Drilled by K.M. Neuhold
Chapter 17
RIDGE
It’s ridiculous, but I think once we go home, I’m going to miss cramming into a teeny bed that’s barely big enough for one grown man, let alone two. My skin is sticky with sweat and there’s a killer kink in my neck, but damn is it worth it to wake up plastered against Apollo.
His cock is hard and thick and scorching hot, pressed against my hip, coaxing mine to swell and twitch.
The guys packed up and left yesterday, leaving us alone for the remainder of the month. We worked so hard the first couple of weeks, we can take it a little easier now. Either that or keep up the pace and finish early. Boo, no. Over my dead body are we going home early. Not when it would mean going back to my own too-big and empty bed, putting an end to the agreement we have while we’re here.
I run my fingers along Apollo’s spine, tracing the muscular planes of his back. They twitch under my touch, goosebumps rising along the path I draw. He rumbles sleepily, canting his hips absently and dragging his erection against my thigh.
Fuck, I want to die right here in this moment. I ghost my lips against his, tasting his mouth and a hint of bonfire. My cock throbs against his warm body. His fingers twitch against my ass cheek, squeezing and pulling me against him as he slowly comes to consciousness.
“Ridge,” he murmurs my name, sending my heart into a gallop. I swallow around the tightness in my throat and circle the dimples in his lower back with my index finger.
I’m working up the energy to give him an epic wake-up blowjob when Logs starts to yowl from Apollo’s bed. I sit up quickly, Apollo grumbling about being cock-blocked again as I throw back the covers and shuffle across the room.
She seemed fine yesterday, if a little grumpy and not as interested in food as usual. When I reach the bed, I gasp.
“Pol.” I wave him over frantically in stunned excitement.
“Is she okay?” The concern in his voice as he heaves himself out of bed is endearing as hell. He can pretend not to like Logs all he wants, but the speed with which he crosses the room tells a different story.
“She’s having babies.” It’s more than a little obvious considering the tiny, damp, furry bean nestled against her while she pants and yowls. But in my defense, I’ve never seen a cat give birth before. “What do we do?” I ask in a panic. I am in no way qualified to be a midwife, not even to a cat.
“I can call Porter. He’s a veterinarian,” Apollo says, crouching down and digging his phone out of his bag. He quickly pulls up his contact list and thumbs through until he finds Porter’s name.
My stomach coils. We need help and all, but surely the cute, petite, blushing veterinarian he took on a date a few weeks ago isn’t the only person we can call for advice. I yank the phone out of his hand before he can dial.
“We’re fine. She’s a cat. I’m sure she can handle this on her own. After all, no one is out in the forest helping raccoons give birth or anything.”
“It’s your cat. If she dies, don’t come crying to me.” He shrugs, and I growl, which makes him chuckle. Dick.
“Okay, but don’t you have any other veterinarians on speed dial who aren’t like sweet, cute little twinks you took on a date?” I ask helplessly. “Like, maybe a woman or someone very elderly?”
His lips twist into a brief grin. “You’re jealous of Porter?” He takes a step closer and puts a hand on my hip, dipping his head to brush his nose against the side of my throat. A shiver runs through me, and I lean into him. “In case you haven’t noticed, sweet and cute aren’t exactly my type.”
I let out a breathless laugh, my cock twitching as he nibbles just beside my Adam’s apple. “You don’t think I’m cute?” I tease.
“Hm.” He seems to consider the question as he embarks on a mission to sear every inch of my throat and chin with hot, wet, biting kisses. He steps around in front of me, sliding his hands onto my ass and kneading my cheeks, his now only half-hard cock brushing against mine. “Do I think you’re cute? I think you’re thick and solid. I think you’re perfectly furry all over. I think your calloused hands fucking do things to me. I think you’re sexy as hell.” He punctuates each sentence by dragging his slowly thickening erection against mine. “But no, you’re not all that cute.”
I moan when his teeth graze the side of my jaw, and he grabs my ass harder, his cock twitching against mine. Unfortunately, Logs chooses that moment to let out another pitiful yowl.
Shit, right, cat giving birth.
“Ugh, fine, let’s call your boyfriend.” I shove at his chest to get him to step back so I can have room to breathe and think. I hand his phone back to him with a sigh.
He takes it from my hand, presses a quick kiss to my lips, and then makes the phone call. He puts it on speaker immediately, the tinny ringing echoing through the cabin as a second kitten makes an appearance.
“Hello?” Porter sounds confused when he answers.
“Hey,” Apollo grunts.
Several seconds of silence follows, which would be amusing as hell if I wasn’t fully panicking about this whole cat midwife situation. I yank the phone out of his hand for a second time.
“Porter, hey, this is Ridge,” I say in a hurry while Logs meows loudly.
“Um, hi, is everything okay?” The noise in the background of his end of the call fades away, the sound of a click like a door being closed, cutting it off completely.
“Kind of. We have a cat here having kittens, and I’m not really sure what to do.”
“Oh.” His voice perks up. “How exciting. Do you know how many kittens she’s expecting?”
“Nope. Literally had no clue she was pregnant until I woke up to the first kitten.” I drag a hand through my hair, watching as Logs licks the second kitten clean.
“Okay. You probably won’t have to do much. If too much time passes between kittens, that’s a sign there could be a problem. Aren’t you guys out in the middle of the woods right now?” he asks.
“Pretty much.”
“All right, well, unfortunately, all you can really do then is hope everything goes smoothly. Make sure there’s water available for her and don’t touch the kittens unless you want to get bitten, and once you’re back in town, bring them all by the clinic, and I’ll give them a wellness exam.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I don’t like the idea of just sitting here helplessly and hoping for the best, but he’s right, there’s not much else we can do.
“No problem. Good luck, and send me pics. I love furry little jellybeans.”
I chuckle. “Will do. Talk to you later.”
I hang up and hand the phone back to Apollo, who got dressed while I was on the phone. He tosses the phone back on top of his duffle bag.
“Sit, and I’ll go make us some coffee. We have a long morning of watching a cat give birth ahead of us,” he says, pointing at the floor next to his bed…well, Logs’ bed now, I’d say.
I smile and do as he says, sinking down and making myself comfortable.
APOLLO
“They’re so cute,” Ridge says, sneaking his hand a little closer on the bed, only to be swatted at by Mama cat.
“Porter said not to touch,” I remind him, grabbing his hand and lacing our fingers together to keep him from being tempted to try again. The last thing I need is to have to rush him to the nearest hospital to be treated for tetanus and rabies after he gets bitten by a damn wild cat that he’s decided is a pet.
She’s resting now, five kittens in various shades of gray and tan all snuggled up close to her in a little pile. Ridge is right, they are pretty cute.
“We should name them,” he says, resting an arm on the bed and propping his chin on it to gaze at the tiny kittens.
“They only need names if you’re keeping them all,” I point out, shifting on the hard floor to keep my ass from going numb. We’ve been sitting here for a few hours, but aside from the tingling in my ass cheeks, it’s not the worst way I’ve ever passed a morning.
He scoffs. “Of course I’m keeping them. What kind of father would I be to abandon them now?”
I arch an eyebrow at him. “I doubt your lease allows you to keep six cats at your apartment.”
“Hm, that’s probably true.” He falls quiet, watching the cats sleep with a tender expression on his face that does funny things inside my chest. “Guess I’ll have to buy a house.”
I snort. “Just like that?”
He shrugs. “Why not? I have the money saved for it, I just…” He trails off, darting his tongue out to wet his lips and his eyes toward me before returning them to the cat.
“What?” I ask, squeezing his hand and then running my thumb back and forth over his knuckles.
“I guess I was waiting for…something. But, you know, there’s no time like the present, right?”
My skin prickles. Was he waiting for me? In the space of a few seconds, an alternate life passes through my mind, a life where Ridge and I are able to buy a house together, the two of us arguing over decor before ultimately going with whatever Ridge wants, filling all of the rooms with our shared things, staying up late nights watching shitty movies and kissing until our lips are numb, and then stumbling into bed to make each other moan for hours.
The longing that hits me is so intense, it steals my breath, and then it’s gone as quickly as it came. I can’t have any of those things, no matter how badly I might want them.
“That one looks like a Kevin,” I say, gesturing at the black kitten with a few gray stripes on his face.
Ridge grins. “Huh, it does kind of look like a Kevin. I mean, it could be a girl, but still.”
“What about that one?” I point at the next, and Ridge hums as he considers.
“Potato,” he decides, and I smirk.
We go on like that until each of the kittens are named: Kevin, Potato, Nugget, Sherlock, and Nacho. And then our stomachs start to growl, which makes sense since we haven’t had anything but coffee since we woke up. Also makes sense why Ridge named half the cats after food items.
I get to my feet and tug him up along with me.
“They’ll be fine,” I assure him when he tries to argue that we should sit and watch them just a little longer. “Come on, let’s make some lunch, and then we’ll take the rest of today off. If the guys ask, we’ll just tell them it’s paternity leave.”
He leans into me, and I put my arm over his shoulders and kiss the side of his head.
“Yeah, I could eat,” he agrees.
“Good. I saved some of the uncooked bacon before the guys left. It’s the dry-cured shit, so it’s good even without a refrigerator,” I confess.
Ridge gasps, a big smile spreading over his lips. “I fucking lo—” He clears his throat. “Thank you.”
My stomach flutters. Was he going to say…?
Another wave of longing washes over me, and I add that thought to the list of things I desperately wish I could have.
