I ignored him.

“Thanks for gettin’ in Trent’s face and bein’ all cool even though you wanted to whale on him.”

His body started shaking.

I kept mumbling.

“Thanks for bein’ nice to my kid.”

“He’s easy to be nice to.”

I knew that, so I ignored that too.

“Thanks for givin’ up an awesome blowjob à la me to watch Fast & Furious 6 with my boy.”

“Just sayin’, that’s a debt you hold, baby, and I’ll be findin’ a time to collect.”

I looked forward to that.

It seemed I had enough strength in me to use my mouth to speak. But not to suck him off, no way, especially with my kid in the house, which was a shame (the not-being-able-to-suck-Merry-off part; my kid being in the house was never a shame).

“Thanks for waiting for me to get my head outta my ass so I could take a shot on this, because so far, it’s workin’ great.”

His arm at my belly got tighter and I felt his breath stir my hair when he tipped his head to me, but he said nothing.

“Merry?” I called.

“Right here, Cherie,” he said softly.

“Thanks,” I whispered.

He kissed the top of my hair and whispered back, “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”

“Okay,” I muttered.

“Just sayin’,” he continued quietly. “You get it. You live with Ethan. You got that in your life. You get that goodness. You don’t get it about you, but I’ll get you there. But at least with half of it you know, the pleasure is all mine.”

God.

Merry.

I snuggled back into him, closing my eyes tight.

He shoved his other arm under me and wrapped it around my upper chest.

“’Night, brown eyes,” he murmured.

“’Night, baby,” I murmured back.

Merry held me close, his body spooning mine.

And I fell fast asleep.

Chapter Thirteen

Never Dared to Dream

Cher

My eyes opened and I saw my bed stretching out in front of me, the pillows next to mine dented with sleep.

They’d been dented by Merry.

That made me realize I felt warm and it wasn’t the bedclothes that was doing it.

I listened but heard nothing. I lifted up and saw my clock said it was nearly nine thirty.

Merry, I was discovering, woke early, even without an alarm clock.

Ethan, on a weekend, slept as long as he could.

Curious as to what Merry might be doing in my house with no one awake, I pushed the covers back, threw my legs over the side of the bed, got up, and headed straight out of the room.

In the hallway, I saw Ethan’s door was open.

Interesting.

Walking down the hall, I heard it. Voices murmuring. Being quiet.

They didn’t want to wake me.

My two guys in the kitchen, my son up early because Merry was there, being quiet in order not to wake me.

I’d never admit it to anybody, but that made me feel warm too…and squishy.