Page 105 of The Devil Gets His Due

“More,” I plead.

His jaw is tight as he pulls my legs over his shoulders and grips my hips the way I like.

He pulls back slowly, but slams forward with enough force to jolt me up the bed, hitting every nerve on the way. He does it again and again, his eyes locked on mine through the punishing pace.

This is Graham, unrestrained, holding nothing back, not being careful, and taking everything he wants because he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it’s his to take.

“God, I love you so much,” he hisses as he gets close.

Someone telling me they loved me would once have sent me running. Tonight, it simply pushes me right over the edge and I’m whispering all my“I love yous”back when he follows with a low groan.

He collapses beside me and pulls me close. Within a minute, his voice is slurred with fatigue because he was up thirty-six hours straight getting ready for today’s presentation. By the time I press my lips to those butterflies on his chest, the way I do every night, he is sound asleep.

So very boring. And I wouldn’t trade him for the world.

49

GRAHAM

Ben and Gemma arrive at our house the next afternoon, politely saying nothing about what a disaster it is at present—that’s what happens when you’ve only lived somewhere for two weeks and you have a four-month-old, but it certainly doesn’t help to have your wife simultaneously discover that some designer once made tiny baby shoes and they can still be bought new in the box on eBay if she enters auctions rather than helping you unpack.

Gemma sighs as her phone buzzes. “Your mother is already asking if we’re sure we don’t want her to come over,” she tells Ben, showing him the message. “If I can take care of a puppy, I can take care of a baby.”

Keeley’s smile fades and Ben laughs. “Gemma, save those jokes for after they leave or he’s going to have to drug Keeley to get her out of here.”

He isn’t wrong—Keeley’s love for our daughter is a staggering thing, and I suspected it would be. It’s a big part of the reason she’s only going back to work half-time when she starts at the hospital in a week. The other part is that she just realized there are eight seasons ofLove Island UKand she and Daisy have only watched two of them.

She told me and Daisy last week that Jonny from season two is a douche and if Daisy brings home a guy like that, she’ll make sure he’s dead by morning. Our daughter gave me a big toothless grin when she said it—Daisy looks like me, but she’s an O’Keefe through and through. I’m in so much trouble.

“I typed up some instructions,” Keeley says, handing Gemma the packet.

“You’re only going to be gone for one night, right?” Gemma asks. “Because this has me worried you’re actually taking off for Europe.”

“Just one night.” Keeley pulls Daisy close. “We’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

“We’ll be back late tomorrowafternoon,” I correct, pressing my lips to the top of Daisy’s head. “And we’re not going to get any surfing in at all if we don’t get out of here.”

Keeley concedes, placing Daisy into Gemma’s outstretched arms. “Just make sure you put her on her back when she’s asleep, okay? And you can’t put breast milk in the microwave. Use the bottle warmer. Are you sure you remember how to—”

“I’ve used your bottle warmer atleastten times,” says Gemma. “Stop worrying. We’ll put her on a leash and take her for loads of walks and she’ll be fine.”

“Just so we’re clear, you know she can barely support her own—”

“Keeley,” I groan, “sheknows. And I’d really, really like to get on the road.”

We exchange a glance, and her lashes lower in the way they do when she’s thinking about sex. Which is surprisingly often, even for Keeley. I’m a lucky man.

We say our goodbyes and head out. Keeley doesn’t notice there are no surfboards on the roof, and she’s so busy telling me about some couple she likes onLove is Blindthat we are well into town before she even notices we’ve gone the wrong way.

“Hey,” she says, “you realize we’re not on the PCH, right?”

“Yeah, we’re making a pitstop.” I pull into a parking lot. “We’re here, by the way.”

She frowns at the building’s shiplapped façade. “I’m hoping it’s a sex club, but I doubt it because it’s too early for that. Why are we here?”

I take a quick breath. “This is where I proposed. I figured this was a good place to tell you how it all happened.”

50

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