Full Hart, page 7
He would recognize that teasing glint in her eye from a mile away. Her lips puckered. “If I remember correctly, I asked you for another orgasm—for myself. I didn’t ask for more sex. Nowhere in that exchange did I promise or make mention of you getting your nuts drained again. I think you only heard what you wanted to hear.” She tapped her index finger to her chin and glanced sideways. “Yes, I do believe that’s how it went down.”
Oh, she was a wily one. A teasing little minx.
And he fucking loved her.
They’d always had such undeniable chemistry. Even from the first time they met when she was drunk off her ass and crying because she’d been fired, she’d been sharp-witted and their banter made him smile.
And over the years, that had only intensified. He never got tired of talking to Lydia or of being around her. She challenged him, made him think, but at the same time, she had this zest for fun and knew how to not take life too seriously all the time. Which he sorely needed given the fact that he was always on high alert and ready for the next threat.
She balanced him out.
Was the yin to his yang.
Best of all, she seemed to know exactly when he needed his space or some quiet time to himself and without a word made herself scarce, never making him feel bad for wanting to be alone.
She understood him. She knew that he was a man with a scarred past, with demons and hang-ups, and instead of trying to force him to “get better” because there were some scars that would stick for life or change him, she just allowed him to be the flawed person he was and loved him anyway.
Rex smiled down at his wife. “Was that how it went?”
She nodded, beaming, taking his breath away. “I believe it was.”
“And I made a promise, didn’t I?”
She nodded again, her eyes now glittering in amusement. “Yes, you did.”
“So my nuts are going to remain full?”
She shrugged. “Not my call, man. I’m just reiterating the conversation verbatim and letting you know where you misheard things. Filled in the blanks with your agenda.” She clucked her tongue. “Seems a bit shady to me, Rextholamew.”
Reaching up, she cupped his cheek, her thumb sliding softly over his stubbled jaw. Her gaze turned soft, her smile kind. She was looking at him with so much love, it was going to make his heart explode. “Get to work.” Then she released his cheek, her smile dropped, and she pushed down on his head to shove him under the covers.
Chapter 7
Heath & Pasha
Heath disconnected the call on his cell phone Sunday morning and scooped up a stinky-assed toddler from where he played on the floor. “Come on, you little stinker. Uncle Rex and Maeve will be over in a bit for a playdate, and we can’t have you making the place reek.”
Raze had been playing on the floor with his toy cars next to Eve, who slept in the bouncy chair beside him. So far Raze was the perfect big brother. He loved his baby sister so much and was patient when she required his parents’ attention or screamed her head off. The only thing that he was finding challenging was the fact that Eve had zero interest in Raze’s toys. He was constantly trying to share them with her and play with her, but since she was only six weeks old, she was more interested in sleeping or just watching her big brother play.
Heath pressed his nose to his son’s butt, which was encased in navy sweat pants. His ass was huge, too, since Pasha preferred to use reusable cloth diapers when at home with the kids, rather than disposable.
Now that had been a learning curve. Heath had infiltrated criminal compounds easier than it had been to learn how to properly secure a cloth diaper so the shit didn’t spill out all over the place.
Seventeen months later and now with two kids in the washable crap-catchers, he still had his blunders that resulted in a lot more laundry—for everyone.
“Made big poop,” Raze said, slapping Heath’s back as he entered Raze’s room and plunked his son on his back on the floor.
“I can smell it,” Heath said with a grimace. “You’re old enough that you can come and tell me when you’ve pooped yourself, you know. You don’t need to leave it until it permeates the house and goes to battle with your mother’s oil diffuser.”
“But then I would end up doing all the diaper changing,” Pasha said behind him, causing him to turn around in slight surprise. He had a new diaper and wipes in his hand as he rejoined a reclined Raze on the floor.
“Not true,” Heath protested. “I change just as many as you do.”
Pasha’s expression was skeptical at best. “Perhaps, but he does know how to come and tell us that he’s crapped himself. The problem is, he only comes and tells me. So, by default, I would be the one changing more diapers.”
He wasn’t sure her logic panned out, but given the mess he was about to uncover in his son’s pants, he was in no mood to argue. He did, however, notice how hot his wife looked.
“Where are you headed looking like a million bucks? You had ladies’ night last night. Now you’re doing a ladies’ lunch?” Bracing himself for the worst, he pulled off Raze’s sweats, then unbuttoned his cloth diaper. He held his breath.
Well, holy shit! Literally.
It wasn’t the explosion he’d been anticipating. His kid had managed to keep it all in his shorts.
“High five for no apoo-calypse, buddy. Nice job with the solid—”
“You need to get out more. You’re becoming obsessed with our children’s bowel movements,” Pasha said with a laugh.
“It’s important we keep track of color, frequency, and consistency. You of all people, Madame Doctor-lady, should know that.”
“I do know that. And I do keep track. I just don’t think about their shit—or talk about it—as much as you seem to.”
“Where are you headed?” he asked again, ignoring her quip about his obsession with his kids’ crap.
Maybe he was a little overly invested in their digestive system, but they were his kids and he loved them goddammit and he wanted to make sure they were healthy as new spring foals.
“Christmas shopping with Lydia.”
“Ah, is that why Rex and Maeve are coming over?”
“Yeah. When they get here, Lydia and I will go. We’re both stumped what to get you men, for Christmas.”
Heath finished fastening the new diaper on Raze, slid his sweatpants back up his body and helped his son to his feet. Raze took off out of the room, his little feet making a godawful baby-waking racket as he ran down the wood-floor hallway. “I keep telling you, coupons for blowies and butt sex is all I need. I’m an easy man to please.”
She lazily followed him as he went about his routine of disposing of the diaper contents, pulling the inserts out of the pocket, and putting everything into the wet bag that lined the diaper pail in the kids’ bathroom. He washed his hands, dried them, then turned to her. “Aren’t you always saying that gifts from the heart, homemade gifts, are better than store-bought? What’s more homemade than coupons for blowies and butt sex? Those gifts will definitely come from your heart. And not go to waste.” He rested both hands on her hips, and she instinctively stepped into his space, her arms magically making their way up to his shoulders.
Golden-brown eyes he loved to get lost in glittered back at him. She looked super fucking hot in her flowy cream-colored blouse and dark green skinny jeans. He knew they were still maternity jeans because she’d worn those exact ones two months ago when she was ready to pop with Eve. But she still rocked them six weeks postpartum. Pregnant, not pregnant, one day postpartum or six weeks postpartum, his wife was the sexiest woman on the fucking planet, and he could not keep his hands off her or his eyes from ogling her.
He’d one hundred percent lucked out when it came to having a smoking-hot partner.
“Speaking of sex, how are you feeling?” he asked. Since Eve was only six weeks old, they hadn’t had sex since before she was born. When she had the energy, Pasha went down on him, but that was it—and rare. She wasn’t ready for his fingers, his mouth, and definitely not his cock anywhere near her “baby tunnel,” as she expertly called it, seeing as she was a doctor and all and preferred to use the medical terms for things. Snort.
Her lips twisted, and she glanced away from him. “Still not feeling it.”
He nodded and lifted one hand from her hips to tuck it beneath her chin so she would turn to face him again. “Hey, it’s okay. If you need a year—please don’t need a year—until you’re ready, I can handle it. You gave me a gorgeous daughter and a beautiful son before that. I’m not so much of a horndog that I can’t wait until your body feels ready. I’m not pressuring you. I want you to want it, too. I want it to feel good for you, too.”
Her smile was small and stayed on the lower half of her face, which meant it wasn’t genuine. But the love that glittered back at him in her eyes said the hormones were racing through her, and unless he changed the subject, she was going to start crying.
“Besides,” he said with a shrug, “my fist has been sending me love letters. It thinks we’re getting back together and this isn’t just a casual thing. Maybe I’ve been booty-calling it too much, but it’s getting kinda clingy.”
That got her really smiling. And snorting.
“I’m serious, though,” he went on, “no pressure. Though I am missing hitting you with the dirty one-liners. It feels wrong to say them when you’re not ready. Feels like I’m pressuring you.”
She blinked, and her eyes grew watery.
Shit.
“Thank you.”
Eve squawked from the next room, and their moment of intimacy was broken.
“Ouch,” Pasha said, clutching her hands to her breasts and stepping away. “Seriously, the moment that kid makes even a peep, my boobs leap into action. They were never this bad with Raze.” She hustled down the hallway toward a squirming and barely awake Eve.
Their daughter always took forever to truly wake up, so she squirmed and bleated with her eyes closed for several minutes—it was fun to watch.
But Pasha didn’t stand there and watch Eve. She unbuckled the baby from her bouncy chair, held her to her chest, and wandered over to the recliner, putting her to her breast in under a minute.
Heath’s wife was a nursing ninja.
“So what are you and Rex going to do?” she asked, repositioning Eve’s head so it was better supported by Pasha’s arm. She tucked a strand of her caramel-colored hair behind her ear and welcomed Raze into the chair beside her when he came asking for snuggles. “Oh wait, let me guess …” She tapped her finger to her chin. “Plot how to break up your mom and Grant?” Her lips twisted, and she gave him a challenging look.
Heath reared back. “What? No.”
Pasha’s brow lifted. “B.S. Stacey told us last night that you guys were doing a video chat while watching the game and that Chase was going to use Grant’s license plate to get information on him. How deep did the computer nerd get? What was the name of Grant’s fifth-grade teacher? What was his final grade in sophomore calculus?”
“First of all, in Canada, we don’t use the terms freshman, sophomore, and all that. And no, Ms. Smartass, Chase didn’t dig that deep.”
“Ah, but he did dig,” she replied.
“We’re only looking out for our mother. For our family. After everything our family has gone through in the last several years, we’d be fools not to do a bit of digging.” He made his way into the kitchen and poured her a big glass of water. One thing he’d learned after Pasha had Raze was that when a woman nursed, she grew thirsty very quickly, so as soon as he saw Pasha nursing, he made sure to get her some water.
She thanked him and took a sip before setting the glass down on the side table. Raze was quiet and simply resting his head against Pasha’s other breast. Reluctantly, Pasha had weaned Raze a month before Eve was born. She knew she didn’t have it in her to tandem nurse and was just grateful that he continued to nurse while she was pregnant. Maeve had already weaned since Lydia announced she was pregnant a few weeks ago.
“Your mother seems happy,” Pasha went on. “Don’t ruin this for her. All she’s ever done since even before your father died has been taking care of you boys, and now she also helps take care of all of your children. She deserves to have companionship, love, and intimacy just like anybody else.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Raze’s shaggy blond head.
“You’re curious what we found out, aren’t you?” he asked, bending down and doing a small tidy-up of where Raze had spread all his toys out in the living room. He simply put the blocks back in the block bin, the cars in the car box, and the random baby toys in the basket by the bouncy chair.
She shook her head. “I trust your mother’s judgment … and so should you. So should all of you.”
He inhaled deeply through his nose and did a very dad-like groan when he stood up straight. “Once we make sure he’s not some closet pervert or a serial killer, then we’ll let her be.”
She didn’t believe him for a second, and the way her eyebrow ascended her forehead said as much.
Shit. She knew him too damn well.
“That’s B.S., and you know it. You’re worse than children. You’re going to try to break them up, aren’t you?”
Not him. But Brock seemed hell-bent on ending their mother’s relationship. Heath was always up for some shenanigans, so if Brock needed his help, he’d probably jump on board. Something just didn’t feel right about their mother dating. It was weird.
A knock at the door broke their tense moment, and Heath flashed his wife a big, goofy smile. “Saved by the knock?”
“Not on your life, bub,” she called after him. “This conversation isn’t over. All four of us—Krista, Stacey, Lydia and myself, and Rayma too—are on Team Grant. So, if you or any of the Harty Boys do anything to mess up your mother’s relationship or Christmas, there will be hell to pay times five.”
“Times six if you count your mother’s wrath,” Lydia added, stepping over the threshold. Pasha was in the middle of her monologue when he opened the door for his brother and sister-in-law, so they heard the majority of her lecture.
Rex’s lips twitched. Lydia’s hazel eyes turned fierce.
Rex had Maeve in his arms along with her diaper bag.
“You getting a lecture, too?” Rex asked with a bland expression on his face as he toed off his loafers and wandered into the living room, plopping Maeve down on the play mat.
“Yep,” Heath replied, his tone equally flat. He shot his wife a sideways glance, and she just stuck her tongue out at him.
Rex pulled off his black knit hat, revealing his bald head, and placed it on the side table next to where Pasha was still nursing. She’d switched sides and Raze had abandoned his station as a cuddler and was on the floor showing Maeve some of his toy cars.
Lydia entered the living room, too, and her gaze turned warm as she focused in on Pasha with Eve. “Ah, I miss nursing.”
“You’ll be back at it again soon enough,” Pasha said, tucking her breast away when Eve popped off. Without a second thought, she passed Eve to Heath, stood up and started getting ready. “There are several bottles of pumped milk in the fridge, but you know that if she finishes that and is still screaming to just top up with formula.”
Heath knew the drill. He grabbed a receiving blanket off the folded laundry in the basket on the couch and draped it over his shoulder to start burping Eve. “Yes, dear. I have done this before.”
Pasha stuck her tongue out at him again.
“Careful, or I’ll bite that off,” he warned.
“Play nice, boys,” Lydia teased. “And no plotting.”
“They’re actually the two I’m least worried about,” Pasha said, pulling on her winter coat. “Krista said Brock has had this giant storm cloud over his head since yesterday and it just seems to be getting perpetually darker.”
“Yeah, and we all know how quickly Chase can get sucked down a rabbit hole,” Lydia added.
“You saying you’re not worried about us because we’re not the leader or the tech geek?” Rex asked, pretending to be offended. Meanwhile, Heath was actually a little offended. He’d heard it mentioned within his earshot more than once that out of all of the brothers, many considered him the most deadly and dangerous. He was also the biggest and had done the most amount of risky fieldwork.
But whatever.
He guessed since he was now a father of two, everyone just saw him as a mushy teddy bear who changed twenty diapers a day, burped gassy babies, and released spiders back outside instead of squishing them.
He turned his back to the women at the door and gave Rex an eye roll, but a hand on his butt and a gentle squeeze made him turn around again. Pasha was behind him smiling and all bundled up in her thick black peacoat, a baby-blue scarf that made the gold in her eyes pop, and her knee-high black boots. “You’re still the biggest, baddest, sexiest man I’ve ever met.” Her lips twitched into a twisted smile before she lifted up onto her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Behave. Because if you do, tonight I won’t.” Then she stuck her tongue into her cheek a couple of times and bobbed her brows.
Heath’s dick instantly jerked in his sweats. “Damn, woman,” he breathed.
She grinned, pinched his butt, and kissed Eve before calling their son, Raze, over to hug her goodbye.
Rex was saying goodbye to Lydia, Maeve back in his arms.
Moments later, the women left, and Heath and his brother were alone with the children. He wandered deeper into the living room and put Eve back in her bouncy chair so she could watch her cousins.
He’d only had breakfast an hour ago, but he was already hungry.
He was always hungry.
“Too early for a beer?” Rex asked with a smirk and eyeing the clock on the mantle. It said ten o’clock.
Heath shook his head and headed to the kitchen. “Not if I make nachos to go with it.”
Rex was all smiles. “Have I told you lately that you’re my favorite brother?”
Chapter 8
