Violet burst into giggles, startling me awake with my favorite sound of all time.
And the pain returned ten times worse.
“Shaw!” I shouted.
“What?” she yelled back, fear in her voice. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Vi, what is going on over there?”
Vi couldn’t answer because she was bent over, laughing so hard she was practically crying.
Wait. Maybe she was just crying.
“Shaw, get your ass over here now. I need help. I don’t know if Violet is happy or sad. She’s laughing, but there are tears rolling down her face. Please, I can’t read her, and she just told me she’s pregnant.”
“Adorable,” Vi choked out.
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Luca
Stepping out of the shower,I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hips, checking my phone to see how much time I had before room service arrived with my dinner. Seeing a text from my wife, I felt a pang in my chest. I missed her so damn much.
Normally, she would fly out to whatever city when I had an away game, but she was still recovering from her third C-section. Some scar tissue from the previous two had made healing from this one take longer. I hadn’t wanted to leave her, but I also had a responsibility to my team, which meant not missing the first game of the season.
Thankfully, Jagger was able to stay with her and our kids so I could focus on work.
Vi: I sent you an extra-sweet surprise to celebrate the first win of the year.
Me: Is it chocolate cake?
Vi: It’s ten times better than cake.
Vi: It should be there soon. You can thank me later. Enjoy. I love you.
I didn’t have time to text her back before the doorbell rang. All the rooms of this hotel were soundproof, so the staff had to use a doorbell instead of knocking. Making sure the towel was secure, I opened the door without checking to see if it was my room service or not.
Shaw stood there with a bag from my favorite deli in New York and a small overnight case. She gave me the wicked grin I had come to love. “Hi, stranger.”
That sexy fucking voice was going to kill me. It rolled over me like a caress, making the towel tent so fast, it would have fallen if I hadn’t grabbed it to hold it in place.
Biting my lip, I scanned her from head to toe. Her hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders. No makeup, but she knew that was how I liked her best. A simple T-shirt and a pair of jeans graced a body I’d become increasingly obsessed with over the last few months. Mostly because I tried to limit myself on how much I allowed myself to give in. But when she did dirty things to my wife, it was hard not to beg for a little taste.
We hadn’t had the chance for private playtime with our friends in over three months, though. Jagger and Shaw had both been traveling a lot for work before and right after Aidan and Ciaran were born. Sometimes together. Sometimes alone. Vi had been recovering, while I’d had football practice and the preseason to deal with.
Shaw had been so busy with her schedule that I wasn’t even sure what city she was in most of the time. I got a few texts from her, to let me know she was okay or to ask me something about Vi. Otherwise, we didn’t have a lot of contact. And I wasn’t sure I liked that.
Vi worried about her bestie when she wasn’t close. Which made me worry about her as well. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was a little in love with her too.
Shaw waved the bag of food, pulling my attention away from the little nugget of truth I didn’t want to acknowledge yet. “Can I come in? Vi canceled your room service when you told her you’d ordered dinner because she knew I was bringing you the grinder you love so much.”
Stepping back, I held the door, silently letting her enter. She dropped her small case on the floor and set the food on the TV stand before sitting on the end of the bed. Making sure the door was shut, I turned to watch her.
Silence stretched between us. We’d been alone all the time in the past. It had never been an issue for either of us. But that was before. Now…
Now, things were different.
Private fun time with Shaw and Jagger hadn’t been defined in detail, but it had changed a lot of things overall. Vi experimented with Shaw while he and I watched. I joined when I couldn’t hold back any longer. And then Jagger fucked his wife like a beast possessed him. He hadn’t joined in on the fun. Yet. But I could see that he was starting to break. He couldn’t hold on to that control forever.
Vi needed to put the poor man out of his misery already.
