"Sorry, kid, no can do," I tell her. "Making out with your mom is my favorite pastime."
"Mo-om! Tell him it's totally humiliating when you guys kiss. I just saw tongue. Seriously. You're too old."
"Did she just call us too old?" Lily asks.
"I think she did." I grin at Lily before pulling her toward me again dramatically bending her down in a dip so I can plant a kiss on her lips.
Chloe groans in frustration. "I am so going to send you my therapy bills when I'm older."
"Mom! Dad!" Dylan, our seven-year-old, comes running up to us and I groan.
"Can't I make out with my wife in peace?" I joke.
"No, dad!" Chloe scolds.
"Whatever you're about to say, if it involves tattling on your brother, I don't want to hear it," Lily says.
"But Will says he's going to put his tongue on Chloe's cake and take a photo of it!"
"What?" Chloe yells. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him!"
"Don't kill your brother. He's only six. He's still cute. Wait until he becomes a teenager!" I say.
"How does he even have a camera?" Lily asks.
"He has your phone," Dylan tells her.
"Get my phone back while you're down there," Lily advises.
"He knows not to put his tongue on my cake!" Chloe says. "Honestly, you guys let him get away with everything. It's so not fair. Nana would totally agree with me!" The two of them race toward one of the tables on the lawn where Chloe's cake – all four layers of glittered extravagance because Lily went way overboard but I'd never in a million years tell her that – is perched.
"I think he pickpocketed that phone right off of me," Lily notes. "He's been spending too much time with Tempest."
"He's going to be hustling people at cards by the time he's ten," I tell her.
"I know! She's your brother's wife. Tell her to stop corrupting him."
"He'll be a professional poker player."
"That cake is going to melt the longer it's out here in the sun, you know." Opal walks up to us, her gait less steady than it used to be, and I take her arm.
"You're going to melt in the sun, too, Opal. I put a few chairs in the shade."
"Oh, stop fussing over me like I'm going to fall apart, Killian. You're worse than Bert." Opal finally married Bert, her former "booty call" two years ago – in Vegas, of course. She wore a Marilyn Monroe dress and Bert wore a lavender leisure suit.
"Man, it's warm today," Luke interrupts, walking up to us with little Steve on his hip. Stevie is almost two now, their youngest. Allison and Olivia, the older kids, are running around this place somewhere. "We should have done this at the restaurant."
"Oh, it's fine," Autumn says. "It's sunny and you know Chloe loves being outside. She wouldn't have wanted her birthday party in the restaurant anyhow."
Cupcakes and Cappuccinos no longer exists. Lily and I went into business with Luke and Autumn a few years ago and knocked down the walls between the bakery and the two other stores on the ground floor of the building – now, we're running a full-service restaurant (lunch and dinner, but we do weekend brunch) and bakery. Autumn is still making cider and she's supposed to start distributing nationally next year. The four of us argued for weeks about the name of the restaurant, but in the end we just wound up calling it West Bend Saints. It seemed fitting, a way of redeeming our family name somehow.
River walks up to us, hand in hand with Elias. "Lily, I saw Will streaking across the lawn in his underwear with a phone."
"He's really a fast runner," Elias notes. "You should get him doing track."
"Shit." Lily kisses me on the cheek and takes off through the crowd of people. "William Elijah Saint!"
"Where's Silas?" I ask. "I haven't seen him."
"Probably somewhere trying to knock up Tempest again," Elias says, and River smacks him on the arm. "What? We were all thinking it!"
"We probably should cut the cake before Will puts his face in it and Chloe decides we've embarrassed her enough that she disowns all of us."
"I don't know what's embarrassing about us," Elias says.
River rolls her eyes. "Yeah, there's totally nothing embarrassing about this family."
"Luke, make sure you wait until I wave to roll the gift up the lawn." I toss him the keys.
"Got it, man."
I make my way into the crowd until I reach the table with the birthday cake. From the side, I see Lily wrestling Will back into his shirt. Perfect timing. At least he has clothes on now. Most of them, anyway.
Whistling loudly, I call for everyone's attention. "Lily and Chloe, would you come up here, please?"
When Chloe gets to the front, she groans. "Dad, this is my sixteenth birthday party. If you do anything embarrassing, I'm totally going to kill you."
"If you kill me, you don't get your birthday present and trust me, you're going to want your present."
Chloe sighs loudly. "Mom would give it to me anyway."
"Mom doesn't know what I got you. This one's a surprise."
"What?" she squeals, suddenly giddy like she used to be when she was younger and not an angsty teen. "What did you get me?"
I whistle again as people finally start to quiet down. "Lily, get up here!"
Lily walks up the lawn, laughing as she heads toward us. "Killian, what the hell are you doing?"
"Probably embarrassing me, mom," Chloe says. "Tell him not to."
"Quiet down. I've got something to say!" I yell, pausing for a second. "Now, ten years ago, if you'd have told me I'd be married to the hottest girl in West Bend –"
Chloe groans. "Dad, gross."
"And that I'd have three awesome kids, I would have laughed. But nine years ago, this woman walked into my life, and she brought a kid with her. This kid was as funny and smart and smart-mouthed as her mother, and I fell head-over-heels for both of them."
I look at Chloe, who's blushing, and she puts her arm around my waist. "Da-ad."
"It seems like yesterday that this little girl was putting makeup on my face and forcing me to pretend to be a dragon." Aww, shit, I'm getting those damn allergies again. I blink a couple of times. "And now, she's sixteen and has her driver's license."
I hold my hand up as people applaud. "I'm saying that I'm proud as hell of this girl and who she's growing up to be. And I'm also warning you that she's going to be on the road now, in case you want to increase your auto insurance."
"Oh my God, dad."
"There's one other thing," I say, turning to her. "I figured you need something to drive."
"What? Are you serious? You said there was no way you were buying a new car, are you kidding me?" Chloe jumps up and down.
"It's not new, it's a fixer-upper. So we're going to have to work on it together." I wave at Luke and he drives the 1974 Bronco onto the lawn.
"Dad!" Chloe squeals, wrapping her arms around my neck. "Oh my God, I can’t believe you got me a car. Mom, I love you guys so much!"
"Go, go," I say, waving her off.
Lily slides her arms around me. "Well, Killian Saint, I thought you said no new cars. That kid is so happy right now."
"I know, but Cade had this guy in his bike shop the other day who was getting rid of it, so I picked it up."
"You're angling for Dad Of The Year, aren't you?"
"Actually, I was hoping for a hot piece of ass as a reward. Know where I might find one?"
Lily grins. "I have an idea."
Lily
"One of those little miscreants is going to wake up, you know," Killian says, pulling my shirt over my head.
"You mean our children?" I tease. "Nope. Will and Dylan are passed out after they ran around at the party. There's no chance of them waking up before ten tomorrow. And Chloe's with her friends until eleven. The door is locked, and we have two full hours all to ourselves. Two hours. Do you hear that? That's the sound of quiet."
Killian pushes me up against the wall in the bedroom. I groan when he brings his mouth to mine firmly, finding my to
ngue with practiced ease. Arousal races through me, my body's immediate response to his touch, and when I run my palm down his chest and then lower, he's already hard. I unbutton his jeans, falling to my knees on the floor in front of him as I wrap my hand around the base of his cock and guide it to my lips.
Killian's hands lace through my hair. "Your sweet mouth," he moans as I wrap my lips around the head of his cock, my hand cradling his balls the way I know he likes as I take him in deeper with each pass. I love the taste of him, familiar and enticing at the same time, and the sex with him seems to get better with each passing day. We never have been able to keep our hands off each other, and that hasn't changed one bit since we married.
"You keep doing what you're doing and I'm going to come," he warns, so I pull back from him, running my hand up and down his shaft.
"Can't have that," I say. "Especially when I have other things planned for you."
Killian looks at me with his eyebrows raised. "Oh, yeah?"
"Two hours to ourselves?" I ask. "You'd better believe I do."
Killian growls as he pulls me to my feet, one hand sliding up my thigh under my sundress and going right between my legs. "No panties, either. Mrs. Saint, you are out of control."
"Maybe you should teach me to behave."
"That smart mouth of yours is going to get you into so much trouble."
"God, I hope so."
He slips two fingers inside my already wet pussy. "You're very wet."
"I've been thinking about what I want you to do to me."
"Maybe I've been thinking about what I want to do to you." He presses against the most sensitive spot inside me, stroking me in a come-hither motion with his fingers until I'm clinging to his biceps, my fingers digging into his skin as I struggle to maintain control.
"Tell me," I beg, but he pulls his fingers away.
"First, I'm going to undress you," he says, doing exactly that, my clothes landing in a pile on the floor. "Then I'm going to need to taste you."
He lifts me onto the bed, crawling between my legs and putting his mouth on me, sending goose bumps across my skin. I lose all sense of time as his tongue explores me, tasting, licking, probing until I'm panting and trying to keep from coming because I don't want to come this way.
When I'm on the edge, I pull at his hair. "Tell me what else you want to do," I demand.
"I want to take all of you," he growls, and I moan, desire flowing through me as I watch him reach into the bedside table. "Touch yourself."
I put my fingers between my legs as I he rolls a condom onto his length, coating his cock in lube before turning toward me. "Slide your fingers inside that wet little pussy," he demands, and I do it until my palm is pressed against my clit. I fuck myself with my fingers, as he removes a vibrator from the drawer and joins me on the bed.
Wordlessly, he reaches for my hand, pulling my wet fingers toward his mouth and slowly licking them, his eyes on me the entire time. A moan bubbles up from my chest because I don't think I've ever seen anything as sexy as this man, my husband and the father to my three children.
Killian rolls me to my side, these moves between us practiced over the years, and lies next to me, his face near my head, his warm breath on my neck. He trails his hand over my body, down my side, and to my hips, before sliding the vibrator between my legs from behind. Then he teases me with it until I'm squirming, my heart racing and my breath short.
"Fuck yourself, Lily," he growls, and I reach between my legs, pressing the vibrator deep inside my pussy as he spreads my ass cheeks and touches the head of his cock to my tight asshole. I tense at the intrusion at first, but relax as he murmurs into my ear how much he can't wait to be inside me, how much he can't get enough of me.
As he eases into me, the initial shock of pain goes away. Then it's all pleasure washing over me, overwhelming me, as one hand caresses my breast, my nipple pinched between his fingers while he rocks inside me, finding a sweet rhythm.
"I love being in you, Lily," he whispers. "I love your warm wet pussy and I love your ass and I love that you let me have everything, all of you."
I moan, the sound more like a long whine as he fucks me, his strokes longer now. The sensation of being filled up by the vibrator and by his cock is almost unbearable, and I find myself letting go to the overwhelming fullness, crying out when my orgasm takes me by surprise, ripping through me and triggering his. He clings to me, moaning my name as he comes.
Afterwards, in the shower, Killian pulls me against him, the warm water pounding on us, little rivers running down our skin. "Woman, I couldn't love you any more."
My chin pokes against the middle of his chest as I look up at him. "You're saying that because of the anal, right?"
Killian laughs and slaps me on the rear. "Always a smartass."
Later, we lie in bed, my head on his chest, his hand on my back, and I breathe him in.
"It's been over nine years since you ran into me at Connie's store," I murmur.
"You mean, since you ran into me."
"Stop revising history."
"I can't help it. Your version of history is incredibly inaccurate."
"You're just senile, old man."
He chuckles, and then a few minutes later, his breathing slows, and I know he's fallen asleep. I lie awake, smiling as I think about the last nine years. Nine years and three kids and I still love this man with every bit of me. This life with him and the kids is more of everything – more laughter, more joy, and more love - than I ever thought I'd know.
Don’t forget to check out the bonus epilogues in the other books as well, if you haven’t already! All of the epilogues are marked in the table of contents.
Elias (West Bend Saints, Book #1)
Synopsis
River
Call me Cinderella.
I’m a rags to riches story - girl from trailer park becomes Hollywood starlet. And I’m about to get my happy ever after.
That is, until I walk in to my house, three hours before my wedding, to find my rock star fiance sticking his c**k down my sister's throat.
With cameras behind me, filming.