He was a big man, demanding the attention of the room, but as she looked around, she realized all the men did. Tate was a giant and Lucas had shoulders like Karson’s. Phillip and Erik were thick with muscle, but they were lean, obviously for the speed on the ice. All of them were good-looking too, but then as her eyes met Karson’s, she knew that no one could hold a candle to him. Her man was all kinds of sexy, and soon her eyes stung with tears at the thought of losing him.

How could she tell him she didn’t want kids?

Would it break him? Would he completely throw her away and go find someone who would have babies? He loved her, but was their love strong enough to replace his need for children? She knew how men were; they needed to spread their seed, but Lacey just wasn’t for it. She couldn’t do it.

Snaking his arm around his waist, he put his mouth to her ear. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Fine.”

“She’ll be fine, Karson. Go on now. We need to get to know each other,” Elli said with a bright grin.

Karson laughed. “I know, just checking on her, boss.”

Lacey smiled as his lips met the side of her mouth. “Are you sure?” he whispered.

Taking his jaw in her hand, she met his eyes with hers and did her best to lie. “Yes, everything is fine. Go get some beer.”

He eyed her, and she was sure he could see she was lying. She didn’t even know why she tried. She couldn’t lie to him. Never had been able to. He saw right through her and that made her more than nervous. It terrified her. She guessed he’d decided to wait to interrogate her, and he kissed her softly on her mouth before saying, “All right, sweetheart. Have fun.”

Smiling, she watched as he walked away. His beautiful back muscles flexing with each step he took, his ass that of a god, and those legs carrying him like he was a feather. He was honestly a thing of beauty, one whom she loved and was horrified to lose.

“You two are adorable,” Elli said and Lacey beamed over at her. Elli was a beautiful woman, long auburn hair and green eyes that made Lacey feel at home. She was on the thicker side, but it worked for her. All of the women were beautiful, actually, and it was very intimidating.

“Thank you. We are very happy,” she said as all of them sized her up.

“Good, we want that. Come on, we’ll all have some wine and cheese while we wait for the chicken to finish cookin’,” Elli said, taking Lacey’s arm with hers and leading her through the large home. Lacey wasn’t one for big houses, but the Adler home was flawless and very well lived-in. There were toys everywhere along with hockey equipment and everything that a family would have. It was evident that the home was full of love.

As she was led toward the kitchen, Lacey took in all the pictures of all the children and pictures of Elli and Shea through the years. Their wedding pictures were the ones that stood out the most. She couldn’t wait to get her prints back from their wedding so she could adorn their home with them, but then her chest hurt at the thought of Karson kicking her to the curb before that could happen.

For a split second though, Lacey considered the idea of having a child just so she wouldn’t lose Karson, but then her eyes met a little girl’s eyes in a picture, and she remembered exactly why she didn’t want a child.

“Your daughter?” Lacey asked, stopping and pointing to the little girl. She looked a lot like Shea but had Elli’s green eyes.

“Yes, that’s our sweet girl, Shelli. She’s seven,” she said, pride pouring out of her pores. She then pointed to another picture of all five children. “Then we have Posey, six, the twins, Owen and Evan, are five, and Quinn is two, almost three.”

“Wow, packed house,” Lacey said with a grin as Elli laughed.

“Yup, couldn’t be happier.”

“Will you have more?” she asked as they started toward the kitchen.

Everyone laughed as Elli began shaking her head almost violently. “Hell-to-the-fuck no. I got my tubes tied, and Shea got his stuff snipped. We are fertile as hell, had to take double precautions. I even try to get him to use condoms still, just to be sure,” she said, causing everyone to laugh again and soon Lacey was laughing too. Elli’s laughter was contagious.

“Where are they now?”

“Shea’s parents are in town, so they are all hanging out at his sister’s house since we had this planned before they came in,” she said, pouring Lacey a glass of wine.

“Must be nice to get away.”

“You have no idea. I think it’s easy to say we all love our little bits, but it’s nice to just be us and the guys every once in a while,” she said and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Karson said the Assassins’ average was three kids a couple,” Lacey said and everyone snickered.

“One for me, but that’s not by choice. I haven’t been able to get pregnant,” Audrey said. She was the same size as Lacey, almost the same build too, but the girl was stunning. Lacey couldn’t help but imagine Audrey modeling her pieces and stealing the show. She was curvy but had these brown eyes that were gorgeous with gold flakes floating in them. She was beautiful.

“I’m sorry.”

“We are good with it, I promise. Our little Penny is enough. She is a firecracker.”

“That’s wonderful,” Lacey said, and while Audrey said she was okay with it, she could see the yearning in her eyes.

“I have two,” Piper said, bringing Lacey’s attention to her. She was itty bitty but still so dazzling. It was kind of intimidating how gorgeous all these women were. All of them done up to the nines with big personalities. Just in the ten minutes Lacey had spent with them, she knew they were all very successful and smart. It was kind of mind-blowing. “Dimitri and Katarina.”