“Yeah, you did.”
“So now what?”
“Now we seal the deal.” He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in for a solid kiss. He wanted to kiss her, but he also needed to kiss her. They’d made a pact. A promise. To each other and to Halia.
They were a family, the three of them. Surrounded by an even bigger family. A family of brothers in arms and the women who loved them deeply. Warriors. Every single one. He hadn’t lied when he’d said he was scared. Scared didn’t even begin to describe the terror that gripped him when he thought about what he had to lose.
This woman. This child. This family. All his.
Heart swelling in his chest, it started to pump harder as Summer lifted onto her knees. Her hands cupped around his jaw, she leaned into him, her body curving around the baby on his chest. Cautious. Careful. Protective.
And God damn. The way she kissed him back. Eager. Open. Honest.
Like he was her first. Her last. Her only.
He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to be. Her last. Her only. Yeah. Despite the difference in their ages, he wanted her. Wanted his cock buried so deep inside her body, she became his permanent home. His refuge. His shelter. “Summer,” he groaned against her lips. “If you keep grinding your pussy all over my dick, I’m going to come in my pants.”
“I like grinding my pussy all over your dick.” She rolled her hips, sliding her heat along the hard length of him.
He groaned again and pulling his mouth free, he punched the back of his skull against the headboard. Kissing Summer was tantamount to playing with fire. Anything more, and she’d engulf him. Sear his heart and burn it to ash.
A torture so sweet, he’d love every fucking lick of pleasure and pain.
And he’d give as good as he got. He’d make sure of it. In bed or out of it. Friends or lovers. Didn’t matter. She came first. Always. But she had to choose, and now wasn’t the time. “Settle down, woman.” He smacked his palm against her ass cheek, and with a little gentle persuasion, he got her sitting still once again. “Here, take Halia.” He peeled the sleeping baby off his chest, and she squawked at the disruption. Two seconds later, she was back in her happy place, her cheek resting against Summer’s heart.
The two of them pressed together in a loving embrace made his throat clog with emotion, and he had to clear it before he could speak. “I…ah…got you something else too.” He reached into the cargo pocket of his pants and pulled out the fourteen-karat gold bracelet he had made for her. It’d been a rush job, done to his specifications, and had cost him more than the guitar.
He held it up for her to see, and eyes widening, she reached up to stroke the chain links between her fingers. “It’s a medical alert bracelet.”
“Yeah.” Summer’s hypoglycemia was her business. His now too. And if she didn’t want anyone else in the house to know—fine by him—but if something happened, and she passed out when he wasn’t around, he wanted to ensure she’d get the medical attention she needed. ASAP.
“There’s emergency glucagon in the drawer here.” He tapped the night table on her side of the bed. “And in my office. I also want you to carry a dose in your purse, and we’ll put some in your go bag along with one of the glucose monitors I ordered.”
She stiffened on his lap. “Go bag?”
“Just a precaution,” he said. “In case we need to take off quick. We’ll go over the contents and pack up some things for you and Halia tomorrow. The bag will stay in the closet beside mine.”
“Oh.” She nodded, her body relaxing as her relief kicked in. “Makes sense.”
“One more thing.” He brushed his thumb over the slightly raised medical alert emblem. “I had a GPS tracking chip embedded in the bracelet in case I need to locate you in a hurry.”
“So if we get separated, you’ll be able to find me anywhere, anytime, anyplace?”
“Yes. As long as there’s a functioning global navigation satellite system, I’ll be able to determine your location. If Dominion is unleashed, we’ll lose GPS capability eventually. I want us to be together before that happens, but if I can’t get to you, one of the JTT will. Sound good?”
In answer to his question, she held out her left arm. “What about Halia?” she asked as he wrapped the chain around her wrist. “Shouldn’t she have a tracker on her too?”
“I wanted to check with you first. See what you thought was best before making any decisions.” He snapped the clasp closed and breathed a little easier, knowing he had a way to find her fast if he needed to. “There. The only way to get this off now is to cut through the links.”
“Uh…pardon?” She held her arm in the air and eyeballed the locking mechanism.
“It’s a spring lock. Once it’s closed, it doesn’t open again.”
“You might have mentioned that in advance.”
He grinned and wrapped his arms around her hips, pulling her in tight. “Would it have made a difference?”
“No,” she huffed, turning her wrist over. “It’s pretty, but it looks delicate. What if I catch it on something, and it breaks?”
