“I hope so,” I whispered.

His hands stopped roaming and his arms wrapped around the middle of my back, pulling me close so my torso was plastered to his and our faces were an inch apart.

“Seein’ that man in my house I thought would rile me. Seein’ how he was, though, it was the first time I felt any real hope. All this shit goin’ down around him, even right in front of him, Gifford clearly hatin’ his guts, citizens there in his face that they were not scared or cowed and he still stood their proud, thinkin’ he had the upper hand. That isn’t smart. He’s blinded by his perceived power. It’s the wrong way to be.”

“But he… with Misty –”

“Misty was a speck of dust that he blew off. He cannot blow off the IA or the FBI or Tate Jackson. He’s got more powerful enemies than him and he doesn’t see it. Means his plays will be off.”

“I hope so,” I repeated on a whisper and got a strong squeeze of my man’s arms.

“Team Walker is in the home stretch, mama,” Ty whispered back, I sighed, he smiled then he ordered, “Get off me, baby, we don’t know what tomorrow’ll bring. We need to sleep.”

I nodded, touched my mouth to his and rolled off.

He turned his light off and slid into bed. I turned off mine and rolled back to curl into him.

I fell asleep tucked to his side. As usual, what seemed like moments later, I was on my other side and felt my husband leave the bed. He was never gone long and this time was no different. Then he was back and curving his long body into mine.

I snuggled back into him, doing it deep and fell back to sleep.

Chapter Eighteen

Christmas Comes Early

Ty

Lying on his back on the couch, Ty heard his wife’s heels on the floor then he heard them disappear and he moved his eyes from the game to over the back of couch because he knew her feet hit rug.

When he saw her he didn’t know whether to grin, frown or get up, grab her, throw her on the couch and f**k her hard and quick before their company came.

This was because she’d just come from being upstairs for an hour, she was tricked out and she looked good. Another sundress, this one black, clingy t-shirt material, tank in the front with straps that crossed at her back, exposing a good deal of skin and a long expanse of her legs were also on view because the skirt wasn’t short but it was short. She had on a pair of spike-heeled, ash-colored sandals with an abundance of criss-crossed thin straps, so many they nearly covered her foot, rode up her ankle and the shoes had to zip up the back. And last, she had on big silver earrings and so many silver bracelets on one wrist, he could hear them jingle even over the commentators on television.

He hadn’t seen the dress before… or the shoes. His woman had a lot of clothes and shoes so it could be she’d dug something out of the closet. Then again, one night after work that week, she’d gone with Laurie and her friend Wendy to the mall, she’d come back after Ty was home from the gym and she’d done it carrying numerous bags. He’d been on the phone so he didn’t pay much attention but the next day he got home from work, he saw two more frames on the mantel, one holding a photo Laurie took of Ty and Lexie with her family at Maggie’s barbeque and another of Ty and Julius that Lexie took on the deck the night after they had dinner at The Rooster.

But those frames did not take numerous bags to haul home and Ty was discovering the reality of something he already knew, his wife liked to spend money and it wasn’t just on frames. It was her discussion of painting rooms, making curtains, setting up a “reading area” in their bedroom and going so far as dragging his ass up to the office so she could show him a website where she picked out furniture for this “reading area” that he had to admit was the shit but he also saw the price tags so there was a reason it was the shit.

He made good money and they could have a good life even if she didn’t work. He didn’t just put the money he got from selling the Skyline down on the house but also earnings from a couple of games. Therefore, he bought every upgrade the new build came with and still the mortgage was low. But they had three vehicles, all of which had taxes, plates and insurance that were a bitch, not to mention their development was a nice one that attracted a certain income bracket not only because property values were high due to its seclusion and views but also because the HOA fees were near crippling. It made for nice, well-kept landscaping and meant the roads were cleared quickly when it snowed but it also was a monthly whack.

He knew his wife was setting up house, making a home for him and for her, something neither of them had ever had, settling them into a nest where they’d feel safe that was theirs together. He also knew she was acutely aware that his life had been interrupted and she was running to catch up so he wouldn’t walk into their home every day and be reminded of the time he lost.

And even after his outlays on informants, furniture and vehicles, he still had a f**kload of his earnings from Vegas and a healthy bank balance due to his overtime, but his woman was off the pill and if her parts worked and his did too, the amount of sex they had, she’d be knocked up soon and, as far as he knew, babies didn’t come with government checks to cover their upkeep for the first eighteen years.

Lexie was social and she loved her job because it allowed her to be social with every bitch in town. The pay, however, was shit. She essentially made spending money but not the way she spent.

Therefore, she had to slow down.

The problem with this was, he didn’t have the heart to tell her to do it mainly because she was right that morning after his mama came home. He wanted her to have her every heart’s desire, not just because he had to make up to her what he’d done, just because he wanted to give her that.

So Ty had a decision to make. Suck it up and continue to work overtime so he could give his woman her every heart’s desire or have a chat with his wife.

He was also uncertain how to respond to her appearance because he knew with it and the huge-ass grocery shop she did yesterday as well as the massive bouquet of pink and ivory roses that was in the vase on the dining table and the banging around she’d been doing in the kitchen all morning that made the house smell like brownies (first) then garlic, that she was going all out for their afternoon visitor.

And Ty didn’t know how to feel about that.

Because their afternoon visitor was his father.

It was Sunday after their drama-filled Monday and Ty’s phone rang on Wednesday morning at nine o’clock sharp.