Always (Family Justice Book 1) (12 page)

“OH, LOOK SWEETIE,” LACEY COOED as she stooped down next to the all-terrain stroller and pointed into a group of pinõn pines nearby. “That’s a roadrunner! See?”

Cam watched the sweet interaction between his adorable wife and infant son with undisguised joy. Dylan might only be two months old and adept at little more than holding his head up, but the way his Ponytail kept up a non-stop narrative during the baby’s every waking moment, you’d think they were carrying on a conversation. And maybe they were.

Not too unlike what he experienced during the precious quiet times with his son, when he murmured about guy things like learning to catch a baseball or how he couldn’t wait to teach his boy the joys of reading. He’d come to enjoy reading during the long months of Lacey’s blissful pregnancy when they sat side by side while she taught herself to knit and he read aloud. Life was fucking great in the Cameron household these days.

Chuckling when she straightened and returned to pushing the fancy stroller along the road, he couldn’t help but remark, “Be glad Zeus isn’t running around out here. She loves to chase those little buggers. Raven, too. One day they might even catch one and then watch out! Holy shit, but that’ll be funny.”

“Language, Daddy,” Lacey reminded him with mock indignation. “I don’t want Dylan’s first words to be off color.”

Cam couldn’t help but laugh. “Off color? Fuck, woman, he’s gonna have to learn how to curse like the rest of us outnumbered males if he doesn’t want to end up with a box of dolls stashed under his bed.”

“Oh, be quiet you,” Lacey giggled. “I can hope, can’t I? But you’re right—this whole place is like ground zero for swear words. Doesn’t help that Tori has a black belt in naughty language and Meghan’s not far behind.”

Slinging a possessive arm about his wife’s shoulders, he hugged her close and chuckled. “It’s only you, my delicate flower, who thinks there’s any merit whatsoever to watching your mouth.”

His heart filled with a lot more than love when she glanced sideways at him from under her lashes and whispered, “Well, you’ve found plenty of other ways for this mouth to be naughty than with some vulgar language.”

And man oh man, had he ever. His sexy ponytailed wife had taken to subjecting him to some scorching hot intimacies featuring her lips and tongue that made him a happy man indeed.

“Speaking of which,” he drawled lazily, “isn’t it about time we had some alone time? You know, some horizontal rhumba with your legs in the air and me fucking the giggles right out of you?”

Lacey stopped pushing the stroller and huffed at him with female indignation oozing from every pore of her face. “Seriously, husband? Is that all you think about?”

“Hardly,” Cam answered with a sly wink. “And look who’s talking. I seem to remember your doctor saying we should wait at least seven weeks before being intimate. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it you who tried to force the issue way before then?”

“Shush you,” she giggled. “I can’t help it if you’re like movie star gorgeous. Besides, I don’t remember you putting up all that much of a fight.”

“Well, what’s a guy to do when his wife surprises him with some come-hither eyes while she’s down on her knees?”

Lacey sighed at the memory he conjured up and turned to him, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her delectable body against his. With her fingers creeping into the hair on the back of his head, she groaned and captured his mouth with her lips. They stood there, arms wrapped tight around the other and kissed like sex-starved maniacs.

“You know, I wanted to make love to you that night but you weren’t ready. It’s been better to wait. Let your body adjust to all the changes.”

His wanton wife pushed her hips into him and wiggled. The shimmy shot heat into his groin at an alarming rate of speed.

“I’m ready now, Cameron. And you know perfectly well it’s not just you with that legs in the air scenario taunting every waking hour.”

Oh, God. She was going to be the death of him some day, he was sure of it. Throughout her entire pregnancy, his wife had been like a sex machine, climbing all over him morning, noon, and night. He’d been awakened countless times by her wicked tongue. Doing all sorts of sexy things intended to rouse him from sleep so she could ride him with abandon until she flew apart shuddering helplessly in his arms. Shit. Truth be told, he’d taken her from behind with that gorgeous ass of hers staring him in the face and her beautiful pregnant belly nestled in some pillows just a few days before Dylan’s birth.

He was mapping out a sexy scenario involving a long warm bath and a bunch of flickering candles, maybe even a bottle of expensive champagne for the resumption of their marital sexy times, when Lacey cupped his sex through his jeans and sighed. Fuck. If she kept that up, he was going to have her right here in the middle of the road.

“I bought a black corset,” she murmured into his ear. “And some naughty lace panties that tie on the side.”

“Excuse me?” he wheezed. His virginal bride was turning into quite the seductress.

“You heard me,” she drawled as she suddenly disengaged from him and began pushing the stroller along the road.

He just stood there with a dumbfounded, slack-jawed expression watching her delicious ass stride away from him in a pair of stretch jeans that clung to her every curve. As Lacey’s signature blond ponytail swung and swayed with each step, he wondered out loud, “How did I get to be so fucking lucky?”

WHEN SHE RETURNED TO DRAE and Tori’s house, Stephanie found her pregnant daughter laughing gleefully at her husband as he pantomimed his technique for changing diapers. It was good to see Tori with a smile on her face and Draegyn so relaxed.

Using his hands to demonstrate, he insisted that, “Cam says, it’s all about the lift and shoosh. Ya’ lift the baby’s ass by the ankles and shoosh the diaper underneath.”

“Shoosh?” Tori giggled. “Is that even a word? I’m not sure Bunny Cha Cha wants to get shooshed.”

Draegyn looked up as Stephanie entered the living room and grinned. “I’m right, aren’t I, Grandma? First lift and then shoosh.”

Grandma
.
Yikes!
Every time she heard the word, she didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.

“Actually, I kind of agree,” she answered with a wry grin. “And you’d best do it quickly too—especially if Bunny Cha Cha turns out to be a boy—unless, of course, you like being covered in pee.”

Bunny Cha Cha.
Geez Louise
. Only Tori could come up with such a ridiculously adorable way of referring to their baby. Truth be told, Stephanie had been pleased when the newlyweds decided against finding out their child’s sex beforehand. She was glad they held off. That moment when a newborn’s cry rang out in the delivery room and the doctor said, ‘congratulations, it’s a whatever’ was special.

“See! Told you,” Draegyn teased as he bent low to kiss his wife.

Stephanie sighed. Whatever misgivings she’d been harboring about the good-looking former ladies’ man were quickly vanishing under the glaring evidence of the man’s blatant devotion to her daughter.

“Hey, Mom,” Tori chirped excitedly when Draegyn straightened. “Lacey and Dylan are heading up to the big house. Meghan called down and asked us to come by for brunch. Get in some baby snoodles. You up for it?”

Seeing the way Draegyn’s expression brightened as his wife smiled warmed Stephanie’s heart. Thank God, Tori seemed better than she had after her arrival yesterday. The haggard, struggling woman she’d been so distraught to discover had been replaced by a happier, lighter individual who wasn’t nearly as pathetic as she appeared just twenty-four hours earlier.

“Absolutely I’m up for it,
shugah
,” she told her. “That’s one cute baby. He was so adorable at his christening—I loved holding him and as you say, getting in some baby snoodles. Just give me a half hour to shower and change and I’ll drive us up to the house. That okay with you, Draegyn?”

“Hell yeah,” he quickly answered. “Whatever Victoria wants is fine by me.”

Stephanie didn’t miss the crooked grin he shot his wife or the hushed giggle that floated from Tori’s mouth. Oh, my, my. Those two must have had quite the night.

“Oh, did you see the cart in the driveway?” he asked her.

She chortled and shook her head. “You mean the one with the bright pink seat covers and fuzzy yellow peach hanging from the mirror? Yeah, I saw it.”

“I know, right?” Tori laughed. “Meghan christened it the Georgia Peach-Mobile. She had Gus bring it down here just for you, Mom.”

Stephanie tsk tsk’d and shook her head. “You people are spoiling me, I must say! First, a private jet, then a suite of rooms more impressive than a luxury hotel, and now a personalized cart. Y’all keep this up my darlings and I may never leave.”

Was it her imagination or did Draegyn and Tori both appear to be thrilled at her words? She was kidding, of course. Her life was in Atlanta, not here in this beautiful place that was its own little world.

“Well,” Drae chimed in, “I, for one, hope you stick around a good long time after the baby comes. Seeing how fast Dylan has grown and changed in just two months has been eye-opening.” He reached out and took Victoria’s hand as they both beamed at her. “We want you to be involved, Stephanie. Every step of the way. After all,” he added with a sadness she’d never heard from him before, “you’re going to be this kid's only real grandparent.”

Damn those St. John’s
, she thought. There was nothing that got a person thinking more about family and what that really meant than the impending birth of a child. For all that Draegyn brought to the table—good looks, an impressive bank account, integrity, grit, skill, and a good healthy dose of possessiveness—he was clearly lamenting his lack of an intact family. He had his sister but beyond that had little, if any, contact with his parents.

Attempting to diffuse the sudden pall of heavy emotion in the room, Stephanie went and leaned over her daughter for a quick kiss then playfully elbowed her rather stoic looking son-in-law. “You know what?” she said as they both looked at her. “I thought that maybe we could try on ‘Mom Mom’ instead of Grandma. Sounds less like a caricature and more like someone who will double down and work overtime to cause mayhem and spoil the bejeebers out of a grandchild.”

Tori giggled. “Oooooh, I like that! Mom Mom. Yes!” In the next instant, those damn pregnancy hormones rushed in and she saw tears sparkling in her daughter’s eyes. “You’re going to be the most awesome Mom Mom ever,” she sniffled.

“Yeah, well, right this second this Mom Mom-to-be needs a shower so you hold that thought, daughter, while I make myself presentable.”

Looking pointedly at Draegyn, she raised her eyebrows a tad and gave him a look that said,
Hug now
, as she turned toward the elevator hallway. The last thing she saw before turning the corner was her son-in-law dropping to the sofa as he gathered Tori into his arms.

STEERING THE PEACH-MOBILE ALONG THE road up to the main house, Stephanie kept an eye on Tori, who sat with both hands holding her enormous belly. Dressed comfortably in a long, flowing dress that screamed boho chic with her hair cascading across her shoulders, she looked every inch the pregnant Madonna. When she gleefully started sing-songing the wicked witch tune from the
Wizard of Oz
, as they zipped along, Stephanie had to laugh, marveling at her daughter’s quirky sense of humor.