to be us against the world. You and me.” His hand covers my belly, but his mouth finds mine, and I settle into believing for the first time in my life, I’m in the right place with the right man.

Epilogue

Two and a half years later

GAGE

“Watch where you’re going.” The sweetness in her voice makes me smile before I even see her. I know who she’s speaking to, and I can already imagine her following after one child while holding the other.

Ava Katherine Everly graced this world in June of that summer. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a stubborn personality, no one would suspect she wasn’t truly mine. Ivy graduated with her degree from Pacific in music therapy but hasn’t used it yet. I know it’s in the back of her mind that someday she will, but not twelve months after baby one arrived, she was pregnant with baby two. Mine. One hundred percent mine.

Emaline Rose Everly was born twenty-two months after her sister.

“Sorry about that,” I hear Ivy say in the hallway. I stand from the couch where I’ve been waiting, warming up before the show. Almost four years from my first encounter with Ivy, we’re playing the Theatre ourselves—as the headliners instead of the warm-up band. Tommy Carrigan has done wonders for us, and I’m eternally grateful, but not half as grateful as the other thing he’s given me. His niece.

I peek into the narrow hall at my sweet toddler walking at a fast pace like she owns the tile beneath her. Ivy stopped to apologize to a roadie, no doubt one who Ava walked into. She jiggles Emaline against her shoulder.

“Daddy,” Ava calls when she sees me and runs toward me. I crouch down, preparing for the hug I love only second to my wife.

“Ava girl,” I cry out until she’s against my chest, and I scoop her up. She curls around my neck for a second before pulling back to look at me. I swear she sees me with my eyes, which isn’t possible, but they’re as deep, dark, and soulful. I fear that she’ll be sad like he was. But then she smiles at me as she gives my longish hair a tug, and my worries disappear. She’ll know everything when she’s older. Ivy and I agree we’ll tell Ava the truth when she’s ready, but we don’t need the press or anyone unimportant knowing the truth. I loved Cash, and I’m honoring his memory. I might not be her biological father, but I’m her dad.

“Hey, baby,” Ivy says as she approaches me, and I lean forward to kiss her. It isn’t the consuming kiss I normally draw from her, but I still haven’t mastered keeping it short and sweet. Ava giggles at my ear and Emaline has a hold of my hair, so when I pull back from Ivy, I only get so far. I wiggle a finger into her grasp.

“Did you get some sleep?” Ivy isn’t sleeping well with two babies, and she’s refusing to hire a nanny. Her first argument wasn’t justified, and we fought about it.

“I’m not hiring some cute young thing to work for us who will only fall in love with you and seduce you.” I had a good snorting laugh at that comment until I saw she was serious.

“I’d be out of my mind to cheat on you. Crazy,” I said, making the international sign by circling a finger around my ear.

“Never call a pregnant woman crazy,” she said, and that was how she announced Emaline.

I told her we could hire someone who didn’t like guys. Someone three times my age. Someone who wasn’t my type, but when her retort was to ask if we could hire a Ryan Reynolds look-alike, the discussion ended. I didn’t think she was humorous.

The real reason came forward later.

“I don’t want my children raised by nannies and tutors. I want as normal as I can for them.” Going on the road isn’t normal, and I know one day it will have to end as Ivy is adamant that Ava, Emaline, and any other Everly who comes along go to a physical school.

Ivy shakes her head in response to sleep, and I sigh. A tired momma makes sexy time difficult, but we make it work as best as we can. Ava wiggles to slip from my arms and helps herself to the backstage room where Jared and Petty hang out. Emaline snuggles into Ivy.

“Ava Bava,” Jared says behind us.

“Cava Dava,” Ava replies. Jared’s teaching her the alphabet with her name. I’m confused by it all. Ivy circles around me and enters the room. Surprisingly, Petty is the baby magnet, and the second he sees Emaline, he wiggles his hands for her.