Page 123 of Tempting Fate

“Yeah.”Hell, yeah.

They had agreed to wait to start trying for children till after their first year together. Chaska would have finished his fourth Sun Dance by then—he had invited his father to the wedding, and they were on speaking terms again—and Naomi would know whether the boutique was a hit or a flop. Not wanting him to be stuck with condoms, Naomi had gone to the women’s clinic last week and gotten an IUD.

For Chaska, it was like discovering sex again. Without latex to separate them, he could feel her heat, her wetness. And if he didn’t last quite as long?

He did his best to make up for that, and Naomi didn’t seem to be holding it against him.

Chaska shifted his weight, drew her closer. “How are you?”

She’d had a big day—a successful grand opening and a letter from her biological mother.

“Relaxed. Satisfied.” She gave a giggle, stretching languidly in his arms. “I’m okay. Really, I am.”

“What did your father have to say?”

She’d talked with Doug for almost an hour and had scanned and emailed him a copy of the letter.

“He was really happy about how well it went at the store today—and he was glad that Kristi had finally gotten in touch with me. He knew everything that was in the letter, of course, and he was happy that she’d been as open with me as she’d been with him.”

“Did he explain why he hadn’t told you that he was searching for her?”

“He said he had no idea what he might find. She might have been in prison or an addict on the street or dead by suicide for all he knew. He didn’t want me to have to process that. Once he’d found her and met with her, he wanted to give her the chance to do the right thing. So, he didn’t tell me. A year ago, that probably would have made me angry, but …”

Chaska waited for her to finish, orgasm cooling into sleepiness.

“He has my back, and I trust him. I know that everything he does comes out of his love for me. He’s done so much on my behalf. I trust you, too, and Win and Rain and Joe and everyone on the Team. I didn’t realize how amazing it is to be able to trust people, to be able to rely on them, to know that they care about you and would never deliberately do anything to hurt you. You taught me that, Chaska, you and Win and my family and the people of Scarlet.”

Chaska thought back to the traumatized woman who’d been reluctant to accept anything from anyone. “We all need each other. That’s why we talk about communities being a circle, a hoop. Each one of us touches so many others. Connected, we’re stronger.”

“You’re starting to sound like Grandpa—a wise man.”

He kissed her hair. “Not wise—not yet.”

But as Old Man had said last time they’d spoken, even a genius could learn.

Chaska turned toward his wife, held her in his arms, and the two of them fell fast asleep.