Zane & Lucky's First Christmas (Forever Love, #5) (2 page)

“Good.” She moaned, and slowly opened up her eyes to stare at me. Her lips looked pink and lush and from my vantage point, she looked sexy as he
ll. I felt a stirring in my pants and I shifted slightly as her foot rested itself and pressed into my crotch. She grinned at me as I moved her foot and I realized she had been doing it on purpose. I smiled back at her and grinned to myself.
Just wait, Lucky,
I laughed inside. She lay back and closed her eyes again and I started kneading her foot again. Then I quickly lifted it to my mouth and bent my head and took her big toe in my mouth and starting sucking it. I made a big deal of sucking it and really enjoying it. Within seconds, Lucky had sat upright in shock and there were several gasps from around the class.

“Zane,” she blushed as she pulled her foot away from me. “What are you doing?”

“Excuse me, you two.” The instructor hurried over to us. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This class is for couples looking to make the delivery process easier. It’s not for those interested in public sex displays.”

“What?” Lucky gasped and I could see from her face that she was mortified. “That’s not why we’re here.”

“Come on, honey. I guess we came to the wrong class.” I jumped up and grinned.

“No, we didn’t. This is the…
” Lucky started and I grabbed her hand.

“This is the class for the up-tight parents, not the cool and fun,
‘we’re still going to fuck every night’ parents.” I grinned and stared at the redhead’s husband, who was looking at me with jealousy. “Let’s go home.”

“O
h my God, Zane. I’m going to kill you.” Lucky whispered to me, as we hurried out of the class. All the women were looking at Lucky in sympathy, but all the men were looking at me in jealousy. Poor suckers.

“Thank God.” I breathed the fresh air in, as we walked out of the building. “I thought I was going to suffocate in there.”

“What the fuck did you just do?”

“Now
, now, mommy-to-be. Are you sure you want our babies to hear that language?” I looked at her with a shocked expression and she hit me in the arm.

“You’re an asshole.”

“But you love me.”

“Zane, that was a serious class. You can’t do that stuff.”

“Lucky, that class was a bunch of bull. I thought I was in a horror movie at one point when the screaming started.” She shook her head and looked at me wordlessly as I continued. “And did you see the miserable faces of everyone else in the class? It was depressing.”

“It was a bit depressing.” She smiled slowly. “But, you were still out of order.”

“Did you really want to go back and hang out with those women? Did you really want to be a part of their mommy-and-me groups?”

“No,” She laughed reluctantly. “Okay, okay, you’re right. They sucked.” She sighed. “Let’s just go home.”

“Don’t be mad at me.” I made a face as we walked to the car. “Don’t leave me for my brother.”

“Idiot, if I leave you it won’t be for another goofy overprotective Beaumont, it will be for some hot stud.” She grinned at me
, and then ran away as I tried to grab her.

“You better not even be thinking about any hot studs.” I felt a knife twist in my gut at the thought of Lucky daydreaming about some other man.

“Then you better not mess around in the next class we attend.” She gave me a look as we got to my car.

“What? We have to go to another class?” I sighed.

“We didn’t really learn anything tonight, asides from the fact that you’re a smart ass.”

“You knew that already.”

“Oh, and that you have a foot fetish.” Lucky shook her head, trying to stop herself from laughing.

“You weren’t exactly saying no.” I grinned as I started the car and winked at her. “And your foot was certainly te
lling me what you were thinking!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your foot was caressing me.” I raised an eyebrow at her and she frowned.

“What?”

“You were teasing my cock with your foot.” I grinned at her. “Trying to get me turned on, huh?”

“Zane, I have no idea what you’re talking about. If my foot accidentally hit your crotch it was by mistake. I certainly wasn’t trying to turn you on in a pregnancy class.”

“Oh,” I laughed. “My bad.”

“Oh
my gosh,” she laughed. “You’re too much.” She sighed and looked at me with a loving gaze. “I love you, Zane, but sometimes you’re just too much.”

“Sorry.” I laughed, happy that we could tease each over and have moments like this without her getting all angry and serious. “Shall we pick up some ice cream for Skylar?’

“I don’t think so.” She paused. “It’s a bit late. I’m sure she’ll be in bed. And I don’t think it’s good to give kids sugar late at night.”

“I think that’s just
Coke and Pepsi,” I said, as if I actually had a clue.

“I’m pretty sure it’s sugar stuff as well.” Lucky made a face.

“I guess we should look it up.”

“Or we go to a pregnancy class.” Lucky reached over and rested her head on my shoulder. “That may be the best bet.”

“I guess so,” I conceded and groaned inside. How many more gory videos and loud-pitched screams was I going to have to deal with? I paused as I realized that it could be a lot worse. Lucky could be having a difficult pregnancy and we could be worried about her life, or the lives of the babies. All things considered, I guessed going to a pregnancy class wasn’t as bad as it got.

***

“Skylar, it’s time for bed.” Noah was standing by the stairs when we got home, with his hands on his hips. “You have to go up now.”

“I’m watching something.” Skylar called back to him, without moving her eyes away from the TV.

“Hey bro,” I grinned at my brother as we walked through the door. “Good night?”

“A trying night.” He shook his head. “Skylar, if you don’t get off the couch, there will be no TV tomorrow night.”

“That’s not fair!” She cried out, and looked up. Then she spotted me and Lucky, and broke into a smile before jumping off of the couch and running over to us. “Uncle Zane and Aunty Lucky are home, yay!” She ran into my arms and I picked her up and swung her around.

“You being a good girl?” I sat her down and gave her a serious look.

“Yes.” She nodded and grinned up at me. “I’m always a good girl.”

“You know that Santa Claus only comes for good girls.” I continued on talking. “In fact, if you’re a bad girl, the Grinch will come and he’ll take away—”

“Zane,” Lucky grabbed my arm and squeezed. “I think that’s enough.”

“Huh?” I looked back at her and then realized that perhaps I was going a bit too far with my story. “Well, just be a good girl, Skylar
, and listen to what Noah says.” She looked up at me with a confused expression.

“Is Santa coming?” Her lower lip started trembling
, and I felt my stomach churning. Uh, oh I’ve gone and screwed this up. “I’ve been good. I promise.”

“I think Santa is going to have a conversation with Noah
in a few months and then will decide if he’s going to come.” I smiled at her gently and then saw Noah trying not to laugh at me. “So you better go and get ready for bed now.”

“Okay,
Uncle Zane.” She nodded and gave me a small hug. “Night night, Aunty Lucky.”

“Night, my precious.” She gave Skylar a kiss on the cheek, and then Skylar went running over to Noah.

“I’m ready to go to bed now, Noah.”

“Okay, run upstairs and brush your teeth and I’ll come and tuck you in when you’re done.”

“Okay.” She grinned and ran up the stairs. “I want a goodnight story as well.”

“We’ll see.”

“Please, Noah.” She paused on the stairs and looked back down with pleading eyes. “I really want to read tonight.”

“Go and brush your teeth
, and we’ll see.” He grinned up at her and then walked over to us, once she had gone back up the stairs.

“Long night?” I laughed as I looked at his tired expression.

“You do not even know.” He yawned. “She didn’t want to eat fish sticks, she didn’t want to drink apple juice. She wanted ice cream for dessert and then when she got ice cream, she wanted cake. And then when she got cake, she wanted chocolate. And then when she got chocolate she spat it out and wanted the ice cream again.” He took a deep breath. “So yeah, it was a long night.”

“You’re doing a good job, Noah.” Lucky squeezed his arm.

“Yeah, he’s doing a good job at letting her have whatever she wants for dessert.” I laughed. “Can we say that she’s totally pulling all the strings?”

“Whatever.” Noah walked over to the couch and flopped down. “Just wait until you have kids.”

“I know I’ll be loving but firm.” I sat on the couch next to him.

“Zane, you don’t even have the patience for a pregnancy class.” Lucky laughed at me. “I don’t know that you’re going to be Super
Dad right off the bat.”

“That class sucked.” I gave her a grin. “Trust me, once the babies arrive I’ll be fine.”

“What temperature do their bottles need to be?” she questioned me, raising an eyebrow.

“What bottle?” I asked in confusion.

“The bottle with their formula.” She smiled at me gently.

“Aren’t you going to breastfeed them?” I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her growing bosom
s. “Why will they need formula?”

“I may not create enough milk for both of them
, Zane. It’s something we have to prepare for.”

“Oh.” I shrugged. “I guess you’ll figure it out.”

“No, Zane. I won’t be figuring anything out. We will be figuring it out.” She plopped down on my lap and grinned at me before giving me a quick kiss. “Remember what Nancy said, we’re in this together and we have to make decisions together.”

“Who’s Nancy and when did she say this?” I was totally confused as to what Lucky was talking about.

“Oh my God, Zane.” She jumped off of my lap and gave me a disapproving look. “Nancy was the instructor in our class tonight, and that was the first thing she said after we all introduced ourselves.”

“Oh, yeah.” I smiled up at her weakly. I had totally spaced out during that conversation and had been thinking about trying to find a way to ask Lucky if she wanted to talk about possibly getting married in Vegas.

“Oh, yeah, my foot.” Lucky shook her head. “You have no idea what she said, do you?” She glared at me. “I’m going upstairs to have a shower, and no, before you ask, I do not want to share it with you.”

I watched as she walked up the stairs and sat back and sighed. “Guess that didn’t go very well.” I looked over at Noah who was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

“Yeah, I recommend you get your act together, bro, or you may find that you’re on Santa’s naughty list this Christmas.” He raised an eyebrow at me, and we both burst out laughing.

Chapter 2

Noah

“Which book would you like us to read tonight, Skylar?” I pulled the bed sheets and duvet over her before sitting down in the new armchair Lucky had bought for the room.

“Not
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
,” she yawned, “or
Cinderella
. Something new.”

“Okay,” I laughed. “We can read something new.” I stared at her face as she looked at me with wide eager eyes. A swell of love filled my
heart as she looked up at me with an open and loving face. She had only been living here as my adopted daughter for a month, but I could already see a huge difference in her appearance and her demeanor. She was happy almost all of the time now. There were still times when I would see her thinking hard, and she looked downcast. Whenever, I saw her looking too sad, I would go up to her and tickle her until she couldn’t stop laughing, and then we would have a quick cuddle. “What about
The Jolly Postman
?”

“Yes, yes.” She sat up eagerly. “I want to read it to you
, please.”

“I’d be happy for you to read it to me.”

“Noah,” she said my name slowly. “Do you ever think about Palm Bonita?”

“Sometimes.” I smiled at her slowly, and my stomach lurched. So far, we hadn’t really had any conversations about Monica
, and I was worried that she was going to have a bad delayed reaction. Lucky had suggested that we go to a child therapist together to make sure that no issues developed, but I hadn’t thought that was necessary. “Why?”

“I was just thinking about the day that we first met.” She blinked at me. “Do you miss Monica?”

“No.” I felt heat ride in my face. I could still remember the first time she had seen me, while I had been in bed with her stepmother. I was praying to God that she wasn’t talking about that incident, but rather about the more formal introduction. “Do you?”

“Not really.” She shook her head and bit her lip. “Does that make me a bad girl?”

“Of course not, sweetheart.” I stared at her innocent nine-year-old face and felt tongue-tied. I really didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like I could tell her that there was no way in hell I missed that bitch Monica and that no one would ever call her a bad girl for hating the witch. “Monica loved you in the best way that she could,” I took a hold of her hand. “But she didn’t really know how to love.”
Anyone but herself
. “She loved you in her own way, but needed to take care of her own issues.”

“I’m glad she left me with you.” Skylar’s eyes were wide and I could tell that she was trying not to cry. “She said that if you didn’t give her money she was going to make things bad for you.”

“Do not worry about what she said, darling. She’s gone from our lives forever.” I pulled her towards me and stroked her hair. “We’re a family now.”

“You, me, Uncle Zane, Aunty Lucky, and the new babies.” She grinned as she pulled away from me. “I can’t wait to have brothers and sisters.”

“They won’t be your siblings.” I laughed at her and pinched her cheek. “They will be your cousins.”

“Oh, okay, yeah. I can’
t wait to have cousins.” She laid back in the bed and yawned again. “And then one day, I can have brothers and sisters as well.”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“And a mommy.” She closed her eyes and her words were slightly slurred. “I’d like to have a real mommy as well.”

“I know
, darling.” Robin’s face flashed in my mind, and I felt a wave of sadness fill my soul. Nothing had been the same after the day I had left Robin’s apartment to rush home without telling her what was going on. She had said that she was willing to move past everything and try again, but we’d only seen each other twice in the last month and both times had been awkward. Every night, I thought about her and making love to her. My body ached to touch her and be touched by her, but we hadn’t slept with each other since that incident. I knew that she was hurt by what happened, but I wasn’t sure what else I could do to get her to open up herself to me, and to give me a new chance. A real new chance. I sighed as I thought about the fact that Skylar was as far away from getting a mommy as I was from figuring out Robin. I was about to stand up and get the book when I realized that Skylar was sleeping. I looked down at her sweet face as she slept and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning the light off and exiting the room.

I walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen to see if I could find something to eat
, as I had forgotten to make myself something when Skylar had been acting up.

“That was quick,” Zane looked up from the fridge as I entered the kitchen. “Want a beer?”

“Yeah, thanks.” I nodded. “Skylar fell asleep already. Long day, I guess.”

“I bet.” Zane opened the bottles and handed me one. “Lucky was right
, though, you’re doing a great job.”

“Thanks.” I took a chug and sighed. “It’s a lot harder than it looks.” I opened a cupboard and looked for some chips. “Want to share a pizza?” I closed the cupboard door and walked over to the fridge.

“Sure.” Zane grinned. “You call and I’ll go ask Lucky what she wants on her slices.”

“I thought she liked ham and onions?”

“She does,” He rolled his eyes. “But she’s on this thing about not assuming she wants what she wants.”

“What?” I laughed, slightly confused.

“We all know she wants ham and onions on her pizza, but we can’t order that until she says that’s what she wants.” He made a face at me. “I think it’s the pregnancy brains, it’s made her all crazy.”

“Oh,”
I said, laughing.

“Don’t get married, bro. It will save you from many gray hairs.”

“You’re not married yet,” I laughed. “You can always walk away and give a better guy a shot.”

“Why do I feel you’re not joking?” He half-smiled at me, and stared at me. “Everything okay with you and Robin?”

“There is no me and Robin.” I looked away. “Go and get Lucky’s permission and I’ll call. You want pepperoni, peppers, onions and extra cheese, right?”

“You got it.” He laughed. “I’ll be right back. Why don’t you give Robin a call and see if she wants to come over.”

“She won’t.”

“Give her a call anyway. Just to see.” He gave me a look. “If you like her, you’ll need to pursue her a bit harder.”

“I’m trying, she’s just getting over what happened.”

“Can you blame her? She let you into her life, into her bed and maybe into her heart and you held the biggest secrets you could from her.”

“It wasn’t because I wasn’t falling for her.” I said defensively. “In fact, she’s the only girl I’ve felt that connected to.”

“Does she know that?” He looked at me with a stern expression.

“I don’t know.” I sighed. “She doesn’t care.”

“Stop being so defeatist, Noah. I know you think you’re the savior of the world and the keeper of all of mankind
’s secrets, but you’re just a human like the rest of us. You do make mistakes, and while I know your heart does what you think is best, sometimes you get it wrong.”

“Okay, tell it like it is.” I made a face at Zane. “I know I fucked up. I just though
t
.”

“Stop thinking already. I know what you thought, I’m sure Robin knows what you thought, but sometimes you have to think about what the other people are thinking as well.”

“So I’m a screw-up, huh?”

“Basically.” He laughed punched me in the shoulder. “But I still love you. Just call her and see what happens. I’ll be back after Lucky tells me what I already know.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll call.” I turned away from him and pulled out my phone. I stared at it for a few seconds before pressing the numbers into the phone. I held my breath as the phone rang, and I could feel the disappointment seeping out of my pores as it kept ringing. I was about to hang up, when she answered the phone.

“Hello,” her voice was soft and my heart ached at the sound of it.

“Robin!” I said brightly and too eagerly. I stifled a groan.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” I answered and then there was a moment of silence. “How are you?”

“Fine.”

“I tried calling you a few

.”

“I was busy.” She said abruptly.

“I see.” I bit my lip, unsure of what to say next. “So Zane and I were about to order pizza and I was wondering if you would like to come over and share some with us.”

“Really? It’s 8pm.” I could tell she was feeling feisty by the tone in her voice.

“Yeah, we’re having a late dinner.”

“Am I the dinner?”

“What?” I frowned into the phone.

“You call me out of the blue at 8pm at night and ask if I want to come over for dinner. And I want to know if I’m the dinner. Is this a booty call?”

“Of course it’
s
.”

“Of course, if it is, you wouldn’t tell me. I’d be the last one to know
, right?”

“Robin, this is not a booty call.” I sighed. “Honestly, I think a booty call would be if I had called you at midnight. And then I wouldn’t ask you to come over for pizza.”

“Oh, you’d ask me to come over for some dick.”

“
Uhm,” I tried not to laugh. I knew that she hadn’t intended to be funny, but for reason I couldn’t stop myself from finding her last statement really funny. “If you want to.”

“What?” she screeched
, and I knew she was surprised at what I had said. But I was too tired to mess around anymore. Either she liked me or she didn’t. Either way, I wasn’t going to play games.

“If you want to come over for some pizza, then that’s fine. If you want to come over for some dick, preferably my dick, then that is also fine. Big Noah was talking to me the other day and he did tell me that h
e misses you, so I’m sure you would be very welcome.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“I’ve been told that once or twice.”

“You’re possibly the biggest asshole I know.” She continued.

“Big Noah just told me that he wouldn’t mind exploring your asshole.” I joked and the phone went silent. “Sorry, Robin. I didn’t mean that. It was a bad joke. I have a problem of joking at the most inappropriate times.”

“Yes, you do.” Robin gasped and then burst out laughing and my heart soared with hope at the sound of her giggles.

“Let me make it up to you. Whatever you want on your pizza is all yours. I’ll even buy you your own.”

“I don’t know.” She hesitated.

“Please.” I begged. “I miss you.”

“I guess.” She sighed. “But I’m not staying over.”

“Fine.” I grinned into the phone. “You don’t have to stay over.”

“Big Noah better not try and beg me.” She laughed. “
’Cause I’ll tell him no, too.”

“To his face?”

“You wish.”

“More like he does.” I shifted my legs as I felt big Noah awakening at the possibility of coming out for the night.

“Big Noah and small Noah both wish.” She giggled. “Though, I don’t know which one is in charge of the other.”

“No fair.” I groaned
, because at that moment, I wasn’t sure either. “Anyways, I’m going to hang up now, so that you can come over before you change your mind.”

“Scaredy-cat,” she laughed. “I’m not a flake
, you know.”

“Uh huh.”

“Okay, I’m just going to go brush my hair and I’ll be over.”

“Don’t forget your toothbrush.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” I said quickly. “See you soon.”

“Wait, Noah.” She almost screamed into the phone.

“Yes.” I held my breath, wondering if she had been playing me, trying to get my hopes up before changing her mind.

“Pepperoni and jalapenos please.”

“Huh?”

“On the pizza.”

“Oh
, yeah,” I laughed.

“There are going to be pizzas
, right?”

“Of course.” I answered quickly, hoping her mind didn’t start jumping to conclusions.

“Okay, I guess—”

“I
gotta go.” I said hurriedly. “See you soon.” And then I hung up. There was no way I was going to give her the option to change her mind. I stood there for a few minutes with a huge grin on my face and happiness in my heart as I realized that she was definitely coming. But that wasn’t the reason for my thudding heart and hopeful mindset. That was because she had sounded like she was open to really giving me another chance to make it up to her. It was crazy that I cared about her so much; we barely knew each other, but I already felt so connected to her. I knew that if I didn’t try to make things right with us, I would lose her. Scratch that, I needed to make things better than right. I needed her to give me a new chance, a fresh chance. Because I had a feeling that if she did that, things would work out for the best.