by C. Luca
Two staff members pass by me on their way back into the club, and as soon as they recognize me, they nod respectfully in greeting.
It’s pretty late, so the club will be closing within the hour. It’s a damn good thing that both Blakely and I are night owls. I make my way down another hall before approaching her office door.
I can’t help but think about how far we’ve come. Life’s certainly interesting with Blakely, and the challenges never end. Somehow, we both manage to get our own way most of the time, so thankfully, any disagreements are few and far between.
I briefly knock on the door before entering the office.
She wasn’t kidding when she’d first told me she isn’t into superficial settings. Her office could almost pass as mine with its simplistic décor and black and gray color scheme.
Blakely’s sitting behind her desk, and she looks up from the computer with surprise. “What are you doing here?”
I walk over. “Didn’t f-f-feel like being home w-w-without you.” She grins as I reach for her and tug her out of the chair so I can sit down and pull her onto my lap. She settles comfortably, looping her arms loosely around my neck.
Home happens to be a twenty-five-minute drive from the club. In the beginning, Blakely wanted to buy her own place, and it took me nearly a year, and a private wedding, to talk her into buying a home together. If we were living together, it made sense to buy it together. Naturally, I would have been fine footing the bill, but Blakely needed to put her savings into it, and I stepped back and let her have what she needed.
Our home isn’t as big as my old estate, but it’s certainly comfortable. The downsizing has been surprisingly pleasant. It feels welcoming at the house, and Blakely has worked hard to decorate the interior so that it represents us both.
Life with Blakely is a never-ending adventure, and that includes her cooking, her uninhibited spirit, her need to show me that it’s okay to have fun, and her love for animals; we have five fucking dogs. Five. I’d be happy with one, or none at all, but Blakely keeps bringing them home.
She’s broken down all my walls, and I’m learning what it’s like to really live. From the outside, we appear to be a happy, successful couple. One would never know that once she was my captive, and I ran an assassin for hire business.
I’m out now, though.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that continuing with the business would keep putting Blakely at risk. I’d had no idea that Peter had witnessed his father’s death, and I regret that he’d had to go through the agony that he had. I don’t regret killing him before he could kill Blakely, though.
That close-call still haunts me, and one of the deciding factors of my quitting the business is a similar situation could have easily happened again. Just because I assume I’ve protected myself, it doesn’t mean it’s a given. Blakely nearly paid the price for my mistake.
It took a bit of finesse, but I figured out that Damian, one of my men, would be the best to take over. I spent nearly a year grooming him for the job.
Once Damian took over, I was completely out.
I couldn’t have any ties to my ex-employees, so I needed to make a clean break. Reed decided to retire from the business and pursue his medical degree. Jonah works for Damian now. I’m pretty certain he finds it much more enjoyable since Damian’s cut and dry, but also easily sociable—whereas I was much more difficult to deal with.
Unfortunately, I’d had to let Ezra go, but Damian went ahead and snatched him up as his own personal driver, so Ezra’s doing just fine.
I’m not one who has the patience for navigating Chicago traffic, so I hired a new driver, much to Blakely’s exasperation. When she’s not with me, she prefers to drive herself around.
Now that I’m no longer running an illegal business on the side, all my focus is on my corporate business. The challenge is more than satisfying, but what really keeps me on my toes is Blakely. I don’t need any other excitement other than having her in my life.
“The furbabies weren’t entertaining enough for you?” Blakely teases, bringing me back to the present.
I look at her with bemusement. “Unlike y-y-you, I don’t b-b-believe they t-t-talk back.”
“It’s in their eyes. You just have to look closely.”
“I’d r-r-rather not,” I say as I brush her hair to the side and kiss her behind her ear. She instantly shivers in my arms.
“You’re distracting me from my job,” she murmurs.
Very deliberately, I spread my legs slightly and press her ass down into my growing erection. “I thought w-w-we could s-s-start,” I say lowly.
Blakely goes completely still, and she peers down at me, her eyes searching mine. “Start what?” she asks carefully.
My eyes hold hers. “M-m-making babies.”
Her breath hitches, and her eyes light up. “You’re ready?”
Blakely had turned thirty earlier this year, and she’s been talking babies constantly. I needed time to wrap my head around the idea and figure out if I was ready or not. Blakely has been patiently waiting for me to let her know when the time is right.
Because of our childhoods, we had decided when we’d gotten married that we would wait until we had a stable life and home before bringing a little baby into the world. The idea scares the hell out of me, but we both yearn to give our child or children the kind of childhood we never had.
I never thought I’d ever have a family, but Blakely’s changed all that.
“Yes, I’m r-r-ready,” I assure her.
Blakely quickly begins unbuttoning my shirt, and I release a low chuckle.
I’ve learned that home is wherever Blakely is, and I’m never letting her go.
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