“Sure, doll. That’s not a problem. You have Kat starting, and maybe we can bring on some new guys at ALFA so I can cut back my hours.”
I smiled down at him. “Thank you.”
I couldn’t believe it was so easy to convince workaholic James to cut down. But maybe he felt like me…time was slipping away from us. In the end, we weren’t thankful for all the hours we worked. We were reminded of the moments we spent together, or we were filled with regret.
He looked up. “For what?”
“For agreeing.”
“There’s nothing more important than you and the boys, Iz.”
I let out a contented sigh and closed my eyes. “Just five more minutes,” I begged.
The bed dipped, and James settled between my legs. “That’s all I need, baby.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and lifted my head to kiss him. “Imagine all the mornings we could do this,” I told him.
“Then let’s quit.”
“Don’t be silly,” I laughed. “Fuck me. You’re down to four.”
“I only need three,” he said with a smirk.
“That’s nothing to be proud of, sweetie.”
He pushed inside of me, filling every inch of me. I moaned, resting my hands on his ass because I loved to feel it flex underneath my touch as he pumped into me. He gave me a solid minute of slow lovemaking before he pounded into me like a madman working against the clock.
When we orgasmed and collapsed, he rolled onto his back and rested his hands on his chest. “Fuck, quickies aren’t as fun as they used to be.”
I ran my fingers through the damp hair on his chest. “You’re getting old.” I chuckled.
“Speak for yourself. Now you must pay,” he said, pulling me down and pinning me to the bed.
“No, don’t,” I begged. “I can’t walk around all day all worked up. I’ll kill someone.”
“No butt plug?” He pouted.
“You ever want to be fucked again?”
Like the smart man he was, James gave in and let me off the hook. Literally. I didn’t have to walk around all day with something shoved up my ass just so he could get his rocks off all day thinking about it. Sure, I loved a good punishment and the anticipation of him fucking me later, but today wasn’t the day. Especially not after the weekend we’d had.
By the time I made it downstairs, James’s mother had the boys ready for school and standing at the door to kiss me goodbye.
Trace had on his favorite Transformer shirt and denim shorts with a pair of matching high-top sneakers. Mello and Rocco had on whatever I left on their dressers. They were past the stage where they cared about how they looked and were too young to think about dressing nice for the girls.
I knew the day was coming. The girls who would coo over them and chase them through the schoolyard, but thankfully, it was still a ways away.
“Bye, Mama,” Rocco said, standing on his tiptoes to give me a kiss on the cheek.
I ran my fingers through his buzz cut, loving the feel of it under my palm as he winced.
“Ma,” he groaned.
“Shush it,” I told him, doing it again because I fucking could.
“You can touch my hair, Mama,” Mello said, pushing Rocco out of the way.
My twin boys were so opposite of each other. They were both tough and growing like weeds. Soon, they’d be taller than me. But Mello was the gentler, kinder soul. He still loved to snuggle up to me on the couch and watch a movie. Whereas Rocco wanted his own chair like he owned the joint. He was more like his father in that way.
