Oh, no, he did not get to be angry anymore. I got out of the bed on the opposite side. “You froze me out. I was scared and confused and you left me on my own!” My voice cracked as I yelled back at him, and the break lowered my voice. “You wouldn’t let me touch you. You flinched from me.” I watched his face soften. “You promised me I wasn’t alone anymore, but instead you made me think you hated me. And I think I hate you a little for that.”
I turned away so he wouldn’t see me cry again.
Two seconds later he was turning me into his arms. “Fuck, baby,” he whispered hoarsely. “You could bring a man to his knees.”
There was so much relief in feeling his arms around me, his chest beneath my cheek. Inhaling his scent. Soaking him in. But I didn’t hold him in return.
“I’m so sorry,” he said gruffly, desperately, in my ear, easing me back to stare into my eyes. He brushed my hair off my face before cupping it in his hands. There was something like panic in them. “Jocelyn, I will never make you feel that way again. I promise. I’m so sorry.” He kissed me hard, tasting my tears. “I was scared. I acted like an idiot but it was just because this is our kid. It means more to me than anything ever has. I f**ked up. I f**ked up this time, but I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I love you. You believe me?” He pulled me against him, his hands running down my back. “You believe me?”
I took a deep breath, trying to let go of the last few days. It would be so easy to hold on to the hurt and anger. But instead I looked back a few years when I was lying in Braden’s arms, grateful he’d forgiven me for everything I’d put him through.
I lifted my arms and wrapped them around his back. “I believe you.”
He kissed me again, this time slower, deeper. When he pulled back he was frowning. “I f**ked up,” he repeated quietly.
“Well, it was your turn.”
“There will be times,” he murmured against my lips, “when we don’t like each other very much, but I need you to know that I will never stop loving you. This time it was me who was terrified of losing you, and I pushed you away because I was afraid to hear what you had to say. If, God forbid, I ever hurt you again, tell me. Don’t lock me out. Don’t shut the shower door on my face. Scream at me. Don’t let me get away with it until you’re storing that shit up and looking at me like you’re haunted. Because . . . I swear to God, that look in your eyes that night, it almost broke my f**king heart. We need to stop doing that to each other. Right now.”
I nodded, clinging tighter to him, relief and forgiveness melting my body into his. “I promise. And not just for me, and not just for you. We have a baby to think of now too. Congratulations, by the way.”
Braden’s eyes brightened. “Congratulations, sweetheart.”
I laughed. “Oh, Jesus C, that took us long enough.”
He pulled me up into his arms, so my feet left the ground. I automatically clung to his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist, only to find myself being lowered to my back on the bed.
Braden lay over me, his loving eyes staring straight into mine. “I’ve missed you.”
I slipped my hands under his shirt, feeling his warm, muscled back beneath my fingers. “I’ve missed you too,” I told him thickly. “I love you so much. Even when I didn’t like you very much, I loved you completely.”
His thumb brushed across my cheekbone. “Back at you, babe. And I won’t ever stop loving you. But just in case you have your doubts”—he threw me a quick, heated smile as his fingers curled around the waistband of my sweatpants—“let me show you how hard and deep . . . and desperately I love you.”
I tilted my hips, giving him better access to slowly peel the sweatpants off. As soon as they were gone I wrapped my legs around his back and my arms around his shoulders. “Let’s do this in the shower,” I murmured hungrily against his mouth.
Holding me tight, Braden stood up and cupped a hand to my nape, bringing my mouth to his. We savored one another in that kiss, tasting each other, our lips growing swollen from the passionate makeout.
“I love making out with you,” I confessed, nuzzling his neck as he began walking us toward the bathroom.
He smiled in agreement and slowly lowered me to the ground once we were inside the bathroom. I pulled off my T-shirt and reached in to switch on the shower while Braden undressed. Divesting myself of my bra and panties, my hungry eyes roamed my husband’s body as he slipped off his boxer briefs. My lower belly clenched with need as he pulled me gently to him, his pale eyes burning with desire as his hands stroked down my spine, to caress the curve of my bottom.
I sighed, running my own hands over his chest, before pressing soft kisses across his pecs, stopping to tease his nipple with my tongue.
He squeezed my ass, groaning and pressing his erection deeper into my stomach. I continued to explore him, my mouth trailing kisses across his skin, while my own hands brushed down across his hard abs, smoothed around his narrow hips, and grabbed his taut ass.
In retaliation, Braden let go of my bottom, stroking up my sides until he cupped both of my tender br**sts in his hands. A pleasant pain shot through me when he kneaded them and I gasped, arching my neck. “They’re tender,” I whispered, reminding him of my pregnant state.
He kneaded them harder and I felt a rush of arousal shoot between my legs.
“Braden,” I moaned, pushing deeper against him.
To my disappointment he eased his hold on me.
I eyed in him question and he smirked, silently answering it by arching me over his arm and lifting my breast to his hot, wet mouth. I cried out at the sensation of his teeth gently scraping my nipple and then I was holding on for dear mercy as he sucked it deep into his mouth.
My br**sts had never been this sensitive before.
“Oh, God, I think I’m going to come,” I panted in disbelief, my h*ps undulating against him.