Page 6 of If You Could Only Dream
Justice and my sisters-in-law, Denise and Sophia, all worked for Shane in her division of Buchanan Industries. A couple of years after Mason gave Shane The Morgan Corporation, Shane had recruited Denise as part of her team, and then shortly after that, Justice and Sophia.
“I still don’t understand,” I complained again. “Once Shane has her baby, then you, and then Denise, who’s going to be left to run the division? Sophia’s expected to run it alone?”
I could hear her snort. “She’s probably already pregnant as we speak with the way you ridiculous men have turned the miracle of birth into a Buchanan race to the finish.”
Again, much to Aiden’s dismay, we got pregnant before he and Denise did, and he swore it was upsetting the natural balance of life, since he was the second oldest. “Truth be told, we should have gotten pregnant way before anyone else,” I pointed out. “We’ve been together the longest.”
“Uh, not a fan of teenage pregnancies,” she retorted. “Besides, would you really have wanted to be a father while you were off at college?”
I placed her foot in my lap and picked up her left foot to massage that one to give myself a few seconds. I knew she didn’t mean anything by it; Justice didn’t hold grudges. She dealt with her shit and then she moved on. But the unintentional reminder that I left her to work out her life on her own, while I went off to college to get my degree, brought on that pang of regret I always felt whenever I thought about all those years I had taken her for granted.
“You getting pregnant while we were in high school is probably the best thing that could have happened to me,” I snapped, not really intending to, but I still felt guilt over my treatment of her to this day. It doesn’t matter that I’ve worshipped the ground she walks on for the past few years.
I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to her what she means to me.
Justice pulled her feet off my lap and sat up to look at me. “Gabriel…”
“Don’t Gabriel me,” I growled as I reached over to haul her into my lap. It wasn’t an easy feat trying to hold her straddled across my lap when her tummy put a foot of space between us, but I managed. I held her as close as I could and took in her beautiful face. “I don’t care what you say, or how much you claim to be over the fact that I was such a dick, I’ll never stop making it up to you.”
She leaned in as far as she could and kissed the side of my face. “Gabriel, we’re past all that,” she said, all the love she has for me, clear in her voice. “Yeah, you were super stupid back then, but I want us to focus our energies on the now and what’s to come.”
I didn’t deserve my wife. Sure, lots of men say that, but in my case it was true. I had taken Justice for granted way beyond what was normal, and I was lucky enough that she had given me a chance to make up for it.
I decided to let my guilt go back to living in the back of my mind and give my wife what she wanted. “How about we focus our energies on you riding my cock?”
Justice let out a sweet laugh. Once she settled down, she gifted me with one of her brilliant smiles. “Not so sure I can do that on this couch,” she teased. “Perhaps we should take this to the bedroom if it’s a ride you’re looking for.”
I arched a brow. “So, is that a yes to refocusing our energies?” She tilted her head and her blonde locks fell in a curtain to the side. I reached up and entwined a few strands around my fingers. “Because I want to focus the hell out of my energies on you, Just.”
She sighed and leaned in to kiss my lips. “Sounds like a great idea,” she agreed. “But are you sure you’re up to carrying me?”
Chapter 6
Justice Buchanan~
Gabriel laughed at my question. “Baby, there will never come a day when I can’t carry your hot little body,” he countered, as he stood up, his hands and arms holding me firmly, proving his point.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on with my legs tangled around his waist. “You say that now, but in a couple of months I’m going to be as big as a house,” I reminded him.
Gabriel walked us towards the bedroom without one labored breath. The man was fit and strong, with a six-pack that was so damn sexy, it was my screen saver on my phone. “If Mason can still carry Shane, then I’ll be able to carry you no matter how big that belly of yours gets,” he grumbled.
Warmth flooded my soul at how sweet he was. “How do you know he can still carry her? Or that he even does?”
We passed the threshold of the bedroom door. Gabriel waited to answer until I was lying across our bed with his body over mine. “Because there’s no way Mason will ever not carry Shane; literally or figuratively.”
He wasn’t wrong on that account. Mason Buchanan was a borderline sociopath who scares the shit out of anyone who ever meets him. He was cold, calculating, and unfeeling. But that man loved his wife like something out of a goddamn fairytale. And all three brothers absolutely adored Shane Buchanan.
And what’s not to adore?
I loved all my sisters-in-law, but Shane was special. She was the type of person people wanted to be a part of. I knew Gabriel loved me beyond what I ever expected, but I also knew that if Shane ever needed anything, he’d be at her side in a heartbeat. Now, most women would think that put them in competition with the woman, but not me. Hell, if Shane ever needed anything, I’d be at her side in a heartbeat.
The best way I could describe it was…Shane was the glue that kept us all together. Lots of families become distant once spouses and children come into the picture, what with being busy and all, but not the Buchanans. We were a tight-knit group and a lot of that was because Shane made sure we all got together often. It also helped that she hired all her sisters-in-law to work for her.
“You don’t have to carry me, Gabriel,” I told him. “You just have to love me.”
He snorted, and I laughed because I already knew whatever he was about to say was going to be utterly ridiculous. “Says you,” he quipped. “But Mason would kick my ass on a daily basis, if he ever heard I was failing you. So, yeah, no thank you to that.”
I smiled into his beautiful green eyes. “Mason is too busy to kick your ass daily,” I reasoned.
