Happily Ever After: A Day in the Life of the HEA (Rook and Ronin #3.5) (2 page)

I glance over at Kate, sitting just to Princess’ right, and she gives me an I-told-you-so smile.

“Thanks,” I say, letting out a breath of relief. If Kate is right and Rory is thinking of liking a guy who is not me, then I need to step up my game. I need to get her full attention every time I walk into a room. My eyes get stuck on her perfect lips and I wonder briefly if she’s ever kissed that boy she likes.

No. I’m pretty sure Spencer would walk over to that kid’s house and threaten him with a shotgun if she has. She hasn’t kissed him. Yet.

And with that my mission becomes clear.

I need to kiss Princess Rory and I need to do that today.

Chapter Two

“Hey,” Rook whispers in my ear. “Wake up.”

“Hmmmmm,” I growl. “What time is it?” I crack one eye open. “It’s still dark. We just went to bed.”

“No.” Rook laughs. “It’s seven.”

“Practically night time.”

“I made you breakfast, so sit up,” Rook says, sitting down on the bed next to me.

“Since when?” I laugh. Rook is perfect in all ways, but she and I have never been on the same time clock. She is not a morning person.

“It’s Christmas Eve. You know I love Christmas Eve. So I just wanted to cook for the kids. And I made pancakes. Your favorite.”

“Yeah, you love to
sleep
on Christmas Eve. Ronnie always makes breakfast when we’re in Vail. She’s a kitchen control freak here at the mountain house.”

Rook tsks her tongue. “She was up with Cindy. She’s teething. So Ash helped her last night so she could get some sleep and I said I’d make breakfast.”

“Oh, that sucks.” I reach around and grab Rook by her waist and pull her down next to me. “Thank you,” I say, kissing her on the cheek and sliding my hand up to her breast. She’s wearing one of my old t-shirts and some shorts. She knows I love the shorts. “Let’s take advantage of the chowing kids and get our kinky on.”

She grins at me and then reaches over to the side table where the tray of food is. “Strawberries? Antoine had a fruit basket delivered this morning. The doorbell woke up the pack of princesses. That’s why I’m awake. I’m surprised you didn’t hear Ford’s face-eaters.”

“Mmmm. Forget the kids, feed me, Rook.”

I catch a mischievous grin as she leans over to grab a strawberry, my hand never leaving her soft breast. I twist her nipple a little and that makes her close her eyes and draw in a breath.

“Open,” she says, bringing the berry to my mouth.

I take a bite and chew. The sun is just starting to rise and the pink dawn casts a hazy light over her face. We have been together for sixteen Christmases. Sixteen. Sparrow is almost fourteen and Starling is six. They are just like her. So pretty. So sweet. So perfect. And they have spent every Christmas in this house that I bought with Spencer and Ford once things settled down back. I love coming to Vail for the holidays. And we spend weeks at a time out here in the summer when the girls are out of school.

The house is massive, but it has to be to hold our families. Spencer has six kids with the addition of Cindy last spring. Add in our two and Ford’s two and that’s ten kids and six adults who call this place home. It’s big enough though. Eight bedrooms, eleven bathrooms and eight thousand square feet of living space if you add in the basement.

Luckily there are two wings and most of the kids sleep on the other side of the house so we can have some privacy. Spencer and Ronnie have the master and since they always seem to have a new baby, they remodeled the giant walk-in closet into a nursery for easy access. But all the bedrooms are big and have their own en suite bathrooms.

And Rook and I lucked out with a large terrace off our bedroom. It has a hot tub that we enjoy every Christmas Eve. God, I can’t wait for that moment tonight when we climb into the hot tub.

We have a typical Vail mountain home with long wooden beams running across the ceiling, a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace in the living room, and a chef’s kitchen for Ronnie, since she’s the cook around here.

“It’s quiet down there,” I say. “I think we could have a quickie in the shower.”

“I’ll run the water,” Rook says, jumping up to do that.

“Hmmmm.” I hate to be suspicious, but none of this is adding up. Usually Rook sleeps like the dead. She never gets up early and I can’t recall a single time when she’s brought me breakfast in bed. “Hey, Rook?” I call out over the sound of the running water.

“Yeah?” she calls back, and then steps out of the bathroom naked.

“Jesus. You’re in the mood or what?” I grin and chuckle.

“
So
in the mood, Ronin. Get up, let’s start this day right.”

“But…” I look over at the plate of pancakes. They are all misshapen and broken. That makes me love her even more. She can’t make a round pancake if her life depended on it. “The food will get cold.”

“I’ll make more,” she says, so easy-going.

“Hmmmm.”

“Hmm what?” She cocks her head at me and leans against the bathroom wall, like she’s flirting with me. “Come on. Don’t keep me waiting.” And then she turns back to the shower and disappears.

I throw the covers off and stuff a pancake in my mouth before following her in, my shirt already over my head and my fingers on the waistband of my shorts, tugging them down as I walk.

I’ve got morning wood, so I’m all over this invitation.

She’s already under the water, sopping wet from head to toe. Her long dark hair hangs down her back and she looks just like the girl I met back in Antoine’s studio in Five Points.

“Come on,” Rook says, encouraging me as she fondles her breasts. “Before the minions want our attention.”

“Well, you’ve definitely got
my
attention.” She’s never been a prude, but the last time she tried to seduce me was… shit, years ago, I think. I step into the shower and she starts washing me with soap. “Mrs. Flynn, what is going on?”

“What?” she asks innocently. She’s got those big doe eyes going on, and her shoulders are shrugging. “I just want some alone time before the hustle and bustle of the holidays overtakes us.”

Her hands drag the soap up and down my body, from my chest to my abs, and I have no choice. I’m under her spell. All I can do is stand there and enjoy it. A few seconds into this and she drops the soap and wraps her hand around my cock, squeezing it until I get even harder.

I moan a little as she pumps me slowly, and then her other hand pushes against my chest until I back up and have to take a seat on the bench. She drops into a squat, my eyes seeking out her pussy as she opens her legs for me.

“Jesus, Rook. What’s got into you?”

“You’re complaining?” she asks, before taking the head of my cock in her mouth.

“Oh, fuck,” I moan, leaning back against the cold tile wall. “Well,” I say, my breathing heavy, “whatever it is, I like it.”

“Hmmm,” she says, moaning as she continues to suck me.

I grab her wet hair and pull her towards me, then scoot down a little on the bench seat so I can fully enjoy this morning treat. She takes me deep and I hiss in a breath, fisting her hair. “Yeah,” I say. “I like that.”

She withdraws and then stand and positions herself over my cock, her ass brushing against my thighs. “Good,” she whispers over the running water. “Good,” she repeats as she lowers herself down onto me.

I open my eyes just in time to see her close hers, and then she sits down all the way, my cock filling her up.

“I love you so much,” she says.

“I love you too,” I say, my heart racing as her breathing picks up and she begins to pant. “I’d do anything for you, anything.”

“I know,” she says, leaning down to kiss my lips. And then she starts rocking the way we both like it. The soft way. The easy way. The way that says we are in love. Her hands clasp together behind my neck as her tongue seeks out mine. I think I love the kiss the most. Her kisses are long and slow. Her tongue isn’t eager and penetrating. It’s smooth and moves to the rhythm of our bodies.

Fuck.

We come together a few seconds later. We are so in tune, so much alike in our wants and needs, so perfect.

“I know you love me, Ronin. And you love our daughters too.”

“I do,” I say, letting her cling to me in a way that reminds me of long ago. When we were scared and desperate. When things were unstable and dramatic.

“And that’s why I know that you will not overreact when I tell you that Sparrow got a job offer to model for an equestrian magazine and I already told her she could do it.”

Chapter Three

“Get on your knees,” I say. Ashleigh is wearing that black bra and panty set that I love so much. It’s a signal we’ve had over the years. Oh, the lingerie is new. I gave it to her last night as a hint of what I’ve been craving. I do every once in a while when the sex gets too normal, just to spice things up. And if she puts it on, I know she’s in the mood.

She put it on when she came back to bed from helping Ronnie with her baby.

God, I love her.

Ashleigh kneels down in front of me, her eyes trained on mine. I’m sitting on the bed wearing black silk pajama pants and I’ve been hard since I realized she was up for some fun. She puts her hands on my thighs, her palms down. Just the warmth from her touch makes me impatient. We don’t do this a lot. Kids, work, dogs… these things have been interfering with our sex life for the last fifteen years. But Kate is sixteen and Five is fifteen, so their needs have become less time-consuming.

We’ve had lots of spare time lately.

“What do you want to do this time?” I ask her. “Spankings?” I waggle my eyebrows at her.

“Um…” She hesitates. “Maybe.”

“Hmmm. You’re not excited about it?”

“Well, whatever you want is fine.”

“Fine? Since when do we use the word ‘fine’ to describe sex?”

“Well, I was just thinking—”

“Don’t kneel then, Ashleigh. If you’ve got something on your mind I don’t want to be looking at you on your knees.” I pull her up and place her on the bed next to me. “Just tell me. You have something else in mind?”

“Well,” she says, climbing in my lap and placing her hands on my shoulders. “I don’t know if I need all that exciting stuff anymore. You know? I just like being near you, Ford. We can have sex any way you want and I’m happy. Just the thought of climbing into bed with you gets me excited.”

“So you don’t want the kinky shit right now?” I’m kind of confused. She put the lingerie on. That’s the signal. But if she wasn’t thinking about sex, then she must want something else.

I slip my hands behind her neck and pull her close so we can kiss. Her mouth is soft and her lips are plump against mine. I want to bite them so bad.

“I like the spankings. We can do that if you want.”

“Hmmm,” I say. “But it’s not on the top of your list?”

She shrugs.

“Well, that’s no fun, Ash. What kind of sex do you want then?”

“I don’t want sex today. I want love.”

Awww. “I can do love, love.” My fingers slip under the silky bra strap and slide it down her shoulder. Her skin still prickles with anticipation when I touch her. Every single time. “You want slow, huh?”