“You were beautiful when we first met.” Great, I don’t need him to tell me how different I am now. I know.

“But now, that beauty has become something straight out of a f**king pin-up calendar.”

“What?”

“Look at you.” His eyes roam my body from my hair to my toes. “I need to touch you so that I know you’re real—that you’re really here.” He steps into the shower and pulls the curtain closed. I can’t talk; I feel like I’m being cornered by a large predator. He takes another step towards me, making me retreat a step back, causing my back to hit the cold tile behind me. One of his hands goes to the wall above my head, the other to my waist, pulling my lower body against him.

“What are you doing?” I breathe.

“Gonna kiss you.” His eyes drop to my mouth and my tongue wets my bottom lip. “Jesus,” he groans right before his mouth touches mine; he nips and pulls my bottom lip making me gasp. “Open your mouth.”

“Cash,” I whimper, unsure. His fingers on my skin pull me closer and his mouth opens over mine. His tongue touches mine and one of my hands goes to his hair. He growls, his other hand tugging my head to the side as he takes over the kiss and devours my mouth. My other hand goes to his bicep to hold on. I can feel my ni**les scrape against the cotton of his t-shirt as his hand at my waist moves down to my ass. He is rock hard, and I can feel the length of him against my stomach. His mouth leaves mine and travels to my ear, biting down before kissing it, then down my neck. His hand in my hair tugs to the side, giving him more access. He licks over my pulse, then down to my breast. His mouth latches onto my nipple. “Oh, my God.” My head falls back against the tile. His mouth travels to my other nipple, giving it the same treatment. “Cash,” I moan, my head tilting forward to watch him.

“Can I taste you, baby?”

“What?” My body is on fire. He stops what he is doing, his head coming up and his hands holding my face.

“I want to eat your pussy. Will you let me?”

“We never did that,” I tell him, something he should know since he was there the night we had sex. We only did it once and it was perfect, until two days later when he called to tell me we couldn’t see each other anymore. “I mean, I have never done that.” His eyes went wide, then darkened.

“That makes me very happy.” His mouth comes back down to mine; it feels like he is trying to brand me with his mouth, completely controlling mine. His hand on my face skims slowly down the side of my breast, along my side, and stops at the edge of my panties. I can feel the wetness between my thighs. My cl*tstarts pulsing, needing attention. Teasingly, his fingers travel on the inside edge of my panties, then just below my belly button; my stomach muscles contract. My pulse speeds up, and finally his fingers slide in and over my clit, my body jumping at the contact. “Is all this for me?” he whispers. My answer is a whimper. “You’re gonna have to be quiet, baby; my family is out there,” he says softly. My body freezes—how could I have forgotten where we were? Before I can protest, he slides two fingers inside me, his mouth covering mine, and all thoughts leave my head as I moan down his throat. “That was close. Now, if you want me to eat your pussy, you’re going to have to make sure that you’re quiet, can you do that?” I shake my head, making him chuckle. “If you’re not quiet, then you will be spanked when I take you to my house and the kids go to sleep.”

“Cash.” I feel my inner walls clench.

“You like that, huh?” His fingers move faster inside me and I can feel an orgasm building. “You’re not allowed to come until my mouth is on you.” I want to yell at him to get to it, but he just stands there, his eyes on mine. “Jesus, you should see yourself right now.” I think he’s going to kiss me again, but instead, he nips my chin then drops to his knees, lifting my thigh to his shoulder. His fingers tug my thong to the side and his mouth is on me in an instant. I start grinding down against his tongue. I can feel my orgasm building—it’s going to be huge, life-altering. And I know I’m not going to be quiet when I come.

“You have to stop.” I push on his head, trying to get away. “Cash, I can’t be quiet,” I whimper. He doesn’t stop; if anything, his pace increases, his tongue and fingers moving faster. “I'm going to come,” I cry as I feel myself begin to contract around his fingers. My skin lights from the inside, and a million colors explode behind my eyes. I feel like I’m going to pass out. “Cash,” I moan loudly before I catch myself and bite down on my arm. My head is back, eyes closed, and I feel my foot touch the floor as he lets my leg down from his shoulder. My legs feel wobbly, but he holds my h*ps until he stands so he can pull me to his chest. I don’t know how long we stand like that, but it feels like forever. All I want to do is curl up with him and go to sleep.

“I love the way you taste, and I love the way you let go the minute my mouth is on you,” he says quietly. I can feel his hard length against my stomach, and my hand starts to move towards the button of his jeans. His hand grabs mine, stopping me. “There isn’t enough time for that. When I finally get inside you, I'm going to want to take my time and have you in my bed, not here in my brother’s shower. Though I do plan on having you in the shower…just not this one,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “We need to go out to the party; everyone is going to be wondering where we are.”

“Oh no,” I groan, rubbing my face. Everyone is going to know what we have been up to while we’ve been in the bathroom.

“Everyone’s outside.” He tilts my head back with both his hands at my jaw. “You’re so beautiful.” He kisses me softly on my lips then my forehead before opening the shower curtain. “You should just put the suit back on under your dress.”

“I'm not wearing a bikini.”

“Lil, your body is perfect, and it looks good on you. Wear the suit.”

“I thought you said—”

“No, I said that I didn’t want Kenton or Sven to see you in it, not that it doesn’t look good, because it does.”

“I don’t know.” I pick my dress up from where it fell into the tub when he surprised me.

“Baby, look at me.” My eyes go to his. “You look perfect; wear that suit.”

“Cash.”

“Our daughter grew inside of you. I loved your body before, and I love it even more now.”

“Fine, I’ll wear it.” I can’t help but smile. I put the bikini bottoms back on, then the top before pulling my dress over my head. Once I'm dressed again, we head outside. Cash was right; everyone is out around the pool, and all the kids are playing out in the large grassy area where a large kids’ playhouse is set up. Then I see it—a large dog the size of a horse. One of the little girls is laying over its back while it walks around the playhouse sniffing the grass.

“Is that Beast?” I stop, looking at Cash.

“Yep, and the little girl on his back is July.” He laughs as we watch her try to stay on the dog’s back; he acts like he doesn’t even notice her. Cash points out each of the girls; three of them are Asher and November’s July, May, and June, and one is Hanna, who is Trevor and Liz’s Daughter.

“So Jax is the only boy?”

“Right now, yeah, but Liz is pregnant, and they found out a few days ago that they are having a boy.”

“Wow.” I look around the backyard filled with people and all the kids running around. We walk around while Cash introduces me to everyone, then wander over to the grill where an older gentleman—obviously, Cash and his brothers’ dad—is standing with Asher.

“Dad, I want you to meet Lilly. Lilly, this is my dad, James.”

“Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Oh no, now I gotta train another one.” He points the spatula in his hand towards me. “You call me James or Dad—preferably Dad—none of this ‘sir’ business.”

“Okay.” I smile and laugh.

“I feel old enough with all my grandkids running around calling me papa or grandpa. I don’t need all my pretty daughters-in-laws callin’ me sir.”

“I'm no—”

“Oh, how sweet!” A woman’s voice cuts me off. “You want Cash’s new pu**y to call you daddy.” I look up and see a beautiful woman with short shorts, a halter-top, and shoulder-length dark brown hair. She’s tall and wearing wedge heels, making her even more towering.

“What are you doing here, Jules?” Cash asks next to me, and I realize that this woman is his ex-wife.

“I came to see my son.”

“You know you’re supposed to call.”

“Why, so you can hide this bitch away? Like I don’t know that you have been sleeping around since before we got divorced.”

“Seriously?” Cash growls, then I feel a hand on my elbow and I'm being tugged back.

“Mommy.” I hear Jax’s voice and look over to see Ashlyn standing with him off to the side of his mother. “This is my sister, Ashlyn.”

“Oh no,” I whisper just as Jules’s eyes go to Jax, who is now holding Ashlyn’s hand.

“You don’t have a sister,” Jules growls.

“I do!” He stomps his foot. “Daddy said she’s my sister. He even said we have the same eyes, look,” he says, opening his eyes up wide.

I take a step towards them, wanting to grab both of the kids and get them out of this situation. A hand holds me back at my elbow. I look over my shoulder and am surprised to see it’s actually Nico. I glare, and then look back at the kids. “Ashlyn, Jax, let’s go inside so Daddy can talk to Jules,” I say as Cash walks over to where the kids are, picking them both up.

“My son isn’t going anywhere with you, you f**king bitch,” Jules says to me, and Ashlyn starts to cry. Then Susan and November are there, taking them both from Cash and heading inside. I look towards the yard and see Liz and Trevor taking the other kids into the house.

“Jules, you know that I'm Jax’s granddad, and I would hate to put his mom in jail,” James says; his eyes are cold, and I don’t think he would hesitate to do what he says.

“Oh, like you would really give a fuck,” she says leaning forward, and then looks at me. “Who the f**k are you?”

“You need to leave, Jules. Now,” Cash says, taking a step in front of me. “Bro, take Lil inside for me.” He looks past me to Nico.

“Sure thing.” Nico puts his arm around my shoulder and starts to lead us inside.

“You should stay with him,” I say quietly, looking up at Nico. I don’t think he is a fan of mine, but I can tell he loves his brother, and I love—

Wait…love him? I shake my head. No, I don’t. I care about Cash. Yes, as the father of my child. And want him to be safe, and I can tell that woman is all kinds of crazy. “Please.” I fist my hand into his shirt.

His eyes flash something, but it’s gone before I can catch it. “All right, go on inside,” he says quietly. My stomach is in knots as I pull the door closed behind me. It’s not jealousy; it’s something else. I don’t like the way that woman spoke to her son, and I also didn’t like how she spoke to Cash and his family.

“She is never going to change.”

“What?” I look over at Liz.

“When she first came forward saying she was pregnant, Cash was devastated about losing you.”

“What?” I repeat like an idiot.

“I mean, he didn’t say anything, but you could see it. You know?” she asks, her eyes coming to mine. I nod in understanding. I was devastated too. “But then I thought, I mean, I guess we all thought that maybe they could end up happy. Crazier things have happened, right?” She shrugs.

“I guess,” I say, feeling like a horrible person for being ecstatic that he wasn’t happily married to her right now.

“She was never happy, and did everything in her power to make him unhappy too.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs again. “All I know is that the day Cash told us that he was getting a divorce, I popped a bottle of champagne.”

“Was she really that bad?”

“You don’t even know the half of it,” she says, looking out the window, watching as Cash, his dad, and Nico all stand watching as Jules flings her arms around. I can tell Cash says something to her when she looks at the glass door, her eyes on me.

“If looks could kill,” Liz says.

“Yeah. I agree.”

“Don’t worry; she’s a lot of bark, and no bite.”

“Okay,” I say, not believing it for a second. I could tell from the look on her face that this is just the beginning. I watch out the glass door as she stomps off through the yard. Cash’s head hangs low. Then Nico is there, putting his arm around his shoulders and telling him something. Then his dad is in front of him, doing the same. I watch for a while, but once Jules doesn’t come back, I go to check on the kids.

*~*~*

“Hey, baby. What are you doing?” My eyes open and Cash is standing above me wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks. I guard my eyes against the sun, trying to get a better view of his chest and abs. The minute I move, Jax wiggles, and I remember that I have one kid napping on each side of me.

“We were reading a story.” I look down at both kids. I put sunblock lotion on them earlier, but it may be time for more. “What time is it?” I ask as Cash lays down on the other side of Ashlyn.