Page 19 of Love on the Rocks

He holds me for a while like this, and I can feel the moment that the scene ends, and he becomes my Donovan again. His hand reaches up and undoes the belt from the headboard. Rubs against the side of my neck before he unclasps the collar and releases me from the leash. He rolls us both to our sides and as soon as I'm free from his weight, he puts his hands on both sides of my face and kisses me more passionately than he has in years.

We stare for a long moment into each other's eyes. Yes, a lot of tonight was about pleasure, but it was also about sharing something with him that is just for us. Tonight we weren't thinking about being parents or business partners. We weren't worried about bills or schedules. We weren't even thinking about the day-to-day of being married. Tonight was just about connecting his soul to mine.

In this moment, I can feel it, that piece that I've been missing. I kept trying to find it everywhere else. I looked for it in my clothes. I looked for it in the color of my hair. I looked for it in the opinion of everyone else, and here it was the whole time, in his eyes. It was in his heart. This is what I needed to find. It was the passion we have for each other. He was right, all I needed to do was reach for him. I'll never forget that again.

I can tell he knows that I figured it out. He kisses me again, softly this time. Then he pulls back to look at me and he says, “I fucking love you, woman.”

My husband, the poet. I wouldn't change a fucking thing about him.

13

Donovan

“You look way toohappy for somebody at work,” Griffin says, strolling into the bar.

“You're in a bar awfully early for somebody who is supposed to be at work,” I shoot back.

He shrugs. As usual, Griffin Hale doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. “I came here to pick you up.”

“I'm working,” I remind him.

He looks around the bar. Yeah it is empty. It’s 2:30 in the afternoon, so that's not very surprising. Even in a college town, people work.

He raises an eyebrow, then jerks his thumb over his shoulder where my bartender is sitting in the corner booth, playing solitaire on his phone. “We both know you're not the only one here. Now come on. Scott is out in my truck. All three of our wives are shopping. Wren said they’re helping create the new Bess, whatever that means. There was nothing wrong with the old Bess, but since Bess usually talks Wren into buying sluttylingerie I didn’t question her and gave her my extra cash. That does leave us to go pick up the kids though.”

I’m glad Bess will have her friends as she explores her new look. She did the same for Wren once, years ago. They both did it for Harlow when she left her abusive ex-husband. I know she’s still feeling a bit lost, but they’ll help her find the pieces of herself I can’t. That’s why we’ve chosen this crazy group as our family.

I’m nodding along with everything he is saying, but then something he said sticks out to me. “Why is Scott coming with us? He doesn't have any kids. He is a kid,” I point out.

That's not entirely fair. He is twenty-one, going on forty-five, and his wife is thirty-three. She is the youngest out of all of the wives, but still older than him.

Griffin leans on the bar like he's going to tell a huge secret. “Did you know that the kid is already trying to knock her up? Or at least he's trying to talk her into it. Apparently, he's worse than me with the baby fever. Bet you didn't think that was possible. Everybody thinks I'm the one with the breeding kink?—”

“Because you are,” I interrupt.

“Okay fair, but the kid is really getting started early,” he says.

“Weren’t you not even out of high school when you had Liam?” I ask.

He scratches his head. “Oh right. Anyway, the point is they've been trying so I thought it was a good idea to take him to the school with us so he can learn what the other parents are like.”

“So, do we want him to not have children or are we starting a dad gang?” Honestly, sometimes I have a hard time following Griffin’s schemes.

He looks contemplative for a second. “Definitely the second one. I don't think wild horses could keep him from wanting a whole lot of children. It's not like the kid can't afford them. He's loaded. Anyway, the reason I want him to come, is—remember that night all those assholes from the country club were here? You know the ones who were trying to brag about how much money they have and who has the best car?”

“You mean the ones that I had to have Scott help me kick out because they were talking about who was going to bang my wife, and if I did it myself I was going to kill them? Those assholes?” I ask. I remember those guys just thinking about them makes my blood boil again.

Griffin smiles wide. “That's the night. It would've been more fun if you would've let me rough ‘em up a little bit. Anyway, do you know who those guys are? Because I do.”

“I seem to recall you kicked the guy that you escorted out after you got him out of the door so I don't know what you consider roughed up, maybe I don't want to. Also, if I knew who those guys were, I probably would've hunted them down so it's for the best that I don't. They really did go into graphic detail about all of the nasty things they wanted to do to my wife. If I remember correctly, they also talked about Harlow and Wren so I don't know why you guys kept your cool the way you did.”

Griffin looks at me like I'm stupid. “Why do you think I kicked him on the way out the door? It's not the first time somebody has said something about my wife. Shit, a few times it's been my son, so I have learned how to control my temper. But to get to the point those men are the husbands of the bitchy soccer moms.”

And now I understand why the three of us are going to the school. “You, my friend are an evil fucking genius, and I am not worthy.”

“Let me drink for free and we’ll call it even,” he says.

I roll my eyes. “You hardly ever drink.”

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