"Gunnar we need to talk."
It was late, or rather early…very, very early in the morning. He was in the nursery holding his son to his bare chest. He wasn't sure how long he'd been there just holding and rocking his slumbering child, all he knew was that he didn't want to miss another minute of this part of his life ticking by far too quickly.
Julie had been watching for at least twenty minutes now, as much as she enjoyed seeing her two favorite men relaxing together, this had to stop. Over the past two weeks Gunnar had made extra trips to Maine just to be with them whenever he could. He met up with his team in a new city every other night, missing the occasional practice and team meetings and dinners. He was exhausting himself. She loved him for his efforts but something had to give. And now he had that nasty wound on his face thanks to a high-stick that caught him off-guard; she was concerned he wasn't getting enough rest for his games. Britta had helped to keep him in line but she left a week ago and now Gunnar was there way too often for his schedule this late into the season.
"Sit with us," he offered and patted his knee with his free hand, "come here beautiful, I want my family close."
She left the doorframe and gingerly sat on his lap sideways, she took comfort in knowing he was truly strong enough to support her and their child with little effort. And slowly, he began to rock them peacefully. "Gunnar this has to stop, you can't keep doing this to yourself. I'm worried about you."
"I know," he sighed and let his chin drop onto her shoulder, "I miss you, I miss my son."
Once she kissed his forehead her hand came up to soothingly rub their baby's back, "God I love you so much Gunnar," her eyes closed as he kissed her neck and collarbone, "I can't stand seeing you so tired all the time, I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I'll be fine, I promise. I'm not the one staying up at all hours of the day taking care of a newborn."
"And I'm not the one that has playoffs coming up to worry about. Honey, your team needs you."
"Yah, but I need you," he held her closer to him and softly kissed Anton's head, "coming to see you two is all I think about. I hate leaving, I just want to curl up beside you and forget the world."
She kissed him tenderly to let him know she wanted the same thing, "I don't want you to burn out."
"Burn out?"
"Yeah, get to the point where you don't enjoy playing anymore. We'll be here for you. And soon we'll be there with you in California. Wherever you go we'll be right there with you."
Anton began stretching a little more and Julie pulled him into her arms while Gunnar gathered them closer in to his body, "I won't; burn out, as you say," he released a deep breath and kissed her cheek, "I wanted to come tonight because you're right, there are just a few more games left before playoffs start. We clinched a spot but don't know who we're facing yet. Julie," he paused to make sure he held her gaze, "I don't know when I'll be back."
Her smile was warm and full of understanding, "Just imagine how cool it will be to take a picture of Anton with the Stanley Cup."
He grinned at her, "I like the way you think."
"Has that ever been a dream of yours?"
"I'm living my dream now," he shrugged, "playing in the NHL was my goal for as long as I can remember."
"Then it's time to make new dreams, don't you think?"
"Anything I could possibly want is right here in my arms," they shared a long kiss and smiled softly, "What about you? What dreams do you have?"
"I still want to be a chef. I want to go to Iceland so Anton and I can see where you grew up."
"Yah, I'd like that too," he ran his lips over her shoulder and whispered, "what about marriage?"
"Yah," she mocked him with a giggle, "one day I'd love to get married but only to the right guy. I have standards you know."
He shook his head at her, "Tell me then, maybe if I come across him I'll let you know."
Julie laughed, "Let's see he has to be tall, muscular, and really, really sexy," she let her eyes look over his impressive chest, "oh and he has to be a professional hockey player, preferably from Iceland."
"Interesting, I might have someone in mind. How would you want him to propose?"
"That is up to him," she kissed his temple, "see you might have someone in mind but I already know the man I want to marry. And the man I love will know exactly when and what to do, he'll make it sweet and romantic, it'll be a memory to last a lifetime."
His grey eyes pierced her blue ones, "And who is this man you want to marry?"
"You Gunnar," she told him breathlessly, "it will always be you."
"And I promise," his voice was low and seductive, "I'll be the one to make that dream come true."
Julie's eyes closed the second his lips touched hers. It didn't take long for their kiss to escalate when his insistent tongue explored her mouth.
"I think it's time I put you to bed," she whispered huskily in his ear. Even though she wasn't quite ready for sex it didn't mean she didn't want him. Her hormones were finally settling down and most importantly she wanted to make sure he was taken care of.
Anticipation crawled over his skin at her insinuation, "You don't have to do anything Julie; we'll wait until you're ready." Her eyes though, the way they burned with that incredible passion told him it was about having sex, it was so much more than that. And he needed that intimacy with the one he loved, the one he craved. "Let me put him in his crib," he paused as she was kissing along his jaw-line, "I'll meet you in a couple minutes."
She smiled and nodded at him, removing herself from the warmth of him. For a small moment she simply watched the two of them again at the doorway. Loving every second seeing father and son together, she felt so lucky to have this, to have them, in her life. With a soft sigh she went back to her room and immediately went to her dresser to collect the gift Britta had helped her pick out for him, already knowing he was going to be a little upset. Oh well, she was sure she could think of a few things to distract his anger at her.
It took a few more minutes before Gunnar came back into room. He was exhausted but spending this time with his son and girl, his family, it was worth it. And frankly, being this tired was something he was rather used to at this point. It was never a hesitation on his part to stretch his limits when it came to something important to him. And what could ever be more important than Julie and Anton?
He frowned a little though at the silver gift-wrapped box in her delicate hands, "What is that?"
She smiled up at him and moved forward to present him with her gift, "It's my turn Gunnar. You are always leaving me presents after you leave and I finally decided that you deserved something as well. Here," she stretched her hand out a little further.
"Julie," he hesitated a little even as he accepted the finely shaped gift into his hands, "you know you don't have to do this, give me things."
"Neither do you," she quietly pointed out, "but I wanted to. Now please, open it."
Finally he sent her that familiar smirk she so loved and began to tear into it. His eyes widened when he finally opened the box and studied the intricacy of the piece. He remembered admiring this at the jewelry store that he'd purchased her promise ring. "Julie," his voice was quiet and he still hadn't met her eyes and he picked the antique Rolex up to study a little more closely. The first thing he wanted to say was that she shouldn't have spent her hard-earned money on him. And he looked into her eyes to say just that…but he couldn't. How could he? He did the exact same thing and how could he dare throw such a wonderful gift back in her face? He couldn't. So he swallowed down his immediate reaction and finally pulled her back into his arms, "It's amazing, my love, I'll cherish it always."
Julie was surprised, she thought for sure he would get on to her for spending so much money on him. Then again, this was Gunnar, the man who always surprised her. She squeezed him tightly and then helped him clasp the brown leather around his wrist, the piece looked as though it belonged there. "Just as I'll always cherish you."
Then, with a certain gleam in her eye, she gently pushed him backwards to the bed. His knees hit the edge and he soon found himself sitting and staring up into her passionate blue eyes. Julie leaned down to kiss him softly, her hands moving to the waist of the light blue boxers he had on, slowly urging them down.
For his part, Gunnar already had his hands on the edge of her shirt and made little time in yanking it over her head, eager to rub his cheeks, nose, and lips against her still tender and swollen breasts. At the sensation of his face between her chest Julie let her head fall back a little even as a small moan forced its way out of her throat. His hands roamed her stomach, her back, even crawling into the ends of her hair to tug her a little closer to him. Her lips soon found his again, tugging at him playfully even as her hands grasped onto the length of him, making him hiss in pleasure into her mouth. Slowly she worked her mouth down his body, paying attention to his nipples, the muscles on his abdomen, his bellybutton, his hip bones, everything until she found her lips over the very tip of him.
Gunnar's hands were lost in her hair as he couldn't pull his eyes away from the erotic scene of her giving him such pleasure. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes closed as she continued to move over him. When she added in her hands he knew he was done for, they hadn't been together like this since before Anton's birth, there was no way he was going to last long. He felt no shame though as he lost himself inside her warm mouth, how could he reopened his eyes to see that satisfied look deep in her intense blue eyes.
He laughed once and pulled her next to him, "That was," he shook his head and enjoyed the smile on her face, "you are incredible."
"Yes," she urged him to lay down so she could lay her head against his chest, enjoying the pounding sensation of his heart still coming down from it's high, "we are incredible."
Pure exhaustion seemed to float over his entire being; exhaustion and peace. He felt so sated here with her in his arms. It took hardly five minutes for him to fall asleep.
