Life Begins (29 page)

              Jovana laughed, even as she reached for the adorable, pink bundle. “He has been watching too many movies.”

              Josie stopped listening, because her eyes could only see her son. He was so big. “How the hell did that come out of my vagina?” Josie said to the room at large.

              “He is very healthy,” Jovana said, as she cleaned him. “Gorgeous, just like his
majka
and
tata
.” She turned to her son, tears in her eyes. “You have a son.”

              Žarko sent a slight smile toward Josie, even as he allowed his mother to settle the small bundle back into his arms. “He is my second son.” But the first of his blood.

              Josie collapsed back against the bed, experiencing a wave of exhaustion from everything that she went through. She was excited, now that it was over and she had the chance to watch her husband bond with his son. “What are we going to call him?” she asked.

              “Ilija,” Žarko said without pause. “He will be called Ilija.”

              Josie sighed, even as she fought to laugh about that. “I think that’s the perfect Serbian name.” She may have been able to fight the laugh, but she definitely couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling. She was going to have to think of a good
black
middle name for her son.”

Chapter 30

              They finally had moved into their new home and Josie couldn’t have been happier. It had everything that she wanted, a pool that looked like a lake, two treehouses, one for the children and one for her and Žarko to hang out in. They were beautiful, big and spacious. She had a lovely view of the pool and could even see the house and could get to the kids through an attached bridge.

              If she didn’t already love her husband, all of this would have deepened it. It showed that he listened to her. The girls were too excited to stop exploring, especially as all their items were in boxes around the house. How he managed that, no one asked, but if Josie had to guess, she would bet anything that the sudden presence of guards had everything to do with the sudden appearance of their whole house.

              The only ones who seemed not to notice anything going on was baby Juljiana and baby Ilija. Both of who were much too young to understand anything. Even Josif still seemed a bit young in his understanding. He only saw the treehouse and the opportunities for playing. It was a nice surprise for after she had given birth.

              “You and the little ones can relax up here while everything is put up in the house,” Žarko told her as he held Juljiana in his arms.

              “I wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” she told him as she shuffled through the door of the treehouse carrying her new baby. “I just want to recover from having my vagina stretched by a whopping nine pounder and let your men do all the work of putting everything together.”

              She trusted that Nenad had the other children under hand. Plus, in here she had an infant seat for Ilija and a whole play area to keep Juljiana distracted. For herself, she had a lovely rocking chair, complete with great padding, and a nice and shiny new E-reader for entertainment purposes. Across the way she heard lots of screaming and laughter from the older children.

              It was everything that she wanted for her family. “What are you going to do?” she asked Žarko. She slid Ilija into his baby swing so that she could relax in the rocking chair. He plopped Juljiana in her lap, both of them knowing that the baby girl would immediately want to be on her feet, so Josie allowed her to find something to play with.

              Žarko pulled a chair over from the dinette set over to her and took a seat himself. “What do you want me to do?”

              She made a moue with her mouth. “Who’s supervising the moving of the furniture and can I trust them to set things up the way that I would like it?”

              He gave his usual grunt. “There is a professional in the house. From Paris.”

              “Oh, well in that case, let’s relax. And pretend that we have no other responsibilities other than our children. You can chase Juljiana so that I can stay seated.”

              “If that’s what you want.”

              She nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I want.” She then pointed behind him. “You should probably stop your daughter from climbing on top of that box in the corner of the kitchen area. I’m worried she might actually hurt herself.”

              “So what are you going to do?” Josie asked Nenad the pressing question on her mind. Žarko had made it clear that he wanted the other man to remain in Serbia, but Josie was concerned about what he wanted to do with his life.

              The young man shrugged. “I don’t know. My girlfriend has pretty much made it clear that she’s not coming. I guess we can have a long distance relationship, but for how long will that last?”

              Josie wished she had a good answer for him, but being honest, the relationship was probably doomed as a result of her not wanting to relocate. “Well, is the problem more that you guys aren’t married? Or is she just not interested in moving at all?”

              Nenad glanced over his shoulders at the girls pushing Josif on the swing set attached to their tree. “She doesn’t want to move at all. She wants me out of this life, even if she doesn’t know the extent of it.”

              Josie passed Juljiana her favorite block. “I’m sorry to hear that. Have you talked to Žarko about it?”

              He laughed. “He’s the boss. What he says goes and you and I both know that he’s not going to release me from service just because a girlfriend doesn’t want me to move. He’ll just tell me to get another one and be done with it.”

              That’s probably exactly what he would say. “Well, there’s not much I can add to the conversation then, other than the fact that I’m glad you’re here with me. I wouldn’t know what to do with another bodyguard/babysitter. No one speaks English as well as you.” She bumped her shoulder with his.

              “It makes me think about the kind of wife that I want,” he finally admitted quietly. “I didn’t think I would want to get married any time soon, but looking at the way you are with the boss, it makes me actually crave that.”

              He avoided eye contact with her as he checked on Ilija, who slept in his infant seat. “I always knew that I wanted to be a father because I’m good with kids, you know. But, when I used to think about getting married, it was like there was this itch that made me want to run away. It makes no sense.”

              “Maybe it’s because you aren’t ready. Not everyone is like me, aching to get married as soon as possible, and it’s probably somewhat of a good thing. If I had waited, I wouldn’t have had my children, but I also wouldn’t have spent so much time with Gary in a lacking marriage. I think that there’s a girl out there for you and I bet you’ll find her when you least expect it.”

              He laughed. “I’ll take your word for it. In the meantime, I’ll just focus in on my job and do whatever is the boss tells me to do.”

              “That’s probably a good idea.” Josie said with a smile. She reached over to pick up her tiny newborn as he began to fuss. “Let me get this little guy inside and fed. Think you can handle the rest of the kids?”

              Nenad threw her a thumbs up. “You know it.” He turned to all the kids, suggesting that they race up to the playhouse to play a game. Josie left him to it, knowing that she now had time to take care of the needs for her baby. It gave her a sense of peace to know that she could spend her time relaxing.

              Six weeks of celibacy and Žarko felt as if he was ready to explode. He needed inside Josie’s body, immediately, forget what the doctors had to say. But, there was little that he could do with a newborn around gorging on his mother’s breasts. Then, of course, there was baby Juljiana who hated the competition and insisted that she needed to feed as well.

              He loved his children, but at the same time, he was so ready to pawn them off to someone else so that he could spend some time reacquainting himself with his wife’s body. He didn’t care how much she complained about not losing enough weight. Just looking at her made him harder than a little bit.

              “Stop staring at me. You’re making me nervous,” she said from her spot in the bed. She held Ilija in her arms, feeding the gluttonous baby.

              “You should be nervous because I am waiting for the
beba
to finish feeding so that we can spend time together.”

              He heard her soft laughter. “That’s an innuendo if ever I heard one.”

              “You still owe me from going to girls’ movie.” He loved the curious look on her face, because it took attention, even momentarily, away from his son.

              “I gave birth to your son. We’ve barely gone any time without you inside my body. So, I don’t think that I owe you much of anything.”

              If only she knew. As far as he was concerned, having her wasn’t enough. He wanted her constantly, without question. He wanted to do a lot of things to her, things that would bring them both ultimate pleasure. “It does not mean that you have paid me for movie. I asked for very specific thing.”

              She sighed. “Yes. You want to tie me up, but I’m not sure that it’s something that I would like to do.”

              He watched her place their son over her shoulder to begin burping him. It was just a wonderful sight, something that he would never grow tired of. “It will be fun thing for us to do. There is much pleasure to be had.”

              “But I’m also not on birth control and as much as I love the children, and would love to maybe think about more in the future, I’m not sure that I want to risk another pregnancy yet.” She climbed off the bed to settle the baby into his arms. “We still have three little ones not yet in school. That’s a lot of work.”

              He cradled Ilija against his chest, letting the pleasant scent of baby wrap him up in his senses. “I am not willing to wear condom,” he told her while pulling her to sit down in the available space on his lap. “I do not like having barriers between us.”

              She planted a gentle kiss on his lips. “And you have never seen a need to pull out. I’d be crazy to expect it of you.”

              He gave her his trademark smirk. “Of course. Life is all about taking the risks.”

              She leaned forward to give him another kiss. “Well, if you can get the little ones to stay sleep without interrupting us, then I’ll think about letting you tie me up.” He already had her covered.

              He shifted her from his lap and practically ran his son to the nursery that he now shared with Juljiana, mainly because their room was attached to the master bedroom. Juljiana was perfectly content in her own crib, her small limbs spread out to practically take over the whole bed space. For his son, he swaddled him so that he lay snug in his own crib.

              Now, he had two hours to spend inside his wife and he knew just how to get her to his way of thinking. He returned to find her in bed, on her side faced away from him. He knew that she couldn’t possibly be sleep yet, because he would know through her breathing. He said nothing as he headed to their closet to grab the length of silk fabric he’d been keeping for this very moment.

              Then, he crawled onto the bed, over her. The way she suddenly tensed told him that she definitely hadn’t gone to sleep. “Josie, why are you playing possum?”

              She pouted slightly. “I’m not playing possum. I’m trying to get some sleep.”

              He tugged on her left wrist, getting her to roll onto her back beneath him. She followed without putting up much of a fight, her gentle brown eyes opening to stare up at him and the blue scarves that he held. “What’s that for?”

              “You owe me. You should never owe the boss anything.”

              He watched as she fought to roll her eyes at him, but he knew that she would submit herself to the process. He was right because she held her hands out for him. “What do you want me to do?”

              “Roll over and put your hands behind your back.” He sat up to give her enough space to do as he asked. As soon as obeyed, he tied the length of fabric around her wrists, not tight enough to hurt, but certainly he made it so that she couldn’t get loose. “Good. Know it is time for you to pay your debt for making me watch silly movie.”

              “You do know that your decision to be a good example to Josif should have been enough to make you behave. As your wife, I shouldn’t have to pay anything back after everything I’ve had to do for you.” She leaned back against him, her body arched because of her hands. It allowed him free access to her unbound breasts.

              He lifted his shirt that she insisted on wearing, glad that she had nothing underneath to distract him. Otherwise, he would have had to have punished her. He cupped her breasts, squeezing her sensitive nipples between his fingers. “It still doesn’t matter. I am boss and expect payment.”

              He kissed the sensitive spot beneath her ear. “No one gets by without paying me what I am owed. Not even you.”

              “You’re a jerk.” Her breath caught as he began tugging on her nipples.

              He knew she wouldn’t be able to see his smile. “I know, but that is why you love me.” He didn’t need her to say anything. He knew he was right. So he didn’t bother with conversation, instead, choosing to only focus on doing everything possible to take care of his needs, knowing that she was certainly going to enjoy it. Life was really good. And it was about to get better.

              With little time to waste, he positioned her perfectly across his lap, making it easier for him to thrust his way inside of her. Her soft breasts made the perfect handhold for him. He immediately got to work, moving in and out of Josie, letting his body do what it did naturally. It didn’t take his sweet wife long to release against him, drenching his cock in her sweet cream.

              He bent her over, using her hands to his use. She had no choice but to lay at the right angle for him, to submit her body to him. He loved it, enough that it didn’t take him long to come as well, not even bothering to pull out of her. It really felt good to have a good wife. He’d kill anyone that tried to take her from him.