Page 103 of Crack the Ice

I chuckle against her hip, biting down hard enough to draw a gasp from her.

“Brat,” I mumble, dragging my lips over her scar, peppering it with kisses until I can’t take it anymore.

“You like me bratty.”

“I do.” I drag my tongue over my bite mark, soothing the angry ridges I leave behind. I crave the taste of her against my tongue, so much so that I drag it up the inside of her thigh.

A low groan vibrates through me when she pushes her back further into the door, scooping her hips to bring them closer to me. “Less talking, Maverick.”

I’m a breath away from her when there’s a knock on the door. Cecilia may as well be a fucking cat with the way she throws her hand over her mouth and jumps a good two feet in the air away from the wood surface I had every intention of devouring her against. Except I stand at the same time, and the leg that was slung over my shoulder gets stuck and she starts to fall.

I grab her around the waist before she can hit the floor, amusement dancing in my eyes as I clock the panic in hers. “I’m glad you find this humorous,” she hisses, snatching her shorts from the floor before disappearing into the bathroom.

I open the door once the bathroom door closes to find a terrified Lily. “Hey, are you okay?”

“I had a bad dream.” Her voice is soft, if not a bit shaky. “I went to Cecy’s room first, but she wasn’t there.”

“I’m right here, Lil Bit,” Cecy says, walking out of the bathroom, her hair now pulled into a high ponytail instead of down like it was minutes earlier. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were still here.”

I watch as Cecy drops her ass on the floor in front of Lily, taking her small hands in hers. “Why would I not be here?”

“Everyone I love leaves eventually. Even if they don’t choose to.”

Acid swirls in my stomach. I’ve been the one to leave. I’ve left them, even if I always have every intention to come back. I haven’t even stopped to think about how that might affect two people who have lost both parents.

My woman tilts her head to the side, her entire face softening into something of endless patience, giving Lily all the time in the world to realize she’s still here, unmoving in the presence of her fears.

“Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere unless you ask me to. I’m just as scared of messing something up and you guys not wanting me around one day as you are of me deciding the same. But I love you, and I love Mav.” Her gaze is unwavering as she softly squeezes the backs of Lily’s hands. “I want to be here.”

My breath catches in my throat as I watch them interact. The world is cruel, depriving this woman of the ability to bring life into this world. She won’t ever know what it feels like to grow a child of her own, to feel it kick her from the inside. She’ll never get to complain to me about how much her back hurts or how much her boobs have grown.

I’ll never get to kneel in front of her with my hands resting on her stomach, kissing the swell of her belly as I whisper how much I love her to our baby.

I do get this, though. Witnessing the same gentleness that got me through the worst times of my life being given to two kids who never deserved the hand they’ve been given. I’m the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.

“We were going to surprise you today,” Cecilia says, pulling Lily to the floor in front of her. “How does one last summer field trip to the aquarium sound?”

“Really?” Lily’s eyes shoot to mine.

My head bobs in response.

“That would be awesome. I hear you can feed the stingrays there! Can we?”

“Of course, Lily Pad,” I say, ruffling her hair when she gives me her gap-toothed smile.

She jumps off the floor, running to her room, saying something about finding the perfect outfit for the sharks. I will never understand the mind of a twelve-year-old girl, but you know what? Whatever makes her happy.

“You’re trouble, Maverick Reed,” Cecy says from the floor. Her arms are wrapped around her legs, hands dangling in between her knees. “I love you so much it hurts. It’s terrifying, and seeing you with them makes it even scarier. There’s so much to lose this time.”

Scooting in front of her, I gather her hands in mine. “You’re not going to let that fear stop you, though, are you, baby?”

Her lip rolls between her teeth, her eyes holding mine for one agonizing second. “No.”

“Good girl. Now, let’s get ready to go see some aquatic animals.”

I greatly underestimated how much these women have me wrapped around their fingers. Cade’s been laughing at me for—I take a look at my watch—fifteen minutes now. My arms are full of stuffed aquatic animals, from sea turtles to polar bears. We’ve fed the stingrays four times, and now Lily is begging to see the lemurs. I didn’t even know we had lemurs in Florida. I groan, spinning on my heel in the direction the sign is pointing.