Faster.” I hooked Martin’s hips with my legs, made stronger by months of yard work and physical activity that went along with caring for a large swath of property.

Martin struggled against my grip, trying to push himself up on his arms and hovering over me. “I can’t.”

We both looked down. My considerably pregnant belly blocked the view of anything south of it and provided an impenetrable wall for our intimacy. I laughed, watching it jump up and down with each breath.

Releasing him from my leg hold, I pushed him to the side. “Looks like I’ll be in charge for the next couple of months.” I climbed on him and resumed our activities.

“You’ve been in charge since the start, hun. And I’m sure that’s not about to change.” Martin sighed as we settled back into the pace that I’d demanded from him.

“Somebody doesn’t seem to mind.” I rocked forward and backward atop him, every part of my body loving the new sensations.

Martin put his hands behind his head and locked his fingers together, smiling and closing his eyes. “Yeah, I could get used to this.”

I took his hands in mine and guided them down, past my belly, to the place I needed them most. “Teamwork,” I told him, my voice husky with my mounting excitement. That had become our inside joke after my pregnancy had gotten advanced enough that we needed even more creativity in the bedroom.

“Yes, ma’am.” Martin worked his magic, tracing tiny, soft circles that became stronger as I bucked harder. As I lost the ability to control my legs, giving in to the flood of warmth between them, he took over. Leaning forward and pulling me to him with his free hand, he found my left breast with his mouth and pulled me down hard, not releasing me until after I’d fully released myself.

Just as I regained my senses, his breath quickened, and he made that familiar, manly noise that I’d grown to love. He sucked harder at my nipple, almost to the point of pain, but still mixed with pleasure. Then as he reached his own moment of release, he pulled my face to his and kissed me deeply through his explosion.

We lay together, our arms and legs mingled together, in what I imagined looked like a bed of writhing snakes to an unknowing onlooker, drying sweat sticking us together. After catching his breath, Martin kissed me again lightly and said, “We really need to get some work done today.”

I kissed his neck and snuggled in. “I think we just did.”

He opened his mouth to say something smart in disagreement, probably about how we were going to dehydrate if we didn’t get out of the bed and replenish, when there was a noise at the door. It wasn’t a knock. Instead, it sounded like someone jiggling the handle, trying to get in.

We both jumped up, naked, and reached for our guns on our respective night stands. Martin motioned for me to stay put, and I obeyed, if only long enough to throw on my nightgown that had been unceremoniously tossed to the floor during out first round that morning.

Martin pulled a shirt over his glistening chest, which had turned out to not be hairy like I’d expected all those months ago, and let it fall loose over his unzipped jeans. He leaned over to kiss me, when we heard him.

“Princess! Let me in. I come bearing gifts.” Daddy!

We still hadn’t told my father about the pregnancy. As long as La Familia was still out there, lurking, Martin had stayed on as my protector. He hated taking money from Daddy to act as my security, but the alternative, telling Daddy that we’d been intimate – resulting in a pregnancy no less – was a far worse prospect for Martin. He couldn’t bring himself to face Daddy, knowing he’d betrayed his trust.

I, on the other hand, had no moral qualms about the situation. Martin and I loved each other. Our union wasn’t planned, or convenient, but you can’t help who you love. Besides, Daddy had no leg to stand on in that department. During the course of the investigation into Amara and the shootings, many of Daddy’s further indiscretions had come to light. I harbored so much anger toward him for the pain he must have caused my mother. The only consolation was that his darling Ophelia had also learned that she wasn’t his only ‘best girl.’

“Vanessa,” Daddy called through the door, “is everything alright in there?”

Martin stood frozen, not wanting to face what was about to come. I nudged him forward. “Come on,” I said.

Martin unlocked the door, and Daddy came bustling in, bearing many gifts, so many that he couldn’t see where he was going. Boxes were stacked high in his hands, covering his face. From behind them, he prattled on about the court case and current events, making his way to the couch. “We’ve gotten three convictions so far. Many of the top guys, including your very own Mayor, have taken plea deals.”

This wasn’t news to us. Mayor Anderson’s involvement in La Familia had become the top story in Caldwell after the shootout with Amara. As it turned out, he’d been angling to rise in the ranks of the business for years. When they’d found out Martin, a Caldwell native, was my security, Anderson had stepped right in and took over the job of taking care of me. It was his idea to ‘smoke us out’ in a bid to drive us right to him. Which had worked. He’d laid it all out as part of his plea deal, how he and Amara had planned to make my death look like a farm accident, even going so far as burying me in one of his proposed construction projects. The same projects he’d used to gain favor with the locals, as a way to provide jobs to Caldwell. The cliché nature of the plan quite upset me, that I’d fall prey to someone with such little imagination.

Daddy had dropped his burdens on the couch and turned to me, saying, “I think it’s safe to bring you home now, princess.”

And that’s when he saw me, fully, for the first time.