Taking Control (Kerr Chronicles #2)(75)
Author: Jen Frederick

I slip one hand between her legs, enjoying the feel of the tissue thin fabric as it rubs against her skin. “See,” I whisper. “No one needs to know.”

“You cannot finger bang me here,” she insists.

“Really?” Under her skirt she is wearing the knickers she modeled for me in my office. Her sex is swollen and wet.

“What were you thinking about, bunny?” I laugh, lightly caressing her delicate flesh.

She blushes fiercely.

“Stop it. We are not doing it here. I’m in the Frick gardens for God’s sake.” She sounds completely scandalized.

“Where then? Inside? In the Fragonard room where the cherubs stare down at us?”

“That’s like having sex in a church.”

“How will you make it up to me?” I stoke her more. Her eyes flutter shut.

“Rooftop sex?” she offers.

“When?” My finger dips inside and she grips my arms.

“Before the party?”

“Done.” I withdraw my fingers, giving her a goodbye pinch which has her leaning into me. I raise my slick fingers to my mouth and lick them clean.

“Did you just hustle me?” she asks, clearly suspicious.

“Love you, bunny.” I wink. Taking a handkerchief from my pocket, I wipe my fingers dry.

“I’m going to get you back,” she vows.

“I look forward to it.”

EPILOGUE

Despite a few rocky moments, Kerr Inc. ended the fiscal year with a 20% increase in its stock valuation. The upward trend is positive. The dividend to stockholders this year looked to be in jeopardy during the summer months, but after rumors were put to rest and a few stunning new acquisitions in the fall—including a Japanese solar company that wowed exhibitors at a recent clean tech summit—Kerr Inc. rebounded in a decisive way.

Nearly every market investor and analyst on the street has marked Kerr Inc. stock as a buy. After all, Ian Kerr has proven time and again that he has legendary instincts for this business.

“THAT’S A NICE ARTICLE.”

“Is that the trash you’re reading these days? I’d think you would want to enjoy a novel, rather than the gossipy financial pages.” I lean over and brush my lips over Tiny’s cheek as I set down a tray of coffee and pastries. Her reading skills are improving. She would still never read for pleasure—it is an onerous task, and one she mostly does only when her work demands it—but she practices, and with each day her skill increases. When we get back from our honeymoon, she’ll sit for her private investigator’s license and be a full fledged field agent for Jake. Likely the only one with her own bodyguard, but still.

Jake is getting two investigators for the price of one. Tiny objected at first, but when I wouldn’t budge and then poked her in the side where her scar was, she acquiesced.

I suspect that Marcie will do quite a bit of their paperwork, but the important thing is that Tiny doesn’t feel so disempowered anymore.

“It is rather boring,” Tiny admits. She takes a long sip of coffee. “Ahh, this is so good. I don’t think I’d want to be pregnant if I had to give up coffee.”

I glance at her belly. The sight of her rounded stomach makes me instantly hard.

“Oh no,” she says.

“What?” I murmur, distracted. The skin of her belly is soft. I can’t stop touching it. “Is our son asleep?”

“For now.” Her hand joins mine. “But the coffee should wake him up. If not, you will. I recognize that look on your face.”

Leaning over, I press a kiss against her hand and then against her belly. “I love you, son,” I whisper.

Still holding her hand, I tug the sheet lower until I’ve exposed her completely. She’s naked from our earlier lovemaking. “Are you too tender?” I ask, sliding a finger lightly along her lower lips.

“No.” Before I can test the veracity of her statement with my tongue, she stops me and tilts my chin upward to look me in the eyes. “Do you think we can love too much? Too deep? Too strong?” she asks, widening her legs for me in clear invitation.

“How can loving someone be a bad thing?” She looks vulnerable and concerned.

“I’m afraid we have too much. That we’re too happy.” With one hand, she rubs the taut skin stretched across her womb.

“Are you happy, Tiny?”

“Happy is not the word I’d choose. I feel like I could float with the joy that’s inside me. But part of me feels like I should be scared, too, because it can all be taken away so quickly.”

She’s thinking of her mother. Or maybe my mother. I understand her fear. We both lost our parents too early, and she worries about the future of our child. “Our children will not grow up alone, Tiny. We’ll live a healthy life. We’ll be safe.”

“Can you guarantee that?”

“I can’t,” I admit. “But I can tell you we can love each other every day, and that love will be remembered. Don’t you feel Sophie with you always?”

She nods slowly. “Yes, even more so since I got pregnant. But it’s weird because I miss her more, yet I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more in tune with her.”

“I have legendary instincts. The paper just said so. And those instincts tell me that we are going to live for a long time and watch our children’s children grow old.”

“Yeah?” She smiles and then lets out a little laugh. “You do have good instincts. I’m going to trust them just like the gossipy financial paper told me too.”

“Good, now are you ready for something different?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Breakfast.”

A soft laugh correctly interprets the kind of meal I’m referring to, but before I can move down her body, she lifts my face gently until we’re lip to lip. As her mouth slowly parts, I give her a good morning kiss, curling my tongue around hers and lazily stroking the interior recesses of her mouth.

I could kiss her all day, but there are other parts of her body I’m just as anxious to place my lips upon. One hand tangles in her hair, angling her head for deeper penetration, while the other roams her beautiful body. There is the growing curve of her belly and the extra lushness in her br**sts. A slight brush of my fingers against the tips of her ni**les wrests a gasp against my lips.

“Tender, are we?”

“Mmmm,” she purrs.

We touch each other until the night recedes around us and there is only Ian and Tiny and the fruit of our love.