Promises (The Kings of Guardian #14) - Kris Michaels Page 0,20

aren’t you sweating buckets?” He pulled off the last sock and glanced at the pile of clothing she’d wrapped herself up with.

She shrugged. “I don’t like being cold.” She leaned forward and looked at him. “Take yours off.” She reached behind her and unfastened her bra. He stayed kneeling in front of her, waiting for that piece of fabric to find the mound of castoff material, but she smiled and then laughed. “Not until I see some flesh.”

He stood and moved between her legs, stripping out of his t-shirt as he rose. Her hands released her clasp, and she shrugged off the lace. The only thing that barred his way to a very naked wife was a wisp of fabric. He smiled at her and grabbed the material at both hips and––

“Damn it, Zane! They were a matched set.” She groaned and picked at the fabric that no longer circled her waist.

“I’ll buy you more.” He shucked his sweats and grabbed her off the vanity.

“You always say that.”

“I do, don’t I?” He stepped into the shower and walked them directly under the water. “I’ll be saying it when I’m ninety.”

“I’ll be a wrinkled old woman.”

“You will always be sexy to me. Always.” He shut the shower door behind them and let her legs slide down his. Her mind was a thing of beauty, her body was sexy beyond belief, but it was her heart that won him over. He’d seen it bleed for so many people for so long, there was no doubt in his mind that she would make a fantastic mother.

Chapter 8

Drake carried Jillian’s suitcase and stowed it in Gracie’s underbelly. The old girl was going to get a flying workout in the next couple days, but she was a solid aircraft and they’d just had her overhauled last year.

Jillian waited for him at the stairs to the aircraft. “You know they are going to be late, right?”

Drake grabbed his wife’s hand, and they boarded together. “Who? Keelee and Adam, Mike and Taty, or Dixon and Joy?”

“Your brother. I went to ask Joy if she was ready to go and by the sounds of the way the headboard was thumping against the wall, it could be quite a while.”

Drake turned to look at her and laughed at the deep red blush on her face. “Jilly, you realize other people do what we do after dark, right?”

“I’m not a prude, it’s just… Things you can’t unsee even if you imagine them, you know?” She dropped into one of the leather loungers. “Did you know Joy wants to have a baby?”

“What?” Drake glanced around the empty plane as the echo of his shout died down.

“Yeah, that was the response of everyone at Maliki’s wedding. She got really quiet and I think our shocked response… ah… hurt her feelings.”

Drake sat down across from his wife and made a pained face. “It is quite possible that woman doesn’t have feelings unless it involves Dixon.”

“No, she does. She just hides them from everyone. But yeah, she said she wanted a baby.” Jillian cleared her throat. “We’ve never really discussed children other than, you know, commenting that maybe, someday…”

Drake rubbed his face with both hands and blew out a stream of air. “Yeah, well, you know what a fucking bastard my father was.”

She nodded. “So, you never want kids?”

“Ah, well…” Drake checked the open door to make sure there was no one around before he continued, “Honestly, I’d like to be a dad, but I don’t want to father children.”

Jillian blinked at him. “What?”

He leaned forward. “I know it is an irrational fear. My father was the worst kind of evil; my mother wasn’t much better. I don’t want those people’s genetics to run through my children’s veins. It terrifies me that in some cosmic genetic lottery our son or daughter might end up mentally ill like they were.”

Jillian covered her hands with his. “I understand completely, and to be honest, I don’t think I’d do well with an infant. I know my limitations, but I love older children. Their curiosity and the way they search for answers. I’m amazed at how easy they assimilate facts and adapt to novel ideas. I guess it’s too bad we can’t just skip the first couple years, yeah?” She chuckled and then snapped up. “Wait. We could adopt. There are a lot of older kids in the system.”

“Adopt?” He drew back. Why had he never thought about adoption?

“Or foster. Or both. Could you love a child that