So she’d accepted the fact that she and Leo would never be world travelers, and honestly, that was all right with her. They’d been to Hawaii, which she’d loved, but she hadn’t had any desire to set foot in the Caribbean ever again. Even Florida seemed to be too close to the hell she’d escaped. So they vacationed in Alaska, and they’d traveled all over the United States and Canada. One year, Leo had taken her and Mario to Finland to see the northern lights. It had been cold as hell, but he’d rented a glass igloo, and the three of them had stayed up almost all night, talking and watching as the night sky lit up around them.
Leo was protective, but Cassidy didn’t mind. He wasn’t overbearing—most of the time—and she always knew she was loved and missed when she wasn’t with him. No matter where they traveled, he was constantly on the lookout for anyone or anything amiss. One year, when they were in New York visiting Mario, she’d wanted to go shopping on her own, and Leo had refused to let her. She’d been irritated with him then, too, but after he’d told her the story of an FBI agent who’d let his wife and daughter go shopping in Paris without him, and how they’d been kidnapped and murdered, she’d relented. Having Leo tag along wasn’t a hardship, and honestly, she always felt safer when he was around.
She’d just learned over the years that she’d have to order most of his birthday, anniversary, and Christmas presents online.
“What are you thinking about?” Leo asked quietly from behind her.
Cassidy sighed, then turned in his arms. He clasped his hands together at the small of her back, and she leaned into him, loving how perfectly she still fit against him, even after all these years. “Just how wonderful tonight was,” she told him.
“It was, wasn’t it?” he asked.
“Being with you, surrounded by our friends, seeing Mario doing something he loves, and being with people who like and respect him exactly how he is . . . twenty-one years ago, I couldn’t have pictured this was how my life would be right now.”
Leo leaned down and kissed her forehead. She laid her head on his shoulder, and they swayed back and forth. Not quite dancing, but not standing still either.
Then Cassidy smiled. She loosened her hold and slowly sank to her knees in front of him.
“Cass?” he asked, furrowing his brow.
She smiled as she began to work the button of his slacks. She was still wearing the black sequined dress she’d bought especially for tonight. She and her friends had gone all out, dressing up in fancy gowns, having their hair and makeup professionally done, and getting manicures and pedicures as well.
“We’re outside,” Leo warned.
“I know,” she said as she slipped her hand inside his boxers and began to stroke him.
She watched as Leo looked around them, then back down at her. “Your dress stays on. There are way too many windows around us.”
Cassidy loved this man. So damn much. He didn’t give a shit if anyone saw his dick, but he wasn’t going to allow anyone to see her naked.
Lowering her head, she got to work pleasuring her husband. She didn’t go down on him often, mostly because he was too impatient to get inside her. So she took her time, loving the feel of Leo growing hard in her mouth. It wasn’t long before one hand tangled in her fancy hairdo, most likely messing it up beyond repair, and the other caressed her shoulder as she went down on him.
She knew he wouldn’t let her take him all the way. He liked to come inside her, and since he was old enough to only be able to orgasm once a night, he didn’t like for her to finish him off this way. All too soon, he’d stepped back from her and taken hold of her arm. He helped her up and hauled her into the hotel room.
“Off,” he ordered, nodding to her clothes.
Smiling coyly, Cassidy stripped. Peeling her dress off slowly. Then the thigh-high hose she wore. Then the black panties and bra. She wasn’t as young as she used to be, and her body was sagging in places more than she liked, but the look Leo was giving her was just as impatient and hot as it had been on their wedding night twenty years ago.
Their loving wasn’t quite as energetic as it had been fifteen or twenty years ago, but it was still just as pleasurable. They’d gotten to know each other’s bodies quite well over the years and knew just where to stroke, to lick, to caress to make each other moan in ecstasy.
Cassidy’s orgasm wasn’t explosive this time—it came upon her slowly, but it was no less satisfying than the hard-and-fast ones Leo had given her in the past. He smiled down at her, then threw his head back and came himself. They didn’t make love every night anymore, but that was okay. Cassidy still slept snuggled up against her husband every night. It was one of her favorite things to do—to simply be near him.
Leo got up to get a wet washcloth, as he did every time they made love, and waited while she cleaned herself. Then he took the cloth back to the bathroom. He pulled her into him after he’d crawled back in bed, and Cassidy sighed in contentment.
“Roberto looked so proud of Mario tonight,” she murmured.
“As well he should’ve been,” Leo responded.
“They’re good together,” Cassidy said.
“They are.”
“I’m glad he found someone who loves him like you love me,” Cassidy told him, tilting her head up so she could look into Leo’s eyes. “I wish I could make you understand how much I adore you.”
He chuckled. “It can’t be more than I love you.”
They’d had this argument many, many times, and it never failed to make her smile. “Thank you for being you,” she told him.
Leo nodded. “Go to sleep, love. We’ve got to get up fairly early, especially considering how late it is right now, to meet the others for brunch. Are you sure you want to go watch Mario again tomorrow night?”
“Yes,” Cassidy said immediately. She’d watch Mario perform every night if she could. But eventually, she and Leo and their friends would go back to Indianapolis. The four friends still owned Silverstone Towing, but they were in negotiations to sell it to Sandra Archer and her husband. The little girl had grown up in the garage, and even after getting her MBA degree, she’d stayed close. She knew everything about the business, and Leo and his friends couldn’t imagine selling it to anyone who would love it more.
“How’d I know you were going to say that?” Leo said with a small chuckle. “It’s a good thing I already got us seats.”
“Thank you for humoring me,” she told him.
“I love watching him perform too,” Leo reminded her. “I went to every one of his recitals and performances in middle and high school.”
“And we went to as many as we could get to when he was in college,” Cassidy reminisced. “Are you sorry we never had a kid of our own?” she asked quietly.
“What? No! First of all, you would’ve been at a very high risk if you’d tried to have a baby in your forties. I know it happens, but I didn’t want to take any chances with your health. Second of all, Mario is my kid. I may not have met him until he was eleven, but that doesn’t mean I love him any less.”
Cassidy nodded against his chest. That was true. Leo was more of a dad than his own father had been.