She slaps my chest playfully. "Cocky bastard," she mumbles, that pretty smile still playing on her lips.
I'm definitely a bastard, and how could I not be cocky now that I have the most beautiful woman in the world as mine?
And I'm going to spend the rest of our lives showing her just how perfect she is.
My little ruby.
epilogue
Five years later
Sophie
I smileto myself as I think of the life Axe and I have built together. He still owns several clubs, and I'm his personal accountant. He takes care of the business and networking side of things, and I make sure all his finances are in order. Once I graduated from college with my accounting degree, he wouldn't hear of me working anywhere else. And honestly, I didn't want to.
And of course, I had to do my internship with him. There was no way he was going to let another man be in a position of power over me and bend me over his desk. Those were his words—not mine.
He's still just as jealous and possessive of me as he always was—perhaps even more so. He won't hesitate to set a man straight for staring at me too long or—God forbid—making a pass at me.
My husband is a total alpha male, and while he frustrates the hell of me at times and triggers my own stubborn, rebellious side, I wouldn't change him for the world. I love every infuriating thing about him.
I enjoy being around my husband all the time. And it's not that I don't trust him or still think he's a player. Axe dispelled all those notions long ago. I still feel guilty when I think of how I unfairly judged him in the beginning and didn't even give him a chance to explain himself or show me who he really is.
I'm so glad he finally broke through to me because he's shown me the greatest love I've ever known.
My heart swells just thinking about it.
I hold a hand up to shield my eyes from the sun as I watch my boys. Axe is holding Dawson's hand, and he has Chase up on his shoulders as they play in the ocean.
It just goes to show what a great father he is because several years ago Axe admitted to me that he actually hates the beach. He doesn't like being hot, and he hates getting sand all over himself, but he always comes with us.
He'll do anything for his family. He's amazing like that.
I smirk when I remember the day he showed up on the beach and forbade me from playing volleyball. He'd been uncomfortable in the heat and sand even then, but he'd done it so he could stalk me.
Serves him right. I snort and let out a little laugh.
"What's so funny, little ruby?" my husband asks me as he plops down onto the sand next to me. Our boys are a few feet away, their little hands digging in the sand with shovels.
"I was just thinking of the day you stalked me over to this very beach."
He leans over and kisses me. "And I have no regrets."
I snort again. "You've always been unapologetic about stalking me."
He shrugs and grins down at me smugly. "It paid off. You married me, didn't you?"
"As if I had a choice when you made sure to get me pregnant that first night."
He flashes another cocky grin at me before his eyes darken with lust. My breath catches. I already know what he's thinking. Nothing turns Axe on more than the thought of my belly swelling with his child. He's a complete Neanderthal. He loves it when I'm round and pregnant for all the world to see. He likes it when people can take one look at me and know that I'm bred.
He leans in closer to me so that the kids don't hear him. "And if I have my way, I'll knock you up again tonight."
Wetness pools between my thighs at his words, and I bite my lip.
He kisses me again, this one a lingering one full of promise.
I watch as he discreetly adjusts his growing hardness in his swimming trunks before he stands and gathers the boys and their things for us to go back in. We've been staying with the boys in the same presidential suite where Axe claimed me for the first time, and I know he's dying to get me alone.