Reflecting On Wishes (The Wishes Series) (24 page)

Rage came to the side of her bed and laid Elena in her arms. Elena nuzzled her chest and flailed her little arms as she worked herself up in a shaky cry. Nahni kissed her forehead and cheeks, laughing when Elena
hiccupped for the first time. Nahni had loved her baby the moment she’d found out she was pregnant, but nothing had prepared her for the overwhelming burst of love and joy that consumed her when she held her daughter for the first time. As parents do, they counted fingers and toes, staring in wonder at the piece of each of them that they had created. It was clear she favored her father with a tuft of dark hair and rich, caramel skin tone. But when it came to her face, she was her mother’s image. Nahni’s sea green, heavy-lidded eyes looked back at her. Elena’s heart-shaped face, button nose and cupid-bow lips were mirror image to her as well. Nahni pressed soft kisses to Elena’s forehead and cheeks, talking softly to her.

“Thank you,” Rage’s voice cracked with emotion as he tenderly stroked his wife’s cheek, placing a kiss on her smiling lips, then giving another to their daughter. His face shone with a father’s pride that softened his otherwise hard features.

Nahni’s heart swelled with love. Emotion clogged her throat and tears burned her eyes, threatening to fall. Instead of speaking, she rubbed her fingers through his hair at the base of his neck and pulled his mouth to hers once more. She didn’t care that the room was still filled with hospital personnel. Nahni took her time kissing her husband senseless for giving her the most amazing gift ever, the perfect blend of the two of them in a new life.

The drive home from the hospital was relatively quiet. Both were lost in their own thoughts and the silence was comfortable, not strained at all.

Angel watched the clouds rolling in, signaling the storm the weatherman had predicted was coming in right on time. It was supposed to last a few days which was okay by her. She loved the smell of rain and how fresh and green everything looked afterwards. The temperature had already dropped some, yet the air was thick with humidity. It was nearly dark outside and the rumble in her stomach was almost as loud as the thunder that began to roll across the sky.

It had been something special to hold her niece in her arms the first time. She was beautiful. Absolutely perfect. It made her ache in her core to see the life that came from two people who loved each other to distraction. Looking into Elena’s eyes, holding her softness against her chest while studying her features made Angel’s stomach flutter with awareness. And when she looked up to see Dakota staring at her with that look on his face…it made her throat tighten and skin flush.

But the kicker had been when she watched him holding Elena. He was a natural. He was so tender when he braced his large hand under her head and neck, scooping her gently out of Angel’s arms. The soft whispers as he spoke to her while wearing a huge smile on his gorgeous face had tears springing in Angel’s eyes.

He would be a wonderful father.

He would be an amazing husband.

Angel turned to look at him as he drove, smiling when he took his hand off her thigh and curled his arm around her shoulders and brought her tighter against his side. She fit there just right.
Like he was made for her.
That reasoning sent a flash of heat through her.

Dakota had asked her to stay the night with him.

She had agreed.

There were some nights
you simply didn’t want to sleep alone or be away from the one you love.

After a quick stop at her room to gather a change of clothing
—which Dakota ended up encouraging her to triple, and grabbing a few toiletries, they headed to his house and pulled in the driveway just as the heavens opened up in a downpour. He punched the garage door opener and pulled in out of the rain.

“Wait for me,” he said as he got out and shut his door.

Angel wanted to walk in for once, to appear ‘normal’ instead of being carried in or wheeling in on her chair. She waited for him to open her door, secretly loving he believed in doing things like that because of the type of man he was, not because of her disability. She also appreciated that he pulled in on the far side of the garage, allowing her room to maneuver her chair across the way and up the ramp he’d installed just for her that led into the kitchen. Once before, he had pulled in the closet spot to the door and quickly found out it didn’t allot enough room for her to get in the house on her own. Never again had he pulled in that spot, nor did he park his motorcycle in the way of the door. Now he parked it at an angle to allow her plenty of room to get by. He was thoughtful like that.

Her chair was pulled out of the truck
’s backseat and sat before her. But, Angel smiled at him and eased out to her feet, holding on to the door for support. She knew it was about twelve steps into the house. She could do twice that when using the bars at the gym before she needed a break.

Instead of sitting in the chair, she
set her bag in the seat and grabbed hold of the handles and pushed it inside, using it as a walker instead of a chair. He didn’t deter her. Again, that was one of the many things she appreciated about him. He didn’t coddle her. As an admirable male, he encouraged and supported her instead, yet stayed close enough behind her so he could catch her should she falter. Dakota made her believe in herself, knowing she was capable.

Once inside the kitchen, Angel stopped and sat on the barstool then gave him a bright smile.

“Have I told you how amazing you are today? Because you are,” his voice was low with a slight growl to it. It made her insides do somersaults.

“I don’t mind hearing it more than once a day.”

He answered by moving to stand between her thighs and grasping her hips in his big, warm hands. The kiss he gave her sent shock-waves throughout her body and she instantly leaned into him, tightening her thighs at his hips, eliciting a groan from his lips to hers. She took each hot slide of his lips and matched it with her own. Every lick and bite became a heated give and take that left them gasping for breath but unwilling to part long enough to take a deep lungful of air. Angel was dizzy with desire. A languid heat turned her body to the consistency of warm taffy and all she wanted to do was wrap her body around his and meld with him until there was no deciphering where she ended and he began.

Much to her dismay, Dakota had other things in mind. He rubbed his fingers through the thick, silky hair at the nape of her neck and tilted her head back, looking into her eyes.

“As much as I want to take you to bed right now, I think the least I can do is feed you first since we’ve not eaten since this morning. I think you’re going to need the energy.”

***

Dakota ran his fingers through her raven tresses once more, and kissed her forehead before heading to the refrigerator.

“I haven’t been grocery shopping in a while
, but I do have the makings for one helluva sub sandwich.”

He
set everything on the center island before washing his hands and getting down two plates from the cabinet.

“Sounds good to me. Got a couple of beers to go with it?” Angel gave him that sexy smile that made him feel like ‘the man’ and sent his heart into overdrive. “Corona’s chilling in the bottom drawer. After today, I could use a couple tall, cold ones.”

When he nodded towards the fridge, watching her ease from her barstool to go retrieve them, he didn’t even feel guilty for staring at her behind although it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do when he had a knife in one hand and a tomato in the other.

“I feel ya. It was an amazing day right? Both scary and beautiful.” She twisted the caps off and
set one beside him, stopping to kiss the corner of his mouth. The action nearly made him lose a finger, but the comfortable way she did it without thinking, kicked his heart and his groin into gear—again.

A long drink was what he needed to clear the tightness in his throat. The icy cold Corona did the trick when he drained half of it while Angel washed her hands, then climbed back onto the barstool in front of him and started peeling off leaves of lettuce.

“It was pretty eye-opening seeing the case of nerves Rage had. But he was a trooper; he didn’t pass out like I thought he might. And Nahni, she was just…wow. To give birth, start to finish in four hours is amazing. They’ll be great parents. They have a lot of love to give and little Elena already has them wrapped around her finger.”

“Oh yeah, Rage was a big ole teddy bear. Tough guy got all teary eyed and mushy. I can’t wait to give him a hard time about it either.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief and delight.

“Just remember, one of these days that’s going to be you having our babies and getting all emotional and he’ll get you back if you give him a hard time now.” He didn’t mean for it to come out that way. Or maybe he did. But the look of panic and the bright flush in her cheeks told him one of two things. She didn’t want kids, or she didn’t want them with him.

He hated the uncomfortable silence that followed. All he could do was keep slicing the bell pepper in thin strips and laying them over the lettuce and tomato, hoping she would break the silence. His hope for that wasn’t fulfilled. Picking up thin slices of smoked turkey and arranging them on the vegetables while she followed him with slices of smoked cheddar shouldn’t have been such a strained situation. But after he had opened his mouth and said too much, it seemed he had ruined the previously playful mood.

“Look, Angel…I’m sorry if,” he started to say but found himself promptly cut off by her.

“Would you really want to have kids with me? Even though
, I may never fully recover or be able to run again or walk completely steady?” Her eyes were lowered, studying the sandwich as if it were the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen, while biting her bottom lip with her pearly white teeth.

Never in his life had he wanted to kiss someone
as bad as he did right then. At the same time he had the urge to paddle her rear for thinking herself as anything less than perfect. Still, he felt he should proceed with caution. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing or come off sounding like he was scolding her.

“Why the hell wouldn’t I want to have kids with you? Are you kidding me? Between my tall, dark and athletic build and your stunning beauty
, we’d produce the most perfect kids ever!” When she snorted out a laugh he figured he was on the right track and kept going.

“Hey, don’t laugh at me woman. It’s true. I mean look at me,” he stepped back and spread his arms wide, shaking his hips side to side, turning around and popping his bottom with his hands on his knee’s like he was king of the booty dance.

“And we both know you got that whole sexy Latin flare with that danger streak for racing. Oh yeah, we’ll make gorgeous, talented babies. We’ll be the envy of everyone. And they’ll be smart as hell too. Seriously, we can’t go wrong.”

She was in an
all-out giggle now. It encouraged him to continue.

“By the time the first one is toddling around we’ll have you in ship shape, ready to jog after them. I’ll be right behind you all the way. And you know what? Who cares if you were a little unsteady on your feet at times? I can tell you one thing about toddlers. They fall down all the damn time. So if you do too, it’s only going to make them feel more comforta
ble about doing it themselves, because they will see momma getting back up and trying again, every single time.”

The laughter
waned and she looked up at him with her beautiful brown eyes shiny with unshed tears. “Oh, Dakota…”

He wiped his hands off on a dish towel and came around to her side of the island and slipped his arms around her. “In fact, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I wouldn’t ever want anyone else to be my wife and the mother of my children. You are the only woman I have ever wanted that with.”

Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m overwhelmed. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, baby. You don’t have to say anything else. Just remember what I’ve said and never, ever doubt my intentions with you. You are m
y woman. You’re stuck with me, bad booty shaking and all.”

That got her laughing again. He couldn’t think of anything in his life that was more beautiful than the sound of her laughing. With a gentle touch, he wiped the tears from her cheeks and tenderly kissed her until they were both breathing heavily again, clinging to one another. At least they were until his stomach let out a roaring growl that made them both start laughing.

“I’m thinking it’s time to eat, big guy.” Angel patted his tummy playfully.

“I’m down with that. How about we take our sandwiches and beer into the den and watch some TV while we eat?”

After dinner and cleaning up, Dakota was in his master bathroom sitting on the edge of the garden tub, running a bubble bath for Angel. It wasn’t because he had to or because she couldn’t do it herself. It was because he wanted to do nice things like this for her. Women like her were something to cherish and spoil. She deserved to be appreciated. He poured a generous amount of her citrus soap under the rushing flow of steaming water. Just the smell of it made him thick with desire,
let alone picturing her here—
in his tub
. Bare as the day she was born. That was an image that would stick with him for life. There was something primal about having his woman here in his home. It was where she belonged. He had known it for a long time. Now he needed to convince her that this was where she was meant to be. The way things were going, he had a feeling she wouldn’t need much convincing.