CASSIE
It stands to reason that Leo and I are the last to arrive at Windermere. Since Leila and Matilda were born, we’re late to everything. In all honesty, I don’t know how Leo is dealing with it so well given how anal he is about punctuality. Then again, two kids in and our life is perfectly messy—and that includes most of our home, too.
Thinking about it, I feel a little bit sorry for him. Not only is he well and truly outnumbered, but his neat-freakishness is constantly pushed to its limits. And the best part of it—of him—is that he doesn’t mind it one bit. Leo is perfectly happy being a doting girl daddy.
“Are we there yet?” Leila asks again with a cheeky trill to her voice that says she can see the gates for Herald’s Hold up ahead.
If we had a penny for the number of times she’s asked that question since we left London this morning, we might be the wealthiest couple in the country.
With an equally rascally tone, Leo tells her, “Not if I go at tortoise speed. What do you think, Mummy?”
“Say no, Mama! Say no,” Leila squeals right behind me, startling Tilly awake.
Luckily, she’s placid enough for once that when she’s got her bearings, she dozes off again.
“Oh, I don’t know…” Twisting in my seat, I peer back at her. Leila’s green eyes are bugging out of her head pleadingly, meanwhile the cute tartan headband I put on her that matches Tilly’s is around her neck. Allowing her messy, platinum curls to fall in disarray around her face. “It seems awfully dangerous to go any faster in this snow.”
“But we’re late already.” The toddlerish slur of her words warms my chest.
Times like these make the sleepless nights all worth it. That cheeky gapped-toothed smile and adorable scrunch of her nose along with all the sass beaming in her eyes makes my heart so happy and full. I look at Leila and I see myself. Memories of my childhood remind me of what’s to come with her, while Tilly is her father’s daughter. She’s the complete opposite to Leila—serious and brooding. Even when she sleeps her expression is earnest, almost grumpy.
“Mama, please…we got to put the stockings up for Santa.”
Leo gives my thigh a gentle squeeze, a warm smile brightening his face with the lightest flush that makes my insides twist deliciously. “What do you say, Buttercup, live dangerously with me?”
“Always, Neat Freak.”
His grin hitches higher when the car lurches forward from the slow crawl he was coasting along the long drive to the manor, to a more reasonable speed.
“Mission Stocking is underway,” he says, putting on a big voice for effect as Leila giggles excitedly with her feet pushing into the back of my seat.
Every time I think I can’t love him any more, he proves me wrong. He really is the best person I know, and my soul soars just being a part of his existence.
“Daddy,” Leila yells, her feet kicking harder with every thrilled clap of her small hands. “Faster, they’re catching us!”
Leo speeds up a smidge more, his hand on my thigh gripping tighter in that ticklish spot only he knows. I couldn’t keep a straight face if I tried, and if I held in my laughter, I’m certain I’d burst.
“Faster, faster…they’re getting us, Daddy!”
Playing along, he swerves the car onto one of the offshoots of the drive that leads to the stables on the other side of my grandmother’s estate. Loose snow dusts up into the air around us when he breaks suddenly and then reverses back over one of the small logs.
“We got that bad elf.” Leo launches forward again a few feet before he turns suddenly down another path leading directly to the garages close to the side entrance of the house where all the other cars are parked up and have a generous layer of snow building up on them. “No one is stopping us from getting your stocking up today, Princess Cupcake.”
We weave the rest of the way down the path, pretending to avoid Santa’s reindeer that Granny has lighting up the path closer to the house while Leila makes shooting noises in the back, defending us from the snow sprites trying to freeze our wheels.
Tilly wakes up just as we jolt to a stop right outside the boot room. Before we’ve caught our breaths from all the action, Grace and Beatrix come bounding out. Dark hair blustering in the light wind with every bouncy stride to the car.
The two of them are an even mix of Casper and Fleur. Into everything and always ready to go. Leo and I often joke about their endless battery life–even the Duracell Bunny needs a recharge sometimes, but not those two.
Before I can open my door to take Leila out, Grace whips her door open and climbs in to free her from her car seat.
“Merry Christmas,” she yells over her shoulder at me and Leo before diving over Tilly and covering her in kisses. “Who is the cutest baby ever?”
Unimpressed, Tilly growls at her. “No.”
“Get out!” Beatrix yanks at her sister’s jumper, trying to pull her out of the car while Leila attempts to clamber down. “You’re in the way, stupid.”
“This is going to be chaos,” I whisper at Leo.
“It’s always insanity with all these girls bossing everyone around. Max and Xavi are well and truly outnumbered,” he chuckles with an exaggerated grimace before we both jump out of the car and get all the kids out.
Leo isn’t wrong. Between our four families, there are six sassy girls and only Christopher’s and Freddie’s quiet boys—Xavier and Maxwell.
Before we get our bearings, the girls have run off into the house in a dash of animated squeals, racing past Mum when she comes out to meet us. Her arms are outstretched and ready to take Tilly before she’s greeted Leo and me.
“Should we go and get you all fresh for the madness?” she asks Tilly, taking her from me while she presses a kiss to each of my cheeks. “How was the drive up?”
“Not as terrible as we thought it would be,” Leo tells her, giving her a hug. “The girls were great, so we only stopped a few times to grab coffees and snacks. Are Mum and Wayne here already?”
“They got here not too long ago, they’re on drink duty,” Mum tells him as she holds Tilly up to have a good look at her.
It’s one of her habits, like she’s making sure nothing’s changed since the last time she saw her. Which was yesterday afternoon while Leo and I were busy wrapping presents in my old room for her and Dad to drive up last night with Christopher and Arabella.
“Your fathers are on baby duty and Granny is supervising them, so you might actually get the evening off.”
“We won’t say no to that,” Leo chuckles, coiling his arm around my waist and tugging me into him when she spins and heads inside, only to wink over her shoulder at us while he leans down to nip at my ear.
Oh, Penelope… She’s the worst at keeping secrets.
“What was that?” he spins me to face him as we amble back into the side of the car, his hand cupping my face when he’s got me pressed to the cold chassis with his body.
“Too much mulled wine probably,” I reply, pushing onto my tiptoes so that I can trace my lips over his.
The first moment I saw him seven years ago, he was the most beautiful man I’d ever laid my eyes on, and to this very moment, he is still the only man that can make my heart race with nothing but a soft smile. His touch can light me on fire in a nanosecond. It’s something I know will never change.
“So, my beautiful wife, what are we going to do with a whole evening to ourselves?” he asks, nipping at my bottom lip.
A thrill shoots through me, causing me to shiver and my body to bow into his while his arm curls tighter around me.
“Well, I have some rather nice stockings to show you, husband of mine.”
The hand holding my face lowers to my neck as his tongue spears into my mouth. Suddenly it doesn’t feel so cold out here with his body grinding into mine and his hand at my waist clawing into my flesh over my wool dress.
The vibration of his groans together with his cherry and clove tinged breath make for a heady cocktail, overwhelming my senses with every swirl of his tongue over mine.
“Think they’ll notice if we take a bit longer parking?” Leo asks, his voice is so low and gravelly that I shiver as it tickles across my skin.
“Do you care?”
A deep chuckle rumbles in his chest while he opens my door and replies, “Fuck no.”
“Then why are you asking?” I allow him to coast me along the side of our Range Rover.
My heart is ramming into my ribs a million miles per second. The pounding of my pulse hammers all over my body, heating my blood with a need that never gets old. It’s never sated; no matter how many times we fuck or he makes love to me. On the contrary, it grows bolder, stronger, more demanding. It’s a relentless, suffocating necessity that is written into my DNA. Forever dependent on him and his unyielding love.
“It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.” Leo hoists me up into my seat, trailing his hands down from my waist to my thighs.
As he strums the suspenders holding my stockings up, I tell him, “If you’re a gentleman, which you are not.”
Green eyes flash to mine, bright like sun soaked stained glass beaming into me. It’s true what they say; his eyes are the window to his soul. And it is the most incredible sight I’ll ever have. Every time his stare holds mine, the world stops.
Nothing beyond him exists.
Leo is the beginning and the end of my existence. The purpose of every breath that fills my lungs and the constant that keeps me breathing. He’s given me a life I could never have imagined. So full and beautiful that I often pinch myself just to be sure it’s real.
A devious grin cuts his face while he teasingly pulls at the suspenders, watching me intently when the snapback makes me squirm.
“Definitely not when you wear these things,” he says, bunching my calf-length dress up my legs.
“Why do you think I wear them all the time?”
“Because I love it and you love me.”
The surety in his voice has me smiling into his waiting lips. With my hands holding either side of his face, I murmur over his gaping mouth, “I love it when you fuck me like your life depends on it.”
“Christ,” he hisses when I nip his lip and then suck it into my mouth while my hands push up into his neatly coifed hair, tugging at the longer strands on top.
“I think Santa might need some help sorting through the presents.”
“Yeah, I think he does.”
Leo pulls away brusquely, ignoring the kids’ screams from inside the house when he shuts my door and rounds the front of the Rover to the driver’s side. He doesn’t waste time getting us inside the garage where the presents are hidden.
Once he cuts the engine, I climb over the centre console and straddle his lap. It’s not my most graceful move, but he doesn’t care as he slides his seat all the way back before he tugs the hem of my dress roughly up to my waist.
“I love you, Cass,” he rumbles, tipping his head back so that our faces are a breadth apart while his hands smooth down to my butt. “You’re always so utterly breath-taking this close.”
My chest squeezes at his statement. The sincerity sparkling in his eyes, making it impossible to catch my breath when he grips my flesh roughly and yanks me flush to his lap.
Pressing my hands to his shoulders, I trail them down his chest. Hard and strong. Impenetrable, and the only place my heart can ever be truly safe.
“I love you, Leo,” I tell him, tracing down the carved lines of his torso over his fitted jumper, to his jeans.
Without pause, I unbuckle his belt and tug the button open before unzipping his fly. A deep hiss pushes past his clenched teeth when I slip my hand between us and palm his hardened cock. Since Tilly was born, I’ve learnt that these moments don’t last long, and as great as it is to get caught up in the sweet romance of it all, it’s not what I need right now.
“I need you inside me,” I tell him as I free his erection and bite down on his lip. “Please, I need you to fill me…really fucking deep.”
Sometimes the only way to satisfy the need between us is to make it hurt. Right now is one of those times. While I continue working his dick with one hand, I pull the crotch of my red lace bodysuit open when he lifts me over his length. Holding me above him just high enough that the tip of his cock teases my entrance when I run it along my folds.
“Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not, Buttercup.” His voice trembles, threatening to break when I pump him with a tighter grip and then run my thumb along the slit of his hard-on. “I’m savouring you.”
“No, you’re holding out on me, Neat Freak,” I bluster into his gaping mouth.
“You’re so demanding when you’re pregnant.” His eyes flash from between us to mine. Pride and amusement shining in them as a big smile cuts his face.
“How do you—”
“Because I know my wife,” he tells me, pulling me down on him, so that his cock fills me with one merciless stroke. A strangled scream whooshes from my lungs as my entire body clenches at the ruthless intrusion. “I know what makes my wife scream.”
“Leo…” I whimper when he rocks me over him.
“I know what makes my wife moan,” he continues, flexing his hips up into me with open-mouthed sighs and kisses to my jaw. The strain of his voice grows tighter along with the heated friction of his assault. “What makes her smile and laugh… and what pisses her off. I know this body inside out… because it’s my body. The same way you are mine.”
“Oh God, don’t stop,” I cry into his mouth, circling my hips over him. “So good when you fill me like this. So good when it hurts.”
“This pussy is so tight,” he groans, fucking himself with my body. Harder, faster, deeper. “So perfect when you take my cock like a good girl.”
Our desperate moves become jagged. The sound of our slick skin slapping together filling the air along with the heady scent of our arousal. I’m burning all over. Everywhere. Desperately aching for more as my body clenches tighter with every thrust of his cock.
He’s so fucking big.
I’m so fucking full.
My blood boils hotter. My pores spark with the first murmur of my orgasm when he grows thicker, throbbing so deep inside me that tears stream from my eyes. It’s too good. Too much. Not enough…
“Leo,” I cry out loud, deafening the roar of my pulse in my ears.
When I think that he can’t get deeper, he thrusts up while he slams me down on his cock at the same time. Everything implodes. Bursting into bliss. Pain and pleasure colliding into one.
Delirious oblivion.
Heaven.
“You’re still the brightest star in my sky, my beautiful queen. So fucking mesmerising…” He breathes each word with each buck of his hips, fucking into me while he chases his release. “You’re all I ever see, Cass. All I ever want. So addictive… I can’t get enough of you ever.”
It’s impossible to catch my breath. My lungs are burning. My blood is pounding through my veins. Every cell of my body is alive. In full bloom as each drive of his body up into mine drags out my pleasure. Reigniting my orgasm again, and again.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful, baby,” he grits out, his hold on me so rough and possessive that I feel its bruising force deep in my bones.
My body writhes to the rhythm of his. Breaking into an all-over spasm when he bites down on my shoulder, smothering his loud grunt when he fills me with his cum.
Spurt after hot spurt that tips me over the edge again. I’m falling. He’s falling. Together. Always together, until we’re both a breathless heap.
His arms wrap around me as I nestle my face into the crook of his neck. Breathing him into my lungs while my heart continues to hammer into my ribs. Nothing beats this moment where we’re both completely lost in each other. Our bodies cling together while Leo remains inside me. Nothing beats this peace… this all encompassing sense of belonging and safety. Leo is my heart, and his body, his embrace is home.
“Better?” he asks with a chuckle.
I lift my head to find his stare. “For now.”
“Good answer.” Long fingers twist and tug at the ends of my hair while his other hand cups my face. “We’re not going to sleep until your sweet cunt has come all over my face.”
A shiver runs through me when he nips at my bottom lip and his cock twitches inside me. It’s ridiculous how hungry I am for him all over again at the slightest throb of his desire for me.
Kissing a trail down his jaw, I rest my head back on his shoulder. The movement of my body causes his semi-hard-on to rub along my sensitive walls. God, it feels so good that I whimper at the frisson of electricity that tickles up my spine. Leo trails his hand down my back, rounding to my waist before his thumb strokes along the side of my mummy-tummy that still hasn’t quite gone down since Tilly.
“You’ve ruined the best present I have for you.”
“Your pussy?” he chuckles lightly.
“No, idiot,” I nip at his neck, “the baby.”
Leo coils an arm around me while he presses his hand firmly to the base of my belly. “It’s still the best present you can give me. Ever.”
“Even if it lands you in prison?”
“I know how to clean up after myself, and I’m sure the guys will happily help dispose of any prick that goes near my girls.”
“This one could be a boy.”
Leo’s breathless laugh vibrates between us. “How many times do you think Casper has said that?”
I laugh at his retort. Relishing the ache that sparks in my belly with the clench of my muscles and the way that he’s still inside me. I could spend the rest of the evening here with him. Just like this—his arms wrapped around me, our bodies sweaty and hearts drumming into each other as we talk about the future.
“I love our girls,” Leo hums. “They’re sweet just like their mummy.”
“And wild just like their daddy.”
