Gripping his arm, I say, “I hate these drugs.”
“You and me both.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been a bitch this morning.”
Winter’s phone rings and he checks the caller ID. Holding it up, he shows me it’s Max. “You take this while walking that ass of yours to the car. I’ll grab your work stuff.”
Swiping the phone from him, I kiss him quickly before saying, “Yes, master.”
He smacks my ass as I move past him and answer the call. “Hey, Maxxi. How are you?”
“I’m good. Just calling to see how you two are. You killed my brother yet?”
“I’m close to it, but he’s still breathing and he’s still got his dick attached. Maybe check in again tonight and see if I’m a widow then.”
“Are you on your way to the clinic? Winter said you’re hopeful you might get some good news today.”
I enter the garage and get in Winter’s ute. This has become our morning routine: he drives me to the clinic for our tests when we need them and then to work. Thank God I work for myself; it’d be hard to keep up with all the clinic visits while working for someone else. I can’t imagine many bosses would happily accept me being late most days. “Yes, we’re leaving now.” Winter’s door opens and he joins me. “I’ll put you on speaker so you can talk to Winter, too.”
After I switch the call to speaker, Winter extends his arm across the back of my seat, cranes his neck to look behind the car while reversing, and says, “Birdie’s in a mood today. Maybe you can snap her out of it.”
While I pull a face at my husband, Max says, “I thought she was in a mood every day.”
Winter’s grin causes me to smack him. “You two need to stop ganging up on me.”
“I’ve got something to tell you, Birdie. It might help shift your mood,” Max says.
“Ooh, tell me before I go for your brother’s balls,” I say.
Max whistles. “Fuck, you mean business today. Right, so I’ve been on a few more dates with that woman.”
“And?” I’m so excited for him that he’s found someone he likes.
“And what?”
“Goodness, Max, spill! Tell me everything. What you guys did. When your next date is. Whether you think this might become more. Everything!”
“Jesus,” Max mutters. “I should have known this would become an interrogation. Can we go back to discussing Matt and the impending loss of his balls? How close are you guys to needing those balls, though? Is it almost time for him to hand his swimmers over?”
“Yes, almost time,” I say, looking at Winter. “He’s safe until then. Thank you for reminding me I need them. I’ll have to find other ways of hurting him when he nags me about the time and not being late for appointments.”
Winter meets my gaze and places his hand on my thigh. His touch affects me instantly, not in a heated way, but rather, love for him fills my soul. I might be a moody bitch, and I might be easily frustrated by him while on these drugs, but I love this man with all my heart.
“I love you,” I mouth as I reach my hand up to thread my fingers through the back of his hair.
He squeezes my thigh and leaves his hand resting there while directing his attention back to the traffic.
We chat with Max for another five minutes, and when the call ends, I say to Winter, “I want Max to be happy again.”
“He is happy.”
“Yeah, but you know what I mean.” Max’s divorce took its toll on him in every way possible, but especially emotionally. He tried so hard to make his marriage work because he believes so deeply in the institution. I want him to find another woman to love and to love him.
Winter nods but doesn’t say anything further on the topic. He focuses back on the traffic while I stare out the window for a while. I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s coming up next for us in this cycle and want to talk to Winter about it.
I turn back to him. “I don’t want you using porn in the collection room.” Or the wank room as Lily calls it.
He pulls up at a red light and looks at me, his brows pulled together questioningly. “Okay.”
I can see the questions running through his mind. Winter’s always trying to get a handle on my thoughts and where they’re coming from. “I don’t know,” I say, “it just feels weird to think of you jerking off to porn or some other woman in a magazine in order to make our baby. I’ll come in with you and provide the inspiration.”
He cups my face, his thumb caressing my skin. If I could bottle the look in his eyes, I would, because the way he’s looking at me makes me feel all gooey inside. “I agree. I don’t want to make our baby with porn.”
A horn blares from behind us, and Winter looks back at the road. The clinic is only a five-minute drive from here. After we arrive and he parks the car, I reach for him. “Thank you.”
His eyes search mine. “What for?”
“For being so damn patient with me and putting up with all my insanity. There isn’t anyone else I’d want to do this with.”
He kisses me. “That’s good because I’m the only one you’ll ever do it with.”
12
Winter
* * *
“Yes!” Birdie says excitedly to her mother after we arrive home late on the day we received the good news from the IVF clinic. “We have to do the trigger shot tonight and then go in for the egg retrieval in thirty-six hours.” She couldn’t get hold of her mother all day, and I know she’s been desperate to share the news with her, so I leave them to catch up.
Heading into the bedroom, I sit on the bed and take my boots off. It was another long day after I dropped Birdie at work. Ransom, Hunt, and I did some recon yesterday on the location Axe thinks Zenith is working from, and we spent today doing more surveillance and research into the information Axe provided. None of the men coming and going from the warehouse were known to us, so we’ve put feelers out around town to see if anyone we know can give us names. I’m hopeful tomorrow will bring us names and further information. If this is Zenith, I want to act swiftly; the sooner we come to a territory agreement with them, the better. This bullshit of them continuously undercutting us and stealing business needs to fucking stop.
Pulling my T-shirt over my head, I stand to go into the bathroom for a shower. I’ve just finished stripping when Birdie appears in the mirror behind me.
“Mum said to say hi.” Her eyes are all over me, which isn’t doing me any favours. Our doctor advised me not to ejaculate for two to three days prior to egg retrieval; Birdie’s eyes on me always gets me hard.
“Angel, you need to leave.”
She frowns. “Why?”
I turn to face her. “Because I can’t do anything with the hard-on you’re causing right now.”
“Oh.” She bites her lip. Fuck me. “Okay, but quick question: Do you want chicken and salad for dinner or steak and salad?”
I rake my fingers through my hair, wishing like fuck she’d just do as I say sometimes. “Either.”
“No, I need you to choose. I—”