Page 80 of His Wild Attraction

“Thank you. You know, parenting is the easy part. You just love them. Like me and your dad did with you,” she said, grinning at Sammy.

My dad.

I smiled as memories of the warm, loving man who’d raised me filled my head. Oh, he wasn’t a pushover. There were times I’d needed discipline, and he doled it out with a firm, but loving hand.

No hitting. But he called me on my shit. Made me accountable. Made sure I knew how my actions had consequences.

He passed away far too soon, but I remembered everything about him. Technically, my mom’s husband was my stepfather, but he raised me.

Paolo Ramirez was my dad in every sense of the word, and I couldn’t have asked for a better man to do the job.

Together, my mom and I saw to it Sammy brushed his teeth and changed into his little superhero pajamas. We cozied up in the living room, and a half an hour into the flick, the poor little guy was snoozing on my mom’s lap.

“I think that’s all she wrote for this little champ,” my mother said, grinning as she kissed Sammy’s sweet head.

“Mm, we should get him in bed,” I said, my gaze flicking back to my phone.

I scrolled through the last two texts Ellie sent me. One was to say she’d arrived, and the other was a photo of her dinner.

It looked good. But not as good as her.

“I can put him to bed, son. Why don’t you go join that pretty wife of yours?”

My pulse raced, and I canted my head to the side. Leave it to Mom to know I was thinking about doing just that.

“I’m trying not to overwhelm her. Don’t want her to think I’m controlling her,” I confessed.

I only ever told my mom the truth.

I mean, anyone who had a mother worth a dime knew they were special people. Moms figured out all your secrets, anyway. No matter how hard you tried to hide.

I learned that pretty early in life. So, I didn’t bother with lies. Not to her.

“Could be she’s missing you, too,” Mom said.

And that was just the push I needed to go check on her.

“You sure you’re okay watching him?”

“You know I can still kick your ass, right? Get outta here,” she teased.

Twenty minutes later, I hopped out of the car, not waiting for the driver to come to a complete stop. I was so amped up, missing my wife, I almost ran right smack into a huge, somehow-familiar back.

“Motherfucker,” a teasing voice said from behind me.

“Ha! You too, huh?” I whispered, almost embarrassed, but not quite.

“Look at you three menaces to society. Couldn’t even leave your wives alone for a few hours,” Josef said at last, shaking his head.

I couldn’t stop grinning as I swung my head left and right, taking in the big bastards standing beside me.

“Uh, in case it skipped your notice, you’re here, too, fuckhead,” Marat said.

“Who you calling a fuckhead?” Josef grumbled, tugging on his collar.

“Knock it off. Let’s find our wives,” Adrik grumbled.

“Yeah. Let’s find our wives,” I seconded.

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