Consuela closed her eyes and clasped her hands to her chest. “Praise be, sir. Blessings on all of you.”
“Ah, thank you. I’m going to need your help. They blew my plans to he… ah… smithereens when my brothers decided they were going to encroach on my vacation.”
“Of course, sir. Anything you need.” Consuela smiled up at him.
“All right, now, this is going to be a secret, so you can’t tell a soul.”
“Even José, sir?” She mentioned her husband, who also worked for him.
“No, you’ll need to tell José everything and we’ll need to meet several times to make sure this comes together.”
“Of course! Anything, sir. Anything.” Consuela flew across the kitchen for a pad of paper and pencil. “What do you need?”
A self-satisfied smile spread across his face. Yeah, he was going to have every one of those assholes pulling rabbits out of their asses. Fuck with my private time with my woman and you will pay.
The vast window to the ocean was open and the white gauze curtains fluttered in the constant onshore breeze. Joseph shut the doors firmly behind him and locked them. He had no idea when the horde would descend, but before they did, he was spending some quality time with Ember. Exhausted after the reception, Ember had fallen asleep before he’d taken off his tux. He glanced at the closet. He had to admit the suit fit him well, and the way Ember had looked at him when he’d stood up on that dais—he didn’t mind the cost. It was worth every penny.
He unbuttoned his white cotton shirt and dropped it on a chair on the way to the bathroom. The soft fall of water told him where his wife was. He dropped his slacks and kicked them toward the wall. He turned the corner and focused on the steamed-up glass of the shower. Ember’s soft curves beyond the glass called to him as strongly as they had when he was a randy teenager. He kicked off his boxers and pulled the door open, stepping into a cloud of steam.
Ember turned around and smiled. That happiness in her eyes, it was his drug of choice. He’d do anything in the world to keep it there. “Hi, Momma.” He reached for her and pulled her into him. Soon, her stomach would swell with their baby. For a man who’d spent most of his adult life dispensing death, the miracle of birth fascinated him.
“Hi, Daddy.” She wound her arms around his neck. “I’m going to get fat again.”
“You were never fat.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I loved seeing Blake grow inside you.”
He tucked her close and tightened his grip on her. He’d tabled their normal lovemaking the second he found out she was pregnant. There was no way he’d stress her body or their baby because of his kink. The love he had for his wife was enough. Hell, it was more than enough, and if Ember never wanted to get her freak on again, he’d live a fulfilled, happy life. Admitting that to himself had been… liberating. Being normal—well… normal-ish, having what some would call a day job and working to grow Guardian’s elite was fulfilling, but it was Ember and Blake that had tamed the inner beast that had always dwelled deep inside him.
“Are you upset?” Ember arched her back and looked up at him.
He blinked at her question. “At what?”
“Oh, gee, do you want me to list the reasons? Our unplanned pregnancy? Your brothers and family inviting themselves down? I know they tricked you into inviting them.” Ember chuckled. “Maybe at not having me naked all day long or having the house and beach to ourselves. Take your pick.”
He rolled his eyes and grabbed her shampoo, dispensing a palmful into his hand. “I told you exactly how happy I was that we are having another baby. Planned or not.” He turned her around and worked the shampoo through her hair. She moaned and reached back, holding his hips as she tipped her head back. Her soft ass pushed into his hardening cock. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “I love the idea of another child. I want Blake to have a little brother or sister, and I’d love to have as many kids as you’re willing to give me. I love you.” He kissed her temple and walked them forward into the water’s spray to work the suds out of her hair.
She wiped the water out of her eyes and blinked up at him. “What about your family showing up?”
He turned her around and grabbed the soap. He lathered it in his hands as he stared at her. “I don’t want to talk about my family right now.”
Ember smiled. “No? What do you want to talk about?”
“Absolutely nothing.” He reached forward and caressed her skin with his soapy hands. She waggled her eyebrows and grabbed his shaft. He jerked when she rolled his balls in her hand. He fused their lips together and backed her into the cold tile of the shower wall. Her soft gasp as the cold registered flicked his desire higher. He braced his feet and reached down, cupping her ass. He lifted her, sliding her up the wet tile until she could wrap her legs around him.
He stared at the rose flush the hot water and desire had placed on her chest, neck, and face. She reached between them and centered his cock under her core. He shook his head. “You’re not ready yet.”
She loosened her legs and her body dropped onto the head of his shaft. Her heat gripped him. His eyes closed in pleasure. Her lips next to his ear whispered, “Oh, believe me, I’m ready. I don’t know what you’re going to do with your wife, Mr. King. She has been unnaturally horny during this first trimester. Her hormones are running amok.”
“I guess I must endure her urges. Take one for the team, so to speak.” He flexed his hips and slid deeper inside of his wife.
“You must take more than one, slugger. Momma wants sex all the time.” She leaned in and sucked his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, sending a lightning bolt of lust through him. Still, he held her carefully. As much as she assured him that sex couldn’t hurt the baby, the inner caveman-slash-protector in him refused to take her too deep or too hard. Ember was his life. His family was the reason he’d lived; hell, he’d done more than lived, he’d flourished. He’d die before he’d let anyone hurt them.
Their bodies worked together in a coordinated dance. He broke free from their kiss and inhaled tremendous pulls of air. Her nails dug into the skin of his back. The sting catapulted him toward that fucking cliff. He felt her body contract as she neared her own climax. He slipped a hand from under her and found the swell of her breast. His fingers tightened on the nipple and he squeezed slightly.
“Joey.” Ember gasped his name seconds before her body seized around him. She clung to him as he moved in and out of her warm body, chasing his own release. He lowered his head to her shoulder and kissed, then bit the juncture of her neck and shoulder as he came.
“So good.” Her words between gasps for oxygen satisfied that inner caveman, even if he didn’t let the bastard out to play. He shifted, made sure she was okay, and slowly lowered her to her feet, giving her support to stand until she found her legs again.
He pulled her into him and rocked with her under the warm water. “I love you.” She murmured her words against his chest, but he understood them. Hell, he knew the truth of those words down into the smallest atom of his DNA.
He smoothed her hair away from her neck and slid his hand around the fragile column. Tipping her head back, he waited for those beautiful eyes to open. “I love you more than my life itself. I want as many babies as you’ll give me. My family is a pain in the ass, but they always have been. I’m not mad. I’m not upset. I’m in love with you and I’m going to be a dad again. I never thought I could be this happy, and that’s all due to you. Because you cared enough to take a chance on me and come to Aruba all those years ago.”