High Voltage (Ramsey Security #3)

“We made this amazing creature,” I say.

Dino plays with her dark waves. “You can’t mix two people like us and not create perfection.”

Despite his cocky comment, Dino is absolutely in love with our daughter. He doesn’t even push for a second child because he claims he won’t have enough space in his heart for another kid. I ignore his worries and skip my birth control for a few months. Soon we’re expecting a son.

Luciano and Elisabetta are joined two years later by Vittoria, who looks like a girl version of Dino. Unlike her siblings, she’s obsessed with mommy rather than their perfect daddy. Vittoria’s affinity for Joan Jett freaks out Dino. Every pregnancy, he forces me to listen to The Rat Pack so his kids would be born with good taste. Somehow, Vittoria slips through the cracks.

Our final baby is a boy, and Dino insists I name him after my dad. I hate the name Ed and all of its variants. Dino won’t let me weasel out of honoring my father, so my compromise is Enzo. The name begins with the same letter. Dino isn’t fully pleased, but once I throw other possible names at him like Julian, he quickly agrees to Enzo.

A weird thing happens after I have kids. Well, maybe not so weird, but I never expect to get so damn soft. I have no interest in taking the difficult security jobs anymore. After Luciano arrives, I scale back my work and do most of it through teleconferencing while my kids are in the next room.

Dino can’t even manage to care that much. He quits the firm and stays home with the family. His days revolve around playing with the kids and sneaking me into closets for quickies.

Even retired, Dino doesn’t get soft. Especially not when it comes to acting like a dumbass around other men. Even after a decade together, he still growls at Troy for standing too close to me.

“No one knows your pussy except me,” he always says.

I can only pat his cheek and laugh. Reality will never be his friend in that regard.

Domestication doesn’t mean I completely lose my edge. I teach my kids how to fight. Dino teaches them how to cheat at cards. Mainstream parenting might not be our strong suit.

I didn’t marry a sensitive schmuck like my dream guy. I found someone better. A man who talked me into loving him. A man who convinced me to give motherhood a try. A man who keeps me on my toes. A man who still makes me whimper at night and laugh in the daylight.

Apples found her Italian Sausage.