But right then, I couldn’t remember any of them.
There was only her, curling up closer to my chest as I brushed my knuckles across her flat stomach. Staring at me with heavy-lidded eyes, smiling softly, and looking so beautiful, it hurt.
We’d had thousands of moments just like that, I was sure.
But I had no doubt, I would remember that one for the rest of my life.
My stare danced around the empty bedroom as I exited the bathroom, my head slanting as I listened for any sounds.
Any cries.
But there was nothing.
Grabbing one of Beau’s shirts, I slipped it over my head and continued out into the hall since we didn’t have any guests at the time, my bare feet padding against the hardwood as I headed for the stairs. But when my gaze automatically swept the most important room in our home as I’d started passing it, I stopped.
Chest warming. Heart reaching. Soul melting into a puddle at my feet.
Because there was my big bear of a husband, cradling our nine-month-old to his bare chest as he slowly rocked back and forth in the darkened room. The soft glow from the nightlight capturing the moment perfectly.
As if he could sense me there, he turned, his dark eyes lingering on me as one of those rare smiles crossed his face. All dimples and adoration and stealing my heart as if he hadn’t done that so many years before.
“She okay?” I asked as I crept into the room.
“She’s good,” he murmured, his voice all a soft rumble. “Just lost her pacifier for a second.”
“Oh, sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Why?” Keeping one of his hands on Quinn’s back to hold her close, he reached out to me with the other, pulling me against him to search my face in the darkened room. “I had her.”
“Yeah, but I should’ve been there.” My throat felt all tight like I was going to cry, but that was ridiculous.
She’d lost her pacifier. That’s all.
Get a grip. This is so not a big deal.
“I had her,” he repeated softly. Lifting his hand to trail his knuckles down my jaw, he followed the path with his eyes. “She’s my daughter too. You don’t always have to be the one who jumps when she cries.”
I sagged against him, gratitude pouring from me as I blinked back the threat of tears. “I know, and I know I’m being ridiculous right now,” I mumbled quickly. “Thank you for being there, and thank you for letting me take a bath. I needed that time.”
“Let you?” A rough, grating laugh built in his chest. Lifting my head to meet his eyes, he said, “Whatever you need, always.” He searched my stare for a while longer before murmuring, “Crazy girl.”
“I love you.”
“Every breath,” he vowed, the words moving through my body and doing crazy things to my heart. Brushing his thumb along my lip, he gestured behind me with a jerk of his chin. “Get in bed. I’ll be there soon.”
I twisted like I was about to go, then turned back into him. Because that demanding tone of his had always gotten to me too. Waking up my body and sending a rush of heat through me. Making me ache with anticipation. “Or you could come with me now . . .” I said, words slow and hopeful.
From the carnal look that crossed his face, he heard the implication behind the whispered words. After another lingering glance, Beau turned for Quinn’s crib and gently eased her down without waking her.
I met him at the side, sliding my hand over his and wondering if I would ever stop being blown away by the amount of love I felt for that little girl.
“Never again,” Beau whispered as he turned over his hand to grip mine. “I swear to you, I’ll never get in another fight. I’ll never throw another punch. I’ll never be arrested again.”
I looked up at him, my throat going tight all over again at the depth of his oath.
They were the same words he’d said to me the morning we’d woken up on the grounds of this house, long before we owned it, a couple days after his last arrest. The same words he’d repeated to me on our wedding night.
And he’d kept them.
He was still the same Beau I’d always known him to be. Surly and terrifying and quick to anger with everyone who wasn’t me—well, and now Quinn. But he’d found a way to keep all that darkness and rage at bay until he calmed or could channel it into something else.
Renovating our house. Exercising. Mind-blowing sex.
I preferred the last.
But I couldn’t imagine the strength it took to control what had always been so uncontrollable for him. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it was to chain something so wild and fierce.
But I was thankful for it.
Thankful for how much he loved me.
“I know,” I whispered, squeezing his hand gently.
His stare shifted to me, all love and wonder before he was standing to his full height and twisting toward me. Pulling me closer as he walked me backward, out of the room, stopping to softly close the door behind us. Then he was backing me down the hall, his hands lightly moving over my body and teasing my curves before finding the hem of his shirt I was wearing.
Fingers trailing over the bare skin of my hips and butt before he bent to curl his large hands around my thighs. And then he was lifting me, my legs wrapping around his hips instinctively as he crushed his mouth to mine.
“What do you want?” he asked against the kiss.
“You.”
“Rough or easy?” he quietly demanded.
I wove my fingers through his hair, gripping gently to pull him back so I could look in his midnight eyes. “I just want you.”
His movements slowed when he approached the bed. Kneeling on it and effortlessly lowering me until I was laid out beneath him. The muscles in his body stretching and rippling with each measured movement as he dipped down to press his mouth first to my covered breasts and then my throat before meeting my lips where he whispered, “Easy then.”
My chest rose and fell roughly when he started a slow path down, lifting my shirt up as he went. His kisses hot and teasing and building me up and up and up.
Fire.
I was on fire.
Heat swirling in my belly as unwavering need for the man above me raced through my veins. And we’d barely begun. But it’d always been that way with us.
A frenzy burning hotter and higher until I was consumed in him. In us.
“Beau.” His name tumbled past my lips, all trembling need when he settled his wide shoulders between my thighs.
Hands gripping me. Mouth passing lazily across the inside of my thigh like he had all the time in the world to touch me and tease me.
As if he was enjoying the torture.
His stare lifted to meet mine, a wolfish smirk shaping his lips as if he’d heard my thoughts. And then he was leaning forward to taste me.
Slow.
Gentle.
Easy.
A whimper fell from my lips as my entire body reacted to that touch, to his tongue. To the way he flattened it against me before alternating to hard, fast flicks. Winding me up and drawing out the moment until I was begging him to give me what was just out of reach.
But every time Beau felt me get closer, he’d pull back. Slow and soften his movements. Kiss my clit tenderly as if he wasn’t driving me insane in the best possible way.
A shuddering breath fled from me when he pressed two of his fingers inside me, curling them expertly as he set his tongue on my aching bud.