Thumper by Marie James

Chapter 38

Thumper

I’m surprised my face isn’t hurting from smiling so damn much, but I don’t think there’s anything that can upset me.

Cara is mine, and I’m hers. She wants to stay. She’s happy here, and I can’t imagine being around a better group of people.

“Hey there, little guy. Where’s your dad?”

Jamie looks up at me, his eyes big and full of happiness.

Does Cara want kids? Fuck, I’d love to put my baby in my woman.

Jamie points before squealing and running away.

I nod at Hound as he scurries across the room, running after his son.

“Know where Kincaid is?” I ask.

“Kitchen,” he says with a grunt as he lifts a kicking and laughing Jamie up. The toddler’s foot hits him right in the nuts.

I cringe in solidarity. Maybe having kids right now isn’t the best plan.

“You’re looking for me?” Kincaid asks as he’s closing the refrigerator door.

“I want to stay,” I blurt because I’m just too ecstatic with the direction my life is going to hold it in. “I still have to contact the FBI, and that may take a while for a full release, but I want to stay.”

“That’s great news, Thumper.” He slaps me on the shoulder, and I feel that same pride swell in my chest with him using my club name that I felt the day I signed my contract with the Bureau, only I know these guys won’t fuck me over. “Take your time. You’re still several weeks out from being medically cleared. That wrist is going to have to heal completely before we get you back in the field.”

“I seriously appreciate you letting me stay.”

“Like I said before, you’re an excellent part of the team.”

Emmalyn is standing near the stove when Kincaid walks away, and I approach her. She’s always been the mother hen of the club.

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything, sweetheart,” she says with a wide smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Better every day, thanks for asking. I can’t cook.”

“Not many of the guys can, but I promise not to hold it against you.”

“You know that baked mac and cheese you made for the party a few months ago? Cara loves baked mac and cheese.”

“Say no more.”

“Really?”

She nods. “I’ll have to go to the store because we used the last of the good cheese last night in the dip, but how does tomorrow night sound?”

“That would be amazing.”

She pats my back before heading across the room to sit on Kincaid’s lap, and I watch as she presses her face into his neck. I want that. I want a woman that crawls into my arms even after decades of being together, and if I’m as lucky as I’m feeling this morning, I know I can have that with Cara.

I’ll work diligently every single day for the rest of our lives together to show her how much I care for her; how much I appreciate her taking a chance on me when she could’ve easily spit on me and walked away. No one would’ve batted an eye had she slapped me in the face when I returned to the clubhouse. I deserved much more anger from her than that.

“Are you high on pain meds?” Jinx asks as he approaches me. “Because you look like you’re about to cry.”

“Just really fucking happy, man.”

“Cara?”

“Yeah, Cara,” I confirm without having to explain myself. He’s newly in love and knows exactly what I’m feeling right now.

God, is it love? Is this what it feels like, as if I’m walking on clouds and so ecstatic that bad news short of her leaving me can’t drag me down?

Is that cheesy?

I grin. Doesn’t matter if it is. I want to feel like this forever.

I busy myself making toast and cutting up fruit for my girl, remembering that she said she isn’t a big breakfast person.

“What did that fruit ever do to you?” Rocker asks as he notices the mangled mess I’ve made in front of me.

“We need sharper knives.”

“Don’t blame the damn knife. Let Misty or Khloe see you abusing the food like that and they’re going to make you take one of those beginner cooking classes down at the college.”

I laugh, trying to rearrange the fruit on the plate so it doesn’t look like a complete mess.

“That’s not helping,” Rocker teases.

“Would you get off my dick,” I snap, but there’s no real heat in my words.

“I think it’ll be okay. At least I don’t think your girl will take off because you have horrendous knife skills. Hopefully, your tongue game is better.” He chuckles as he walks away.

I don’t bother mentioning just how good my tongue game is because I wouldn’t disrespect my woman like that. We aren’t at the bar trading stories like I’ve done with some of the guys before, and it hits me that most of the stories I told these men are lies. I’ve worked so hard for the last thirteen years, that I haven’t had much time to have a life. I told them about times in the military, none of them true.

I’m wondering if they’ll still have my back when I have to make those confessions when a hush falls over the room.

I turn to see Cara walking toward me, my phone in her hand and a bright smile on her face. If she noticed the quiet as she enters, she doesn’t show it.

“I made—”

Her lips crash against mine, her tongue not wasting a second of hesitation before she sweeps it across mine. I groan into the kiss, my hands resting on her hips, all the while resisting the urge to lift her up so her legs can wrap around me.

A throat clears from somewhere across the room, and she pulls back but not completely away.

“You’re the most amazing man in the world,” she whispers. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re not mad you didn’t find out sooner. April said she wanted it to be a surprise. She was supposed to call yesterday.”

“I’m just happy she’s safe.”

I pull her against my chest, looking at the guys on the other side of the room. Comically, they pull their attention. Legend is looking up at the ceiling whistling like a fool, as if I didn’t just catch them watching us.

Who cares? There shouldn’t be a doubt in a single mind in this club that Cara is off-limits.

“Did you make a snack?” Cara says as she pulls away and looks down at the plate in front of us on the counter. “That’s… sweet.”

She blinks up at me, and it’s clear she wants to give me shit just like Rocker did.

“Clearly I’m not an expert,” I mutter. “I think the grapes are okay.”

“Because grapes don’t have to be cut up,” Rocker says from the other side of the room, leaving no doubt all of their attention is still on us. “But please explain how you managed to completely mangle a banana.”

I flip him a middle finger behind Cara’s back, and several of the guys chuckle.

“Should we take our snacks back to the room?” she asks as she picks up the plate.

I step in closer to her. “Are you not comfortable out here?”

“I just wanted to properly thank you for the video chat with my sister.”

“You don’t have to thank me for something like that. Apollo and Legend went to get her, not me.”

“Jesus, man. Does she have to spell it out for you?” Jinx mutters.

I take a long look at Cara, her lips pinned between her teeth, a flush of embarrassment on her cheeks, and I feel like an idiot.

“Huh… oh!” My cock thickens with the promise it took me a minute too long to catch on to.

The guys laugh again, but I can’t be bothered to look away from her.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

A chorus of laughter follows us out of the room.

“You have to ignore the guys. They’re all horny bastards. I’m surprised the ones in relationships are even here. Usually, they can’t be bothered to come out of their bedrooms unless Cerberus is having some sort of official party.”

She freezes in the doorway of the bedroom. “They have a lot of those umm… parties?”

“Not those kind of parties. We do a lot of barbecues. There are so many people we have at least two birthday parties a month. There have been a lot of baby showers recently as well. Ivy and Griffin recently got married, and their party was massive.”

I close us into the room.

“Is that something you want?”

She tilts her head as she sits on the bed, the sad plate of fruit in front of her.

“A birthday party? I’ve never really made a big deal out of it before.”

“A birthday party is a must. I dare you to tell Emmalyn, Khloe, and Misty no. But I was talking about a baby shower.”

“I’m not pregnant, so that would be weird.”

I sigh. This woman is really going to make me spell it out, isn’t she?

“Cara, do you want children?”

When she grins, I realize she’s been messing with me. She knew what I meant from the beginning.

“Is this payback for not realizing what you meant by saying thank you?”

“Are you changing the subject because you regret asking the question?”

I scoff, the idea completely ridiculous. “Baby, I’d fill you with cum twice a day, every day starting now if you want to have kids with me.”

She slow blinks like she’s trying to figure out if I’m being serious. “I can’t have kids right now.”

Why does it feel like she just kicked me in the chest?

“You’re not ready. I understand. It’s a big step, and maybe you aren’t sure about what we have, but I’m a patient man, Cara. I’ll prove—”

She chuckles. “I mean I physically can’t get pregnant right now. That woman gave me a shot in El Salvador.” My face falls. “Don’t look like that. We’re moving past it. I don’t mind practicing until then.”

If she’s willing to forget how we started, then I guess it’s something I can work on as well. Maybe I’m a selfish bastard, but I’m not willing to walk away because of that guilt.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Strip naked and sit in the recliner. I want to watch us in the mirror on the back of the closet door.”

I glance from the mirror to the recliner and back.

“Think your thighs are strong enough to hold my weight?”

I scoff. “Baby, I know they are.”

She laughs as she stands from the bed, pulling her shirt over her head.

“I mean, no we can’t do that,” she says as I drop my jeans and let them pool around my ankles. “I forgot about the stitches there.”

“We can,” I assure her.

“I’m not going to hurt you just so we can have sex.”

I shrug, willing to risk it even if she isn’t.

She tosses her shirt on the floor, crossing to me and cupping my jaw in her hand.

“I’m glad you’re mine,” she whispers. “Now get on the bed. If I open the closet door, I can angle it in that direction.”

I shuffle across the room, probably looking like a fool waddling with my jeans around my legs, but if I try to pull them off standing up, I’ll probably end up with a head injury.

Before long, we’re both stripped naked. My back is against the headboard, hands on her perfect tits as she bounces up and down on me backwards.

The sex is amazing. I knew it would be the second I laid eyes on her, but it’s the way she wraps herself around me and presses her cheek to my chest when we’re done that I love the most.