He could see her point. Sort of. What did she want him to get? A minivan?
No fucking way.
He ran through all of his options on his ride home. He had to settle on some type of compromise, because it wasn’t going to be just the two of them for much longer.
After he parked his beloved bike in the garage and slipped into the house quietly, he caught a glance of his wife sitting on the back porch, hands on her round stomach, shadows from the palm trees moving over her, their fronds gently waving in the ocean air.
They had moved to Santa Monica permanently a year ago. Their Spanish-style ranch house with huge windows and big wide-open spaces was the exact opposite of Lila’s life growing up. In New York, she was shut inside, forced to hide her bruises in the darkness, and expected to remain separate from the outside world.
He didn’t want that for her ever again.
Carson was pretty sure Lila missed Vegas from time to time, but she never admitted it. The glitz, action, and dancing were all she knew for most of her young adult life. For many years, all that was her safety net and her only family. It was ironic that the crazy, on-the-edge adult entertainment industry had protected her when she was hiding from a painful and secluded past.
He took care of her now. At least, that was what he told himself, but he knew she could take care of herself. Lila was strong and capable. She was a survivor; he’d never believed anything different. It was her resilience that allowed her to build a life in Vegas instead of wallowing in self-pity when she escaped New York.
That was why he didn’t say a word when Lila continued to dance as Sienna Flower for the first six months they were officially together. He had to put his feelings aside and let her do what she wanted.
She needed to make her own decision to quit when it felt right. Which finally happened when Asher’s personal life quieted down after a painful few months, a time during which the two men became extremely close, thanks to their shitty but similar pasts. Lila started working toward her business degree; she knew it was the right move. She was almost thirty years old at that point. It was time to do something else other than dance, but she couldn’t turn her back on her adopted family.
Lila never mentioned Carson being a part of her decision to retire from dancing. He let her have that. She knew what he wanted, but after spending the early years of her life with every decision made for her, he knew she needed to make her own choices. With Asher making a life of his own, both he and Lila decided to expand the club. He wanted to make sure they both could reap enough from the business. Carson owed the man everything, and now that Asher had settled down, the pair was almost even.
Between Lila’s recent experience in business school and her years of being the top adult dancer in Vegas, she was more than ready to build and run more clubs. Their first expansion was in Los Angeles, which was what brought Lila and Carson to Santa Monica. Thank God he could work anywhere, because he was going to follow her wherever she went.
Lila now oversaw the entire operation in California. She took each dancer under her wing as only Sienna Flower could—giving them confidence, pride, and survival tips. She made sure each one saved money, took good care of herself, and never let any one of them get down on themselves. On any given day, Carson would come home to a house full of gorgeous women, lounging around with coffee or wine, laughing, relaxing, unwinding, and sharing the stress of the week.
He was the envy of all his buddies.
Carson gave Lila many of the same things she gave the girls—peace, strength, pride, and love—and he loved doing it. He liked nothing better than to relax on the patio with his wife, beer in his hand and a hot cup of coffee in hers, while she snuggled up to him. There was something special about kicking back as waves crashed nearby, the ocean air whipping around, wrapping them up in its salty essence, and helping take away all the strain of life.
Which was what he wanted to do right now, once he could stop staring at the beauty in front of him.
The LA club, the Electric Cove, was way in the black after just one year. Lila did that, too. She worked tirelessly, a perfectionist at heart. Carson didn’t ever mention her upcoming maternity leave and what would happen afterward. Another little way he let Lila be her own woman. He knew she was handling it.
Petey had traveled to LA with Lila to set up and run the security at the club, and she had recently moved him into the role of club manager. Petey was happy as fuck with his new title and his twenty-five percent stake in the joint. Whatever plans Lila and Petey made once she had the baby, he knew they’d be solid.
Lila’s oldest brother, Daniel, who had been most affected by the discovery of her and the circumstances around why she ran, couldn’t make peace with their family or religion afterward. He and his wife separated. Since they didn’t have kids, he made a clean break and moved to LA to reacquaint himself with Lila. He visited the club from time to time during nonbusiness hours, and now did the accounting for them. Carson knew he had tremendous guilt, and this was his way of atoning for it.