“Again, I want to reiterate, I do not like that term,” Asher had glowered at him.
So here Ezio sat in a conference room at Little Creek with Max droning on about something that he could care less about.
“…and Ezio could care less. Isn’t that right, Stark?”
“Huh?”
“You’re useless to me. Just get the hell out of here and propose to your woman.”
Ezio looked around the room and saw the entire team grinning at him. Max had the biggest grin of all. “I said get out of here. We know you have the ring. Get Samantha to say yes, so that next week you can be of some use,” Max admonished.
“You got it.”
Ezio double-timed it out the door, out of the building, and into the parking lot. Before he went home, he had one important stop to make.
Two minutes to go before the next batch of cookies were due out of the oven, and Samantha heard the garage door open. That was weird because Ezio always just parked out front and came in the front door. Who cared though?
He’s home!
She looked down at the Nineteen-Fifties style dress, pearls, heels, and white apron. Heck, she even had her hair up. Perfect. She grinned. She knew her man; he’d like this much better than a French maid costume, considering he always had a thing for June Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver.
She pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven with the oven mitt and turned just as the kitchen door from the garage opened.
He stopped and his mouth fell open. “Holy fuck.”
“That’s not your line. Your line is, ‘Honey I’m home’.”
“Nope, I’m sticking to holy fuck.” He walked up to her. “You’re fucking gorgeous. Put down the cookies, Babe, so I can get a kiss.”
She put down the cookie sheet on the stove and he carefully pulled her into his arms. Ezio was still careful because he was still worried about her arm, the silly man. God, he looked so good, smelled so good, and then he started to kiss her. All reasonable thought went out the window.
Ezio seemed intent on devouring her. It was sublime. He parted her lips and he ravaged her mouth, his tongue thrusting. Her senses reeled. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life as he took her to a hidden place of heat and desire.
He pulled back and looked at her, his eyes an intense green. She blinked and realized that she was sitting on the kitchen island and her hair was flowing all around her. The man had been busy. She gave him a contented smile.
“You like my outfit.”
“I fucking love your outfit,” he grinned. “You spoil me.”
“The cookies?”
“Everything. Every last thing about you. Who you are. Having you in my life has spoiled me rotten.”
“Well, that’s a good thing.” She smoothed her hands over his white T-shirt. “You spoil me too. Let’s go upstairs where you can really spoil me.”
Ruff. Ruff. Ruff.
“What’s that?” Samantha asked as she cocked her head toward the garage. “Wait a minute, I thought Tabitha went to the therapy dog trainer.”
“She did.” Ezio smoothed his hands over her waist, making sure she was stable on the island. Then he went over to the door as she watched him.
Duchess tentatively peered in through the door.
“Duchess!” Samantha cried as she jumped off the island.
“Sam, watch it, you’re in heels.”
Samantha crouched down and Duchess ran over to her and started licking her face. She’d just seen her three days ago when she’d visited the shelter, but Duchess acted like it had been three years.
“Who’s my good girl?” Sam crooned.
Ezio crouched down too.
“What’s she doing here?” Sam asked Ezio as she pressed another kiss into Duchess’ fur.
“She needs a family, Sam,” he said solemnly.
Samantha looked up at him with wide eyes.
“And so do I.” He had a ring box open in his palm. “Be my family. Be my wife. I need you. You’re my universe. I’ll take care of you and love you on into forever.”
Her happy tears ran down into her smile.
“I want to be your wife and have your babies more than anything in this world.”
Ezio leaned over Duchess to hug her, but it was impossible. He lifted her up so that she was sitting on the island again.
“Babies?” he said.
She nodded.
He huffed out a laugh. “I suppose you already have names.”
“What do you think of Chiara and Lorenzo?”
She watched as he swallowed, and his eyes shone brightly. “Only two?” His voice was rough.
“That’s for the twins.”
They both laughed as she threw her arms around his neck.
It was a wonderful day that was going to be followed by a lifetime of wonderful days, and it was all because of this man in her arms.
Read Night Storm Book 5
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Watch as Leo Perez finally meets his match in Her Sensual Protector.
THE END
About the Author
Caitlyn O’Leary is a USA Bestselling Author, #1 Amazon Bestselling Author, and a Golden Quill Recipient from Book Viral in 2015. Hampered with a mild form of dyslexia she began memorizing books at an early age until her grandmother, the English teacher, took the time to teach her to read—then she never stopped. She began re-writing alternate endings for her Trixie Belden books into happily-ever-afters with Trixie's platonic friend Jim. When she was home with pneumonia at twelve, she read the entire set of World Book Encyclopedias—a little more challenging to end those happily.
Caitlyn loves writing about Alpha males with strong heroines who keep the men on their toes. There is plenty of action, suspense, and humor in her books. She is never shy about tackling some of today’s tough and relevant issues.
In
