“Don’t try to tell me there’s no drinking on duty,” Gabe warned him, popping the caps off with a bottle opener. “I know you’re committed to being a good dad, but one beer is allowed during naptime.”
“Is that right?” Damon dropped into a lounger, his eyes already moving to the beach beyond to see where Caroline and her siblings had gone.
“They’re right there, Mr. Overprotective.” Gabe pointed down the beach to where the four of them were dragging paddleboards onto the shore.
The two boys were having squirt gun wars at the same time, shooting each other while running for cover in the bushes that spilled onto the beach.
“I’m still getting used to life without bodyguards.” Damon had let the security detail go once he knew Stephan would be in prison for good.
Or at least until his sons were over eighteen.
But after having Caroline disappear on him once, it wasn’t easy relaxing his instincts.
“I know, bro.” Gabe clapped him on the shoulder and then tipped his bottle to Damon’s. “And you’re dealing with everything like a champ.”
“I don’t want to be so protective I drive Caroline away.” He had spent every second with her since the day she’d regained her memory, hardly daring to believe that she was back. Whole.
His.
Getting to know her all over again made every day happier than the one that came before. And seeing her as a mother made him so damn proud he thought he’d burst with it.
Gabe laughed. “Yeah. I don’t think that’s happening. That woman loves you something fierce.”
Lifting the beer to his lips, Damon relaxed into his seat, inhaling the sea air. “I’ll drink to that.”
“You’re a lucky man.” Gabe’s words were wistful, hinting at a wealth of mixed emotions beneath the surface.
Gabe’s ex-wife had been pregnant when she decided she didn’t want to be a mother. Soon after she gave birth, she’d walked away from the baby and left the marriage. Now, Gabe’s ten-month-old son, Jason, was well-loved but motherless. Damon knew it broke his brother’s heart. The boy was currently napping back at Gabe’s place tended to by a nanny.
“I am, at that. Thank you for letting us crash here for a few weeks.” Damon straightened in his seat, seeing Caroline head their way while Victoria retrieved a huge plastic water gun to chase her brothers. “I hope it’s not…awkward.”
“More than anything, I want Jason to experience having a family.” Gabe picked at the beer label with his thumbnail. “You’re giving him that and I’m glad about it.” He peered up, seeing Caroline wrapping a towel around herself as she walked closer. “In fact, I’m so grateful, I’m going to do you a favor and keep watch on your nursery monitor if you want to take some downtime with the missus.”
Damon grinned. “I’ve got a better idea.” Getting to his feet, he held out his arms to his beautiful wife, hauling her close to kiss her cheek. “I’ll keep the nursery monitor while you go show the Degraff crew how to win a squirt gun war.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “I do have the mother of all water guns in the shed.”
“I seem to remember you trying to blast me with it on my last visit.”
Setting aside his empty bottle, Gabe shot to his feet. “You’re on.”
Caroline called after him. “Victoria is craftier than she looks.”
Gabe was already out of sight when he shouted back, “I love a worthy opponent.”
Damon turned his attention to the woman in his arms, still damp from her paddleboard adventure. She smelled like coconut sunscreen and sunshine; her lips were salty when he kissed her.
“Not as much as I love you,” he told her. “I hope you’re not getting tired of hearing that.”
“I can’t hear it enough.” She trailed a touch along his cheek, cooling his hot skin with her fingers. “And I want to make love to you and hear you say it again and again.” She kissed the words into his skin as her lips traced a path along his jaw. “But first, I want to stare into our son’s crib together and marvel at what a miracle he is.”
Damon’s throat closed with emotion. He was a lucky man to have the love of this strong, incredible woman who’d been through so much. Who’d fought so hard to reunite their family and have a future together.
“Sounds like another perfect day.”
“Another happy day,” she corrected him softly. “That’s all I want.”
“One lifetime of happy days, coming up.” Damon would move mountains to give them to her. Picking up the baby monitor, he walked with her into the bungalow to retreat from the sun. To have her all to himself for a little while. “I promise.”