I close the range for the night and pack up to head home, in a hurry so I can have dinner with my family. After living the life I had, coming home from an honest living and having dinner with my wife and kids is something I look forward to every day. The kids are growing like a weed; John, who we now call L.J., is six, and Jack is four. Not a day goes by that I don’t sit back and watch them play, completely amazed that this is my life. I never thought I would get the happy ending after the life I lived.

I walk in the front door, and Jack is playing on the living room floor. She looks up at me with her big blue eyes and giggles. She pushes herself up on her feet and comes running at me screaming, “Daddy!”

I laugh and pick her up, throwing her into the air and catching her. We do this every day. L.J. must have heard the commotion because he comes running into the room, ready to fight. I see him out of the corner of my eye, trying to sneak up on me. I quickly put Jack down and drop to my knees. L.J. runs headlong toward me. I wrap him up in my arms and pull him to my chest. He’s kicking and swinging as hard as he can. Finally, I pretend he’s too strong for me, and he breaks loose. He doesn’t take it easy on me either. I fall to my side from the attack he’s giving, and he jumps on me, pinning me to the floor.

“All right, you win. You’re too tough for me,” I tell him.

He jumps up, holding his arms up above his head. “Still the champion!”

I laugh as I get myself to my feet, ruffling his hair as I make my way to the kitchen to find my beautiful wife.

She’s behind the stove, preparing dinner like I knew she would be. I wrap my arms around her stomach and pull her to my chest. “It smells amazing,” I whisper into her ear.

“It’s your favorite—grilled steak and fresh fish.”

“Surf and turf,” I say as she spins around in my arms, pressing her lips to mine. This is something I know I will never get enough of.

While the nightmares of being held captive have all faded away, there is still a split second before my eyes open when I think I’ve lost her for good. In that moment, I’m in a panic almost every morning until I find her lying at my side like she always is.

She smacks another quick kiss on my lips. “How was work?” she asks, pulling away to resume cooking.

I grab a beer from the fridge and pop the top. “Good. Same old, same old,” I answer, sitting down and kicking my feet up on the empty chair next to mine.

She places the tongs down on the stovetop and turns around, looking at her feet as her hands hold on to the counter behind her. “John, you’re not getting bored, are you?”

“Bored?” I asked, confused.

She nods slowly. “Yeah, you know. Your life used to be fast-paced. It was full of speeding motorcycles, stray bullets, and women. Now…” She shrugs. “Now it’s full of screaming kids and the same old wife and job.”

I set my beer down on the table and stand, pulling her back against me where she belongs. “I don’t ever want you to think that this life with you and the kids isn’t enough for me. That life I lived before, it wasn’t a life. It was simply surviving. You”—I kiss her nose—“and the kids are it for me. And, I kinda like this old wife.” I wink at her.

She softly places her hand against my cheek. “I love you more every day. Have I ever told you that?”

I want to break up the serious tone, so I put my cocky face on. “No, but I can tell because each night in the bedroom you get louder and louder at screaming my name.” Slowly, my lips find hers once again.

She pushes me away with a smile. “Shut up and set the table, would ya? I seem to remember you doing the screaming last night.” She smirks, then picks up the tongs.

God I love her sassiness. My wicked mind would have her stripped naked on the counter, but the sound of the kids coming down the hall has me setting the table instead.

It seems like the last part of the day goes by the quickest. All day long I watch the clock, waiting for closing time so I can spend the rest of the evening with my family, but when I get home, time flies away from me.

We have dinner, and after I help Brooklyn clean up, I chase after the kids. They scream and laugh as we play hide-and-seek, laser tag, and wrestle around. While Brook gives L.J. a bath, I have a tea party with my princess and her dolls. Never did I think that I would be sitting at a mini table with a pink boa wrapped around my neck, getting yelled at by a four-year-old about keeping my pinky up. But anything is better than having to ride on that tiny rocking horse again. Just thinking about how Brooklyn walked in to see my big frame on that tiny pink horse still cracks me up. My knees were damn near touching my chin while I rocked away on that thing.

L.J. comes running into the room, and he takes the teacup from my hand. “Okay, enough of this girlie stuff. It’s time to play a man’s game.”

“Hey!” Jack yells.

I can’t help but laugh. “All right, we’ll go play cars while your sister gets her bath, and then it’s time to settle down for a bedtime story.”

Another hour later, the kids have had their bath, story, and bedtime snack. I get them all tucked in and walk into the bedroom to find Brooklyn sitting on the bed. She’s wearing her sexy-as-hell reading glasses low on her nose as she reads over some documents. She’s stripped free of her jeans, leaving her in only a pair of white lacy panties and one of my navy button-up shirts. Her long legs are outstretched, crossed at the ankles, teasing me.

She looks up. “Are they asleep?”

I smile and nod before crawling up the foot of the bed. My lips find the soft skin of her calf, and they make their way higher.

She giggles before tossing the papers to the side. “Don’t you ever get enough? We just made love in the shower this morning.”

I still have clothes on, but that doesn’t stop my hips from moving against her hot center.

“What can I say? You’re beautiful and smart, and I can’t keep my hands off of you.” I nuzzle into the crook of her neck.

“I swear, every time I start to get some actual work done, you come in here and – ohh.” Her sentence comes to a stop when I slide my finger into the side of her panties.

I take my time teasing her and shove my jeans below my hips, but when I can no longer hold off, I thrust deep inside. She’s hot, wet, and tight around me. I lose myself in her like I do every time we make love. I’d happily stay here forever if I could.

We don’t part until several hours later, opting to go again and again.

My body is totally spent from the long day and the hours we gave to each other. My mind is completely still. My eyes have just closed when the sound of the phone on the bedside table rings loudly, cutting through the darkness and jolting me fully awake.

I rush to answer it before it wakes anyone up. “Hello?”

“John? It’s Zoe,” I make out through her sobs.

I sit up straight. “Zoe? What’s the matter? Why are you crying?” I ask in a panic.

“It’s Jake. He’s gone.”

“I’ll be right there.” I hang up the phone and shoot out of bed.

“What’s going on?” Brook asks, sitting up in bed and watching me rush around the room for my clothes.

“That was Zoe on the phone. Something is wrong. I have to go over there.”

She stands up suddenly. “Do I need to call Dad and have him sit with the kids so I can go with you?”

I walk over to where she is standing and press a kiss to her lips. “We don’t have time. Go back to sleep. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

I rush out of the house and down the road to Jake’s. Zoe is standing in the open doorway as I’m walking up. Her T-shirt is stretching over her big pregnant belly, and she’s trying to pull her robe tighter around herself. Her tears have dried, leaving a trail of mascara down her cheeks.

I walk in, and she closes the door behind me. “What’s going on? Where is Jake?”

She slowly walks into the living room, falling down on the couch. “I don’t know. He left this afternoon to deliver a car. He should have been back hours ago. He’s not answering his phone, and the location on his phone is turned off. I’m worried. He wouldn’t just not come home like this, John.”

I nod as I sit down, elbows resting on my knees. “I know he wouldn’t. Do you know who he was delivering the car to or their address?”

She shakes her head no with big tears running down her face again. “No, he didn’t say. We were going to fry some fish for dinner. We made plans. I know he would be in a hurry to get home. Something has happened. I just know it.”

I take her hands in mine. “I’m sure everything is okay. Calm down. He probably broke down on the side of the road or got a flat tire or something. How did he plan on getting back home? Was he going to get a ride back or what?”

“He didn’t say, but I looked out the window just as he was pulling out and he had his bike loaded up. I’m guessing to get back home.”

“He had his bike?” I ask, suddenly having my first clue.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Because all our bikes have trackers on them. If he took his bike, I can find it. I need to use your computer.”