“Come here,” he repeated, she stopped in the doorway to her closet, stared at him a second and walked to him.

When she got close, Layne did an ab curl, grabbed one of her wrists and took the mug of coffee from her other hand. He set it on the nightstand then, with a tug on her wrist, he laid back down and Rocky hit him full frontal.

“Layne!”

His arms moved around her, trapping her.

“I have to get to work,” she repeated.

“I know but I have to ask you something.”

She stopped pressing back when she paid attention to his face.

Then she whispered, “What?”

“You want kids?” Layne asked, straight out.

Her body jerked then she repeated, “What?” but it was breathy this time.

“You want kids?”

“I… um…” she stammered then her eyes slid to the pillow beside his head.

“Eyes to me, Roc,” he ordered and her eyes shot back.

“Yes,” she answered, that one word quick, forced out and openly scared. He knew this because she barely hissed out the “s” before her body braced.

He grinned at her and whispered, “Good, baby, how many you want? Two, three?”

She stared in his eyes, her body still, her eyes getting bright and her nostrils quivered. She was going to cry and to fight it back, she served up attitude.

“What?” she whispered back, “Are you growing an army?”

Layne laughed, rolled her to her back, rolled right on top of her and buried his face in her neck.

“You didn’t answer,” he said into her neck.

“Layne, you’re messing up my hair.”

He lifted his head. “Sweetcheeks, answer my question.”

She glared at him, pure bullshit, he could see she was happy and his chest squeezed at the sight.

“One, if it’s a boy. If it’s a girl, two but only with the hopes of having another girl.”

“Evening out the numbers?”

“No.”

Layne’s brows went up. “You don’t like boys?”

“Little boy clothes aren’t as cute as little girl clothes.”

Layne stared at her and saw she was being serious, basing her desire of what gender child she wanted to have on shopping.

Then he muttered, “Jesus.”

“They aren’t,” Rocky defended.

“Girls means I’ve got Cal’s headaches and gotta pray every night they meet a boy like Jas, when Jas is into them, that is. Boys you just give condoms.”

Her body locked under his and she snapped, “Layne!”

“It’s true.”

“Boys means I have to hope they don’t pay a lot of attention to their badass Dad and don’t want a career where they sleep with a gun under their pillow.”

He grinned. “You caught that?”

“Hard to miss when I put your pajamas on it, Layne.”

His voice softened when he assured her, “It’s just a precaution.”

“Against your enemies or the pissed off fathers of Jasper’s pre-Keira escapades?”

He grinned again. “You caught that too?”

“Kids talk and, by the way, that’s reason two, no boys.”

“Why?”

“How many more reasons do you want?” she asked.

“Twelve,” he answered.

“A girl…” she stopped, her eyes unfocused and her body got tight and when she spoke again he knew into his soul, it wasn’t to him. “A girl I can teach, I can tell her things, I can show her the way, I can explain the stuff that will happen in her life.” Her eyes refocused and her body relaxed under his. “A girl I can give all that my Mom never got the chance to give me.”

“Girls it is then,” Layne whispered instantly and he watched Rocky blink, her face startled before that surprise died, hope filled the space it left and she smiled.

“Is that a guarantee, Tanner Layne?” she whispered back.

“Nope, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Her hand came to his jaw, her thumb sweeping his cheek then his lips before it slid across to wrap around his chin, she lifted up and touched her mouth to his.

She dropped her head back to the bed and whispered, “I have to get to work, baby.”

“Yeah,” he replied then dropped his head to kiss her and he did it a lot harder and a lot longer and Layne’s kiss was wet.

Then he rolled off her, watched her roll off the bed and walk to the closet.

Girls.

The first one they’d name Cecilia.

* * *

Tuesday, 6:53 p.m.

Layne jogged up Rocky’s steps, slid his key in her door and walked in to soft lighting, soft music and candles lit around the room.

He closed the door and turned toward the kitchen where Rocky was standing wearing a purple t-shirt with a snarling white bulldog on the front and she was looking at him.

“Sweetcheeks, I appreciate the effort but I gotta tell you, I’m a sure thing.”

 She grinned but planted her hands on her hips. “A house doesn’t always have to be filled with the sounds of shoulder pads crunching and grunting and the smell of stale beer,” she returned.

“Nope,” he agreed, shrugging off his jacket and walking to the armchair. “Sometimes it has to be filled with the sounds of shoes skidding on a court and whistles blowing and the smell of nacho cheese.”

He tossed his jacket on the chair and turned just in time to brace because Rocky had run from the kitchen and was in the act of launching herself in his arms.

He caught her at the ass, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and dropped her head, her mouth hitting his, opening, his opened in return and her tongue slid inside.

He let her kiss him then he growled and took over the kiss until she mewed and then her head came up and she looked him in the eye.

“Catch any bad guys?” she whispered as he walked her to the kitchen.

“Unfortunately… no,” he whispered back.

Her brows went up. “Any bad women?”

“Ditto on the no.”

“Damn.” She was still whispering and he set her ass on the counter, she kept her limbs tight around him so he moved in close and wrapped his arms around her.

Layne changed the subject. “What’s for dinner?”

“Mushroom risotto.”

It was Layne’s turn to lift his brows. “Does that have meat in it?”

She smiled. “Um… no. It has mushrooms in it.”

“Pepperoni?”

“No.”

“Sausage?”

“No.”

“Hamburger?”

She started giggling and forced out a, “No.”

“Baby,” Layne whispered.

“You’ll like it. It has lots of parmesan cheese in it and cheese makes everything awesome.”

Christ.

Jasper had said that and she remembered, she remembered what his boy said.

Christ. He loved her.

He didn’t tell her that, instead he asked, “Is this my welcome home every night?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“Yeah.”

“Then yeah.”

Fuck, he remembered this. This hadn’t changed. Coming home to Rocky had always been the best part of the day. Always.

Shit yeah, he loved her.

“You gonna feed me or let me fuck you on the kitchen counter?”

Her mouth got soft, her eyelids lowered but she asked, “Without food, do you have strength to fuck me on the kitchen counter?”

“Haven’t had anything since breakfast.”

Her lips tipped up. “Then I’m going to feed you.”

“All right, then I’m gonna get a beer.”

She didn’t let him go and Layne didn’t move.

“Sweetcheeks,” he prompted as her limbs got tighter, her face got softer and her eyes dropped to his mouth

She was changing her mind and Layne liked the direction it turned so he slid his hands up her back.

Then she froze.

“I still don’t have blinds,” she whispered.

Shit.

“Right,” Layne whispered back, she moved in, touched her mouth to his then released her limbs.

Layne got a beer, Rocky took another sip from her white wine before she pulled a pan out of the oven. Then she fed Layne mushroom risotto and it was pretty good.

But it could use meat.

* * *

Wednesday, 4:02 p.m.

Layne’s cell rang, he looked from Dev sitting across from him in his office to his cell on the desk. He read the display, gave Devin a one minute finger, picked up his cell, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“What’s up, sweetcheeks?” he said by way of greeting.

“Something weird just happened,” Rocky replied and Layne’s eyes shot to Devin as the muscles in his neck got tight.

“What?”

“Um… a woman came up to me after school and talked to me like she knew me. Really chatty, really friendly and, Layne, she talked for ages. I’ve seen her around, not much but I’ve seen her around. Her name is Lissa McGraw. She’s Alexis’s Mom.”

“And,” Layne prompted when she hesitated.

“Well, she said that you and her man are tight, you’re partners and since you’re partners, we should all get to know each other and to do that we should have dinner. So she kind of set a double date before the game on Friday and then said we could all go to the game together. I didn’t know what to say. She was so friendly, I couldn’t refuse. Um… do you have a partner?”

Layne relaxed, sat back and his eyes dropped to the desk as he grinned. “That’s Ryker’s woman.”

“Ryker the big biker guy?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he your partner?”

“No, he isn’t my partner but I’m his.”

“What?”

“Ryker and I view our relationship in different ways.”

“Oh,” she whispered then shared, “He’s kind of scary.”

“He can be,” Layne agreed. “He also cares a lot about Lissa and her daughter.”

There was a hesitation and then, “So, he’s big and scary and looks somewhat like a raving lunatic but he’s good people.”

Layne’s grin got bigger. “Yep, that’s about it, sweetcheeks.”

“Are we having dinner with them?”

“That isn’t at the top of my list of things I wanna do but I get the sense that big, scary, raving lunatic Ryker does not have a lot of buds and Ryker tells me Lissa spends a lotta her time working her ass off to give her girl a decent life and likely, with Ryker her man and him looking like a raving lunatic, she doesn’t have a lot of chicks of her own so I reckon they’re recruitin’ a posse and we’re pretty much the only candidates in the ‘burg who wouldn’t run a mile. Not to mention, Alexis was a target and we made it so she was safe so I’m guessin’ Lissa feels grateful and friendship is a good gift to give when you don’t have much else to offer.”

“So,” Rocky said, drawing out the word, “we’re having dinner with them.”

“Wouldn’t kill us.”

“You like him,” she observed.

“He’s solid,” Layne replied.

“I liked her, she’s nice and it was kind of sad because she also seemed desperate which she shouldn’t have to be because, well… she was so nice.”

“Proves my point.”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“He wants her to have a decent life, baby,” Layne whispered back. “He’s not a man who shares much but what he says, she hasn’t had it too good and he wants her to have good.”

“He doesn’t scare me anymore.”

“He shouldn’t. Can’t say he’d lay down his life for you but you’re my woman and if anyone hurt you, he wouldn’t blink before huntin’ them down and breakin’ their neck just because he’s built a connection to me and that’s his kind of justice. And I’m not sayin’ that to say it, Roc, I mean he’d hunt them down and break their neck… literally.”

He could tell she was smiling when she said, “Now, I’m beginning to like him.”

Layne chuckled.

“Are you busy?” she asked.

“I’m always busy,” he answered.

“I’ll let you go.”

“What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Meat.”

“Just meat?”

“Yep, a smorgasbord of meat.”

“You’re full of shit,” he muttered through a smile.

“See you later,” she replied through a giggle.

“Later, sweetcheeks.”

He flipped his phone shut, looked at Devin and felt his neck muscles contract again when he caught the look on Devin’s face.

“What?” Layne asked when Devin didn’t speak.

Devin shook his head.

“What, old man?”

“Just thinkin’, thinkin’ about a man who’d walk out a door and never turn back. Thinkin’ about where he went, what he did and how it could never be worth losin’ what he left behind. Your father is a grade A, one hundred percent, jackass, boy, turnin’ his back and never knowin’ the man you would become.”

Layne didn’t speak, his throat was burning, his chest was frozen and that golden trail was searing through his system.

Then he found his voice. “You gonna kiss me?”