by Anne Conley
Jason stood with his arm around Miriam with Nick wrapped around his leg as they talked to Jordan and Evan by the dessert table. Evan was shoveling cookies in his mouth like they would disappear if he didn’t eat them in the next thirty seconds.
After a round of handshaking and back-clapping hugs, Simon started making fun of Evan and the cookies.
“Sorry,” he mumbled around a mouthful. “We’re about to go to Mom and Dad’s for a couple of weeks and she can’t cook to save her life.”
“She hired one, dumbass. Dad’s got to eat.” The brothers and their wives were planning a trip to Montana to visit their parents on a horse ranch, and Simon wanted to see these two city dudes—one a gamer and the other a Harley-riding vet—on a horse so bad it almost made him stupid. But alas, a trip to Montana wasn’t on his agenda.
“Why did your parents decide to do that again? Move to Montana and raise horses?” Simon couldn’t believe he didn’t know the answer to this one, but it was killing him.
Evan answered. “Mom’s a project gal. And Dad has too much money and likes spending it on Mom’s projects. For the last few years, her project has been horses.”
Jordan shuddered, and Simon knew the guy had spent some time up there before he’d taken the job with them. “You not a fan?”
“Do you know how much they shit? And it has to be shoveled every fucking day.” He reached for a cookie. “When are they going to let us eat?”
“I’ll go say something to Krista.” Simon laughed as he made his way over to where Krista was sitting next to his wife. They were talking in hushed murmurs, and Simon got a sudden sense they were telling secrets. Did everyone besides him know about this legal paperwork Quinten had drawn up?
“Jordan’s hungry.” His stomach growled, and he feigned sheepishness as Krista and Lacie smiled indulgently.
“Gotcha, Sarge.” Krista got up and clapped her hands, instructing everyone to sit at the table set up with the food already on it. “Boss says it’s time to eat!”
Lacie seated herself between Bonnie and Simon, Simon’s hand clamped possessively on her thigh, nestled under her massive belly. She couldn’t help but admit his touch relaxed her. There was something about today, a tense aura of expectation. Lacie was afraid to admit it to Simon, but she really thought today was going to be the day. She felt weird.
For one thing, she’d been having light contractions all morning, off and on, nothing regular or the least bit painful. She also wasn’t hungry in the slightest but managed to pull off putting a miniscule amount of food on her plate for appearance’s sake.
She could only hope Baby Pierce would wait until after the barbecue. She hated to not come, since it had sort of been a big deal for Krista and Ryan, what with their big reveal today. Simon was going to love it. She knew the little boy’s fate from the job where they’d first encountered the senator and his evil ways had been an uneasy question in Simon’s mind in the years since they’d worked it. He’d initially been targeted because he didn’t really have a home to go to. He was walking to his aunt’s house when he’d been picked up. Simon didn’t talk about it much, but when they’d gotten the news about Jonas finally being sentenced to the federal facility for the criminally insane, he’d opened up to her and spilled the entire sordid tale of Jonas—his stalking of Bonnie, his father’s perversions—and it had all made Lacie nauseous as well as proud that he’d been the one to put the guy away.
“What have you and Zack been up to?” Lacie questioned Bonnie while she spooned a giant spoonful of broccoli salad on her plate. “You’re not pregnant, too, are you?” It seemed like the entire firm was about to get hit with the pregnancy bug. Must be something in the water at the offices making everyone super fertile or something.
Bonnie blushed and lowered her head. “We’re still undecided about babies. Zack has a thing about not being able to see his kid.”
“But I can hear you telling all my damn secrets,” Zack muttered from her other side, winking in the direction of Lacie. “My spidey senses are in working order.”
“Which is what I keep telling him. He’ll be able to know so much more about a baby than I will, just based on that alone. Like, he can smell fear and shit.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “But no, we’re not pregnant. We’re talking about a business venture.”
“What?” Simon reacted a little too loudly from her other side, and a pang contracted her gut. This one was harder, like someone squeezed her belly. Hard. Lacie ignored it and sipped her punch. “You’re leaving?”
Bonnie sighed. “Not tomorrow, Simon. We’re just talking about Zack using some of his skills and the technology he’s developed to start up an accessibility thing, to help other people use the technology that is so sight-based.”
Simon grunted, but Lacie patted his hand on her thigh. He’d get over it once he thought about it a while. “That sounds like a great thing. Let me know if I can help in some way.”
Quinten sat across the table, cutting up meat on Nick’s plate. “I’m gonna miss you guys.” He wasn’t fooling anyone. Every person at that table knew Quinten had a soft spot for Nick.
“We’re only going to be gone a week. It’s not like you haven’t gone a week without seeing him before,” Jake pointed out.
“Where are you going?” Lacie asked, feeling out of the loop as another twang hit her belly. This one a tad sharper. Oh God. It was happening.
Simon looked at her funny, and she schooled her features, flashing him a bright smile.
“We’re going to visit my brother and his fiancée in Mystic.”
Quinten flinched at the name of the town and murmured, “Creepy-ass town.” Louder, he told Jake, “Take a rosary or something.”
“Sorry I’m late, guys.” All conversation stopped as V walked into the back yard holding a giant aluminum pan. The spicy scent of buffalo sauce hit Lacie and she felt like she was going to puke.
He looked different. After the case was over, he’d had his implants taken out of his head, which was good. V was growing his hair back over them, which covered up some of his tattoos, and he was working on removal for the ones on his face. It was funny, the more the tattoos on his face faded, the more his striking Asian features stood out.
“Veasna!” Amber went running up to him, Dex following to shake his hand. Bonnie excused herself from the table and threw herself into his arms.
After he’d helped Bonnie escape from Jonas, they held a bond Lacie could understand. After her own ordeal, she could definitely get it, even if Zack was pivotal in Bonnie’s ultimate rescue. If V hadn’t let Bonnie loose, who knew where she would be now? Lacie shook her head.
“Okay, everybody here? I wanted to make an announcement.” Ryan stood as V set the pan of hot wings on the table in front of Lacie. She cringed as her stomach twisted. She could get through this. It was so hot, she was dripping sweat in awful places, but she just needed to get through another hour or so and then they could go home. Krista got up and opened the door to the house, letting out a tall, lanky, blond teen. A gasp of surprise rippled through the table. Even if Lacie had never seen him before, a lot of these people had. “Today, it’s official. We’ve adopted Toby, the kid Krista saved from the senator.” Ryan hugged the kid close to him, and Lauren launched herself into Toby’s arms.
Simon had frozen next to her. Lacie leaned over. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you peeing yourself?” It was hot, and she was sweaty and hadn’t really noticed the increased moisture, what with V’s appearance and the news about the adoption. But sure enough, one swipe of her hand down there and she was totally wet. Now that she knew that, it was all she could notice.
“I guess my water broke?”
Quinten heard from across the table and rose from his chair. “Sorry to steal your thunder, Ryan, but it looks like we need to get Lacie to a hospital.”
Simon
was as white as a ghost.
Simon held Lacie’s hand and one of her feet as she pushed and yelled her way through another contraction.
“You’re doing amazing, baby.” He was almost as breathless as she was; just watching her strength was punching him in the gut. He felt each contraction, and not just because her body reacted to each one—either her hand squeezing the hell out of his fingers or her leg pushing against the hand holding her foot—but because they hurt her. And what hurt Lacie hurt Simon.
She was so damn beautiful. Her hair was sticking to her face where it had come down from its braid, and her skin was flushed. The noises she was making were a lot like the noises she made when he made her come so hard she saw stars. He’d never seen anything so damn gorgeous in his life. His woman was giving birth to his baby.
She’d never told him what they were having, and he played along for the sake of her happiness. Lacie seemed to relish keeping him on his toes, and he enjoyed seeing her devilishly secretive smile.
But now, she was hurting, and he would do anything to get this baby out of her so her pain would be over.
“Just a couple pushes, Lacie, and we’re there. Mr. Pierce, the head is crowning, if you’d like to see.” Simon looked down and was surprised to see an enormous head of black hair sticking out of Lacie. She grunted out a scream and squeezed everything Simon was holding her with, but he was stuck watching this surreal vision as a head with a face scrunched up in an expression of abject misery slid out from between Lacie’s legs.
“I see it, Lace. It’s here.” Simon’s words were whispered, but as he looked at her face, she managed to give him a tired smile before her face twisted in pain once more.
He was beside himself. He wanted this to be over for her so he could hold her, but he couldn’t take his eyes off what was happening near the doctor. A fucking baby was coming out of his wife. He watched her move around it as she pushed and contracted. A living human being, slimy and tiny, came out of his wife.
Simon was lightheaded. He couldn’t feel his hand. A strange, disembodied feeling overtook him as he watched the baby slide out, the doctor flip it—her—and slap her back before handing her over to the nurses, who were waiting with a blanket.
“Congratulations. She’s healthy.”
She.
Another, stronger wave of dizziness stole over him, and he grabbed Lacie for balance.
“A girl?” He tore his eyes away from the baby who had her mouth open and looked like she was ready to scream. “We had a girl? And you knew? I have a daughter?”
The screams started, and Simon found it in him to disengage himself from his wife, the most beautiful girl in the world, and go to his daughter. He touched her around the nurses as they cleaned her and swaddled her, a little rough for his tastes, and shooshed her. “It’s okay, baby girl. Daddy’s here.”
After a lot of shooshing, the nurses finally stopped him. “Sir, she needs to cry. Clear the fluid out of her lungs.”
Okay. He would allow it. This once.
Sometime later, he had allowed visitors in to see baby Grace and give well wishes to the mother. He managed to wedge himself into bed next to Lacie while she held Grace to her breast. He couldn’t speak. He simply held her, resting his head on her other breast, and watched the process.
It was fucking amazing. His woman was making babies. Feeding them with her body.
“What are you thinking?” Lacie’s quiet voice soothed him like nothing else.
“So much,” he admitted. “You’re the most perfect human being in the world to create her. Baby Grace. I’m thinking I have so much more to live for now. I’m thinking your breasts should be erotic, yet you’re using them to feed our child and letting me lay my head on them. I’m thinking I don’t ever want to hear her cry again, and I’ll do everything in my power to not let it happen.” He stopped at her quiet laughter. Looking up at her, he saw exhaustion pulling at her eyelids.
“I’m thinking she’s got you wrapped around her little finger already.” With that proclamation, her eyes fell shut and he laid there, watching his wife sleep while she fed their baby.
Fucking amazing.
Lacie had changed his life so much. She had changed the way his company worked—more vacations, less stress, less on-the-job drinking. She had changed the way he lived, helping him pick out a modest house for them to move into. She had changed his perceptions of things. Now, instead of getting stressed and needing to get laid, he went home to his wife to get laid. It was entirely different from the one-night stands he’d had in the past, a mutually beneficial giving and receiving of pleasure. She had changed everything about him. Almost.
He still had control issues, but with her help, he was discovering there were some things beyond his control and some things he simply didn’t need to control.
It was freeing.
He’d initially thought a relationship with Lacie would be an echo of his past, but instead he’d found something real, something stunning.
He’d found love.
Coming Soon
A New Series
Playing With Fire
Truth or Dare
Hide and Seek
Spin the Bottle
Hot Lava
First in the series, Truth or Dare, releasing August 2018.
Read an unedited sneak peek now.
Chapter One
Jude’s unfocused gaze zeroed in on the woman in the corner of the bar in an attempt to ignore his friend’s girlfriend currently trying to engage him.
She stared at her margarita, the fancy frozen drink in the fluffy glass, so out of place in this salt of the earth bar—just as out of place as she was. Everyone else in this bar were regulars of some sort, and she was far from the regular clientele. She was more suited to one of the more upscale places in town, designed for tourists, not the locals.
Because she clearly wasn’t from around here. She was untouched by the harsh weather of the mountainside, looking like she came from a place where the sun shone from a big sky, not someplace the sun was blotted out by the side of a mountain most of the time. She looked fresh faced and innocent, in her green wrap dress that fit her figure, the scarf draped tightly around her neck like it provided warmth. That was more evidence she wasn’t from around here. It was warm, compared to how it would feel in a month or two.
“Truth or dare, Jude?” Simone’s eyes sparkled as she looked across the table at Jude. He didn’t even try to hide the groan. Jude had known Simone his entire life, and now, looking at her in her designer fucking shoes and shit, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why she was here. Simone was the type of girl who was never single, and her man always gave her something. Yeah, she led them around by the dick and was so good at it, they gave her the world. The guys she dated typically had money, a fuck ton of it, and he couldn’t figure out why she was with his buddy Joey, unless she wanted to suddenly take a walk on the wild side, pole-bunny style.
Jude looked to his buddy Joey for help. “Seriously? Tell her, man. I don’t do games.”
Joey’s face turned a disgusting mask of goo-goo when he looked at Simone and Jude knew it was pointless. Dude was pussy-whipped to the nth degree with this chick.
“Pick someone else,” Jude gestured to the table of people she could pick on. Besides him and Joey, Logan and Zane were there too, and they were single too. Why couldn’t she pick on them?
“I want to play with you, Jude,” she whined. Jude looked to Zane for help, but he was studiously ignoring them, focused on drinking and watching the bar. Logan wasn’t helping either. He ignored them all, a thunderous look on his face.
In fact, Simone was the only woman crashing guy’s night, and it sort of pissed Jude off. They used these times to decompress after a scene and her being here wasn’t helping with that. Especially if she wanted to play games.
/> “Truth,” Jude muttered, watching her sit up eagerly, her eyes turning mischievous in a heartbeat.
“Why won’t you go out with Everly again? You know she really wants to.” Simone wanted him to spill secrets he wasn’t willing to share with her. She was besties with his ex, and he wasn’t about to tell her he’d wanted to get deeper with Everly, to see if she was “the one” until Everly had made him a fucking project.
Jude pushed his chair back. “No way. This is stupid.” Two months, and Everly had tried to get him to meet her parents, start wearing khaki pants, and quit his job at the firehouse. That wasn’t even taking into account the god-awful neon yellow ‘snow-boarding’ suit she’d bought him. He shuddered.
“I’m not getting into that with you, Simone. You should really know better.”
Before she could go on, Katie, a gorgeous woman with bright red curls and a super tight dress walked by and ran her fingers over Logan’s shoulders. Logan jumped in his seat, spilling his drink in his lap, which had him cussing up a storm. Thankful for the shift in focus from him, Jude laughed as Katie grabbed a handful of napkins and started trying to clean up the liquor spilled all over his lap.
“It’s fine,” Logan practically growled at her.
“I’m really sorry, Logan,” Katie purred, still patting his crotch gently. Logan stilled her hands, and Jude could see his clenched jaw and temple ticking.
“Let. It. Go.”
Jude had been watching the two-step between these two for over a year, and wondered why Logan didn’t give in to the fiery red-head and fuck her like she clearly wanted him to. But Logan wasn’t one to go for the Pole Bunnies, as they liked to call the women who were after the firefighters, just because they were firefighters.
Although Jude had known Katie a long time, and she wasn’t one to go after all the firemen. She just seemed to want Logan. She was a nice girl, raising her little brother in their parents’ absence. And there was something between the two of them, whether Logan would admit it or not.
