by Lucy Monroe
"Zee would make a great house-husband," Neo teased tongue in cheek.
But Zephyr had read about other billionaire dads doing exactly that and he knew what he wanted. Time with his family, a big family if he could have it, a small one if he couldn't, but time with them all the same. "Don't knock it, if we can't use our wealth to allow us the freedom to realize our personal dreams, what good is it?"
Neo went very serious. "I was joking, Zee, but not. Any child would be profoundly lucky to have you as a dad, especially the dad who dedicates his days to his family."
"Ditto, but that should go without saying," Zephyr said, tugging uncomfortably at his shirt collar.
"You two!" Cass laughed. "When I first met you, I thought you were surprisingly good at expressing emotion to each other. Only later did I realize how it pained you."
"What do you expect?" Neo leaned over and kissed his sweet, still very shy wife, making her blush since strangers were around. "It should be enough that I never hesitate to express emotion with you, or our children."
"Oh, it is. I know what a lucky woman I am." Cass's amber eyes glowed warmly as she looked at her husband with adoration.
"You really want five children?" Piper asked again, her shell-shocked expression now something he couldn't quite read again.
"Not all at once."
She laughed. "That was a yes."
He shrugged. What could he say? In many ways, he was a traditional Greek man who craved the big, crazy family. The fact he would be happy to adopt most of those children might surprise others, but it should not his wife. She knew every shadowy place in the heart he'd kept encased in marble until they met.
"Oh, Zee…I want more children too, I just couldn't handle losing another one the way we did."
"I am aware, my love. I have spoken to my doctor about a vasectomy. I do not want you worried."
"That's not fair to you!"
Cass smiled like Zee had said something really romantic.
"Well done," Neo affirmed.
"No, he shouldn't have to do that because of my fear. The doctor said it might never happen again."
"But they couldn't guarantee it and it would break your heart to try for a baby again only to have another tragic ending to your pregnancy. One miscarriage and one baby born only to die, that is enough. There are too many children, in that orphanage alone, that need a real family to care about the simple genetics of our children."
"You're not worried about getting a child that has personality or health defects from their parents?" Cass asked, not sounding like she thought they should be, but wondering all the same.
That was Neo's wife, she would always make them face every issue and deal with it. She didn't do stuffing feelings, or hiding from fears. It was how in her gentle, but firm way, she'd helped to draw Piper back from the precipice of grief that had threatened to steal her life entirely.
So, Zephyr answered with as much honesty as his sister demanded. "I am my father's issue, but I am not my father's son. I carry his genes. I could have taken his path, but I chose a different one. Every child should have that chance."
"Raising children is never easy," Cass said softly. "We can only do our best and hope it is enough."
Piper smiled at her friend. "You're a great mom, Cass."
"Even though I'll never take my children to Disneyland or the waterpark they love so much?" Cass asked in apparent genuine worry.
"What do you think that lout you are married to is for?" Zephyr reassured her. "Neo and I are happy to do the amusement park duty."
"They're as a big of kids as our children," Piper agreed.
Cass smiled. "Agreed, but my point is still the same. We do the best we can with our limitations and those of our children. Sophia is already showing signs of being nearly as debilitatingly shy as her mother."
"She won't have the trauma of performing in front of terrifying crowds at such a young age," Neo pointed out.
Cass acknowledged that point with a smile for her beloved husband. "But there's every chance she will still develop some of my anxieties."
Neo didn't deny it and Zephyr knew that the four-year-old already struggled with interacting with anyone outside their two families. He knew what Cass was saying too. She was implying that she'd passed on flawed genes to her daughter, but wasn't dismayed by that fact. It was simply a part of life and, with her and Neo's love and support, they would do their best to see the daughter was not as plagued by her challenges as her mother had been.
Piper looked from Cass to Neo and then finally at Zephyr. "I want to go to the orphanage next week, before Christmas."
"Just like that?" he asked, a little stunned.
"It hurt Erastes when his baby sister died as much as it hurt us. He deserves a sibling."
"Or two, or you know…four," Neo teased.
But Piper didn't so much as flinch. "The day after we get home. Please, Zephyr."
"You do not need to plead with me, ever."
"Not unless it's for something I really want," she said in that husky voice that always got to him, reminding Zephyr that the passion in their marriage was still red hot, despite grief, despite loss, despite being parents.
Lovemaking between them was intense, emotional and extremely satisfying. Still.
Always.
Forever, if he had anything to say about it. And he did.
He gave her a look that promised things behind closed doors he could not do now on a restaurant revolving above the skyline of Seattle. "If it is your wish, we can cut our trip short here in Seattle."
"Oh, could we?" Hope he would do anything to help burn brighter shone in her lovely blue gaze.
Neo and Cass showed just how deep their caring went, insisting on doing the same so they could be there for Piper and Zephyr from the beginning of the process of growing their family.
#
Piper stood on the balcony of the master bedroom in the island mansion she'd lived in since practically the beginning of her marriage. The Mediterranean stretched out in gathering dusk, reflecting the orange and purple hues of sunset in majestic glory.
Hope kindled during that dinner conversation in Seattle, burned brightly inside her, their talk with Erastes before putting him to bed cementing the idea that adoption would be good for all of them. Piper couldn't believe she had never realized how much her amazingly strong, but surprisingly vulnerable, husband wanted to bring children, who like he had been, were without family or resources, into their lives and make them part of the Nikos family.
Erastes had said of course he wanted a brother, or sister. He thought it was obvious he was supposed to be the oldest, only that was hard since he didn't have a little brother or sister to protect and teach. "Alethea shares Sophia with me, mama, but it's not the same."
"You don't think having little brothers or sisters would be a challenge?" Zee had asked.
"Well, sure, papa. Sophia can be a pain, but she's still great. If I had a little sister or brother, I could share them with Alethea like she shares Sophia with me."
Zee had smiled and told his son he thought that was eminently sensible before tucking him into bed.
When Piper went to kiss their son goodnight, Erastes looked at her in that way he did, like he saw the world through the eyes of an oracle. "If we found more children to share our family, I think you would stop being sad sometimes, mama."
She'd nodded, her heart too full for words, but her sweet son had touched that deep place Piper had been afraid to dwell in for the past four years. Her hope.
Uncertain faith in the future curled like warm tendrils around her heart as Piper waited for Zee to come to their bedroom. He'd insisted on calling the director of the orphanage, despite the late hour, to set up a meeting as soon as possible.
Recognizing the sound of his footsteps behind her, Piper turned to find her husband only a couple of feet away. His smile was pure masculine approval.
She returned it, familiar warmth heating her insides. "You like what you see?"
"Always, agape mou. You are more beautiful today than when I first admitted I could love you."
"You were a tough nut to crack."
"Not any longer. Not for you."
"Are you really thinking about getting a vasectomy?" He'd really shocked her with that pronouncement.
"It is scheduled for the week after next. I believed we were going to be in Seattle for several more days and needed some time between our return and the procedure to catch up on work."
"Other women try again, after miscarriage, even after something like what happened with Adara."
"Those women are not you, Piper. They have their own reasons for risking the pain you've carried with you since losing our first baby, but those reasons are not yours. They are not mine. You are my wife."
"You don't want to go through it again." She should have clued in that she wasn't the only one hesitant to risk tragedy a third time.
Her husband felt things deeply, probably because he didn't like feeling at all, so when something got to him, like her, it got to him good and with three pronged hooks through his heart. When they'd lost their babies, he'd had to grieve that loss as well as for the pain she could not hide, or even minimize. Not even to spare the man who loved her in every way a woman could ever desire to be loved.
"I do not," he confirmed as she had her mini revelation. "I have always dreamed of adopting children from the place that gave me Neo, but it was a dream I couldn't even acknowledge to myself until I met you."
"Then you couldn't acknowledge it to me."
"The timing wasn't right."
"But it is now."
"Ne." He affirmed in Greek. "It is right. We can give a child, or children, with little hope for their future, not only belief that tomorrow can be better, but a loving family to make it better in."
"You know Cass calls Neo 'Superman'?"
"I am aware." Zee pulled Piper into his body, like he'd gone as long as he could without touching her.
She was used to it and reveled in their closeness, even as her own body began to respond to the physical presence of him so near. "I've always thought you were more like Batman."
"Because I have a dark, tortured soul?" he asked, not sounding worried like he might have done once, but definitely curious.
"Because you have a dark, tortured past that made you into a man determined to make the world a better place, especially for those he cares about."
"You know what it does to me when you start handing out the compliments?" He thrust his hips against hers, letting her feel the evidence of his arousal.
"I think that happens when you think about going to bed with me." It certainly seemed to be a nightly occurrence.
"Ne. But also when you say nice things."
"Or when I touch you?" she teased, letting her hand brush along the bulge in his slacks.
He groaned, the sound low and guttural. "Your touch is always welcome, my beautiful wife."
"I'm very glad because I positively adore being able to touch you."
"You cannot know what it means to me that you are not only willing, but eager to adopt a child with me, to give our son a sibling or two to call his own." Zee's words were emphasized with little kisses to her temples, her face, the corners of her lips and then finally her mouth when he'd finished speaking.
Piper returned his kiss, letting the fetters off her passion in a way she hadn't done in a very long time. It was always good between them, but the lingering grief had always muted what used to be incandescent.
That unrestrained joy in physical intimacy was roaring through her again, tonight. Demanding she show this man just how much she loved and wanted him.
#
Cass came out of the bathroom wearing a silk nightgown that brushed the floor, the exact same amber of her eyes, it's plunging neckline exposing her modest cleavage.
Neo waited for her on their bed, fully nude, the covers pushed to the bottom of the bed in obvious anticipation of what was to come. His sex was already hard and flush with blood.
He smiled, green eyes dark with masculine lust. "You look way too tempting in that to wear it long. Did you buy it in Seattle?"
"I did. When Piper and I went shopping the first day without the children."
"If this is what I can expect as my reward for staying with the girls while you shop, consider me on permanent standby for such an event."
"You're their dad, you're already on permanent standby for any and all events related to our daughters, including keeping them occupied while their mother shops."
His laughter sent frissons of pleasure through her. "Point."
She crossed to the bed and climbed onto the mattress beside him, the silk skirt of her gown flowing around them decadently.
Neo pulled her close, running his hand up her thigh, ruching her gown up as he went. "This nightgown is smooth, but not as soft as your skin."
She climbed over him, so she was sitting on his hard thighs, her tender flesh open to him, her body on display above him in a way she knew excited him to the point of breaking his rules about patient and slow. "And nothing is as hard as you are."
Neo growled and suddenly Cass found herself on her back, her husband's hand on her most intimate flesh, caressing and testing her readiness at the same time.
"You're very wet."
"I was thinking about what we would do once I came to bed." And with the inventive lover she married, she'd had a lot of fodder for her imagination. So much so that she'd gotten very aroused from her thoughts alone.
He touched the swollen bundle of nerves that gave her so much pleasure, caressing exactly the way that excited her most. "Did you think about this?"
"Not exactly that." She thought about his mouth on her, like it had been so many times in their marriage, drawing forth ecstasy from her body like she drew forth sounds from the piano.
With the touch of a master.
Neo caught on quick and soon her imagination was reality, her husband bringing her to a climax before preparing her to take him into her body and building the pleasure again for another impending orgasm.
#
Zephyr felt like his brain was going to explode. Piper's uninhibited passion ignited his own desire to an inferno of need. She touched him with an abandon she hadn't shown since losing Adara, her beautiful face glowing with unrestrained pleasure.
She rode him, but just when he thought they were both going to climax, she shook her head. "Not yet." Then she slipped away, the wet heat encasing his sex gone in a second, only to be replaced by her mouth.
She didn't let him come that way either, driving him to a fever pitch before pulling off, pressing a circle around the base of his sex with her thumb and forefinger.
He groaned, long and low, but didn't mind.
However, when she began caressing him in a movement with her hand that emulated making love, he'd had enough. He flipped his gorgeous wife onto her hands and knees and drove into her from behind. She rammed herself backward, letting out a throaty sound of feminine approval when he pressed against her cervix. They made love with an abandon born of overstimulation and deep, abiding affection.
He reached around her to play with her nipples and then caress her clitoris as she met him thrust for thrust, telling him what a wonderful lover he was.
His climax took him by surprise and he was only saved from sexual ignominy by the fact she screamed his name in release at the same moment.
They collapsed on the bed together, the hair at her temples wet with sweat, his back slick with it.
"That was…" Her voice trailed off like she didn't have the words.
He knew what she meant though. "Yes, it was."
"I love you, Zephyr. Thank you for finding a way for our family to be what we've both always dreamed it could be."
"You would have thought of it eventually." Her heart was too generous not to have.
"I was too mired in guilt over not wanting to risk pregnancy again, but I'm so happy now."
"No
more guilt?"
"No. I think it's really gone."
"Good." His wife should not hurt. He couldn't prevent what they'd already lost, but he didn't want her feeling any pain he could help.
"What did the director at the orphanage say?"
"That the report we provided from Hawk Securities would be sufficient and more comprehensive than any background check they could run, that while it might take more time to make things legal through the courts, we could meet the children in a non-stressful event and find the one that will be our next son or daughter."
"Really?"
"Really."
She was so happy at the news, they ended up making love again.
#
Neo went boneless on top of Cass after they both climaxed. For just a few seconds, he allowed himself to rest completely on her and she loved this moment, as much as any other part of lovemaking, including the mind-numbing orgasms she found with him.
In these few seconds she felt utterly and totally one with her handsome and loving husband.
After a time, he moved off her to go to the bathroom and get a cloth, fulfilling the second ritual she enjoyed so much, when Neo tenderly cared for her comfort each and every time after they came. She'd told him she could take care of herself. Her legs weren't that wobbly afterward, but he never stopped the ritual that showed how very much he cherished her.
They snuggled after, under the bedcovers they'd pulled back up.
Cass laid her hand on his chest, feeling his steady if still rapid heartbeat. "Did you know Zee dreamed of adopting?"
"No, but it doesn't surprise me. Not after his childhood."
A childhood very similar to Neo's if different in a couple of significant ways. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Did you want to adopt?"
"We have two wonderful children."
"That's not an answer."
"If we want another child, we do not have Zee and Piper's tragic past stopping us from trying for another baby."
"That's not an answer either." In fact, the more her husband talked, the more she believed he was avoiding the question, but why?
"Okay, yes. Ne," he repeated in Greek. "I cannot imagine anything more right than to welcome a child into our family that would not have to be alone in the world any longer."