Tied Bond (Bonded Duet 2)

“Ford!” I threw my hands up in the air. “I told her we needed to discuss it.”

His eyes widened. “Oh fuck.” Leo fussed in his arms, and he jerked back. “I mean fudge. Oh fudge.”

“You know he can’t understand you, right?” Asher commented, moving past Ford and inside the house.

“I…” Ford’s head swung back and forth, his gaze meeting all of ours in turn. “I…” He puffed out a breath. “I can’t deal with three Eastons at once.”

“Hey!” Mom shouted, but her shoulders sagged, and a chuckle escaped her. “I take that back. They’re nightmares.”

“You are the nightmare, Mother,” I responded, pushing past her and into the house. I plucked Leo from Ford’s arms and narrowed my eyes on her. “For that, you have to buy us all pizza.”

“Pizza? I could eat pizza right now,” Ford said, rubbing his hand over his stomach.

“Already ahead of you, dear daughter.” Mom stepped inside, and Ford shut the door behind her. “Your dad is picking it up.” She winked at me and took Leo out of my arms. “Now let me have some time with my favorite boy before you hog him for days at a time.”

I shook my head and huffed out a breath, but Ford’s arms wrapping around me had all my thoughts disappearing.

“Hey,” he murmured.

“Hey.”

“I got you a present.” He moved his hand and attached something around my wrist. I moved it closer to my face. The thin gold chain hugged my wrist, not too tight and not too loose, but it was the little L hanging off it that had tears welling up in my eyes. “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” I asked.

He bent down so his face was level with mine, his hazel eyes shining. “To start the rest of your life with me.”

Chapter Sixteen

BELLE

Christmas had come and gone with presents and food galore. We’d woken up at our new home, opened presents, and then headed over to Mom and Dad’s house. Everybody came over, and there were at least a dozen of us, but it didn’t faze Mom cooking for that many people. She loved the holidays—Christmas in particular.

But now we were in that space between Christmas and New Year, something which felt like no man’s land. Ford had gone back to work two days after Christmas, and the New Year was only a day away. Leo was already six weeks old, and the time seemed to be flying by at a pace I couldn’t keep up with.

We’d settled into a nice routine over the last week. Ford’s work schedule wasn’t so bad—he’d leave at six in the morning and be home around six that evening. There were many times I wanted to ask him about the case he was working on, but I knew he couldn’t tell me anything, not legally anyway. And if I were honest, I didn’t really want to know. I’d been through hell and back over the last year, and now was the time to relax and enjoy my daily life, not stress about the danger Ford could be in. He’d told me he was putting in a request to stop any deep undercover work, and I was glad because it meant he wouldn’t be away for months at a time.

I cooed at Leo as I pushed his arm into his onesie coat to keep him warm from the cold. The winter wasn’t letting up, and I couldn’t wait for the early dark nights to be over.

“Got any plans today?” I jumped at Ford’s voice, my hand flying to my chest.

“Jeez, you scared me.” I picked Leo up and turned around, my eyes lighting up at the sight of Ford. His belt was around his waist with his gun attached to that, but it was the way his dark-blue T-shirt and black jeans gripped to the contour of his body that had me biting down on my bottom lip. He was a picture, a picture I’d never get tired of staring at.

“Belle?”

“Huh?” I shook my head and moved my attention to his face. “What did you say?”

“I asked what your plans are for the day.” His lips quirked knowingly as he leaned against the doorframe to Leo’s bedroom. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he enjoyed every second of it.

I rolled my eyes and moved toward him. “I need to head to the st

ore.”

“Your mom taking you?” he asked, following me out of Leo’s bedroom and toward ours.

“No.” I handed him Leo and pulled out some clothes from our new shared closet. “She and Dad are meeting up with Jan and Sal.”

“How you getting there, then?” Ford asked, and I glanced at him, seeing his grin as he stared down at Leo.