“Oceane must have been high on pain meds when she said that.” Skeptical, he didn’t think his mother-in-law would ever give Dalton the go-ahead to remarry unless she had been stoned out of her mind.
“She wasn’t. She told me when they found the breast cancer and she had been taken off the transplant list. Then she told me again two days before she died.”
He paused, reaching for a spear of strawberries and pineapple. “Did you tell your dad?”
“Not yet. She gave me a letter to give to him when he remarried. I gave it to T.A. this morning to give to him tomorrow. Today should be about them.”
“You learn something new every day. That Oceane gave her approval for Dalton to get remarried blows my fucking mind.”
“She didn’t give her approval. My mother was too jealous and possessive of Dad to do that. She told him that she loves him and that she still expects him to be buried next to her. That his new wife can be buried on the other side. She had Dax buy the cemetery lots before she passed away.”
“That’s the Oceane I knew.”
The introspective look on her face told him that she hadn’t told him what else had been in the letter. Ice didn’t press her, getting the impression that she was leaving something out that she didn’t want to discuss.
“You go take a warm bath, and I’ll get our clothes packed.”
Graced nodded going to the bedroom as he finished the skewer of fruit, giving her a few minutes alone.
Ice knew how close she had been to her mother and, despite how much she had come to love T.A., she still missed Oceane.
Walking into the bedroom, he saw Grace sitting on the bed with a jewelry box in her hands. Sensing he was there, she tore her eyes from the striking bracelet in her hands.
“It’s beautiful.” Her voice wobbled as she held out her hand for him to put it on. “When did you have time to get it?”
“I’ve had it for a couple of weeks. Dalton’s been keeping it for me. I didn’t want a repeat of Christmas. You’re terrible about opening your presents.”
During Christmas, he caught her rewrapping a present that he had wrapped and put under the Christmas tree. She was worse than a child when it came to presents. She couldn’t resist the temptation.
“I can’t help it.”
“I know.” Fastening the bracelet, he knew he had chosen well. The dainty jewelry came alive against her skin. The gold metal gleamed with the small, jeweled hearts flashing fire, catching the light as she raised her hand to stare down at it.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I have a present for you, too.” Going to the closet, she took out her suitcase. Unzipping the compartment in the front, she took out an envelope and hesitantly gave it to him.
Opening the envelope, Ice took out a Valentine’s Day card. Inside was a receipt.
“I bought you a bike like Colton’s.”
“I asked him to sell me one. Now I see why he wouldn’t.”
She gave a sigh of relief. “I knew you needed another bike. Colton said he would refund the money if you had another you wanted more.”
“Are you kidding me? That bike is kick-ass. Shade was trying to buy one off him, too, when we were outside.”
“So, you’re happy?”
Ice looked up from the receipt. The unsureness in his wife’s face had him reaching for her. “I was happy before you gave me the bike.”
She nuzzled the side of his throat poignantly, burying her face in the crook of his neck. “You were?”
“I am,” he assured her.
Turning her toward the bathroom, he swatted her on the ass to get her moving. “Go take your bath, and I’ll get everything packed so we can enjoy the rest of the evening.”
“Yes, sir,” she mocked.
“Damn, that sounds good. You should ask Lily for a few of those less—Ouch!” Ice dodged the empty jewelry box still in her hand.
“You know that’s not going to happen.”
“Babe, let a man dream.”
“Okay, you can dream about it when I’m in the bath, but when I come out, you better be back in reality.”
Positioning Grace’s suitcase on the end of the bed, he started working on packing their clothes as the sound of running water came from the bathroom. Confident that Grace was occupied, he took out his cell phone, making sure there weren’t any missed calls. There weren’t any, but without a doubt, Shade would be shooting him one when he wasn’t occupied.
The Last Rider wouldn’t give a fuck that he had been seen doing his wife, but what the brother would care about was Lily never finding out.
Finishing the one suitcase, he pulled the smaller one out of the closet, filling it with his things. He was lifting it from the bed when he heard Grace getting out of the tub.
Shoving the two suitcases back in the closet, he was thinking of lying down and stretching out on the bed when the door opened and Grace came out with a towel wrapped around her.
“Your turn,” she said, running a smaller towel through her hair. “I’ll heat us up something while you take your bath.”
Determining that once he lay down, he would be out for the count, he nodded tiredly, then went around her and into the bathroom. He preferred taking a shower, but Grace had already drained the tub and was refilling it for him. Taking his clothes off, he sank down in the warm water. She had even laid out a washcloth.
Washing off, he then relaxed, resting the nape of his neck on the end of the tub, too lazy to get out. He promised himself that he would get out in a minute.
“Ice.” He was so tired that he hadn’t heard Grace come into the room. His eyes landed on her, startled to find her kneeling by the tub.
“I’m coming. I dozed off.”
He brought his hand to the side of the tub to pull himself out of the water, but she pressed him back down with a firm hand on his shoulder before reaching for something by her side.
“Stay still.”
Curious, he took the champagne glass she handed him then watched as she reached down again before placing a plump strawberry at his lips. He took a bite as she deliberately ran a hand down from his shoulder to his chest.
“When we married, I swore I would never be the type of wife that would make excuses for not making love.”
“Grace, it’s not a big deal,” he tried reassuring her, setting the glass on the other side of the tub.
Caressing his chest, her eyes dismally collided with his. “I don’t know which is worse: that you think it’s not a big deal, or that you didn’t call me out on it.”
He nearly knocked the glass off with his elbow as he raised up in the tub. “I haven’t been fucking around on you.”
She continued stroking his chest as if he hadn’t said anything. “How could I blame you if you had? I’ve certainly not been there for you the last few weeks. Honestly, I haven’t been there for you since I lost Mom and the baby.”
Her forthright admission had him snaking his hand out to wrap around the back of her neck.
“Look at me. You think I don’t know that? You didn’t even have your balance back before you were knocked down again. You weren’t the only one who lost the baby. I lost him, too. I never planned to have kids—it’s not like I have any redeeming qualities to pass on—but I convinced myself that, with you in the picture, he might have a chance of having a normal life.”
“Except he didn’t.”
Ice could tell she was trying hard not to cry.
She lifted her chin and gave him an inviting smile as she reached for another strawberry. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore tonight. The rest of the night is just going to be about you.”
Chewing on the strawberry as she shrugged out of her robe, he forced himself to swallow the berry. Then she leaned over the edge of the tub to glide her hand under the water before wrapping her hand around his cock.
“Anything you want tonight is yours for the taking.”
“Uh… How
many glasses of champagne did you have while I was napping?”
“I’m not drunk. I sobered up when you reminded me that it’s been three weeks since we had sex.”
“I don’t want to fuck just because you’re feeling guilty.”
“I’m not feeling guilty. I’m horny.”
He wasn’t stupid enough to keep arguing, especially when her hand was wrapped around his cock like a fist. How could he be sweating while sitting in a tub of lukewarm water? He’d had more pussy than most men had in their whole lifetime.
When he fucked a slut at the Predators’ clubhouse to prove a point to the brothers when their relationship had first begun, he lost Grace. The only way he had gotten her back was to swear never to do it again. He kept his word.