“My pillows are fine. I have to get Mateo ready for bed.”
“I’m going to handle that,” Aedan countered, standing. “You’re going to lay here and relax. Once he’s in bed, I’ll run you a bath to help you relax. Will you be okay by yourself?”
She smiled at him. “I’m fine, Aedan. Send Mateo in to say good night.”
Aedan felt like he was going insane. He wanted to take Natalya in his arms and never let her go. At the same time, he wanted to shake her, to yell at her for... for… for what? For going to the bathroom?
This wasn’t her fault. If anyone was at fault, it was him for underestimating the threat. Never again. He let out a deep breath, trying to calm his raging fear. If anything happened to her… it didn’t bear thinking about.
He walked downstairs, coming to a stop as he saw Caden standing by the door to the living room, looking uncomfortable.
“Everything okay?”
“I don’t know anything about kids.” There was very real fear on Caden’s face. “If you wanted me to babysit him, you should have made that clear before you hired me. I’m going to need combat pay.”
“What are you talking about? Where’s Declan?”
“In there.” Caden shuddered. “With the kid.”
“Today wasn’t your fault, you know,” Aedan told him.
“I should have noticed that someone was following us,” he replied stiffly. Clearly he did see it as his fault.
“If anyone was at fault it was me. I never told you or Declan about the messages I had received. I honestly thought that was all over. I never realized she had fixated on Natalya.”
His gut had failed him this time. He had no idea that Natalya was in danger.
“If you need to fire me, I understand.”
“Actually, I think you’ll be a better guard now. Because you won’t make that mistake again.”
Caden nodded, his face still stony, but the tension in his shoulders eased.
“Can you go do another check around the grounds?”
Caden nodded and nearly ran off. He was a seriously odd man.
Aedan opened the door. Into chaos. The room was a mess. Toys strewn everywhere, the TV was blasting, dirty dishes sat on the coffee table, and an exhausted-looking Declan sat slumped in an armchair.
“Declan? Where’s—umph!” Aedan took a step back as Mateo launched himself at him.
“Aedy!” he yelled with a huge grin. His face was filthy, covered in dirt, and paint, and food.
“What are you up to, buddy?” Aedan asked.
“Ice cream!”
“Did you?” He frowned at Declan, who shrugged.
“How was I supposed to know this would happen?”
“Did you actually feed him some real food?”
Declan stood tiredly. “He had some pizza.”
“So that’s a no.”
Mateo wriggled in his arms and Aedan turned, heading for the stairs.
“Go see Mama?” Mateo asked.
“Sure thing, buddy. After you’ve had a bath and some time to chill out.”
“Nooo bath!”
“You okay, Aedy?” Mateo asked an hour later. Aedan smiled at the little boy. Mateo was lying in his fire engine bed; the teddy bear that Aedan had bought him tucked into his side. He’d calmed down after a long bath and a couple of stories.
“Sorry, buddy. I’m all right.” He stared down at the book he was supposed to be reading.
“Mama sick?” Mateo asked with concern. He’d already been in to say good night to Natalya, who had been sitting in an armchair, rather than in bed where he’d left her.
“She’s just got a bit of a sore throat,” Aedan explained. “She’ll be all good by the morning. Let’s finish this book and then it’s time for you to go to sleep.”
By the time he’d finished the story, Mateo was fast asleep. Aedan kissed Mateo’s forehead. At the doorway, he turned back to check on the little boy. How had he gotten so lucky? Natalya and Mateo were his world.
He would do whatever was necessary to protect them.
“Natalya?” he called out as he entered the bedroom. “Where are you?”
“In the bathroom,” she replied, hoarsely.
He stopped at the doorway, taking in the sight of her lying back in a bath filled with bubbles.
“You should have waited for me,” he scolded.
She held out her hand. He strode over, sitting on the side of the bath and taking her hand in his. She rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. “Aedan, I’m all right.”
“I could have lost you.” He could hear the stark fear in his voice.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily. This time I’m here to stay.”
Aedan lifted her hand to his mouth, kissing it.
“I want Caden to stay as your permanent bodyguard.”
She sighed. “Do you think now is the time to make such a decision?”
“Yes, I do.” He wasn’t going to bend on this. It was non-negotiable.
She nodded reluctantly. “All right. So long as you’re protected as well. Use Declan more.”
He’d known she would insist he be protected as well. Knowing she cared about his safety filled him with warmth.
“Just don’t expect me to go along with everything Caden says. I am not wearing a tracking device.”
“Fine,” he agreed, making a mental note to cancel the necklace he’d ordered to hold the tracking device Caden had suggested.
Natalya brushed some bubbles away from her chest. Erotic heat filled her gaze as she stared up at him. “This is really a bath made for two. Why don’t you join me?”
“You’ve just been through a traumatic experience, you should be resting.”
“If there is one thing the last few months have taught me, it’s to make sure I take the time to enjoy life and the people I love. She was just some crazy skank. I refuse to let her scare or intimidate me. Besides, the best revenge is that I have you and she doesn’t.” A wicked smile lit up her face. “I could video us together and send it to her.”
Aedan shook his head as he stood. “No way. That’s all I’d need. A sex tape going viral.”
“True. I don’t want anyone seeing your delicious body but me. You know, there is something I need you to do for me.”
“What do you need?” Was she in pain? Did she need him to hold her? Or maybe give her some space? It would be difficult, but he’d do it.
“You. I need you. I need your hands on me. I want to feel you inside me. I’m not fragile, Aedan.”
“I know. But you are everything to me. I just want to take care of you.”
“I feel the same about you, now strip.”
A deep hunger tightened his face as his gaze seared her. Standing, he grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and slowly drew it up over his head. Mouth dry, Natalya sighed with deep satisfaction.
Would she ever grow used to seeing him naked? Would she always feel this need for him? She sure as hell hoped so.
Reaching for the top of his jeans, he undid them slowly, pulling them off, along with his boxers. Naked, he grasped the base of his impressive erection, and with unhurried movements, ran his hand up and down the shaft. Utterly engrossed, she watched.
Licking her lips, Natalya ran her hands over her breasts, cupping them. Two could play this game. His gaze centered on her nipples as she lightly pinched them.
“Enough,” he growled, climbing into the bath. He raised each of her legs so they rested on the side of the bath. “Hands beneath your ass and keep them there.”
Her breath quickened as sparks of electric heat sizzled across her nerve endings. She grinned up at him.
“What’s in it for me?” she challenged. Sure, she enjoyed when he took charge. But he didn’t always need to get his way, did he?
Those bright blue eyes grew darker as he watched her predatorily. Running his fingertips down one thigh, he smiled.
“You get to come,” he told her. “You’ll come around my fingers as
I thrust them in and out of your tight sheath. You’ll come on my tongue as I drink your sweet juices. Then you’ll come as I take your hot ass.”
Her breath hitched, her heart skipping a beat.
She slipped her hands under her ass.
Satisfaction curled the corners of his lips. The promise in his eyes had her burning from the inside out. Kneeling between her legs, he rested his hands on the side of the bath and leaned down to take one nipple into the warmth of his mouth. She pressed her palms against the bottom of the bath to hold herself steady as he feasted on first one nipple then the other.
Without wasting time, he took her mouth with his as he dipped one hand beneath the water to play with her clit. To tease, flick, and squeeze. Her sounds of need were muffled by his mouth.
Need pounded through her, relentless and never ending. One long finger slipped inside her and she nearly came. Ripples of desire slipped through her.
His mouth possessed her. Devoured her. His thumb and fingers sent her spiraling into heaven. She crashed. Her mouth slipped from his as she screamed her satisfaction.
Aedan climbed from the bath and quickly dried himself off, throwing the towel on the ground before grabbing a dry one.
“Come, lovely.” He held out a hand.
“I believe I just did,” she murmured with lazy contentment. She took his hand, letting him help her out.
After drying her with far more thoroughness than he had on himself, he dropped the towel and prodded her toward the bedroom with a smack on her ass.
“What was that for?” she asked with a fake pout, as she peered over her shoulder at him.
“Because red is your color.”
“Funny, Miller said the same thing to me today. Somehow I don’t think she was talking about my ass.”
“And fine wee butt it is,” he told her, laying on his accent.
“Ooh, I love it when you get all Irish on me,” she told him teasingly.
“I know.” He grinned. “Get on the bed on your hands and knees. Ass at the edge. Rest your head and chest on the mattress.” She gave him a sassy salute and sashayed her way over to the bed, putting an extra swing in her step. Brat.
But damn, he did love the way her ass swayed back and forth. Made him want to do all measure of delicious things to her. He grabbed the lube and plug from up on the closet shelf. He’d had to move it from the bedside drawer when he’d realized how curious children were. Anything they could reach was fair game.
“Reach back and part your ass cheeks.”
“Dios mío,” she muttered, but she reached back and pulled her ass cheeks apart. The rosette of her ass winked at him. He knew she both dreaded and loved having him play with her there. A part of her seemed to think it was forbidden.
But he knew how hot it made her.
Nearly as hot and hungry as it made him.
He covered the plug in lube before working some more lube into her ass with his finger. In and out. Round and round.
“Relax, lovely, you know the drill.” He added another finger as she let out a long deep breath. God, she was going to feel like fucking heaven around his cock.
His dick pulsed as arousal sizzled from his shaft to his tightening balls. Removing his fingers, he picked up the plug.
“Breathe in.” He waited for her to comply, and then pushed the tip of the plug against her tight ring of muscle. “And out.”
Slow and steady. His whole body screamed with need as he watched the plug disappear into her ass.
He turned it and she shuddered, letting out a small groan.
“Feel good?”
“You know it does,” she replied. “Almost too good.”
He knew what she meant. Being inside her felt that way to him.
“Turn over and sit at the edge of the bed,” he commanded. “Spread your legs.”
Hell yeah. Was there a sweeter sight than having her naked and spread for him? The wet, glistening lips of her pussy, her swollen breasts tipped with cherry-red nipples, the arousal darkening her eyes, she was the most beautiful sight in the world to him.
Kneeling on the floor between her legs put him at the perfect height to suck on her hard nipples, to cup those full breasts. He sat back on his heels.
“Lie back,” he demanded as he pushed her thighs further apart, opening her up even further.
He wouldn’t last much longer before the need to bury his cock in her ass overcame him. And he was determined she would come on his tongue first.
He lapped lightly at her entrance, teasing her with luxurious swipes of his tongue.
“Aedan, please,” she begged.
The need in her voice fuelled him on. Heady with the knowledge that she wanted him as much as he did her, Aedan pushed his tongue inside her.
Loud whimpers filled the room as her snug pussy pulsed around his tongue. He rubbed her clit with his thumb as he thrust his tongue in and out of her sheath.
Thighs shuddering, her breath coming in sharp, shallow pants, Natalya came with a loud groan. He drank her down and lapped at her long after the last echoes of her pleasure had passed.
“No more, please, no more,” she begged.
He kissed the top of her mound then stood. “Kneel up on the bed again.”
This was it. He was finally taking her bottom. It was something she’d dreaded and dreamed of.
“If you want to stop me at any time just tell me.”
“I will.” Damn straight she’d be telling him to stop.
He withdrew the plug from her ass. She clenched down, missing the sensation of being filled. She peered over her shoulder to see him running lube over his cock, loving the way his hand ran up and down the firm length.
Christ, that monster was going inside her. Maybe it was better not to watch. She averted her eyes and he chuckled.
“Don’t be scared, lovely. You were made for me.”
“That is a seriously cheesy line. Did it come from one of your films?”
He laughed and gave her ass a smack. “I didn’t make those sort of films.”
“That giant cock of yours wouldn’t look out of place on the set of one.”
“Hmm, and what dirty films have you been watching?” he asked, as he pushed the head of his cock against her asshole. “Breathe in, then out. Good, relax.”
The pleasure-pain of his possession temporarily stole her breath. Reason fled as arousal flooded her.
Aedan paused, and she attempted to catch her breath.
“How you doing, baby?”
“I’m okay. I think I want you to move.”
“Thank God, I was worried I’d come before I even got fully inside you.”
His cock stretched and heated her. Her pussy pulsed, feeling empty.
As he pushed his way fully inside her, Natalya’s heart pounded as though she’d run a marathon. He moved slowly at first, then with more speed. With one hand, he reached around to play with her over-sensitized clit. It was too much—she couldn’t take it. White-hot rapture burst through her and she came, crashing over into bliss.
Aedan’s body burned against hers, his thighs tapping her ass. Nerve endings danced with each brush of his firm cock inside her ass. She could hear his breath quickening. She knew he was getting close as his movements grew faster, more erratic.
The heat of him surrounded her, encompassing her in the safety of his embrace.
“Fuck, get ready, baby.”
“I’m ready,” she reassured him. “Come, Aedan. Come inside me.”
“God, yes!” He paused, yelling aloud as he came inside her.
Twenty minutes later, after a quick shower to clean-up, Natalya lay curled up against Aedan’s chest as they lay on the bed.
“Think we’ll ever have a normal life?” she asked.
“Normal? What’s that?” he joked. Then he grew serious. “Probably not. Is that a problem?”
She heard the tension in his voice. Leaning up on one elbow she stared down at him, looking serious. “I want to be with you no matte
r what, no matter how insane our lives are.”
“Even if it means dealing with crazy-ass stalkers, an interfering cousin, and a paranoid bodyguard?”
She kissed him. “Yes. Because I’m with you. We’re a family now; that’s what’s important.”
“Speaking of family...” He climbed out of bed, and she watched curiously as he walked over to his briefcase, which was resting against the wall by the door. She’d wondered why he’d brought it into the bedroom instead of leaving it in his study.
When he returned, he held some papers in his hand. “I was going to wait for the right moment, but…” With a shrug, and looking surprisingly vulnerable, he handed them over to her.
Natalya read through the papers with growing astonishment.
“You want to adopt Mateo?” she asked.
“I want the three of us to be a family.” He clasped hold of her hand and cleared his throat nervously. “I had this whole romantic gesture planned, but I don’t want to wait. Natalya, will you marry me? Will you let me have the honor of spending the rest of my life with you, loving you, cherishing you?”
She stared at him for a long moment.
“If you’re not ready…” He drew back, a hurt look flashing through his eyes.
“No, I mean yes,” she growled with frustration. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”
His eyes widened. Whether at her announcement, or the fact that she’d yelled the words, she wasn’t sure. “I’ll marry you. I’d love nothing more than to be your wife.”
He pulled her against him and kissed her with a passion that had her seeing stars.
“And the adoption?” he whispered.
She thought about it for a long moment. “Diego may not be on Mateo’s birth certificate, and he hasn’t been much of a father to him, but I wouldn’t feel right doing this without his agreement.”
“I thought you’d say that so I went ahead and got Diego’s agreement.”
He handed her a letter.
“Seriously?” she asked after reading it. “He actually agreed? How did you do this?”
“Rogan,” he said simply, as though that explained everything. She supposed it did. Rogan was a force to be reckoned with.
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