He wasn’t ready to share his wife yet. Sometimes it felt like he’d just found her.
She moved out of his arms. “I should have known I was waking a sleeping bear.”
Not a bear exactly. A sleeping Dom was more like it. “Come back here, love.”
She turned slightly as she sat up. “I will, babe, but my bladder is smaller than it used to be. I’m going to get cleaned up and then we’ll see if we can keep this baby asleep for a little while. I think I’ll find another burst of energy somewhere.”
She hauled herself up and walked toward the bathroom, leaving him with the sight of her fine backside. She shut the door and he laid back.
His whole body was humming, but his head was right back to worrying.
Jennifer seemed so sure of herself. She was a natural mother. She didn’t question anything, simply expected that they would be able to handle everything. She didn’t sit up anxious about all the things that could go wrong.
She didn’t worry that she wouldn’t be able to love her child as much as he needed to be loved.
Stef loved his father, but years of neglect had played hell on his confidence in this arena. He had no real memories to pull from, no place to start.
He took a long breath. He still had some time. He could talk things out with Jennifer, maybe sit down with Max and Rye after he’d beaten the holy shit out of them and figure out how they had dealt with it. If Max Harper could be an effective father, there had to be hope for him.
He had a week or two to figure it out.
The door to the bathroom slammed open and Jennifer was standing there, a shocked expression on her face. “Stef?”
His heart nearly stopped. He shot to his feet. “What’s wrong?”
“My water broke.”
His time was up.
Chapter Sixteen:
Rafe
Rafe let himself into the small cabin he’d called home for the last year. It was blissfully devoid of the businessmen and women who had been arguing when he’d left.
He glanced up at the clock. Five. Only a few hours until he was supposed to be at Trio. He’d skipped the men’s party, so he had to make an appearance at Trio. He didn’t know Leo or Shelley and he kind of still wanted to punch Wolf, but Laura had made him promise.
If she was still talking to him.
Cam was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked up when Rafe walked through the door. “Hey, man. I kicked everyone out. I told them you would get back to them. It should work for a couple of hours. The good news is Jen Talbot went into labor so they’ll be preoccupied with that for a few minutes.”
Another friend for Sierra. “How’s the baby?”
“Stella fed her while we were gone and she’s asleep again. Laura’s in there with her now. You know she just likes to stare.”
Rafe did, too. He liked to stand over her crib and look down and watch her sleep.
“Rafe?”
He turned and his breath caught. God, he loved his wife. He loved this family they had made together. “I’m not going to go anywhere.”
Laura’s eyes went soft and she rushed to him, her arms winding around her waist. “We need to talk. I need to ask your forgiveness.”
So Cam had talked to her. “It’s all right, bella.”
Her head shook. “It’s not. I was mean. Oh, Rafe, I was just scared. I can’t stand the thought of losing you, but I can’t make dictates and draw lines in the sand without talking to you.”
He let his hands find her hair. “I’m all right.”
“I’m so sorry I said those things about your mom. You have to be devastated. I know how close you are.”
“Were, my love. We were close, but she’s chosen to no longer be close to me.”
Her arms tightened as though she was trying to hold him to her. “Are you mad at us?”
“Never.” He forced her head up. “Oh, bella, I’m not even mad at her. I’m just sad and I feel a bit lost.”
“Because of the job stuff? Rafe, I promise we’re going to make this all work. Once Cam’s done with the software, we’ll have a million options. You don’t have to work for a while.”
Sure they would. “I would prefer to work, but I’ll take care of Sierra.”
Sometimes a man had to sacrifice his dreams. And sometimes, a little voice inside him said, a man found new dreams, new hopes, new battles to fight.
Tears were shining in Laura’s eyes as she looked up at him. “Or we can sit down and figure out how we would live in Miami.”
Cam was suddenly standing beside him. “We can sit down and talk about it over dinner. We have to be at Trio in a couple of hours. Nate’s going to be at the hospital. He’s called in some backups to run the stationhouse. I need to hang out at this weird ceremony of Cassidy’s. Caleb is on doctor duty, so I might have to take care of Mel, if you know what I mean.”
Another thing he wouldn’t have to worry about if they went to Miami. No one would have to be on standby in case Mel went a little crazy and needed to take a nap via sedative.
Laura’s hands were on his waist. “We could talk about it now.”
His body started to heat up at the seduction in her voice. They’d only had Sierra for two months. All of their time had been spent watching their new daughter, sitting up with her, feeding and loving her.
He missed his wife. “Or we could not talk, bella.”
He knew of only one way to make his wife be quiet. He dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her with everything he had.
This was his safe place. This was where he could relax. When she was in his arms, he knew exactly what he’d been born to do. He’d been born to love her.
His tongue surged inside, and she made no move to stop him. Oh, no, she softened underneath him, her lips parting eagerly and meeting him with the silky glide of her tongue.
He heard her sigh a little as Cam moved in behind her.
“Kiss Cam, bella.” He didn’t want to leave his partner out. Cam had his back. Cam had been the one to bridge the gap between them. Without Cam, they would still be fighting. He would have been too stubborn to explain himself. She would have been too angry to ask questions. Cam bridged them.
And if he were gone, Cam would let Laura walk all over him. They needed each other.
And they definitely needed her. He’d known it from the moment he’d seen her all those years ago. They had lost five damn years along the way. He wouldn’t allow them to lose another second.
He watched as she kissed Cam. Cam pulled her body close. He was taller than Laura, bending his body over to get at her mouth. Cam devoured her, and watching them had Rafe’s cock twitching in his pants.
They were going to have her. They were going to take her pussy and her ass and he would feel like he was a part of something incredible.
Cam turned her back to Rafe, his hands pulling at her blouse. He brought it over her head and leaned in. “Take off that bra. Show us your breasts.”
Yes, this was what he needed. He needed her compliant. He needed her soft and sweet. His wife would never be really submissive. Some of the trios in Bliss played that way, but Laura needed her control. Still, his cock did a little dance as she obeyed Cam, her hands undoing the front clasp of her bra and those perfect breasts of hers spilling out.
Perfect and round and real, with tight brown and pink nipples. His mouth watered as he looked down at her tits. His hands came up and he palmed her, feeling the hard points of her nipples against his skin.
Her eyes closed and she sighed, her head rolling back to Cam’s chest.