Page 110 of Bastard
“I love you, Luciana. I’ve loved you for years and I’ll love you until my last moments on this earth. I’ll love you when your belly grows big with our babies. I’ll love you when you refuse to obey me. I’ll love you when your eyes are flashing, and when you’re dancing for me. I’ll love you like I loved you the day we married. I’ll love you like I loved you the day I let you go.”
I choke back a sob. “Well, then—”
“A future with me isn’t going to be easy.”
“And a future with me will? But right now, if you don’t hurry before my brother arrives, I’ll make the rest of your day hell.”
His lips curl. Mustafa was right. He isn’t a man to shy away from a strong-minded woman. He actually enjoys me.
With a push, he swings the hammock. I moan at the outward drag of his cock and scream from the momentum of its return.
“That greedy pussy loves my bare cock. I’m going to fill you up, baby. With me. With my come.”
“Dios,” I gasp, and within seconds, climax hard.
Hayden shouts as he orgasms seconds later, releasing inside me. He understands the implications of what we’ve done. After all, this is how babies are made.
I’m on my feet when Diego’s motorcycle thunders to a stop at the foot of the porch stairs.
I can’t resist a smile when I see how he helps his wife, Aubrey, remove her helmet. My hotheaded brother in love with the sweetest soul imaginable.
“You miss me so much, you’re waiting outside on the porch for me, eh?” he offers as a way of greeting. But it’s not me he’s addressing.
“I’ll miss the peace and quiet,” Hayden replies, which causes Diego to burst out laughing. My brother gestures to me. “Good luck with that.” Then, to my humiliation, he pauses to get a better look at me.
My rumpled skirt. My swollen lips.
Hayden folds his arm around my shoulder and tugs me in tight. “My wife can’t wait to show you the place,” he tells Aubrey. “I need to discuss a few things with your husband while you’re at it.”
My eyebrows raise at that.
“Get used to it,” I hear Hayden say as I lead Aubrey inside. “Because this time, I’m not letting her go.”
“He’s even more intimidating than I expected,” Aubrey whispers to me.
“You’ll get used to him. You’re one of us now, sis.”
I give my new sister-in-law an abbreviated tour of our house. Avoiding Hayden’s office and the state-of-the-art technology room he had installed to do TORC business from home. It’s one of two interior rooms that have locks on the doors. Something we both laughed about after his man finished installing the solid wooden doors.
An hour later, our housewarming party is in full swing and I can’t remember ever being this happy.
“Luciana. Luciana,” I hear three young children calling my name, seconds before they come tearing through the living room to wrap me within a tight group hug. Mustafa enters the room behind them and without hesitation, works her way into the fold.
“Girl, I do believe it will happen soon.”
I laugh. “What will happen, Mustafa.”
She cackles. “Babies, of course.” She winks at me, and I blush. This woman has either a third eye or a sixth sense—how does she know Hayden and I made love earlier without a condom?
“Are you ready for more grandbabies, Mustafa?” I tease. I kept my promise and arranged for her to visit her children in Seattle. It’s a trip she now makes every few months, and we always make time to meet.
With Hayden’s encouragement, my work in Nmimpi continues. I spend a week every two months, as well as most weeks Hayden is away on business, living in the same hut and continuing to teach safe sexual practices. What’s not the same is the fact that now Nmimpi has fresh running water. My first hot shower is something I’ll always remember, though Hayden interrupting it is also a reason to remember it. He’s now financing and supervising bringing fresh water into the surrounding villages. He tells me it’s because he’s discovered that, like gardening, working with his hands is a great stress relief.
I think that’s only part of the reason he does it. I stare down at the ring on my finger, thinking of the inscription inside,Ti voglio sempre al mío fianco—I want you always by my side.
Mustafa’s brood rushes off, headed for the front door, with her clucking and chasing after them. They love playing with the sand buckets I’ve put down by the lake.
I head into the kitchen and listen in on a heated discussion in progress.
