Sunshine After The Rain

Chapter Forty-Five

Sophie was curled up in her down comforter by the time Lucas made his way to her bedroom to say goodnight. They thought it would easier on the children to have him sleep in the guest bedroom, but as soon as he filled her doorway, Sophie was ready to deviate. "Sleep in here."

Only one corner of Lucas' mouth curved up, and he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. First his belt came off, then his jeans. Next were his socks, and then Lucas stopped.

"I don't want your shirt on either," Sophie told him. "I'll never be able to unsee what I saw in my kitchen, and trust me when I tell you that you should never wear a shirt. Ever."

Lucas let out a barely audible chuckle, then stripped himself of his black t-shirt. "I don't think I'd be allowed in any businesses without one. You'd have to do all my shopping for me."

"No one would be kicking you out. Trust me."

After he slid into bed, beneath the sheet and comforter, Lucas held his arm out to the side until Sophie took the invitation and curled up next to him. "You and I have been through so damn much these last seven months. It's hard to believe we've never slept next to each other."

They had been through a lot. So much time had been spent avoiding the inevitable, then more time walking their own separate paths, waiting for those paths to wind their way back to each other. But that's what Lucas needed. He needed her to leave in order to find the courage to finally chase after her. And Sophie needed to leave to realize that starting over meant little without that missing piece of her family. 

Yes, he was her brother-in-law and the uncle to her children, but those weren't the roles the universe meant him to play in her life. He was so much more than that, so much more than she realized when she'd first met him or even first laid by her side before the funeral. They'd met on a balmy day in the early summer, collided in autumn only to be pulled apart. Now here they finally were, on the other side of the country curled up against one another as snow fell outside. 

"I overheard the conversation you had with Justin," Sophie spoke against his shoulder. 

"This family has a serious eavesdropping problem."

Sophie's laugh was light and tired as she placed a hand on his bare chest. "It's how we communicate, apparently. You'll get used to it." When her laughter died down and the room became quiet, Sophie spoke again. "If he knows about the affair, do you think I should tell him about the baby?"

The knowledge that he even knew what sex was was news to her. Jason never got around to having the talk with him, at it was the first time since he was little that any of it was brought up. But Justin was almost ten, so it wasn't a shock to find out he'd learned about it elsewhere. Still, this confirmed it was time to have a more thorough discussion with him about it. 

Lucas let out something between a groan and a sigh. "I'm not touching that shit with a ten foot pole, kid. You're on your own. He kept what he heard a secret, but keeping a baby a secret isn't something I'd trust with a nine year old. But the decision is entirely yours to make. Again, I'm not touching it."

That was fair. Sophie had bigger things in her own household. The questions that remained on the other side of the country could stay there for now. 

"I'm sorry you had to say goodbye to your daughter," Sophie spoke again, moving from one difficult subject to another. "If there had been a way to keep all of us in your life-"

"Just because I let her go doesn't mean she won't always be a part of me, Sophie. But you and those kids deserved more than I could give by keeping her alive in my mind. The biggest piece would always be with Arianna for as long as I allowed myself to hold onto her. The real goodbye happened when I buried her. This was me just finally letting go, and that was as much for me as it was for you. She knew it was time too. The way she walked in and looked at me after I got off the phone with you, you could see it in her eyes. I'll never know if it was her spirit staying with me until she realized I'd be okay without her, or if it was my mind creating her, but either way, it was time I start living again.

"Like I said to Laura, I'll always be a father. And it just so happens there's two little children out there in need of one who come with a mom that I intend to spend the rest of my life with."

Lucas shifted in the bed until he laid on top of her. "So how about you and I start practicing on making a third."

Sophie laughed until the words hit her and her laughter died off. "Do you want a third?"

"With  you," Lucas began, "I want everything. But like I said, tonight's just practice. Unless you aren't on birth control. If that's the case, then I guess it's just a roll of the dice, and I'm okay with what happens either way."

She was on birth control, but before Sophie could tell him that, his mouth covered hers. It wasn't the hard kiss he'd given her the first time, or the soft, sad kiss they'd shared the last. This was something entirely in between. Still filled with need, but not with urgency. Lucas told her before that he wished he'd taken his time with her, and that's what this kiss was. 

He kissed her like he had all the time in the world, and was showing her that he wanted every moment of that time to be shared with her. 

Sophie wrapped her arm against the back of his neck and pulled his body down so it was flush against hers. She was now able to feel all of him, from the stubble of his cheek, to the hairs on his chest, to the erection fighting to break free from his boxers. So that's what Sophie did. She moved her hands down until the grasped the waist of his boxers, then pushed the fabric below his ass. 

Lucas finished the job before sliding her shirt above her breast, taking the nipple into his mouth and flicking it with his tongue. "This is exactly how I should have fucked you the first time, Soph. Taking my time and worshipping ever inch of this body of yours." He flicked the nipple again, then took it between his teeth. 

Her body arched at the sensation, and Sophie's hand flew up to muffle the moan that passed through her lips. 

"The longest series of orgasms you've ever had. How many?" Lucas asked once his mouth left her nipple. 

Sophie's eyes furrowed at the question, but quickly fell back into place once she realized what he was up to. "I know you're up for a challenge, but you only have to beat two."

Two the night Jason proposed, two the night of their honeymoon, and two the day Lucas had taken her in his living room, the second in that event dragged out to feel more like fifty than a single.

"I'll pretend you just said four, so I'm giving you five tonight, Lucas declared. "First one is going to be with my fingers, the seconds going to be with my tongue. The third is going to be with my dick deep inside you, and the forth is going to be in the shower as I wipe your body clean. The fifth is going to leave you in a blissful coma. You won't be allowed to scream out during a single one of those. By the time you wake up in the morning, the kids will already be fed and off to school, and I'll be able to fuck you as hard as I please. You'll be screaming so loud the cops are gonna get called."

Sophie wasn't sure she'd ever smiled that big in her life. "Should we make up a sign for my front door. 'Not getting murdered, just getting fucked to oblivion'?"

Lucas flashed her a wink.