Life with: Kiana and Sawyer Ep. 15

"You're going to put a rift in your marriage for these people, Kiana?" Janelle asked incredulously. Kiana picked up a toy from the living room's floor and placed it inside the ottoman beside Janelle's propped feet. Kiana took her place beside her friend on the couch. "I understand how you feel but you will regret ostracizing Sawyer like that. You don't owe those people shit but Sawyer—that's your man. Don't do him like that."

Kiana rolled her eyes at her obvious "Wine Tipsy" bluntness.

Kiana had just told her that she hadn't slept in their bed in two days. She even moved a couple of her things into the guestroom. They hardly spoke to one another. After the first day or so of feeling upset, it just became easier not to speak. His words and actions from that day constantly sat heavy on her chest despite his apologies. He had threatened her agency, almost put her in jail and reduced her power in their relationship. He had created an imbalance while upset that she couldn't forget.

"I know." She whispered. "I just..." Kiana sighed and folded her legs under herself. "I don't like where we are right now and I'm trying to fix it on my end but I think I'm finding it more comfortable to run from the problem instead."

"Well—" The front door opened and Kiana warned Janelle with wide eyes. Janelle immediately shut her mouth and grabbed her glass of wine to busy herself. Sawyer walked in from the foyer with a light huff. He adjusted his work satchel on his shoulder.

"Hey." Kiana greeted.

"Hey Sawyer." Janelle said. Sawyer walked over to give Janelle a hug and light kiss on her cheek.

"Nice to see you, Nelle." He replied. Everyone could hear the exhaustion in his voice. He moved in for Kiana and she awaited her cheek peck but he only aligned his lips with her ear. She furrowed her brows expectantly.

"Wrap it up, send her home and come see me in the office for a minute." He whispered. Kiana looked at him inquisitively when he pulled away. After all they'd discussed about him barking things at her, he thought that was a good idea. "You heard what I said." He confirmed that he, indeed, thought it was a good idea. He stalked upstairs to see the twins.

Kiana returned to Janelle when he was finally out of sight. Janelle held a tight lipped smirk and knowingly shook her head. She swallowed the rest of her Merlot and placed the empty glass on the table.

"I'm gonna go then." She reached for her keys and tried to stand. Kiana held her arm to keep her in place. Her expression was scarily stone.

"You're not leaving until I tell you to leave." Janelle gave her a chastising look. It was more than clear her loyalty lied with Sawyer in this situation.

"Kiana, you need to stop treating Sawyer as if he wouldn't flip this whole damn world upside down for your ungrateful ass. If he had sat on his hands when you came home with a split on your fucking cheek, you'd have something to say about that, too." Janelle tried her best to whisper but she was riled up and somewhat annoyed with her best friend. "Go talk to him and fix this shit."

Janelle snatched her hand from Kiana's grasp and the momentum forced Kiana to fall forward on the couch. She put her hands in front of herself to break her fall. Janelle put a kiss on her forehead and then disappeared out the front door.

Kiana marched through the house with purposeful steps. She walked into the office to see Sawyer facing her head on. He'd heard her temper tantrum style stomps and awaited her arrival. Kiana closed the door behind her so that the girls wouldn't hear them.

"Why do you think you get to decide when my guests leave? Didn't we talk about this?" Kiana was livid. As soon as she started to think that maybe she was making the wrong choice by putting a block between them, he'd proven her right with his arrogance.

"This is your last night doing this." Sawyer replied calmly.

"Doing what?" She spat. She crossed her arms over her chest expectantly.

"Whatever this shit is. The silent treatment, staying in the guestroom, not letting me touch you shit. It ends today. So, say what you need to say to me and we will move on." Kiana's eyebrows rose and she fought a smile.

"And if it doesn't end today?" She pressed.

"We need to start talking about other living arrangements for the next few days." Kiana knew him well enough to know he wouldn't ever put that out in the open unless he meant it. He wouldn't hold the idea of separation over her head unless he was willing to make it happen.

Kiana swallowed the lump in her throat and shifted on her feet.

She uncrossed her arms for a moment and then decided that she had no idea what to do with them. So, she crossed them again. Blinking back her tears was the only mechanism she had left to keep her from falling apart.

"What?" She croaked. Her angry façade was splitting at the seams. She'd gotten instantly small and frightened at the thought of losing Sawyer.

"I'm not going to let you disrespect me in my own home, Kiana. If I make you that unhappy, I want to leave. We can try to share the girls throughout the week." Kiana's breathing shallowed. "I married you because of the passion and the love and respect we have for each other. It's selfish to say but if we don't have that and I can't get it back out of you, I don't want to stay."

"I—" She swallowed. 'Sawyer—I don't— I thought it was just an argument I didn't— " Kiana paced toward the window.

"Key, I don't want to do that." He replied delicately. "Don't cry, baby." Sawyer groaned. He reached out for her hand and pulled her into an embrace.

Sawyer had to be honest; he didn't think she'd break down this way. He figured she'd call his bluff with some fiery remark and then he'd be forced to follow through. He'd tried everything to get her attention to figure things out but he was on eggshells. He felt as if he couldn't be the one to take the reins and end this himself because he would only end up proving her right. He tried to let her be the one to take the first step but he wouldn't watch his wife grow more distant every day and do nothing.

She heaved her sobs into his chest and he held her tighter. Hearing her weep this way made him queasy.

I wish she'd stop being so damn stubborn, Sawyer thought.

"I'll start you a shower and then I want you to come to bed." Sawyer whispered into the crown of her head. She didn't object which was a good sign that he had finally broken her down. This idea that he was her own personal dictator may finally be able to die down in her mind. Maybe she'd accepted their relationship for what it was again.

"Okay." She whimpered into his chest. Sawyer suppressed his smile. He was so happy to have his wife back.

*

Kiana padded out of the bathroom in her nightgown. Sawyer was lying in bed, propped by a few pillows and reading over some teleprompter scripts for the next morning. He had his bedside lamp on and his ankles were crossed at the end of the bed. He spotted Kiana in the doorway and slowly put the stack of papers in his lap.

His body responded to her moisturized, clean and silk cloaked frame. Her teddies always managed to hug her body perfectly and he could hardly contain himself when he saw her in one. He often bought her new ones every few weeks just because he never wanted her to not have one available.

Sawyer pulled off his reading glasses and sat them on the side table along with the script. He watched Kiana a few seconds longer. He'd missed sharing a bed with her—both literally and figuratively. She twirled her fingers along the short hem of her gown. Sawyer licked his lips and signaled with his head for her to join him in bed. She walked over to his side and kicked her leg up over his hips. She rested her womanhood right over his crotch when she straddled him.

Sawyer let his palms wander over her smooth, fleshy, dark cocoa thighs. He gripped at the folded meat on her hip where he thigh bent into her plush stomach. When she leaned in for a kiss, he sighed and slightly moved his head. She seemed taken aback and her expression told him so. He watched panic flush over her face and a sinking feeling sat in his stomach.

"Kiana, we should talk." He lightly shoved her over to her side of the bed but she was completely unmoving. In fact, she locked her hands around his wrists to keep them both in place.

"We're okay—I'm sorry I treated you that way—" Sawyer groaned, somewhat annoyed. He nearly picked Kiana up and placed her on her proper side of the bed.

"I don't want you to say that just because you don't want me to leave." He was stern.

Sawyer knew the only reason she had caved in was because he had threatened her with separation. It hurt him to know that he had stooped so low as to use her love for him to make her surrender. He hadn't meant to threaten her into cooperation. He wanted her to have agency—it was what he loved about her. But he was one of her strongest weaknesses and he genuinely felt as if he had ruined her trust in him by using it against her. She didn't think he'd allow her to be strong-willed in their relationship anymore.

So, she was pandering to him in response. And it was horrible.

"But I * don't * want you to leave me." She agreed delicately. Sawyer shook his head and sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. Kiana watched with a nervous, nail biting feeling in her core. "Is it wrong for me to want my husband with me?" She asked strongly.

"No, but it's wrong for that to be what it takes to fix our issues." He turned his head halfway to look back at her through the corner of his eye. Kiana crept up beside him and curled her legs under herself. She didn't have a reply. It was fear that shook her back into their bed and back into his arms.

Her feelings hadn't changed. She didn't have a revelation that made her see the situation in Sawyer's favor. She just loved her husband.

"That isn't how we are and I don't want that to become us." Kiana smiled from where she sat but Sawyer couldn't see. "There is nothing you could do or say that would make me feel like I needed to leave you. You just need to do or say something. Ignoring me and our problems is the only thing to make me feel like we're at a dead end." Sawyer quietly explained. "I know you don't agree with everything I do but I expect you to address it and let me fix it. You need to give me a chance, Kiana—and I have never had to tell you to do that. I don't know why I had to do it now."

"I was reevaluating our marriage." She replied. "I let everything confuse me into thinking our relationship—our love wasn't right for me." Sawyer turned to her.

"Every day, I feel this huge bout of regret in my chest. I hate everything I did or said that day except for defending you. I didn't put you or the girls first and I disrespected you. I embarrassed you." Kiana swiped at a tear and tried to force the rest of them back in. "You are the most important thing to me and I crossed a line with you that day." They stared one another in the eyes while he spoke. "I was supposed to protect you and my family but I almost got you arrested. I turned our relationship into something I never wanted it to be and I'm sorry, Kiana." He grabbed her hand and put it in his lap.

"I forgive you. Forgive me for handling it so poorly?" She whispered through her tears. She placed a palm against Sawyer's cheek and he turned in to lay a kiss against the skin on her palm.

"Of course I do." Kiana sweetly leaned in and Sawyer lined his lips with hers for the first time in almost four days.

After their intimate dialogue, the kiss was literal heaven for Kiana. They meshed lips overpoweringly and Sawyer pulled her onto his lap to deepen the kiss. Sawyer supported her back against the back of one arm and let his other hand wander up and down the supple surface of her thigh.

Somehow, Kiana was on her back and Sawyer was maneuvering above her under the sheets. He dipped below the hem to nuzzle her clothed breasts. He kneaded them through the fabric until a wet spot surfaced. He then pulled up the teddy and latched onto her dark, pert nipple. He cupped the underside of her breast and led her straight into his mouth.

Kiana moaned above him. She had missed his touch.

Sawyer swallowed her large areola and drank the droplets of milk she lactated from his ministrations. He savored the sweet taste of her body and gently bent her leg at the knee with his free hand. He could feel the hotness radiating from her pussy. He hummed lightly to himself.

"I missed you." He mumbled right before he dipped a finger into her wet, hot and waiting hole. Slowly, his fingers worked in and out of her body. He pressed his fingers against her closest walls and held onto her hips when she started to gyrate with his rhythms. Kiana rubbed his forearms and massaged his working hand as if to coax him on.

He brought her nectar up to his lips and sucked her juices right off his fingers. He closed his eyes for a moment as if to bask in the taste for a second longer. She watched him with powerful lust in her eyes. Sawyer licked his lips and dove in for her mouth. He kissed her passionately from above. Kiana groaned in his mouth when she swallowed the hint of herself on his thick tongue. He pulled away and sucked roughly on her neck.

"You taste so good." He mumbled lowly. Sawyer climbed up her body a little more and placed both of her hands beside his ears. He balanced on one arm and reached between them to line his pulsating dick up with her opening. He grabbed at the back of Kiana's knees and she expertly stretched up to put them over each of his shoulders blades. Sawyer pulled the sheets over his top half knowing that Kiana loved when they had sex that way. She thought it was more intimate. Sawyer hated not being able to see the pink center of her pussy engulf his raging tip in the dim, evening light. But he would make sure she was happy tonight.

He slowly dug deep into her core and she gasped at the feeling.

"You want another baby?" He whispered in her ear with what he thought was a voice of seduction. Kiana chuckled heftily at the thought of getting pregnant again on top of everything else they had going on. Sawyer laughed lightly himself but a piece of him was somewhat serious.

He'd been thinking a lot about 'Their Boy'. But it was more like Sawyer's Boy. The idea of things dwindling with Kiana had made him consider the fact that he might never get the chance to have the boy he had been wanting. He shoved the thoughts away in fears of losing his erection and disappointing his wife.

He pummeled her into the late evening and only when her juices gushed around his dick for the second time did he decide to call it a night. Her eyes were low with exhaustion and Sawyer knew she needed to be up for work soon. She needed her rest.

Sawyer went to get a warm washcloth to wipe her up and then slipped on a new pair of panties from her drawer. By that point, she was practically asleep. Sawyer slid into bed beside her and pulled the duvet up over her body. She sighed right before she turned over and curled into his frame.

***

"Sawyer," Sawyer stirred awake to his own personal alarm clock. He smiled at the scene of his dressed wife sitting along the bed just arm's length away. He missed her wakeup calls. He moaned and grabbed her hand. He rubbed the back of her palm and massaged his way up her forearm.

"Good morning, beautiful." Kiana smiled at him timidly. She hated to ruin this great, make-up mood they seemed to have going. They were always super affectionate after their arguments but this was on another, more extreme level.

"I'm going to ask Declan and Xavier to drop the charges against you after work today."

Sawyer's sweet, angelic and endearing demeanor shifted within an instant. His face fell flat and his skin flushed pink, remembering his brothers and what happened last week. He rolled his eyes exasperatedly, as if to symbolize the sentence "Here she fucking goes". He sat up in bed and Kiana looked him head on.

"Why would you do that?" He sneered, somewhat tiredly. Kiana maneuvered her hand from his tightening grip and stood tall. She smoothed out her knee length, pleated chiffon dress and prepared to reply. It was more than obvious she'd given this plenty of thought the last few hours. She had each girl on her breast at six in the morning, just using the time to think everything through.

"You're too stubborn and prideful to protect yourself." She crossed her arms over herself. "So, I need to protect you." Sawyer threw his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed the glass of water she'd had ready for him. He always drank a full glass of water when he woke up.

"My wife," He burped and stood to his full height. "Isn't going to go grovel to my brothers on my behalf." He strolled past Kiana casually. She followed closely.

"You know I'm not going to grovel." He leaned over the lifted toilet seat and aimed his morning release. He knew the last thing she'd do was grovel. If anything, she'd threaten and scare them into dropping the charges. But if anyone was going to do that, it'd be him. And he didn't want to. He was tired of losing his control and jeopardizing things over this situation with his brothers. Kiana rested her weight against the door frame. "I'm just going to ask."

"No." Sawyer flushed the toilet, lowered the seat and turned to face Kiana head on. "And if you do it anyway, we're going to have a big problem. Do you understand me?" Kiana swallowed. She could tell that he was serious. She had no leeway to argue her way through this. She averted her gaze, like a wolf who had just been reassured that he wasn't the pack leader this time.

Sawyer saw the submission in her facial expression which was actually just full on annoyance and slight rage. He turned back to the counter and prepared to brush his teeth. Kiana took that opportunity to finish getting Savannah and Sydney ready for daycare.

She watched Sawyer carry both carriers to the van. Kiana stood behind him with his work satchel, a huge diaper bag and her briefcase both hands. He climbed into the backseat to strap the girls in and he secured each seat with a hard tug. When he stepped down, she conditionally extended her hand for him to take all their bags. Routinely, he helped hoist her into the backseat so she could say goodbye to the babies and wish them a good day. She promised them she'd see them later this afternoon when she picked them up. Sawyer helped her out of the van with an arm along her waist.

He put the diaper bag and his satchel on the van's backseat floor. Kiana extended her arm for her briefcase but Sawyer held it securely at his side. She met his eyes curiously.

"I gotta go, Sawyer." She said sharply. Sawyer took a step toward her and looked her hard in the eyes.

"You still upset I won't let you make a bigger mess of everything?" She rolled her eyes and shifted her weight to one hip. He chuckled and gathered her into a deep hug. Kiana groaned into the barricade of his neck. She saw their neighbor leaving their home for work behind his shoulder. Right before he jumped in the car in a hurry, he waved a hand to greet Kiana.

She struggled to raise her own hand in reply because of how tightly Sawyer held her but she managed. Sawyer could feel the gesture behind his back and turned to see who she was greeting. He kept his hold on her just as securely as before but still waved as their neighbor drove by. Kiana snaked her way out of his hold.

"I'm not upset. I'm just worried about what's going to happen to you." She said honestly. Sawyer smiled down on her sweetly. He laid a hand against her jaw and up the side of her face. His thumb traced the outline of her full, pink lips.

"Nothing's going to happen to me, baby." Before she could complain further, he bent and met their lips. His head blocked out the rising sun and she gently closed her eyes. He re-coiled an arm around her waist and let his palm rest sturdily against her bottom. He pulled away and they stared at one another for a beat.