“Did you need something?”
“Me? Not at all I just drove my ass all the way over here to make small talk.” He grinned. “I’m here to babysit.”
I shot to my feet. “Bullshit.”
“I shit you not.” He winked. “Val and I decided to give you guys a date night in. And before you start listing off all the reasons why you can’t — let me just remind you that you have a very pretty wife who’s been put through hell this last year… she was willing to die for you — the least you can do is stop with the paranoia and live for her.”
I hated it when Sergio lectured me.
I also hated it when he was right. Which was usually ninety-nine percent of the time.
I hung my head. “I really don’t feel comfortable with—”
“—Ready!” Luc was standing in the doorway wearing the tightest black dress I’d ever seen — it barely covered her ass, and I suddenly thanked God that she was breastfeeding because there was nothing decent about the way her breasts poured out of that thing.
“You have a bit of drool,” Sergio pointed to his chin.
I flipped him off and stood. “You look…” I didn’t have words. “Beautiful.”
Luc’s cheeks went bright pink as she sucked in her bottom lip and took a step toward me. “Thanks for agreeing to do this, Chase.”
“Agreeing,” I repeated then looked behind her to Sergio who was staring up at the ceiling. Bastard. “Why don’t I just go get dressed then?” I was still in my jeans and a t-shirt I hadn’t washed for days because I was so freaked out over leaving Luc and Violet defenseless.
Luc grabbed my hand.
I started to sweat when she tugged me out of the room.
Sergio put his hand on my shoulder as I walked past him. “It’s going to be fine… Val’s like a baby whisperer and I’ll shoot anyone who walks into the room or breaks in through the window, ya?”
“Shoot first ask questions later.”
“Always.” He pulled out his Glock and turned off the safety then went to where I was sitting and started rocking back and forth. Huh, either the best babysitter on the planet or the creepiest.
Is that what I looked like? Just staring at the crib with my gun in my right hand, and my cell in my left ready to call in for reinforcements? He looked so out of place I almost laughed.
Val swept by me. “I brought books!”
“She’s six weeks old.” I pointed out.
She sniffed the air. “You smell. Go shower and change and—” She made a face. “Maybe do something about your hair.”
Luc snorted.
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
“The proper question is what’s right with it.” She winked and then dropped all the books on the table next to the crib and reached in to grab Violet who’d just started to fuss. “Who’s a pretty, pretty, mafia princess!”
Violet giggled and looked so fucking beautiful at six weeks that I decided then and there that she was never leaving the house, and I would track down every last guy who asked to date her and shoot him in the dick.
“Hey,” Luc squeezed my hand. “Stop dreaming about killing her future boyfriends.”
“I’m not—”
“—Chase…” She pulled me in for a hug. “I know this is hard for you… it’s hard for both of us… it’s scary when you think that something so defenseless relies solely on you for life — but it’s also beautiful. You need to relax. I love that you care, I love that you’re forcing me to sleep in and taking care of her so I can heal, but right now, I need you. I need my grumpy husband. And I need you to put down your gun for at least five minutes so you can shower. I cooked.”
I perked up. “You cooked?”
She pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Think of it as foreplay.”
“Cooking’s how you got pregnant… I kept walking in on you with that wooden spoon….”
She backed me up against the wall and rubbed her body against mine. My cock sprang to life so fast I had to clench my teeth and hold onto her shoulders to make sure I didn’t lift that tight dress and decide to get naked in the hallway, mere feet from everyone.
“Wow, you feel…” Luc wrapped her arms around me and stood on her tiptoes then covered my mouth with her lips sliding her tongue into my mouth with slow strokes. “Good.” She finished. “Hey here’s a thought…”
“I’m not sure my brains functioning past that dress right now…” I fisted it in my right hand and jerked her against me, grabbing her ass with my left and picking her up. “This needs to come off before I rip it.”
“Yes.” She breathed as she slid down my body.
I moaned when she sauntered ahead down the hall and into our bedroom. She kicked off her high heels as I shut the door behind me.
And then she was facing me hands on hips, breasts sensitive, heavy. I took a step toward her, but she held up her finger. “Weapons off please.”
“What about this one,” I pointed at my cock.
“Do you have a permit?”
I smirked. “Cute.”
“Hey, I’m just saying I don’t want anything to go off and ruin the moment.”
“If you don’t take off your fucking dress I’m going to go off and ruin the moment…”
“Crude.”
“Also true.” I set my gun on the table, pulled two small knives from my back pocket and then peeled my shirt over my head. “Your turn.”
“Oh, so now we’re taking turns?”
“It’s polite and I’m trying to set a good example for Violet.”
“Nothing about you carrying a gun around and murdering people is a good example.”
“Really?” I deadpanned. “Because the way I see it, I’m showing her not to take any shit from anyone and kill people who do. Nothing wrong with that.”
Luc gaped. “You’re kidding right?”
I shrugged and motioned for her to turn around.
The zipper was long, too long. Why the hell did dresses need long zippers? Why weren’t there buttons or snaps like on track pants? Someone needed to invent that, so men like me didn’t have to torture ourselves with the sound of a dress slowly zipping down a woman’s back.
It just reminded me that clothes were in the way.
I zipped down to her ass then pulled the dress down over her hips letting it fall to her ankles and her tall black heels.
She turned in my arms and jerked me toward her with my jeans. I bit back a curse the friction was almost my undoing. Her eyes locked on mine as she slowly unbuttoned and another damn zipper.
I always imagined how I would die.
Assumed it would be looking down the barrel of a gun.
Not, death by zipper.
Death by waiting. Why the hell wasn’t I doing this four weeks ago?
The minute I knew she could?
“Sergio and Val are fine with Serena,” Luc whispered across my lips, her hands already tugging my jeans down.
Our foreheads touched. “Let’s leave Sergio out of it since we’re both half naked and I’m seconds away from burying my cock inside you, yeah?”
She gripped me with her hand and squeezed. “Yeah.”
“Damn it.” I slammed my mouth against hers as we stumbled back toward the bed. I hovered over her as she wrapped her legs around me. “I swear the fifth time we do this tonight I’ll go slower but rounds one through four—” I slid my tongue past her lips then retreated. “Not gonna happen.” She gripped my shoulders and whispered. “Good.”
I thrust into her as her scream died across my lips. This, this woman was the reason I was alive… the reason I wasn’t sucked into an oblivion of darkness and death.
I rolled my hips and closed my eyes as she clawed at my back and then found my mouth deepening the kiss while I moved inside her.
This woman.
Was my everything.
“Chase—”
She matched my rhythm. I knew it would be over too soon.
Six weeks.
Never again.
“I love you,” I whispered as she clenched around me her nails digging into my skin my teeth grazing her neck as waves of pleasure pulsed between our bodies.
“I love you too.” She locked eyes with me.
I clenched my teeth and chased my release as she clamped down her thighs and pulled me in.
And minutes later when we were both lying there staring up at the ceiling. It wasn’t the sound of her screams or my ability to make her orgasm, but her light snore that brought joy to my face.
The perfect life.