Page 55 of Beautiful Trauma (The Irish Rogues #5)

T hree Years Later

As I rubbed Lightning’s flank, his muscles contracted under my hands. “Does that feel good, boy?”

He snorted his appreciation. “You’re such a beautiful boy,” I crooned.

Since he was a complete attention whore, he preened under my compliments.

There was nothing I enjoyed more than my time at the farm. If you would’ve told me three years ago, I would enjoy mucking stalls and grooming horses, I would’ve said you were crazy.

But the unexpected was truly one of the most amazing gifts in life. It had brought me the most wonderful husband a woman could ever ask for. It had given me a second family who I adored. And it brought me to another season in my life.

Motherhood.

A tiny hand joined mine on Lightning’s skin. “Ning, Ning!” my two-year-old son, Liam, shrieked with joy.

“That’s right. Give Ning, Ning love.”

Since the time he was born, Liam had grown up surrounded by horses. I’d become even more rural in my motherhood era, and we’d added chickens and goats to the farm. One of his favorite things was to ride on horseback with Kellan through the property.

As I gazed into my son’s face, it was so much his father’s. They had so many of the same mannerisms as well. Thankfully, Liam had also inherited Kellan’s sweet temperament and caring heart.

“Care?” Liam questioned.

“Yes, we can give him one carrot.”

I reached into my bag to dig out the carrot. “Can you say care-ot?”

“Care,” Liam replied determinedly.

I laughed. “Almost.”

As I handed over the carrot to Liam, he then waved it at Lightning. “Ning, ning, here!”

Lightning obliged Liam by grabbing the carrot.

At the hearty chomps of the horse, Liam giggled. “Is Lightning silly?”

“Silly horsie.”

Once Lightning was finished, I took Liam back into my arms. “Come on. Let’s go see what Daddy is doing.”

As I tromped back up the hill in my wellies, as Kellan called them, I admired the view of the house. We’d done a lot of work on it over the years. I’d started to think Kellan would never be satisfied. But sometime last year, he’d finally gotten it just as he wanted it.

When we got back to the house, I put Liam on his feet. At the sound of a cartoon in the distance, he made a beeline for the TV. I peeked in to see if Kellan was in the living room, but he wasn’t.

I headed down the hallway. Before I got to our bedroom, I peeked my head in the room across the hall. It was dimly lit by the stars encrusting the ceiling. My heartbeat thrummed wildly at the sight of Kellan asleep in the rocker with our daughter asleep on his bare chest.

Even though she was our second child, I never got tired of the sight of seeing Kellan cuddling our babies.

Liliya, or Lily as we called her, had just turned six weeks.

I could already tell she was on her way to being a ridiculous daddy’s girl.

My genes hadn’t totally given up with her like they had with Liam.

She had my nose and mouth, but her smile was all Kellan and Liam.

As I walked over to them, Kellan stirred. “Hey,” he murmured drowsily.

“Hey,” I replied with a smile.

Bending over, I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “Did she go down pretty easy?”

Kellan nodded. “After she sucked her bottle down, she was out like a light.”

I rubbed Lily’s tuft of light blonde hair. “What are the odds Liam will go down that easy?”

Kellan snorted. “Zero.”

With a laugh, I said, “Let’s put her down, and then wrangle him together.”

A wicked grin flashed on his face. “Why don’t I get him to bed while you get ready for bed?”

Since I’d gotten cleared for sex two days ago, Kellan had been raring to go. Unfortunately for him, there had been an emergency at Bandia that took him away last night.

Even though there was nothing about me that felt sexy, I knew Kellan would be able to get me in the mood. He worshipped my body even when I wasn’t a fan of the stretch marks or loose skin from delivery.

“Deal.”

Although I knew he wanted to be out of the chair like a shot, he eased forward as he cradled Lily gently against his chest. With absolute tenderness, my underworld killer put his daughter down in her crib. “ Aisling milis,” he whispered to her.

“Yes, sweet dreams, my love.”

Kellan took me by the hand and led me out of the nursery. “Will you put on something sexy for me?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“That red bustier thing.”

I groaned. “You would pick something I had to squeeze into.”

“At this point, I’ll take you wearing a burlap sack.”

With a laugh, I replied, “Okay, then, I’ll put on some of my maternity panties and a nursing bra.”

At his grimace, I said, “Yeah, I knew you were bluffing about the burlap sack.”

Kellan chuckled. “Go wrestle yourself into the bustier, and I’ll wrestle our son.”

“I think you get the better deal.”

As I turned into the bedroom, Kellan popped my ass playfully. Since I smelled like a horse, I hopped into the shower. After shaving my legs and lady-scaping, I got out. As I dried off, I went in search of the bustier.

Just as I opened my lingerie drawer, Kellan burst through the door. “He’s out. Let’s go.”

I laughed. “You act like a man on death row.”

Kellan’s response was to jerk his shirt over his head. After unzipping his pants, he jerked them down his thighs and legs. When he stood before me in just his briefs, I shivered in anticipation.

Kellan stalked over to me before ripping away the towel. He pulled me against his chest, molding me to his body. “I ache for you, Mila.”

“After all these years and two kids?” I teased.

“Absolutely.”

“I ache for you, too.”

As Kellan brought his lips to mine, he started pushing me towards the bed. Once we collapsed onto the mattress, Kellan began to use his masterful mouth and tongue on me.

After a leg shaking orgasm, he thrust balls deep into me. I never got tired of fucking him. Or making love. He always brought me so much pleasure.

He gave me the moon and stars each and every day.