His life had been lonely since Dirty moved out, no getting around it. He was an introvert at heart, though an extroverted one, so he loved his alone time. But too much time by himself made him miss what it was like to have someone else to talk to whenever he wanted to talk.
Now he had Kayla and Ana in his life. It was an adjustment, but not one he minded making.
When they reached the house, he pulled into the carport and turned off the engine. “Hang on and I’ll help you,” he said to Kayla before she could open the door.
She gave him a sweetly exasperated look. “I can get out of this monster truck by myself. I’m not that short.”
“Monster truck? Cute. I know you can climb down yourself, but let me do it anyway.”
“You’re adorable,” she said. “Okay, I’ll wait.”
He went around to her side and held out a hand to help her. Then he opened the back door and unbuckled Ana from her car seat while she babbled in his face.
“Za!”
“You want pizza, baby girl?” he asked. “I think we’re a little full to order pizza tonight, but maybe your mommy has something yummy for you.”
He lifted Ana from the car seat and handed her to Kayla.
“Take her inside and I’ll get the rest.”
“Are you sure? It’s a lot of stuff.”
“It’s not that much. I got it. Show Ana her room.”
She shook her head. “Not until you’re there, isn’t that right, baby girl? Zach has to be with us. He put everything together for you, my love.”
His chest tightened as two pairs of eyes stared at him expectantly. “Yeah, okay. Give me a few minutes and I’ll join you. Can you get the door or do you need me to unlock it for you?”
Kayla smiled. “I’ve got it.”
He watched her go over and put her key in the lock. Ana waved a chunky arm at him and he waved back, his heart cracking just a little bit at how trusting and innocent she was. Fucking James Dunn had wanted to sell her like she was a purebred puppy or something. What the hell was wrong with people like that?
And not just people like him, but the kind of people who would buy a black market baby, no questions asked. But maybe they didn’t actually know what was going on. Some people were so desperate for children that they didn’t ask too many questions when faced with the possibility of finally having one. He couldn’t blame everyone who found themselves in that situation, though he didn’t doubt that some of them knew what was going on.
He shook his head, tamping down on the flare of anger, and unloaded the SUV. It took three trips before he had it all inside. He carried a load up to the main floor and found Kayla and Ana waiting for him. Both of them smiled when he walked into the room.
His heart skipped and his stomach knotted. Not in a bad knot, but the kind of knot that said he was facing something he’d never encountered before. The two faces smiling at him didn’t change, but something had changed.
“You ready?” he asked them.
“We’re definitely ready,” Kayla said.
“Let’s go then.”
He let them go in front of him. It wasn’t until they’d entered Ana’s room with its pink accent wall and white furniture that it hit him what had changed. Kayla turned around, showing Ana the room, and Ana babbled and swiveled her head back and forth. Kayla fixed her eyes on him and smiled, and the thing that was different washed over him like a tsunami.
He was falling in love. Not only with Kayla, but with Ana too.
Chapter Twenty
Happiness was a bubble inside Kayla, lifting her up and making her float along like she was made of air. It was crazy to be so happy, especially when Dal Gentry was still expecting her to give him seventy-five thousand dollars in a few days. Money she definitely didn’t have, though Zach told her not to worry about it because the SEALs would take care of everything.
But Gentry and the Kings weren’t inside this house she shared with Zach and Ana, and they weren’t inside her little girl’s pink and white bedroom as she turned around and showed Ana her new space. Ana burbled happily, but she didn’t really care about the room. She was still too young to care.
Kayla knew she’d love it when she was older. Especially once all the things Kayla had ordered came in and she placed the rug and accessories where she wanted them. This one small room was everything Kayla had ever wanted when she’d been a little girl, and everything she’d never had.
Pink and white, her own little space with toys and books and soft textiles. A sanctuary where she could be a little girl without fear. She could play dress up and have tea parties and sleepovers. She’d never had a sleepover, but she wanted Ana to have them one day.
Zach stood in the door, watching her and Ana slowly turn. The expression on his face changed as she met his gaze, and her heart skipped a beat. He looked intense—and somewhat lost. Before she could ask him what was wrong, his expression changed again. He smiled at her, and love flooded her heart so fast that she felt as if it would burst.
“I think she likes it,” he said as Ana tilted her head back and stared up at the ceiling before turning to look at the pink wall and her new crib.
Kayla laughed and bounced Ana up and down. “Do you like it, Anastasia-belle? My little Ana-banana-boo?”
Ana chortled with glee and Kayla laughed. So did Zach.
He came into the room and stood with them. Kayla leaned into him and he put his arm around her and Ana both and hugged them close to his side. She felt his lips on the top of her head, and then he kissed Ana’s head too.
“Welcome home, Ana.”
Tears spiked in her eyes, all prickly and hot. “I can’t wait to get it finished,” Kayla said, because she needed to speak or the emotions inside her would break.
“Lesley always says her stuff comes fast when she orders it online.”
“I got an email. It’ll be here by Tuesday.”
He was still hugging her to him. “Great. We’ll finish everything then.”
Ana reached for Zach, putting her little arms out and holding them wide. He grinned. “You want to come to me, Ana-boo?”
Kayla let her go and Zach hefted her up higher than she’d been in Kayla’s arms. She burbled some nonsense and then she laughed. “Za!”
Zach laughed too. So did Kayla.
“You don’t really think she wants pizza, do you?” he asked.
Kayla shook her head. “No. She just likes saying it.”
Zach tickled Ana’s belly and she laughed. “Or maybe she’s trying to say Zach.”
“Maybe so,” Kayla said. “She’s a little young to start talking, but it’s coming soon.”
“She’s eight months old, right?”
“Yes. Another month or so and she should say her first word. If the baby books are right,” she added.
Zach looked at Ana. “That’s only an average, right Ana-banana? You could be a little genius. Can you say mama? Ma-ma.”
Kayla folded her arms and hugged herself, half wondering if this was real or if she’d fallen into a dream. Zach carried Ana around the room and let her look at everything. He kept talking to her, and Kayla’s heart beat like a drum the whole time. It was sweet and special, and it made her hopeful for the future even while her natural inclination to prepare for disaster kept up a running commentary about how she shouldn’t get too comfortable or too relaxed because everything could change in an instant.
Ana started blinking and yawning, and then she laid her head on Zach’s big shoulder. He carried her over and smiled down at Kayla. “I think she likes me.”
I like you. No, I love you.
“Why wouldn’t she? You’re pretty terrific, Zach.”
Zach bent to kiss her. “You’re terrific too, Kayla. Both of you.” He straightened. “Do you think she’s ready to go down for the night?”
“I think we’re about there,” Kayla said. “I need to bathe her and change her, and then put her in her crib. Oh—”
“What, honey?” he asked when she di
dn’t continue.
“I left the baby monitor at Bailey’s.”
“We can leave the doors open. Will you be able to hear her then?”
She looked across the hall to the master. It wasn’t a huge house and the rooms were close enough. “I should be able to. It’s not that far.”
“Okay. We’ll get the monitor tomorrow—or we can buy a new one and you can leave that one with Bailey for the times they watch Ana overnight.”
She loved that he thought about Ana staying with Bailey and Alexei. It wasn’t something she envisioned often, but it was nice to know the option was there.
He carried Ana into the bathroom and handed her over. Kayla stripped her down while Zach set up the baby bath tub. He took Ana from her like they’d been doing it together for months so she could fill the tub with warm water. He stayed to help, and when Ana splashed them both, they laughed.
When Ana was bathed and changed into her pajamas, they took her into the bedroom to put her into her new crib. Her eyes were wide open but they soon drooped as Kayla sung to her. Zach stayed with them the whole time, and Kayla looked up every once in a while. Warm green eyes stared back at her. He smiled, and her heart flipped every single time.
He was so handsome, so strong. She loved him so much, and she didn’t know how to tell him. Didn’t think she should, really. He’d had a lot of changes in his life this week. He didn’t need another one, especially one as big as telling him how she felt.
He crept out of the room before Ana was asleep. When her eyes were closed and she didn’t stir, Kayla followed. Zach waited with a glass of wine and a beer. It was still early, only eight o’clock, and she wasn’t sleepy. She took the glass gratefully and they clinked her glass and his bottle.
“How did you know I wanted wine?” she asked.
“I assumed.”
She took a sip and sighed. “I don’t drink every night, I swear. But when I’m feeling uptight, it relaxes me. I know that’s probably not a great thing.”
“It’s okay so long as you don’t overdo it.”
“I have the genetics to overdo it.” She twirled the glass in her fingers, thinking. Remembering. “My parents didn’t do anything unless it was to excess. Drinking, drugs, fighting. I like white wine, but I don’t think it’ll turn me into an addict.”
“You don’t have to explain. It’s okay if you like wine.”
“It worries me sometimes, but I try to be careful. That night when we did shots downstairs….” She shook her head. “That wasn’t typical for me. I don’t usually drink hard liquor.”
“It wasn’t typical for me either.”
She cocked her head. “So why did you do it?”
He shot her a grin. “Why did you?”
“Nerves. Frustration with life. But mostly nerves.”
“Nerves about what? Me?”
She rolled her eyes, but it was a mock gesture. “Duh. Of course you. I was so attracted to you, Zach. But you’d only ever been like a friend to me and I thought that’s what you were still being. I wanted more, but I didn’t think you did.”
“Kayla, baby, believe me when I tell you this. I wanted to fuck you from the first moment I saw you. You were standing in Camel’s house, lost and alone and worried for your sister, and all I could think about was getting my cock inside you.”
Her insides melted with those words. Not only because he’d wanted her from the beginning, but because the carnal image of his cock inside her made her wet just thinking about it. “Really? I always thought you were being nice.”
He snorted. “Nice? I wanted to get down and dirty with you from the start. And that wasn’t a nice thing just then when you’d been through so much.”
“I guess I wasn’t in a place for that at the beginning, but it didn’t take long before I wanted more from you. Which is why I did what I did that night. I hated that I needed shots to do it though.”
“I don’t hate what happened, beautiful. I only hate how we didn’t talk for two months.”
“I hate that too,” she said, her heart aching with regret. “I shouldn’t have run away like I did.”
He put his arm up. She understood the message and scooted over beside him, pressing into his side. His arm settled around her. “It happened,” he said, his breath warm and scented with beer. “But here we are anyway.”
She sighed as she cuddled into him. “Here we are. It’s only been a week. We’re married and Ana has her own sweet room. I feel like I have whiplash.”
He laughed. “So do I, Kayla. But that’s okay. My job gives me whiplash on a regular basis. This is a good kind of different, not a bad kind.”
She hoped it stayed that way. “I love what we did to her room. I’m going to hate to move out.”
He kissed the top of her head again. “Yeah, I know. But we can do it again in the next place. Look at this like practice.”
She would, but she still hated it. She hated that she never really got to settle down. Something always came along and she had to move on again. “I wish Dal Gentry had stayed in his sewer and never crawled out of it,” she said with a growl. “Asshole.”
Zach set his beer down and tipped her chin up so she could meet his gaze. The fierceness she saw there made her want to recoil, but this was Zach, not some nasty criminal biker who didn’t give a shit about any rules but his own.
The fierceness in Zach’s eyes, the utter violence leashed behind their green depths, was there for her. He would let it loose if he had to, but never toward her or Ana. He was their protector. Their safe place.
“I promise you they’ll stop coming for you. One way or the other, I’ll make it happen. I swear. The Kings of Doom are no match for a SEAL team.”
Neo woke up during the night with that telltale prickling on his neck. Trouble.
He sat up with a start when he realized Kayla wasn’t beside him. His gut twisted. Not with fear, but with something close to it. He reached for the weapon he kept on the nightstand and moved silently across the floor, ready to do violence if he had to.
He found Kayla in Ana’s room, looking down at her baby who slept peacefully. She looked up when she heard him. Her eyes were glassy with tears. He didn’t even think about it, he just went over and pulled her into his arms. Relief flooded him. The warning system was for her this time, not for any outside danger. She was crying, and he was attuned to her pain. So attuned that it woke him from a dead sleep in the middle of the night.
He didn’t want her to cry, but he was glad he wasn’t facing an intruder. Especially not one who’d come looking for her.
“What’s the matter, beautiful?” he whispered. “Did Ana wake you up?”
He hadn’t heard anything, but maybe his hearing wasn’t dialed in to baby frequency yet.
“I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
She’d been tired when they’d gone to bed, her eyes drooping so frequently that he hadn’t tried to make love to her again. He’d held her and listened to her breaths grow even before he’d finally fallen asleep too.
He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Do you want to talk about anything?”
He wasn’t typically a chatty, bare-your-soul kind of guy, but for her he’d listen and do his best to untangle whatever was causing her problems.
She put her arms around his waist and held on tight. “No. It was a bad dream. That’s all. But it scared me, and I had to make sure Ana was okay.”
“You ready to leave her?”
She nodded, her head moving up and down against his chest. He ushered her from the room, pulling the door almost all the way closed but leaving a good five inches of space so they could hear if Ana woke and started to cry.
“Need anything from the kitchen?”
“No,” she whispered.
He took her into the bedroom and pulled the covers back on her side. She didn’t get in though. She stepped into him, pressing her palms to his bare chest and then down over his abdomen, tracing every ridge of his six-pack, exploring hi
m. His dick hardened instantly. Need for her was a hot itch in his brain, a throbbing in his balls. But he didn’t move. Instead, he let her explore his torso.
And then, when her hand slipped beneath the waistband of his athletic shorts, he hissed in a breath as her touch scalded him. She hadn’t touched his cock yet, and he was ready to come unglued.
“Kayla,” he groaned. “What are you doing, baby?”
“Touching you.”
His laugh was rusty. “Yeah, I noticed. And I don’t mind at all, but it’s killing me to let it happen at this pace.”
She tipped her head back—and wrapped her hand around his cock. “Oh, you mean you want me to touch you like this?”
He couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. His balls were tight against his body and his dick was like iron. Her hand was soft and silky as she squeezed, pumping him deliberately.
“That’s good,” he said, out of breath, “but I can think of even better things to do with it.”
She dropped to her knees and took his shorts down at the same time. Then she gazed up at him and curled her tongue around the head of his dick. “Things like this?”
“Yeah. Fuck yeah.”
He saw stars. Kayla took him into her mouth, swirling her tongue around his cock while cupping his balls with one hand and pumping with the other. She made lust burn hard at the back of his brain, but there was another emotion crowding in there as well.
Mine. All mine. Always.
He let her keep going until he couldn’t take another moment and then he lifted her up and tossed her onto the bed in one quick move. She squeaked and laughed at the same time, a sultry laugh that told him she was turned on and enjoying herself.
“You didn’t let me finish,” she complained.
“Nope,” he said, putting a knee on the bed and reaching for her silky little robe. She’d wrapped up in a robe to go into Ana’s room and he undid the ties and shoved it open. All she wore under it was a tank top that clung to her beautiful tits and a pair of lacy panties that did things to his brain. He dragged them off and tossed them aside, then wedged himself between her legs with his shoulders, shoving them open.
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