Cannon (Carolina Reapers 5)

“I would agree with that.”

“So you never pictured your life? Or what you wanted for a family?” She tilted her head, watching me carefully.

“No,” I answered honestly. “I worked toward a singular goal—making the NHL. I knew if I did that, I could make enough money so Lillian and I, and now Owen, of course, wouldn’t ever have to worry about where we’d sleep or what we had to eat. I didn’t have the imagination or time to dream about anything else.”

She swallowed, and I felt it again, that divide in our upbringing and priorities.

“Honestly,” I continued just so she wouldn’t feel awkward again, “I never thought much about a family until I woke up married to a certain blonde.”

“And now?” Her lips tilted slightly at the corners.

I set Cerberus down, and he toddled off, no doubt looking for a cozy spot to take his post-dinner nap. “Now, I’m not sure what to think. I know that I love coming home to you. I love the feeling of having a home and not just a house.” I walked forward and gently pushed her knees apart so I could step between them. “You’ve made me realize that maybe my life is missing something.”

“Like puppies and kids?” she joked, winding her arms around my neck.

The vision of a dark-haired girl with Persephone’s eyes and a blond boy with reckless nature filled my head, and a feeling filled my whole being that nearly brought me to my knees. Yearning. It was yearning. I gripped her hips and pulled her flush against me.

“Yeah, I could go for a few kids.” But only in the world where she was their mother. Only in the world where I came home every day and found them here, safe and loved, and happy. Only in the world where we were married because we couldn’t stand to live without each other, not because we’d signed a piece of paper while accidentally drugged and were making the best of it to keep her mom happy. I wanted a world that didn’t exist, and that hurt like hell.

“Well, that’s good, since we already have one,” she teased.

I laughed, then kissed her gently. Fuck, I’d only been gone a few days, but my body roared for hers as if it had been years. “I know I already said this, but I missed you so damned much.”

“What? No eager puck bunnies to fulfill your obsessive need for new positions?” she teased, but there was a question in her eyes.

Of course, she knew my reputation. She’d been a Reaper almost as long as I had, and since we’d gotten Cerberus, she hadn’t been traveling with me as often.

I cupped the back of her head and looked into her eyes so she could see the truth in mine. “No puck bunnies. Even if we didn’t have rule number six, I wouldn’t touch another woman. I’d never hurt you like that.”

She swallowed. “I know you wouldn’t. But when that girl from Detroit was looking at you like her next meal, I realized how…different I am from the girls you usually go for.”

“Used to go for,” I clarified, rubbing her hip gently. “And that woman was looking at me like her next meal ticket. There’s a difference.”

She rolled her eyes, and I bent slightly, running my lips down her jaw to get her attention back where it belonged. “Persephone, I’m not interested in any other women because I already have the perfect woman in my bed.”

“I’m not perfect,” she protested. “I’m also not five-ten, or covered in tattoos, and I apparently can’t hold my liquor—”

“Fuck, I missed you.” I kissed her, and she opened beneath me with a little moan that I felt in my dick.

“The bed is entirely too empty when you’re not here,” she whispered.

“Then allow me to fill it for you.” I gripped her ass and lifted her in my arms. She locked her ankles behind my back, and I carried her to our room. That’s what it was now, ours. The whole house was ours when I thought about it.

I laid her down in the middle of our bed, rid myself of my clothes, and then stripped her slowly, kissing each exposed inch of skin as it was bared to me. How the fuck could she not realize how perfect she was?

“I love the way my skin looks next to yours.” I splayed my hand wide over her belly. “Like you’re not tainted by the world, and I’m the only one who gets to touch you.”

“You are the only one who gets to touch me.” She arched her hips, and I dragged down her underwear, leaving her wholly, beautifully naked.

For now.

I lined my body up over hers, raising her knee so I rested between her thighs. “I love that you’re tiny.”

“Way to not say short,” she giggled.