Page 91 of First Comes Marriage

“How’d I end up being the seventh wheel?” Ethan asked.

“Seventh wheel? Is that a thing?” Jamie asked from the changing table in the corner of the living room.

“It is now,” Baz said.

“Don’t worry, Dad. We’ll find you someone. A nice, age-appropriate grandma—” Tessa said, breaking off with a laugh when she caught Ethan’s horrified expression.

“Since when does anyone here know anything aboutage appropriate?” Ethan grumbled.

“Age is just a number, isn’t that right, daddy?” Tessa asked, turning her face up for a kiss as Jamie came back over with the baby.

“Jesus Christ,” Ethan muttered as Jamie kissed Tessa on his way past to set Julie back down amongst her toys.

“Can I be the dog this time?” Tessa asked, reaching into the open box on the table.

“No. The last time your husband got his hands on the dog, it disappeared for months,” Baz said.

“Yeah, but that’s him. You can trustme,” Tessa said with a smile.

“No dog. You can be the top hat.” Baz handed her the small metal token.

“Oh, man, I wanted to be the top hat.”

They all turned at the sound of Gavin’s voice in the doorway to the living room. Ethan and Tessa sprang to their feet, rushing to greet Gavin and Kyla with exclamations about how happy they were to have them home. They’d only been gone for a week to visit Gavin’s son in Los Angeles, but from the reception, you would have thought it had been months.

Sabrina moved to stand, but Baz took her hand, pulling her back down into her seat. She laughed. “Let’s go say hi.”

“In a minute.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then moved his lips to the shell of her ear. “One round, no hotels, then we’re out of here.”

Her cheeks heated and her hand dropped to his knee,squeezing. Christ, even that simple touch and his cock was already taking notice.

“I thought you liked game night,” she said.

“I love game night. But we only just left your parents’ house this morning. I haven’t gotten to fuck my wife in two days,” he growled.

“No one said you had to keep your hands to yourself while we were visiting them.”Tease.

He grunted. “Their walls are too thin.”

She laughed. “I remember. I still don’t think Mom’s recovered from last Christmas.”

They’d settled into a comfortable rhythm with Sabrina’s family—twice yearly visits, never at the same time as Holly. It seemed when faced with the ultimatum they’d leveled at her parents in the months following her surgery—criticism was not helpful or welcome, and if her parents insisted on imposing their standards on Sabrina, then they wouldn’t be a part of their lives any longer—her parents had been surprisingly willing to try. To do better for their youngest daughter.

It wasn’t perfect. Maryann still sometimes made a comment about Sabrina’s clothing and Richard was still quick to offer unsolicited business advice, but they were trying. It was enough for now.

Holly hadn’t been as open to their terms. Baz couldn’t say he was surprised, or that he missed seeing his sister-in-law, but he knew Sabrina still mourned the loss of the relationship she had hoped to have with her sister. Nights like this with their friends helped, when Kyla and Tessa would wrap Sabrina in their friendship like a cloak, a warm and welcome weight.

He nipped at her bottom lip, then pulled her to her feet, leading her over to greet their friends. “No hotels, Sabrina. I mean it.”

***

Sabrina had put hotels on every one of her properties. He wasn’t sure if she wastryingto torture him or if it just came naturally to her, but either way the effect was the same. By the time they said their goodbyes and climbed into Baz’s BMW to head home, he was ready to crawl out of his skin with need.

He was already removing his tie as he followed her into their condo, smacking her ass when she paused to look at the mail on the kitchen counter. “Bed, Sabrina. Now.”

She yelped, a delighted sound that filled his chest with a fuzzy, warm feeling, and scampered down the hall towards their bedroom. He took his time following her, dropping his tie on the counter by the mail, unbuttoning his shirt as he rounded the corner into their bedroom. It was a clear, autumn night and the moon sparkled on the bay on the other side of the sliding glass door that led from their bedroom to the balcony. Sabrina stood by the door, slowly sliding the zipper of her dress down. She knew how much he liked the moonlight bouncing off her skin. With a mischievous glance over her shoulder at him, she let the dress fall and pool at her feet.

Baz sucked in a breath at the sight of her, mostly naked and bathed in the moonlight streaming into their bedroom. “You went to game night in your fuck-me panties?” He banded his arm around her waist from behind and pulled her back against his still-clothed body, his fingertips toying with the waistband of the little slip of sheer mesh and lace barely covering her. “Your fuck-me bra,” he tsked.

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