With These Four Rings - Book Five: Wedding Bonus (Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls 5) (18 page)

“Yes you do, ba—my big man.” Ignoring Precious’ chortle, Michelle leaned over and tested his puny little bicep. “Mm hmm. You’re almost as strong as your daddy.”

“Is he now?” Unable to resist any longer, Erik stepped into the kitchen and made his presence known. Michelle’s gasp of surprise was swallowed up in his children’s shouts of joy.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” They jumped from their chairs and ran into his arms.

He picked all three of them up from the floor and bear hugged them at once, reveling in the enjoyment they displayed at seeing him.

He trembled as he kissed and squeezed them tight. He’d hugged a lot of children in the past two weeks, but nothing compared to having his own in his arms. Their individual scents overpowered the breakfast aroma that had greeted him when he first approached the kitchen. Precious smelled like a summer rose garden. Little Erik carried the green apple scent of his organic shampoo, and Tiffany was just drenched in innocence and sunshine.

Erik inhaled deeply as if he could breathe them into his pores. He never wanted to let them go. “Oh, I missed you guys so much.”

“We missed you too, Daddy,” Precious said. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“Daddy. I love you, Daddy.” Tiffany clasped her syrupy hands on his cheeks and kissed him on his lips.

“Daddy loves you, too, my little princess.”

“Me too. I love you, Daddy.” Little Erik wrapped his arms around his neck.

“So much love,” he heard his mother say with a catch in her voice.

Erik set his children on the floor and marched over to his wife, who’d risen from her seat, and had been looking on lovingly as their children welcomed him home.

“My sweet, sweet Michelle,” he whispered in a choked voice.

“Erik.” She trailed her fingers along his freshly shaven cheeks.

The happy tears pooling in her mesmerizing black eyes, her soft touch, and the sexy sound of his name on her lips thrilled Erik to the bone. He picked her slender frame off the floor, wrapped his arms around her, and covered her mouth with his. He groaned and kissed her deeply and hungrily, right there in his kitchen with his entire world looking on. She smelled like
Moonlight
—the most intoxicating scent in the world to him—and tasted like French roast coffee and blueberry pancakes. His heart trembled with love, his loins stirred with need. In spite of his hunger for food, he was tempted to skip breakfast and take her upstairs.

“There’s enough food here, son. You don’t have to suck your wife’s from her belly.”

“Don’t mind your father, Erik. You keep showing your wife just how much you missed her in whatever manner you choose, son.”

“Oh boy. Here comes another Baby LaCrosse,” Precious stated in a comical voice.

Erik reluctantly dragged his mouth from Michelle’s and slid her down his body until her feet touched the floor. He held her chair, and once she was seated, he walked over to his parents, hugged them in turn, then lifted his youngest child from her grandpa’s lap, and held her close to his heart. She smelled like cooked eggs and baby lotion. Sweetness to him.

“Fiona, my darling baby girl.” His heart danced with merriment when her tiny hands went around his neck. “Daddy loves you to pieces. Daddy missed you.” He held her up and smiled at her. “Can you say
Dada
for your dada? Can you, baby? Daddy wants to hear you say
Dada
.”

“Dada.” Fiona gave him a big toothless grin.

Erik kissed her egg-yolk covered cheeks and chortled with joy.

“Dada, Dada, Dada,” she repeated as she kicked her legs and clapped her hands in excitement.

“This is the best homecoming I’ve ever had.” Erik surveyed his family. He wasn’t leaving them again. He took his seat at the head of the table and sat Fiona on his knee.

“Take that away,” he said as a maid pushed a highchair next to his. “My baby is fine in her daddy’s arms.” For the first time in a long time, Erik felt like the head of his household, not superiorly, because his wife had as much say in all matters as he had—maybe more—but protectively. He’d promised Michelle that he would love and protect her and their kids. He couldn’t protect them from halfway around the world. Daddy was home to stay.

“Here you go, Doctor.” Mrs. Hayes put a stack of hot pancakes on his plate. “Just the way you love them.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Hayes.” Erik smiled at the old woman who still refused to retire from his kitchen. “I’ve dreamt about your meals every single night for two whole weeks.” He piled some bacon beside his pancakes and took the fruit bowl his mother passed to him.

“Now you don’t have to dream anymore.” She patted him on the shoulder and moved over to Little Erik. “And here’s to making you stronger,” she said, placing a fresh stack of pancakes on his plate. “Soon you’ll be so big, your big sister will be straining her neck to look you in the eye.”

“Thank you, Grandma Hayes.” Little Erik beamed up at her as the chatter started up again.

Erik poured hot maple syrup over his pancakes and dug into his breakfast like he hadn’t eaten for weeks. Ready-to-eat meals weren’t real food, and he’d been living on them for two weeks. “So what is this I hear about a name change?” he asked his son. “You don’t like ‘Little Erik’, anymore?”

With a mouth full of pancakes and bacon, Little Erik shook his head, negatively.

“What would you like to be called instead?” He wiped his mouth with his napkin and pulled Fiona’s bowl closer so she could grab a handful of egg yolks.

“Just my name. Erik.”

“When you’re with Dad, you won’t know which Erik they mean. That’s stupid.”

“Ha ha, he’s
Tupid
.” Tiffany was in the habit of repeating everything she heard, whether or not she understood it. “
Tupid
,” she said again and giggled as she placed a piece of melon into her mouth.

“Tiffany. That’s not nice,” Michelle scolded her daughter. “We don’t call each other names in this family.”

“I’m not stupid.” Erik dropped his head on the table and began to cry.

Michelle picked him out of his seat and cradled him on her lap.

“See, that’s why we call you ‘little’. One minute you’re running around like you’re crazy and the next, you’re crying like a little girl,” Precious said.

“Little Erik’s crying like a girl.” Tiffany reached for her cup.

“Precious, stop it!” Felicia cast her granddaughter a withering stare.

“I’m just kidding.” Precious flashed a devilish smile.

“You of all people shouldn’t be teasing him,” her grandfather said. “Especially—”

Michelle cleared her throat. “Apologize to your brother, Precious.”

“I’m sorry.”

There was that look between his daughter and his wife again
, Erik thought. He would get to the bottom of it later. “What about Erik Junior?” he asked his son, who was back in his chair.

“No.”

“EJ?” Michelle asked.

He shook his head again.

Philippe raised his hand to silence everyone. “I know. You’re Erik Philippe LaCrosse, The Third. Since you don’t like EJ, what about PJ for Philippe Junior?”

“You want to call my son
Pajamas
in lieu of Little Erik, Dad?”

Philippe chuckled. “Ahh, bad idea.”

“Let’s switch the letters and make it JP,” Michelle blurted. “Do you like JP?”

He nodded on a smile. “I like JP, Mommy.”

“Then JP it is. From now on you’ll be known as JP LaCrosse, until you decide you want to change it again.”

With the matter of Little Erik’s new name put to bed, Erik thought of another subject he would love to take to bed.

In the middle of answering questions about his trip, Erik glanced at his wife and the look in her eyes told him that her thoughts mirrored his. He downed his grapefruit juice, kissed his infant daughter before handing her over to her grandmother, shot to his feet, walked up to his wife and lifted her from her chair. Without saying a word, he carried her to the elevator and pushed the
up
button.

* * *

As soon as her parents left the kitchen, Precious excused herself from the table and went to her bedroom on the second floor. She pulled her cell phone from the pocket of her shorts and texted Jason:
My dad’s home
.

A few seconds later a response came through:
Crap. How long ago?

Precious sat on the edge of her bed
. This morning. He’s with my mom in their bedroom.

U think she’ll tell him?

IDK. She said she won’t. I trust her. Is ur dad home?

Yeah. Last night.

Did u talk to him?

I haven’t seen him yet. I’m not at home.

Where r u?

At Ethan’s. I spent the night.

Precious pouted. How come she didn’t know that? Oh yeah, Michelle had banned her from talking with Jason until her father got home. It wasn’t even a full day yet, but it was already killing her. Her dad was home now so it wasn’t like she was breaking any rules.

U still there?

I’m scared my dad will ground me till I’m 30. I don’t want them to keep us apart.

I’m scared, too. But I liked kissing you
. (Smiley face)

Precious bit into her lower lip.
Me, too
. (Smiley face and a heart).

I’ll talk to my dad when I get home. When r u going to talk with urs?

IDK.

It’ll be okay. I promise.

Okay. Bye, Jason.

Bye, Precious.
(A heart).

Precious plopped down on her back and stared at the ceiling, a sweet smile perched on her face. She was so in love. She hoped her dad and Uncle Bryce would understand how she and Jason felt about each other since they were so much in love with their wives. Especially her dad, seeing that he and her real mom had been together since they were teenagers. She would just have to remind him of that fact.

She’d kissed Jason because she wanted to know what a real kiss felt like, but she was also scared that he would think she was still a little girl. Her friend Teresa had told her that her older sister had told
her
that a lot of girls in high school thought Jason was hot. Precious didn’t like girls thinking about him that way, and she didn’t want him going to other girls for things he couldn’t get from her. She might still be in middle school, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew what boys in high school did with the girls who let them. She didn’t want Jason doing those things with other girls. She just didn’t. Her little heart began to beat real fast.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, in the privacy of their third-floor master suite, Erik dragged his lips up along his wife’s damp body as she trembled from the force of her second orgasm. He lay on top of her, his thick hard erection pressing into the hot slickness between her thighs where his mouth had taken up residence for the past fifteen minutes. He kissed her breasts, sucked on her nipples, and her lips while Johnny Gill sang “Behind Closed Doors” in the background. The fact that they were actually behind closed doors heightened his fantasy, sweetened the thrill of Michelle’s love. Her passion, her unquenchable desire for him, always set his soul on fire.

Dragging his mouth from her nipple, up along her chest and throat, he gazed into her misty black eyes. “Are we safe?” he asked in a rough voice as he felt her warm hand grasp his shaft, guiding the tip to the entrance of her body.

“We’re safe. You can come inside me.”

With a deep groan, Erik entered her, and for a few intense moments, his heart stopped beating as he savored the hot, tight sweetness of her. Even after giving birth to three children, she was still as tight as the first time they made love five years ago.
It will always be like the first time with Michelle
. When her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms circled his neck, he buried his face into the valley between her breasts and whispered her name.

“Erik, I missed you so much,” she moaned as she raised her hips, squeezing her vaginal muscles around his shaft.

He began thrusting slowly inside her, going deep and sure, until passion and heat and fluid radiated from the soft core of her body, and she cried out his name over and over again. When Ne-Yo began singing “Religious,” she got religious, clawing at him, singing
Hallelujah
and begging him to take her higher and deeper. Powerless to resist, Erik gave himself over to the divine pleasure, the erotic madness she evoked in him, and sang
Hallelujah
right along with her.

“Michelle.” He groaned out her name in the heat of it.

“Love me, baby, love me. Yes, yes. Don’t stop. Don’t… Don’t. Oh God, I’m coming. I’m coming… Erik…”

“Yes, baby. I’m right with you.” Erik snuck his hands under her to clasp her beautiful buttocks and hold her still as the electricity arching along his back warned him that he wouldn’t last much longer. When he felt her walls quivering around him, he lifted his head, gazed into her beautiful black eyes, and spilled his seed as the turbulence of their passion whirled around them.
Hallelujah
…

To his delight, Michelle wasn’t done with him. “Roll with me,” she whispered, locking her legs around him and flipping him over onto his back. She straddled him, entwined their fingers, pushed up on her feet and began to dance on his waning erection until it was standing at full force again as Raheem DeVaughn sang “Temperature’s Rising.”