Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

His voice is soft, but I detect a hint of menace that I hope to God I’m imagining. “Would you choose Vince’s baby over me, Mia?”

I rest my hand on his, on top of my tummy. “You would never make me,” I state, firmly. “Now, I’m tired and you’re drunk. Let’s just go to sleep.”

For a moment, I think he’s going to. Then he moves behind me, rolling me over on my stomach. His hands move to my hips, yanking my ass up and spreading my legs. Pressing his cock against me, he says, “Let’s not.”

Chapter Twenty Six

Mia

“Hey Mia, hey Mia, hey Mia.”

I move the little green mermaid medallion, then I look up at Rosalie. Meg and Mateo’s adorable daughter is standing beside me, decked out in a puffy pink dress, holding pieces of her tea set in her little hands.

“What Rosalie? What Rosalie? What Rosalie?”

“Would you want some sugar for your tea?”

I glance over at Westley, his chubby little fingers wrapped around his tea cup as he drinks the pretend beverage with gusto. Then he holds his cup out to Rosalie. She comes over and starts measuring out pretend sugar. “How many sugar do you want?” she asks him. “One, or two, or three?”

Meg tugs on the puffy skirt of Rosalie’s dress. “Hey, squirt. It’s board game time, not tea party time.”

Westley scowls at Meg. “Rosie give me tea!”

Raising her hands in surrender as she eases back, Meg says, “All right, settle down there, little Palmetto.” Glancing my way, she adds, “He’s learning the Morelli sexism already.”

“Adrian is going to be so mad,” I say, smiling faintly and mussing his big head of flaxen hair. For such a tiny boy, he sure has a big head.

“Is it our turn yet?” Bella asks.

It’s very difficult to play a board game with four children, especially when two of them are toddlers. Especially since there are only three mermaid tokens, so we had to partner up. Lily and Bella are obviously partners, so Meg got Rosalie and I got Westley.

“I wanna do tea party instead,” Rosalie announces.

Lily sighs, crossing her arms. “Why don’t you take them away and we can just play with Mom.”

I grab Westley—he’s so freaking tiny for his age. Rosalie is just a little older than him, but he’s a little guy. He’s adorable. “Do you guys wanna come with me? We’ll go for a little walk.”

“No, I stay,” Westley decides, pushing up and toddling over to Meg.

“Traitor,” I remark, without heat. Glancing at Rosalie gathering her tea cups, I say, “What about you? Wanna go see if we can find your dad and give him some tea?”

“Oh, yeah,” she says brightly.

She gathers up her necessary tea accoutrements and I scoop her up, putting her on my hip. “All right, let’s do this.”

We find him right where we expected to, in his study. I knew he and Adrian made it home for lunch, so I thought we might luck out. Mateo is at his desk filling out paperwork when we come in. I let Rosalie down so she can run over and jump up into his arms. He catches her, settling her in his lap and watching her put her tea cups down on top of the papers on his desk.

“What are you ladies up to this afternoon?” he asks.

“I wanted to bring you tea,” Rosalie states, grabbing the pink cup and handing it to him.

I grin, leaning a hip against the end of the desk and watching her stir the sugar. Her hair is as dark as his and pulled up into the most adorable messy bun anyone has ever rocked.

“That was very thoughtful of you,” he remarks, watching her. “I was getting really thirsty.”

“How many sugar do you want?” she asks him.

“Two scoops, please.”

“Mommy said no tea party,” she tells him, her cute little face set into a scowl.

Mateo’s lips curve upward in amusement. “Looks like you found a workaround.”

“Of course she did,” I remark, rolling my eyes fondly.

She makes his pretend tea to his liking and they each drink their fill. Once he has given her enough praise for her excellent tea-making abilities, she loses interest and climbs down. Since she’s in a new room, and a room she’s seldom allowed in, she runs over to climb on the wing chairs.

I take advantage of his free lap and have a seat myself, wrapping my arm around his neck and leaning in to give him a tender kiss. His hand settles around my waist and he pulls me close, deepening the kiss when I go to pull back.

His tongue stirs my desire and I reluctantly break away. “Mm, I don’t have anyone with me to babysit, you probably shouldn’t do that.”

He smirks, his hand creeping toward my thigh.

I catch it, grinning against his mouth. “Don’t you dare.”

“I don’t have time anyway,” he says easily, letting me pull back that time. “I’m about to leave as soon as I finish filling these out. I have to go meet Dante.”