#Fam: A Ten Years Later Novella (Hashtag #9)

Chapter 10

10

Romeo

Do me a solid and keep my kids busy for an hour, I texted Trent after washing all the cake out of my ears.

His reply was nearly instant. I’ll make it two.

He was a good brother. A good dad and uncle too.

Smiling, I tossed the cell on the lounge chair by the wide-open doors leading out onto the deck where my wife was sitting, legs folded beneath her and a towel draped around her back. Lying on the deck beside her was a hairbrush that she’d used to comb through her wet shoulder-length locks.

Not willing to waste one minute of our two-hour alone time, I strolled out across the deck, naked as the day I was born. Everyone was at the clubhouse, and the only thing around us was ocean. With the sun down and the moon in the sky, the air was cooler than earlier in the day but still too balmy to be considered cold.

I sank behind Rim, spreading my legs to fit her between my thighs. She sighed and leaned into my chest, surrendering all her weight.

Humming, I tugged the edge of the towel off her shoulder and brushed her hair out of the way to kiss across her skin and lick up her neck. Her head tilted, and she reached for my hand, threading our fingers together.

I continued kissing across her freshly washed skin, the faint taste of ocean painting my tongue. Her small ass wiggled back, fitting deeper against me and turning my semi into a full-on raging hard-on.

“I will never have enough of you,” I whispered against her ear before tugging the lobe between my lips.

She whimpered, moving our clasped hands beneath the towel to press them against her bare waist.

“Mrs. Anderson,” I rumbled, caressing her skin. “Are you naked out here on this deck?”

“It’s later, Romeo.” She beckoned me.

Untangling my fingers from hers, my palm slid over her breast to massage her supple skin. Her nipple hardened instantly, and I rolled it between two fingers, plucking until it was puckered tight.

Rimmel craned her head, and I lowered mine, claiming her mouth in an ardent kiss. Hunching around her, the pressure of my hands increased, rubbing her breasts and waist as my tongue twirled with hers until there was no separation.

Boldly, she sucked my lower lip into her mouth, the sweet pressure of her enthusiasm had my dick rocking against her hip as my hand fell away from her breast, dragging down to the center of her body.

We both groaned, her mouth unlatching from my lip as she shuddered in pleasure. Without hesitation, I dipped two fingers right into her silky heat and swirled them around.

Her legs trembled as I pushed in and out of her core, her body arching against mine as her hands clung to any part of me she could grab.

Waves lapped against the deck, the balmy breeze wrapped around us, and lust turned me blind to everything else.

Groaning, I slipped my fingers from her body, dragging them up her middle, leaving a trail of wetness between her breasts as I continued to her mouth.

Her lips parted the moment I reached her chin, and I pushed those two digits drenched in her desire against her tongue. She sucked instantly, and my dick jumped just imagining that hot little tongue swirling around my tip.

“Does that taste good, baby?” I wanted to know.

Her head bobbed as she sucked me even deeper.

I moved restlessly, and she pulled back, tossing the towel from between us and turning around so she could straddle my lap.

My rigid dick poked her instantly, the breath whooshing out of my lungs the second her slick core greeted my swollen head.

She gasped. “Mr. Anderson. Are you naked out here on this deck?”

“Sit on my dick, Rimmel,” I growled, far too impatient for more teasing. “Right now.”

My head fell back when her body sheathed mine, snug walls silky and warm as she pushed down and stretched to accommodate my girth.

Fingers twisting gently in my damp hair, she pulled my head down, and I blinked open my eyes to stare at her ever-beautiful face. “You feel so good,” I told her.

Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pressed our chests together and planted her chin on my shoulder. I held her as tight as I dared, hoping to imprint her shape on mine as I rocked up into her, burrowing deep into her core.

We swayed together, our bodies straining, her fingertips biting into the muscles of my back as she ground down on my lap with wild abandon. Pleasure built, pressure and desperation spilled over, and I pushed up, taking her with me and striding through the open sliders and to the king-sized bed made up in white.

It was slightly cooler inside, sheer white curtains billowing in the ocean air. The only light was from the moon over the ocean, the pristine white covering on the bed a beacon for our bodies.

I laid my wife out across the mattress and kneeled between her legs.

“Wider,” I rasped and felt insane satisfaction when she spread her thighs farther.

Feeling possessive and greedy, I laid my palms against her legs and pushed them wider, opening her up until I could see it all. Pinning her down, I lowered, licking right up her slit, which was open and wet.

We both groaned, and I dived in, practically suffocating myself with her body, using her as my only oxygen. She trembled and whispered my name, straining against the bed as I availed myself of her taste.

Her frame went rigid, and I felt her waist arch. She fought against it, but I doubled down. “Give it to me, baby,” I said, spearing her with my tongue and fingers.

She shattered against my tongue, her body spasming as she came and her moans echoing to the ceiling. Her hands twisted in the covers as she bucked, and I kept going, sucking and licking until she collapsed against the sheets in a boneless heap.

Licking softly, I drew back, pressing a few sloppy kisses on the inside of her thigh.

Panting, she stared down at me, her brown eyes glittering in the night. “My turn.”

A thrill shot down my spine, tingling my lower back and making me smile with anticipation. I shot to my knees as she sat up. Grabbing my hips, she pulled herself closer, fitting her body between my spread knees and swallowing my dick like the pro she was.

This woman knew exactly how to work me over, the perfect angle to twirl her tongue, and the exact right amount of pressure to suck. Nails digging into my bare hips, she pushed deeper, taking me past her gag reflex until my engorged head hit the back of her throat.

I groaned, pushing a little deeper as her fingers curled into my crack, encouraging me to use her more. I nudged my head against the silky skin of her throat, and she hummed, the slight vibration making tingles race across my back.

Worrying it was too much, I began easing off, but she made a sound of protest and pulled me back, swallowing around my rod and making me shudder. My fingers dug into her shoulder, and she swallowed again before slowly, torturously dragging down my rod until her lips rested against the tip.

Panting, I looked down, finding her wide eyes already staring up at me, her expression far away and wrecked.

Swiping my thumb over her cheekbone, I unleashed the full weight of my love for her in my eyes. “I said it years ago, and I’ll say it right now. I’ll say it in another ten years and then another after that. You, Rimmel, you are my once-in-a-lifetime. My greatest love, my favorite girl, and my biggest accomplishment.”

“Oh, Romeo…”

She could sigh my name a million more times and it would never get old.

“You’re my greatest love too. Always.”

I pushed her down and thrust into her, our cries mingling with the sounds of the ocean as I claimed her again and again. Her body molded to mine, fitting together like two halves of a single whole. Pleasure rode me hard, everything reducing to the feel of her clenching around me and the soft sound of our skin slapping.

Release built inside me, tightening my stomach and drawing up my balls. My fingers curled into the sheets as I thrust and groaned.

“Come for me again, baby. Come all over my cock.”

She wrapped her legs around my hips, and I thrust deep, holding myself still so she could rock and rub against me.

She cried out, and the dam inside me broke. I threw my head back, a deep guttural groan ripping out of me to echo around the room. My dick convulsed inside her, my release emptying into her body, claiming her from the inside out.

I continued to thrust, pushing as deep as I could as aftershocks sparked like lightning down my spine. Completely spent, I dropped onto the bed, rolling us so she was on top of me. Her cheek pressed against my sweat-slicked chest, and she sighed heavily.

“You still got it,” she mused.

I laughed. “Don’t you forget it.”

“Like you’d let me.”

I grinned up to the ceiling. “If I still got it, it’s because you inspire it in me.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she sang.

“I don’t need to go anywhere, baby. I’m already where I want to be.”

Lifting her head, she pressed a kiss over my heart.

We lay there in comfortable silence for long moments with me pulling my fingers through her damp hair. “I got you a present.”

She snorted and propped her chin on my chest to look at me. “Yes, Romeo. Your cock is a present.”

I threw back my head and laughed. “I like the way you think.”

Her eyes rolled. “I’ve been with you for more than fifteen years. I know exactly how your mind works.”

Chuckling, I shimmied out from beneath her, and she flopped on the bed.

“Hey, where are you going?”

I reached into the dresser across the room and pulled out a white velvet box. “So you were expecting this, then?”

Her face softened as she pushed into a sitting position, her beautiful body unabashedly on display. “I never expect things with you, Romeo. You exceed any expectation I could ever dream up.”

My heart somersaulted, and I carried the gift over. “In that case, this is for you.”

Every time I gave her a gift, her hands fluttered around it almost as if it were too precious to just reach out and grab. And every time she did it, something in me loved her a little more.

I had no idea how this woman managed to find so much love in me, but it seemed when it came to her, it was boundless.

“It’s your retirement. Why would you get me a gift?”

I shook my head. “It’s not just my retirement, baby. It’s ours. You sacrificed and gave a lot for me to have the career I did.” I hesitated, old and familiar doubts rearing their heads. I shook free of them, not wanting them to encroach on her moment. “Everyone might be celebrating me, but you are the one who made this possible.”

“That was all you, Romeo.”

“No.” I was swift and decisive, climbing onto the bed to mirror her position. “I know as sure and steady as my heartbeat that the main reason I made it all the way to the golden age of fifteen in football is because of you and the support you gave without fail.”

She started to shake her head, but I leaned in, grasping her face and holding it in my palms. “You picked up a lot of slack. You traveled. Dealt with tired, whiny kids. School projects, parent conferences, football practices. Suffered through constant, scrupulous, and mean media attention. Rabid fans.”

“Bobble-headed Barbies,” she muttered, wrinkling her cute nose.

Ah, I love that she still gets jealous.

“Watched me get sacked, worried over my injuries, fed me, washed my laundry, put up with too much time away?—”

Her fingers pressed against my lips, silencing my tirade. “I’d do it all again a million times over. It’s not a sacrifice when it’s for someone I love. For you.”

“Open the box,” I said, gruff.

She always said I had the pretty words, but hers always hit the hardest.

She smiled when I pushed it toward her and then sighed as her hands finally settled around it. “It’s soft,” she whispered, rubbing her palm over the white fabric.

The tiny hinges were silent as she lifted the lid, her small gasp audible even against my thundering heart. I was nervous.

This woman made me nervous.

I just wanted so badly to make her happy. To make sure she understood just how much of me she owned. I never wanted her to feel like she’d settled. That she’d traded something for me. For our life.

“Romeo…” Her voice quivered, fingers doing that fluttering thing again over the inside of the box. “This is… gorgeous .”

Something in me relaxed, the reverence in her voice all I needed to hear.

Her fingers continued to hover before pressing against her throat. “It’s…”

“Our legacy.” I finished. “Yours and mine.”

Tears spilled over her cheeks, and she swiped at them furiously. “Oh, don’t let me make it a mess.” She worried.

Using my thumbs, I dried her cheeks and then reached for the necklace she’d yet to touch.

“Where did you get this?” she asked.

“I had it made. Just for you,” I explained, palming the brooch-like pendant in my palm. It was oval and similar in size to the pendant she loved so much that once belonged to her mother.

“The chain is diamond cut, so its extra strong for a little hazard like you,” I teased, and she smiled.

The tip of her finger caressed the large oval stone making up the pendant. “What is this?”

“White rainbow moonstone,” I answered, tilting it a little so she could see the various colors. It looked like an opal to me, a milky-white stone with ribbons of color throughout. There were pink, peach, gray, and blue with hints of green. Under certain lights, there was yellow… It was endlessly a new color to be found in every new light.

“It’s set in twenty-four-carat gold,” I explained, showing her the flat back that would rest against her skin.

“And the tree,” she whispered, still studying it like it deserved all her concentration.

“It’s handmade of gold too,” I confirmed, taking in the single tree, our family tree, covering the center. It had a sturdy trunk with many strong branches reaching out to the golden edge. The moonstone behind it looked sort of like the sky.

On the end of the branches were a few stones. Seven of them to be exact. The birthstone of each of our four kids along with hers and mine.

“I meant what I said at dinner. This family, our family, will forever be our greatest legacy.”

She fell into me, crying against my shoulder, wiping her snot and tears all over my freshly showered chest. “I swear, Roman Anderson, you are too good to be true.”

She was good for my ego.

Pulling her back, I tipped up her chin. “It is true. It’s right here on our family tree.”

She took the necklace then. The sight of it in her palm was so right. “Romeo?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s an extra birthstone.” She pointed out a black diamond on one of the branches. “Whose is this?”

“You don’t know?” I teased.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t ask!”

Teasing her would never get old. “It’s Murphy’s.”

Her eyes widened. “Murphy?”

“Mmm,” I hummed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “He was sort of our first son, right? Couldn’t leave him out.”

And she started crying again. Loud, shoulder-wracking sobs. “Murphy,” she wailed, flopping into me again.

I held her tight, letting her snot all over me and smiling while it happened.

I missed that cat. He’d lived a long, healthy life, and to this day, I still thought he was a big part of me winning Rimmel back after all the shit hit the fan. He was there from the beginning, and even though he wasn’t here in body anymore, his spirit was. And so were his ashes that sat on our mantel beside his photo.

“I miss him.” Rimmel sniffled after her weeping subsided.

“Well, now he’s right here.” I tapped the hand holding the necklace.

“How did you know his birthstone?” She wondered, sitting back. Strands of hair stuck to her wet cheeks, and the tip of her nose was red. “We never knew his birthday.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t. I picked black because that’s what color he was.”

“It’s perfect,” she whispered, hugging the pendant against her heart. “I love it more than anything.”

“It’s gotta go back.”

Her head whipped up. “What?”

“I’m glad you like it sweetheart, but I can’t have it around if you love it more than me.”

“You gave it to me. That’s why I can love it so much.”

I pursed my lips. “I’ll allow it.”

She thrust it at me. “Help me put it on?”

I clasped it around her neck, gently settling the pendant against her chest.

“Oh, it’s just too precious to wear. But how can I take it off?”

“It’s made to wear, baby. That’s why I bought it.” And made sure it was enforced. And insured. And the design was saved in case I had to have it remade.

Look, I loved my wife, but we all knew she was constantly three seconds away from some sort of disaster.

“I’ll treasure it,” she whispered, laying her hand over it. “Thank you, Romeo.”

I kissed the tip of her nose, crusty with snot.

She popped up, suddenly filled with energy, and bounded off the bed, nearly falling on her ass.

“Rimmel,” I warned.

She laughed and raced into the walk-in closet attached to our room. I heard the zipper on a suitcase, and then she was bounding back onto the bed, the mattress barely bouncing beneath her weight.

“I got you something too!” she said, eyes bright.

I arched an eyebrow. “You did?”

She turned shy. “Well, it’s not a private island and a family reunion,” she said, waving her hand around the room.

“It’s probably better.”

She glanced down at the box wrapped in purple and fingered the slightly crooked gold bow on the top. “It got a little smooshed in the suitcase.”

Leaning in, I kissed her forehead. “Thanks for the gift, baby.”

She pushed it into my lap. “Open it.”

After ripping away the wrapping, I pulled the lid off the box and reached into the tissue paper to pull out a leather-bound book.

“My little #nerd,” I teased. “Got me a book.”

“Well, if you don’t want it…” she sang, reaching to take it away.

I pulled it into my chest, wrapping my arms around it. “Better watch yourself, smalls.”

Not intimidated in the least, she climbed right into my lap. Laughing beneath my breath, I wrapped my arms around her, holding the book in front of us so I could look at it.

The book was bound in brown leather, the same kind footballs were made of. The spine had white leather laces, and the front was embossed with gold foil lettering.

FOOTBALL HISTORY of ROMEO ANDERSON

MARYLAND KNIGHTS

ALPHA U WOLVES

“It’s not just a book,” she said. “It’s your book.”

I caressed the leather, gently rubbed the shiny letters, and traced over the golden football toward the bottom.

“Ever since we started dating, I’ve been collecting things. Photographs, articles that have been printed, even a few of the early notifications from the dreaded #Buzzboss. When you signed with the Knights and all the years after.”

Surprised, I stared down at my wife. “You have?”

Her dark head bobbed, and she opened the cover to show me the inside. “Of course. You love football. It’s your dream. And you are so good at it, the greatest quarterback to ever play.”

“That might be a stretch,” I mused.

“Not to me.” She was definitive. Her fingers tapped on the pages, and I glanced down and started to flip through.

It really was my book.

Flabbergasted, I stared at page after page filled with moments from my entire career, starting at Alpha U and going through the entire fifteen years I’d played for the Knights. Just as she said, there were headlines, news stories, stats, and recountings of every record I set. There were professional photos and personal ones I knew she took herself. There were pics of me on the field with the kids and, hell, photos from when I’d proposed to her in the middle of a game.

“It’s all here,” I said, completely amazed. “My entire career.”

Leaning farther into my chest, she reached back to anchor her hand at the nape of my neck. “Oh no, I could never fit your entire amazing career inside one book. But I put as much as I could, the highlights and even some of the struggles. It’s a record of your achievements, the story of your love and commitment to the game. I wanted you to have this so you could look at it anytime and remember just how incredible you are.”

Groaning, I left the book in her lap and wrapped around her from behind. Pressing my face against her neck, I breathed deep, overcome with emotion. “I can’t believe you did this. This must have taken forever.”

“Fifteen years in the making.” She agreed. “But it was worth it. You are the kind of man books are written about. But I didn’t write this book. You did. I just collected it all and had it made into this.

Sniffling a little, I put my chin on her shoulder, and we flipped through the rest together. When we were done, my chest was tight and my eyes were misty. I made it. We made it.

“Thank you,” I whispered, kissing her cheek. “For making this. For being my biggest fan.”

“Always,” she echoed.

“I love it. And I love you.”

She lifted her chin, and I kissed her. Against her lips, I smiled, “I think it beats the private island vacay.”

She giggled, then turned thoughtful. “How much do you think this cost Braeden anyway?”

“Two mil, easy.”

Gasping, she fell back on her butt, then toppled over the rest of the way. “Two million dollars!”

I reached over and grabbed her bare ass to give it a squeeze.

She squealed.

“Now we know why B did that insurance commercial.”

She sat up. “The one with the talking duck?”

I laughed. “That’d be the one. Never thought I’d see the day the Hulk was talking to a freaking duck on national TV about insurance.”

Her eyes rounded. “You think he did that to pay for this?”

“Seems like something he would do,” I mused. And I knew damn well all these sponsorships and endorsements paid crazy amounts of money. Hell, I’d just done a campaign with a major brand that paid twice that.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip, and I saw her begin to worry.

“Hey,” I said, catching her chin to look into her eyes. “You know we can afford this, right? Braeden too. I’d never let him drop this kinda cash if I thought it would put a hardship on him and Ivy in any way.”

Her eyes cleared, and she nodded. “I know. Ivy makes a lot too. I mean, she has a TV show.”

“I still can’t believe she has an entire TV show based on giving people makeovers.”

“She’s so good at it. Everyone wants to be styled by Ivy.” Rimmel defended.

“I know,” I mused. “Princess has done well for herself.” Between the YouTube channel, presence in People magazine, styling a few A-list celebrities and now everyone on national TV, the girl was fashion royalty.

I was proud of her. She worked hard. Her and B both.

That feeling I shook off earlier tapped the base of my spine, telling me it was still there. “Rim?”

“Hmm?” she said, fingers gently tracing the tree in the center of the new pendant.

“Can I ask you something?”

Hearing the serious note in my voice, she looked up, giving me her complete attention. “Anything.”

“Tell me the truth.”

Her brows furrowed, but she nodded.

“Do you have regrets?”

Surprise flashed over her features. “Regrets?”

“That you didn’t go to vet school like you wanted when we met. Do you feel like you missed out on something because of… me?”

She gasped. It was hella dramatic and moved her entire body. “Oh my god, Romeo! Is that what you think?”

“I don’t think it,” I echoed. “But sometimes I worry.”

She gasped again, falling over with it this time. She was completely ridiculous. But she was naked, so it was okay.

The blankets tugged as she scrambled up, then dove into my lap, wrapping her body around mine to cling like a koala.

“Eyes on me, Roman Anderson.”

I choked at her demand.

Her small, cool fingers found my chin and pulled it down, doing to me what I had done so many times to her. Our eyes collided, and hers were fierce and unflinching, resolve in their depths.

“Now you listen to me,” she said, squeezing my chin. “I have never, not once, not even for a fraction of a millisecond ever regretted a moment with you. Or any decision I ever made. I told you all those years ago that my dream changed. My dream was you and this family… our kids. You gave me all of that and so much more. I might not be a veterinarian, but we have three clinics that do so much good and keep me so busy. There isn’t any room in my life for anything to be missing because it is so full, and the reason it’s so full is all because of you.”

Well. I felt better.

“I love this life. You .” Her hand wrapped around the pendant. “Our legacy.”

I kissed her then. Long and languid until my lungs screamed for air and spots started to float behind my eyelids. Her hands were everywhere, in my hair, gripping my ears, and scratching a path down the length of my back. I flipped her onto her back and thrust deep, the warm silk of her body welcoming me home.

“Fifteen years of loving you,” I told her. “But our legacy is far from over, baby. Because you and me? This fam? We’re an entire lifetime.”

An entire lifetime of #love.

The End