A pause then, “I’ll wait, Ty.”

“And I’ll call, either way.”

“’Preciate it, son.”

Ty pulled in breath. Then he finished with, “She lets you in, when you come and spend time and then forever, you treat her like crystal. Her life has been shit and she’s got no blood family. The family she made for herself means the world. She makes you her family, you do not f**k her. You f**k her, we’re done. That’s it. Done. Are you with me?”

“I’m with you, Ty.”

“Right. I’ll call.”

“I’ll be waitin’.”

And, obviously, Lexie said yes and she did this about point two five seconds after he finished telling her about the phone call.

Which led them to now.

His wife, tricked out for a visit from his father who didn’t give him much but a few knocks and a lot of nothing until he had a telephone conversation with him a few days before.

Their Monday had been dramatic, their week not uneventful. Nina Maxwell, his new attorney who he and Lex had gone to meet on Thursday, was a very pretty blonde with two young children, a law degree, an excessive amount of energy and more sass even than Lexie.

This meant Peña had heard from her twice. It also meant the Attorney General’s office had heard from her daily and not just the one in Colorado but also the one in California. And it further meant that, along with communications they got from Samuel Sterling, the ACLU had heard from her. She was all over it. So, lastly, this meant that the Attorney General’s office had not f**ked around in locating the communications Misty had sent and contacting Chace Keaton to obtain a sample of Misty’s handwriting which, Nina reported, the man had delivered to Denver himself. They also contacted Misty’s friend in Maryland and obtained a sworn statement that not only did she receive the documents from Misty with instructions of what to do with them, she’d also received frequent and increasingly frantic phone calls from a firstly anxious then downright terrified Misty including one warning her she’d be receiving the documents and getting her assurance that she would follow through should something untoward happen with Misty.

And she’d followed through.

With a man with the kind of money and influence of Samuel Sterling and an increasingly interested ACLU at her back, Nina wasn’t accepting any bullshit or delays. Still, she was getting them and this likely had to do with the fact that Internal Affairs in Colorado and California were trying to hold her back while they sorted their shit.

Nina Maxwell might be the pretty blonde mother of an infant and toddler who, in person, was very sweet and f**king funny, but when she was not dealing with him but for him, she was making it clear she didn’t give a f**k about IA investigations, she gave a f**k about a half black man who had five years stolen from his life and deserved a clear name and restitution, not when they got around to getting their shit sorted but yesterday, and the woman was a pit bull.

Therefore, Ty was lying on the couch watching a game, not wound up about his future, Lexie’s future and the future of their children. Peña was on it. Tate was on it. Julius’s boy was on it. Fucking Chace f**king Keaton was on it. Samuel Sterling was all over it. The ACLU were sticking their noses in it. And Nina Maxwell was living and breathing it.

So he was lying on the couch, drinking a soda, watching a game and wondering if he had enough time to make his wife and himself come in the enjoyable effort of planting his seed in her womb before his father showed.

And, lying on that couch, drinking a soda and watching his woman in that dress and shoes with her tanned skin, round ass and long f**king legs on show as she nervously fluffed, arranged then rearranged toss pillows, Ty made his decision.

And that decision was, two birds, one stone.

So he put his soda on the coffee table, put one foot to the floor, did an ab curl and lunged.

He caught Lex at the waist in mid-fluff of a pillow. She cried out in surprise, dropped the pillow, hit him front to front, he fell back then rolled so he was on top.

Then he yanked her skirt up to her waist.

“Ty,” she breathed, eyes big and on him.

“New dress?” he asked, his hands moving around her waist, back, down and into her panties.

“Uh… yeah,” she whispered, her hands moving to his chest and resting there like she didn’t know whether to push or something else.

He rolled his h*ps with intent and she spread her legs either because his h*ps were giving her no choice or because she wanted it. Either way, he felt his c**k start to get hard.

“Ty.” It came again, breathy and her fingers curled into his tee.

He pulled his hands out of her panties, sliding them down the backs of her thighs then, when he got to the backs of her knees, he yanked up. Hard.

And he did this while asking over her gasp, “New shoes?”

“Ty –”

He cut her off. “New shoes, baby?”

“What are you…?” He ground his h*ps into hers, she trailed off and whispered, “Yes. New shoes.”

He dropped his face close to hers and one hand went to the side of her neck, one hand slid up to trace the edge of the leg of her underwear as he spoke.

“Mama, I want you to have everything you wanna have. Everything,” he paused as his fingers made it between her legs, one slid in and pulled the gusset away and he watched her eyes heat as her lids dropped halfway and her lips parted. “But,” he went on softly, dipping his head so his mouth was a breath from hers, “you gotta slow up. We got attorney fees and, all this effort,” he slid his finger lightly through her wet, “could mean a baby soon.” He brushed his mouth against hers, feeling her breath had escalated and he whispered, “This dress is the shit, baby, and you look f**kin’ good in it. I know what you’re doin’, for me, my Dad comin’. But you don’t gotta be you all tricked out. You just gotta be you. He’s gonna like you. He already likes you. The thing you gotta get is the effort is his to make you like him. Not my mama goin’ all out to make him like her.”

“Oh… okay,” she whispered and Ty slid his finger deeper through the wet folds, her chin went up half an inch, her legs spread wider, her h*ps tipped up as she gasped and he grinned.

“Stick with me, baby, I’m not done,” he whispered back and he watched her try to focus on him and he beat back his grin growing to a smile as his finger dipped deeper and she bit her lip. “Our house is already a home ‘cause we live here. We got time, means you got time to build it, make it what you like.” He brushed his mouth against hers again and said softly, “Home is you, Lex, not a place. I lost a lot but right now,” he found her clit, pressed, rolled and listened to her whimper as he finished, “I got it all. You don’t have to break your neck or the bank to give me anything more. Yeah?”