Nova (Silver Saints MC)

“I wanna go in the hot tub, too,” Gillian whined.

Joshua, our second oldest, nodded. “Yeah.”

“C’mon, guys. Give Mom and Dad a break.” Our oldest, Seth, winked at me and grinned over his mug of hot chocolate. “They spent all day doing everything we wanted. Now they want time to smooch.”

Joshua made a gagging sound, which made the girls giggle. Seth bumped him with his shoulder, and Nova leveled a look at the group that made them all settle down. “You guys see me kiss your mom all the time. You should be used to it by now.”

That was definitely true. The chemistry between us hadn’t dimmed in all these years. We were lucky they hadn’t caught us doing a whole lot more than that, although there had been a few close calls when one of the kids came wandering into our room for one reason or another in the middle of the night and we’d forgotten to lock the door.

“I’ll show you some smooches.” I dropped a sloppy kiss on each of my baby’s heads, enjoying their exaggerated reactions as I walked past the table to head out to the covered patio. After pressing the button to turn on the jets, I set my glass of wine down next to the hot tub. Then I rolled up a towel, set it on the edge near my wine, and slipped out of my cover-up. I let out a low moan of relief when I stepped into the hot water, which felt great to my sore feet.

It got even better when I sat down and stretched my legs out. Leaning my head against the towel, I snatched my glass of wine and sipped at the cool liquid while listening to the low murmur of my family’s voices. Nova and I had built a great life together. Our children were healthy and happy, the tattoo parlor was booked out weeks ahead, and Dom kept me busy working on restoration projects at the garage when the kids weren’t running me ragged. My mom had even remarried a few years ago after Chad had finally been declared dead since he was still missing. Her new husband was a great guy, but Nova still kept a close eye on him.

“What’s that smile for?”

My eyes popped open, and my lips curved higher when I found my husband prowling toward me in his swim trunks. The lights inside were all off, so I must’ve drifted off longer than I realized if he’d already gotten the kids settled for the night. “I was just thinking about how happy you make me.”

“Speaking of happy.” He stepped into the hot tub, lifting me onto his lap after he sat down. “Now that the kids are down, it’s time for me to go to my happiest place on Earth.”