“Gimme a break.”
“Jeffrey.”
“That name is just . . . no.” Archer shakes his head.
“Fine.” I roll my eyes, cradling my son close as I stare down at him with wonder. My fingers drift across his cheek, caressing his tiny little rosebud lips as I murmur, “Welcome to the world, Jackson.”
We’ve been discussing names for months, arguing back and forth. One of us would come up with a suggestion we loved just as the other would shoot it down with both barrels. It became a point of contention, made worse because we didn’t know what we were having, but I wouldn’t budge on finding out early.
It was kind of fun, keeping it a surprise, though deep down inside I knew Jackson was a he. We kept going round and round with girl names but looks like that didn’t matter. A few weeks ago, we agreed on Jackson as a name if he was a boy, and I loved the choice.
So did my husband.
Jackson Archer Bancroft has a nice ring to it.
Archer scoots closer to us, sitting on the edge of the bed as he reaches out and strokes the baby’s cheek just like I did only moments ago. “Welcome, little man. We’re glad to finally meet you.”
Turning, I lean in and kiss my husband’s cheek, overwhelmed with love for both of these men in my life. “I love you,” I whisper. “So much.”
“Love you too, babe. More than you’ll ever know,” he murmurs.
I feel exactly the same way.
Chapter Six
* * *
Gage
One week since the wedding
“I DON’T WANT to go home. Can’t we just live here forever?” My wife crosses her arms in front of her bare chest and pouts, looking sexy as hell wearing a skimpy little white bikini bottom and nothing else. Her skin is golden from the sun, her blonde hair piled up on top of her head in a messy knot. Giant sunglasses obscure her eyes and a thin gold chain hangs from her neck. The wedding band on her ring finger is the only other piece of jewelry she’s wearing.
She’s bare and simple and so freaking gorgeous it almost hurts to look at her.
Almost.
“I would love to live here forever,” I agree, looking around at the view of the crystal blue ocean spread before us. We’re staying at an exclusive resort in a three-room suite with a giant balcony that has the best view of the ocean I’ve ever seen. “Maybe I’ll move my business over here. I can sell luxurious vacation homes to the rich.”
“Ooh, are you serious?” The excitement in her voice makes me smile. She lifts her glasses and peers at me, as if to see if I’m for real or not. “And I can open a bakery here. But I won’t call it Autumn Harvest. How about Tropical Harvest instead?”
“Sure. Whatever. It all sounds good as long as I have you with me.” I lean back against my lounge chair and slip my glasses down so the intense sun doesn’t blind me. We haven’t done anything our entire honeymoon besides eat, swim, have sex, lounge around, lay on the beach, have sex, eat—
Yeah. It’s been great. Relaxing. My stressed-out bride-to-be has completely disappeared and in her place is my relaxed, happy wife. I don’t want to go home either.
But the reality is we’re flying back tomorrow. Another reality? I’ll be glad to see everyone. Happy to see baby Jackson and watch my sister and best friend lose their minds over one tiny human being.
“I wonder if Jackson’s changed at all,” Marina muses, reading my mind as usual.
“It’s been a week,” I say. “He’ll be what? Eight days old by the time we see him again? Nine? I’m sure he hasn’t changed much since we met him at the hospital.” We’d lucked out when we were finally able to stop by. Along with the baby, we got to see Archer and a very exhausted Ivy. Marina had held the baby and cried along with Ivy, which had moved me because I’d had a sudden image of Marina holding our baby someday.
Crazy.
“I’ve heard they can almost double their weight in the first week. He’ll be a completely different baby.” I glance over to see more pouting from my wife. “He won’t even recognize us I bet.”
I bark out a surprised laugh. “You gotta be kidding me. He didn’t recognize us before.”
“He heard my voice a lot when he was in the womb. I know he knows me. I’ll be his favorite aunt.” She drops her arms to her sides and relaxes against the overstuffed lounger cushion, her glasses once more in place over her eyes, her smooth skin glistening beneath the sun.
“You’ll be his only aunt,” I say, my mouth going dry as I study her. Seeing her like this, wearing the tiny white bikini bottom and nothing else is making my c**k rise to the occasion. You think I’d be exhausted from all the sex or at the very least, somewhat immune to seeing my wife half naked.
Guess not.
“Do you want a baby right away, Gage?” she asks suddenly.
And there goes my erection. “Uh . . . not really. Unless you do,” I add quickly though I kind of, sort of, don’t mean it. We only just got married. We have lots of time before we need to start making babies and creating a family.
We can definitely practice all the time but actual babies? Not yet. For now, I’ll leave that up to my sister.
“I don’t,” she says as she tilts her face up to the sun. Damn, she’s pretty. “I mean, I do want them someday, but not yet. We have plenty of time. If I get baby fever, I’ll just find Jackson. I bet he’d let me cuddle him all I want.”
“I’m sure he would,” I drawl, my gaze locked on her br**sts. She has no tan lines on her upper body. It’s all golden skin and hard pink ni**les. My mouth starts to water just thinking about sucking on them.
She looks over at me, raising her sunglasses to the top of her head once more. “Are you checking me out?”
“Always,” I say with a grin. I’m not going to be ashamed by my appreciation of my wife. She’s a work of art. Beautiful and sweet and so giving. I lucked out and I know it.
“You going to do something about that?” She waves her hand at the vicinity of my swim trunks.
Glancing down, I look at my erection and then her. “Are you going to do something about it?” I ask pointedly.
Marina can barely hide the grin on her face. “What would you like, O husband of mine?”
“Hmm, I don’t know.” I settle my hand over my c**k and give it a firm stroke, my gaze cutting to hers. She’s watching me closely, her eyes locked on my hand, her lips parted seemingly in fascination. That we haven’t grown tired of constantly having sex kind of blows my mind.