Thumper by Marie James
Chapter 39
Cara
“I don’t want to have this argument again,” Thumper mutters as he stands on his side of the bed, helping me make it for the day. “And honestly, Cara, do you think bringing it up again while you’re topless is really going to make me have a different response?”
“It doesn’t help?” I ask, twisting at the waist and making my breasts jiggle.
He’s entranced, but for him it’s nothing new. It doesn’t matter if I’m naked or fully dressed, the man never seems to take his eyes off me. What once felt predatory, now feels possessive in the best way possible.
“You have gorgeous tits, baby, but no. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Have you given any more thought to what Jasmine suggested?”
I huff, fluffing the pillows on my side before crossing my arms over my chest, effectively cutting off his view.
“Come on. Don’t be like that. Move your arms.”
“Not unless you’re willing to discuss me getting a job.”
“You don’t need a job. I like taking care of you.”
“I’m living off the Cerberus MC, and I don’t like it.”
“And I remember what your hand feels like during a bed bath. I don’t want to have to go kick some old man’s ass for getting a hard-on when you bathe him. Now if you were willing to—”
“I can’t demand a new employer to only give me female patients to wash, Javi. We’ve already talked about this.”
“Just drop your arms, and I’ll consider it.”
“No, you won’t.”
“That’s true. I won’t, but college?”
“You mean nursing school? One, it’s very expensive, and two, I still may have to wash male patients.”
“Have you considered a career in…” He taps his finger against his lips as if he’s really concentrating. “Maybe… what’s a job that deals with only women?”
“Are you really so insecure that you don’t trust me to be around other men?”
His face falls. “What? No.”
He circles around the bed, gently grabbing me by the shoulders until I’m facing the mirror on the back of the closed closet door. God, we’ve had a lot of fun in front of that thing.
“Arms down,” he whispers in my ear, the rush of his breath over my skin making my covered nipples harden in anticipation.
We’ve been insatiable the last couple of months, and show no real sign of stopping, not when he continues to look at me the way he is in his reflection right now.
I drop my arms, a shiver running up my spine at the groan that leaves his lips.
“Do you see these?” He lifts both of my breasts. “Men can’t help but look at them.”
“I’ll be wearing clothes. Don’t. If you start pinching them, oh shit, Javi.” I press back against him, his boxer-clad erection a hot spike against my spine. “We don’t have time. How are you even hard again?”
“Always hard for you, baby. Did you really think you’d wear me out last night and this morning?”
I whimper, nearly giving in to him, but just before he can lower one hand to the center of my body, I pull away.
“No more sex until I get a job.”
His jaw ticks as he watches me pull clothes on, and I can tell he’s deciding how he wants to continue.
“Being here is part of my benefit package.”
“You being here is part of your benefit package,” I clarify. “I need to work.”
“You want to work,” he argues. “There’s a difference.”
“And you said you’d do anything to keep me happy.”
“Don’t pull any punches, Cara.”
He frowns, and this is not where I wanted this to go today.
“And if I told you I already got a job?”
He stands silently in the middle of the room, the shirt I toss to him, hitting him in the chest and dropping to the floor.
“Come on. Don’t look at me like that. I just need something to do when you’re gone. I get bored. I like to feel useful and helping makes me happy.”
“Jobs don’t let you dictate when you work, and that means some of the days I’m home, you’ll be gone. Is it so bad that I want to spend all of my time with you?”
Isn’t he just the sweetest?
“What if I told you that the job I took is flexible enough that I can work when I want?”
“Jobs like that, especially in the medical field, don’t exist. It is in the medical field, right?”
I shrug. “Kind of. I will still be giving baths, lots and lots of baths.”
He growls. “To men?”
“Males,” I tell him with a teasing grin he doesn’t seem to appreciate right in this moment.
His eyes narrow. “Males? Just tell me. I can’t stop you from working, and I’m not mad, but I’m also not happy.”
“I got a job as a part-timer at Happy Paws.”
A slow smile takes over his unhappy face. “The animal grooming place?”
“That’s the one.”
He steps over the shirt at his feet and scoops me up. He’s completely healed from the time he was with Juan’s brother, and he never has any problem proving exactly how strong he is.
My back hits the bed with a bounce, and I squeal in delight when his teeth dig into my neck.
“I thought I was going to have to rough up some geriatrics. You’re a bad girl, baby.”
He rolls his hips against me, proving just how much he likes it when I misbehave.
“That brute force may still be necessary. Some of those guys are going to be really happy to see me, all tongues hanging out and tails wagging.”
He presses his mouth to mine before leaning up on his elbows to smile down at me. “Did you pee on the stick this morning?”
I shake my head. “I told you it was too soon.”
“Maybe just go do it and see.” He climbs off me, pulling my hand until I’m sitting up. “Go on.”
“It’s too soon.”
“Just go.”
“I’m not wasting a test. Let’s go join the others. I heard chatter last night about some type of celebration for someone.”
“You don’t know what it is?”
I shrug. “My focus was on you the entire night. I told you what happens when you wear those dark wash jeans.”
With a sly smile, he opens the closet door and pulls out another pair very similar to the ones he wore last night. When he pulls them up, the denim is as snug on his thighs as I know they are on his ass. This man is trying to kill me.
“I love how sex-hazy your eyes get.”
“Come on,” I say with a laugh just as he’s scooping his shirt up from the floor.
I open the door, and he’s walking right behind me, whispering all sorts of dirty things in my ear.
“Would you stop,” I say, swatting his chest so he’ll take a step back.
The living room isn’t filled with activity like I expect it to be. There’s a line of people staring toward the front door.
“Cara?”
I look between two of the backs and jump high with excitement.
“April!” I run to her, wrapping my arms around my little sister, pulling her close and squeezing her tight.
We talk nearly every day, either on the phone, through text, or a video chat, but I haven’t seen her in person in years. She was right in the middle of her last semester of high school when she went to live with the Holmans. I guess I should be happy she stayed to graduate, even though she said she wasn’t walking across the stage.
“I thought you were going to Cabo with some friends before coming here. I wasn’t expecting you for another—” My words dry up in my mouth as I pull back a few inches from her.
“Cara, don’t, please.”
I drop my eyes to her stomach. The bump isn’t very noticeable under her clothes, but it’s unmistakable when pressed against her.
“Are you pregnant?” My hands go to her belly, but she takes a step back, her eyes darting all over the room.
I know something bad is going to happen before I even turn around and follow her gaze.
And I’m absolutely right when I hear Javier roar, “You slept with her little sister?”
My eyes land on Apollo just as Javier punches him in the face.
Apollo’s hand goes up immediately to his bloody mouth, but he drops it the second he sees my sister. His lips spread wide into a smile as he ignores the blood dripping down his chin.
“Hey, April,” he whispers, his smile never falling as he lowers his eyes to the hands she has placed protectively over her belly.
“I need to tell you something,” she whispers.
THE END
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