Krit frowned and tilted his head to look at me. I waited on him to say something. When he finally looked pissed, I wondered if I had said the wrong thing. “You mean that shit.” He shook his head and let out a hard laugh. “Dammit, Trisha. Do you think I’d do that to you?”

I realized I had made a mistake. Crap. I had to fix this.

“I just meant . . . I just want you to be happy, Krit. I thought bringing me here to an apartment meant you were going to try to talk me into letting you move out. I don’t want to hold you back. I want you to have it all. You deserve happiness.”

He ran his hands through his shoulder-length hair and slammed them on the steering wheel. “What about you? You’ve sacrificed more than anyone. You took f**king beatings to keep me safe as a kid. If I moved out and left you to that bitch, what would that say about me? It would make me a motherfucking ass**le who didn’t deserve to live. So, no Sis, I’m not asking you to let me desert you. I would sacrifice my soul to protect you. Don’t you know that? I only love you. I have never and nor will I ever love anyone else. Bitches can’t be trusted. You’re the only woman on earth I could love.”

Tears burned my eyes and I blinked them away. “I’m sorry. I thought . . . I just . . . I was wrong. I know you want to keep me safe. We’re family. We have each other. Always.”

Krit nodded. “But you have Rock now. And I am thankful you have him. He’s a big dude with scary-as-hell arms and a chest like a wall. He can keep my sister safe, and he loves you. Like I’ve never seen a man love, ever. That makes him worthy of you. He has the world’s finest treasure and he knows it.” He let out a laugh and shrugged. “I might need to correct something I said before. I think I love him, too. I love him for loving you the way you deserve to be loved.”

This time I let the tears burning my eyes free. I sniffled, then brushed the tears off my face. “I’m sorry,” I said, smiling. “You just don’t normally say things like that, so I wasn’t prepared for it emotionally.”

He smirked. “Before we can get any mushier in here, I just want to tell you that I am thrilled about what you’re going to see in a minute. It’s every dream and wish I’ve ever had. It makes me so f**king happy. Not just for you but for me, too. So know that when you start worrying about me.” He opened the car door and stepped out before giving me a chance to ask him what the heck he was talking about.

Krit closed the door and walked up to the entryway to the stairs, then looked back and waved for me to come on. I had no idea what he wanted to show me, and my mind was envisioning a million different scenarios. I made my way up to him, but he didn’t say anything. He just nodded and turned to the stairs. “Second floor.”

We walked up the one flight of stairs, then turned right and walked down three doors. Krit stopped outside 204. Then he knocked.

We were meeting someone?

The door opened, and Rock filled the doorway. He gave a Krit a nod, and then he turned to look at me. “Welcome home,” he said with a smile, and held out his hand for me.

“About moving in with Legend, yeah, I’m doing that tonight. Love you, Sis. Go live your happily ever after you deserve.” Then Krit bent down and kissed my cheek and whispered, “This man moved heaven and earth to make this happen. It’s one of the reasons I know he deserves you. Be happy.”

I started to say something, but Krit straightened and walked off the way we had come.

I watched him walk away, then turned to look back at Rock.

“I’m confused,” I finally said, still trying to piece everything together.

Rock stepped out, scooped me up in his arms, and carried me inside before putting me back down and closing the door behind him. I took in my surroundings. The sofa I remembered from the Falcos’ living room sat against the left wall with their coffee table and a black recliner I didn’t recognize. A small television sat on a table in front of them. I shifted my gaze to the other side of the room to see a small Formica table with fresh flowers in a vase in the middle and four matching chairs around it.

On the wall in a frame was a picture taken by Tabby Falco after a football game one night. Rock was standing behind me with his pads still on and his arms wrapped around me as we both smiled at the camera.

“This is ours.” I said the words just as a sob broke free and the realization sank in.

Rock had talked about getting a place of our own, but I thought it was a dream to help us get through the tough times. I never imagined it would happen so soon. Or at all. I had only hoped we would get this one day.

“Yes, it is,” he said, pulling me into his arms and kissing the top of my head as I continued to take in everything.

“How?” I asked in awe.

“Lots of nights and overtime,” he said with pride in his voice. “It’s paid up for the year.”

The year? Oh my God. This was real. We had a home.

Krit’s words in the car came back to me, and I burst into tears as I realized what he had been trying to tell me.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Rock asked, turning me to look at him. His big hands cupped my face. “I’ll fix it. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said on a sob. “Nothing is wrong. It’s perfect. Rock Taylor . . . you’re my hero.”

Rock

I watched as Trisha slept in my arms. The early morning light was slowly filling the room. We had slept our first night in our new home. Krit had brought over all Trisha’s things just before nine. He had moved him and her out after leaving her here with me. He said Fandora had been more than happy to get them out of there.

He had left here after giving his new address to his sister and kissing her cheek, telling her they were both free now. She had cried on me again. Yesterday had been a day of happy tears for her. Knowing I had made her this happy made me feel like a f**king king.

Her eyelids slowly began to flutter open and I watched, entranced by the perfect beauty that was all mine. Once she had them both open and those baby blues were focused on me, she smiled. That smile that made my heart stutter and my knees weak. Only this woman could do that to me. She’d be the only one who ever had that power. I didn’t question that. She was my forever.

“Good morning,” she said softly.

“Morning,” I replied, bending my head down to kiss the tip of her nose. “Did you sleep well?” I asked already, knowing she had.

She grinned. “Yeah. I managed.” The teasing glint in her eyes made me hard. But then, Trisha could yawn and I’d get hard. Didn’t take much.

We had made love twice last night before falling asleep naked, wrapped up in each other. My woman was easily turned on too. She had made me pull off to the side of the road more than once, her mouth doing things to me that kept me from driving. She was my own personal piece of perfection. It was hard to keep her sated. Not that I was complaining, ever.

Her hand slid down to wrap around my arousal. “Mmmm . . . someone is excited this morning.”

I pushed my h*ps toward her and she tightened her grip on me. Fuck, that was good. “You’re na**d in my arms. Hell yes, I’m excited. If this is what the rest of our life is going to be like, I’m worried we may never leave the bedroom.”

She giggled and began sliding down me until her big lips were wrapped around my cock. I threw the covers off us and to the floor as I rolled onto my back and slipped a hand into her long blond hair. “Ah, Trisha. That’s so f**king good,” I groaned. Waking up to my horny woman locking her lips around my dick was what dreams were made of.

She hummed her reply and I jerked in her mouth. She knew I loved it when she did that. “I’m licking that sweet pu**y next. Spread your legs and let me see you touch it. But don’t get off. I want you doing that on my face.”

Trisha’s eyes went wide, and she moaned as she pulled her knees up and stuck her round ass in the air, then spread her legs before slipping a hand between them. When she ran her finger through the wet slit she moaned again, and my dick f**king loved that.

“That’s it, baby. Play with that pretty pu**y,” I said as I shifted my gaze from her pink lips wrapped around me to her fingers getting coated with her arousal.

It turned her on for me to watch her masturbate. I never managed to let her finish it before I pushed her hand away and either ate her up or sank into her. I had tried more than once to let her do it all, but it drove me wild. I couldn’t.

“I’m gonna come,” I panted as my balls tightened. “I want it on your titties,” I told her. I loved it when she swallowed, but I also loved watching my release on her body. Her ass and tits were tied for my favorite places. She took her hand away from between her legs and moved between mine, taking me down her throat. When she gagged, I felt the heat lick through me. “Now, baby. I’m f**king coming,” I warned her, and she pulled my c**k from her swollen lips and aimed my release to shoot all over her tits as she held them out to make sure they got every shot.

When I was done, she lifted her gaze up from her tits to grin at me wickedly.

“Damn, that’s sexy,” I said, looking at her. “So f**king sexy,” I repeated. My c**k was already stirring, even though the head was still tender. Seeing her tits covered in me was enough to have me ready for round two, fast.

I was breathing hard, and my body was humming with pleasure. I grabbed a T-shirt from the side of the bed and sat up and slowly cleaned myself off her tits, then played with her ni**les before slipping my hand between her legs. “Lie back, baby. It’s time I ate breakfast,” I told her.

She laughed, then moved up on the bed and lay down, letting her long legs fall open, revealing her bare pu**y. When she’d first waxed it, I had been like a dog in heat for weeks. I had already been obsessed with her pu**y, but seeing it bare had made me lose it. I wanted it all the time. I’d once pushed her into a janitor’s closet and went down on my knees between her spread-open legs and eaten her out with her panties shoved aside. From that day on, if she wore a skirt she knew what would happen. I had no control.

When I lowered my head to lick her tight little clit, she cried out my name, and that was all it took for my c**k to make a full comeback.

Kissing her candy-coated pu**y was one of my favorite things to do. I loved the way her legs trembled and how she clawed at my shoulders and pleaded things that made no sense.

When her body tightened, I stopped and slid into her in one move.

“OH GOD!” she cried out, and her body tensed and shuddered under me. When Trisha had an orgasm, it was like she was lost for a moment as her body squeezed me tightly and milked me so damn sweetly I always followed right behind her.

“I love you,” I said against her neck as my release filled her.

She was my home. Not this apartment, but her. As long as I was with her I was home.

Trisha

Present day . . .

Today was one of those rare days I was home from work while the kids were at school. Rock had left for work and taken the kids to drop them off. I was supposed to relax and enjoy my day. At least, that was what my husband had informed me before kissing me good-bye.

I wasn’t sure what that was, exactly. My life was full and busy, and I loved that. Being a mom and a wife were the two things I had always wanted to be. When the kids went to stay with Preston and Amanda, I spent that time with my husband.

I had taken an extra-long shower this morning, then made myself an omelet for breakfast. I was about to call Willow, who I knew would be home with Eli, who was almost three now and very busy. Smiling, I thought about the last time we had gone shopping and how Low had run after him once he had unbuckled himself from the stroller. She had caught up to him in the window with the mannequin, where he was trying to pull the shoes off it. She had scooped him up just before the mannequin tumbled to its demise.