93

Ava sat at her desk, she had gone through the last of the reports regarding the latest batch of potential new clients. She had selected three she thought had potential. The rest would get a kind refusal letter, telling them the firm had to mush on their plate to take them on as clients, but they could recommend the attached list of accountant firms. Gabriel’s and her business were blooming. They had stopped looking for new clients as they had their hands full with their existing ones and the ones who asked to join. There was ha knock on the door and Tom opened the door.

“We need to get going in ten minuets if you want to have time to get ready, Mrs A,” he told her.

“Thank you, Tom. Could you make sure these three potential clients get wetted? I’ll just say bye to Gabriel and then we can go,” she told him. He nodded and took the folders from her. When Ava had started working from the office, Zane had insisted she needed a bodyguard. Since Tom’s injurie, his wife had become scared of him going back to his regular duties. Ava had offered him a job as her assistant. He was still technically her bodyguard, but the risks were fare less than they would be as part of Zane’s entourage. Tom was happy, as was his wife, and Ava got a bodyguard and assistant who both she and Zane trusted. Ava knocked on the door which led into Gabriel’s office and waited on him to say she could come in. When he did, she opened the door and walked in.

“All done?” he asked.

“Yes, Tom is giving the three clients with most potential over to the team to do a checkup on. I’m heading home, anything you need from me?” she asked.

“No, I don’t think so. Care to enlighten me why you suddenly asked for a two-week vacation?”

“I just felt it was time to relax a little,” she said.

“Don’t get me wrong, babe, you deserve it. But I have never known you to just take time off work. And Ryder says that the boss hasn’t mentioned taking any time off,” Gabriel told her, looking at her with a scrutinising look.

“It’s a surprise for him. Don’t you go and ruin it,” Ava told her friend.

“I won’t. But you would tell me if you were planning to run away so I could join you, right?” It had become a running joke between the two of them. Neither Zane nor Ryder found it funny, which made it even funnier. Ava knew Gabriel and she would never leave. They loved their men too much and they had grown accustomed to the life they lived. They were happy.

“You know I would. Now don’t work yourself to death and I will see you later at the club,” she told him.

“Love you.”

“Love you back,” she said and walked out to Tom.

Tom drove her home and she stopped by the kitchen to get a snack and talk to Anna. Anna informed her Linda had unpacked her last moving box and was now officially living in Jax’s house. Ava laughed and got on her phone to order some flowers and a basket of doughnuts to be delivered to them. Linda and Jax had been even more stubborn than Zane and her when it came to face the reality of their feelings. After Ava had healed, Linda never really went back home. She just continued living with Jax but having her own apartment as well. Last month, Ava had finally worked up the courage to talk with Linda about it. Linda had realised her apartment had more or less become a storage space for her things. She had talked to Jax and asked if it wasn’t time she moved her things. That hadn’t gone as smooth as Ava had thought it would. Jax was still living in a world where him and Linda just happened to see each other every night. He told her the thing they had wasn’t that serious. And that was the beginning of a fight which had made even the toughest of the mafia men hide. In the end, Linda went back to her apartment and told Jax if he just wanted to see her from time to time, that was fine. But then he couldn’t expect her to just be around when ever he wanted. Ava had missed having her friend close by. It had been nice to have a girlfriend living on the other side of the garden to have girl time with. Jax had been miserable, of course he didn’t admit it. But he walked around like a storm cloud making everyone around him crazy or irritated. In the end, Zane had put flowers in Jax’s hand, pushed him into a car and told the driver to go to Linda’s place and not to let Jax get out of the car anywhere else. The next day, Linda had called Ava to let her know she was moving in with Jax.

Ava went upstairs to get ready for the evening. She had already picked up what she wanted to wear. It was a soft pink dress with broad lace which created an empire waist. The lace swooped up along her shoulder blades on the back, leaving most of it bare. the skirt was flowy and almost down to her knees. It made her feel sexy and she knew Zane would love it. She had asked Zane if the two of them could go out to dinner before going to the club. As usual, Zane never said no to her. They would go to In Cavea Aurea and then to the club. When Ava walked out of the closet, Zane came walking out of the bathroom. He just had on boxers and his hair was still a little damp. Ava let herself ogle her husband, she still had a physical reaction to his body. Zane saw her look and smirked at her.

“Anything you like?” he asked. Ava hummed and walked up to him. She let her fingers trace his tattoos. Among the roses and wines, there was an A surrounded by wings over his heart. It was a perfect match to the A on her collar.

“I really like everything I’m seeing,” she told him and let her hand glide over his chest and stomach.

“Playing with fire again, angel? I thought you wanted us to go for a nice dinner. Keep this up and I will have to show you what happens when you get burned,” he told her in that low voice which sent shivers all over her body and made her want to surrender every inch of herself to him.

“I would like that, but it will have to wait until after dinner. I’m starving,” she said. He smiled and kissed her.

“If you are trying to tease me, angel, just remember that two can play that game,” he reminded her and walked into the closet to get dressed. Ava took a moment to calm down and wondered if she should change panties, but decided she would just get the new pair just as wet before they made it to the car.

At the restaurant Zane had arranged for a secluded table for the two of them. Ryder and Carlos sat at a table not far from them.

“The mayor asked for another meeting,” Zane told her.

“Another one, that makes it three so far this year?” she asked as she enjoyed the sublime roasted lamb.

“Yes, apparently it is easy to become an upstanding citizen if you have the money to bail the city out of crippling debt,” he scoffed. Ava knew he hated the feeling of being two faced when he dealt with the official side of life. She also knew he did it because it made him look less of a criminal and more of a legit business man and he wanted to give her that security. Ava had told him she didn’t need it. That he didn’t need to change. But something in him still drove him to slowly transition the organisation toward honest work.

“I got an invitation to come and visit the Velky Shelter,” she told him.

“I still don’t understand why they insisted on naming it that,” Zane said.

“Because you donated almost all of the funds necessary to build it, and no one dares to mess with a woman’s shelter with your name plastered on it,” she said and chuckled.

“Fine. Are you going?”

“Yes, I think so. I’ll take Linda with me.”

“And Tom.”

“And Tom, but he will wait in the car,” she agreed.

“Why?”

“Because it’s a women’s shelter. I can’t bring a man inside, and definitively not a man like Tom. Have you seen the size of him? I know he is a softie, but the women in the shelter won’t know that,” Ava told him.

“I see your point, do you think it’s safe?” Zane asked.

“I think that it is.” He nodded. Ava smiled and reached out and put her hand on top of his. She knew it took a lot for him to not give in to his protectiveness and need to keep her safe. “Thank you,” she said when he looked up at her.

“Anything for you, angel,” he told her, picked up her hand and gave it a kiss. Ava swore he did things like that just to make her swoon like a lovesick teenager.

They left the restaurant and headed for the club. As always, Zane led her to the bar and called Veronica over.

“I need to check on something and meet up with Jax, will you be okay here?” he asked her. She smiled at him. He always asked her the same question.

“I will be fine, I will be here when you get back,” she told him. He kissed her and walked away, leaving Ryder with her. Ava turned to Veronica.

“Hi, Mrs A. The usual?” Veronica asked.

“No thanks, Veronica. I’m in the mood to dance so I’ll just take a coke with lime. Don’t want to get tipsy and make a fool of myself,” Ava told her.

“Sure thing,” Veronica said, quickly handing Ava’s order to her. Ava spun around on her chair and looked out over the club. It was a Friday night and despite it being early, it was already packed. The rumours that if you were lucky, you could see angels dancing on the dance floor and the clubs special drink, Angel’s bliss, had caused a spike in its popularity. The fact it was said to be owned by the mafia added an extra hint of danger and excitement. When Ava felt relaxed enough and the music got to her, she got of her chair and moved out on the dancefloor. She had become used to dancing in the crowd and she trusted whoever was covering her to keep the men away. Ava let the music invade her and got lost in the rhythm. She felt his presence before he touched her. His body moving up from behind, swaying in pace with hers. The familiar hands that were placed on her hips as he drew her closer made her smile.

“Have I told you how absolutely stunning you look tonight?” Zane whispered to her.

“You have, but I won’t stop you if you want to tell me again.”

“Absolutely gorgeous, angel,” he said.

“I was hoping you would like my dress,” she told him.

“I love it,” he said, letting his finger skim her bare back. “Will you let me take you back to my office, or do you want to continue dancing?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t mind having a sit down. Let’s head up to the office.” With Zane’s arm around her, they made their way through the club and up to Zane’s much quieter office. Ava took her place on the couch as Zane sat down to work. Ava browsed a little on her phone and enjoyed the comfortable silence. When she couldn’t wait any longer, she decided Zane had got plenty of work done for the night. She stood up and walked over to his desk and sat down on the edge facing him. He looked up at her, surprised.

“Are you getting bored?” he asked.

“No. Just a little nervous,” she admitted.

“Why?” he asked and took hold of her hips and dragged her on the desk until she was in front of him. She giggled and took his hands in hers.

“I have to tell you something and I don’t know how you will react.”

“You know you can tell me anything. Do you and Gabriel need to take another business trip? I know I didn’t handle the last one that well. But I can do better,” he told her. That made her giggle again.

“You mean you won’t send an army of gangsters along that will interrogate anyone who comes withing a hundred yards?” she asked.

“No, I will just send like five, ten at the most,” he promised.

“I love you, Zane,” she told him.

“I love you too, Ava. That is why I sometimes go a little crazy,” he confessed.

“That’s okay. I secretly think it’s kind of adorable,” she said.

“So when is this trip? Maybe I can move things around and come with you.”

“There is no trip, it’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” Ava told him. “I have been feeling a little off lately, a little tired and like I was coming down with a cold,” she continued.

“Are you okay? Do we need to call Linda?” Zane asked, the concern clear on his face.

“I already talked to her.”

“Without telling me?”

“I am telling you, if you would let me finish,” Ava told him and smiled at him.

“Right.”

“Nothing is wrong with me. I’m just pregnant,” she said. Then she held her breath and waited for his response. They had talked about having children. She knew he wanted them, in the future. They had just never talked about having them now. She had been on the pill for over a year and was not expecting a pregnancy. Zane looked at her with a bland expression. “Zane?”

“You’re pregnant?” he asked.

“Yes. I know we didn’t plan for this, and we can talk about what it means for us, but I just need to know if you are okay with it,” she rambled on.

“Okay? I’m not okay with it, Ava. In fucking ecstatic!” he shouted, pulled her into his lap and kissed her until she needed air.

“You are?” she asked when she got her breathing under control.

“Of course I am, angel. I love the idea of having children with you, a family. I’m thinking five or six of them, running around the house, playing in the garden,” Zane told her and got a dreamy expression on his face.

“Five or six? Are you crazy? Are you going to push them out of your body? No, I’m putting my foot down at two or three,” she laughed.

“Come on, we need a little herd of kids in the house, think how happy it will make Anna,” he coaxed.

“Yeah, still a hard no. Linda and Jax might provide two or three and then you will have your little flock,” she giggled.

“I like that idea,” he told her. He looked down at her stomach and placed his hand on it. “When?”

“I’m about six weeks I think if I do the math,” she told him. When Ava looked at Zane he had a goofy smile on his face she rarely saw on him. Then he realised something and looked at her.

“You know this means you need to stop working, right? I can’t let you go into the office like this,” he said with a serious expression.

“I figured that is what you would say. I have taken two weeks off. I give you two weeks to act out all your controlling desires while we figure out a way to make it work. In two weeks time I need to be back at the office, but until then, you can hide me away as much as you like,” she told him.

“You planed for me to react like this and took out a vacation?” he asked, baffled.

“You, my lovely husband, isn’t as hard to figure out as you would like to think. I know you. I took two weeks off to give you time to adjust, and I will get two weeks of being pampered. I also expect an insane amount of hot sex during those two weeks. And before you say anything, according to Linda it’s fine to have all types of sex.”

“You really have thought this through,” he said.

“All the way,” she confessed. Zane kissed her again and let his hands travel up under her skirt.

“I think we should start with your request right away,” he told her with a smirk.

“I like that idea, but in about ten minutes our family will be here. They think they are here to give you a surprise vacation that I have planned, my cover for taking time off. Instead, we get to surprise them with the news,” she said.

“You do realise we will have a fight over who will be godfather, right?” he asked and chuckled. Ava wondered if Zane realised, he had been gently rubbing her stomach as they spoke.

“No need for them to fight. We will just have three godfathers and one godmother,“ she said.

“I will keep you safe, both of you,” Zane told her.

“I know you will. You are my safe place. You have been since the night I met you. My dark hero that saved me,” she told him and gave him a kiss.