Moonlight on Nightingale Way (On Dublin Street 6)

Marco nodded but still didn’t look entirely convinced. “I don’t want you and the kids to miss out on anything.”

“Miss out on what?” I pressed deeper into him. “A beautiful house, a husband who loves me, a father who adores them. What exactly are we missing out on?”

“You’re sure?” he said, his voice gruff now.

I slid my hands up around his neck and pulled his mouth down to mine. I teased my lips over his, brushing my top lip over his bottom, my bottom over his top.

He groaned, his grip on my hips turning almost bruising, and I felt his immediate reaction to me digging into my stomach.

My skin flushed hot and I kissed him, loving how I could turn him on so easily.

The kiss turned wet, deep, hard, hands sliding and touching and pulling to get closer.

The sound of my mother calling up to the boys that lunch was ready broke through our haze and we reluctantly parted. My breasts heaved in Marco’s hands, and he kneaded them one last time before sliding his hands to a safer position on my waist.

“I guess that means you’re sure.” His voice rumbled with amusement.

I grinned up at him. “Baby, every day with you is a vacation.”

His eyes warmed, filling with tenderness.

“Where are Hannah and Marco?” I heard my mum say loudly.

“Dunno,” Will answered cheerily.

My eyes widened. “I’ll slip out first and let you…” I gestured to his hard-on.

He closed his eyes. “My fault for choosing a hot wife.”

I chuckled and slipped past him as he moved his back from the door. “I’ll tell them you’ll be down in a minute.” I opened the door and looked back at him. “Uncle Gio. Naked.”

Marco cursed and threw a hand cloth at me, and I laughed, fleeing the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind me. “I bet it works!” I yelled through the door, and laughed all the way downstairs.

Upon my arrival into the dining room, Dylan patted the seat next to him. “Hannah.”

As always, my chest burst with feeling as I walked over to join my stepson. Dylan adored his dad, and of course he loved his mum to bits, but I was pleased to have earned his love over the last few years and the coveted position of being the person he most wanted to sit beside at mealtimes. Just as I was about to sit down, Sophia decided she’d missed me in the last ten minutes and refused to sit anywhere but on my lap. It was clear she hadn’t realized that at four years old she was now much bigger than she was at two. But I didn’t mind. Mum had already warned me there would come a time when Sophia wouldn’t want to be seen with me, let alone sit on my lap, so I was determined to soak up her attention as much as possible.

The skin on my neck prickled and I knew my husband had entered the room. I looked over as he walked in with Adam, Adam holding Bray’s hand while Marco carried Jarrod.

Marco took his seat beside me, shooting me a look that promised retribution later for our moment upstairs. Jarrod immediately reached for a lock of Sophia’s hair, and she turned and tickled his neck in response, eliciting a giggle from him.

“Everyone ready to eat?” Mum asked the table, and as I glanced around at my family, I felt strangely emotional. I looked back at Marco, who seemed to sense it and was watching me carefully.

Like he always did. My feelings were a number-one priority to him, and he never let me forget it.

I thought of what he’d asked me upstairs.

“I am so sure,” I whispered, and my husband reached out his free hand to squeeze my knee under the table.

Olivia

It was too quiet. Much, much too quiet in the house.

I was snuggled up on a huge armchair in the snug sitting room (the smaller of our two sitting rooms), where I was reading a book by an author Grace worked with. I got to a steamy part that made me flush and looked over at my gorgeous husband, who was lying on the couch reading a graphic novel (because he’d never stopped being a big kid).

My intention was to jump him when the thought occurred to me that either one of our girls might come running in and interrupt us. That’s when I realized the house was much, much too quiet.

“Where are the girls?” I said to Nate.

He turned his head on the fat cushion he was resting against and peered at me over the glasses he now had to wear. He hated them. I thought they made him look adorable. Which was exactly why he hated them. “I thought they were in the living room watching a film.”

“And that usually comes with singing or dancing or squealing of some sort.” I got up off of the chair, leaving my book in my place. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Baby, can you get me a coffee while you’re up?”

“Your lack of concern is wonderful.” I rolled my eyes at him and disappeared out of the room.

What I found in the living room made me draw to a stop with a small gasp.

Playing on the large television screen Nate had mounted on our wall above the fireplace was our wedding DVD.

Lily and January sat on the couch, quiet as mice as they watched their mom and dad dance at their reception.

I stared at the image, too, at the way that Nate held me close and gazed into my eyes like no one else was in the room with us.

Clearly the girls were mesmerized by this, watching it as if they were watching a Disney Princess movie.

I felt heat at my back seconds before arms slid around my waist and drew me back against a hard chest. I relaxed against Nate, covering his arms with my own. He nuzzled my neck and whispered in my ear, “Good movie choice.”

I grinned. “I haven’t watched it in ages,” I whispered back.