Juniper Hill (The Edens)

When you’re ready, I’ll be here.

Was I ready?

A week ago, no. Knox had picked up on my hesitancy and hadn’t pushed too fast. But now? Maybe I’d needed the week to wrap my head around this. To let him kiss me often. To smile when he smiled. To open my mind to the idea of a someone.

Maybe I’d needed the week to remind myself that Knox wasn’t Oliver. And to remind myself that I wasn’t the same Memphis who’d been blinded by Oliver’s charm.

Not fooled.

Blinded.

The person who’d stolen my sight had been me. I’d shut my eyes to his faults and seen only good looks, money and status.

But I’d had my eyes opened thanks to a baby boy. And when I looked at Knox, I saw the best man I’d ever known.

He had the looks. He had the charm. He had the money and, in Quincy, plenty of status as an Eden. But none of it seemed to matter to him. He cared about honesty and integrity. Family and hard work. He treated me like I was precious and desired.

Was I ready?

Headlights flashed through the window and I leapt off the couch, racing for the door.

One glance at Knox at the base of the stairs and I didn’t need to ask myself any more questions.

My heart answered with a resounding thump. The landing was frozen and cold, but I stepped outside in my bare feet anyway, waiting as he jogged up the stairs. “Well? How’d it go?”

Knox answered by sweeping me into an embrace and carrying me inside, pushing the door closed behind us with his foot. Then his mouth was on mine, our lips melding in that slow, delicious tangle I’d become addicted to this week.

I was breathless by the time he finally set me on my feet. “So? Did Lester like dinner?”

“He told me it was a bold move to serve him mac ’n’ cheese. I told him I had a woman at home who’d promised me it was the best in the world. He agreed.”

“Yes.” I flew at him, jumping into his arms because I knew he’d catch me. “I knew it. I knew he’d love whatever you made.”

“I’ve got leftovers in the truck. Want some?”

“Later.” I dropped my lips to his, losing myself in his taste and his tongue. My legs wound around his hips and when I felt his arousal press into my center, this time, I didn’t back away. As one of his arms moved to hold my thigh, I arched into him, earning a low growl from deep in his chest.

He tore his mouth away. “Fuck, but you can kiss.”

I smiled, pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips. “Kiss me again.”

“I better walk out that door while I still can.”

“Stay,” I whispered.

His hold tightened, his eyes darkened with lust. “Memphis—”

“I’m ready.” I ran my fingers through his thick hair. “I wasn’t a week ago. But I am now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” I trusted Knox. With my body. With my heart.

He was leaning in, his lips almost brushing mine, when he froze.

“What?”

“Drake.”

Oh, shit. What was wrong with me? I’d been seconds away from jumping Knox and my son was sleeping in his crib. “I’m a horrible mother.”

Knox chuckled. “You’re not a horrible mother. But let’s take this to my place.”

“I don’t have a baby monitor.” They were expensive, and since Drake and I lived in a single room, what was the point?

“Think he’ll stay asleep if you load him up?”

“Maybe.”

“Worth a shot. You get him.” Knox set me down on my feet. “I’ll get the crib.”

I tiptoed across the loft, picking up Drake and wrapping him in a blanket.

In the time it took me to pull on a cardigan and step into a pair of shoes, Knox had the crib folded up and the diaper bag hung over his shoulder.

Maybe this was reckless. Not long ago, I’d had a nuclear explosion of a breakup. Yet as I followed Knox across the driveway to his house, my feet danced over the gravel. A smile pinched my cheeks.

Every step was full of anticipation. Every heartbeat thrummed beneath my skin.

Knox Eden, for tonight, was mine.

He led the way into the house, then straight down the hallway toward the guest bedrooms. He set up Drake’s crib like a man who’d done it a hundred times, not once.

Like a father.

I pressed a kiss to my son’s head. Drake let out a squeak as I laid him in his bed. Then I held my breath, both Knox and I hovering over the crib’s rail. “Is this weird?”

“What?” Knox whispered.

“Shuffling a baby around in the night so we can . . . you know.” So I could climb Knox like a naked tree.

“You think this killed the mood?”

“Did it?” Please say no. My body was strung tight and after a week of kissing, I ached for more.

Knox took one of my hands, bringing it to his hard, flat stomach. Then, with his palm covering my knuckles, he dragged it lower and lower over his jeans. His hardness made me gasp. “That answer your question?”

My mouth went dry. That was not a small bulge behind his zipper.

Drake scrunched up his nose and shifted, but then he relaxed and drifted off again. Sleep. Please, baby. Sleep.

Knox kept a grip on my hand and dragged me out of the room, leaving the door open so we could hear Drake if he cried. Then we were hurrying down the hallway. He didn’t slow his long strides for me, he just pulled, the urgency in his movements matched by my own.

But I guess I wasn’t walking fast enough because when we reached the living room, he turned and swept me up and over a shoulder, carting me the rest of the way to his bedroom in a fireman’s hold.

“Oh my God.” I giggled as his palm smacked my ass. Then I was flying through the air, a yelp caught in my throat, before I landed on his bed. “Your house has a lot of windows for a caveman.”

He grinned, his handsome face muted in the dim moonlight that crept through the glass. Then he leaned forward, his arms planted beside me in the bed. “You are mine. Whether we do this tonight or not.”

He was going to make me fall in love with him, wasn’t he?

I put my palm against his bearded cheek, then leaned in, closing the distance, and took his mouth.

Knox’s intensity met mine, desire curling between my legs. The ache I’d had for him came to new life as his hands slipped beneath the thin fabric of the camisole I’d pulled on with my pajama bottoms.

He moved me deeper into the bed and then he was everywhere, kissing down my neck while his hands roamed my ribs and the soft swell of my breasts. My cardigan was stripped from beneath me and tossed to the floor.

My hands threaded into his hair as I let the scent of his bedroom wrap around me. Soap and sage and Knox.

Every touch, every caress, made the throb in my core pulse stronger. “More.”

Knox ignored me and continued his delicious torture, never touching me where I needed him to touch me, just getting close. And damn it, we were both fully clothed. I was about to crawl out of my skin if I didn’t get to touch his.

My fingers abandoned his hair to pull and tug at his shirt, but every time I had the hem tugged up his spine, he twisted and I lost my grip. “You’re killing me.”

“Slow. Remember?”

“That’s a horrible idea.”

“Just making sure you’re ready.” He dipped lower, dragging his tongue across my collarbone. His hand slid down my belly, dipping below the elastic waistband of my pajama pants. Then those long fingers were beneath my panties, gliding through my wet folds.

“Knox.” I arched into his touch, my eyes falling closed.

His lips traveled lower and lower. A hand came to free my breast. Then his hot mouth closed over a nipple and I nearly came undone.

It had been a long time since I’d felt worshiped. Sexy. My body came alive beneath his touch and the more he toyed, the more I trembled.

“Don’t come,” he ordered.

My eyes flew open. “What?”

He gave me a wicked grin. “Don’t come. Not yet.”

“Then you’d better stop.”

His hand came out of my pants and he climbed off the bed. The moment he reached for the hem of his shirt, I propped up on an elbow and refused to blink as he dragged it over his head. I’d seen him shirtless through the window, but damn. There was nothing like a close-up view of those washboard abs. The definition at his hips was mouthwatering. He had the V that disappeared past the waistband of his jeans.

The tattoos on his biceps wrapped up and around his shoulders. One dipped low to his pec. If he let me tonight, I’d gladly trace the lines with my fingertips and my tongue.

He kicked off his shoes while flipping the button on his jeans.

The hitched breath that escaped my lips made Knox freeze. “Too fast?”

I shook my head, eyes glued to his long, thick cock. “You’re, um . . . wow.”

He planted a knee in the bed, covering me with that muscular body. An arm reached for the nightstand drawer and when he brought the condom between us, he gave me one more chance to hit the brakes. “We can save this for another night.”

“Why are you trying to talk me out of having sex with you?”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “Because tonight will be the best damn time I’ve had in years. I want that for you too. No regrets.”

“No regrets.”

He held my gaze, searching for a shred of doubt. He wouldn’t find one.

I shoved at his shoulders, forcing him up. Then I stripped off my own top, tossing it to the floor. His eyes flared at the sight of my bare breasts. That appreciation was enough to banish any fears that my body had changed after childbirth and I’d lost my appeal.

Knox surged, his lips fusing to mine. Then we were a mess of frantic movements as we both worked to shove away my pants, leaving nothing between us but heat.

His weight settled into the cradle of my hips. His body was a tower of strength. His arms bracketing my face kept him from crushing me, but he stayed close enough that the dusting of hair on his chest rubbed against my sensitive nipples.

“You are . . . you are a dream,” he breathed. “I gave up on those.”

My breath hitched. “So did I.”

His kiss was soft and gentle as he positioned himself at my entrance. Then he rocked us together, inch by inch.

I savored the stretch, the feel of him so hard inside me. My entire body ignited as he moved, in and out, in deliberate, measured strokes until I was clawing at his shoulders, urging him on, faster and faster.

This man, holy God he had stamina. Knox never tired. He never stopped, just fucked, exactly like a woman should be fucked. Long and with rapt attention.

The sound of our labored breaths echoed in the dark room. The magnificent tension built higher and higher with each of his thrusts until I felt like glass ready to shatter.

“Come.” Knox dropped his mouth to my pulse and sucked. Hard. Then he pistoned his hips, hitting that spot inside that made me see stars.

I exploded around him, pulsing and squeezing, as the world disappeared. There was nothing but us and the fall over the edge.

Tremors racked my body and with a groan, he buried his face in my hair, his own limbs shaking, and gave in to his own orgasm.

His heart thundered as he collapsed on top of me. “Goddamn, Memphis.”

“That was . . .” I wrapped my arms and legs around him, not wanting to lose the weight. But he shifted, rolling to his side and pulling me into his chest.

“That was fucking fire.”

I smiled against his throat, content to sleep exactly like this, our bodies damp with sweat and tangled together. But my son had other ideas.

A tiny cry carried through the house. I rolled off the bed, scurrying for my clothes. Then I jogged to the kitchen, rushing to get a bottle and formula from the diaper bag.

I’d just filled it with water when a shirtless Knox came striding down the hallway, passing the kitchen for the guest bedroom. He emerged moments later with Drake in his arms.

“I can take him,” I said.

“I’ve got him.” He stole the bottle from my hand and walked to the couch, settling down with the baby.

I curled up on the other end, tucking my legs beneath me.

Those two were a sight. A dream.

Drake looked content in Knox’s arms. Knox seemed happy too.

“This was a best day,” I whispered. “Top five.”

“Tell me about them. Your top five best days.”

“You already know the first.”

“Drake’s birthday.”

I nodded. “Early on in labor, when the contractions weren’t coming one on top of another, this nurse brought me in a basket of knitted baby hats. A woman who volunteered in the nursery made them for all the new babies. I picked out this soft gray one, and as I held it, I had this feeling like I was exactly where I needed to be. Have you ever felt like that?”

“Yeah. The day I moved home from San Francisco and walked into the kitchen at The Eloise.”

“It’s a good feeling.”

“That it is.” He glanced down at my son. “What about the other days?”

“My third best day was the day I graduated from college. My girlfriends and I planned this amazing party. We got all dressed up and went clubbing and drank champagne and danced all night.”

The memory of that night wasn’t as bright as it had been. I hadn’t spoken to any of those friends in months. We’d drifted apart some after college, each of us busy with fledgling careers. Then I’d gotten pregnant and my clubbing nights had disappeared and with them, my friends.

Friends who weren’t really friends. I still liked their photos on Instagram. They sent the occasional text to check in. But our lives had gone in different directions.

“My fourth-best day was a trip I took to Hawaii for work,” I said. “We’d just opened a hotel on Maui, and I’d gone out to work with the local marketing team to get some pictures and content for social media. I flew out early and spent an entire day on the beach, reading and napping and doing nothing but listening to the sound of the waves.”

“When was that?”

“A couple years ago. It was my most peaceful day.” Because not long after, I’d met Oliver. And he’d brought chaos to my life.

“I haven’t been to the beach in ages.” Knox took the empty bottle from Drake and set it on the end table. Then he shifted my son over his shoulder, patting his back. “Okay, what’s the next best?”

“The day I moved into my townhouse in the city.” Another best day tainted.

I’d hoped to buy the townhouse from my parents. The location had been fantastic, just a short walk to some of my favorite restaurants. There’d been a coffee shop three blocks away. Its only rival for a vanilla latte was Lyla’s. The townhouse’s interior I’d decorated exactly to my style, classy and chic and comfortable.

I gave Knox a sad smile. “I really loved that place.”

“Is that why your dad took it away?”

“Probably.”

My father had wanted his way. And like he had our entire lives, he kept his children in line by taking away the things we loved.

“Sorry, honey. Gotta say . . . I’m not cool with your dad.”

“I’m not cool with him either.”

When I’d first told Knox about my family, I hadn’t wanted them to seem ugly. But as the days passed, as Knox interacted with Eloise or Anne popped into the hotel to check on her kids, I began to see my parents’ true colors. Black and lifeless and empty.

Drake let out a burp so loud it filled the room. I blurted out a laugh, so did Knox, and then Drake cooed a sleepy yawn before passing out.

“So what was your fifth-best day?”

“I just told you. The townhouse day.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “So today was your second-best day?”

“Yeah.”

“You said top five. But it was number two?”

Without question.

He’d brought me my favorite coffee. He’d visited me all morning for kiss after kiss. Knox had made me feel special. Wanted. After he’d talked to Lester, he’d come to tell me first. And then tonight . . . Maybe I was giving away too much. Old Memphis would have played it differently. But I wasn’t playing. Not anymore.

“It was a really good day,” I said.

So why wasn’t he smiling?

Silence stretched through the room like the darkness and the night beyond the windows. A chill crept along my skin as Knox stared straight ahead, sitting motionless and giving nothing away.

Had he not liked today? He’d probably had countless best days. This one probably paled in comparison to the memorable days in his life. Maybe he thought my ranking good and bad times was silly.

Not for me.

When you lived with sharks, you marked the days when a life raft came floating your way.

“What did I say wrong?”

“Nothing.” Knox stood and carried Drake to the guest room.

I followed, hovering by the door as he laid the baby in his crib. My stomach knotted as Knox turned and acted as though he’d walk straight past me. But as his chest brushed my shoulder, he snagged my hand and towed me through the house.

He dropped my hand when we stepped into his bedroom and rubbed his palm over his jaw. “Today was your second-best day.”

“Well . . . yeah. What’s wrong with that?”

He shook his head. “It was just a normal day, honey.”

“Maybe for you.” I lifted a shoulder. “My normal days aren’t like this.”

“That’s . . .” Knox paced at the foot of the bed, stepping over the shirt he hadn’t put on. “That’s not right. And fuck, it hurts. It hurts me for you.”

“Why? What is wrong with today being a best day?”

“Because today was normal.” He threw up a hand. “Just a normal, good day. You worked. I worked. We came home. That’s it.”

“But it was a best because of you.”

“Memphis.” He pressed a hand to his heart. “You honor me.”

“It’s just the truth.”

He strode toward me, taking my face in his hands. “Then here’s another truth. I’m going to take them. I’m going to take all of your bests. Every damn one until you can’t keep track of the top five anymore because there are so many bests that you’ll need a hundred to capture them all.”

“Promise?” I whispered.

“I swear it.”