Tiger Mom (Killer Moms Book 4)

by Eve Langlais

  Kill Ronin, a man he probably wouldn’t have many nightmares about. It would solve so many problems. But then he looked at Mae. Tucked against Macey, her eyes wide with fear.

  “Don’t kill him. We have to find Lin first.”

  “Where is she?”

  Ronin smiled. “Probably dead by now. My staff is very good at following orders.”

  “I’m not dead.” Lin stepped out from behind the other drape and ran to her mother.

  Anger twisted Ronin’s face. “I’ll deal with you in a moment. First, to teach this one a lesson.”

  Ronin dove at him, hands slashing, feet moving, making Ted realize that he wasn’t the only one who’d trained in the arts.

  He ducked and weaved, spending most of his time defending rather than attacking. Outside, they could hear the crack of gunfire. A scream as a stray shot entered the room and shattered a glass on the table distracted enough that Ronin landed a blow to Ted’s jaw.

  Ted reeled. The other man took advantage, taking his moment of inattention to pound him, over and over, to the point where he could only put his arms in front of his face to block and defend.

  “Leave him alone.”

  Macey was the one to rescue him, the chair she swung knocking Ronin aside. The man rose, seething, bleeding from his temple, and somehow holding Ted’s gun.

  Fuck.

  Her eyes widened.

  The girls screamed.

  Ted scissor-kicked and caught Ronin as he fired, jerking him. The gun cracked a moment before Ronin hit the floor, hard enough that his head bounced.

  In a flash, Ted straddled him and had the gun in hand. It would be so easy now to end it.

  He sensed more than saw the gazes focused on him. Remembered what Marie had said.

  Can I really shoot their father in front of them?

  Glancing at their wide eyes, the answer almost hurt.

  Ted sighed. “I need some cuffs.” He made do with the tassels Macey ripped from the cushions on the couch. He trussed Ronin up like a hog for the spit, and then leaned back on his heels.

  A moment later, his choice was rewarded as two small bodies hurtled at him for a hug, then a third joined, her arms stretching wide.

  Later, he might regret not killing Ronin. But right now, with Macey in his arms, and the girls tucked on either side, he felt pretty damned good about it.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The day ended better than it had started.

  Much better. For one, she was reunited with her girls.

  Poor Mae, though, she sported bruises on her throat, and sounded quite hoarse when she spoke. She claimed that she was fine. But Portia had to wonder. Ronin had attacked Mae. His own daughter.

  A natural reaction would be to get scared and be freaked out. Instead, Mae observed the people moving around the villa. Some of them she knew, like Meredith, and Carla—who’d had the baby and taken a year off, but came on the mission when she heard that Portia was in trouble.

  There were some men roaming around, too, Bad Boy agents who’d coordinated with KM to send in a rescue force. Because Mae had known exactly who to call the moment she’d cracked the laptop’s firewall.

  She’d called her grandma.

  Smart girl. Of course, Mae didn’t know yet that the agents roaming the villa cleaning up the mess weren’t an actual police force. Nor did she realize that her mother was anything more than what she appeared.

  They did, however, believe that Ted was a super-spy agent, and were more enamored of him than ever.

  “Are we going to finish our cruise?” a raspy Mae asked as they got into the van that would drive them to a resort.

  She appeared fine. Too fine. Meaning she probably hid her true feelings.

  Portia certainly did. Inside, she was a tumultuous mess. Coming face to face with Ronin, she’d not known how she would feel. Angry, yes. Murderous, too. But she’d not expected the sadness.

  If only Ronin could have been a better man. Someone with some scruples and respect for friends, family, a spouse.

  But he chose to be an asshole, never realizing that he caused his own misery. Had he been nicer to his daughters, they probably wouldn’t have conspired to have him arrested.

  Ronin was going to jail.

  After a lengthy trial, that was. BBI and KM were, at this very moment, delivering him to the American authorities. Once they had Ronin in custody, they’d place him in the tightest security prison they had.

  It wasn’t how she’d pictured this ending, and yet, it worked. The girls wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of his death. And as time passed, they’d move past what had happened.

  “Mom?” Mae queried.

  “What?” She blinked, completely lost.

  “You didn’t answer. Are we finishing our vacation?”

  Portia shook her head. She couldn’t handle the stress of more relaxation time. “No more cruising. Tomorrow, we’ll be getting on a flight headed for home.”

  “What home? We have nothing.” The reminder had Portia digging the heels of her hands into the sockets of her eyes. Pressing.

  An arm went around her. “You have each other. Me, too, if you want me.”

  The words had her eyeing Ted. “Why would you want to stay?”

  “Because you’re still the same awesome girl I used to crush on in high school.”

  “I’m technically a married woman.”

  “Easy enough to hire a lawyer and fix that.”

  “With Ronin alive, the threat remains.”

  The girls sat in the rear seat, meaning that Ted, beside her in the middle row, could lean close and whisper, “Now that he’s in jail...” He didn’t have to finish that sentence.

  She could technically finish things anytime now. She glanced over her shoulder at the girls, heads together, a laptop shared between them. She wouldn’t kill him quite yet. They’d had enough shocks lately.

  The resort didn’t act surprised at all to see a family arriving late in the evening. Soon, they were ushered to a family suite, and no one argued as the girls went into the smaller bedroom with the twin beds. It only had one door and a window with no entry from the outside. Portia had checked.

  She held each of her girls tightly and kissed them. “I love you.”

  “Love you, too, Mommy,” Lin replied.

  Whereas Mae sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

  Portia hugged her daughter tighter. “No. Don’t you dare apologize. I should have told you. Should have handled things better than I did.”

  “Is Father going to die in jail?”

  The query froze Portia, especially because she’d already entertained thoughts about how it could happen. Food was taking a chance someone else would eat it. Undetectable poison on the toothbrush was a surer way.

  “Of course, he won’t die in jail. Why would you even ask?”

  Mae lifted her head and said quite solemnly, “Epstein didn’t kill himself.”

  Portia gaped. “What?”

  The expression on her face was utter innocence. “I said I know Daddy is a bad man, but I don’t want him dead. Be sure you tell Grandma to not kill him. And Aunt Carla.”

  “I—um—”

  It was Lin who confirmed what Portia feared. “When I grow up, I’m going to be a KM agent, too.”

  Mae snorted. “You can’t join unless you’re having a baby. I’m never having kids. I’m going to join Bad Boy instead.”

  “That’s for boys only,” Lin sassed with a roll of her eyes.

  “Then I’ll get them to start a girl agency.”

  The twins continued bickering as Portia closed the door between the rooms, but she smiled. Despite everything that had happened, they were already adapting.

  She heard a snicker and turned to see Ted lounging on the bed. “When do we start their special agent training?”

  “This isn’t funny,” she whispered. “I never wanted them to know what I did.”

  “Why not? You just became the coolest mom ever. You’re not only a scienti
st, you’re also a secret agent. Is it any wonder they want to grow up to be just like you?”

  “I’m not that great.”

  “You seem perfect to me. Which is why I probably ain’t got the right to ask, but I’m not a coward, so I am anyhow. Macey, Portia, or whatever name you choose next, I know things are a little crazy right now. And scary, too. But I’m really hoping you’ll let me give you a hand with whatever comes next.”

  “I don’t know if I’m ready to get married.”

  “Whoa, honey.” He held up his hands. “Me either. I was talking more along the lines of getting to know each other. Giving you a hand moving into a new place.”

  “Moving furniture and putting up art with the occasional sleepover.”

  “Maybe more than occasional?” Queried with a boyish grin. “In other words, will you be my girlfriend?”

  “Seriously?” she asked, arching a brow.

  “Never more.”

  She eyed Ted, a guy who’d freely admitted that he used to be an asshole. Maybe not mobster level, but according to him, he’d done some bad shit. However, he’d chosen to turn his life around. To become a better person.

  A man she felt like she could count on. Who respected her and her girls.

  The kind of man she wouldn’t mind having by her side.

  She began to strip, and his expression turned heavy-lidded and smoldering.

  “We have to be quiet,” she whispered. They didn’t have the hum of the ship’s engines to hide some of the noise.

  “Try not to scream,” he declared with a naughty wink.

  “Maybe I should sleep somewhere else, then,” she teased.

  “Like hell.” He bounded off the bed and stalked toward her, already shirtless, his pants hanging low on his hips.

  Oh, hell yes. She couldn’t help but clench as lust filled her. As he stalked closer, she took tiny steps back until her butt hit the wall. Standing still, her body turned taut with anticipation.

  He stopped not even an inch from her. He reached out to cup her jaw. “You’re sleeping with me.”

  “Doesn’t sound like you’re asking.”

  “Are you going to tell me to leave?”

  “No.” She nuzzled her cheek into his hand. “But what you’re asking… What if it doesn’t work?”

  “You mean what if I’m like Ronin and won’t let you go?” His thumb stroked over her bottom lip. “Loving you means never doing anything that would cause you distress. My feelings don’t matter.”

  “They do.” She rocked forward against him. Cupped his whole face with her hands. “You make me feel things. And it scares me.”

  “It scares me, too. But maybe together, we can conquer that fear.”

  Maybe they could.

  There was no denying that she wanted him. Wanted this man who made her feel every inch a woman. She leaned up and kissed him. A light embrace that quickly turned carnal as his arms came around her. He drew her up on tiptoe so that he might properly plunder her mouth. Given that he held her up, she let her hands roam the bare skin of his upper body, stroking the velvety flesh over hard muscle, tenderly rubbing the scars.

  She had been telling the truth when she said that he scared her. Because she felt things so strongly with him. Wanted so much.

  It made her frantic. She pulled away from him and removed the damned dress she still wore. Underneath, matching black lace bra and panties. She would have removed them, too, but he growled, “No, keep them on.”

  She expected him to return her to his embrace. Instead, he whirled her around and pressed her cheek against the wall. His thick body pressed in from behind. He ground himself against her, and even with his pants buttoned, she felt the hard length of him.

  She wiggled, and he grunted. Grasping her hands, he drew them above her head and growled, “Hold onto the wall.”

  The order only served to heighten her excitement. She obeyed, keeping her palms flat against the concrete. A hand curved around her waist and drew her pelvis away from the wall. On instinct, she tilted her buttocks.

  “Mmm.” He hummed as his hand slid from her waist to snare the band of her underpants. He dragged them over her cheeks and kept tugging until they fell down her legs to pool at her ankles. It was simple enough to lift a foot and step out of them.

  Only then did he nudge her legs apart. For a moment, he loomed against her, his body hot and hard at her back, his hand returning to cup her from the front, palming her mound and making her shiver.

  His lips managed to part her hair to find the lobe of her ear as he traced her damp slit with his finger.

  “Oh.”

  His touch proved light yet she quivered. She could feel the heat and moisture pooling between her legs. One stroking finger became two, the digits parting her nether lips and dipping into her sex. Penetrating her. Pumping, in and out.

  Cheek pressed against the concrete, Portia did her best to hold in her moan. She couldn’t make noise.

  But it felt so good.

  She squirmed, her breathing hitched as he pumped her with his fingers. Her hips rocked as he thrust, stroking her over and over in a rhythm that built into pleasure.

  He suddenly dropped to his knees behind her, his hands gripping her cheeks to spread her so that he might replace fingers with tongue.

  A strangled moan escaped her. This was torture. With a deft tongue, he traced her sex, slipping between her lips, flicking against her clit and then sucking it, pinching it with his lips until she clawed at the wall and practically sobbed.

  He teased her, pleased her, brought her to the edge, and then stopped. He got her to the point where she was a quivering mess.

  She finally sobbed, “I can’t take anymore.”

  His words rumbled against her sex. “Then come.”

  “I want you inside me.”

  A shudder rocked his frame. “I won’t make it inside you if you keep talking dirty like that.”

  He stood, and she heard the rustle of fabric as he removed his pants. She wiggled her hips impatiently.

  “Gonna kill me,” he grumbled, but softly. His hand once more curved around her waist, and her ass arched towards him. She parted her legs enough that he could probe her with the tip of his cock. He teased her.

  But she didn’t want to be teased anymore. Suddenly ducking and whirling, she faced him, grabbing his surprised face to plant a kiss. Her leg lifted and wrapped around his hip. It took a bit of wiggling from them both to get him in the right spot, and still, the angle wasn’t quite right. She was too short.

  “Lift me,” she demanded.

  A hand on each cheek, he complied. Finally, he fully sheathed himself. She sighed in pleasure as she felt every delicious inch of him. He stretched her, and she squeezed him. Slowly at first, he began to move, his hips making a thrusting motion. But gravity had her firmly planted on his dick, so all he did was grind deeper.

  So deep, he hit a sweet spot. She clenched even tighter. And tighter. She rocked, bounced, moved against him, wanting more of that friction. More of that…

  “Oh—” The scream started to erupt, and he caught it with his mouth. Startled her into panting silence as her orgasm rippled. Shook her. Wrung her with intensity that left her limp.

  He panted just as heavily but didn’t drop her, although he moved quickly to the bed and collapsed on it, with her on top.

  “I think I might love you,” she whispered, her cheek on his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart.

  “I’ve always loved you,” was his soft reply.

  Exhaustion and satiation pulled them into sleep, a slumber without nightmares or sweats. It ended too early as they woke to the twins arguing at the foot of the bed.

  “If it weren’t for me, we’d still be stuck.”

  “If it weren’t for you, Father would have never kidnapped us,” Lin mocked.

  “I fixed it.”

  “You sent out a coded message to Grandma. Wooo. Hoo.” Lin waggled her head and sassed with her hands on her hips.
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  “I also found the evidence to have him arrested where he could get the help he needs,” huffed Mae.

  “Help? What help?” Ted asked.

  Mae turned, matter-of-fact as she said, “Father obviously suffers mentally, has a certain Napolean syndrome. With proper guidance, he should learn to control his impulses and not want to rule the world.”

  Portia didn’t feel the need to point out that no amount of therapy would help Ronin.

  “And just in case he doesn’t, I got his will changed to make us his heirs,” Lin boasted, the mic drop moment of the whole conversation that had them gaping.

  “You did what?” Ted exclaimed.

  “What’s the use in being his heirs if he’s alive?” Mae scoffed, only to narrow her gaze. “You better not be thinking of killing Father just because you like Ted more.”

  “Of course, not,” Lin exclaimed. “But given he’s incarcerated and mentally incapacitated at the moment, an executor for his estate will be appointed. We’ll have some say in that.”

  “With the right person, we could turn Father’s empire around into one for good,” Mae mused aloud. Portia wanted to groan.

  Ted simply stretched, and the girls stopped arguing. But rather than eye his bare chest with interest like Portia did, in tandem, they said, “Hey, Ted, wanna play Mario Kart with us?”

  It turned out he did.

  And when the three of them had a burping contest later on, Portia had a cry in the bedroom. Happy tears.

  Maybe it was time for her happily ever after.

  Epilogue

  Squeals of laughter drew her to the yard. A big one with trees and a swing set. Ted had insisted that they needed one, and a tree fort. The lumber for that had been delivered only the day before. Their dining room table even housed plans to put in a pool.

  A few months ago, she would have laughed and said, “Why, who will use it?”

  But that was before her girls remembered that they were still children.

  Apparently, it took a grown man who’d never stopped being young to remind them. Portia leaned against the doorframe and watched her husband racing around the yard. They’d married in a very small ceremony where Joanna was her matron of honor, Marie walked he down the aisle and her sisters the bridesmaids, with her girls as flower and ring girl.