One tear to fall from his eye.
Then he pulled himself out of his inertia, walked direct to her, bent in, and kissed his girl on the forehead. He moved and kissed his new girl on her diminutive but mercifully chubby cheek.
“Hello, Silie,” he said quietly.
He heard Susie’s soft sob and lifted his head to look at her.
“Sh, no,” he murmured. “None of that.”
“I really love you, boss man,” she said hoarsely.
He looked into her beloved eyes. “And I thank God every day you do.”
She swallowed and pulled her bundle closer.
The door opened, and Stellan straightened away to watch Harry walk in.
“Crosby?” Susan asked.
“He’s with Sixx. He’s good. Excited about his sister,” Harry answered, walking to Susan’s other side.
He sat on the bed, put a hand to the rump of his daughter and bent close to kiss the lips of his wife.
“We’ll bring him in when it’s time, then we’ll take him home with us and bring him back when it’s time,” Stellan offered.
“His things—” Susan started.
“It’s my understanding Simone is adept at breaking and entering, sweetheart. We’ll be fine,” he assured.
“What?” Harry asked, confused.
It was only then Stellan found true relief.
Because Susan started laughing.
*
Hours later, Stellan rounded the chesterfield.
And he stopped dead for the second time that day at what he saw.
Simone, flat on her back, Crosby flat out on her chest … and just out.
This was not a surprise.
What was a surprise was that Simone was not also sleeping the sleep of the dead. Woman and boy had been on the go with toys, pool play, the kind of hide-and-seek you could enjoy with a twenty-two-month-old, which happened to be exceptionally loud, and the very messy results of cookie baking from a tub when a toddler was the one forming the batter.
She was always lovely.
Right then she was exquisite.
“Four,” she said.
His gaze went from the child on her chest to her eyes.
“Pardon?” he asked.
“Not two. Four. Or at least three.”
Staring at her, before Stellan could open a throat that had suddenly closed, M bustled around the couch, tsking, “He should have been in bed an hour ago.”
She reached out to Crosby, carefully taking him from Simone as she explained, “He got a baby sister today. We had to celebrate.”
M shook her head in silent reprimand, but when her back was to Simone and her gaze came to Stellan, her eyes were dancing.
And bright.
She winked at him.
Then she walked with Crosby to the stairs.
Simone sat up and reached out to the baby monitor on the coffee table, muttering, “Considering the fact we’ve set up his bedroom in the same house, but still it’s in practically another state, probably should figure out how to turn this on.”
“Darling?” he called.
She looked up at him. “Yes?”
“I love you.”
Her face got soft. “I love you too.”
“Warning,” he whispered. “If you keep it up this way, you’re going to get sick of hearing me say that.”
The beauty of the look those words wrought was indescribable.
“Never,” she replied.
SIMONE
The bed moved when Stellan joined her in it, rousing her from sleep.
Even if that hadn’t happened, he would have roused her considering he claimed her, doing this turning her, pulling her to him, and arranging her mostly on top of his body.
“How was it?” she mumbled sleepily.
“Interesting,” he replied.
This caught her attention and cleared some drowsy, forcing her head off his shoulder to peer at his shadowed face in the dark.
“How was it interesting?” she asked.
“Barclay, plus Aryas, co-hosting a bachelor party, darling, how do you think it was interesting?” he asked back.
“Were there strippers?” she continued the interrogation.
“Absolutely not.”
“Was there flesh?”
“Absolutely.”
The drowsy disappeared, and her hand began to move to find out for herself even as she queried, “Are you turned on?”
“Not … exactly.”
Her hand stopped on his tight abs.
“What does that mean?” she inquired.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had ‘buds,’” he stated. “But I do think one of the cardinal rules to having them is that what happens at a bachelor party stays at the bachelor party.”
Unable to stop it, she dropped her head to his chest, and Simone burst out laughing.
Olly and Leigh were getting married the next weekend.
And that night, Stellan had attended Olly’s bachelor party.
Actually, he’d been invited to both of them. The first one was given by Olly’s best buddy from the firehouse, some guy named Chad.
This one, though, only a certain variety of Olly’s brothers were invited to attend.
Since she’d known Olly, he and Stellan had always shared an affinity. But apparently, when Stellan became involved at the situation at the Bolt, he’d been adopted by the bro crew that included Olly, Barclay and Branch, and they had recruited Aryas along with Stellan.
It wasn’t often, but it wasn’t rare, that they met for drinks.
Stellan met with them acting like it was somehow under duress.
But Stellan didn’t do anything under duress.
He liked them.
He’d even asked Maddox and Diesel to join them.
And they had.
When she stopped chortling, she lifted her head and asked, “Was it sordid?”
“Do you think Aryas would do anything sordid?”
She kept grinning at him through the dark. “Why are you answering my questions with questions?”
“Because I’m trying to communicate to you none of your questions are going to get answered.”
That made her burst out laughing too.
“Branch proposed to Leenie last night,” he announced.
Simone went still.
“She, obviously, accepted,” he carried on.
“Holy God,” she breathed.
“In his style, he’s warned they’ll be having a very low-key ceremony with limited invitations being sent.”
“Do you think we’ll be invited?”
“As far as I know, Branch holds regard for five people. Olly. Barclay. Cam. Aryas. And me. So unless by ‘limited’ he meant only him and Leenie will be in attendance, I’d wager … yes.”
“Cool,” she mumbled.
He turned to her so that he was now on her.
“If you’re awake…” he murmured.
“Did Olly have a good time?” she whispered.
“The man is much loved, that was proved without doubt tonight, so yes, darling, he did,” he whispered back.
That was the only question that she needed answered.
She communicated that by sliding her fingers in his hair.
And her Stellan, as ever, missed nothing.
Certainly not that.
*
“Stellan.”
“Simone.”
“Stellan.”
“Come, Simone.”
She came.
Wrapped around him, the spiked heels of her Zanotti sandals digging into his ass, her head shot back, and she shuddered as her pussy clutched him through her release.
His hips moved, stroking inside her, caressing her the only way he could through it and as she came down.
When she was done, she kept her arms locked firm around his shoulders but adjusted her legs so her heels were no longer digging into his flesh.
“You didn’t come,” she whispered.
“I’ll be coming with you sleeved, your silk sashes binding you knees-wide to my bed, those shoes still on but calves bent up and trussed to your thighs, but like now, you’ll be wearing nothing else, your face in my pillow, my cock up your ass,” he growled.
She shivered, impaled on him.
“To do that, you need to untie me,” he pointed out thickly, but rationally.
“After I do, should we enjoy a drink before we leave?” she teased.
“You just earned that ass fucking with very red cheeks.”
That set her to trembling.
“Simone,” he warned.
She kissed him.
He kissed her back.
Then she climbed off, dropping to her feet, and she knew what she was buying when she zipped herself into her skintight cream leather boatneck dress before she moved to her man to release him.
The shades were up on their room at the Honey.
This was at Stellan’s decree.
He liked them to show off, when he worked her, when she used him.