To say she was stunned was an understatement. Her brows creased, looking like she was in a huge amount of pain, and her mouth parted in disbelief, but she didn’t move.
The giant Maori watched her a moment before his lips thinned, and he nodded in understanding before continuing out the door. What he didn’t see was Molly move to stand.
I stopped her with, “You’re not going.”
She looked completely rattled, as though she was being pulled in all different directions and she wanted to follow them all.
“Molly, you’re twenty-two. He’s my age,” I said sternly. “You can’t go with him.” When her eyes narrowed on me, I fought a chuckle but shook my head, muttering, “I’m not allowin’ this, girl. Sit your ass down.”
And when her eyes flashed and she snarled, “Fuck you!” she rushed to her room a moment before returning with her bag.
I forced out a long sigh. “Get back here, Molly.”
But she ignored me, running after him. “Tama!”
The front door slammed shut, and from the window, both Lexi and I watched on as Tama turned just as Molly launched herself at him, and the second her caught her, their lips met in a hard, desperate kiss that had me grinning in victory.
By my side, Lexi sounded irritated. “It’s not up to you who she’s with, Twitch. She loves him and—” When she faced me, her big blues narrowed down at my lips. “Why are you smiling?”
My baby.
God, she was beautiful.
Gently moving her hair behind her ear, I continued to smile, as I stated, “I don’t pretend to know much about women, but I do know one thing. They do not like when you tell ‘em what to do. Or to stay away from somebody they want.”
I saw the exact moment she caught on. Her eyes widened and she dipped her chin to hide her smile, and when she finally looked up at me again, her eyes were full of mirth. “You sneaky shit. You did all of that... said all of that on purpose, knowing she’d go to him.”
Tama carried Molly to his car, kissing her like she was air and he was dying to breathe again. Fully deadpanned, I uttered, “Oh no. Molly, come back.”
Lexi tipped her head back and laughed out loud, and I grinned down at her flushed and smiling face before my heated gaze landed on her full lips. “I need that mouth, Mama.”
Her eyes flashed a moment before they turned lusty, and I loved how after all this time, we were still as affected by each other as we were in the beginning. “Just my mouth?” She sounded disappointed.
I shook my head slowly as I took her hand, pulling her close. “Every journey needs a starting point.”
A choked sound left me as her greedy fingers came out to rub my cock through my jeans. Her voice breathy, she let out a hushed, “Aren’t you going to tell me off?”
She wanted to be told off.
Fuck me. She was perfect.
But today, I just wanted my smiling, sweet angel. Just her. And I wanted all of her. “Touch me.”
Walking her backward down the hall, I kept my eyes on her, and she kept her small hand on my straining fly. When I lowered my face to kiss her, she backed away playfully, smiling as she avoided my lips, and my heart did this weird kind of jittery thing.
Huh.
That was different.
Whenever I was around this woman, I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off her or my pants on.
The second we were in the bedroom, I put my hands to the bottom of the cotton dress she wore and whipped it off, and the sight of her in her tiny lace panties and matching white bra...
***
Lexi
He’d been standing there a long time. I was beginning to get self-conscious.
“Honey?” My brows knitted lightly.
What was wrong with him?
Suddenly, he frowned and swallowed hard then blinked and he was back. But when he pulled out his phone and pointed it at me, I lifted my hand with a gasp, almost knocking the cell out of his hands.
“Do not take photos of me.” Totally outraged, I hissed, “Not like this.”
He had the gall to look annoyed. “Why not?”
“I’m...”
Oh, no.
My eyes shut tightly, and the insecurities I’d fought since I had A.J. returned wholeheartedly. I covered my stomach pooch with a splayed hand, completely embarrassed, and then I whispered, “I’m not the same.” I said this in a way that he couldn’t misunderstand my meaning.
And he got me.
Taking a step forward, his hard length pressed into my hip. Looking down at me with meaning, he uttered a rough sounding, “That feel like disappointment to you?”
No.
It felt like my ruin.
Unexpectedly, my mouth opened and all the words flew out. “I’m not as thin as I was.”
“I like you like this.”
“I have a gut.”
He scoffed. “It’s hardly a gut.”
“My butt is bigger.”
At that, he grinned, sliding a hand over my hip to squeeze a rounded cheek. “I know.”
Asshole.
Feeling direct, I went on, “Pregnancy made my tits huge. Look.” I pressed my arms into them to make my point, and when the globes protruded obscenely,
I blinked up at him. “See?” His eyes were on my boobs, and when I ran a hand through my hair, sighing in irritation, I said, “It’s so not fair that I look like this when you look like—” I threw an arm out to his entire being. “—that.” I went on, “I work out. I run. I yoga. It doesn’t matter what I do; these curves do not want to leave me.” When his eyes crinkled in the corners, I revealed sadly, “They’ve made themselves at home and, apparently, are not going anywhere.”
“Good,” was the cool response he gave.
My eyes narrowed. “Have you even been listening to me?”
He sighed. “I’m listenin’, angel. I just don’t give a fuck is all.” Just as a heated gasp left me, he smiled that beautifully crooked smile, and uttered, “I hear your concerns, but I’m a man. I love curves. Curves on you though?” A rumbling growl sounded low in his throat and his eyes hooded. “Boom.”
Well, shit.
Boom.
I liked that.
“I’m just a little insecure is all, and—”
He leaned in and cut me off, capturing my lips in a firm, potent kiss that made me positively heady, and when he pulled back, his eyes were warm, as he quietly uttered, “Shut up, baby.”
“Okay,” was my breathy reply.
With a gentle push, I landed back on the bed, and he was climbing over me. My eyes widened as I glanced down the bed at my bright yellow slippers. “You want me to leave the Pikachus on?” His lips landed at the side of my neck and I smiled softly, releasing a small shrug. Okay. “Whatever you’re into.”
“I’m into you,” was definitely the correct response, and I felt those words deep in my soul as he sucked at the delicate area where neck met shoulder, marking me.
My eyes closed in bliss and I lifted my hands to the back of his head, needing this gorgeous man to leave me another love letter branded on my skin, lest I forget how he felt about me.
With every kiss, with every gentle touch of his tongue to mine, he sent stealthy messages. Secret messages meant only for me.
You are the reason I breathe.
I would do anything to make you happy.
I love you.
And I returned my own to him.
I live for you.