by April Zyon
“Yes, my brothers are here but most importantly, Tony, your son is here.” She looked at him and grinned. “Honey, I’m yours. No matter what, I’m yours and you know it. Christ, I’m going to marry you just as soon as you can arrange it, and you know it. You are the only man I want and have ever wanted.” He had been her one and only lover. He should know just how much he meant to her.
“I’m sorry, baby. It’s just I get so worked up about that man.”
“I know. Let’s get dressed and let me introduce you to your son.” She couldn’t wait to introduce him to TJ. She wanted Tony to know TJ. She needed him to know their son before they were married so he knew exactly what he was getting when he decided to marry her.
“I want that.” He smacked her ass and then smiled at her. “Get your sexy ass up off the bed, baby, so we can get showered and dressed. I want to meet my son.”
Chapter Seventeen
Tony couldn’t believe how nervous he was. He was going to meet his son for the first time and it was because these men brought him here, to his home and to his woman. Fuck, he had to get over his own internal insecurities long enough to see that she was never going to leave him like she said. He had to trust her. She loved him. She wasn’t like the other women he had met in his life. Emily was special and there was no one that would ever be able to pull her away from him. He knew that, but it was trying to get over his own internal shit that was killing him.
“I love you, Emily. More than I ever thought I could love anyone. You are it for me.”
“I know, Tony.” She smiled that gorgeous smile of hers and ran her hands up his chest in a way that made him hard in an instant. Fuck the things she did to him. He hoped she wouldn’t one day hate him, because he was never going to let her go. “I love you, too. Now, stop procrastinating because I need to feed our son.”
That had him laughing and he nodded. “Okay, baby. Let’s go. I can’t wait to meet him, but…” He hesitated and put his hands on her hips. “It’s so easy with you because you know me and you accept me, but what if he hates me?” There, he actually voiced his fear aloud. He was terrified he was going to be a piss poor father like his father was.
Emily suddenly looked very serious and cupped his cheeks in her small hands. She stroked her thumbs over his lips and shook her head. “It’s because you are afraid that I know you aren’t going to be a failure as a father. You’ve read like a hundred parenting books. Jesus, I saw what was on your Kindle, Tony. You are taking this as serious as any one person possibly can. You are an amazing man and while you might not be what other people call a good man you are a good man in my book and you will be a good man to our son. Do you think that because I kill for a living our son has a terrible mother?”
“No. God no.” He pulled her closer to him, his hands hard on her hips. “You are a fucking amazing mother and I would kill anyone that said anything else.”
“Then I take the same stance. You are an amazing man, Tony, and I know that once you meet TJ and spend some time with him you will realize you were created to be his father. Stop questioning yourself, honey, because it makes me nervous. Come on, let’s go see him before the brothers bring him here. The last place I want them is in our bedroom.”
“You damn straight I don’t want them in our bedroom.” Just the thought of the men she called her brothers in their bedroom made him all sorts of pissed off. He dragged her out of the bedroom and into the hall. “Which room did you—” Tony then stopped mid-sentence. He heard his son then. Heard the gleeful shouts of laughter and the pitter pat of feet running along the hardwood floors. He grinned. When his son rounded the corner, Tony dropped to his knees. It was like someone gut punched him and every single ounce of air he had in his body had been vacuumed out with the joyous look on the boy’s face. The look of wonder as his son looked up at him and then his mother.
“Mommy!” The boy shouted in a way that only a son who missed his mother could. That sound was one that went straight to Tony’s heart, and he was instantly in love with his son. This boy who looked just like him, except the child had his love’s eyes and oddly enough the color of her hair. The boy was beautiful because he was part of Emily. “Up! Up! Unk’s after!”
Emily laughed and got down on her knees beside Tony instead, which Tony was thankful for because he didn’t think he could have stood if he had been forced to at that moment. “TJ, which uncle?”
“Where are you at monkey?” Striker rounded the corner, down on all fours. There was a grin on his face, one that instantly slid away when he saw Tony. Striker stood and looked from Tony to Emily and then down to TJ. “I see you found a protector, huh? Well don’t forget that next time when we play you are it, little man.” He bowed his head to Tony and said, “Tony, good to see you again. Glad you and Emily have worked things out. TJ is a good kid.”
Tony could see the pain in Striker’s eyes and knew how much that hurt him to say, but Tony was grateful he had said it all the same.
With a small tilt of his face, TJ touched the tears on Tony’s cheeks. He couldn’t possibly understand the tears, but the boy was intelligent. Tony could see it in his eyes..
“TJ,” Emily said when Striker left them alone in the hall. “This man…” They were all on the floor, which Tony found silly, but he also couldn’t move. That and he didn’t want to move having TJ so close to him, period. “This is your daddy.”
The grin on the kid glowed like a megawatt smile. It was enough that Tony sobbed now with his tears. “Daddy?” The boy questioned, the word daddy coming out a bit wobbly but Tony understood it all the same.
“Yes, son. I’m your daddy,” Tony said finally. When the boy launched into his arms, Tony hugged him and held onto him tightly. He couldn’t help but close his arms around the child and hold him close. The boy’s little arms closed around Tony’s neck, and Tony could feel the boy smelling him. He looked at Emily and asked, “Is he sniffing me?”
“Yes, he has been trained that a person use all of their senses to mark those they love and those that are important to them. Later, he will be trained to use that in other aspects as well, but he uses touch, scent, and—”TJ licked Tony’s cheek, which shocked the fuck out of him. “And taste. I told you he will use all of his senses, but that’s good because that means he accepts you, Tony.” She stroked her hand over her son’s head and then looked at Tony again. “Are you able to stand yet?”
Tony just shook his head. He wasn’t ready. He wanted this moment to continue simply because he finally had his son and the woman he loved. “Marry me today. We will go to the courthouse. I know a guy and can get us a license and we can get married today. I don’t want this day to end.”
Emily leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I had planned on it, silly man.” She smiled and kissed TJ’s cheek as well when he pointed to his cheek. “I love you too, my little man. I missed you.”
Tony got up on shaky feet and nodded. He pulled Emily up as well. He still had TJ in his arms and held onto his son comfortably as if he had been doing it for all the boy’s life. “How about we go and see your brothers, tell them the plan for the day, because I know you are going to want them there. Then we will go and get our boy ready. I will take you both shopping, because I think you both deserve something new for today.”
Emily just smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Aw, you know how to butter me up. I love that you want to buy us things and even more than that I love that you want to include my brothers. Thank you.”
Emily moved to his side and slipped her hand into his. She pulled him along the hall to where he assumed she had stashed her brothers. He wasn’t surprised that it was in the suites of rooms that were connected. She was a smart woman, his Emily.
Together they walked into the room and TJ screamed, “Unk’s!” The boy didn’t hold his arms out. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck and said, “Me daddy.” The sound of the boy’s voice seemed to carry such pride that once more Tony felt like the air had been sucked out of hi
s lungs. God this kid was going to be the death of him, but in the best of ways.
Tony looked at each of the men. Fucking hell it was like each one was bigger than the next. “I guess I should introduce you to everyone,” Emily said with a smile and squeezed Tony’s arm.
“The first big dork here is Tyler Wilkerson, but everyone calls him Redneck.” She looked up at Tony and added, “However, in the Horsemen, he’s War and trust me, he’s very good at it.”
Tony gave a nod to the man.
Redneck was a barrel-chested man with short brown hair, but his eyes were as blue as Emily’s. If Tony didn’t know better, he would think the two of them were really related. The man’s hands were the size of dinner plates and the look on his face was one that said that he really could bring War to anyone that fucked with his or paid the right price. Tony respected the shit out of the man instantly.
“You met Striker, I’m assuming.” Emily continued. “His name is Benjamin Striker and he doesn’t have a nickname aside from Strike or Striker. In the Horsemen, he’s Death because he’s dealt more of it than all of us put together.”
Tony eyed up his nemesis and had to admit that the man was good-looking, even if Tony did hate him still. Striker was six foot seven and looked to be close to three hundred pounds of solid muscle. He was bald with tattoos covering his scalp, down his neck, and into his shirt. Striker’s eyes were stormy grey; the anger was strong with this one.
“I thought you said your name was Striker Reynolds?” Tony felt the need to poke the bear, so to speak.
“Yeah, and I thought that you would have come back to Emily two years earlier so I suppose we both were wrong.”
Emily squeezed Tony’s arm and he knew to let it drop. For her he would let it drop. “This is Kenny. He’s the leader of The Guild. He’s like a father to all of us. His name is Kenny Lee, but everyone knows him as Lucifer and stuff gets real if Lucifer calls in a kill order.” Emily wasn’t even playing, Tony could tell.
Looking at the man Emily called Lucifer he could see a soldier. A man who had seen far too much battle and it could be that this was the only way he could hold onto his sanity. Plus, it had to be a very lucrative job if the Rolex’s and custom suits every man wore were any indication. Lucifer was no less intimidating than the other men. He was shorter, only six foot two maybe, but he wasn’t old enough to be these peoples father, that was for sure. There was the slightest salt and pepper hair at the man’s temples. There were crow’s feet, but Tony wouldn’t put him over forty. He still had a soldier’s body, muscular and ready to go at a moment if Tony had to guess.
Emily smiled affectionately at Kenny and then turned Tony to the next two men. “This is Jester.” Tony was surprised she called a man who had done nothing but frown from the moment they came in Jester. “His real name is Bryce Taggert, and as a Horsemen he’s known as Famine.” Tony wondered why he selected that moniker. There had to be a story there. The man had mocha latte colored skin. He wasn’t white but he wasn’t African American either. His eyes were brown and clear. It looked as if the man saw everything, took everything in, and Tony could see them as kindred souls.
“Finally Pest.” Emily moved away from Tony, gave the man in question a gentle hug, and then went back to Tony. “Alexander Floyd.” Oh shit, Tony knew that name. Alexander Floyd was a technological fucking genius and the Floyd family was old money, seriously fucking old money. “He’s known as Pestilence but hates it so we just call him Pest. We can’t use his real name. I’m sure that you can understand why.”
“Yes, I certainly can. I’m surprised you are a part of this team.” Tony didn’t mince his words; it was something he had never done.
“There is a lot about me you don’t know, so don’t presume to.” The deep baritone of the man’s voice reverberated through the room, and Tony really looked at him. He could see it now. There were scars on the sides of the man’s face, not from plastic surgery but from abuse. Tony knew those scars, because he had them on his back. The man was blond haired and green eyed with such patrician features that even if you saw him on the streets you could tell he came from money. Tony wondered just how they hid that when he went on jobs and wanted to get to know the man to ask him. It surprised Tony that he wanted to get to know any of these men, but he did. He wanted to get to know all of them, even Striker.
“You’re right,” Tony said with a bow of his head. “There is a lot that I don’t know about all of you, but I would like to learn. Because are all a part of Emily and TJ’s lives. Ultimately, you will all be a part of our lives. I would really like for there to be peace, if you are all willing.”
Kenny stepped forward and brushed a finger over TJ’s cheek and then looked at Emily. Finally, he looked at Tony and the look was impossible to mistake. It was one that held promise of retribution should Tony hurt either of the people that he held as family. “Don’t ever hurt her again and never, ever hurt TJ. You do and you will never see us coming.”
“I don’t know what you know about me, but I would never hurt my son. I was hurt often as a kid and that’s something I would never do to my son, ever. He means more to me than anything. If I had to choose between my life and his, he would live every single time.” That seemed to appease the man because he smiled and walked away.
“Oh, by the way, Emily and I are getting married today. I’m taking her and TJ shopping to get them new duds. If you want to come along you are all welcome.”
Each of the men looked at each other and then there was laughter. “Oh, we wouldn’t miss it for the world.” This came from Redneck, a man who had a heavy southern accent. “This is gonna be good. I bet a hundred bucks daddy is in tears before they finish trying to buy the boy his first outfit.” Oh shit, Tony didn’t like how that sounded.
Chapter Eighteen
Emily should have warned Tony about TJ’s proclivities when it came to shopping, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him that his son was a bit of a kleptomaniac and not only that, he charmed every woman that came within a hundred yards of him. That was why his nannies were all men, well that and that’s who she trusted. It wasn’t until they got home and put TJ down for a nap that she knew she was in trouble with Tony.
He turned to her and narrowed his gaze upon her. “You didn’t warn me. They all knew. That’s why they all laughed in my fucking face, and you didn’t warn me.”
She giggled. She knew she shouldn’t, but she did. “I love you, Tony, but how was I supposed to tell you that your boy was a bit of a thief?” The fact that the kid got away with it still stunned her. He was just that good.
“You are getting a spanking, Emily Bruno.”
Emily felt her heart skipping a beat. “God I love the way that sounds. I can’t believe you actually married me after you saw what your son did.”
“Of course I married you. I love you.” Tony got serious on her and paused in taking off his tie. “Besides, it doesn’t matter what he does. He’s our son. He’s perfect. Those brothers of yours gave me all sorts of shit, but I don’t care. As long as you are both healthy and happy that’s all I care about. We do need to teach the boy not to steal, though. That’s something beneath a Bruno. We are meant for something more, and he will learn that one day. One day if he wants, he can join the family but not for many, many years. For now, I want him to be a normal kid. Well, at least as normal of a kid as he can be with having the both of us as his parents.”
Emily smiled and moved in closer to Tony, taking his tie in her hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. Thank you for accepting our son just as he is, honey.”
“You aren’t getting out of your spanking.” He put his hands on her ass, pulling her in closer to him. “But I think you are going to enjoy it, aren’t you? Are you wet, Emily?”
She couldn’t deny him anything, so she licked her lower lip and nodded. “Yes, just the thought of you spanking me has me wet.”
“Good.” He dipped his head and nibbled at her neck. “Now, get naked and get on the bed, baby,
because I’m going to spank your ass. Then I’m going to fuck you.”
She bowed her head in supplication and did as he instructed. She got up on the bed after stripping out of the dress he had purchased her to wear for their wedding. It had been sweet; he had not only picked out her dress but picked out the suit for their son as well. And then the ring… Holy crapballs, the rock he put on her hand was amazing. She had no idea where he got the time to get it, but he had. She had a feeling Gregorio had a little bit to do with it as well, but at this moment all she cared about was the man that was now her husband.
She watched him as he slowly got naked. She wasn’t shocked when he tied her hands with the tie, wrapping it around her wrists and then through the headboard so she had some movement but was restrained. He took his belt and put it off to the side. She shivered and bit her lower lip, watching him as he took off his shirt and tied it around one of her ankles to anchor her to the bed. “Are you okay?” He stroked his hand up her leg and then thigh.
“Yes.” She jolted when he smacked her ass hard with his large hand.
He grabbed a pillow and placed it under her body, holding her hips up higher than her shoulders. He then took the belt he had laid off to the side and tied her other ankle to the other post on the footboard. Once she was secured, he asked her again, “Are you okay, wife?”
She felt her pussy clench and shivered in reaction. “Yes, Sir, I’m okay.”
“Good girl.” He then swatted her ass again. “That’s for not telling me our son is a bit of a klepto.” He swatted her ass again on the other cheek. “That’s for not telling me our boy tends to be a bit of a charmer.” He let his hands move between her ass cheeks and then to her pussy, which had her moaning. “Fuck, Em, you are so god damn wet.”
“Only for you.” She lifted her ass just a bit more to give him more room to slide his fingers into her pussy.
