Page 42 of Shelter for Tanna

“Then we’ve got forever together, I suppose.” As far as he was concerned, that was exactly what they had. He rolled off and kissed her as he lay back beside her. “Right now, you need to get into the bathroom and clean up. I don’t want you getting a bladder infection.”

“But I want to do it again,” she whined softly.

“I do too, but we need to take it slow. You’re not used to this. Don’t worry, we’re going to do it again. But I don’t want the boys walking in here tomorrow morning and finding us naked as jay birds with our clothes all over the floor!”

She rolled to rest her cheek on his chest, her arm thrown across his midsection. “You’ve got a point there. I don’t think Max knows much about sex yet, and I really don’t want to have to explain it to him anytime soon.”

“Then get in there and clean up, woman!” he said with a laugh and slapped her ass.

“Yes, sir. I’m going!” He watched with delight as her bare body climbed out of the bed and she stood there for a second, looking down at him. “You know, I’m not embarrassed for you to see me naked anymore,” she informed him, looking quite proud of herself.

“Good, because I like to see you naked! The more I see you naked, the happier I am. So right now, I’m pretty fucking ecstatic!”

When she laughed, her breasts and her belly bounced just a little, and he thought it was adorable. She was so fucking amazingly gorgeous and she was his. He watched her shuffle off to the bathroom and thought about how lucky he was. He’d found a beautiful, smart, funny, warm, loving woman, and he’d gotten two incredible sons out of the deal.

Two sons. As far as he was concerned, he had two sons. The very thought made him almost giddy with happiness. A month earlier, Braden had decided he was probably going to be alone forever. Tears filled his eyes as he realized he had a family! He and that sweet, precious woman were going to make a home together for those two boys, a place where they’d feel safe and loved. If Max had to live with them for the rest of his life, Braden would love him and help him until old age robbed him of his ability to do so. They’d be his life. They’d be his blessing.

After all the time he’d lived there, his house had finally become a home.

Chapter 7

Miserable piece of oriental shit, Wayne thought as he sat up in bed on Saturday morning. Quyen had threatened them the night before when they’d brought back his car. It had really rattled Beau. Wayne had pretended it hadn’t bothered him, but he knew Quyen didn’t make idle threats. He also had the manpower to back up his promises, and the promise he’d made them hadn’t been a good one. They had to do something, and they had to do it quickly.

Two mostly-naked, passed-out women lay draped over the furniture when he shuffled through on his way to the kitchen. The coffee pot was cold, and he started it before looking for Wayne.

The other bedroom door wouldn’t open, and as he kept shoving on it, he figured out that there was something pressed up against it on the other side. He just kept pushing until he finally got it open a crack and peered in. Wayne lay on the floor up against the door without a stitch on, and yet another naked woman lay nearby, a needle still in her arm. The whores were shooting up?fucking fantastic. “Hey, asshole, get up,” he said and banged the door against Wayne’s arm as he lay there.

“Wha… what? What’s going on?”

“Get up, you dickhead. We’ve got to get a car.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

Thirty minutes later they were on the road. They’d rooted around in the women’s purses until they found some keys, then used the key fob to set off the alarm so they’d know which car the keys belonged to, and took off. “She’ll report this stolen when she wakes up,” Beau warned.

“Then we’ll have to find something else. Turn here.”

When they rolled up to the apartment an hour later, Beau was driving the car and Wayne was driving an older model sedan. Hot wiring it had been easy, and the auto auction lot was big enough that nobody would miss it for at least a week. Good thing they’d had those bolt cutters so they could get out of the lot with it.

They had what they needed?something to drive. Come Monday, they’d start following that tow truck driver until they could catch her alone and ask her about the car. By Monday afternoon, Wayne was sure they’d have their shit out of the car’s trunk, and they could get some product cooking before DimSum had a stroke?or had them killed.

* * *

The sun was shining and a bird was singing somewhere outside the bedroom window when Braden woke on Saturday morning. He rolled toward the center of the bed and when he opened his eyes, the breath caught in his throat.

Tanna lay there, her eyes closed and a peaceful blush on her cheeks. She looked like a model from a painting by one of the old masters, and his heart overflowed with the love he felt for her. His hands itched to touch her, but he didn’t want to wake her. Sleeping in wasn’t something she got to do very often, if ever, he was sure, and that was something he could give her that morning. Slowly and silently, he slipped from the bed, dragged on his pajama pants and a tee, and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

The TV in the living room was on, the sound turned almost all the way down, and Daniel and Max sat on the sofa, Daniel with the magazine Braden had bought for him and Max with a toy ambulance and?what else??a PEZ dispenser. Braden wasn’t sure, but he thought it was a character from a video game. “You guys hungry?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

“Can we have a cupcake?” Max asked and pointed to the pretty pastries on the table.

“I was kinda hoping to save those for dessert after dinner tonight. What about a fried pie? I think I’ve got some whipped topping in the refrigerator that you could put on one of them.”

“Yes!” Max belted out.

“Shhhh. Let’s let your mom sleep.”

Max cocked his head and shot Braden an odd look. “Why? Is she sick?”

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