Dre and T went over some basic guidelines security-wise before leaving.  As soon as they were out the door, Cassidy found herself pacing back and forth behind the family room sofa where Justin was lying down lengthwise, Cody kneeling on the floor beside him.   Tarzan had just started to play on the TV, although no one was paying attention to it.  Justin’s eyes were closed as his son quietly inspected the swollenness of his face.  The boy had at least a dozen questions he wanted to ask, but he’d been instructed to keep quiet because “Daddy had a headache.”  It was obviously very difficult for him, as Cody was practically biting his lip to keep from inquiring.

“Stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy.”  Justin opened one eye to look at her over the back of the couch.  She stopped and braced both her hands on it. 

“The more I think about it, the more pissed off I am,” Cassidy admitted before exhaling a rather deep breath.

Justin’s eyes closed again as he spoke in a low grumble.  “There’s nothing you can do about it.  I’m fine.  Trust me, I’ve been through much worse.”

Gritting her teeth, she looked up toward the ceiling.  “I know that,” she spoke rather stubbornly.  “But she hit you.”

He grinned, the pain instantly visible as he wiped the expression away poignantly.   “Ouch,” He groaned softly to himself.  Then requested for her to, “Come sit down.  Please.”

“Mommy?   Is daddy out of commission now?” Cody’s speech finally broke through as he uttered a question that caught them both off guard.

The expression she exuded could only be construed as flabbergast, as Cassidy wondered where in the world her son had learned such a term.  Justin simultaneously let out a loud smirk that was instantly succeeded by another pain-filled, drawn-out “owe.”

With a chuckle Cassidy lifted Justin’s feet from one end of the sofa so she could sit down underneath.  “Daddy will be fine,” she told her son as he moved to stand just in front of her, staring with curious eyes.  Lovingly she raked a hand through his head of blond curls.  “He is definitely not out of commission.  Do you even know what that means?” she asked.

His head shook back and forth.

“Well, I don’t think it’s something you should be saying,” she told him.

“Okay,” he agreed half-heartedly. 

With a quiet sigh, Cassidy tilted her head.  “Are you getting hungry?” she asked her little boy.

“Yes.”

She wasn’t expecting the answer in stereo.  Her sight floated up the length of Justin’s torso.  “You’re hungry too?” she asked, but as soon as her eyes landed on his swollen nose the anger she’d managed to contain momentarily shot back up again, ten-fold.

Justin was answering her question with an “mmmm” and a subtle nod, but she was too busy seeing red to absorb it.

“Cody, sweetheart, why don’t you go upstairs and get that new set of books grandpa sent you to show Daddy.” 

Her quick thinking worked as her little one hopped up with an excited “okay” and scurried out of the room. 

Justin pulled himself upright and looked at her with the most curious expression he could muster under the circumstances.  “That’s cool.  Your dad sends him books?”

Cassidy’s head shook as she closed her eyes.  She couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.   It was making her too angry.  She hadn’t felt such rage in—longer than she cared to remember.  She’d done a really good job at checking her temper since she’d become a mom.  The last thing she wanted was for her little boy to see her explode.  She felt on the verge of a massive eruption.

Calmly she flattened her palm to the top of his knee, as he’d just curled one of his bare feet under the opposite thigh.  “Justin, I am so fucking pissed off right now.   I haven’t felt like this in—”

“Hey…” His voice was calm as his hand closed over the top of hers.  “Calm down.   Okay?”

Her head shook again.  She wasn’t arguing.  It was an automatic reaction.   “I’m trying,” she said through gritted teeth.  “I feel like I—Like I need to go kick her ass, or something.”

Quietly he chuckled and her eyes instantly popped open.  “I love that you’re so eager to defend me,” he said with a quirky grin.  She forced her focus away from him in an obvious fashion.  She knew he was trying to calm her down, but it wasn’t working.  “Hey, shit happens,” he added when she didn’t give him a response the first time.

She let her eyes meet with him then, wide and clear.  “I don’t like it when people fuck with my family,” she stated firmly.

His quirky grin turned instantly sentimental.  “Family… we are family, huh?”  

If it weren’t for the mushy tone to his voice, she might have feared that she’d said something she shouldn’t have, but it was obvious he was taken to the idea.   Still, the only answer she could manage was, “Well… yeah.”   Sort of like—duh.

His fingertips brushed along her jaw as his lips pressed into her cheek as best they could, considering the state his face was in.  “I like that,” he said softly.   Then he pulled back and said, “Ouch.”

Just then Cody came charging back into the room, his arms filled with three hardback books that he was obviously having a hard time keeping hold of.  “What’cha got there, little man?” Justin asked, scooting just enough to make room for Cody in between the two of them.  He patted the vacant spot on the sofa and the little boy eagerly climbed up.

And just like that Cassidy was instantly calm.  She still hated what had happened, but that verge of an outburst was gone and instead she felt herself grinning at the sight of the family she’d always really wanted without ever really knowing it.

Just before dinner Justin decided to take some of the pain medication that the doctor had given him.  Thirty minutes after they ate, he was out cold on the sofa.  Cassidy and Cody spent some quality time together, coloring in one of Cody’s many coloring books, then watching a little TV before it was time for bed.  Snuggled up in a pair of flannel PJ’s, the little boy trotted down the stairs ahead of his mom.  “Slow down,” Cassidy called out to him in her warning voice.

When she got into the family room, where they’d left Justin sacked out on the couch, she found Cody climbing on top of him, gently nudging one of Justin’s shoulders while he carefully inched in close to the bigger man’s face.  “Daddy,” the boy whispered softly, studying his father with an obvious amount of concentration.  When Justin didn’t budge, Cody whispered it again, only louder.

“Daddy’s asleep,” Cassidy finally said, stepping up behind the sofa.

“No I’m not,” Justin sounded groggily.  Then his arms came up around Cody’s small frame and squeezed him tight to his chest.  “You ready for bed, big guy?”

The question was answered with a healthy yawn.  Cassidy smiled, feeling more sentimental than she had all day.  There was nothing that could even come close to comparing with the feeling of watching her little boy with his dad.  It was something she’d longed for without even realizing it.  That was, until she’d been met with it face to face.  It was the best feeling in the world, feeling the love that had harbored between the two almost instantly.  She felt incredibly thankful for how her life was going at the moment.  And Cody’s life too.

Cody’s head bobbed against Justin’s chest.  “Uh huh,” he finally answered.

“You sleep tight, okay?  I love you.”

Hearing that warmed her heart even more.  “I love you too, daddy.”

She watched as Justin’s rubbed Cody’s back while giving him one more good squeeze.   “Okay, go with Mommy.  I’ll see you when you wake up.” 

Justin pushed his heavy frame up off the couch enough to watch his little boy and the woman he was falling head over heels in love with disappear up the staircase.  His eyes felt incredibly heavy and he knew it was from the pain meds.  But the pain in his face was gone and that was definitely a good thing. 

As much as he was glad to see the pain gone, he wished he hadn’t taken the meds.   He felt like he’d missed out while he’d been asleep.  He didn’t want to miss things ever again.  Collapsing back down, he stared up at the high ceiling, an overly expensive version of a ceiling fan whirling slowly above.  For some reason it made him think of Cassidy’s ex husband.  It was one of those things that just didn’t seem like her.  He knew that she enjoyed the finer things in life—he did too so there were no complaints about that—but some things were just over the top and ridiculous, like paying a grand for a ceiling fan when you could get a perfectly decent one for one tenth of the price at Home Depot.  Obviously he had no idea how much the fan had cost, but it just had expensive written all over it.

The thought made him wonder how she’d ever wound up with Jason Brown.  For some reason Justin felt a little bit to blame.  He wasn’t sure why because it definitely wasn’t him that hadn’t tried to get in touch with her.  He’d tried everything possible before he’d gotten himself into his own awful mess of a relationship with Macie.  Even after he and Macie had started dating he’d sort of tried to find her.  Whenever he’d run into someone in the sports media industry he always found himself asking about her.  Of course he’d never got any leads from his questions.  If he had, he’d have known about Cody a long time ago and maybe they’d both have been saved from two horrible marriages.

Taking a big sigh, he blamed his weird string of thoughts on the pain meds.  His mind was going haywire.  One thing for sure, though, his body was completely relaxed.

When Cassidy finally returned she was wearing a pair of those cute but sexy drawstring pants that seemed to hug her ass just right.  He figured she must’ve owned every color available, this particular pair bright white.  Her upper half was barely covered in a super thin white tank—no bra, the dark shading of her half-dollar-sized areolas visible through the sheer material, much to his satisfaction.

Instantly he was aroused.  Too bad he was also perfectly aware of the affects the pain meds would have on his libido.  Sex probably wasn’t the best idea at the moment.   Not unless she wanted it to last for hours on end.

Damn.

From now on he’d deal with the pain.  It wasn’t that bad.

Unfortunately that wasn’t helping his situation at that very moment, as she slithered up against him on the couch.  “How you feeling?” she asked.

“Looped and horny,” he answered honestly.

Her grin was wide.  Her eyes dancing with suggestion.  “Really?”

Justin smirked.  “Yes, but it’s not exactly a good combination.”  He curled an arm around her as she hugged close to his side, fitting in between his body and the back of the couch.

“Why is that?”

“The meds.”

“Ohhh…   You mean the whole desensitizing thing?”

He brushed a hand down the back of her head.  “Yeah, that.  And you just had to come back down here looking all hot.”  He closed his eyes briefly.   “I think you’re trying to torture me.”

“I was just getting comfortable,” she defended.

He smirked as he reached down to reposition his now full-on and uncomfortable erection.   Her hand followed his, taking over once his left.  Before he could protest, she was unzipping his fly, the warmth of her palm against his flesh, soothing to say the least.  “I really don’t think you understand what you’re getting yourself into,” he warned.

“Actually I do,” she replied, her eyes on his face as she smoothed her touch up his shaft.   “I’ve dated an injured athlete or two.”

“Didn’t need to know that,” he quipped quickly.

“Sorry.”   She pressed one hot kiss to the underside of his jaw, then another to his neck.   “I wanna make you feel better,” she told him, her voice sultry and soft.

“Just being with you makes me feel better.”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I mean.”  His delayed senses didn’t register her body slipping down the length of him until her breath hit his skin, just before the warmth of her mouth took him in.

As good as it felt, he realized if it weren’t for the fucking pain medication it would feel even better.  Dammit.

“Cody’s asleep right?” he thought to ask.  The last thing he wanted was for his son to come downstairs and witness what they were doing.

Her answer was a hum of a yes as she didn’t even bother to stop what she was doing, which was just fine by him.  Between the pleasure of what she was doing and the grogginess from the medication, he was completely in a fog.  Definitely very vulnerable.   Not that he cared about that one damn bit.  Not with her.  With her he felt safer then anywhere.

Very softly her teeth scraped his tip and he automatically groaned in response.  Damn, maybe she’d be able to get him to overcome the side affects from the meds after all.  

One thing for sure, she just didn’t stop.  Every time he thought she was going to, sure that she had to be getting worn out, she managed to come back even stronger, gradually pushing him closer and closer to the edge.  But still, release seemed miles away.  It was frustrating being so completely close, but so regrettably far. 

He lifted himself up, resting on his elbows, so he could get a better look at her.   “Baby, you can stop.  It’s okay.”  He wasn’t sure how long it had been, but he knew it had been longer than it normally would take—a lot longer.

She did, sinking her teeth into the flesh just below his hip bone instead.  Then her dark brown eyes looked up at him with determination.  “I’m not stopping until you come.”  Her moist lips were on him again and he suddenly felt extremely guilty.  Placing a hand to the side of her head, he nudged her up, glad that she obliged.

Straddling him, she rose up to meet him face to face.  He slipped a hand down the back of her pants as she leaned towards him.  “Let me get you off, instead,” he suggested.

She shook her head no and gently kissed his bottom lip.

“Fuck,” he cursed.  “Why did I take those fucking pain killers?  That was just stupid.”

“You took them because you were in pain.  It wasn’t stupid.”

“I’d rather be in pain then have you work so fucking hard.”

“Who said it’s hard work?” she said with a sly grin, easing back downwards.

“Uh uh,” he told her.  “Get back up here.”  He had doubts that she’d comply and he was right.  She did exactly the opposite as he’d requested and once again she was working on his pleasure instead of her own.  But this time, he realized instantly, resolution didn’t feel so far off.  In fact, it was mere seconds that he knew it was actually going to happen.

His breath heightened as he felt his body tensing.  It was obvious that she realized too because the drive she had to pleasure him quadrupled—and it had been damn strong before.  “Shit.  Stop,” he told her, so close to release but knowing he’d rather her get something out of it too.  But she wasn’t listening to him.  She just kept going, her mouth devouring him, his entire body on the verge of explosion.  “Shit.  Shit.  Shit.  Get your ass up here and let me fuck you.”

But it was too late, release eminent, not that she was giving in anyway.  The earth shook, the waves crashed, the entire universe exploded and all he could do was grunt and pant and breath as she took every bit of what he had to offer.

When she looked up at him, her expression was one of complete accomplishment.  “Damn,” he sighed, still breathing heavy.  “You will get yours.”  With a smirk she covered up the parts of his body that had been exposed.  The pulse of ecstasy wasn’t quite gone yet and he was still breathing hard. 

Cassidy hopped off the couch.  “We’ll see.”

“No.”   He sat up.  “You will.  Trust me.”

He heard her shoot back a response, but couldn’t make out what it was as she disappeared into the closest bathroom. 

Flopping his bare feet onto the floor, he leaned forward and rested his head in hands.  “Fuck,” he whispered softly to himself, the affects of the meds still lingering but not nearly as strong as before.  The throb in the bridge of his nose was starting to return, but thankfully he was still reeling from the endorphins of his orgasm.  He could give a goddamn less about the pain in his face at the moment.

His eyes locked on to his pants, still unzipped, and he reached down and fastened them.   “Hey, you want some ice cream?” she called from the other room.

She’d just given him the blow job from hell and now she was getting him ice cream.  Was this woman for real?  “Yeah,” he called back.

When she returned moments later, she had two bowls.  One heaping for him and one much smaller for herself.  It was mint chip, one of his favorites.  Damn she was good.

“Thanks,” he told her, spooning the first bite.

“You’re welcome.”  Her first bite was quarter the size of his.  For some reason he found it hard to turn away as the spoon smoothed between her tempting lips. 

“Can I move in with you?” 

A quiet smirk seeped from her lips as Cassidy turned to look at him.  “Are you serious?”  She didn’t think he was.  That was kind of a fast move, if you asked her.  But she also realized he was acting a little goofy, because of the Vicodin, no doubt.  She’d had her fair share of experience being around men on pain killers, thanks to the industry she’d been in. 

He shook his head no.  “You’re fucking amazing, I think.”

She was grinning even wider.  It might be considered wrong to pursue the conversation any further while he was under the influence—of anything.  “Well, I think you’re pretty amazing yourself,” she replied before taking another bite of her chilly dessert.  And that was the truth.  But there was something else that she’d been thinking about running by him and she wasn’t sure if it was the right time to bring it up or not, but she was going to anyway.  “There’s something I want to talk to you about,” she told him.

“What?” he asked, his mouth full.

“Did you want Cody to take your last name?”

His smile told her everything.  Of course he did.  “Well, yeah.  I do.   I mean, I hadn’t thought about it with everything else going on, but yeah, of course.”

Cassidy was smiling too.  She wanted it to be official.  “I’ll call my attorney tomorrow and get that all set up.”

“Maybe eventually you’ll take my name, too,” he remarked casually, still shoveling ice cream into his mouth.  He obviously hadn’t even realized what he’d just said.

“Justin.”

“Huh?” he asked, his attention focusing on her casually.

“You’re loopy.”

He nodded.  “It’s starting to wear off a little bit.”  Apparently he still hadn’t realized what he’d said.  Or perhaps he’d already forgot.   “You know, once Cody has my name we really won’t be able to shield him from the media anymore.”

“That’s inevitable,” Cassidy remarked.

“This is true.”  He raised his empty spoon as he spoke.  Cassidy was thoroughly enjoying this dingy side of Justin.  But she realized that she hadn’t really found a side of him yet that she didn’t enjoy.

© BrandyRae 2005