Epilogue

Helena

One year later…

“W HAT THE HELL are you doing?” Cullen growled as he walked into our bedroom.

I was currently standing on a ladder, replacing the smoke detector, which had already been done in the rest of the home.

I glanced down at him. “What does it look like?”

“Get the fuck down off that ladder,” he ordered.

“I’m perfectly capable—”

He climbed up behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist. “You are three months pregnant, Helena. Get the fuck off the ladder.”

I sighed, and once he’d jumped down, I followed. If I’d thought Cullen Wallace had been protective when I met him, he had ratcheted up that protection to one-hundred when I got pregnant. Of course, getting married six months ago had put his inner Hooch on guard, but finding out I was carrying his child had put a whole new level to his defense of me and I had to admit, I loved it. Even if it was inconvenient at times.

Like now, for instance.

He’d finished the Lakeshore home, with input from me because it was to be our dream home, and we’d moved in right before our wedding. It was truly the most amazing day with our friends and family (sans Uncle Skip, of course). But being the captain of the Fire Marshal’s office meant that whenever we had new fire prevention technology, I wanted it in my home, so for the most part, I installed it. However, when I found myself ‘delicate with child,’ the edict came down that there would be no more ladders for Helena, not even a stepladder, which meant, anything that required one would have to wait until Cullen could do it. This put a serious wrench in my to-do list on days when we were both busy.

“I’m going to fuckin’ remove every ladder in the house if you keep doing that shit,” he threatened, pulling off his T-shirt and dropping it in the hamper.

I bit my lip, fighting back a grin. “We’re about to have thirty people in our home to celebrate my sister’s birthday,” I pointed out. “My mother will be here. How would it look if the smoke detectors were dangling from the ceiling?”

He closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around me and sliding his hands to my bottom. “The smoke detectors we had were perfectly fine. No one said you should change them all out the day before your sister’s party.”

It was Friday, I had taken the day off work, but Cullen had a huge project that was slightly behind schedule due to the fact the brothers had had to work overtime to rebuild the properties the Russians had burned to the ground. So far, no one had messed with any of their other builds, but that could have been due to the fact Hatch had round the clock security in the form of his scariest looking bikers at several of their sites. There still hadn’t been any resolution with exactly why the Russians had targeted the home sites, but Vancouver PD was working the case as diligently as they could, and Cullen had eluded to the fact that Hatch had been making enquiries as well. We didn’t really discuss it too often or go too deeply into it because it gave me ‘plausible deniability’ should anyone start asking me questions that I didn’t really want to know the answers to.

“The smoke detectors would have been done yesterday if you would let me on a ladder.”

“Not happening,” he said, kissing me. “Now, how are you feeling?”

“I feel good,” I said. “Morning sickness is pretty much done now. I’m just really, really horny.”

He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “We got about an hour before everyone gets here. You need me to take care of you?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“Then why are you still dressed?” he challenged.

I grinned, divesting myself of my clothes as quickly as I could, so my man could take care of me.

As he made love to me, I reveled in all we’d been through, and all we’d overcome. Our love story may have been born from tragedy, but out of the ashes came something more beautiful than I could have ever hoped for.