Page 25 of Room Twenty: Owning Their Angel

There were too many secret plans and conditional thoughts back then. We wanted to be with her, but only when we were patched. We wanted to keep her safe, but on our terms. We wanted to protect her, but never considered we needed to protect her from us and our actions.

I was so fucking short sighted.

“Zach,” Heather groans softly as she gives me even more of her weight.

“Cherub,” I whisper and kiss her neck, wanting the connection between us to deepen, “I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”

“You don’t have to be sorry,” she whispers. We move together, the song changing to a slower one where we end up rocking back and forth. “We made mistakes. It probably won’t be the last time either.”

She turns in my arms and hums softly as my hands slide from below her belly and grip her hips. Her hazel eyes are sparkling with happiness, even more than I used to see there before she left New Orleans.

I press my forehead against hers and take a deep breath before I open up to her. “My parents didn’t give a fuck about me or my brothers. They showed us that selfishness was the only thing that mattered to them. My brothers are just like them, but I wanted to do something more.”

“Is that why you joined the military?” Her prodding is gentle as I get lost in memories of growing up.

I nod slowly. “I needed a way to get out and away from my family,” I admit. Pain flashes across her face and I whisper, “No. My parents weren’t abusive physically or anything, but they were neglectful as hell. I wanted something better. I wanted to matter.”

“You wanted to belong and find a family to belong in.” She wraps her arms around my neck with a soft smile on her face. “I can understand that.”

Heather doesn’t talk very much about her family. I know we could probably find out some details by getting Hacker involved, but none of us want to. We want her to open up on her own. When she’s ready and when she trusts us.

My hands gently move to Heather’s round belly, feeling some fluttering inside. It’s a wild sensation and I can’t imagine it was happening inside of me. I don’t think I’d be as calm about it as our Cherub is.

“I promise that I will always try to be the best father I can be to our baby.” I look into her eyes and watch as they soften with affection. “I don’t have great examples and I’ll need help, but I promise to never give up and keep trying to be better.”

Heather’s small hands come up and cup my face, her eyes burning into mine and imploring me to believe whatever she’s about to say. “I don’t doubt you and your ability to be an amazing father, Zach. You know what not to do because of how your parents made you feel. It’s clear you already love our baby and that’s how I know you’ll always do your best.”

I kiss our woman, needing to thank her, needing her to be able to feel how much her words mean to me. When her tongue slides across my bottom lip, I suck it into my mouth and dive in for a taste of her myself. She’s addictive and I want to soak up every moment I get, both with her alone, and with our family.

Poe and Gray are my brothers, more than my blood ones ever were. Hell, the same is true of every man in the club. They’ve shown me what family really means. They’ve earned my loyalty and my devotion.

Just like the woman in my arms.

I lift her up gently and place her on the kitchen island with our mouths fused together. My grip on her knees is firm as I gently pry her legs apart and slide in as close to her hips as I can get. The way she whimpers into my mouth tells me she wants and needs more.

She’s wearing some maternity leggings and an oversized shirt she changed into after she got home from work, which she left a little early. I have a feeling Taylor sees the writing on the wall and sees no reason to stress Heather out. They’ve become close friends and I’m grateful for it.

Not that it’s not easy to want Heather in your life. She just shines that brightly.

I cradle the back of my woman’s head with my palm as I gently direct her backwards until she’s laying on the island. My body is stretched above her while also being careful of her belly. When she moans into my mouth, I feel my control starting to snap.

I pull back just enough to look into her eyes as my words whisper across her lips, “I love you so much, Heather. I want you to know that you’re my everything. I never want to experience you leaving us again. I wouldn’t survive it a second time.”

Heather arches her back and I can feel the hard peaks of her nipples through the thin material of her shirt. Her feet wrap around the backs of my thighs as she tries to tug me closer and it’s adorable as fuck.

“Zach,” she whispers, her eyes clearing of the lust fog I’m putting her in for a moment, “I love you, too.”

I feel like I want to scream at the top of my lungs and then go run around the neighborhood to tell everyone that my woman loves me. Since I don’t think it would go over well, I settle for kissing her harder as my hands roam over her body.

I push her shirt up her torso and break the kiss just long enough to pull it up over her head. Her tits bounce and I growl, “No fucking bra, Cherub?”

“Bras suck,” she grumbles, and I bark out a laugh.

I kiss across her jaw and then down her neck, not stopping moving south until I can suck one of her nipples into my mouth. She arches and cries out my name. She’s become so much more sensitive and I fucking love it.

I slide my free hand down to her hips and start to tug her leggings off. I stand up to get them off all the way and the sight of her bare pussy glistening and begging to be tasted is almost too much to deal with.

I drop to my knees in front of her and wrap one of my arms around each of her thighs. The wobble in her voice has me smiling, “What are you doing?”

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