by Cari Quinn
Lila stopped flailing long enough to catch her breath. Then she smiled in triumph.
See, she’d figured it out. Simon was trying to protect her honor. But squeal? She did not squeal. Ever.
She also was not needy. Usually. Though she had been pretty needy tonight. Now she wouldn’t be able to walk or even breathe properly for who knows how long as a direct consequence.
Lesson learned—never have dirty reconciliation sex with your husband in a public place. Next time, she’d choose a cabin in the forest. Or perhaps a cave in the center of a mountain. Then she could squeal her ass off to her heart’s content.
God. Simon was getting demoted. He wouldn’t be lead dog catcher by the time she got done with him.
And Nick, well, he was asking for it too. The fact that he’d banged her senseless twice before acting like a high school boy bragging to his friend was the only thing saving his stupidly hot behind.
“You think I ever forget my wife, you jackass? Just like you thought I needed help keeping my prick in my pants earlier tonight.”
Beneath her blanket of dust motes, Lila frowned. Hmm.
“You’re the one who was being too nice to that groupie. Now I see why. Don’t forget your wife, huh? So what made you pick up this one? Did you decide that hey, Dragon Lady’s not around, so I’ll just ruin my whole life over a cheap piece of ass?”
Lila started to struggle out of her blanket, only to have Nick grab the cover and shove her back down. Bodily. By the head.
Oh, he was so getting his ass kicked later. He thought he’d given her bruises? He hadn’t seen anything yet. He’d be singing like a choir boy after she taught him the error of his ways.
“Oh, so that’s what you think this is. Me scoring some sex with some random chick while my wife isn’t around to service me. That’s what you think?”
“I know how you are after shows. You don’t have to bullshit me. How many years have I known you? And Margo told me you and Lila haven’t been burning up the sheets lately, so I get it. You’re lonely and want a piece.”
“You get it?” Margo asked, her voice muffled through Lila’s blanket. But the slap of her hand against Simon’s chest was not. “Oh really?”
“Hands off, woman, and let me finish.”
“I think you need to finish in the other room, and start thinking about your own sex life before you get your dick handed to you with your balls as a garnish.”
“You have an incredible wife, man,” Simon continued. “Two gorgeous little girls. An amazing life. Why would you ever want to screw that up? You have everything.”
Lila held her breath, surprisingly on edge about his answer. It shouldn’t matter. Nick hadn’t been cheating, so what difference did his answer make to a question that wasn’t even relevant?
Yet she needed to hear it. Desperately.
“Back when we were growing up without shit, I didn’t think this life was for me. A wife. Kids. Nope. Not gonna happen.”
“But it did. And you’re a better man for it. You can’t tell me you aren’t.”
“Lila gave me the one thing I didn’t think I’d ever get in a million years.” His voice caught. “The best thing.”
Lila swallowed hard, unsurprised that her gritty eyes went damp. She couldn’t blame the dust any longer. Nor could she hold back her yelp when Nick yanked on the blanket over her head and the brightness blinded her once again.
In one fell swoop, he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, covering her up to the neck. Then he leaned forward and kissed her square on the mouth.
“She gave me a family. So, yeah, I’ve got everything.” He stared into her eyes for an extra beat and she forgot her embarrassment and irritation and temporary blindness. “I’ll never forget it either.”
“Oh shit. Sorry, Lila. I didn’t know you’d be here, and the sounds—I never guessed it was… Christ, when I came in here and saw your hair was red, I got the wrong idea. Fuck, I’m sorry,” Simon muttered, turning toward Margo. “Did you know about this?”
Margo pursed her lips. “Define this.”
“She was in on this one’s scheme,” Nick confirmed. “Li even took kinky pictures for her.”
“You did?” Margo braced a knee on the edge of the bed. “Lemme see. Not that I didn’t already hear enough.” She shook her head. “Not listening to any more complaints on your end though, Li. Damn. I think I had a peripheral orgasm.”
Lila tried not to flush. She could do a poker face. It was one of her strongest skills. “The pictures were not kinky.”
She’d even been careful not to show off too much of her butt floss.
Nick slipped a finger under her chin. “You better show them to me before I think kissing best friends is a thing like kissing cousins.”
“Do you kiss your best friend?” Lila tossed back.
“Nah, I have standards. I’ve seen how he slobbers all over Margo.”
“Peripheral, my ass,” Simon said, obviously fixated on Margo’s previous response. “Any orgasms you had were all due to me. Got it?”
“Actually, I haven’t had an orgasm yet because you were so determined to save Nick’s virtue, so sure. All the orgasms I haven’t had tonight belong to you. Happy?”
Simon narrowed his eyes. “Wife, you are in so much trouble.” He clasped her forearm and started to tug her back to their suite.
“Too late,” Nick said smugly, plopping to his ass on the bed beside Lila, completely at ease with his nudity. “You already thought I was having meaningless groupie sex with my actual wife. That’s gotta be, like, a personal record or something.”
“From what Violin Girl’s told me, it probably is a personal record. Congrats. Carry on. We have our own personal records to hit.”
Margo shook off Simon’s hold and sent Lila an apologetic glance. “I didn’t tell him hardly anything. He’s exaggerating. I didn’t stop him from coming in here because I didn’t want to tattle.”
“Husband privilege. We get to know all the juicy stuff.”
“Same goes, you know,” Lila said. “Like that incident with Simon and Viagra—”
“Say what?” Nick did a double take. “Dude, you’re in your twenties. Margo, you better get out now. That shit’s just gonna go downhill. Way down, if you get my drift.”
“Oh hell no. You told her?” Simon glowered. “It happens to lots of guys.”
“Never happened to me,” Nick said. “Like even when my ass was so drunk I couldn’t move.”
“I can’t believe you told her.”
Lila straightened out one of her twisted legs and realized she’d lost not one but both of her heels during previous shenanigans. Which probably wasn’t good news for her husband, since Simon appeared to be looking around for a weapon to toss at the openly laughing Nick. “She actually didn’t. I just made that up.”
“Sure you did.” Simon drew on Margo’s arm. “It’s officially time to go before I kick that clown’s ass.”
Nick grabbed his stomach and rolled to his side. “Don’t be ashamed. I’ve had issues too. There was that one time I could only go three times in a row—”
Lila leaned over and thwapped Nick on the side of the head. “Let’s not over-exaggerate.”
“I’m sure your hand really appreciated your overtures, fuckbeast.” Simon lifted his brows and pointed at the door between the suites. “Wife, the other room. Now.”
Simon tugged her forward and Margo shot Lila a helpless look over her shoulder. “Maybe if you guys do it again, he’ll rage-screw me into next we—”
The connecting door between the suites banged shut.
Not two minutes later, Margo moaned. Loudly.
Followed by an, “oh yes, Simon, you stud,” and a bark of laughter.
Then Margo let out an obviously genuine moan.
And another.
And another.
It only got worse from there.
“So you think this was what it was like for them listening to us?” Lila asked in an underton
e as Nick sat up.
Maybe if she didn’t glance at him, he wouldn’t realize that she was flushed. Along with possibly squirming just a wee bit.
Barely at all, really.
“We sound way hotter.”
She shook her head at him. “Incorrigible.”
“Nah. Just truthful.” He pulled her in front of him and stretched out his legs on either side of hers. “You’re the sexiest woman on the planet,” he said, crowding close.
Her eyes popped wide at what pressed against the small of her back. “Seriously?”
He nuzzled her neck. “So maybe they sound a little hot. But mostly, it’s leftover from before.”
Not grinning would’ve required more than she could currently manage. “Shower?”
“Yeah, guess we need one.” He caught her chin and turned her head to take her lips. “I don’t want him hearing you come again anyway.”
She didn’t want that either. As it was, she’d probably wear a permanent blush every time she faced Simon for who knows how long.
“Who says I’m going to? I might be tapped out for the night.”
He nibbled her earlobe. “You’ll never be tapped out when it comes to me, Dragon Lady.”
“Cocky bastard.”
“Same goes.” He cupped her breasts in his palms. “I can’t get enough of you.”
When she didn’t respond, he tightened his hold on her. “I owe you an apology.”
“I was the one who lied and kept you away from home on Christmas Eve after you put on one of the best shows of your life.”
“You said you only sneaked backstage for the beginning of the show. How’d you see the rest?”
“I have my ways.” She laughed as he tickled her ribs. “I made sure some of the crew sent me some of the live feed.” She sobered and his fingers slowed. “You know I hate to miss your concerts.”
“Why do you think I was so angry about spending the night here? Not only were you missing the show, you wanted me to miss you and the girls afterward.”
“No, I didn’t. I just didn’t know what else to do. You weren’t getting my signals, so I figured it was time to do something drastic. I watched makeup tutorials,” she added, trying to impress on him once again the lengths to which she’d gone. “On YouTube.”
“Oh, honey. Anything but that.”
“You don’t understand. I went lingerie shopping voluntarily. I bought many things, only half of which fit my post-pregnancy body. The rest are used as curtain tie backs throughout the house.”
He cocked a brow. “I think I’m about to develop a curtain fetish.” He ran a hand along her thigh over what remained of her tattered ensemble. She was amazed her garters had stayed up when basically only the wide lacy waistband of her panties remained.
Must be sturdy elastic.
“Gotta say you did good. Great, really. But I told you I don’t need any of this. I need a quickie in the hall with you while Avery and Charlie are asleep. Or even a trip into the damn closet to go down on my knees after you get home from work.”
“Yeah, well, you weren’t really feeling it any of the times I threw myself at you recently. Or when you saw me in your bathrobe and heels and accused me of having another man in the house.”
“I did not accuse. I know you wouldn’t. But can I help it if I went momentarily crazy imagining someone else putting their hands on you? Even if it’s just fiction I’ve made up in my own head.”
She gripped her throat. “Why do you think I did this?” He didn’t reply, so she turned toward him. “The last time my husband lost interest in—”
“Don’t.” Nick placed a finger over her lips. “Don’t ever put that asshole and me in the same category. If you don’t know I would never cheat on you, that I never could, then we have a problem.”
She hated that her chin trembled. “I trust you. You know I do. But sometimes I make up fiction in my own head too,” she whispered. “Especially when I know the kind of women who surround you every night. Exciting ones. Ones you didn’t see with mashed potatoes on her boob that morning. Or bed hair or wild frazzled eyes after being up all night.”
“With my baby.”
She didn’t say anything.
“You take care of our girls and take care of business without breaking a damn sweat. As if anyone could be hotter. Right.” He shook his head. “Do you know what I owe you an apology for?”
She wasn’t used to being ashamed for how she felt. Worse, for transcribing past hurts with her ex onto a guy who so didn’t deserve to be weighed down with her baggage. “No. I really don’t.”
“I made you a promise before we got married. You weren’t ever supposed to wonder if I wanted you. I promised to always make it clear what position you played in my life.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “What I just told Simon? Barely the tip of the iceberg. You didn’t just give me a family. You made me believe I was worthy of one. That I was worthy of you and our girls.”
“You are. Of course you are. More than.”
“I didn’t do my job and remind you every damn day that you’re all I’ll ever need. You and our girls.”
Her throat went tight. “It was my fault too. Right after the girls were born, I kicked you out of the bedroom.”
When she was tempted to add sort of, she didn’t.
Whether or not she’d meant to take such a hard stand, the fact was she had. And what it looked like to him didn’t necessarily have to match her intentions.
“And then when we did fool around, I was…uptight.”
“You mean your sudden love of the pearl necklaces that you can’t buy at Tiffany’s?”
Crude, but accurate. She swallowed. “Yeah. But I’m not like that anymore. I swear.”
“What’s changed?”
“Me.”
He tilted his head and waited.
“I don’t need everything to be perfect,” she said, hearing Margo in her head. “I don’t have to control every part of my life.”
“Since when?”
It shouldn’t have made her laugh. Not when she was naked and so vulnerable to him. But she loved him more than life itself and she owed him her honesty.
“For a while after the twins, I didn’t want to have sex.”
“Yeah.”
“Some was physical. I was also concerned about what might happen.”
“You didn’t want to get knocked up again.”
She sighed. Leave it to Nick to be delicate. “I had concerns. Since the first time was unplanned.”
“No kidding.”
“And twins.”
“Twins,” he agreed. “The smartest, greatest kids who ever existed.”
Like a damn ice cube, she melted. Her husband was a stupidly sexy con artist.
She reached up to further muss his already well-fucked hair. “No arguments there.”
“And I have to admit, fucking you while you were pregnant was probably the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
She swallowed over the graininess in her throat. “What are you saying?”
“That I love you.” He tugged on her lower lip with his teeth. “I love our babies. If we made more, I wouldn’t mind.”
“No?” She frowned. “So now I’ve become the one who needs to read the pregnancy readiness book so I’m not scared?”
“Looks like it,” he said cheerfully.
“You do realize you have the much easier part in the whole thing.”
He nodded. “Much.” He skimmed his hand down her stomach. “This beautiful body is capable of things I can’t even imagine. Don’t really want to, to be honest. But I like the results.”
She giggled. Like a damn schoolgirl. Like a woman crazy-in-love with her husband.
“I know life isn’t always going to be perfect. That it can’t be. I can’t expect to be able to handle everything without help. So I think I’m going to ask Becky to take on a few more hours, especially when I have long days.”
“That’s a good plan.”
“Maybe we could even get someone to make some meals now and then.”
“Sure. Whatever you want.”
She let out a breath. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? Just mention what she needed and what she was thinking and he’d deal?
Of course, he’d recently gotten off with the promise of more sex to come, so he was in a better mood than usual. For that matter, so was she.
“I’m not against having more kids. Necessarily.”
He arched a brow. “The vasectomy place has me on their Christmas card list.”
She shouldn’t have laughed. “I cancelled that last appointment and didn’t make another one.”
“Yeah. Didn’t really need to because we weren’t doing much.”
She tried not to grimace. Or to toss blame. Even if she thought she’d been blatant the different times in recent months that she’d approached him, she wasn’t in his head. Just as he wasn’t in hers. The past few minutes had proven to her just how wrong they’d both been.
That kind of miscommunication wasn’t going to happen again. At least not for a damn long while.
“I did this tonight because I knew you thought I wasn’t interested anymore. It wasn’t just because I was horny and you weren’t getting the message. I wanted you to know that I want back what we used to have. All of it.” She pursed her lips. “Minus the time after you got arrested. Super hot, but I don’t want you in handcuffs unless I turn the key.”
“You’re tired,” he said, rolling right past what she’d said. “You do so much, and I probably don’t do enough to help. Last thing I want is for you to feel like servicing me is something else you have to handle.”
“No.” When he looked away, she gripped his chin and brought his gaze back to hers. “I’ve missed you. So much. I should’ve just told you, but I didn’t know how. So I asked Margo for help, and I hatched this crazy plan. She told me it was my fault you weren’t into it anymore because I kicked you out of the bedroom.”
“What does she know?”
Even when Margo was on his side, he immediately jumped to defend Lila. Because that was just who he was.
She rubbed his scruffy jaw. “She knows that I owed you an explanation. It wasn’t you. It was me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I read that in the book. Some women aren’t into it for a while. I get that.”
