Perfecting the Odds (46 page)

Karis
pulled on his sweater, growling with impatience. Once off, she stared at his white undershirt. “Jesus, Michael, why are you wearing so many layers?”

He laughed
against her mouth. “Some of us dress for work,” he replied as he shimmied out of it.

“Overrated,” she mumbled before he delved into her warm, sweet mouth again. She allowed her hands to trace the path from his stomach to his chest. “Your body is so beautiful.”

“Ditto, darling
.” He licked a trail down her neck to her breasts. He lifted them gently and laved one nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, rewarding him a guttural moan from her panting mouth. And he knew already. She would be a swollen, dripping mess, just how he wanted her.

***

Karis’s hands blindly moved to his pants and ripped them open, leaving shredded threads in her wake. “I need you
now
, Michael.” And she meant it…this was a pure, deliciously filthy rectification for Karis’s mistakes-- not a want, but a damn necessity.

“Soon, sweetheart,” he promised, moving his mouth to her other breast, licking circles around the perimeter as his thumb tortured the other. He had been without her body for weeks; he clearly wanted to savor it. But Michael wasn’t getting the message about what now meant. She shoved her hands into his pants and pulled out his impressive shaft.

“
Karis,” he exhaled, releasing her nipple.

She shifted away and
knelt down between his legs.

“Oh, sweetheart, no
. There is no way I’ll last more than a few seconds if you do that.”

“Good,” she smiled
naughtily up at him. “I want nothing more than to suck you off good and fast, love.” He groaned a protest as her lips wrapped tightly around his bulbous head, pulling it deep to the back of her throat. Karis knew what she was doing. Even though she felt inferior in the standard sex department, pleasuring a man with her mouth had always been her favorite, admittedly because she loved the control. She fisted his shaft with both hands before slowly licking a line from the underside up to the sensitive spot beneath the head. She circled the head with her tongue and sucked the precum from the small slit. Michael hissed between clenched teeth. As her nails tickled the base, his hands gripped the desk, stopping himself from grabbing her head and pumping his dick into her hot, wet mouth.

“
Karis, I’m serious. Stop,” he bit out.

She smiled
and released on his cock. “Stop like go?”

He let go of a ragged laugh;
she’d turned his words back on him. “Fuck,
yes
. Go.”

“My pleasure
.” She angled her neck to take his engorged head past the soft spot in the back of her throat. Karis sucked him in hard, licking, pumping hard with her hand, prying the release from his control. She knew her Michael. He wanted to growl like a fucking animal right now, but bit down on his lip hard to smother the urge.

“You mouth …god damn,” his words stuttered out, as he gently pulled her mouth onto him further. She grazed h
er nails along his heavy balls, and the man whimpered. She fucking loved it.  The first spurt at the back of her throat surprised her. He growled her name, pulsing over and over. Karis’s slowed her hand and mouth, squeezing him dry. A final drag of her tongue prompted one more rewarding twitch and a low groan. Then she sat back on her heels and let out a long, satisfied sigh.

“How was that, Michael?”

His eyes still shut, he laughed awkwardly.
  “You could use blow jobs as collateral, Karis Bennett.”

“How do you think I paid my way through college?” she deadpanned, and his eyes shot open. She wrinkled her nose, earning herself a
rough growl and a resounding laugh. She stood up between his legs, turned him. Her back was now against the desk. She grazed her lips over his, coercing his eyes open.

“About that desk sex,” she murmured, taking him in hand again. He grinned, and his semi-hard cock swelled between her fingers.

“Yes, about that.” He
reached around her and shoved the stacks of papers and pencil hold from his desk. He shoved his pants to the floor. He grabbed her hips and lifted her so that only her thighs hung over the edge. She laid back flat against his desk and shivered at the cold surface. He slowly ran his hands from her ankles, up her thighs, over her belly, and around her breasts. He palmed her face and pressed one single kiss to her lips.

“I missed you so much
,” she whispered. Michael bent down and kissed the rogue tears from her cheeks.

“And I you, darling.
Please don’t cry.” His eyes trailed his fingers down her body. He rolled his thumb over her already unhooded clit. “I swear you were made for me, Karis.” He smiled and continued to rub circles as he teased his thick head through her pink flesh to gather her juices. She arched, awaiting his entrance.

“
Karis, can I ask you something?”

“Does it involve how many times and ways I want you to fuck me?’

He smirked. “No, my kinky beauty... Marry me, Karis.”

“Well, that depends.”
He frowned adorably.

“On what, love?”

“Will you give me sex whenever I want?”

“Hell yes
,” he said with a promising smirk.

“Will you remember my no-chunky yogurt rule?”

“How could I forget?”

“Will you take over the laundry?”

“You’ll never have to touch laundry again.” She smiled.

“Will you
ever lie to me again?”

His face instantly
became serious. “Never, my love” he whispered then gave her a more than serious kiss.

“Will you give me babies
, Michael?” She could see his heart break written all over his face, and she wanted to stop it immediately, but she knew she should stick to the plan. It couldn’t have unfolded more beautifully. He sighed heavily.

“Sweetheart,
I’d give you all the babies you wanted, but I’m almost positive I can’t have children. I stored some, uh, stuff, but with only
one
, the chemo, and the radiation, the doctors pretty much said it’s a long shot to conceive, naturally anyway. I’m open to adoption, though.” He looked so despondent, so absolutely torn, she almost stopped the plan right then and there.

“
You were a Marine, correct,” she asked, reaching down to stroke his cock, which only added to the confusion contorting his expression.

“Yes,”
he said with a tone of
what the hell does that have to do with anything?

“
And I’ve heard you were a great marksman, so a
long shot
is a cake walk for you, right?”

“
I suppose,” he drawled out. “But—.”

“
So, would you say you have impeccable aim, Michael?” He furrowed his brow deeper, still clearly baffled by this topic change.

“
What do you mean?” He instinctively tried to pull away in order to think, but she gripped his cock.

“I mean,
I agree it was a long shot, but one that you hit dead center. A confirmed hit,” she said, tapping the head of his cock against her greedy opening.

Michael shook his head and looked skyward,
commencing his thinking gesture. “Sweetheart, I can’t think when you’re doing that,” he said, but she didn’t stop her rhythmic teasing. And just as he opened his mouth to ask another question, his eyes widened as before her eyes, he pieced together the puzzle. She beamed in response to his look of shock. “Are you saying? You’re...we’re.” His eyes darted to her pelvis, and he set his palm lightly over her abdomen, as if too fragile to touch. She giggled with excitement. “There’s a baby...mine...
ours
in there right now?”

“Yes, in
there
right now. Are you okay with this, Michael?”

“
Holy shit, I --.” But he clearly couldn’t put into words what he felt. He bent down and placed one palm on Karis’s face. He licked the crease of her mouth, gripped his cock with his other hand and pressed into her. Her grin was lost within his mouth as she wrestled her tongue with his. She was fully aware that any man disappointed by the news wouldn’t be so hard. He pushed into her just another inch before he shot her look of alarm. “I won’t hurt it...the baby, will I?” he asked, adorably concerned.

Karis
smiled as a few tears tumbled down her face. “Of course not.” He still looked unsure. She furrowed her brow and rocked her pelvis. “And if you think for one second I’m going to give up Michael Sex for seven-ish more months, you’ve lost your sexy mind.”

Michael
chuckled and kissed her nose. “Duly noted, darling.” Then in one simultaneous movement, he plunged his tongue in her mouth and his cock straight through her hot channel, filling her to the brim, exactly how she wanted to be. Their previous love-making was far from inferior, but now,
here
, it felt freeing, almost as if they were floating, the direct result of her new outlook on life and their mutual happiness.

Meeting their
(semi) quiet release together, he fell gently over her, propping his body on his forearms. They lay cheek to cheek, catching their sprinting breath.

“
Karis?” he whispered in her ear.

“Yes,
baby?”

“Will you marry me
, darling?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
Karis?”

“
Mmhmm?”

“Can we name the child John Donne?”

“Even if it’s a girl?”

“
Yes.”

“Um
, no frickin’ way.” Michael chuckled then nibbled her earlobe.

“How about William Shakespeare?”

“Not a shitball’s chance in heaven.” He rumbled a laugh.

“
Okay then, Huckleberry?”

She snorted
a laugh and pulled his face in front of hers.
Huckleberry Finn
. “Catchy, but I was thinking Joseph Michael.”

His eyes widened
. “How do you know it’s a boy?”

“I just
have a feeling. Things have been going my way lately. Why not ride the good luck train all the way.”

“
I’ll ride your train any day, love. And I love the name.” He turned his head, and she saw the glassy tears brim on his beautiful lashes.

She smiled
and ran the pad of her finger down his nose. “It is perfect, isn’t it?” He nodded and buried his face in her hair. And it was; all of it.

Perfect
.

One and a half years
later...

“Blow out the candles, Joey,” Charley encouraged before kissing her grandson’s cheek. With a little puff of air and whole lot of spit, Joseph Michael blew out the candle on his first birthday cake. It was a beautiful day. A Monday, no less.

“
Good boy,” Karis cooed as Michael hugged her from behind. Everyone was at Joey’s first birthday party: Robby, Grace, Aunt Eve, Uncle Scott, their newborn daughter Carmindy, Charley, Megan, Lily, and their husbands. Karis and Michael’s family. Their big, wonderful portrait-like family.

Joey gave a squeal of delight and dove headfirst into his cake, prompting a rolling laug
hter from his audience. Michael sat down right next to his mini-me and mussed his hair. “Ease down, killer. You gonna save some for the rest of us?” With a smile full of blue icing, Joey squealed a “Da!” and the crowd went wild. God, Karis loved to watch Michael with him, and with Robby and Grace, for that matter. He was as good of a father as he was a husband--attentive, loving, giving. He was giver alright. A giver of time, of energy, of sacrifice, of love, and most recently, of miracles.

Karis
watched lovingly as Michael wiped down Joey, who had managed to resemble a smurf after only two minutes. It would be a week before the blue dye from the icing would wash from his skin. But that crap didn’t bother her anymore. She stopped sweating the small stuff about two seconds after Michael proposed. Plain and simple, her family mattered, along with the happiness they nurtured each and every day. As soon as Michael finished, he plopped Joey in Charley’s lap. This would be the perfect time for Karis to talk with him.

“I
need some time alone with you, husband,” she whispered before placing her hand in the crook of his elbow. She pulled him toward the living room, the same room Karis searched for weaponry to fight off the effects of her spiteful ice water bath. It was now more than just a room, it was the heart of the home she shared with her family. Her big, awesome family. She looked over her shoulder, and he grinned as she pulled him up the stairs toward his office.

Once inside
, Michael slid his hands down to cup her ass. “And what is it that you need, my sexy wife,” he murmured onto her mouth.

“You haven’t lost you
r touch, Michael.”