And right then, after the drama of telling my stepfather, whose opinion really did matter to me, that I wasn’t going to go to college anymore? Well, it was likely best that I didn’t push the poor little ticker.
But I’d sit next to Linc and smell him—he was better than coffee anyway.
After passing out a few cups of coffee, Linc sat at the kitchen table and stared at the photo of me with mud all up over my crotch and said, “Why are y’all here?”
Linc’s eyes lifted from where he was staring at the picture to bounce his gaze in between Steel and Jessie.
“We’re here because of this,” Jessie flicked the paper. “Though, last night we hadn’t realized that you two were involved with the accident until Silas called us when we were halfway here.”
I frowned.
“We weren’t necessarily involved with the accident. We were involved with saving him,” I corrected him.
Jessie waved his hand in the air as if to clear it. “That’s true. We came because we heard about Hoax’s accident. This,” he tapped the paper again, “was just a coincidence.”
Steel brought the paper closer to him and studied it. “What did you do, sit in the water?”
“I squatted down in the water,” I corrected.
Steel’s eyes met mine and he winked. “What’s that in your saddlebag, Linc? Does that say biohazard?”
Linc got up and walked to his refrigerator, pulling out the same biohazard bag from the night before.
He walked back over to the sink and threw it down unceremoniously.
All of the men stared at it while I grimaced and backed away. “It looks like it’s still alive. So freakin’ creepy.”
I walked to Linc’s fridge and started to study the contents of it while Steel gave a whistle through his teeth.
Happy that there were no other weird things that shouldn’t belong in his fridge, I withdrew the eggs and the bacon.
Breakfast sounded marvelous.
I’d just started to search for the skillet when Linc brushed past me, pulled a skillet out of the cabinet above the microwave—who the hell puts skillets up there?—and retook his seat.
Putting the skillet on the stove, I turned it on and got started with the bacon.
The moment that it was done, I pulled it off and placed it on a plate that I’d found next to the sink and I’d covered in paper towels. Paper towels that had Frozen characters on them.
The moment the bacon cooled enough to be eaten, I had three grabby hands taking almost all of the bacon. There were only two pieces left, and those were the two that Linc had grabbed himself and placed on another plate for me and set it next to the stove.
Rolling my eyes at their extreme hunger and rudeness, I got to work on more bacon.
After that, I cooked everyone but me four eggs, toast, and walked it over to them each, saving Linc for last.
He brushed his hand against the inside of my bare thigh as I put his plate down in front of him, and I felt a shiver tear up my spine at the intimate touch. Just yesterday, I might’ve very well freaked out.
But multiple orgasms, an intimate connection, a relationship declaration and twelve hours later, I was a believer.
Linc and I may have very well been meant to be from the very beginning.
Our time might’ve come later than we’d have liked—but our time had come, and it was now. This was exactly where I wanted to be.
It was fast.
It was hard.
It would continue to be hard.
But it was us.
“Thanks, honey,” Linc rumbled, making my nipples harden.
I turned before anyone could see the change and went to make my own eggs, stopping at just two.
I probably could’ve eaten just as many as them, but I didn’t want to stuff my face in front of Linc just yet.
That, and I had a feeling the moment our family was out the door, we’d be doing something that involved a lot of cardio on my part. I’d need to have some flexibility to accomplish it, because there were things that I wanted to do later to him that being full enough that I felt like I could pop wouldn’t allow me to make happen.
Once my eggs were finished, I went to the table where the men were sitting, and looked around for a chair, only then realizing that there wasn’t but three seats.
“Why don’t you have four chairs?” I asked in confusion.
Linc had an entire egg on his fork and shoveled it into his mouth before reaching out and pulling me to him.
I went, taking a seat on his lap where he’d placed me, and nearly laughed when he shifted me so that I was straddling one leg.
We ate like that in silence for a few seconds while I tried to still my racing heart.
Linc was on his second piece of toast, and last egg when Steel started to talk.