Page 139 of Meant for Mayhem

Emmy stood when we walked into the room, walking toward me. “Hey. How’s everyone feeling?”

Leena chose that moment to let out a delighted shriek, running straight toward the playhouse waiting for her by the Christmas tree. Mikko and I had bought it weeks ago, and the guys must have found it in the trunk. I was glad they went ahead and put it together, because I took one look at that instruction manual and decided that was someone else’s job.

“Well, she seems fine,” I said.

Emmy chuckled. “You’d be shocked how quickly kids forget the moments that took years off their parents’ lives.”

I dropped onto the couch next to Lori, laying my head in her lap. “Merry Christmas, Lori.”

“Feeling better?” she asked, brushing a hand through my hair.

I nodded, watching the boys help Leena unwrap the tiniest set of pink hockey gear I’d ever seen, complete with a helmet. Mikko grinned, holding it up to show me, and I smiled back.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“How long do you think we’re going to watch her?” Mikko said.

We both stood inside the bedroom, shoulder to shoulder, while Leena dozed on the crib mattress we’d put on the floor next to the bed. This nap was longer than usual, but after the night we’d had, we weren’t about to wake her.

“I don’t know, maybe the next sixteen years or so?”

He laughed, then turned to look at me. “Sounds reasonable.”

That future played out in my mind, filling me with happiness. It still felt a little surreal that this wasn’t temporary between us anymore, but maybe it never had been.

I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him, the quick kiss turning into more. Mikko’s hands slid under my shirt, the warmth of his palms spreading across my bare skin like he’d been waiting for permission all morning. One kiss turned to two, then another, his tongue sweeping across my lips until I opened for him.

Every emotion from last night still felt raw and close to the surface, like a post-game rush—relief and love and the leftover fear of everything that could have been tangled together until I pressed closer, fists curling in the front of his shirt. He must have felt the same, considering he groaned against my mouth and backed me toward the wall.

“Did you bring the baby monitor?” I asked between kisses.

“Already set up,” he said, lips trailing down my neck. “Phone’s in my pocket.”

“Good. We’re home alone, and I want to stop thinking for a few minutes. Think you can distract me?”

I tugged on his shirt, dragging him into the ensuite bathroom and closed the door. Mikko pulled his phone out, opened the monitor app, and turned the volume all the way up before setting it face-down on the counter. Then he was on me again.

The kiss this time had no patience left in it. His hands pushed my shirt higher while I fumbled with the button of his jeans. We were half-dressed and already desperate when I dropped to my knees on the cool tile.

“Is this my Christmas present?” Mikko said, his gaze molten when I looked up. “You on your knees for me?”

“Don’t get used to it, husband.”

That was a lie—the look on his face while he watched me pleasure him was its own kind of power, turning me on far more than it had any business doing. My hand closed around his cock, sliding once before I replaced it with my mouth.

Mikko’s head tipped back, the long line of his throat showing while his fingers threaded into my hair, holding me but never controlling. “Fuck, Shannon, that feels good.”

Heat pooled in my belly, and I clenched my thighs together. I stayed there longer than I meant to, the power of it grounding me after everything that had cracked open between us. When I took him even deeper, he hissed.

“Up,” he groaned, pulling out of my mouth. He hauled me back to my feet, spinning me to face the mirror.

“I need to see you,” he rasped against my ear, sliding a hand up my shirt. “Need to watch my wife’s face while I make her come all over my cock.”

I reached a hand behind me, holding onto his neck while he tugged my pants off and pushed my shirt up enough to slip a hand under my bra.

“Needy much?” I asked, but my breathless voice said I was right there with him.

“For you? Always, rakas.”