As Luck Would Have It Read online

  “That’s fine. We’re going to go so you can rest up. I’ll call later to see how you’re doing.” Stella kissed Marcus on his forehead and turned to hug Sydney good-bye. Stewart shook Marcus’ hand and followed suit with Stella, hugging Sydney good-bye, and then they both left.

  “Wow, I’m sure your parents were nice people, but you’re really lucky to have had the opportunity to have a second set just as nice. You can see how much they love you.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty lucky. Lucky I have you. I’ve been watching those lips all morning. Could I get some of those?” He tugged Sydney closer to the bed.

  “I’ll give you just a little now, and then I really have to shower. They washed you up, but I’m still in yesterday’s clothes and my undies are completely stuck to me.”

  Sydney leaned over Marcus to kiss him, but he interrupted her. “I can help you un-stick those undies,” he said, puckering his lips.

  “I don’t think so, hotness. How ‘bout a kiss, and we’ll see what happens later.” Sydney gave him a quick kiss, grabbed her clothes, and went into the bathroom.

  When Sydney came out from her shower, Marcus was asleep. She grabbed her cell phone and left the room to check in with Natalie and the kids.

  “Hey, Nat, it’s Syd. What’s going on over there?”

  “To be honest, nothing. The kids, however, have mentioned to me that they really want to meet Marcus.”

  Sydney contemplated what to do. “Would you mind bringing whoever wants to come to the hospital?”

  “Not at all. I’d love another chance to see Mr. Hotness.”

  “Cut the crap.” Sydney was very serious. “Come in, like, an hour. Marcus is sleeping right now. They must have given him pain meds.”

  “Okay, see you later.”

  Sydney closed her phone and returned to Marcus’ room. She sat in the chair next to the bed and watched him sleep. Thank you, God, for giving me a second chance at happiness. I know it wasn’t pure luck that brought Marcus to me. I’m just not sure if Philippe had anything to do with it. If he did, tell him, “Thanks, hon.”

  Natalie showed up with the kids while Marcus was still sleeping. She popped her head in the room. “Is Mr. Hotness awake?”

  “No, and I’m not sure he’d appreciate you calling him that, so cut the crap already.” Sydney pushed her way out the door and gave everyone hugs and kisses, telling them to go wait in the lobby until he was awake.

  When she returned to the room, Marcus startled her. “Who calls me what?” he asked.

  “Oh, you scared me. I thought you were sleeping.”

  “I was, but then I heard talking. Who was that, and what were they calling me?”

  “Natalie’s here, and she brought the kids with her.” She wasn’t sure she was ready for Marcus’ reaction.

  “Really, did they come to see you?”

  “Actually, they came to see you. Is that okay?”

  “I’m not looking my best, but I guess it’s okay,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “And what does your sister call me?”

  “She calls you Mr. Hotness,” Sydney admitted, rolling her eyes. “She’s such an ass.”

  “Why? You think I’m Hot?” he asked teasingly.

  “I think you’re very hot, and you know that. I just didn’t think you’d appreciate her calling you that.”

  “I don’t mind, but I see it bothers you.”

  She leaned over and kissed him, “She just does it to get a rise out of me, and it works.”

  “How long are you going to make them wait out there?”

  “I just wanted to make sure you were ready for this.”

  “I’m ready, but are you?” He motioned for her to come to the side of the bed. “I want to hug you but I’m not sure I’ll be able to.”

  Sydney bent over and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Are you ready for the troops?”

  Marcus gave a quick nod. Sydney left the room and came back fifteen minutes later with a crowd. Everyone stood at the end of the bed, except for Natalie, who took this as a chance to embarrass Sydney.

  Natalie kissed his cheek. “Hello, brother-in-law, nice to finally meet you.”

  Sydney introduced the kids one at a time, starting with the twins and ending with Dominick.

  “Mom said you were on your motorcycle when the accident happened. What kind of bike were you riding?” Salvatore asked.

  “I have a Ducati Diavel Cromo. Not sure if it’s even rideable any more. Do you ride?” Marcus asked.

  “I like to ride dirt bikes and quads. You know, any ATV.”

  “Do you own any of them? I have a couple in my garage you guys are welcome to ride,” Marcus offered.

  “That would be cool,” Samantha said.

  “So, what do you like to do for fun?” Marcus asked Sam.

  “Well I played field hockey in High School. I‘d like to play in college, but I’m not sure.”

  “What do you do for a living?” Michaela blurted out at Marcus.

  “I work with computers. I run my business out of my house. I mean, I have an office in my house,” Marcus explained.

  “So you turned one of the bedrooms into an office?”

  Sydney interjected, “What kinda question is that, Michaela?”

  Putting his hand up to Sydney, Marcus said, “It’s okay, I don’t mind. Actually, besides the living room, dining room and kitchen, I have an office and a playroom, plus six bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms. There are plenty of bedrooms, so everyone can have their own, even your Aunt Natalie, when she comes to visit.

  Michaela forced a smile at him and went back to playing with her phone.

  Sydney watched as her children questioned Marcus and Marcus questioned the children. Questions turned into stories. The conversation was so natural that they lost track of time, asking questions and telling stories. Even Natalie had a few questions for Marcus, and before answering any of them, he would look at Sydney for approval. However, Marcus didn’t dare ask Natalie any questions. Anything he wanted to know, he knew he would have to ask Sydney. Natalie was a touchy subject with her. Before they knew it, the nurse told them that visiting hours were over.

  Sydney walked everyone to the elevator to say her goodbyes. She hugged and kissed them good night, even Natalie. “Thanks for everything. I really appreciate all that you’re doing. I owe you big time.”

  Dominick stood in front of Sydney. “Mom, is Marcus going to come back to our house to live until we move all our stuff into his house?”

  “I’m not really sure. We haven’t worked it out yet. Why?” Sydney asked.

  “We like him, he’s cool, and if you guys are married, you should be together.”

  “Yeah, we like him. It would be cool to have him stay with us,” Salvatore added.

  Sydney looked at the girls for their opinions. “That would be fine with me” Sam concluded.

  Michaela just played with her phone.

  “Mickey, what do you think?” Sydney probed.

  “About what?” Michaela asked.

  “About Marcus, stupid,” Dom blurted out.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. He knows computers, whatever. It really doesn’t matter to me.” After answering, she looked back down at her phone.

  “Well, that’s nice to know. I’ll discuss it with Marcus and we’ll see what happens. I love you guys. Be good for Aunt Nat.” Sydney stood there for a moment looking at her reflection in the metal doors after they left on the elevator and then went back to Marcus’ room.

  As soon as Sydney walked in, Marcus said, “Hey, your kids are great. Even your sister is nice.”

  “Yeah, you have to watch out for her. She’s sneaky. But my kids think you’re cool, too. As a matter of fact, Dominick wanted to know if you’d be staying at our house until we were settled at yours. He thinks that because we’re married, we should be together.”

  “He’s a smart one, that Dominick. What do the other kids think?” Marcus asked.

  “The twins are all for it, and well, M
ickey, she’s at a stage right now. She really doesn’t have an opinion. If it isn’t about her, it’s not important.” Sydney sat next to Marcus on the bed. “I’d really love it if you would come home with me tomorrow.”

  Marcus grabbed Sydney and pulled her down beside him. “There isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.”

  Sydney looked up at him and kissed him. “Looks like things are gonna work out after all.”

  CHAP1TER SEVENTEEN

  Early the next afternoon, Sydney arrived home with Marcus. He had a hell of a time using his crutches with the immobilizer but refused to use a wheelchair and walker. “We’ll set you up on the couch until I figure out where we’re going to sleep,” Sydney said.

  By the time Marcus actually made it into the house, he was exhausted. “That’s fine, I just have to lie down. My fucking leg is killing me.”

  Natalie was sitting at the kitchen counter drawing. “Hey, welcome home. How you feeling?” She got up to help Sydney with Marcus.

  “Can you help me get him to the couch?” Sydney asked.

  “We set you up in the living room,” Natalie said. “Let’s take him in there so he won’t have to be moved later.”

  Sydney was surprised to find that there was a queen size bed all made up and a TV in the living room. “How did you do all this?”

  “Stewart and Stella came by yesterday and helped me and the kids move some stuff. We figured Marcus wouldn’t be able to make the stairs, so we moved the bigger mattress down here with the TV. We knew you wouldn’t leave him down here alone. This way, you’ll both be comfortable,” Natalie explained.

  Sydney had tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. You owe me.” Natalie pointed to her bags. “I gotta get going. I have clients to see tomorrow and still don’t have all my sketches done.” She kissed Marcus on the cheek. “Nice meeting you, again. Feel better.” She made her way to Sydney, hugging and kissing her good bye. “Enjoy him,” she whispered in her ear. “I’ll probably see you at Thanksgiving.”

  After Natalie left, Sydney settled Marcus in bed. “I really need to call Stella and Stewart and thank them for this. The only problem now is that we don’t have any privacy.”

  “I know they’re your kids, but we haven’t had a problem with privacy before.” Marcus thought about the few times they had done it in public. “We’ll make sure we keep it low.” He patted the space next to him on the bed.

  “I’d really love to cuddle with you, but I have a million things that need to get done if we’re gonna get on with our lives.” Sydney kissed Marcus and headed for the kitchen.

  “Holy fucking shit!” Sydney called out.

  “What’s the matter, babe?” Marcus asked, worried. He couldn’t get up fast enough if he needed to help her. “Are you alright?”

  “You could not imagine how packed my fridge is with food and shit.” She moved to the pantry. “The pantry is just as full,” she yelled.

  Michaela came barreling down the stairs. She saw her mom standing in front of the pantry. “Stella and Stewart had a ton of grocery bags when they came yesterday to set up the bed.” She grabbed a drink from the refrigerator and went back upstairs.

  Sydney went into the living room to talk to Marcus. “I can’t believe they did that.”

  “That’s Stella for you. She loves to take care of people, and poor Stewart, he just trails behind,” Marcus explained.

  “They really are good people. We need to do something special for them as a thank you.”

  “Trust me. They’re not looking for anything in return. This is just how they are. Besides, you heard what Stew said to her when we told them we were married.”

  “Yeah, something about an instant family.” Sydney looked confused. “What did that mean?”

  “I guess they figured I would never marry or have kids. Now, although the kids aren’t mine, we’re all still a family.”

  Sydney sat down next to Marcus on the bed. “I really don’t get why they would think that. You’re so good looking and still young.”

  “Even though I dated a few girls, I never really connected with them. If I didn’t get married, I couldn’t have kids.” Marcus grabbed her and pulled her across his lap. “It’s all irrelevant now,” he said, planting a nice kiss on her lips.

  “But I need to know. If you had married someone who didn’t already have kids, would you have wanted to have kids?” Sydney asked.

  Marcus thought about it for a few seconds. “It didn’t play out that way. If you were able to have more kids, would you?” Marcus asked, turning the table on Sydney.

  “Absolutely. I would have loved to have kids with you. I see how natural you are with mine. You’d be such a loving father.”

  “Well, then let me learn to love your kids. I’m sure it’s not going to be hard. I already like them very much.”

  “Yeah, let’s see how much you like them after you’ve lived with them for a week,” she warned him.

  “By the way, you have a great house. As much as I love my house, I would be willing to move in here and sell mine.”

  Sydney was surprised at the offer, but she really didn’t want to stay in her house. It had too many memories of Philippe. She was ready to move on. “I appreciate the offer, and it would be much simpler, but I think it’s time for a change.”

  “Okay then, tomorrow we can take a ride over and see the house. The kids can pick rooms, and you can get some ideas for decorating.”

  “You’re going to allow me to decorate your house?” She was thrilled and excited.

  “It’s your house now, too, and you did go to school for interior design, right?”

  Sydney put her arms around Marcus’ neck and squeezed him tight. She saw him grimace. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot you were still sore. I just love you so much.” She kissed him and got up. “I have to start dinner or we’ll never eat.”

  At dinner time, Sydney yelled for everyone to come down and eat. She went into the living room to help Marcus up and into the kitchen.

  She looked up at Marcus as they sat down at opposite ends of the table and gave him a silly wave. Marcus couldn’t help but laugh. They sat and ate and laughed just like any other night.

  When dinner was over, Sydney helped Marcus back to the living room. Sydney felt like she was back to her daily routine, but it didn’t feel so mundane anymore.

  All the kids disappeared upstairs to do their own things. She snaked her body across the bed next to Marcus. “I’m all yours now.” She draped her arm across him and nuzzled his neck.

  “Dinner was great. Do you always eat together like that?”

  “Most of the time. It depends on if someone has practice or something, but I always tried to get everyone to eat together. Otherwise, I would never see my kids, and they’d be in their rooms all the time or at friends’.” Sydney pushed up on one elbow, “Is something wrong?”

  “I’m just concerned that when you move them to my house, things will change.”

  Things are gonna change, but we will set the precedent. Dinners have not been like that for months. I couldn’t bring myself to eat at the table after Philippe died. I ate at the kitchen counter, if I ate at all. The kids would eat in shifts, and I allowed it.”

  “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories,” he said, noticing Sydney’s expression changed.

  “That’s not going to happen, not here and not at the new house. We will eat as a family. I’m not that depressed person I was a week ago. Things will always change, except my love for you.” She leaned into Marcus and gave him a passionate kiss. His mouth opened slightly. She thrust her tongue in, forcing his mouth to open completely, running her tongue over his teeth.

  “Babe, what if one of the kids comes down?” Marcus asked nervously.

  “We’re only kissing,” Sydney replied with a smile.

  “Yeah, but if you keep kissing me like that, I‘m not going to be able to control myself.”

  “Let me go upstairs and freshen
up. I’ll check on the kids and come right back.” Sydney wiggled out of bed and headed up the stairs. She quickly showered and shaved. It had been two days since she had been able to take a real shower, and she wanted to make sure she was just as smooth at home as she was in Vegas.

  She rummaged through her drawers for something sexy to wear, but all she could come up with were some nice bras with matching panties. She didn’t want to put undies or a bra back on, so she settled on a sexy short nightgown, covering it with her short robe.

  While she was upstairs, she said goodnight to the kids so she wouldn’t have to go back up later.

  Before Sydney entered the living room, she stood at the doorway and tried to strike a sexy pose. Marcus watched her but couldn’t hold back his laughter. “What are you doing? Stop that and come over here,” he said, patting the bed next to him.

  Sydney slowly made her way to the bed. “I was trying to be sexy, not funny,” she said, pouting.

  “Babe, you don’t have to try to be sexy. You’re already sexy. Standing against the wall like that was just silly, but thanks for the laugh.” He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto the bed.

  Sydney removed her robe and cuddled right up to him, draping her leg over his good leg, making sure not to hit the bad leg. Marcus reached for her ass and noticed she wasn’t wearing any panties.

  “Babe, where are your panties?” he asked with a smile.

  “I don’t wear panties to bed.”

  “Oh, I thought you only did that for me in Vegas. So I’ll have easy access to your hot spot every night?” His grin reached from ear to ear.

  “My hot spot needs you now,” she said, covering his mouth with hers. It wasn’t long before his fingers found her hot spot. He slid his finger through the slit from her ass to her clit where he made small circular movements that ‘caused Sydney’s legs to shake. As he thrust his finger in and out rapidly, Sydney began to pant. It took all her strength not to moan out loud. She pressed her mouth against Marcus’ lips and other parts of his body to keep from making too much noise.

  Sydney cupped her hand around his hard shaft, stroking it with every thrust of his finger, keeping the same pace. “I need to be inside you,” Marcus whispered in her ear.