Ramsey Security (Ramsey Security #1-3)(172)

My first child is extraordinarily beautiful. In fact, the only person capable of drawing my gaze away from Elisabetta is her mom. Minka is so sexy when pregnant that I can’t keep my hands off her. Especially her luscious breasts.

We settle into the house just before Elisabetta’s first Christmas. The tree I buy is f*cking huge and barely fits through the door. Once inside, though, the evergreen stands tall in our two story family room.

We go overboard buying gifts for Elisabetta, who barely opens one present before crawling after our new shepherd mix puppy, Kid.

Despite her hatred of flying, Mom visits often. She spoils her first grandchild. For the first year, the house is overflowing with pink and glitter. Luciano introduces shades of blue and baseball caps. To Minka’s horror, our boy wears his hats sideways by the time he’s walking.

“My kid is turning into The Situation!” she cries more than once.

“I wore it like that when I was a kid, and I turned out just fine.”

Minka always gives me an unimpressed eye roll when I claim to be a well-adjusted man. She isn’t wrong, but I won’t admit this aloud.

I grew up in a normal world surrounded by bad men. Unlike my father, I didn’t embrace the working man’s life. I wanted to be a bad man. Now I find myself only interested in being a husband, father, and son.

My family made me happy as a kid. When the power and darkness of my job seduced me, my family returned my humanity. These days, my wife and kids make me a better man.





Epilogue


Minka

Reality Kicks Fantasy’s Ass

What was I thinking with my sensitive, book-reading, dream guy? I clearly didn’t know a thing about myself. Fortunately, fate brought me the man I needed.

Dino is the whole package. He’s sexy in and out of bed. He manages to be smart without becoming obnoxious about it. I’ve never had someone so devoted to making me happy, yet he keeps me on my toes with his teasing.

Most mornings, I wake up thanking the universe for Dino’s stubborn streak. If left up to me, we might never have enjoyed a single hot night together, let alone a lifetime. My stubborn streak nearly cost me someone perfect. Dino knew best. This time anyway.

For the most part, I enjoy pregnancy. The last month sucks, and I always feel like a moose. Before I can swear off pregnancy forever, I give birth and promptly forget about the miserable last month.

Our first child, Elisabetta, is the perfect first baby. She sleeps when we want her to sleep. She wakes up when we want to play with her. She likes her crib when we need space. She craves our bed when we want to stare at her for a few hours. Some of my favorite memories the first year are of Dino and me resting in bed with a sleeping Elisabetta between us.

“We made this amazing creature,” I say.

Dino plays with her dark waves. “You can’t mix two people like us and not create perfection.”

Despite his cocky comment, Dino is absolutely in love with our daughter. He doesn’t even push for a second child because he claims he won’t have enough space in his heart for another kid. I ignore his worries and skip my birth control for a few months. Soon we’re expecting a son.

Luciano and Elisabetta are joined two years later by Vittoria, who looks like a girl version of Dino. Unlike her siblings, she’s obsessed with mommy rather than their perfect daddy. Vittoria’s affinity for Joan Jett freaks out Dino. Every pregnancy, he forces me to listen to The Rat Pack so his kids would be born with good taste. Somehow, Vittoria slips through the cracks.

Our final baby is a boy, and Dino insists I name him after my dad. I hate the name Ed and all of its variants. Dino won’t let me weasel out of honoring my father, so my compromise is Enzo. The name begins with the same letter. Dino isn’t fully pleased, but once I throw other possible names at him like Julian, he quickly agrees to Enzo.

A weird thing happens after I have kids. Well, maybe not so weird, but I never expect to get so damn soft. I have no interest in taking the difficult security jobs anymore. After Luciano arrives, I scale back my work and do most of it through teleconferencing while my kids are in the next room.

Dino can’t even manage to care that much. He quits the firm and stays home with the family. His days revolve around playing with the kids and sneaking me into closets for quickies.

Even retired, Dino doesn’t get soft. Especially not when it comes to acting like a dumbass around other men. Even after a decade together, he still growls at Troy for standing too close to me.

“No one knows your * except me,” he always says.

I can only pat his cheek and laugh. Reality will never be his friend in that regard.

Domestication doesn’t mean I completely lose my edge. I teach my kids how to fight. Dino teaches them how to cheat at cards. Mainstream parenting might not be our strong suit.

I didn’t marry a sensitive schmuck like my dream guy. I found someone better. A man who talked me into loving him. A man who convinced me to give motherhood a try. A man who keeps me on my toes. A man who still makes me whimper at night and laugh in the daylight.

Apples found her Italian Sausage.