by Stormy Glenn
I set my soda down on the counter and walked into the great room. When I reached the couch where Lany was holding court, I leaned down, grabbed Lany, and swung him up over my shoulder.
“Sal!” Lany cried out as I carried him toward the front doors. The laughter of those who had been sitting around him followed us into the elevator. “Sal, where are you taking me?”
I hit the lobby button and then let Lany’s body slide down mine until he stood. I kept a firm grip around his waist. “I have a surprise for you.”
Lany’s eyebrow arched. “What sort of surprise?”
“Now, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”
Lany’s pout was adorable.
“Don’t stick that lip out unless you plan to use it,” I warned.
I laughed when Lany’s lower lip slid out even more.
“Hold that thought, caro.”
When the elevator reached the lobby, I swung Lany up over my shoulder again.
“I can walk, you know.”
“I do.” I swatted Lany’s jean clad ass. “But, this way is so much more fun.”
Clarke, Burke, Wu, and Brodsky were walking into the building as we walked out of the elevator. Clarke raised an eyebrow. Burke chuckled. Wu and Brodsky stopped and stared, grins on both their faces.
“The party is upstairs, guys,” I said as I passed them. “We’ll be back soon.”
“You need any help, Lieutenant?” Clarke asked.
“Nope.” I smacked Lany’s ass again. “I’ve got this.”
“Did Lyn make it?” Clarke asked.
“No,” Lany answered before I could. “He called and said he’s going out with his new guy. They’d try to stop in later if they can.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing when Clarke started to grumble and walk away. One of these days he was going to figure out he couldn’t keep ignoring his attraction to Lyn. I just didn’t know if Lyn was still going to be available when Clarke figured that out.
“We’ll be back,” I called out as I carried Lany out of the building to the car waiting for us. I dropped Lany into the front passenger seat, buckled him in, and then shut the door. “Thank you, Gilbert.”
“Of course, sir.”
I hurried around to the driver’s side and climbed in. After starting the vehicle, I turned to look at Lany. “Do you trust me?”
Lany frowned. “Of course I trust you.”
“Close your eyes.”
Lany’s eyebrows went up. “You want me to close my eyes?”
“Please?”
Lany’s eye roll was just as cute as his pout, but he closed his eyes. “Happy?”
“Yep.”
I couldn’t help grinning as I got the car underway. It shouldn’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes to get to our destination. My surprise was a big one, but also one I was pretty sure Lany would like.
I hoped Lany would like it.
“You know I love you, right, Lany?” I asked after the silence grew too big.
Lany’s eyes popped open. “What kind of question is—”
“Close your eyes, Lany.”
Lany huffed as he closed his eyes again.
I grinned at the disgruntled look on his face.
“What’s going on, Sal?” There was a tone of concern in Lany’s voice.
“I think it’s time for us to expand our family.”
Lany’s mouth dropped open.
“I got us a puppy.”
“That’s the surprise?”
“Nope.” This was getting good. “The puppy comes with a house.”
“You mean dog house.”
“No, caro, I mean house.”
I knew when Lany opened his eyes this time, no power on earth was going to close them.
“You got us a house?”
“Not exactly.”
Lany frowned. “Then what?”
I pulled the car to a stop in front of a ten-foot tall iron gate. An armed guard walked out of the guard shack and over to my window. I quickly rolled the window down and showed him my ID.
“Salvador and Lancaster Delvecchio.”
“Of course, sir.” The man waved to another guard in the shack and the gates started to open.
I waited until I could drive the car inside the compound before pulling over to the side of the driveway. I turned the car off and then got out before walking around to Lany’s door.
I pulled the door open and held out my hand. “Go for a walk with me?”
Lany’s eyes were huge as he took my hand and climbed out. I looped his arm through mine and began walking toward the mansion at the end of the driveway.
“What is this place, Sal?”
“This, caro, is our new house if we want it.”
I knew Lany’s parents would approve of the lavish estate. The place was a fortress set on the outskirts of the city. Ten-feet-high stone walls encircled the entire fifteen-acre estate, right to the edge of the river inlet it was built next to. A place that large was practically unheard of in the city.
“If we agree, this will become the Delvecchio Estate and your penthouse will become Vinnie’s new digs.”
“Vinnie wants to live in my penthouse?”
“He’s agreed to an even swap. Our penthouse for his estate.”
I was still a little stunned at the offer Vinnie had given me after Lany had been rescued. The man had been almost as frantic to find Lany as I had been. He seemed to tie in the happiness of the twins with Lany’s continued good health.
I couldn’t say the man was wrong.
“Vinnie had the whole place retrofitted to match the security measures in the penthouse. There are panic buttons in every room, tied into a central command center, which will be manned twenty-four hours a day by security, compliments of Vinnie. There are also two regular panic rooms per floor with a special one built between the girls’ rooms. It connects to the one in the master suite.”
When Vinnie had laid out his plan, and the renovations he had made to the manor house, I had been floored. I had also been excited. I hadn’t known what I was going to do when the girls got older and needed their own rooms. Considering we lived in the penthouse, we couldn’t exactly expand. “Your father and Vinnie are both going in to pay for a security team to man the grounds twenty-four hours a day. No one will be able to get in without going through them first.”
I could see guards patrolling the grounds, but I didn’t know if Lany did. They were meant to blend in unless needed. Only the guards at the gate and the front door would be visible on a regular basis.
This was as close to a hermetically sealed bubble as I was going to get. It was basically a dream come true for a man married to a hot mess.
“Why doesn’t Vinnie want to live here?” Lany asked.
“I think that Vinnie is doing this for the girls, for the most part. But I also think he knows he needs a change. He’s pretty much out of the life now, but he lives in this huge place all by himself. I think it holds too many memories of Isabella, and he liked the idea of the girls being where Isabella is.”
Lany glanced at me.
“There a flower garden and pond at the back of the estate. Isabella is buried there.”
Vinnie had shown me everything last week, every change he had made, including cleaning out every last bit of modern design. He’d had all the walls painted in colors Lany would like, but left the rest of the place empty for Lany to decorate.
His stuff was currently in storage while he waited to hear our decision. With the wide eyes Lany was giving the place, I had no idea what that would be.
“What do you think, caro? We’re only ten minutes from work, far enough to be outside the hustle and bustle of city life, but still in the city. The house is ready for us to move in as soon as we pack. There’s enough room for us, the girls, a dog, Marcus, and whoever comes to visit. With fifteen acres, there’s plenty of land for the girls to run and play, and we have lakefront access so they can play in the water if they want
.”
“How much is this going to cost us?”
“Nothing,” I said as I started to smile. “Vinnie wants to do an even trade for the penthouse.”
“Our penthouse is nice, but it’s not worth all of this.”
“It is if you’re Vinnie Castellano.” And you were hoping to get Gino to decorate it. “The penthouse is a place for a single man.” Or two. “This is a place for a family.”
“Can I see inside?”
“Of course.” We had already reached the front of the house, so going inside was easy enough, especially since Vinnie had given me the security code.
I wasn’t surprised when a guard met us right inside the door. Code or not, they had to check.
The man nodded to me. “Mr. Delvecchio.”
“Good afternoon, Brant. This is my husband, Lany Delvecchio.”
The man nodded to Lany. “Mr. Delvecchio.”
“Lany, this is Oliver Brant. He’s in charge of security here on the estate. If we take the place, he’ll be working with Marcus to keep us all safe.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Brant.”
“Just Brant, please.”
I knew Lany’s friendly greeting had won the man over when he smiled. I had only met the man a few times, but he had a cold-blooded killer vibe about him. I had never seen him smile. Vinnie said he wasn’t capable of it.
Now, I knew differently.
“Has my present arrived?”
“Oh, yes, sir. It’s upstairs in the children’s nursery.”
“Fantastic.” I grabbed Lany’s hand and started leading him through the house.
“What present, Sal?”
I just grinned.
Chapter Nineteen
Lany
I liked surprises as much as the next person—and presents—but this might be a little too much. A fifteen-acre estate for a two-bedroom penthouse?
Who swapped houses?
“Hey, slow down.” I wanted to look around.
“Can’t,” Sal said as he pulled me up the grand staircase. “Your present can’t wait.”
I rolled my eyes before hurrying up the stairs. Hopefully, I would get a chance to look around after I saw whatever it was Sal wanted to show me.
I was still a little iffy on the whole moving thing. I had lived in the penthouse for a long time. That’s where Sal and I had fallen in love. I wasn’t sure I wanted to give it up.
Sal seemed ecstatic.
At the top of the stairs, he took me down the hallway to a set of double doors. When he pushed the doors open, my jaw dropped.
“Sal,” I whispered.
The hardwood floors were strewn with rose peddles. A fire burned in the marble fireplace and a bottle of champagne sat chilling in a bucket of ice on the floor right next to the fireplace, a picnic basket sitting next to it. A white comforter sat on the floor amid it all.
“What is all of this?”
“Happy anniversary, caro.”
My eyes filled as I looked at the man of my dreams. “You did all of this for me?”
“For us.”
Sal had that beautiful smile I loved so much on his face as he walked toward me. “Remember, we’re not planning our anniversary celebration anymore, because god knows that never works out for us. I think there’s something to be said for spontaneity.”
“This was not spontaneous, Sal.”
This took planning.
“Well, I won’t tell if you don’t.”
I frowned when I heard a whimpering sound. Considering there was no furniture in the room, I couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from.
“Is this place haunted?”
That would get an instant no on moving if it was.
“Oh, no.” Sal hurried over to the blanket and dropped down next to the picnic basket. My curiosity piqued, I followed after him. My breath caught when he flipped open the lid and I got a good look inside.
“He’s so cute.”
A bundle of wiggling brown fur, all tongue and tail.
“He’s a King Charles Cocker Spaniel,” Sal said as he picked the puppy up out of the basket. “I’ve heard they are very good with kids.”
I dropped down onto the blanket next to Sal and reached for the puppy. I cuddled him to my chest as soon as I had him. “What’s his name?”
“He doesn’t have one yet. I thought I’d let you name him since he’s your present.”
“Mine?” What in the hell was I going to do with a dog? “I thought you were joking.”
The smile fell off Sal’s face. “You don’t want him?” he asked as he started to reach for the puppy.
I tightened my arms and turned away. “I didn’t say that.”
Sal raised a dark eyebrow. “So, you do want him?”
I was stubborn.
“Maybe.”
I giggled when my chin got chewed on and then licked until I thought my skin was going to come off. I held the little brown bundle up and tried to get a good look at the puppy’s face.
“He really is cute.”
“Right?” Sal said. “Just think of how great it would be for the girls to grow up with a puppy.”
My husband was not subtle.
“Okay, look.” I placed the puppy down on the blanket. “Is this something you really want to do?”
“The puppy?”
“Sal.”
Sal chuckled. “Yeah, Lany, this is something I want to do. I think it’s time. Don’t get me wrong. I love the penthouse. I just think we’ve outgrown it.”
“And adding a puppy to the mix is your answer for that?” I asked. “What if I don’t want to move?”
“Then we don’t move, Lany. We can only do this if we both agree to it.”
“Is it a safety thing?”
“In part. Too many times, people have gotten into the penthouse or threatened us at the penthouse. Here, we have fifteen acres of land they have to get through first, not to mention a shitload of security. At the penthouse, there’s just not enough security.”
“And you worry.”
Sal grinned. “And I worry.”
I pushed Sal back onto the blanket and then climbed on top of him, stretching out over his body. “You know it’s only going to get worse as the girls get older.”
“Oh yeah, but they are going to be perfect,” Sal said. “My karma isn’t so bad that I would have more than one hot mess.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Sal laughed as he rolled me over, coming down on top of me. “There’s only one of you, Lany Delvecchio, and I was lucky enough to catch you.” Sal’s expression grew serious. “And I’m never letting you go.”
I swallowed tightly. “I’m good with that.”
“So, what do you say, caro?” Sal asked.
I knew what Sal was asking and it was scary idea, but the idea was growing on me. Sal was right. We were outgrowing the penthouse. Now that the girls were starting to crawl everywhere and walk, they needed more room. We all needed someplace where we felt safe.
“Okay, Sal, we’ll keep the puppy.”
Sal frowned.
I laughed. “And we’ll keep the house.”
“Yeah?” Sal started to grin again.
“Yeah.”
I leaned up for a kiss, but what I received was so much more than that. Waves of electrifying pleasure shot through me, starting at my lips and shooting down until it reached my toes. My whole body came alive as Sal kissed me back. The tip of Sal’s tongue darted out, sliding across my lower lip. I opened for him, allowing Sal to invade my mouth. Sal plunged in, sweeping through and leaving my senses on fire.
“Take your clothes off, Lany.”
Okay, I liked that idea even better than the house.
One problem.
“We don’t have any lube.”
“Oh ye of little faith.” Sal reached over and grabbed a tube of lube off the floor next to the champagne bucket. “I wanted to make sure we celebrated our anniversary in style.”
I stared for a moment, surprised by Sal’s thoughtfulness. Granted, I often carried around individual packets of lube in my pocket, but I hadn’t known we were going to be leaving the penthouse before I got tossed over Sal’s shoulder, and then there hadn’t been time.
“Lany?”
I scrambled to get my clothes off. There was no way in hell I was going to miss an opportunity to get laid, especially since it wasn’t something hurried in between caring for the girls.
By the time I tossed the last item of clothing away, Sal was naked and stretched out on the blanket.
Yum.
I stretched out next to him, yelping when he grabbed me and pulled me under him. Sometimes, the man didn’t know his own strength.
“Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?”
“Oh, I have one or two ideas.”
Salvador
I knew I was staring down at the only man I would ever love, the only man who garnered any interest from me. The only man I would desire for the rest of my life.
I was so okay with that.
“You are so beautiful, caro.”
Lany blushed, which only made my dick throb more.
I ghosted my hands over Lany’s silky skin, taking in his beauty as I kissed my way down his throat to his chest. I parted my lips and sucked Lany’s nipple between my teeth. I groaned at how good the man’s skin tasted.
Hot summer rain.
I loved that scent.
As I licked at Lany’s nipple with my tongue, I smoothed my hands over his body. It was incredible just how soft and silky smooth the man’s skin was. I couldn’t seem to stop touching him. No matter what area my hands skimmed over, Lany’s skin was pure perfection.
“You’re so soft, Lany,” I said as I kissed my way from one side of Lany’s body to the other, listening to his quiet moans of pleasure and the soft rhythm of his heart.
I moved my hand between Lany’s legs and pushed against the man’s knees with my shoulders, encouraging Lany to spread his legs wider. It worked. Lany spread his legs enough for me to reach between them and find his sweet little hole.
I pushed my lubed finger into Lany’s tight ass. My reward was Lany’s sweet cry above me. I began a slow rhythm of moving my finger in and out of Lany’s ass. After a few minutes, I added another finger. When Lany started bucking his hips, I moved faster, pressing deeper, faster. A third finger had Lany’s legs trembling. His cries turned into one long continuous whine.
