Page 148 of A Stop in Time
DANIEL
A Few Years Later
She’ll give me grief for it, but I don’t give a shit. I have to check and make sure my princess is okay.
When I gently place my hand on her back, the subtle rise and fall of her breaths has my shoulders relaxing. She’s sprawled on her stomach, her hair scattered around her, sleeping so peacefully.
“Daddy loves you.” My whispered words are barely audible, but even in her sleep, her lips curl into a faint smile as if she heard me.
“Mommy loves you more.” The whispered hiss sounds from behind me before two slim arms slide around my middle.
I murmur, “One-upper,” and turn my head to meet her lips when she rises to her toes to kiss me.
A moment later, she breaks the kiss and slides next to me, snuggling close. I drape an arm around her, and the expression on my wife’s face as she looks down at our daughter, Emilia, is one of awe and so much goddamn love.
We decided to name her after my sister to commemorate the woman who ultimately brought Mac and me together. There’s no telling if Emilia meant for it to turn out this way, but I’d like to think she’s happy for me…and I sure as hell hope she’s at peace.
It’s hard to think that she had a role in all the shit that doctor was doing to people, but like Mac often says, life’s too short to live with regrets over things you can’t change.
“She’s perfect, isn’t she?” Mac whispers, her eyes resting on Emilia.
“She really is.” I press a kiss to my wife’s temple. I already know she needs to do it and am expecting it when everything goes eerily still around us.
She reaches over and smooths her hand over Emilia’s hair. With a soft smile, she murmurs to our daughter, “You are so loved.”
A moment later, she unpauses time, and the air-conditioning kicks back on, and Emilia’s back rises and falls with each breath.
“Ready for bed?” I whisper.
Mac nods and takes my hand, leading me from our daughter’s room. I cast another glance at little Emilia before pulling the door closed behind us.
Down the hallway, we enter our bedroom and close the door. We’re on each other in an instant. I press her back against the bedroom door, shove up her T-shirt, and latch onto one nipple, sucking it hard.
Her fingers sink into my hair, tightening on the longer section in the middle. “Daniel.”
I move to the other nipple, paying it the same homage before stripping her of her panties. When I trace her entrance and find her already wet for me, my dick threatens to bust through my pants. I swear my woman gets even sexier the longer we’re together.
She gasps my name again when I sink two fingers inside her pussy. But that morphs into a soft laugh when I groan and impatiently haul her up and deposit her on our bed.
“In a hurry?” The dim lamplight dances over her beautiful face, highlighting her smug smile.
“Hell yeah.” I practically rip off my holstered gun and remove my clothes, unable to tear my eyes off her body.
She props up on one arm, a curtain of silver hair falling past her shoulders. The way her gaze slides over me has my dick growing even harder.
When I wrap my fingers around it and give it a long stroke, her eyes flare with heat. “Come ’ere, you.”
I slide in beside her, propped up on pillows, and she slings a leg over me, straddling me. Fuck, her pussy nearly singes me when she sinks down on my cock, but that’s not the reason I go breathless.
It’s when I bracket her waist with my hands and sweep my thumbs over the gentle curve of her stomach. The way it flares just a hint, you’d never guess she’s already four months pregnant with our second kid.
My wife has given me so much. Not only is she a hell of a mom, but she believed in me and trusted that I wouldn’t end up being a shitty dad like my old man.
The days when I come home, having to clean up busted knuckles from roughing somebody up as a warning or with somebody else’s blood on my shirt, she doesn’t give me shit. After I’m showered, she slides her arms around me and holds me tight, silently reminding me that she’s got my back.
Just like I have hers. Always.
My voice is raspy as hell with emotion. “God, I fuckin’ love you.”