MYKEL That was the best sex of my life—it was different, exceptional. I pulled the duvet over her naked body as she curled into a ball. She fell asleep right away before we could talk. It looked like we were okay since she was not running away from bed or telling me this was a huge mistake— it won’t happen again speech—shit like that. I dragged myself out of bed no matter how I wanted to take her again. I went to the study to follow up on Dash. I dialed his number and turned my laptop on. “Hey, man. How’s Adley?” I told him I had an emergency and that it had something about my wife. I was right, after all—a lot going on when I arrived. “She’s fine. She was with her grandfather and stayed for the night.” “Am I gonna be an uncle very soon?” I chuckled. “Adley said you’re very optimistic.” “And handsome than you.” “Shut the fuck up. But yeah, that sounds great. Even Lex wants a great-grandchild.” “So the old man has finally come to his senses that you and Adley are perfect for
ADLEY On Monday, Mykel dropped me off at my office. Of course, he caught everyone’s attention as if he was the leading man in a new sexy rom-com movie. This time, he smiled and waved at my team instead of being on his cocky swagger persona. “How’s your weekend, everyone?” “Hey, Mr. Creed,” my employees in unison. “Not every day we got a visit from a billionaire, ex-playboy philanthropist.” Blaze joined us. “How are you, Blaze?” They exchanged pleasantries. “I’m great. How are you?” Blaze turned to me, inspecting me from head to toe. “You look great, Adley.” “It’s because I take care of my wife.” Mykel slipped his hands into his pocket. A brow raised from Blaze with a slight nod. “I can see that now.” “Anyway. Baby, can I take you to lunch later?” I rubbed the back of my shoulder. “It’s Monday. I have a lot of work to finish. Our clients are piling up.” Mykel looked around. “You needed to expand your area and hire manpower.” “I agree,” For the first time, Blaze was with M
MYKEL “You’re upset.” I took off my suit and watched her undress in silence. It was a pleasant dinner until Lex opened up about expanding a family. I didn’t take it as a burden. A pressure, maybe. In fact, I wanted to have a family with Adley, but I wanted us to be on the same page because this was a lifetime responsibility. Considering what kind of past I had, I wouldn’t want to raise my child alone. “I’m fine.” Adley’s necklace was stuck in her dress, and she struggled not to damage what Mom gave her and the dress. “I’m here, baby.” I went to her. “Asking for help is not a flaw.” “Who said it’s a flaw?” “Let me.” The clasp was stuck into the lace of her dress. “Done.” Once done, she put a sweater on and left the walk-in closet after hanging her dress. I changed into sweatpants and shirts. Then I went to the office. I knew I would find her there. “You can use the desk.” Her laptop was on her lap as she typed something, her eyes glued to the screen. “I’m fine.” “But we’re
ADLEY It had been a week since we didn’t sleep together. Every time he started kissing me, my excuse, I was not in a mood. I admired his patience, and he never forced himself into me. Deep in my heart, I felt terrible for him, but as long as he would not throw the condom in his drawer, we were not having sex. Call it childish, but I wanted to teach him a lesson, and that condom was his idea. We were good, though. In fact, we were great. We started talking about planning a family in three or four years. Life was good either way. Kaelie knocked and came in. “Someone here insisted on talking to you, Adley.” “Who?” I lifted my gaze from the screen of my laptop. “Me.” I was on my feet before I even realized it. Icy seeped through my veins as if I’d seen a ghost. “What are you doing here, Gary?” “I just wanna talk to you. I can’t get close to you if you’re with Lex or Mykel. You blocked my number, too.” That was the whole point. I didn’t want to talk to him. Yet he still did not get
MYKEL Rage blinded me that I could barely grip into my self-control. I was mad at myself for not being there to keep her safe. I was beyond furious at Gary fucking Merick for assaulting my wife, but no matter how I wanted to blame Adley for not telling me, I couldn’t. I couldn’t even yell at her, and I could barely look at her for the guilt I felt inside. Somehow, I blamed Lex, and I blamed myself even more. “Just get it over with.” She was undressing herself. “Scream out the rage and anger inside your chest. It’s my fault that I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get in trouble.” “So I should thank you for doing me a favor. Is that it?” I grunted, asking her sarcastically. “I know how you feel about Gary, Mykel.” “We’ve talked about keeping secrets, yet here we are again.” I threw my hands in the air. “If your assistant didn’t call the cops and me, you would have been hurt, Adley. Do you know how it feels watching someone I care about get hurt? Of course, you don’t. A
MYKEL“Yes! Yes, please?”“Then be a good wife, Adley!”“I told you, you can’t make me submit to you.” Her voice was resisting, but her body was submitting. I could feel her giving in to her pleasure. She was dripping wet, her pussy lips swelled, and her clit was hard as a diamond, begging to be fondled.“We’ll see about that. I know you want to be the boss of your life, but you are married to me. I will always take care of your well-being, including keeping you safe and satisfying your needs in bed.”“You’re awfully chatty in bed tonight. Either we talk or continue what we started. But we can’t do both.”“Then be stubborn, or you won’t come.”“If you deny me, I might have to invest in sex toys. You know it’s a thriving business. People get creative in bed. And you asked me once for a butt plug. I could design one, maybe a shape of your tiny—”“Tiny what?” She got a spank from me.She moaned louder, and the grip on the sheets tightened as she pushed her ass upward. I knew what she was
ADLEY At a glance, I walked down memory lane. We decided to visit Grandpa at the Kross Corp. He was more determined to work in his office than at home. I remembered those days when Dad brought me here—it felt like yesterday. Though this place had gone through a lot of redecoration, the memories were still fresh to me. I scanned through old photos. Grandpa kept the picture while I was just a kid, taken at the private airport. It was the day I lost my parents. I put it back when the emptiness in my chest became too much. I looked at Mykel. He was in deep thoughts as he stared through the cityscape outside. I was about to say something when Grandpa walked in. “Mykel, Adley, what are you two doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you both.” “You should have told me, Lex. It happened in your home, and I was there the next morning,” he stated matter-of-factly. Grandpa sighed deeply. Regret and pain reflected in his eyes. “I felt ashamed. I was about to push my only granddaug
MYKEL I was glad Adley slept like a log last night. She started to make me worry. One thing I learned about her was she had this obsession with something, and she would not stop until she was done with it. Maybe that was one thing we had in common. Even if Adley woke up late in the morning, she was energetic and went to the mini-gym for her yoga. I was preparing breakfast when she joined me with a kiss on my cheek, then wrapped her arms around my waist. “What was that for?” “For reminding me that health is also wealth, and there’s more important than making money and good impressions.” “Like what?” I put a small amount of butter on her pancakes and poured a good amount of syrup. “You and our marriage.” Her reply froze me for a moment. Did she really say that? My heart started pumping hard. I held her hands and turned around. “Do you mean it?” She looked fantastic today. “Yeah. You took care of me last night and reminded me that my husband was more important to me than maki
MYKEL Four years later “Mykel, are you still here?” My wife stopped in her track when she saw me sitting on my desk with a glass of whiskey in my hand. “Hey, baby.” She stepped closer at a sultry pace as she took off her coat. “Are you ready to go?” “Wearing that?” I emptied the glass and put down the desk. My skin started burning in anticipation of what could possibly happen tonight. I never fucked someone or even Adley in this office, but tonight, I would break that rule. I pressed a button on the screen—our privacy was secured. “It depends.” She stopped right in front of me, looking at the huge framed cover copy of herself for the business magazine as the most influential woman of the year. I spread my thighs apart, slid my hands on her hips, and pulled her closer to me. “What are you up to accomplish tonight, baby?” She bit her bottom lip before she spoke, “The kids are with their grandma, so I thought we could have fun.” “And this is your way of fun, huh?” I stared down
ADLEY The private island Mykel and I bought was beautiful. As we promised my grandfather, we got married as soon as I lost my baby weight—it was spectacular, just as the old man wanted it, with five hundred guests at my beach house. Then we had our honeymoon in Monaco, then on this same island where we would spend a week. This was our second time visiting this property after our wedding. I promised Mykel to spend more time with the kids and him. I prioritized my family over my work, and he did the same. I lost track of time when I was in a beautiful place like this with a white sand beach and a clear blue sky above the breathtaking ocean. I watched Jax play his castle set with the sand when my husband called me. It was our daughter’s feeding time. Amelie was too tiny in his arms as he carried her securely. Despite our kids having nannies, Mykel was a hands-on dad. Who would have thought he would become this remarkable man? “Time flies by so fast when you’re enjoying watching
MYKEL Ten months ago, I would have laughed my fucking ass off if someone came to me and guessed my future of being married, let alone having two kids at this moment. I would have said, you’re fucking insane, man. But life happened, fates collided, stars aligned, and all those shits. “Babe, please hurry up!” Adley was literally screaming as I tried to scramble, picking things into my hands. “Babe, relax. We practiced this a thousand times!” I dropped things down and closed my eyes for a moment so I could focus. “Those are shits, Adley! When it’s the time, I can’t focus when you’re in so much pain.” Just by looking at her, it hurt like fucking shit. She had contractions, sweating, and her face contorted in pain. She did a breathing exercise just like we practiced so I would not panic. She was the one who was so calm when she was about to pop our baby out. She was relaxed despite the pain all over her tummy. “Calm down. Give me my phone.” She gestured. “Now it’s not the time to cal
ADLEY “You know you can always talk to me about everything, right?” Mykel was talking to his son in the study. They did that a lot after Mykel read him stories. We spent most of our time in the backyard during weekends, and sometimes, we decided to go to the park. Last week, we visited Madelyn in her home, and the grandma was delighted to see her grandson again. It was hard at first having a three-year-old boy at home that I did not raise, and I didn’t know what he wanted because he barely opened up. I tried to find out the food he loved, what he liked to play with, or even his favorite tv shows. After some time with Jax, he was not choosy. He liked blue and green, monster cookies, and blueberry smoothies. Jade did a great job raising the kid into a beautiful human being. Jax liked Knox a lot. His uncle allowed him to play with colors and tempera paints in his studio. “I mean, Daddy will buy it for you if you want anything. Adley and I are always here for you, buddy. You can tel
MYKEL My move was deliberate as I took off the last thing on her body. I tossed her panties over my shoulder. My fingers caressed her collarbone, tracing down to the mound of her breast. I leaned down, taking the peak of her nipple into my mouth, sucking harder. Her breathing became heavy. Her chest rose and fell with every deep breath. I paid attention to her tit, sucking, nipping, and pulling it between my teeth. “Babe, I want you now.” “Always impatient.” Raking my fingers through her hair, I brought her lips into mine, kissing her passionately and deep as my silent approval. I slipped the tip of my tongue along the seam of her lips. She moaned and granted me entry. Deepening the kiss, I pressed my body into hers, and her hips bucked against mine. My hand slipped along the line of her hip, down to her thigh, bringing and pulling her knees up. As if on cue, she wrapped her legs around me. I ground my cock into her. She was always bare and already ready for me. “Mykel, please?”
ADLEY “Are you sure you wanna do this?” Grandpa asked me over the phone one more time. “For God’s sake, Grandpa, I’ve done this before? Are you more concerned about me, or is it because I’m taking the jet?” “You’re pregnant, young woman, and you’re terrified of flying.” “I’ll be fine. I can do this. Now hang up the phone so that I can go.” “Call me when you land, Adley.” “I will.” I hung up the call. I was already strapped in, and my heart started hammering. I drew deep breaths when the jet started moving the runaway, and it began to shake. “I’m here, Mrs. C if you need me.” “I should get used to it without help.” I didn’t even look at Romare. I kept my eyes shut all the time. Even if I wanted some wine to calm my nerves, I couldn’t drink alcohol. It sucked, but I needed to let go of this irrational fear once and for all. “Oh, God! I’m gonna be labor in no time!” I gripped the armrest as hard as possible when the jet started to ascend. Then another terrifying moment when it
MYKEL I shut my eyes close, waiting for him to reply. “No, sir. She’s alone.” “Which hospital?” Cracking my eyes open, I let go of a shuddering breath as I sagged against the backseat. I felt terrible that somehow I was relieved that my son was not with her when it happened. I hung up the call after the officer gave me the hospital’s name. “Turn around, arrange the flight to LA.” I couldn’t take my mind off Jade. I just talked to her over the phone, and now she was rushed to the hospital fighting for her life. I tried to wrap around it and rationalized, hoping this was just a nightmare, but the more I thought about it, the more I was sucked into the reality that Jade might not make it, and my son would be losing his mother. How was I going to tell a three-year-old kid? How was I going to raise him alone? “Jesus Christ.” “I’m so sorry, boss,” Sax said. “I was just talking to her. This could not be real.” I shook my head, voicing out my denial. “How did this happen?” “Is your
MYKEL“Jade, it’s nice of you to call.” I FaceTimed with my son almost every day. He barely talked, but I was happy to see him so often. I knew it was not a good idea to expose a three-year-old kid to gadgets, but I was taking my chances of getting close to his heart. “What is he up this time?”Jade chuckled. “Oh, my God, Mykel. You put me in a difficult position. He keeps reminding me of going on an airplane. So yesterday, I brought him to a toy store and bought a toy jet just to make him forget, but he did not.”I laughed out loud. My voice echoed in the office. “I’m sorry, Jade. Adley and I have already planned everything for the weekend. You and Jax will come to New York, and then we will fly to one of Adley’s residences.”“I’m also sorry. I know how busy you both are. Jax just gets too excited about his first trip.”“Well, we were kids once. I know how it feels. And I’m also sorry that I have to move the trip. You know Adley is terrified of flying, and she’s also pregnant. She ha
ADLEY “Hey, babe.” I sat on the massage chair I purchased last week. It felt good. I was lucky to be one of those women who got pampered during pregnancy, but the work was time-consuming for someone like me who used to be hands-on on everything. I was still in the process of adapting to the new environment and position, and it still felt fulfilling despite the daily demand of my work. Besides, I had the best consultant at my speed dial. Dru had been a great help. “Busy?” I’d been busy for the past weeks. I’d visited some ongoing projects from my predecessor, Grandpa. I’d attended meetings for collaboration projects of the world’s top corporations and scientists. The hopes for the future were aspiring—to be able to build a commercial space station outer space. The plan was incredibly ambitious for 2050. “Not anymore. Grandpa left me tons of work, but it’s over now. All I need is good cuddling.” “We can cuddle all night. Besides, it’s the weekend, and baby?” “Yes?” “No more work