Not being able to stand it, I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her to me, buried my face in her neck, inhaling her vanilla scent that already had my dick tenting my jeans, this fucking woman undid me. In a shaky breath, I said, “I want you everywhere I am. It kills me when I don’t have eyes on you. Because if something happened to you? I wouldn’t be able to remain on this earth if you were taken from me.”
Turning in my arms, she looked up at me and smiled, “Yes, you will. Because of Collins. You will remain here and give her the life she deserves. You would be all she would have left.”
“I know. But still, she would have the club if something happened to me as well.”
“Gage, is that you?” I heard and then sighed.
I had been trying to get myself ready for this moment, only I knew I hadn’t been prepared for it.
“Mr. and Mrs. Franklin. This is my ole’ lady, Conleigh. Baby girl, these are Axel’s parents. And the girl running to us is his daughter Maya.”
“Thank you so much for inviting us. It was a great ceremony, and I’m not trying to be rude, but I really need the lady’s room. Been holding this in for four hours.” She told them, taking my hand and started power walking to the bathroom.
They laughed and followed us as I turned my head to explain, “She’s pregnant.”
Knowing dawned in their eyes.
Sadly, my woman wasn’t happy when we reached the bathroom because of the line.
Knowing that it was going to take a minute, and Conleigh was doing the pee dance, I announced very loudly, “Any of you ladies pregnant?”
All ten of them shook their heads and I grinned, “Would it be okay if my woman cut in front of you? Apparently, our baby has been jumping on her bladder for four hours and she didn’t want to miss the ceremony.”
I told a little lie. Our baby wasn’t big enough to be jumping on her bladder, but hell, if it got my woman into the bathroom sooner then I was all for it.
They all stepped to the side. Either it was the fact that they were decent human beings that had them moving, or it was the kutte on my back or even my looks. But I would bank on it being the kutte.
Moving to the door, I stood in front of it while she did her business, and while she was in there, I knew I had been right. Two of the ladies pulled out business cards and started to hand them to me with playful looks on their faces.
Sighing, I shook my head at them, and then in a low tone, I said, “I’ve got a wife who I love with everything in me. But more importantly, I’ve got an ole’ lady that holds the power to break me. And she is the only one. So, you can take those numbers y’all are about to hand me and put them back in your purses.”
And apparently during my speech I hadn’t heard Conleigh come out of the bathroom because her next words caused a chuckle to come from my mouth and that of Axel’s parents and his daughter as well. “Or y’all can take those numbers and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine.”
She wrapped her arm around my waist and then glared at the two women as we walked past them.
We stood there talking to them for half an hour until my phone pinged. We had a dove to rescue so that meant we needed to be on the road headed for home.
After we exchanged numbers and we promised to send them pictures of Collins and the baby, we headed out of the auditorium for the SUV.
Not giving a fuck that there were a billion people behind us taking pictures, I brought my hand to her neck, then slammed my lips down on hers. When we pulled away, panting for breath, I said, “I love the fuck out of you.”
“Well, you’re lucky. I love the fuck out of you, too.”
And with that, we loaded up into the SUV after I bent my head and pressed a kiss to her belly.
The wide smile on her face was enough to rock my entire world, just like it always did.
The entire drive after we checked out of the hotel room, instead of my hand resting on her thigh, it rested over her belly.
Daring anyone to fuck with this car while she was inside of it.
After we made it back and rescued the dove, I showered, then climbed into bed beside Conleigh after I checked the house and on Collins.
I thought all the nightmares had vanished. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.
***
Laughing at Shooter as he sang a song that his daughter loved so much while we rode in the Humvee in the Kandahar Province it was something to see.