Page 317

“I know you can. That’s why she’s yours,” I quipped with a smile.

“Look, you better go on before she falls asleep and I start remembering all the shit I could be doing with her mama.”

I looked at him like he had lost his entire mind.

“Caspian Black, I gave birth a week ago. I’m still sore, I’m still healing, and we’re not having sex for five more weeks.”

“Five more weeks? Hell nah. I’ma fix that shit.”

I stopped with my hand on my hip. “Caspian, you are not about to use your powers on me because you don’t wanna wait.”

That man used his powers to his advantage every chance he got. Apparently, being able to move things around the house and provide for his family wasn’t enough. Now he wanted to interfere with my recovery because waiting six weeks for sex sounded inconvenient to his horny ass.

“But, baby, I can help you feel better,” he coaxed.

“And you helping me feel better just happens to help you too, huh?”

He grinned. “Shit, everybody wins.”

I laughed, careful not to disturb Cassiane.

“You standing there telling me you sore like I’m supposed to leave my woman uncomfortable when I can do something about it,” he added.

“Then help me without trying to negotiate your way back between my legs. You were doing so good telling me to go rest. Stay right there.”

He looked down at our daughter. “See how yo’ mama talk to me? I’m trying to help.”

“Leave her out of your foolishness.”

“I ain’t even did nothing yet.”

“And that yet is why I’m still standing here.”

Caspian laughed. “Aight, baby. I’ll behave.”

I narrowed my eyes. “For five more weeks.”

“Go take your shower, Lakelyn,” he said firmly without looking up at me.

“That’s what I thought.” I started walking off but turned around abruptly. “Oh, and if I wake up tomorrow feeling renewed, refreshed, and suspiciously like I didn’t just push out a whole eight pound baby, I’m calling Miss Veda.”

Caspian’s grin widened as he looked back at me. “Damn, I can’t even wish my wife a speedy recovery? And what calling Miss Veda gon’ do?”

“I’ma tell her to do whatever she can to remind you that having powers doesn’t mean you get to use them on me whenever your dick gets impatient.”

Caspian pressed a hand against his chest, looking wounded as hell. “Damn, baby. That’s some hateful-ass shit, and you know she’ll do it because it’s you.”

I smiled because he wasn’t wrong. I absolutely loved Miss Veda. Somewhere along the way, she had become part spiritual guide, part mother figure, and somebody I could count on to help me make sense of a life nobody outside our family would’ve believed. She loved Caspian, but she wasn’t about to let him get away with every damn thing just because he had spent six years waiting to do it.

And Cassiane? That woman adored her. She could show up claiming she only had a few minutes, take one look at the baby, and suddenly have time to sit and hold her until she fell asleep. Even Granny had gotten comfortable with her. Sometimes I would walk in and find them talking like two old friends, and I’d have to smile at how much our lives had changed.

I blew him a kiss in response, adding, “I still love you.”

For a moment, I didn’t move.

I stood there taking in the sight of him on our couch with our daughter resting against his chest while Kaidence moved around upstairs preparing the video game he had spent half the day explaining to his father and the other half waiting to play with him.

A little under a year ago, Kaidence had drawn a picture of the four of us—me, him, his daddy, and the baby sister he had decided our family needed before any of us knew she was coming. That little boy had somehow gotten everything he asked for… and so had I.