Lindsay

“She’s finally asleep,” whispered Elle, her voice betraying a hint of tiredness.

I grinned. “You didn’t have to wait up.”

She set her shoulders. “I didn’t want to miss story time, and I’m her big sister. I have to take care of her.”

I nodded as I carefully pulled the sleeping Gwen from my breast and stood up from the rocking chair. She didn’t stir as I laid her in the crib and stroked a finger over her thick head of dark curls. She had her daddy’s color, but my texture. She also had gorgeous blue eyes and would be a heartbreaker someday.

Just like Elle, who looked different from her half-sister in many ways, but shared the same lips and stubborn expression when she’d set her mind to something. I could recognize similar traits in my eight-week-old daughter.

“Let’s get you to bed.” I picked up the tattered paperback copy of one of the Harry Potter books we were re-reading at Elle’s insistence, this time with Gwen included. I couldn’t convince her the baby was unlikely to remember any of it.

Elle followed me without protest after ensuring the monitor was on. She was diligent about such things, and sometimes displayed some overly adult tendencies, but she was much more childlike than she had been a year ago.

I halted for a second as I followed her into her room. Had it really been just over a year since I’d come back into the Hudsons’ lives? Sure looked like it, with the huge Christmas tree in Rockefeller Square, and the presents piled under the nearly-as-big tree here on the sixty-sixth floor of the Imperial.

And almost an entire year that I had been Mrs. Hudson? Yes, but some days felt like it was just yesterday, while others seemed like we’d been a happy family forever. Of course, Elle’s mom will always be her mom. Ashe is in rehab again, trying to make it work, and I hope she does this time.

Knowing there was one more Hudson I wanted to make happy tonight, I put Elle to bed as fast as I could without depriving her of attention. “Santa is coming tonight, so be a good girl and get to sleep soon,” I told her. I When her eyes fell shut, I pressed a kiss to her forehead and hurried down the hallway.

As expected, I found my husband in his office. He was much better about working late and bringing home work these days, but he’d told me well in advance that he’d have to work this evening.

I intended to disrupt his work, and I had no remorse about it. I wore a robe and nothing else. It was modest and discreet—at least until I opened his door and tossed it on the back of the chair across from his seat. Walking naked in front of him didn’t bother me at all these days, even though I still had a bit of a tummy from giving birth. He’d seen me in every state of dress or undress, and he’d been there for all the ups and downs in the past year that it was impossible to be insecure about how much he desired me.

Especially when he was so eager to show it as often as possible. I moved to his chair and plopped myself onto his lap. “It’s bedtime.”

He raised a brow, looking at a stack of papers on his desk. His twitching lips gave him away, but he was good at sounding serious when he said, “I have work to do.”

I wriggled enough to part my thighs and ease one of his hands between them. “Yes, you do.”

He groaned, and his façade fell away. “It can wait.”

“I can’t.”

Ben eased me back onto his desk, and I covered the pile of paperwork, but he didn’t complain. Instead, he bent his head and licked my pussy, slowly savoring it with delicate strokes. I moaned and arched against him, loving the way he teased and caressed me. His tongue expertly moved along my petals as his fingers slipped inside, alternating between slow and fast. “More,” I managed to say in the throes of pleasure.

Ben stood up to push his pants down to his thighs. He bent over the desk, and I wrapped one of my legs around his hip. I let out a giggling gasp when he pulled me to the edge and entered me in one deep stroke. He was fierce in his need, and I loved it.

“I love your sweet pussy. I could do this forever.”

I murmured a sound of agreement, not able to speak, concentrating on the pleasure. When he slipped his hand between us to circle my clit as he thrust in and out of me, I angled my hips to really feel the ridge of his cock press against my g-spot. He hit in all the right places, and at exactly the right pace to quickly bring me to the edge of a screaming climax.

His mouth swallowed my cries of passion, and then mine absorbed his as he came just after me. Ben let out some cries of his own, but we pressed close together to keep them muffled. With our daughters sleeping down the hall, we didn’t want to make too much noise.

When we were both trembling, he lifted his mouth from mine and stood up, slowly easing out of me. “I’m sorry it was so fast.”

I shrugged. “Fast is good sometimes. So is slow. Nights when I get both are the best.” I winked at him.

With a small growl, he lifted me into his arms. “Let’s make it one of those best nights then.”

I put my arm around his shoulders and touched his cheek with my other palm. “Every night—and day—is the best with you, Ben. I love you.”

“I love you too, Lindsay. More than I ever imagined I could love anyone. I was certain Ashe killed any ability to care about anyone besides Elle.”

I patted his cheek. “I always thought that wasn’t true, but I wasn’t positive until the night you and Elle proposed.”

He swept me up the stairs. “I was so scared you would say no.”

I nodded. “I’ll never say no.”

His eyes gleamed. “To anything?”

I hesitated for a second. “Probably not.”

He gave me a wicked grin. “There’s this thing I’ve been wanting to do with you…”

“Tell me more,” I said as we headed toward our bedroom with the rest of the night—and all the nights of our lives—stretching before us to entertain our deepest desires, all tied in a ribbon of true love. How could I say no to the best gift I’ve ever had?