“Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian tradition on Christmas Eve,” Tabitha argued. “It’s important to them. It reminds them of their mother.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m not eating octopus salad for Christmas Eve this year. I want ham.”
“You shouldn’t be eating ham at all.”
“I ain’t even on the blood pressure medication anymore.” Wyatt held up his hands. “Doc Philips says he’s gonna have you write up a diet for his other patients. That’s what a vast improvement you policing my diet has made. Once a year won’t kill me.”
Tabitha closed the oven and smiled at him. “Fifteen more minutes. Melody’s making turkey and stuffing. It won’t be just seafood this year.”
“Merry Christmas to me.” Wyatt seemed very pleased over the development as he walked over and kissed her. He put a hand on her rounded stomach and waggled his eyebrows. “Fifteen minutes, huh?”
She giggled. “I need a shower. I’ve been cooking all day.”
“You didn’t overdo it?” Wyatt frowned in concern as he wrapped an arm around her and rubbed at the small of her back. “I wish I could cook so you didn’t have to do all this.”
“That would be a dispatch call just waiting to happen.” Tabitha laughed. “You’d burn this place down for sure, and considering the amount of money we spent on restoring this year, I’d rather you didn’t.”
“How ’bout I wash your back?” Wyatt placed a kiss against her forehead. “Make it up to you.”
“That sounds like more than fifteen minutes.”
“Nah, a lot can happen in fifteen minutes.” Wyatt pulled back and tugged off his jacket as he headed toward the living room. “Come on, Tabby Cat. I got something to make up to my girl.”
Tabitha giggled again and reached over to turn down the temperature on the oven, because showers with Wyatt always lasted more than fifteen minutes. She took the time to cover the green beans with foil so they wouldn’t get cold.
Then she started working the buttons to her blouse as she followed Wyatt up the stairs. She walked past Wyatt’s old room as she headed down the hallway and pushed open the door to the master bedroom instead. Steam was already coming out from beneath the door to the bathroom. She pulled her maternity top off and walked over to lay it over the chair at her desk that faced the balcony doors.
The room was beautiful. They had spared no expense to make it exactly what they wanted. They didn’t live an overly extravagant lifestyle despite being able to afford it, but they were indulgent with the bedroom when they’d remodeled.
When Tabitha had gotten pregnant, Wyatt and Jules made the decision together that it was time to clear out the ghosts and make room for a new generation of Conners. They had worked together at packing their father’s old things, which was an emotional day for both of them. Jules took half of the pictures and furnishings to her house. The rest remained.
Big Fred’s old dresser held Wyatt’s clothes now. The picture of his wife that Fred used to talk to every night was resting on top of it. Right next to the spot where Wyatt tossed his badge, wallet, and car keys every time he got home and stripped out of his uniform.
Other things were different, like the massive flat-screen television that hung on the wall facing the bed. It made Wyatt happy for all sorts of man reasons Tabitha didn’t understand. He’d alternate between watching Bruce Lee movies on quiet nights, to throwing his rice cakes and shouting at it when a fight was on.
Usually Tabitha just sat next to him writing on her laptop. They had a big canopy bed that was comfortable and romantic with the curtains hanging down the sides and could be drawn to hide them from the world. Which wasn’t really necessary with just the two of them in the house, but it fed Tabitha’s creative soul.
She loved that bed.
The walls were decorated with old pictures and framed sheriff stars from all the other Conners. It gave the room an old-world charm that Tabitha liked very much. It matched with the movie poster on the wall next to the bathroom that also had a sheriff star on it, along with the attractive, fresh faces of the young actors and actresses who had been cast to play the characters from the first Heroes of Sapphire County movie.
The second one was already in post-production.
That movie had made so much money. Too much money. With the merchandising rights and Nova negotiating all of Tabitha’s contracts, she had started giving it away by the millions. It was just too much. It started to feel like a waste just sitting in bank accounts gathering zeroes. Even with the massive generosity that had started earning Tabitha humanitarian awards she didn’t want, she couldn’t seem to give it away as quickly as it kept gathering. Nova managed her finances too, and she was starting to suspect it was a game to him to see if he could earn her more than she handed out.
Money came so easily to him. She didn’t understand why he couldn’t just walk away from the rest of it. She and Wyatt talked about it a lot. They were hoping for a day when they got to pay him back for everything.
But it hadn’t come yet.
“Are you coming or not?” Wyatt called from the bathroom. “I thought the clock was ticking.”
Tabitha stripped off the rest of the clothes, taking care with them before she walked naked into the bathroom. They had a massive Jacuzzi tub off to one side. One they could both fit in, but Wyatt was in the shower in the corner. The outline of his tall, muscular body was visible through the frosted glass. She studied him and reeled over how lucky she had gotten.
Happy endings like this were worth walking through the miles of hell it took to get here.
Wyatt opened the shower door, his eyebrows raised when he eyed her standing there naked. His gaze ran over her for one hot moment before he whispered, “Come here, pretty girl.”
“Huge girl,” she said as she stepped into the shower.
“I think you look sexy.” Wyatt wrapped his arms around her from behind and caressed her naked stomach affectionately. His hands moved up to her breasts. “We should do this again and again. It makes ’em bigger.”
Tabitha’s entire body shook with mirth. “You’re so silly.”
“What?” Wyatt laughed with her as he leaned down and placed a kiss against the curve of her neck. “I’m not allowed to think my pregnant wife is sexy?”
“No, you’re not.” She was still laughing. “It makes you a weirdo.”
“Well, then I’m a weirdo.” He kept kissing her neck, his wet hair dripping onto her shoulder. “I wanna put my mouth on you. I wanna taste you. Then I wanna fuck you.”
“All in fifteen minutes?”
“I can be very efficient when I want to be.” Wyatt slipped one hand between her legs and touched her. “Let’s wash up, and then I’m gonna toss you on that bed and make love to you until we’re both walking funny.”
“I’m already walking funny.”
Wyatt continued to touch her, making it obvious he was forgetting the washing-up part of his plan. Tabitha tossed her head back against his shoulder, relishing the feel of his fingers circling her clit and his lips against the curve of her neck. The pleasure crashed over her easily, and she savored it, letting it come hard and fast.
Small, gasping sounds of bliss burst out of her when she stiffened in his arms. Wyatt tightened his other arm around her protectively as she quivered from the rush of ecstasy.
Tabitha was still panting when she leaned forward and rested her arms on the shower wall. She didn’t feel any of the old fear when Wyatt pressed against her, his hard cock sliding against her back insistently. That anxiety had died with Vaughn. She knew it was Wyatt pushing her hair aside to kiss and nip at her shoulder. It was his strong arms around her. It was his slick, muscled chest against the line of her bare shoulders.