This woman completed me.
With satisfaction in her eyes and a slight smile on her lips, she fingered my hair. “You’re good at that.”
“I just like eating your pussy.”
“Really? I’ve never had a guy do that to me before.”
Because none of them had been man enough. “They were pussies. That’s why.”
“Well, they tried. I just never let them.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “Seems too intimate for a fling.”
“You let me.” And this was still defined as a fling.
“But we both know you’re different.” She cupped my face and brushed her thumb across my cheek. “I still can’t believe you did that last night. You have no idea how scared I was.”
I turned my head into her palm and kissed it. “I do. I saw your tears.”
“But you did it anyway.”
“Because I had to. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. That’s how much I hated him.”
“You could have died.”
I shook my head. “Not when I had so much to live for.” I hooked her leg around my waist. “You’re my woman and I will protect you, even if that means getting my hands dirty once in a while. You should never feel scared with me ever again. I’m the most powerful man in this city—and I hope I proved that to you.”
Her eyes softened. “You proved it a long time ago.”
“Then I’m the best choice in a man.” There was no one else who could compete with me. Carmen deserved the best—and I was the best. I wanted to ditch this contract we’d set up and start being real. I knew how she felt about me, and there was no way she couldn’t figure out how I felt about her.
She widened her legs then locked her ankles around my waist. “Give it to me slow…”
“I thought you were sore.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck, and she pulled me closer. “I don’t care.”
9
Bones
I’d been dropping Vanessa off at work and picking her up every night at the end of the day. The storm that swept through the middle of the country had been drastic. The roads were flooded and dangerous, and since she drove a small car, I couldn’t let her commute to work alone.
Even if my son weren’t growing inside her.
I pulled up to the curb in front of the gallery and then escorted her inside.
Just the few short feet into the store left us both soaking wet. Her private security was already there, giving me a slight nod in acknowledgment. He didn’t talk much, but that was why I liked him.
“You really don’t need to drive me every day,” Vanessa said. “I always drive slow—”
“Our arguments always end the same way. I disregard what you say and do what I want. So let’s skip the beginning and the middle.”
Any other woman would slap me for talking that way. Vanessa accepted me, saw through my coldness and saw the love behind the statement. “Well, thanks for bringing us to work.”
Us. There were two of them now. Two people I had to love and protect with my life. I moved my hand to her stomach even though he wasn’t kicking. I still liked to touch her belly, to feel it while I slept at night. Whenever he started to kick, my heart did the strangest thing…it did somersaults. “Call me if you need anything.” She was almost at her third trimester. We were more than halfway into her pregnancy, and the doctor said everything was going well. So far, it seemed like my wife and son were both healthy.
“I know.” She rose on her tiptoes to kiss me. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I still got chills when I heard those words from her. Sometimes it was hard to believe that this was real, that we got the future we’d always wanted. She was my wife, my family. And pretty soon, I would have someone who shared my blood. I wouldn’t be the only member of my bloodline. Soon, I would have a son. “I’m going to check on Carmen before I head out.”
“If she needed something, she would call.”
“I’m here anyway. May as well. We both know she’s not the kind of woman to ask for help.”
Vanessa’s smile fell immediately.
I suspected there was something going on between the two of them, but since Vanessa didn’t tell me about it, I assumed it wasn’t my place to know. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Alright.” She rubbed her belly, suddenly looking stressed.
I stayed still, knowing she had something else to say to me. “What is it?”
“It’s about the baby. I’ve been thinking about names…”
I hadn’t given it much thought. I assumed we would wait until he was born before we figured it out. It was only recently that the doctor confirmed he really was a boy. Vanessa’s assumption had been correct. “Alright.”
“You can say no if you want. I completely understand, and I wouldn’t be angry about it…”