Her breath caught, and her whole body tightened as she came.
The tight muscles of her cunt milked him, sending him over the edge. He gave up any semblance of control and gave over to the feeling. He pumped himself into her, giving up everything he had.
Cam shouted and held her close as he pressed up inside.
Peace, a pulsing sense of peace invaded his very bones.
He fell to the side, pulling her with him.
He had some very big decisions to make, but nothing mattered now. His wife’s arms were around him. His partner was close.
All was right with his small world.
But he knew he would soon have to decide if he was going to take his small family and make it much bigger.
Chapter Seventeen:
Leo, Shelley, and Wolf
Wolf looked around the bar, hoping to catch sight of his fiancée. He needed to find her, hold her, reassure himself that the whole freaking world hadn’t upended.
Some bastard out there had used him to torture his mother. He’d put a good face on with Mel and Leo, but he fully intended to have a nice discussion with his “father.”
God, his father had hit his ma and Leo. If his mother hadn’t found the strength, they might have grown up very differently.
He remembered all the times some asshole in his class had told him he took after his ma. It was their way of telling him he was crazy and an outcast, but he was never more proud to take after his mother than he was tonight.
Even if she was wearing a headdress made of beets. She looked like the vegetable version of Carmen Miranda. He wasn’t even sure how that thing was staying on her head. She turned from the table she was at, a bright smile on her face. “Wolfgang.”
God, no one in Dallas ever called him Wolfgang, and he kind of liked it that way. Still, he forced a smile on his face. “Hi, Ma. Looks like we’re getting set. Isn’t this a whole lot of ceremony for one little drink?”
God, he prayed it was one little drink. Just one. Shelley might run if there was a tumbler involved.
His ma shook her head. “It’s so much more, Wolfgang. Shelley’s agreed to make her pledge tonight.”
“There’s a pledge?”
“Of course.”
Well, naturally. “Ma, I’m going to ask you to go easy on Shell. Please.”
“No need, babe.” An arm wound around his waist, and she was suddenly at his side.
He practically sighed. He hated being away from her, and he’d been away far too often lately. He pulled her close, reveling in how soft she felt against him. “Hey, baby.”
She tilted her face up, offering those gorgeous lips of hers. “Kiss me hello.”
He wasn’t going to refuse that offer. He bent down, covering her lips with his, his tongue delving briefly inside her mouth. “Hello.”
She smiled up at him, a peace to her expression he hadn’t seen in a while. She’d been a little manic lately, but now she was relaxed. “Your momma and I spent the afternoon going over my pledge so don’t you interrupt us tonight.”
“Shelley was real sweet. She helped us make the decorations and everything. Wolfgang, you got a real good girl there.” His ma looked at Shelley like she was a shining light in the darkness.
Wolf’s heart damn near skipped a beat. This was not what he’d expected.
“Well, this is a special day, Ma.” There was a little quiver to Shelley’s voice that told him she was emotional. In a good way.
What the fuck had happened? For the first time, he wondered if aliens had taken his sweet baby and replaced her with a pod person.
“It certainly is.” His ma gave Shelley a quick hug. “This should all be ready in an hour or so.”
She turned back and went about her work with an energy he hadn’t seen from her in a long time.
Wolf looked down at Shelley, his eyes a little wide. He couldn’t talk to her here. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Leo walking in the door and waved him over. The place was starting to get packed. He saw Logan, Seth, and Georgia in a back booth laughing with Gemma, Jesse, and Cade. Laura was talking to Cam, but Rafe didn’t seem to be with them. God, he hoped that went all right. He really liked Laura and couldn’t stand the thought that one of her men might leave. The Circle G contingent was in full force. Shelley’s brother, Trev, had a cup of coffee in one hand, his other arm slung around his pretty wife, Beth. She sat in between him and Bo O’Malley. They were having an animated discussion with Jamie, Hope, and Noah. His boss was standing in the back, watching Dani and Finn on the dance floor, a little smile on his face.
Even Kitten had shown up with her brand new Dom, Cole Roberts, who owned the ski lodge. She was vibrant in a lovely baby-blue dress and high heels, but he could tell they were still awkward with each other. While Kitten laughed with some of the Dallas girls, Cole held himself back.
It wasn’t all hugs and kisses though, Wolf noted. Aidan and Lucas were sitting with the Circle G crowd, but Wolf didn’t see Lexi anywhere.
And then there was Michael McMahon. Why the hell the former US Marshal was here he had no idea. He was sipping a beer and he seemed to utterly ignore everything that went on around him with one exception. His eyes were like lasers on Lucy, the pretty brunette waitress. Well, he stared at her until she actually tried to get his attention and then he pretended to ignore her.
But then she was ignoring Tyler Davis so it kind of served her right. That was an interesting threesome.
“Hey, why is Ma wearing a vegetable garden on her head?” Leo asked as he walked up, pulling Wolf out of the Trio soap opera happening in front of him.
“She’s a Priestess of the Beet,” Shelley informed him. “It’s very important. If I ever want to become one, I have to take it seriously. No beet tablets for the Priestess. She told me beet tablets could be easily manipulated. It’s where she and Mel diverge. They had a long argument over it. She thinks he might have been brainwashed at his last probing. He claims she’s crazy. Like he should say that. And then they made out for a long time. It’s all very complex.”
Wolf forgot about everyone else and decided to concentrate on the changes that had come over his bride-to-be. The last thing he wanted to think about was beets and his ma making out. “We all need to talk.”
He took Shelley’s hand and started to lead her toward the back, behind the bar. There was a kitchen and freezer and tons of closet space at the back of Trio. Wolf had taken bartending shifts when he’d first come home. He knew exactly where to go to get away from all the noise and hubbub.
“Where are we going?” Shelley asked.
“Someplace where I can hear myself think.” Once he got her behind the bar, they could talk without shouting. He pulled her along and Leo followed.
He walked them past the bar. No one was standing behind it. Lucy passed them with a tray full of drinks, and Alexei stepped into the back. Wolf led Shelley into the dark recesses of the bar.
“What the hell happened tonight?” The last time he’d talked to her, she was so pissed at his ma she couldn’t speak.
Shelley turned into his body, her hand coming up to cover his chest. “Tonight? Not a lot. I helped your mom out. I drove her here. Her car needs a tune-up by the way.”
“You drove Ma?” Leo asked.
At least someone got it. “She and Ma seem real tight all of a sudden.”
Shelley’s laugh rang in his ears. “Well, we are now. I finally figured your ma out. I think we’ll get along really well. Your mother is a great lady.”
“Did she feed you some of Mel’s tonic?” Leo asked, his eyes searching her face.
Shelley huffed a little. “No. No, I just found a few things out about her, about what she went through. I met your dad today.”
Wolf’s heart clenched. “He came after you?”
Leo turned her toward him. “What the fuck did the bastard do?”
Shelley didn’t seem at all fazed by his and Leo’s freaked-out anger. She simply smiled and ran a hand along
Leo’s chest, leaning her body back toward Wolf. “We just had a talk and it pointed out a few things to me. He tried his damnedest to scare me, but I just took a couple of shots at him and he ran away.”
Shelley had taken a shot at him? “With what? You barely managed to shoot my gun.”
“You shot him?” Leo asked, but there was a little pride in the question.
“I didn’t shoot him.” Shelley leaned over and ran her nose along Leo’s neck. She turned and her hands found Wolf’s waist. “He came to me at the Talbot estate this afternoon. I listened to his very disgusting rant and then I went inside, ostensibly to get him a check for ten grand. I went in the house and found Rachel Harper and she loaned me her revolver. I made sure the asshole won’t ever come near my mother-in-law again. If he comes anywhere close to Cassidy, I swear I will shoot off his balls. It might take me two or three tries because I’m a horrible shot, but I’ll make it happen.”
Wolf brought his hand to her face. “He threatened you?”
Sweet brown eyes rolled. “Like he really could. He told me he would go to Julian and tell him about you and Leo’s past. He has a deeply mistaken impression of Julian. He thinks he’s some high-society drone who would be horrified to find out that his bodyguard had a bio dad who spent time in jail.”
Leo snorted. “Julian knows everything. Julian knew more than we knew. If that fucker had gone to Julian, he would be six feet under now.”
“I thought so, too, but I wanted him to be afraid of me.” Shelley got on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I wanted to make sure he never got anywhere close to your momma.”
His skin was lighting up everywhere she touched him. He had to wait until tomorrow night? It seemed like forever since he’d sank his dick inside her, found his home. “You tried to protect her for us?”
Shelley shook her head. “No. I protected her because she’s going to be my mother tomorrow. My mom died. The only other mother I intend to have is Cassidy Meyer. And what I discovered about her today is that she’s brave and strong and she is going to make one hell of a grandma if you two want her to be.”
Leo moved in, not willing to go along with the seductive little explanation Shelley was playing with. He had to be an impatient asshole. “Shelley, what happened today? Tell me right now.”
Shelley didn’t seem to be deeply worried about his gruff tone. She pulled at Leo’s shirt as she backed up past the kitchen. “I told you. I shot at the bad guy. He peed himself and ran away.”
“I got that. I meant with Ma.”
Shelley stopped and seemed to get serious for a moment. “I realized we have a lot in common, Cassidy and I. We both picked crappy first husbands. We both got into horrible relationships that should have made us unwilling to ever try to love again. And we both survived and we both found great guys who love us. She did an amazing job raising the two of you. If she managed to be a great mom after everything she went through, then maybe I can be, too.”
Wolf got behind Shelley, wrapping his arms around her. “Baby, you’ll be a wonderful mom. How can you even question it?”
Leo’s hands moved, cupping her face. “Is this what’s been worrying you?”
“I thought it was the wedding.” Had she been stressed about babies? He’d known she was worried, but he’d thought it was the stress that came with getting married.
Shelley nodded. “Sort of. I guess it’s been a worry in the back of my mind. I know I said I wanted babies, but I’ve been afraid that maybe I didn’t deserve them. And I’m definitely afraid that you don’t want them, Leo.”
Leo didn’t ever want kids? He hadn’t heard that. How could that be possible? “Leo?”
Leo’s head shook. “Hey, that was before we got engaged. And yes, it had a lot to do with my dad. I still remember him a little. I remember how rough he was on Ma, how nasty he could be with me. I guess I’ve been afraid I might be a little like my dad, but that’s bullshit. I didn’t learn anything from that man except what not to do. My mother taught me everything. And watching Julian and Jack has made me think I could handle it. And I know Wolf can. He’s practically my momma right now.”
Wolf sent his brother his happy middle finger. “Fuck you, brother. I just make sure you have lunch. You forget it half the time. And I could say you’re practically my maid, and a nagging one at that.”
Leo shuddered a little. “Well, you could pick up your clothes every now and then.”
“No, I can’t. The minute they hit the floor, you’re diving to catch them and then bitching at me about what a slob I am.” He totally wasn’t. Not much. Maybe just a little. Leo had an obsessive-compulsive need to see every inch of the floor at all times.
Shelley put a hand on both their chests. “Both of you, stop.”
And they did because Shelley was kind of sort of the boss of them no matter how sweetly she submitted in the bedroom.
She smiled, a sexy little smile that had her lips curving up. “So we’re all in agreement about the babies thing?”
He’d never known they weren’t. “I want lots of babies.”
“I want babies that look like Shelley,” Leo said, his face softening.
Shelley turned her head, looking between them both. “You know I thought it was weird that neither one of you looks a thing like your father.”
Wolf shrugged. He was happy about that. “Guess we took after Ma’s side.”
“Nope. I spent the afternoon looking through pictures of Cassidy’s family while we played with beets. They’re all small. She said Robert’s people were, too.”
Leo sighed. “We’re not aliens, Shell.”
Oh, god, had his mother gotten to Shelley? “No alien DNA here.”
She shrugged a little, a teasing smile on her lips. “I don’t know. You seem smarter and faster and more agile than the normal human. And hey, I wouldn’t mind if my kids got an edge because their dads had some freaky genetics.”
She laughed and threw her arms around Leo, kissing him soundly. She turned and gave Wolf the same treatment.
He could actually see several play scenarios where being half-alien might be fun.
“Hey, I have about thirty minutes before I have to drink beet juice. Why don’t we have one last crazy fling before we’re boring old married people?” Shelley asked, a glint in her eye.
Wolf knew just the place. “There’s a big closet in the back where Zane keeps the dry goods.”
He started to lead them back, finding the door and hauling them all in. He shut the door and turned on the small light. Thank god Lucy, Zane’s waitress, was as obsessively, compulsively clean as his brother. The storage room was pin neat and had just enough space for what he needed to do.
“Shouldn’t we turn the lights off?” Shelley asked.
Leo just stared at her. “Shouldn’t you take your clothes off?”
Yep, he was already in Dom mode. That was plain to see. “Hurry, baby. He’ll spend all his time spanking you and then we won’t get to the part where I feel some small amount of relief for my aching dick.”
It was only the truth. He’d been hard for days. Well, the whole sweat lodge thing had actually been a blessing since his cock had shriveled up at the thought of being alone in a sweaty, naked place with his brother and de facto stepfather, and his stepfather had been talking sex. It had been damn funny until he got a picture of it in his head. He was actually happy now that he was hard again. For a couple of minutes, he thought his cock might be dead.
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Shelley pulled the tie on her wrap dress and was handing it to Leo in no time at all. Her gorgeous curves were on full display in a sexy black bra and some killer heels. No panties. His girl had learned that lesson long ago.
Leo sighed, his hand covering her shoulders and sliding down to her breasts. “Do you have any idea how much we’ve missed these breasts?”
Wolf flicked the back clasp of her bra, because the situation was far too desperate for a ton of playtime. His brother liked to
warm up, but Wolf was already on fire. “We sat around drinking beer last night and moaning about how long it had been since we’ve seen you naked, baby.”
A little shake in Leo’s voice gave away the fact that he was just as on edge. “It’s been eight days, thirteen hours, and twenty-four minutes.”
Shelley’s head fell back against Wolf’s shoulder as she laughed. “Well, you two certainly know how to make a girl feel wanted. Don’t waste another minute. It’s been that long since I saw you naked, too.”
The closet was too small, but Wolf managed to get out of his clothes really damn fast.
Leo shrugged out of his shirt, but put Shelley’s hands on the fly of his jeans. “Take me out.”
Damn, why hadn’t he thought of that. “Me, too.”
Shelley grinned as she got to her knees. “You’re already out, Wolf.”
He was. His cock was already pointed straight at her, pulsing and desperate. He couldn’t help it. He was tuned in to her. She was his wife. They were as alone as they ever got and she was naked. His cock wasn’t as patient as Leo’s.
She unzipped Leo’s jeans, drawing his cock out and lowering her head for a little kiss. Wolf’s cock strained, waiting for its turn. Shelley put a hand on him, firmly pumping his cock as she kissed Leo’s.
Wolf let his eyes drift closed. This was where he’d needed to be for days. He’d needed to have her hands and mouth on him. He’d needed to remind himself that she’d chosen him and he had the family he wanted.
He looked down when he felt the heat of her mouth start to envelop his cockhead. Already he could feel a pulse of pre-cum wetting the tip.
Leo put his hands on her head, pulling her dark head back. “Suck him, baby. Suck him hard. We don’t have a ton of time before you have to prove you’re not an alien queen, so prove to us that you’re our queen.”
She was. And she was damn fine at giving head. Her gorgeous lips slid down his dick, encasing him in spine-melting pleasure. Over and over she sucked at him, one hand coming up to play with his balls while her breasts jiggled and got him even hotter.