AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But we haven’t gotten to the good stuff,” Kira complained. “And I don’t know her well enough yet to tell her to cap it before she lets you tap it. I need more time. I’m new at this. I haven’t found a good rhyming word to go with uterus.”
Um…
What?
“Murderous,” Smith offered.
“That doesn’t work,” Kira scoffed. “No one’s murderous for the uterus.”
I felt Easton start to shake and since I was staring right at him I saw the humor light his handsome face. As strange as this situation was, I had to admit that was funny. Obviously the room thought so too because it filled with laughter.
No, not just any laughter. It filled with the laughter of a family who was teasing and joking.
Something else I’d never experienced.
“Check it, my protégé. You don’t wait until you know them to hand them shit. You just do it. It’s more fun that way.”
“Women don’t work that way, Dimples.”
Did Kira just call Zane Lewis, the Viper King, Dimples?
Holy hell.
I pinched my lips to stop the giggle from erupting.
A giggle.
From me.
I’d entered the Twilight Zone.
“I can’t just tell her if she doesn’t want to do the term, don’t take his sperm. She won’t be receptive.”
This time I couldn’t hold it back. I busted out laughing. My body shook with it. My eyes watered. And for the first time in my life I understand the meaning of a belly laugh. My muscles clenched tight as the hilarity of her comment overtook my body.
As the laughter receded, the look on Easton’s face registered.
His smile said it all but the light shining in his eyes told the tale.
I’d made the right decision trusting him.
This was indeed what protection felt like.
TWENTY-THREE
Jesus fuck.
That right there—Nebraska in my arms, open, free, belting out laughter—was what made it worth it. All of it. The promise of all that she was. I’d take the fear, the walls, the barbs, and the attitude if it meant getting this. The real Nebraska Michaels. The soft and sweet she protected with a tough, hard, razor-sharp exterior. I’d work my ass off to get more of this. I’d fight to get her to the place I needed her to be to give us a shot. A real shot, at a real future. To a place where she’d learn she didn’t need to protect herself alone, not from anyone. I’d see to that. I’d be her shield, leaving her free to be her. The Dove. Nebraska. Whoever she wanted to be, she’d be safe to be just that. And that included her being the daughter of a man who didn’t do right by her, yet she still loved him. That included me cushioning the blow when Badger found her mother so she could be free to feel however she wanted to feel.
“I feel like a proud daddy,” Zane belted out, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Daddy Zane,” Jonas put in.
“Big Daddy,” Zane corrected.
Christ.
This was going to deteriorate, and quickly.
