*

“HONEY, DO YOU really think you should you be doing that?” Maggie asks softly as she steps through the door of the spare bedroom, where I keep my workout equipment, and eyes the dumbbell in my hand as I curl it upward once more.

“You heard my physical therapist, Mags.” I set the weight on the rack with the rest of the weights then go to her, taking her face gently in my hands. “I know you’re worried, but you need to understand I have to get back into the swing of things, and that includes working out,” I tell her softly, and her eyes move to the weights behind me before coming back to meet mine with a look of worry and anxiousness in their golden depths.

“He also said to take it easy,” she whispers, resting her hands against my tee over my wound.

“I’m taking it easy.” I press a kiss to her forehead muttering, “Promise,” there before leaning back to catch her eyes. “How are you feeling?” Her eyes move away from mine. Using my fingers at her jaw, I nudge her cheek gently, gaining eyes once more.

“I’m okay,” she lies. I see it in her gaze, and know she’s trying to be okay, but she’s not. I know that the loss is still hurting her even if she hasn’t brought it up.

“We’ll try again, baby.” I run my thumb over her cheek. “And if it doesn’t happen, we’ll work at it until it does or we’ll adopt.”

“I feel like a piece of me is missing,” she murmurs, closing her eyes. “I had no clue I was pregnant, but still feel like a piece of me is gone.”

“Mags.”

She opens her eyes and my heart stutters when I see the pain she’s been hiding from me there, shining so bright that it takes everything in me not to pull my eyes from hers.

“How do I get it back?” she asks as her hands clutch the fabric of my shirt.

“You find out, you tell me,” I say, dropping my voice, watching her eyes search mine as I dip my face closer to hers. “I don’t know how you feel, but since the moment I found out, I know there’s a hole in my heart from the loss,” I tell her softly, honestly. “I’m not sure that hole will ever be filled, but I know when it does happen for us, Maggie, and it will happen for us; time will go a long way in healing that pain.”

Her eyes fill with tears and she leans in, whispering, “You…you never said anything,” as her bottom lip wobbles.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come to me. I don’t want to push you into talking about it. But I’m here baby—anytime you want to talk about it or cry about it, I’m here.”

Nodding, her forehead drops forward and lands against my chest as her arms wrap around my back, and mine do the same, wrapping around her, holding her close.

“What time are we leaving?” she asks against my shirt after a few minutes.

Looking at the clock over her head, I see it’s already after four. “We’ll leave in three hours. Are Zack and Lane still downstairs?” I ask, and her head moves against my chest before she mutters quietly, “Yeah, and Teo was coming in when I came up to check on you.”

Pulling her away from my chest, I run my eyes over her face. The tears are gone; the sadness is not, but that’s going to take time. “You wanna tell them what time we’re heading out while I finish working out?”

“They’re coming with?” she asks, looking slightly surprised by this news.

“They will help watch over you, Autumn, and Myla while me and the guys get stuff sorted.”

“Then who will be watching over you?” she asks quietly, and I smile.

“Kenton’s man, Justin, will be with us, along with one of Kai’s men.”

“The guy I met, what was his name? Frank?” she asks, looking more concerned at the idea of Frank taking our backs.

“No, Frank will be at the house with you and will probably think he’s got guard duty, but don’t worry. He absolutely does not.”

“Thank God,” she breathes, and I chuckle, running the back of my hand down her jaw.

“This will be over soon.”

“I believe you.”

“Good, now go tell the guys what’s going on then come back up and shower with me,” I tell her, watching her eyes heat before dropping to my side where I was shot.

“I think I’ll make lunch,” she mutters, sounding disappointed.

“Maggie—”

“Do you want me to make you a turkey and Swiss?” she asks, and I fight back the smile I feel, thinking about her wearing her meat-gloves and making me a sandwich.

“I want you sitting on my face. That’s what I want.”

“Sven,” she breathes, swaying toward me.

“Go tell the guys what I said then come back up here.”

“I don’t think—”

Bending my face closer to her, I repeat, “Go tell the guys what I said, and if you don’t come back to me and I have to come hunting for you, I will fuck you wherever I find you. So unless you want to piss me off, come back to me quickly.”

“Sven,” she repeats, breathlessly, leaning up on her toes touching her mouth to mine, then turns and walks out of the room.

I haven’t had her in weeks. I wanted her to heal and knew I needed to do the same, but I got the go-ahead from the doctor a few days ago. She heard him tell me it was all good, and still she was keeping herself from me, but that was going to end. No way did I want to fuck her in Kai’s house with everyone there to hear her moan. Finishing my workout, I head for the bedroom and notice she still hasn’t made her way back upstairs. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I head for the shower, turn it on, and let the water heat up while I take off my shirt. The scars on my chest are small from the surgery, but the skin is still red around the bullet wound. The doctor’s biggest concern is that since my lung has been collapsed, that could reoccur once more. He has no other worries and wasn’t surprised by how quickly I was healing. Hearing the bathroom door open, I watch Maggie stick her head in with her eyes glued to the shower stall.

“You didn’t miss anything,” I tell her, watching her jump when her eyes swing to me.

“I…I’ve been thinking about this, and I don’t think we should do it,” she mumbles, still standing outside the door with just her head inside.

“We’ve done this more times than I can count, and I know we should do it, because if we don’t, when I take you at Kai’s house, you’re going to wake up everyone in the fucking place. I know you, baby, so I know you’re not going to want to be embarrassed when they hear you coming.”

“I’m not loud,” she hisses, and I move toward her, pull the door from her grasp, take her hand, and pull her inside.

Pushing the door closed, I mutter, “You are,” while covering her mouth with mine and moving with her as she tries to back up, only to hit the door, leaving her with nowhere to go. Her hands move to my chest to push me off, but the moment my hand moves up over her breast, her mouth opens for me, my tongue slides in, and she moans.

“Sven,” she breathes as my mouth leaves hers and travels down her neck while my hands skim her shirt up and over her head, noticing she doesn’t have on a bra. Sliding one hand into her shorts, I roll my fingers over her clit and dip my head, pulling her nipple into my mouth and biting down on the tip as my fingers work faster.