“Your extremely handsome husband’s a genius to make it happen. Just admit it.” He had suggested it to his parents, who jumped on the idea and decided to take all the grandkids—except for baby Levi—this morning and keep them overnight.
“An empty house might be the… Best. Christmas. Present. Ever!” She closed her eyes and flopped back onto the bed, her head bouncing off the pillows. “So freaking awesome.”
“I know. Now you owe me.”
“Mmm.” She opened one eye. “But empty house or not, I’m not giving you another baby.”
“It’s been five years.”
The other eye opened and she glared at him. “My dear, currently breathing husband who’s at risk right now to be smothered to death, we are not having a baby every five years. After last time, I realized five years isn’t long enough for me to forget. Everyone lied about that.” She lifted a hand. “And, you forget how old I am now. Way too old.”
“That’s true.”
Amanda jerked the pillow from under her head and whacked him with it. “You’re not supposed to agree. And, anyway, you got snipped.”
“If you remember, the doctor said it can be reversed. You know, in case I traded you in for a younger model.” Max grinned and shrugged.
“I guess I’m putting an ad for both you and Hannah in the penny shopper.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” she muttered.
He sighed and reclined onto his side, facing Amanda and propping his head in his hand. “Listen, Levi coming into the family has made my paternal instincts kick in again.”
“Paternal instincts to do what? Change shitty diapers? Clean up projectile vomiting? What? What part do you miss?”
“Well, the puking part we still deal with.” Max swallowed down the saliva forming in his mouth. Sometimes he gagged just remembering about the god-awful messes their kids had made.
Amanda was also turning slightly green. “Okay, we need to stop talking about puke.”
“Agreed. That’s not what this was supposed to be about.”
“What was?”
“Shipping them all off and getting some alone time with my wife.”
“Mmm. That sounds better than babies. How long are they gone, again?”
“We won’t see them again until they’re opening presents under the tree at my parents’.”
“What?”
Max’s grin widened. “Yes... That’s their Christmas present to us. A whole day and a whole night alone.”
“Oh. My. God. Just the word alone makes me want to orgasm.” Her hand slipped beneath the sheet.
“I already did,” he said, wiggling his brows.
“Ohhh.” Her brow furrowed. “Wait. The parade later…”
“Yeah, well, I’ll be in it and you can hide from them. I’m sure we can find you some costume to wear so they don’t recognize you.”
Amanda laughed. “You know I’m using that for future blackmail.”
“I’ll deny it.” He slipped his hand under the covers and ran it down her arm until he found where hers was. It was exactly where he thought. “But you can’t deny me,” he whispered.
“Well, I can. But before I trade you in on a new model myself, I’d like a ride in the old one.”
“You may have to grease the rusty parts first.”
Her lips twitched. “Same here.”
For fuck’s sake, he loved his wife. When he first encountered her by giving her a citation in the municipal parking lot, he never, ever thought over a decade later, they’d have two kids and a dog. She had been a spoiled rich brat—even she’d admit it—whose life had been turned upside down when she got guardianship of her special needs adult brother.
Worse, she had frustrated the hell out of him. But as she matured right before his eyes, he fell deeply in love with her and realized he couldn’t live without her. Even though she pushed every one of his damn buttons. On purpose.
But now, she was a great mother, a successful small business owner and the perfect partner for him. Nobody could put up with his hardheadedness of being a cop and a retired Marine quite like her. Thank fuck she could.
He had been teasing when he said he wanted a third kid, but when he thought about it, Amanda being pregnant with his babies had been the most beautiful thing in the world.
Now those babies were no longer babies and were quickly developing into clones of their stubborn parents. At least they got it honestly.
Even so, life was good, and he was a lucky son of a bitch.
He was also about to get lucky with the woman who was pushing his hand between her legs. As if he needed encouragement. His finger slipped between her folds, finding her already wet.
He smiled.
“Do you want me to shower first?”
“Do you need to?” He hadn’t yet. He’d been too busy getting the kids and Greg packed up and ready to head to his parents’.
“Well, you know… It’s been a while since you’ve used your mouth and I just want to make sure you didn’t forget your technique.”
“It hasn’t been that long,” he scoffed.
She lifted a perfectly plucked brow. It should be perfectly plucked. She practically lived in one of the chairs at Manes on Main. Teddy probably put a bronze name plaque on one just for her.
“When was the last time?” she quizzed him.
He pursed his lips.
“Exactly,” she said on a Hannah huff.
“Welllllll… We could do it in the shower, come back to the bed to do it again, and then do it in the shower a third time before the parade.”
“And after the parade?”
“After the parade we are doing it on every surface on and in this fucking house.”
She laughed and patted his cheek. “Look at you. Such confidence you can do it that many times in twenty-four hours. Such lofty aspirations.”
“You’ll be asleep after number two.”
“I will not,” she insisted.
“Then you’ll have to forego any wine so
