Maya Banks - Colters’ Gift

Holly smiled at her three husbands as they sank onto the couch at home. They’d left Lily and the boys just a half hour earlier, and returned home to rest and leave the new parents to fuss over the baby themselves. The boys insisted on bringing Lily and the baby to the hospital the next day so both could be checked out and make sure there weren’t any problems. But Holly had a feeling that if Lily got her way, they’d settle for having the doctor come out and tend to mother and child at home.

“Never a more beautiful moment,” Ryan said softly.

“I’m reminded of when you came home,” Ethan broke in. “That first time I saw you after all those months. Big and swollen with our child. I’ll never forget that day. It was the best day of my life.”

Adam nodded. “Can’t argue there.”

Holly sighed and settled between Ryan and Ethan on the couch. She was just as beautiful, if not more so, as she’d been nearly thirty-five years ago when she’d had Seth. Adam loved her more with every passing day, and he hadn’t imagined being able to love her more than when she’d returned to them.

But he had. The day she gave birth to Seth. And then to Michael and Dillon. And finally Callie. The scare she’d given them just last Christmas still lingered in his mind, a shadow that may never fade.

“It’s hard to imagine we’re grandparents,” Holly murmured. Her voice was a little sad, her face drawn, though Adam knew how happy she was to be a grandmother. “The years go by so very fast. I don’t know where they’ve all gone.”

“The best are yet to come,” Ryan said, pulling her into his side.

“I’m still that young girl falling in love with three men at the same time,” she said. “And yet that was a lifetime ago and yesterday all at the same time. I’m not ready to go. I’m not ready for this life to be over. I love it so much. I love you so very much.”

Adam’s chest clenched, and he read the same dismay on his brothers’ faces. They didn’t even want to consider a time when they wouldn’t be together.

Ethan touched her cheek, his eyes softening in love, the wrinkles at the corners more pronounced than they’d been a decade ago. “Our love is forever, sweetheart. The end of our lives here is only the beginning for us. Not even death can separate us.”

“Not to mention we all have a lot of years left,” Adam said gruffly. “So don’t even think about checking out early. I’ll drag you back by your hair if I have to.”

Holly laughed and the sound sent sunshine straight to Adam’s soul. Her eyes twinkled and the shadows had lifted.

“I have no doubt you’d do just that.”

“Count on it,” Ryan growled. “Never giving you up, honey. That’s a fact.”

“They’re going to be fine,” Holly said with a contented sigh. “Did you see the boys? I’ve never seem them that undone. And Lily. There’s no more sorrow in her eyes. She positively glowed.”

Adam smiled. “Thank you, baby.”

She cocked her head, looking at him in puzzlement. “What for?”

Adam leaned over the couch to touch his lips to hers. “For giving me four wonderful children. For giving me a life full of more love than I ever dreamed. For accepting us. For loving us. For coming home to us.”

Tears shone brightly in her eyes as she stroked his cheek.

“You know, we never did get around to taking that trip we talked about at Christmas. I distinctly remember discussing a beach, being naked and making love for an entire week.”

Ethan chuckled. “That’s because you refused to even consider leaving when Lily was pregnant.”

“But she’s not now,” Holly said with a mischievous grin. “I’m thinking after we give them a few weeks to settle into a routine and they don’t need as much anymore, that we should pack up and go on that vacation.”

“I think that’s a very good idea,” Ryan murmured as he kissed her again. “I have a distinct need to show my wife how very much I love her.”

LAUREN took longer than usual in the bathroom as she prepared for bed. The last several days had been full of activity with the arrival of Caleb James Colter, named for two of his great-grandfathers. The Colters and the Wilders had descended on the younger Colters’ home, providing food, childcare, and whatever else was needed to ensure Lily rested and was stress free.

Lauren had delighted in these days. They’d given her a preview of her own future. Her children. Surrounded by family. People who loved her. But mostly of how it would be when she gave Liam and Noah their own child.

They’d been enraptured by Caleb. The entire family was. As if sensing how fragile his mother was, Caleb was the perfect baby. So quiet and sweet. Not fussy at all. He’d been a dream to breast-feed, something that had worn Lily down with her first child. But then true to their word, Lily hadn’t lifted so much as a finger.

Holly Colter had gone through like a drill sergeant making a list of duties that covered every need. All Lily had to do was rest and feed the baby.

Lauren let out a happy sigh. She wanted Holly there when she had her own child. She missed her own mother dreadfully. Wished she’d lived to see both Max and Lauren happy and settled. Looking to the arrival of their own children. Holly was that mother figure to her now. And well, the dads were her fathers too. She was one of them. A Colter. Not by name, but in all the ways that mattered.

“Are you okay in there, honey?” Noah called.

She smiled and then slid her hands down the silky lingerie she’d chosen for this occasion. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and walked out to face the two men who waited for her.

They were sprawled on the bed where she’d told them to wait. As their gazes lifted, sultry heat entered their eyes. They went smoky with desire.

“Where in the hell did you get that?” Liam breathed out. “I definitely would have remembered that.”

She grinned and glanced at Noah, whose mouth was open.

But she also saw hope in their eyes. Not that they’d ever push her. They wouldn’t even hint or suggest. They simply waited for her to make the first move. And she loved them so dearly for that.

“I want to start practicing for those babies,” she said as she crawled onto the end of the bed. “I don’t want to use condoms anymore. The timing’s not right for me to get pregnant tonight, and well, if it happened, it happens. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it when it’s something I want so badly. But I don’t want to use anything anymore. If we aren’t ready to take the plunge quite yet, then I’ll go on birth control. But I want there to be nothing between us. Not anymore.”

Liam expelled his breath in a long exhale. “Oh God, baby. We want that too. But are you sure? I mean tonight? We don’t mind waiting. We want this to be perfect for you. I’d die before hurting or frightening you.”

She ran her hand up his leg to his knee and squeezed. “It will be perfect. It couldn’t be anything else with you.”

Noah leaned up, curled a hand around her nape and brought his mouth to hers. Hungry. He was so hungry. He swallowed up her breaths, his tongue delving deep as though he’d waited years for this moment. And the last six weeks had seemed like years. For her and no doubt for them as they waited so patiently for her to take the next step.

She sighed into his mouth and then sighed again when Liam pushed in on her side, his arm curving around her body. She was right where she belonged. Between the two men she loved and who loved her with everything they had. She didn’t doubt that love. Not for a minute. They’d spent every moment of the last six weeks proving to her without words what she meant to them.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you both so much.”

“I love you too, baby,” Liam said into her ear.

Noah hauled her forward, falling to his back with her sprawled over him. His eyes glittered over her face, warming her as though it were a tangible touch.

“I love you, honey. Never want you to doubt that for a second. We’re going to be together a damn long time. Every day, you’ll wake up and Liam and I will be here. Every night when we go to bed, we’ll be the last thing you see. And when you wake up, the first thing you see. Us. Our love.”

“You’re going to make me cry,” she said accusingly.

“Don’t want you crying,” Liam growled. “Screaming our names, yes. Crying, no.”

“I like the way you think,” she murmured.

“Not that I don’t love that lingerie, but think we can dispense with it so we see you naked?” Noah asked, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“I’m yours to command.”

Before she’d even finished, Liam was tugging at her top, sliding it over her head before tossing it aside. Noah pulled at her lacy panties, Liam taking over when he’d worked them over her buttocks.