“Yes, I did a drop and dash. I opened the front door, shoved them in and slammed it shut behind them.”
Leah laughed. “Father of the Year material right there.”
“Did you want me to stay and jaw with my parents? Maybe sit down for breakfast with them, Greg, Hannah and Oliver? Breakfast smelled pretty damn good.”
“No. You did good. Brownie points for you. But are you hinting that I can’t cook as well as your mother?”
“Not hinting, Leah. Outright stating it.”
She moved farther into the bedroom. “I don’t have time to cook anymore since I’m a full-time cop and mother, Marc. Neither are easy jobs.”
“You used to be a beast in the kitchen.”
She walked over and stood belly to belly with her taller husband. At over six months along, she was showing pretty good now. “Wouldn’t you rather me be a beast between the sheets?”
His lips twitched. “Can’t you be both?”
She sighed and patted his chest. “You’re awfully demanding.”
The twitch turned into a wicked smile. “Why are you still wearing clothes? I figured I’d come home to find you naked in bed as my reward for getting rid of the boys.”
She pointed both index fingers to her rounded belly. “Look, if you haven’t noticed, I’m carrying your kid.”
“I noticed.”
“I don’t move as quickly as I normally do. And, might I remind you, it wasn’t my choice to get knocked up a third time.”
Marc smothered a laugh.
Leah raised a brow. “I’m glad you find it funny. But you won’t be laughing if it’s not a girl this time.” Leah was crossing her fingers and toes for a girl. Boys were stinky creatures.
“Hate to tell you, I only shoot boy sperm. Took after Pop.”
He did not just puff out his chest at that! “There are enough boys in this family already. In fact, way too many.”
“Can’t have enough Bryson testosterone on this Earth.”
“I think most of us would disagree.”
“It made me irresistible to you.”
She pressed a finger to her lips and tilted her head. “Hmm. Did it?”
“If I remember correctly, you would stare at me inappropriately while we were on coach-pupil training.”
She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, this is it.” She made a scissor motion with her fingers directly in front of his face. “Snip. Snip. Just like Max.”
“Max didn’t want to do it. He was threatened with bodily harm.”
“And I know how to physically subdue a threat. Don’t make me use that knowledge. I’ll pin you down, borrow Amanda’s rusty butter knife and do it myself.”
Marc winced and grabbed his balls over his sweat pants.
Gray, she noticed. Her favorite pair, as long as he wasn’t strutting down Main Street in them.
Men in uniform or gray sweatpants tended to catch a woman’s eye. And it didn’t matter if he wore a wedding band or had two sons and another baby on the way.
Plus, her man was super handsome and sexy.
Damn it, he was right. He was irresistible. Even after all these years.
But there was no way in hell she was telling him that. He’d strut around the room and crow like a dick... err... a cock.
“Anyway, three is plenty. We don’t have room in this house for more. Plus, if this is a boy—and it better not be—that means I’ll have four male children to deal with. My sanity might be compromised between the smell, the burps and the farts. From both the two-legged and the four-legged children.”
Two young boys, one man-child and two Mastiffs made their house a disaster on a daily basis.
She never should have let Marc talk her into stopping her birth control.
Never.
He had caught her at a weak moment.
“Not only that, every time I go on maternity leave the department is short-handed. That’s not fair to the rest of you.”
“Not this time with Max hiring Bridget.”
“I don’t think your cousin likes being called that.”
“I know she doesn’t, but it’s weird calling a woman Jet.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You call her what she wants to be called. Or have you forgotten the hard lesson you learned about equality. Do you need a reminder?”
Marc lifted a hand. “Nope. I’m good.”
“Well, with Jet coming to the department, I’m not rushing to go back this time. Whatever time Max gives me, I’m taking.”
“I don’t like you working at all while you’re pregnant.”
She patted her husband’s chest. “Then, good thing it’s not up to you.”
“You’re my wife and the mother of my kids.”
“And that doesn’t make me any less of a person. I can still make my own decisions. Since I’m six months along, your brother will soon have me sitting desk, anyway. I want to work until that happens. Sitting desk is borrrrrring.”
“It’s safer.”
“Manning Grove isn’t a war zone, Marc.”
“No, but things do happen—as we both know all too well—and I just don’t want you or the baby to get hurt.”
“We won’t.”
He put his thumb under her chin and lifted her face to his. “I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby.”
She gave him a soft smile. “I know. And I love you for that. But I wanted to be a cop and knew what it entailed. Being a mother doesn’t make me stop being that cop.”
He couldn’t hide his struggle from his face. He wanted to argue, but after all these years, he knew better. It was the same argument they had when she was pregnant with Austin and Jackson. He lost those, too.
Even though Max had been concerned with her doing patrol and taking incidents while she carried his nephews, he was smart and bit his tongue. He put being a chief before being Leah’s brother-in-law, which was why he was so damn good at his job. He was a good leader for their department and an even better brother-in-law.
“So, the boys know not to come home, right?” she asked.
“I put the Invisible Fence collars around their necks, so they can’t get past my parents’ front yard without a good zap.”
Leah knew he
