CHAPTER 4

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather be at Molly's with the rest of the guys?" Matt handed me a glass of champagne and sat down beside me on the couch.

"Yes, I'm sure. I would much rather ring in the New Year with my beautiful wife than with a bunch of drunk firemen."

"But won't everyone think we're avoiding Molly's because of...you know who? I mean, after what happened a couple of weeks ago…"

"Gabby Dawson is the least of my concerns...and she shouldn't even be a thought in your pretty little head, so let's change the subject, OK?"

"Yes, sir!" I saluted. At first, he looked at me with mild consternation then he leaned in and kissed me. I was glad to hear him say that he wasn't concerned about Dawson, because I wasn't always so sure that we wasn't.

"At the risk of sounding like a Neanderthal, I've really liked having you home these last few weeks. It's the most time we've spent together since our honeymoon."

"As a modern woman, I know I shouldn't say this, but I like being home, being domestic. I just wish you had been home a little more."

"If I wasn't down a man on truck, I would have taken some time off. You know that, right?"

"I do." I heard the oven timer go off just before Matt's lips connected with mine. I started to move from my place on the couch, but Matt stopped me.

"You sit. I'll get it." I watched as my attentive husband walked into the kitchen. He had been so wonderful during my time away from work, putting up with all of my hormonal craziness. I hated the thought of going back to work on Wednesday. Our lives were always so hectic and these last few weeks had been good for us, both emotionally and physically.

"Did you ever go to Times Square for New Year's Eve when you lived in New York?" Matt had come back into the living room and was setting down the tray of snacks on the coffee table.

"Uh, yeah...once."

"With who...Stephen?"

"Oh God, no! Stephen was always too busy. I went during my senior year of college with some friends." One friend, Maddy….

"The infamous college roommate, Robin?"

"No, babe. No one you'd know." Please drop it, Matthew….

"OK...if you'd rather not say…" I knew he was joking, but that comment had a little sting on it for reasons he didn't know.

"Matt...I've been thinking….why can't we take, say...one weekend a month, at least until spring when your construction business revs back up, just for us? You know...go away for a couple of days, get a hotel room, away from work, people...just you and me...as part of Operation Pregnant."

"Sounds great, baby. Does that mean you want to take adoption off the table for now?"

"No, I think we should leave it on the table for a little while longer...just in case." I dropped my head slightly, running my finger around the rim of my champagne flute. He cupped my face in his hand and lifted it up to his.

"We will get pregnant, Maddy." He put the emphasis on 'will'.

"I know." I had heard those words from so many people over the last year that I was pretty sure my ears were beginning to bounce them off as some sort of defense mechanism. In all honesty, I didn't really know we would get pregnant and as each month ticked by, my hopes grew a little more dim.

"So, how was it?" asked Matt.

"How was what?"

"Times Square at midnight!"

"It was incredibly crowded and the noise was deafening."

"Kinda like Molly's right now."

"Yeah, but with a million times more people."

"And without me."

"Right." I downed my glass of champagne, trying like hell to muster the courage to tell him the one thing I had tried so hard to not to. Some of the memories of it were vague in my mind, but the most important things were still very vivid. I felt I needed to tell him and not keep it a secret any longer. Karma has a weird way of messing with people and I didn't want to take any chances. As far as I knew, it might have been the one reason I wasn't pregnant yet. Besides, he was my husband and he deserved to know. My hands were shaking slightly as I straddled his lap. He looked up at me with those beautiful blue-green eyes that sparkled with the flicker of the light from the television behind me. I took his face in my hands and just stared at him for a few moments, taking long deep breaths.

"What?" I couldn't tell if he was amused or slightly disturbed by my attention to him.

"I just love you so much, Matthew." He slid his hands up and down my back.

"I love you too, baby…"

"There was a time in my life that I thought I would never see you again. I'd given up hope."

"Me too, Maddy. I had some dark days too, but why are we talking about this now?"

"Matt, there's something I want to tell you…something you need to..." Matt stopped looking at me and shifted his body to the right, his eyes focused on the television.

"The ball is dropping, baby! Look!" I turned my head over my left shoulder and watched while 2015 was being ushered out and a brand new year was on its way in. We counted down the last few seconds together.

"Three...two...one...HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Matt slipped his hand around the back of my neck and gently pulled me down towards him.

"2016 is our year, Maddy. I can feel it." Before I could answer, he sat up and covered my mouth with his. He slowly shifted in his seat until he had turned me around, laying me down on the couch. I wrapped my legs around his body as he positioned himself on top of me. His mouth never left mine and the longer he kissed me, the more I could feel the courage draining from my body. His hands found their way to the bottom of my t-shirt and he slowly pulled it up and over my head. As soon as he had tossed it on the floor, his hands cupped both of my breasts as his tongue explored each of my nipples. I arched up off the couch, feeling my body ripple with excitement. He reached back and grabbed his glass of champagne, then dribbled some onto my left nipple. He immediately licked the Brut off of me and sucked my nipple into his mouth. He then moved to my other breast and did the same thing. I dropped my head back and closed my eyes, unable to do anything but moan softly, feeling completely lost in the sensation of his mouth on my skin.

"You like?" he asked, holding up his half empty glass of champagne. In my enthusiasm, I nodded my head so fast that I must have resembled one of those Chicago Cubs bobblehead dolls. His face broke into a wicked little grin as he tipped his glass over my stomach and poured some into my belly button. He lowered his head and lapped the champagne up as quickly as he had poured it, while hooking his fingers into the waistband of my yoga pants. He pulled them down over my hips, stopping for a minute to kiss my hip bone before pulling them completely off of me and throwing them on top of my t-shirt.

"Want more?"

"Yes." My voice was barely above a whisper now.

He gently pushed my legs apart until one leg was on the floor and the other was over his shoulder. He stuck two fingers in his mouth then slowly ran his fingertips up and down between my legs until they were cradling my throbbing clitoris. He flicked his tongue back and forth over my quivering bud while pouring more champagne down over it. The tingle of the cool liquid and his warm tongue caressing my most intimate area conspired to make me utter soft moans and lift my hips up off the couch. He looked up at me from between my legs with that same wicked grin on his face. He leaned back and pulled his black t-shirt off, then unzipped his jeans and pushed them down past his hips. He leaned back down, placing his hands on both sides of me on the armrest and came in close for a deep, wet kiss. He placed his cock just below my

swollen clitoris, rubbing the tip of it up and down between my glistening lips. He grabbed my hips and pulled me in close to his body, entering me as he did. He thrust his hips forward, pushing the entire length of him inside me, kissing me softly as he did. I held on to his shoulders as he moved, making love to me as only he knew how. Our eyes locked together as my orgasm approached. The look on his face when I came was one of complete and utter ecstasy.

"Oh, God!" I shouted, digging my nails into his shoulders as I came, gently bucking underneath him as I shuddered and spasmed around him. The muscles in his neck tightened and with one quick grunt he climaxed.

"Oh, Maddy...fuck!" he said, emptying himself inside me. When he was finished, he collapsed on top of me, laying his head down on my shoulder and placing soft kisses on my neck. Both of us lay there, holding each other and breathing heavily and enjoying the post-coital glow.

"Well, we definitely couldn't have done that at Molly's tonight."

"I love you, Matt Casey." I said through a giggle.

"I love you too, Maddy Casey." He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and held out his hand to me.

"Let's go to bed, baby."

"According to 'Operation Pregnant', I shouldn't stand up for at least 20 minutes, remember?"

"I'll take care of that." He scooped me up, carried me up the stairs and laid me in our bed before climbing in beside me.

"Happy New Year, baby."

"Happy New Year, handsome." As I drifted off to sleep in the early hours of New Year's Day, I felt confident that big changes were going to come our way.