“He wouldn’t.”
I stare at my husband’s ass and try to determine if he’s winding me up or not. I can’t tell. I’m not sure if his underwear shows through his pants normally or not.
In the two weeks we’ve been together, he’s gone without a number of times. Although in recent days he’s been more conscious of the little boy now living with us.
I’ve been the same. Not to mention we also share a house with Pa. Both those things have put a crimp in our sex life. Not much but enough that when we find ourselves alone and able to indulge, we tend to crash together.
Not that we weren’t doing that before…
Who am I kidding, we’re still fucking like crazy, just not as randomly as before. Now we have to time things or sneak off so we don’t get caught. The last thing we want is to get caught going at it.
I grin thinking about our first night here when Micky had a nightmare and screamed at the top of his lungs while Walker and I were in the middle of getting off.
How neither of us ended up with an injury that night is beyond me. We’d both been yanking on clothes as we’d raced down the hall to Micky’s room. Talk about thrown in the deep end of parenthood.
Speaking of being parents, watching Walker play with a smiling Micky brings tears to my eyes.
Man and child may have had a rocky start, but things quickly evened out. I’m crediting the poop pancakes for that.
“I love that smile.”
I turn to Pa. “I love yours.”
“He’s a hoot. We’re going to get up to all sorts of mischief together.”
“Good thing you’re rich and can afford bail money then.”
Laughing, Pa wraps his arm around my shoulders and tugs me close. “I wish your Grams was here to see this.”
“Me too.”
“She’d be so proud of you. Hell, she was proud of you, and you hadn’t taken over the world yet.”
“I haven’t now.”
“No, but you’re getting there.”
“I don’t want the whole world, Pa.”
“No, just a few parts of it.”
“This new part is going to be the best part.”
“The Rogues? Or those two?”
Smiling, I lean my head on his shoulder. “Those two.”
“Are you happy, Annie?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’m about to make you happier.”
“Oh?”
“Yep, I’m taking my new partner out for ice cream. Give the newlyweds some time alone.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Who said anything about need? I want me a double scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and I’ve got a youngster to corrupt.”
“Good thing Grams isn’t here or she’d be swatting you with the wooden spoon.” I laugh.
“She used to chase us right out the front door when I told her I was taking you out to corrupt.”
“And she did it with the biggest grin on her face.”
“She did. She did.”
“Should I take up the tradition?”
“Nah, we’ll start a new one.”
“Oh?”
“You bring ’em home, I’ll corrupt ’em.”
“You know you’re the reason we named our clothing line Rogue, don’t you?”
“Me?” Pa puts a hand to his chest.
“Yes. Grams used to call you a rogue all the time. Said you were one because it didn’t matter what was expected or should be done, you went your own way. It’s how we came up with the tagline too.”
“Well.” His eyes sparkle with moisture. “I’m honored and a little peeved you haven’t told me before now. Think of all the bragging rights I’ve missed out on.”
I laugh. “You’ve got enough to brag about.”
“The only thing I have that deserves to be crowed about is you.” He pulls me in for a full hug. “I’m so damn proud of you and I don’t care what anyone else says or thinks, marrying that man is the smartest thing you’ve ever done. He’s your Grams.”
“Yes. He is.”
“Did we ever tell you I asked her to marry me the day we met?”
“No,” I gasp, pulling back to look at him. “Why have I never heard that?”
“Don’t know. But I knew she was mine the second I laid eyes on her. We were barely eighteen and it took me a good two years to convince her to marry me, but I got there.”
“It’s the James stubborn gene.”
“It is. And as your Grams used to say, you’ve got it out the wazoo, Annie Oakley.”
“Why did you call her that, Pa?”
We turn to see Walker and Micky have joined us. I look at Pa and nod. I’ll let him tell the story—he always makes it sound better than me.
“Well, come here, young man, and let me tell you a tale about a little girl not much older than you and her love of water pistols.” He slips his hand into Micky’s then says, “We’ll be heading out for a treat and story time.”
“Single scoop. I don’t want either of your spoiling your appetites.”
He looks at his watch. “Double, one hour for each scoop to digest and we’ll be ready for dinner.” He gives me a wink before he leads Micky into the house.
“I want to worry about spoiling him but I don’t think it’ll hurt if we do for a little while.” Walker slips his arm around me as we watch them go. “How long do we have?”
Turning, I put both hands on his chest and tip my head back. “Long enough for you to show me what you’ve got on under those pants, Hot Stuff.”
Laughing, he bends, and before I work out what he’s doing, I’m looking at the back of his legs, my face bouncing off his hard butt as he jogs into the house.