Neither the story nor the characters belong to me.
Chapter Eightheen
TEMARI
A groan tumbled past my lips as Shika slid deeper inside me, and he covered my mouth with his hand. It had been a few weeks since making our decision, we were officially the pre-adoptive home for the boys, and I was still way more than officially in love with Shika.
"Shhh," he whispered with a grin, never breaking his pace, slow, hard, and deep. Sweat gathered on our skin, and my breaths were sharp and uneven, but his were steady. The man was an absolute machine. "We wouldn't want to wake anyone up."
The cold metal of the dryer bit into the backs of my thighs with every thrust, but I didn't care. It was one of those rare occasions where Denki napped with Hoki on a Saturday, and I was more than happy to take advantage of the situation and Shika.
The best part about the laundry room? The door locked.
Pleasure built and spiraled tight in my stomach as he replaced his hand with his mouth, kissing me deep. I was never going to get my fill of him. I'd had him in my bed—or his—for weeks now, and the need for him never lessened, never got stale. It was simple cause and effect; he walked in the door, and I wanted to climb him like a tree.
"You feel so fucking good," he said against my mouth, pulling my ass closer to the edge of the dryer.
Then he hit a different angle and I think I moaned in answer. Words were beyond me. Every roll of his hips felt better than the last. All I wanted was more. My fingers gripped his hair as my ankles locked at the small of his back. He'd taken my leverage—or I'd given it. Either way, all I could do was hold on as he took me higher and harder.
"Shikamaru." I swiveled my hips and nipped at his lower lip.
His eyes flared and his breath caught.
"I love the way you say my name."
He left one hand on my hip, pulling me into every thrust, and tunneled his fingers through the base of my ponytail with the other.
"Shikamaru," I repeated, just pushing him toward the edge of his control.
His chest rumbled and a growling sound passed from his lips to mine as his rhythm faltered and his hips rocked faster. I loved when he rode this edge between control and chaos, the moment where I knew I drove him just as wild as he did me. I loved it even more when that tether on his control snapped. Like right now.
Every stroke reverberated through me, sending little jolts of electricity throughout my body. I swore I felt him in my toes.
"Temari." My name came out like a plea as we strained against each other. "I want you with me."
He slid his fingers between us and stroked my clit. All conscious thought stopped. There were only his hands, his body, his mouth on mine, and the sweet, tight coil of bliss that rose within me. Then it broke, the pleasure so sweet I could taste it as it barreled through me in waves, cresting over me as I cried out. Shika's mouth swallowed the sound as he shuddered against me, finding his own release.
We stayed there, locked together as we came down, his forehead resting on mine. Our breathing steadied. My thighs stopped shaking.
He grinned at me as he lifted his head, his gaze running down my body and catching on the pink lace that lay underneath my breasts.
"I didn't even get your bra entirely off."
I laughed, my head falling to his shoulder.
"You're still wearing your socks."
"Guilty." He slid out of me, gripped my hips, and lifted me off the dryer, setting me down on the pile of clothes we'd rushed to discard moments earlier. Thankfully, he held onto my hips when my knees threatened to buckle. "I was in too much of a hurry to get inside you."
My lips parted, and I tugged his head down for another kiss.
Then my phone rang, the sound muffled from somewhere in the pile of clothes beneath us. We both dropped to the laundry room floor, fumbling through fabric as the ringtone sounded again. Shika reached under the folding table.
"Found it."
I grimaced at the caller ID and immediately wished I had more clothes on as I swiped to answer it.
"Hey, Mom."
Shit, where's my underwear?
"Hi, darling! I was just here at the bakery and wanted to see when you were open to schedule a cake testing."
Shika pushed the little lace thong into my hand, and I stood, shimmying quickly into the underwear like my mother could actually see me naked or something.
"Cake tasting?" I echoed as Shika disposed of the condom. That ass was going to be the death of me.
He caught me staring and leaned in, his lips brushing my temple.
"I'll take my time later, I promise. No socks," he whispered.
I covered the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand and pointed to it with the other. My mother would be mortified if she knew what I'd just been doing.
"Yes, Temari. Cake tasting. I swear, you haven't put any thought into this wedding, have you?" Mom asked.
"We're not having a wedding, Mom. We're already married, remember?" I squeezed the phone between my cheek and shoulder as I yanked my shorts up my thighs.
My mother sighed loud enough to be heard in China.
"Really, Temari, how many times are we going to go round and round about this? I've already spoken to the club, and they have the third week in September open."
"I don't even know if Shika will be here." I raised my eyebrows at him, looking for a little support. Just because the man was married to me didn't mean he wanted a wedding, as disjointed as that sounded in my own head. "That's still in the middle of fire season."
Shika had somehow managed to get fully dressed in the time it took me to grab my shirt. There was nothing fair about how fast guys could get their clothes back on. He took the phone and hit the speakerphone button.
"What's this I hear about cake?"
"Shika!" I could practically see my mother smile.
"Hey, Mrs. Uzumaki."
He put the phone on the very dryer he'd just fucked me on and helped me back into my shirt.
"I was just telling my daughter that we need to get you guys in for a cake tasting. Oh, and she said she wasn't sure you'd be home in September. Would you rather we schedule something for October? Hopefully fire season has died down by then."
I shook my head and begged him with my eyes for a little assistance here.
"We can make October work for the wedding," he said with a smile that lit up his eyes.
"What?" I squawked.
Was he really encouraging this behavior?
"October sounds great." He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. "Cake sounds great. Whatever Temari wants is great."
My jaw hit the floor.
"Perfect! It's going to be fabulous! I'll make arrangements with the bakery for this week. Wednesday night?"
"Sounds amazing, and if I'm not here, I trust Temari to make the right decision." His smile was positively giddy.
"Mom, I love you, but I have to go." I reached for the phone. "Love you, bye!"
I ended the call and then stared up at Shika, incredulous.
"Stop encouraging her!"
He smacked a kiss on my mouth and then walked out of the laundry room.
"Let's have a wedding. What would it hurt? It makes your mom happy, and there's cake. It's a win-win in my book."
I strode after him.
"Because a wedding... a big, flashy, poufy-dress wedding, is…" I shook my head, pausing at the threshold of the kitchen.
"It's what?" He turned around and leveled a look on me I couldn't even start to interpret. "It's real?"
"Y-yes!" I stammered.
The man had the audacity to laugh.
"Mrs. Nara, I'm not sure how much realer you'd like it to get. We're already married, remember?" He pointed to his ring. "We have two kids upstairs. What else could you want to make it any more real?"
I wanted him to love me. I wanted to feel like we'd chosen to spend our lives together instead of fumbling our way through curveballs. My mouth snapped shut because that was the last thing I was going to say. But maybe having a wedding—a real one, with all of our friends and family—would mean that it wasn't all about the boys. It would mean he really wanted me for me.
He cocked his head to the side as if listening for something, then held up his finger.
"Scratch that. We have one kid upstairs and one kid on his way down." He was already headed for the stairs when he glanced back. "I like chocolate, by the way."
"We are so not done with this conversation," I called after him.
"Vanilla is fine too," he replied as he turned the corner.
I rolled my eyes. This was so not about the cake.
"Here you go," I said to Denki, handing him another slice of pizza.
"Thanks!"
He took the pepperoni and ran off to join the other kids in the yard. The sprinkler was on full blast, and the McCoy kids, Noah and Gavin, were already soaked from running through a billion times.
"Thank you so much for having us over." Jessica McCoy watched the boys with a wistful sigh. "They were going stir crazy."
"No problem."
I settled back into the lawn chair next to Sakura and Ino. I'd spent the morning ordering serviceable, new furniture for my apartment since most of it had been ruined in the flood. Turning it into a cozy Airbnb kept me a little distracted from Shika's absence, but not completely.
"I'm going stir crazy, and I'm an adult with a full-time job," Ino remarked, adjusting her hat. "And it's only been a week."
A collective sigh went up.
Fires in the heat of late July were never easy, and this one proved to be no different. The guys had been in California, on the same fire, without cell service for long enough to make even the most experienced spouse a little antsy.
"Have you heard from them?" Jessica asked Sakura.
"Kakashi checks in from the sat phone every night, but that's it." Her nose wrinkled. "Not going to lie, every time that phone rings, I hope he's going to let Sasuke update me, but there are zero perks of being the manager here. Whiny, I know." She shrugged.
I glanced at the baby monitor. Hoki was still asleep, but I had a spot all ready for him in the shade if he ever decided to wake up and join us. He must have been going through a growth spurt, because the kid was down for his second nap of the day.
"I get it. I'd kill to hear from Kiba." Ino sent Saku a sad smile.
"Containment?" I asked.
"Fifteen percent," Jessica answered. "It's eating up acres like they're matchsticks."
Denki waved, having scarfed down his pizza, and I waved back, assuring him I was watching as he raced through the sprinkler.
"I've never seen him smile so much. He's like a whole different kid," Saku remarked, watching Denki. "You've done an amazing job, Temari."
A smile tugged at my lips.
"He's amazing. I just get to help him along."
"He really is thriving," Saku noted. "So is Hoki. Are we still on for the fourteenth?"
"We are." I nodded. "Seems kind of silly to throw a first birthday party, I know. It's not like he'll remember it, but it's really more for the pictures and cake anyway."
Cake.
As if Shika had been clairvoyant, he'd missed our cake-tasting appointment last week. Sakura had gone with me, and I'd chosen chocolate after taking a long look at their refund policy for the deposit.
"It will be fun to celebrate!" Ino said. "Besides, maybe the guys will actually be here."
We all laughed at that.
My eyes drifted to my cell phone, just like they did every few minutes, hoping to see a text or a call from Shika. I knew better, and he'd call when he could, but I couldn't seem to stop looking. It was a sick little addiction that gave me zero payoff.
"Mom! Come run!" Gavin shouted from the sprinkler.
Jessica tilted her head to the side and then stood, kicking off her shoes.
"You know what? I think I will." She took off, fully clothed.
"That looks like an excellent idea," Ino agreed, bouncing out of her seat and running for the sprinkler.
"Spill it," Sakura demanded once they were out of earshot.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I blatantly lied.
"I get it, we have a lot to whine about with the guys gone, but there's something…off about you." She gestured at my face. "What's bugging you? Is it something to do with the boys?"
"No." I shook my head. "They're fine. Everything is fine."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Are you regretting the chocolate cake choice?"
"Regretting the cake," I muttered, then flinched.
Someday I would learn how to keep my mouth shut around my best friend. Today was not that day.
"Girl." She peered over her sunglasses at me. "You're marrying Shika. The Shika. The guy you've been in love with since you were a kid! And not just once, but twice."
"The guy I've loved," I repeated. "But I can't help but feel like Shika got swept up on this high-powered train and never got a chance to throw the brakes. Or maybe he had the chance, but he was scared it would hurt the boys."
She scoffed.
"Trust me, that man wants to marry you…again. I've never known Shika to do a single thing he didn't want to. Besides, he is head over heels in love with you."
"That is"—I shook my head—"not true."
Sakura's face fell and sympathy filled her eyes.
"You don't mean that. You know he loves you."
"He's never once said it."
God, how desperate was I? The guy had given me his house, his name—which I hadn't even taken—and everything I'd asked for, and here I was, whining about some words.
"I'm pretty sure he's never said those words to anyone," Sakura said softly. "Except maybe his grams. But I've seen the way he looks at you, and I've heard the way he talks about you at the clubhouse. The man loves you."
I swallowed back the knot in my throat and forced a nod, even as my heart ached. It wasn't like I didn't know about his hang-ups, but knowing and experiencing it were two different things.
"And even if he hasn't said it yet, you guys have all the time in the world. He'll get there." Saku reached over and gave my hand a squeeze "You'll get him there, especially with the dress you bought last week. I'm so glad you went with the strapless one. It looks fantastic on you!"
My phone rang and we both jumped.
Shika.
I snatched it off the side table, my shoulders dropping when I saw Shizune's name flash across the screen. I shook my head at Sakura and swiped to answer the call.
"Hey, Shizune."
"Hi, Temari!"
"Well, you sound chipper. What has you calling on a Sunday afternoon?" I shifted in my seat, watching Denki leap across the streaming water.
"You're not going to believe it."
"Try me." There was pretty much nothing that surprised me these days, our life was that odd.
"We finally got ahold of Nolan!"
I went numb, and the phone slipped out of my hand.