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Chapter 68: Thought You'd Never Ask
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2022-11-24 14:14:52Related chapters
Portwood Brothers Chapter 69: Missed You
Emma was measuring time any way she could. Sophia was a month old. Jackson had been gone three weeks and three days. She'd been keeping herself busy at school, cleaning her place from top to bottom, and anything else she could find to keep herself moving. She'd even been over to babysit Sophia. Josh had finally talked Payton into going out for dinner, just the two of them, and Emma was more than happy to go over and hold the baby while they were gone. It had taken everything for the new mom to walk out the door, but she finally had. Payton had only been gone about ten minutes when the texts started to come in and then the phone calls started. Every time Emma reassured Payton that Sophia was still asleep in her arms and doing fine. It wasn't more than an hour before the door opened and the couple came back in."How is she?" Payton asked as she rushed through the door.Emma smiled, "The same as when you called to tell me you were on the way back less than ten minutes ago."Reluctantly sh
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 70: Anything For You
Jackson pushed on his temple with his fingers trying to ease the pain. He'd had a couple MRI's since his incident with the door a couple months ago, and everything had come back clear. Even though everything looked fine, he still got a killer headache now and then, usually due to high stress. Things around the office were crazy, and he was trying to deal with everything as quickly and efficiently as he could so it could all be put to rest. The powers that be had decided that everyone from the unit wouldn't be headed out this fall. They had been cutting people from the roster left and right. He'd heard rumors from a guy he knew that he'd probably be flagged and taken off the list due to his accident. He didn't really want that to happen, and he made sure that no one knew about the potential of him staying behind. The last thing he needed was to get someone's hopes up only to have them trampled when it didn't happen later.He'd been handed a shit hand today. He had spent the day dealing
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 71: You're Cute When You're Jealous
Jackson smiled as he read the text from Emma. Having the day off, Jackson had put it to good use. He had called the flower shop the week before, but he still had some work to do before she got home. Picking up the last of the items on his list, he headed back to her place to get everything set up. Tonight was going to be a night to remember.By the time Emma pulled up, much later than he thought she'd be home, he was just about finished with their meal."Ohmygawd, it smells amazing," she all but moaned as she came through the door. Her eyes widened at the site before her, "When did you have time for all this?"Shrugging he smiled, "I was off most of the day."She gave him a quick kiss and then went to put the flowers in her arms in water. "You don't know how much I needed these today. It was such a craptastic day."Pulling her into a hug Jackson held her tight. "Glad they helped."Emma worked getting all the flowers in a vase, and then she headed to the living room. "Need any help?" sh
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 72: Poof
"Freedom!" Emma sang under her breath as she practically skipped out of the school on the final day. She'd packed up her room already, gotten everything taken off the walls, and she was on her way out, not planning to return until the last second possible. There was nothing standing in the way of her and her freedom... except a six foot two man that looked almost identical to her fiancé. No matter how many times she'd said fiancé to herself or out loud in the past month, she never got tired of it."You're coming tonight, right?""Yes, Josh, I'm coming over tonight.""Good, I think that's everyone then."Every year at the end of the school year, most of the teachers got together for a big cookout and party to celebrate three glorious months of freedom. Emma had hosted with Hannah the year before, and Josh had taken on this year's festivities.Making her way home, she stashed her school bag in the closet for the last time. In just a couple weeks she'd be relaxed and rested and Jackson wo
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 73: Master Will Suffice
By early the next evening, Emma and Jackson arrived in Miami. When they made it up to their room after checking in, Emma went right for her suitcase and unpacked. She slung her modest two-piece swimsuit on the bed when she came to it, and finished putting the rest away. Once everything was unpacked, she came back to the suit and started to put it on."You're not wasting any time, huh?" Jackson asked as she got changed."I told you everything I wanted to do this week involved the beach, pool, or the hot tub," she told him with a grin. "Might as well get a jump on it." Tossing the bottle of sunscreen at him, she started to remove her shirt so he could help her out. Looking over her shoulder, she saw him standing there with his eyes bugging out. "You'd think you'd get used to seeing me mostly naked.""I don't think so," he told her. "How'd you get dressed without me seeing that bra this morning. Holy hell, that's hot."Looking down at the sheer, black fabric she shrugged, "It was a covert
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 74: How Can I Trust You?
Jackson woke way too early the next morning and hated that he couldn't just fall back asleep. He'd give anything to go back to the good 'ol days when he could sleep late, but that just wasn't the way his body worked anymore. Carefully he slid out of the bed and got dressed and headed to the gym. And once he'd run a solid forty-five minutes, he was cooled down and headed back to the room.When he arrived back, Emma was still sound asleep, and it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon. She had tossed and turned for a bit after he'd brought her back to the room the night before, but after half an hour, she was out cold. She hadn't even moved really. He hoped she wasn't going to wake up stiff and sore.Speaking of stiff and sore, Jackson's muscles were protesting after the hard run he'd just done. Taking a hot shower was just what the doctor ordered to relax them, so that's what he did, and then he crawled back in bed and pulled Emma into his arms.He knew he was wrong. He
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 75: Promise Me
Getting home from vacation sucked. Jackson hated that he had to come back to reality, but he didn't really have time to think about it. It was go time. The office was busy getting everything ready for deployment, and he was in the middle of it. The big kicker was that he still hadn't received his orders yet. He was told they were coming any day, but they weren't showing up. Jackson was worried that Emma was getting her hopes up because, without orders, he wasn't deploying. He had told her time and time again that his orders weren't the only ones that hadn't been issued, but each time she asked, and he had to tell her they hadn't shown up, he could see her building up a false sense of hope. As he was making his way back into the office one of his soldiers yelled, "Hey, L.T., there's something in the box for you."Making his way back out to the main desk, he found his orders sitting on top. Finally, there was no question about it. He had his orders in hand, and he was ready to put his h
Last Updated : 2022-11-24Portwood Brothers Chapter 76: Just Pretend
The month flew by. Jackson had been busy getting all his gear together, making inventory lists, and had done more packing. Since their townhouse wasn't that large, all his military gear was still over at Josh's place. He'd offered to find a place for it all and get it out of their basement, but Payton had insisted that he just leave it alone.Groaning Emma held up an item and said, "If I have to say 'grenade pouch' one more time, I'm gonna scream."Jackson chuckled and kept his head bent over the laptop as he typed in the next item in Emma's hand. After another hour, they'd finished the inventory for his last bag. He hoisted up a bag and headed for the stairs. Hearing a loud grunt, he turned back to see Emma trying to heave up the heavy rucksack. The look on her face had him cracking up."You're actually going to carry that thing on your back?" she asked as it thudded to the ground."Oh yeah, and I'm going to do it while wearing that eighty-pound vest.""No wonder you guys have to be i
Last Updated : 2022-11-24
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Portwood Brothers Chapter 164: You Had Me At Ben And Jerry's
NINE MONTHS LATERWes looked up at Hailey in awe. She had overcome her fears and had rocked the shit out of her time on the stand. When she had decided to stay in DC, it was to support her friend who was pressing charges against the two guys sitting not far from Wes, guys he'd like to take outside and punch a few times. They both thought the process would be over somewhat soon, but the whole thing seemed to take time, a lot of time.During that time, they'd grown closer. They'd spent many nights talking on FaceTime and the phone. They'd only been able to see each other in person one other time, and that was in April. Wes had flown to DC to see Hailey again. He'd brought Cali with him that time, and he'd spent a week with her. While he was with her, she took him to see some of the sites. They were down at the National Mall, and as they walked by the Tidal Basin with the trees full of Cherry Blossoms, he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. They'd gone home, and sh
Portwood Brothers Chapter 163: I Gave Up Everything For You
"You did what?"This conversation wasn't going like she planned. She had envisioned telling Wes she'd turned down the amazing opportunity, and he'd say how much he loved her and appreciated that, and they'd ride off into the sunset together. Instead, it sounded like he was... mad? How was that possible?"I thought you'd be happy.""You gave up a great opportunity on a whim? Yeah, that's something to be excited about.""I don't get you, Wes!" She yelled into the phone. "First, I don't move in with you after college, and you break up with me. Now I give up my job, and you're mad. What's a girl supposed to do?""That's just it. You didn't even bother to ask. You just made the decision on your own. It's the same as last time.""But... but I gave everything up for you."Hailey heard Wes sigh over the phone, "I don't want you to give it all up. I want us to be a team. Isn't that what you want?""I just thought that I was doing this for us.""Maybe if we'd have talked about it, we
Portwood Brothers Chapter 162: I'm Quitting My Job
Wes waited around like a kid waiting for his crush to call. He wanted to pick up his phone the second he knew Hailey got off work, but he didn't want to overwhelm her. So, he'd held off and was waiting for her to call. Only he was losing it because it had been hours since she should have gotten off work, but he hadn't heard anything at all, not even a text.When it came time for him to crawl in bed, he took Cali out, looked at his phone one more time, and finally gave up on the idea that he'd be hearing from Hailey. He hated that he still felt like she didn't include him in her life, but that would come, he hoped.Just as he was about to fall asleep, his phone rang. Grabbing it from his nightstand, he looked at the screen and was surprised to see Hailey's name there. She was a total night owl, but with her having an hour on him, he figured she'd have been in bed a long time ago."Hey," he answered."You're mad." It wasn't a question."Not mad. I'm more hurt."He heard Hailey le
Portwood Brothers Chapter 161: Stop Thinking So Hard
Wes: You're ignoring me. Stop it.Hailey looked at the text the next morning and realized that she needed to call Wes. Picking up her phone, she dialed his number. It didn't even ring twice before he picked up."Glad you decided to call. I was giving it until tomorrow, and then I was looking at plane tickets.""Wes, get serious. And here I was worried I'd be waking you up.""Oh, I've been up for a while. I haven't been able to sleep right since I got back. And I am serious. Cici has been all over my ass since I came back to work. She said the only people who can stand me are the animals. Most of them can't stand being around me either. Thankfully Cali doesn't seem to mind my mood.""She must be a good dog." "She is.""You didn't tell me much about her. When did you get a dog?" she asked."A few months ago. I went to Kentucky for Sexy Kenny's bachelor trip. We went away hoping to be doing nothing but drinking and relaxing in the woods and ended up rescuing a mom and her p
Portwood Brothers Chapter 160: Bring On The Pain
There's no two ways about it, Wes was miserable. He missed Hailey, it was colder than crap out, and things just seemed to be going downhill since he got home. On the way home, Wes' flight had been delayed overnight due to weather, so he'd got stuck in Chicago. When he got home, he found out that not only had his pilot light gone out on his furnace, but his pipes had frozen too because it'd been so cold. Thankfully they hadn't burst. Because of all that, he'd been staying at a hotel. His landlord told him that with the weather warming up next week, it should fix the issue, but there was no guarantee. The icing on the whole craptastic cake, Hailey had been distant, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. Even Cali had been standoffish sensing his foul mood.A knock at his office door had him barking out a, "What?""Geeze boss, I thought you'd have come home in a better mood," Cici said as she wondered in. "One of us was alone with a member of the opposite sex, and th
Portwood Brothers Chapter 159: Where Do We Go From Here?
Christmas music filled the space, and Wes wondered what time it was. Ever since he'd got to DC, she'd been up early, most of the time beating him up. It looked like she beat him up again. Throwing his legs over the side of the bed, he found his sweats and slid them on before heading out to see what she was up to. He hoped she wasn't going to any trouble. A flurry of activity was going on in the kitchen, and Hailey was moving around in a whirl. Pulling out a pan from the oven, she set it on the counter, and then looked up and spotted him."Hi," she said with a small smile."Hey.""I made breakfast."Smelling the rich aroma made his stomach growl, "It smells amazing.""It's just omelet muffins. It should hold us over until I can get lunch made.""I'll help with lunch," he told her as he reached over and grabbed one of the muffins burning himself in the process."You don't have to.""I want to."The pair ate breakfast together but didn't really talk about what had happened or what
Portwood Brothers Chapter 158: You Need A Plan
The pounding on the door started again, and Hailey curled up tighter. She just wanted it all to go away."Hailey, you in there?""Wes?" she asked knowing he couldn't hear her.Slowly she stood, trying to get her bearings. Her legs didn't want to work, and she was worried they might give out on her. When the loud knocking started again, it scared her so bad she jumped and held her chest hoping it would slow her heart. Checking the peephole just to make sure, she confirmed that Wes was there, hopefully alone, and opened the door."What's going on?" he asked looking angry at first and then when he took her in, his face softened. "What happened?"Reaching around Wes, Hailey looked out the door just to make sure no one was there, and then closed the door and locked it again. It wasn't until she'd done this that she could breathe again. When Wes' hand landed on her shoulder, she yelped and jumped."What the hell happened while I was gone, Hailey?""It... it was nothing.""Bullshit. Y
Portwood Brothers Chapter 157: Is It Me?
"Is that bacon?" Wes asked half asleep as he made his way into the kitchen the next morning."There's something else that smells like heaven in a pan?"Snatching a piece from a plate sitting on the counter, Wes took a bite and groaned. "If I didn't love you before, I'd totally love you now."A small noise escaped her and Wes wondered if he'd pushed it a bit too far. He'd already told her he loved her, and when she hadn't said the same, he wondered if she just needed more time. He didn't doubt that she did love him. She wouldn't let him touch her much less bring her pleasure if she didn't. He just knew she wasn't ready to jump off that bridge yet. "How'd you sleep?" she asked as she worked over the stove."Would have been better if I were sleeping next to you, but not too bad. You?""Like the dead... well after," she didn't have to finish for Wes to know what she meant. "I've had nightmares almost every night since that happened. I feel like I actually got some good sleep in."
Portwood Brothers Chapter 156: I Need You
"Get off me!" Hailey yelled even though it didn't matter. No matter how what she did, she couldn't stop the man from getting what he wanted."You can fight all you want, princess. We both know deep down you want it.""NO!""Hailey.""I said get off me." She kicked her legs and felt a sense of satisfaction when her hand connected with his face."Shit! Damn, I'm bleeding. Wake up, Hailey. Don't make me bleed on your bed."That didn't sound right. Why would Michael care about that? It was then that she realized she wasn't being held down at all, and the voice; it wasn't the one from her nightmare. The realization woke her like a bucket of ice water being thrown on her. "Wes?" Opening her eyes, she saw him sitting on the edge of her bed covering his nose. "Oh crap! I'm so sorry. I'll go get something for it. How bad?"Still holding a hand over his nose, she saw him try to smile, "It's just a flesh wound. I'll go take care of this if you're okay.""I'm awake." She wouldn't
