"Yeah, Mon?"
Her hands urged him back toward her and he forgot about family and thinking and anything but the feel of his wife's busy fingers working his flight suit off his shoulders, his T-shirt up. A cereal O inched into his shorts. Not that he cared since he was otherwise occupied, his mouth on Monica's lips, her neck, biting her zipper tab to expose the most awesome damned br**sts ever encased in...
Champagne satin and lace? Ooh-rah. "Happy anniversary to me."
Monica's laugh vibrated under his questing mouth.
"Hmm." He nuzzled hot satin covering even hotter woman. "Where did this come from?"
She arched into the draw of his lips against a peaking nipple. "Shopping trip with my sister in Atlanta. Yasmine's really getting into this clothes-buying stuff." She gasped her rambling explanation between sighs and needy writhing over the cotton spread. "She should probably buy stock in Victoria's Secret for as much time as she spends scouting out new underwear to entice the Colonel with."
Jack winced, his face finding rest in the soft crook of her neck. "Okay, hon, that's more info than I needed about the Colonel's sex life."
Even as he razzed her, he couldn't stop the surge of pride over how hard she'd worked to establish a bond with her youngest sister over the past months. The effort seemed to be paying off if their shopping trips were anything to judge by. Yasmine and the Colonel even joined them for Atlanta Braves' games.
"Although—" Jack eased her zipper down farther to see if this bra was part of a matching set...and it was "—if shopping with your sister brings about more of this, maybe I can just plug my ears when it comes to discussing what she bought."
"There will be plenty more shopping in the coming weeks with her wedding next month. God, what a zoo it's going to be."
No doubt about that since Yasmine had insisted there would be no slinking off to hide their nuptials because of age-difference whispers. The Colonel had slipped a solitaire fit for a princess on her finger in record time, but then insisted on a long engagement to give her a chance to adjust to her new life. Ever fair, the Colonel wanted her to be sure.
And Yasmine Halibiz soon-to-be Cullen was damned certain.
Her job as an emergency room trauma nurse kept her busy while her fiance was out in the field. That, and shopping jags for more gifts to spoil Drew's granddaughter rotten.
Monica snuggled closer. "And, oh, my God, you should see the veil she picked to go with her gown." She flopped onto her back. "It's a wonderful mix of her old country and new. Although the Colonel's going to have to fight his way through a lot of lace to get to her for the big kiss."
A question niggled at him. "Do you ever regret that we didn't have a big wedding?"
"Not a chance." She turned on the pillow to look at him. Her husky drawl rang with resolution. "We got the best of everything. A small family service when your brother blessed our vows. A big bash with our friends later. All that and an Elvis impersonator. What more could a girl want?"
He could think of a million things he wanted to do for this woman, out of bed as well as in. Luckily, somehow he'd convinced her to spend the rest of their lives together so he could work his way down that list. "What more could you want? I'm hoping you want me. Now."
"That's a sure bet." Her leg hooked over his hip.
His erection nudged her belly in response. This first time was going to be fast, intense, followed by long-drawn-out. Three cheers for tantric. "Did you bring condoms? Because God knows I wasn't expecting to get laid on TDY."
"Good thing, too, flyboy."
"So? Where the hell did you Ziploc those things up?"
"I brought them, but..."
"But what?"
She stared back up at him, intense, hopeful, her hair a toffee splash against the white pillowcase. "I was hoping I could convince you that it's time to stop using them." When he didn't answer right away, her hands glided over his back, soothing, but the longing in her eyes stayed. A primal wish for children together that stirred an answer within him. "I want us to be parents, Jack, and someday have grandbabies to talk about while we're in those retirement rockers. I got the idea lately that maybe now you're ready to start working on that, too."
Children with Monica. Hell, yes, he wanted a houseful of little Korbas with Monica's eyes. Sure he couldn't stop the twinge of fear in his gut when he thought about how he'd lost Tina. But he realized those fears were mostly illogical and just a part of loving someone so damned much. He was a lucky man to have found such deep love twice in a lifetime.
Deep. The word definitely did not scare him anymore now that he fully appreciated the payoffs. And what a payoff it was, being loved by this woman who honored his past while still demanding he move forward with their future. "Babies, huh?"
Monica skimmed her fingers over the bristle of his late-day beard. "I thought we could start with one for now. More later."
His mind filled with images of Monica with their baby at her breast. "I'm already working on the words for Elvis's 'Teddy Bear.'"
With a Texas-size cheer, she threw her arms around his neck. "I love you."
Three little words he never tired of saying or hearing these days. "Love you, too," he answered against her lips.