Seeking Love in Salvation (The American Soldier Collection 16)

He pulled from her mouth and Valentina moaned. Ridge and Beck stepped away and Sparrow rolled her to her back, spread her thighs, and lifted up, pounding into her so damn fast the bed rocked.

“You’re ours always, baby. Never like this. Never anyone but you for us. Never,” he yelled and then held himself inside of her as they both came together.

Beck appeared with a washcloth and towel. They all cleaned her up and kissed her skin. Jace climbed over and pulled her onto his chest. She moaned softly. “You are not going anywhere. You’re staying the night,” he ordered.

“I can’t even move. You planned this,” she accused, and they chuckled.

“Get used to it, it may be the plan every night for now on,” Sparrow added then leaned down and kissed her lips.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said and closed her eyes.

Ridge reached over and caressed her ass cheek. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

Beck chuckled and then Ridge went to turn off one of the lights. As he looked at the bed and saw them all laying there, surrounding Valentina, he hoped that they all could have things this perfect forever. It bothered him that the thought of a scene so perfect made him think that something could destroy it all.

* * * *

Valentina smiled as she sat in the lawn chair alongside Lois, Sparrow, and Jace, as Ridge and Beck played a game of basketball with Kenny. She couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Kenny took to them so well. He was usually extra shy around men, especially men with tattoos and muscles who were ex-military like his dad was. For a four-year-old, he was pretty damn smart and in tune to everything. She hoped he was okay with the fact that his aunt was romantically involved with four men, not just one.

It gave her a bit of nervousness as she ran her hand over her belly. People around Salvation were so accepting of ménage relationships, and she’d learned through the medical center, through work at the department, and through friends of Helena she was making that a good amount of people engaged in this type of relationship. For some reason, she thought about Tye, Lena, and Grace. How she hoped that they could stay together as a family. She felt angry at Samuel and Roxie. She couldn’t understand how a mother and father, parents, could abandon their children. They were part of them, their flesh and blood, and their responsibility.

As she watched Kenny play, Valentina wondered if there was a way that she could be their foster parent. She knew in New York the likelihood of allowing a single woman to be a foster parent, never mind to adopt, was unheard of. She looked at the men and knew she loved them. Would they want this relationship to last forever? Would they want to marry her, or whatever it was ménage couples did?

She didn’t know. There were so many questions. It was the worst possible stage of her life to try and take on more responsibility and try to handle three children that weren’t even her flesh and blood. Those kids were going to have issues. Big ones. She may not be able to handle them, but oh, how she would try with all her heart and all her abilities. She wanted Tye and Lena to feel part of a family. She wanted Grace to feel love, compassion, and care in a mother’s arms. Not roughness, neglect, and disgust.

Tears filled her eyes and she felt panicked.

“Excuse me a moment,” she said and got up, heading into the house. She got to the bedroom, closed the door, and then sat on the edge of the bed.

She was being so emotional. She looked around the room and envisioned the rest of the small cottage. It was too small for all of them, even if she were allowed to take the kids in temporarily. She couldn’t work and care for them. She didn’t have much of a savings, but was it enough to care for all of them, Lois and Kenny included, at least until the kids were school-aged? What about Lois? How would she feel about this? She was her family, her sister, and Kenny was her nephew and he was going to need care, too.

Valentina felt the tears roll down her cheeks. Her heart ached for the babies, for Kenny, for Lois, for all the violence and danger, the lack of love and compassion these poor human beings had faced. It wasn’t fair that Tye, Lena, and Grace could be separated, or would lose the opportunity to have a family and stay together. It wasn’t fair that their mother didn’t even love them. She’d abandoned them. Valentina witnessed her abusive behavior, physically and emotionally. She nearly killed that poor woman at the shelter. What else was Roxie capable of? Killing Grace, Lena, and Tye?

She heard a knock on the bedroom door and Sparrow’s voice.

“Valentina? Is everything okay?” he asked in that deep, firm tone of his that instantly set her heart on fire and made her body react. God, everything about him and his brothers made her feel good, feel happy and loved.

“Val?” he repeated.

“Fine. I just need a minute,” she said and stood up to look in the mirror. She was wiping her eyes when the door opened. She didn’t look at Sparrow. Instead, she remained facing the mirror and fixing her eyes. Instantly she felt his arm go around her waist and his large, hard body press against hers.

She exhaled, closing her eyes, relishing in his embrace and envisioning his sexy body, tattoos and all. His lips kissed her neck and then his arm hugged her tight.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered, kissing her neck.

“Nothing…everything…I don’t know, I’m…I don’t know,” she blabbered and then chuckled, but then a stray tear rolled down her c

heek. Sparrow tensed. He turned her around in his arms, pulled her by her hips, and sat on the edge of the bed. She stood between his legs and he cupped her cheeks.

“Talk to me. Why the tears?”

She tried to smile and shake her head as her mind scattered with her thoughts. She gripped his wrists.

“I love you.”

He smiled sexy-like and in a way that made her breasts feel full and her whole body want nothing more than to make love to him. It was so crazy.

“I love you, too. Crazy, huh?” he asked, as if it shocked him as well.