Descent (Steel Brothers Saga #15) - Helen Hardt Page 0,59

crawled upward and sank his cock deep inside me. He kissed my neck. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“You were so hot, baby.” He thrust into me again, a drop of sweat from his brow hitting my forehead. “I licked you there, touched you there, and you responded.” He thrust again. “I’m so hard for you right now. I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard in my whole damned life.”

I closed my eyes then. Closed my eyes and gave in to the beautiful sensation of Brad inside me, making love to me.

For that was what this was. All of it. Every single part of it.

Even that.

He’d taken me to a new place tonight.

A place I wanted to go again.

And maybe, just maybe, I’d get to that ultimate place he wanted to share with me.

He thrust into me again, and then again.

“So tight,” he panted. “So sweet. I love you so much, Daphne. So damned much.”

“I love you too.” I opened my eyes and met his dark and yearning gaze. “Always, Brad. I love you always.”

Too soon, our weekend was over and we headed home to the ranch.

I felt exhilarated.

Brad and I had reconnected, and that meant I was now filled with energy to focus on my family. I’d missed my boys something awful. Our Disneyland trip was in two weeks, and they were all excited. Even Jonah, now that Bryce was coming along.

Mazie and Belinda had given them a good report on behavior, which made me happy. My boys were the best.

My morning sickness didn’t seem quite as intense as it had been with Jonah and Talon. That was a godsend, since I wouldn’t survive Disneyland if I were throwing up all the time, and I wasn’t going to disappoint my boys for anything.

Evie had invited me for coffee in town, and though I was nauseated, I went. When I got to the coffee shop, she’d already arrived. She sat at a small round table with another woman I didn’t recognize but who looked vaguely familiar.

“Hi, Evie!” I waved and walked over to the table.

“Daphne, you look radiant! You’re glowing!” Evie said.

“I do?” I hadn’t told her about the pregnancy. The glow she saw was probably sweat from the dry heaves I’d had an hour ago.

“Of course you always look radiant,” she said. “This is my sister, Vicki Walker. I hope you don’t mind. I asked her to join us.”

“Not at all. I’m going to get some tea.”

“Tea? You always drink black coffee.”

Thank goodness I hadn’t said peppermint tea, which was what I meant. It helped settled my stomach. Brad and I hadn’t told anyone about the pregnancy yet, and I didn’t want to do so without discussing it with him first.

“Just in a tea mood, I guess.” I stepped up to the counter, ordered my herbal tea, and then rejoined the women, who were in the middle of a conversation.

“What are we talking about?” I asked.

“Raine Stevenson,” Evie said. “She’s still missing, and the police don’t have any leads.”

My heart stopped. How horrible to have your child missing. I couldn’t imagine the turmoil her parents were going through.

Wrap. Slice. Hand to customer. “What else can I get for you today?”

I shook my head to clear it.

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” I said.

“It’s horrible,” Vicki agreed. “I know Raine’s mother. She’s beside herself. I can’t say anything to her because I don’t know what to say. What on earth can you say to a mother whose child has disappeared?”

Evie shook her head. “I don’t know. This is Snow Creek. Bad things aren’t supposed to happen here. It’s like Justin Valente all over again, except this time no one knows what happened. I feel unsafe. I want to hug Bryce and never let him go. Of course, he wouldn’t allow that.”

I nodded. I had nothing to add to the conversation, except that I was going to give my boys extra hugs when I got home as well. They were everything to me.

“Daphne,” Evie said, “Vicki and I were talking about Luke and what he’s going through.”

“I’m sorry to hear he’s been having trouble at school,” I said to Vicki.

“It just started a few months ago,” Vicki said. “He’s thrilled that school’s out for the summer, but in a month, they’ll be back.”

“Have you considered private school?” I asked.

Vicki reddened. “We can’t afford private school.”

Now I reddened. Had I lost track of my roots so quickly since becoming a Steel thirteen years ago? My parents hadn’t been able to afford private school