“We have to go slower on treating him as the older brother. He still wants to be treated in some of the ways we treat Travis.”
She thinks about that for a moment, slowly nodding. “Okay, that makes sense.”
I hold her gaze while I ready myself for the hell that what I’m about to say to her will likely cause me. “You’re too soft on Travis, Lily.”
This is a topic we’ve discussed before. It’s also a topic she doesn’t care for. Tonight is no different. “I’m not too soft, King. You’re too hard.”
“Yes, I am. I agree.” I take in the widening of her eyes. This is the first time I’ve ever agreed with her on this, and I’m only doing it now because Cade has helped me see this clearer.
“Did I just hear you correctly?”
I nod. “I don’t always stop to consider where the kids are coming from when I want them to change their behaviour. Talking with Cade tonight has shown me that I need to dig deeper and think about shit differently.” I pause. “You can’t go soft on Travis at Cade’s expense. Yeah, Cade is old enough to learn about making allowances for his brother, but at the same time, he needs to feel your love. When you go soft, he takes that as a sign that you’re choosing Travis over him. That’s where this shit is coming from.”
She stares at me for a long moment.
She then sits up in the bath and leans forward to bring her hand to my neck. Pulling my face to hers, she kisses me. When she’s finished with my lips, she says, “You might be an asshole at times, but you’re a smart one and I love you.”
“Fuck,” I growl, needing a lot fucking more than one kiss. “I’m going to read to the kids while you finish in here. I’ll be half an hour at the most. When I get back, I want you spread out on that bed ready for me.”
Her eyes blaze with heat and she kisses me again. Then, letting me go, she says, “Make it twenty minutes. And King? The first thing I want is your tongue inside me.”
Christ, my wife is almost as filthy as me these days. I still haven’t decided if that’s a good or bad thing. It’s distracting as hell when I’m away, so I tend to lean towards it being a bad fucking thing.
I leave her so I can put the kids to bed.
It’s going to be the longest fucking twenty minutes of my day.
Lily’s POV
I spendfifteen more minutes in the bath before getting ready for King.
After drying myself and spraying his favourite perfume on, I do as he ordered and spread myself out on the bed.
He takes longer than he said.
After another twenty minutes have passed, I throw one of his shirts on and go looking for him, finding him lying next to Cade on Cade’s bed, talking with him.
They’re so engrossed in their conversation that they don’t see me at the door. Not wanting to interrupt, I go into the kitchen and clean the dinner dishes away.
I’ve just finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on when King’s strong arms circle me from behind. His mouth comes to my ear. “I fucking like that shirt on you, but it needs to come off.”
I turn in his arms and take hold of his face so I can drag his mouth down to mine. Kissing him, I slide my tongue over his and deepen the kiss, giving him everything I’m feeling.
Love, lust, frustration, impatience, annoyance, happiness, anger, gratitude, all of it.
This man who has been by my side for a decade can bring it all out in me in under an hour when he tries. Hell, even when he’s not trying, he can make me feel every feeling under the sun in a short amount of time. Just like I know I can do the same to him.
I never want him to change.
“Fuck, Lily,” he rasps as we grow frantic with hands everywhere and the kind of kiss that makes me breathless in all the right ways. Lifting the shirt of his I’m wearing over my head, he drops it on the floor and bends his face so he can take one of my nipples into his mouth.
I grip his hair and arch my back as pleasure takes over my body.
King and I never have sex in the kitchen when the kids are home, so he’s caught me by surprise. I’m helpless to stop him, though. I need him. Now. Right now.
Moving my hands to his belt, I undo it and then his jeans as fast as I can. He hisses when I wrap my hand around his cock. He’s dedicating time to my breasts, but he stops that as I stroke him.
His eyes come to mine. He looks at me like he always does, like I’m the only woman in the world. There’s so much desire in those eyes of his that it only makes me need him faster, sooner, harder.
