Page 77 of No Mercy

“God, oh, God!” As I lay against him I could feel his chest moving up and down with his heavy breathing and the fierce pounding of his heart. A slow smile gradually moved across my mouth. “Are you okay?” I asked softly.

He snorted with humor. “You haven’t killed me yet.”

I laughed softly. Happily. This man was my life. My love. My whole world. I wanted to express to him how much he meant to me, but I couldn’t find the right words, or the one word that would say it all. Maybe it didn’t exist. As calmness enveloped us we began to relax into each other. Rock moved so that we could straighten our legs against the bed. I wondered if he realized that his hand was still moving over me.

“We should go get the kids.”

“Audra said not to rush,” he responded.

“We need to get ready for the club cookout today.”

I always looked forward to the family activities in the club because it allowed me to catch up with everyone. Plus, I was eager to visit with Trish, she was finally pregnant with twins. And Big John was bringing a date for the first time. He insisted the woman was just a friend, but Rock had said that this was the first time in all the years Big John had been in the club that he’d ever brought a woman to a club event. I was eager to see who had tamed the cold-hearted, big, scary man.

“Audra said she’d bring the kids when they come.” He yawned loudly.

“Since when do you listen to a woman?” I joked.

I felt his shrug. “When it means more time alone with my woman…”

He didn’t finish his comment. He didn’t need to, and I couldn’t agree more. I lived for our time together, when it was just the two of us. We’d been through so much. I refused to dwell on the years that we’d lost. What mattered was the here and now, and we were together, a family. Our love was strong. Oh, we’d fight, I had no doubt about that, but the make-up sex would be phenomenal.

I snuggled deeper into his arms, content and happier than I could ever remember being in my life. His arms tightened around me as if he’d never let me go. “I love you, Rock.” The phrase seemed so inadequate, and barely expressed the depth of my emotions for him.

A slight groan, and then he said in a sleepy voice, “Love… you… too, babe.”

I sighed blissfully. There was nowhere else I’d rather be.

The End