Goddess of Pain - Katie May Page 0,104

styled slightly to one side, due to a prank that Desmond played on him that resulted in a section of his hair being burned away. As you can probably guess, Sin helped.

Helio wears a tight, black shirt that appears slightly too small on his larger-than-life frame. His bulging muscles flex as he brings his coffee mug to his lips and takes a slow, seductive sip. Honestly, I’m not even sure he realizes what he’s doing to me. Everything about Helio is just so fucking attractive. I smile slightly when I see the Goddess Security logo on the upper right corner of his shirt. Yeah, my man named his company after me. What has yours done, Karen?

Both men pause their conversation when they catch sight of me.

“Did you remember your pepper spray?” Tate demands immediately, folding his arms over his chest. I just barely resist the urge to roll my eyes.

“Yes, Dad,” I taunt, and he grunts.

“Shut up.”

“Make me,” I retort immediately.

“I can think of a few things you can use your naughty mouth for.” His eyes glimmer as he considers me from head to toe, stopping when they rest on my slightly bulging belly. I’m hoping this pregnancy will go better than the last one. That one involved a lot of crying, eating, and vomiting. Speaking of…

The baby monitor releases a wail as our infant daughter, Holly, wakes up from her nap.

Tate sighs and sets his mug of coffee down. “I got her.” He tries to sound grumpy, but there’s a light in his eyes that hadn’t been there prior. Tate is fucking obsessed with his kids, and he’s a pretty damn good dad. All of my husbands are. I’m so incredibly lucky I have them.

As he passes me, he stops, kisses my lips harshly, and whispers, “Stay safe.”

“I’m going to see my brothers and Rebecca. The worst thing that could happen is Gemma getting a papercut,” I drawl sarcastically, and Tate’s eyes actually widen in horror, as if the thought of such a menial thing happening to our daughter fills him with mind-numbing terror. Hoping to set him at ease, I kiss him once more. “I’ll be safe. Cross my heart and hope to—well, not die, obviously. Hope to live?”

He rolls his eyes at me, but my words seem to settle him. After one more kiss, he stalks down the hall towards Holly’s nursery, leaving me alone with my sexy God of Karma.

He eyes me over the rim of his cup. “So about that pepper spray…?”

“You guys are ridiculous!” I huff, throwing my hands in the air. “Yes, I have the damn pepper spray!”

“Uh oh. Mommy just said a naughty word,” Desmond jests from behind me, and I turn to see him holding hands with Gemma. His eyes sparkling with mirth, he leans forward to whisper, “Do I have to spank you later as punishment?”

“Stop it,” I warn, swatting at his arm as a blush heats my cheeks. I don’t think that’ll ever go away. Even after all these years, even after centuries, my men have a tendency to make me blush like a schoolgirl.

“Tell the guys and Rebecca I said hello,” Helio says pleasantly, pecking my lips. His beard scratches my skin, and my face heats even more at the memory of that same beard rubbing against the inside of my thighs the night before. One benefit of having multiple, devoted husbands—childcare. While you get your sexy on with one or two of them, the others will be on kid duty.

“Love you!” I grip Gemma’s other hand as I rush from the kitchen. Raising my voice, so my other men can hear me, I add, “I love you all!”

A chorus of I love yous flow down to me, and my heart swells with love. This right here is what I always wanted. I thought I would be happy with my castle and the power I wielded as queen, but that was fake compared to this. Superficial.

“You ready?” Desmond asks, his gorgeous brown eyes shimmering in the artificial lights. I smile first at him and then at Gemma, who’s bouncing from foot to foot.

Right here, with all of them, is exactly where I’m supposed to be.

“Always,” I answer.

And we’ve only just begun the beginning of the rest of our lives.

Acknowledgments

As always, it took a team to put this book together. First, I would like to thank my family (as usual). You guys are so incredibly supportive and encouraging. I’m so incredibly grateful for each and every one of you.

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