Axel brushed my hair behind my shoulder and then kissed the side of Carrie’s head. I loved how affectionate he was with her. He had jumped into fatherhood with both feet, and it made me so happy. “I want us to be like this all the time,” he whispered. “All of us together like a family.”

“Does that mean you still want us to move in with you?” I asked softly.

“YES!” he said loudly, causing Carrie to stir. He clamped his lips shut, and we both tried to stifle our giggles at his enthusiasm. “Shhh, it’s okay, baby girl,” he said quietly, putting his hand comfortingly on her little shoulder, and she calmed at his touch. “YES!” he said to me much more quietly with a big grin on his face.

“We’re an awful lot of trouble,” I teased.

“I love trouble,” he said. “And I love you both so much.”

“We love you, too.” I reached out and linked my fingers with his, and we rested our joined hands on Carrie’s side as she slept between us.

FOURTH QUARTER

FOURTH QUARTER

40. Blaire

Blaire

It was almost two weeks after Carrie had the flu, and she had totally recovered. Axel and I hadn’t gotten sick, but then again, I had the immune system of an alligator from being exposed to so much at the hospital.

We had started to move our things into Axel’s apartment, intending to take it slow to make the transition easier for Carrie, but our little girl was excited about the move, so we were pretty much living in his, um, our apartment now, with a couple nights a week reserved for Carrie to have sleepovers at Evan’s. Ev and I also had lunch together when our schedules allowed.

Tonight, Carrie was staying with Evan, giving Ax and me some much-anticipated alone time. She had slept between us in our bed for a week—at Axel’s overprotective insistence—and then I had a series of overnight shifts the next week, so we had only had sex once since that night in the closet. All I wanted to do was get home and take a shower with my man. The steam. The hot water cascading over our bodies. The thick cock…

Axel had been sending me filthy texts all day long, and I couldn’t wait to get upstairs and partake in his wicked promises. I pretty much sucked at sexting, but Axel Broxton was the fucking kingpin of dirty talk. Whereas I would text, “I want to go down on you,” he would reply with, “I’m going to fuck your throat so deep you won’t be able to breathe unless I allow it.” Sheesh! Why was that so damned hot? Then he followed up with, “I’m going to eat your pussy until I’m not hungry for a week. My head is going to be between your legs for hours, baby. Hours.”