“Good morning.” One large hand swept down her back as those sky-blue orbs focused on her, watching closely.
She brushed his hair back from his forehead, let her fingertips play over his jaw. “Morning...” Walking her hand down his torso, she allowed her palm to brush against the scars lying there, each one from a separate occasion where he risked all he had to save someone else. “How long have you been up?”
“Just an hour.” Leaning in, he rubbed noses with her. “Long enough to wonder why you haven’t run for the hills yet.”
Zuly’s lips curved. “Because I hate running...and if I tried that, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to sit for a week, baby.”
Fitz wrapped his arms around her, huge hands gliding to the cheeks of her ass. He squeezed, and she let out a soft groan as moisture rushed straight to her core. “I’d be gentle.” He swatted the right one and she bit her lip. “At first.”
Why had they not gotten here sooner? Why was so much time wasted analyzing? Overthinking? Worrying? Who knew where they could be right now had one of them just said something?
“Uh-oh, I know that face. You made that face just seconds before you attempted to make Cael feel like a woman for almost causing me to break my leg,” he murmured before kissing the space between her brows. “Why so angry, my little morning muffin?”
She stared at him. “Why didn’t you say anything before? Why’d you wait so long to tell me?”
Fitz sighed, staring at something just over her shoulder. “Lack of confidence, baby. I wanted to come to you like an officer and a gentleman.” He snorted. “In my dress whites with the biggest ring I could afford and the cabin remodeled for all the babies I planned to give you.” Taking a deep breath, he forged on, “But everything changed and I thought to myself,
Who would want me like this? Zuly deserves better; she deserves someone sane.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not sure if you know this, love, but you were never sane to begin with.” At his laugh, she ran her lips down his cheek. “I love that you planned that, that you wanted to do things the right way but all I’ve ever wanted was
you.
Healthy, happy...
alive.”
His crooked grin sent her heart into a small murmur. “Two outta three ain’t bad, right?”
Her kiss to his lips caused them to shudder in unison. “No, baby. Two outta three ain’t bad....”
Fitz gripped her thigh and slipped it just over his hip before he nudged her opening with the tip of his cock, causing Zuly to gasp as he brought it back and forth over her clit until she began to see stars behind her closed lids. Her hands gripped his forearms as he slowly stroked over her nubbin, using her wetness to glide between the folds over her labia but not once entering completely.
“You’re always so ready for me,” Fitz whispered. “Why is that, baby?”
“You make me,” She swallowed to retain the moisture in her mouth. “You make me that way...you’ve
always
made me that way...”
He pressed his lips to her ear. “So all those nights I slept in this bed next to you, or in a sleeping bag, my dick hard enough to split something–”
“Oh, God...”
“–all I had to do was ask?” Nibbling her lobe, he drew a gasp from her.
“Yessss...” Zuly hissed, her hips moving to ride the ridge of his erection, heat building in her core as he began to go a bit faster.
“Were you wet like this when you would lie next to me, Z? Did you want me to touch you?” One hand came up to her chest, his fingers expertly tugging at her nipples before he lowered his head and sucked one into his mouth.
“Yes.”
“Kiss you like this?” He slipped out of reach, swirled his tongue around her belly button then went infinitely lower, running his lips just over her pelvic bone.
“Yes.”
“Like this too?” Fitz pressed his mouth to her clit and flicked it with his tongue, causing her to bite the inside of her cheek. “Did you want me to kiss you here?” He pressed fully inside her, stiffening it until she felt her eyes roll to the back of her head. “Because I would have,” he growled. “Every. Single. Night.”
Her orgasm broke over her in what felt like a crashing wave. Chest heaving, she vaguely felt him slide into her, gripping her about the waist to keep her pinned until that familiar warmth spread from her womb, fanning outward as she called his name on a cry.
“But we have plenty of time to make up for that don’t we?” He whispered, staring down at her. “Yeah...plenty of time...”
“Are you positive you’re ready to do this?”
Fitz squeezed Zuly’s hand as they made their way up his parents’ front steps. “You’ve been asking me that since we left the cabin.” They finally had to abandon their little haven where they’d begun to learn one another in new and old ways. There was something about this woman that was simply addictive; something he could never give up. Something he
wouldn’t
ever give up. He had her; he was keeping her.
Forever.
And God help anyone who thought they were strong enough to come between them.
“I just wanna make sure–”
“Z,” he cut in, turning toward her a bit. “I can’t hide forever. You said so yourself.” Swallowing, he looked back toward the front steps. “And you were right. There are plenty of things I’m sure they won’t completely understand but how can anybody help me if I don’t ask for it?”
She looked as though she were just about to respond to that when the screen door burst open and little Maria bounded down the stairs. “Auntie Z!”
Zuly dropped his hand and caught the girl, swinging her up and around as she laughed. The door opened again and out came Riley, face set in a grim expression as he watched from the steps. Every footfall that he took toward them caused a muscle in Fitz’s body to tense, preparing for the blow he knew was coming. As his oldest brother got closer, Zuly stepped in front of him, Maria still tucked away in her arms.
“Riley–” she tried, just to be cut off when the other man calmly moved her out of his way.
Then he was there, standing before Fitz, staring at him. Eyes the same shade as his own assessing him in a way that was foreign but surprisingly familiar all at the same time. Maybe this was how Riley stared down at him on the day Fitz was born? Maybe this same stare, this familiar yet foreign thing was a distant memory?
Something happened in that moment that Fitz would
never
forget. It would
never
fade. His brother. His brick-built, strong, unshakable, brother. The brother who had taught him so much. The brother who had defended him, bullied him, informed him about the confusing ways of girls and football...started to cry.
Riley gripped Fitz by the shoulders and pulled him into the fiercest hug a man could ever give. And that was when Fitz finally understood. He finally grasped how much it had hurt his siblings that he hadn’t been able to come to them, talk to them, heal with them. He finally understood that not many soldiers and surely
not many SEALs had the advantage, the blessing, of a family that cared,
loved,
as much as his own. So he didn’t move--he didn’t even blink. He simply hugged him back and felt his last bit of pride shatter a bit as his eyes watered and spilled over. How many times had he wondered if he’d ever get to do this again? Be with his family again?
How many times had he wondered if they’d forget about him, let him fade off into a distant memory, mourn his loss should he die out in God-knows-where? How many times had he allowed himself the luxury of remembering what they were like as boys? As best friends? How many times had he stopped to really consider that there was almost
nothing
he could do to disappoint these people? These parts of himself?
Fitz hadn’t. But the more that realization seeped in, the more he felt like some invisible weight was being lifted off his shoulders. His brothers, his parents,
Zuly
would always love him. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to change that.
***
She felt the brush of little Maria’s hands against her cheeks and looked down.
“Why’re you crying, Aunt Zuly?”
Her lips curved a little as she looked over the girl’s head and saw Fitz’s family slowly pouring out onto the porch and down the steps toward the embracing brothers. “Because I’m happy, sweetheart.”
“Daddy and Uncle Fitz are making up?”
Zuly nodded. “Yes, baby. Daddy and Uncle Fitz are making up.”
She watched Fitz being handed off from person to person, each hug longer than the last until tears were wiped away and grins began to fill every face. Something happened to her frogman in that moment; something he’d need as he went through the process of getting better. The support of his family.
Everyone turned toward herself and Maria, staring expectantly. And with a grin, Zuly strolled right where she belonged.
Six years later...
“If we keep losing the one kid we have, we’re eventually gonna have to start making more so no one will notice.”
Zuly slowly looked up from beneath her and Fitz’s bed where she’d been diligently searching for the small canister of Satan they called their own–their daughter.
“What?” And he looked genuinely confused. “It’s a simple suggestion.”
“Are you going to also suggest we start hunting lost humans for sport and keeping their skulls on the front porch as a warnin’ to all them damn Yankees?’”
Fitz’s eyes narrowed just a bit. “I find it so cute when you make
Deliverance
jokes...so very cute...”
“Really? Because right now you just look like you’re barely resisting the urge to strangle me. Oh and look at that, your ears just turned red.”
He slowly shook his head. “Why do you like to goad me? Is not being able to actually sit on your ass enjoyable?”
“Why do you
let
me goad you? Is spanking me really
that
fun?”
Fitz smirked. “You have no idea.”
Zuly took a step back. “
No.
We’re looking for our demon spawn, remember?”
“Why do you insist on calling my angel that?”
“Because your angel fell with Lucifer and decided fucking up my body
and
my soul would be a wonderful pastime.”
Her husband’s lips started to curve. “You’re adorable when you’re indignant.”
She rolled her eyes and made her way past him. “Move before I kick you.”
Fitz snorted a laugh as he followed her down the stairs. “Once a SEAL, always a SEAL, baby. Which inevitably means your act of violence would be pointless.”
“Not if I kick you in your bad knee...” Although it had healed well enough, Fitz occasionally had bad days with his leg. Those were the days Zuly usually said whatever she wanted to him and paid for it later when he was feeling better.
He stopped. “Low blow, Z...
really
low blow.”
“
That
, my lovely mate, is the point.”