Page 86 of Worth of Waste

Karen was so much more than just that for Dino and Junior.

He wanted his son to know someday.

He resolved himself with the knowledge that he would be there to tell him.

No matter what it took to do so.

At the same time, for all Karen’s strength and perseverance, Dino was all too aware that underneath the brave face she put on, there was just a woman who needed to breathe, who wanted to feel safe, loved, and needed. He’d seen those parts of her, too, and that was exactly why he knew they existed.

So he grabbed her a bottle of wine from the fridge, a red, deep liquor with just enough sweetness to let her drink it fast if she wanted. He drew her a bath, hot enough to steam the mirrors and with enough bubbles that they were spilling over the edge.

She didn’t question his motives when he pulled her into the bathroom after she’d put their son down to bed. She let him pull her dress off, took the bottle of wine when he offered it, and then she pulled him into the hot bath with her when she was ready.

That was where he found himself, surrounded by the strength of one terribly amazing woman, and he soaked that in for all it was worth.

He didn’t deserve her.

He was still going to keep her.

“I love you,” Dino whispered the words in her ear.

Karen’s profile showcased her soft, knowing smile. “You don’t say it a lot.”

“I show it; you said that to me once.”

“You do.”

“I’ll say it more often,” he promised.

Every day.

Whenever she wanted.

He didn’t mind.

Dino took the dangling wine bottle from Karen’s hand and sat it to the bathroom floor when she asked him to, knowing she would never drink enough that she might not wake up if Junior needed her in the night. She was smart in that way—a good mother, really.

She was still a little tipsy, though, just enough to feel it.

That was good, too.

He kissed the side of her neck when she rested back against his chest, and for a short while, the rest of the world and all the problems in it went away again. He’d been making a special effort to ignore his growing erection—a problem he could never quite solve when Karen was naked and close to him—but he was becoming painfully more aware of it each and every time she shifted in his lap.

Then, without a word, her hand was slipping under the water and between her thighs. She lifted, making the water slosh around the edge of the tub and more bubbles fall down to the floor. The tub was really too small for them to be playing in it together like they were, but he wasn’t about to complain.

Dino felt Karen’s fingers wrap around the base of his cock, and she fitted him right where he needed to be. She lowered back down on his member with a slowness that damn near killed him in the best way. She was so hot from the water, her sex slick and clenching around him as she took him all the way in, until she was seated back in his lap, a perfect fit.

She stayed still like that for a while, a gentle shudder crawling over her skin every so often when his muscles flexed and his cock jerked inside her body.

“That’s better,” Karen murmured.

Dino chuckled, his hands finding the damp strands of her hair to pile high on the top of her head. “Yeah?”

“Been too long.”

On that, he agreed.

It was always too long.