Bittersweet Catastrophe (Second Chances #2.5) by Maureen Mayer Read Free Book Online Page A

explosion of stars behind my lids as the aftershocks of my orgasm coursed their way through me. With my forehead on her shoulder and my chest flush against her back, we both caught our breath and gradually came down from our blissful high. We remained wrapped up in one another, locked in an embrace that had no end and no beginning.
    God, I never wanted to let go of the amazing feeling that we shared every time we made love, but deep down, I worried that one day I would lose all of this. I had no idea where these negative thoughts stemmed from, but I just couldn’t shake them from my ruminating mind. I didn’t deserve to have such a beautiful, selfless, and caring woman in my life. I didn’t deserve to have two healthy babies growing inside of her. Every day I expected to wake up and find that this had all been a dream, that some sick fuck was playing a prank on me. Seriously, am I being punked?
    As much as I hated to break the connection, I slipped free from her body, and she let out a soft whimper in protest. She turned around and gazed up at me, her eyes penetrating me with so much love that I felt like my heart would burst from the impact. That …that was what I needed to see. That passion and fire in her eyes that always washed away any doubts that what we had wasn’t real, that I was undeserving of this life we shared together. I knew I made my fair share of mistakes in the past, mistakes I wasn’t proud of, but I worked my ass off to be a better man, and that was exactly what I wanted to be for my wife and my children. For my family.
    “I love you.” I cupped her beautiful face in my hands and leaned down to capture her lips. The lustful haze was still thick in the air surrounding us, even after the water had grown cold.
    Sliding the shower door open, I stepped out first and wrapped a towel low around my waist, grabbing one for Liberty before I swept her back up in my arms and pulled her close. I took my time drying her off, running the towel down her arms and legs, and paying extra attention to her lower abdomen where are babies lay safely nestled inside of her. It was hard to believe she was even pregnant without the baby bump, but I had all of the proof I needed when she looked down at me, her eyes teeming with a loving tenderness that only a mother could bestow.
    Liberty slipped her hand over mine, halting my efforts to get her dry, and I let the towel fall to the floor before our mouths collided. I dipped my tongue out to trace over her bottom lip, and she readily let me in. Her tongue stroked and caressed my own, and I had to rest my hand on the wall behind her to keep from falling to my knees. Fuck me. I could drown in her kisses. From the moment I laid eyes on her, I knew there was no escaping the pull that drew me to her, and her kisses solidified just that. It was amazing how perfectly in tune our bodies were to one another, as though we were truly made for each other. But her lips… God, her lips …they had to have been heaven sent. Nothing so sweet and so perfect could have been created from anything other than a divine being. And I can’t get enough of them.
    “I love you too, Shayne.” She breathed against my lips, and I could taste the truth behind her words. “Always.”
    Always.
    We promised each other always, and even now, almost a year later, our vows resounded through my mind: to honor her, to treasure her, to be at her side in sorrow and in joy, in the good times and the bad, and to love and cherish her always. I would give her all of that even if it killed me. Regardless of the truth her words held, it still felt as if something was coming between us, a force neither one of us could stop, and I couldn’t break free from this unnerving feeling that my entire world, my reason for living, was slowly slipping through the cracks.
     

Time flew by faster than either of us could have anticipated, which both excited and scared the shit out of me. I was sure any first-time father would