With a shaky hand, I reached out and touched his face. “I have a life, and so do you. You can’t—”
He cut me off when he grabbed my hand and brushed his lips across my knuckles, his words grit, “And I’m going to protect it.”
“Trent.”
“Kitten.” He erased the bare space that separated us, his hot body pressed to mine, our hearts beating frantic as he dug his fingers into my ass, hauling me from the wall and plastering me against him.
Every inch of him was hard.
I gasped at the contact.
He took the opportunity to kiss up under my jaw, fully picking me up and pressing my back to the wall when my body softened to putty. He licked the flesh, his lips nibbling at my ear. “Tell me you don’t want to live in my bed because I can’t wait to be in this body again. I’m going to own it, Kitten. All of it.”
I whimpered, then froze when a throat cleared to the side.
We both whipped our attention that way.
Logan stood there grinning like mad. “Breakfast.”
“F-off, dude,” Trent grumbled, though there was no anger behind it. He reluctantly set me on my feet and gestured between us. “Logan, this is Eden. Eden, this is my pain-in-the-ass baby brother, Logan. Feel free to ignore him.”
“We’ve met,” Logan said, all smug smiles and playful welcome. “You gonna put up with this punk?” he asked me, no seriousness to that question, either, clearly trying to get a rise out of his brother.
Like they were just…normal. Two brothers who gave each other constant crap but would do absolutely anything for the other.
Trent smacked him on the back of the head. “Dude. Watch it. I will take you down.”
Logan jumped back and lifted his hands in surrender. “Hey, just checking that she knows what she’s in for.”
Trent grunted at him and threaded our fingers together. “Come on, let’s eat.”
I was still fighting the urge to hide my face when we walked in to find Gage still standing on his chair, though he was shoving mountains of eggs into his mouth from the fork he wielded. “Sheesh, about time. You been kissing again? How many kisses are you gonna get, Dad? Like a million?”
Trent pulled the chair out for me, guided me to sitting, and pressed a kiss to my temple. Then he looked at his son and said, “More like a billion.”
“A billion?! Whew. You sure are gonna be busy.”
A flush flashed, and I dipped my head to try to hide the giggle that slipped free all while feeling like I was melting into a puddle of goo.
The room radiated with my confused affection.
The awareness that even though I felt unsettled, it still felt right.
Trent went into the kitchen then came back and set a plate in front of me. “There you go, baby.”
My head spun while I did a little more of that melting. “Thank you.”
Then he tossed a set of keys to a Mercedes onto the table. “Got you a replacement car while I was out.” He dipped down to murmur the plea at my ear. “Promise me you won’t leave without either me or one of my brothers.”
“Trent.” I wheezed it, though I was finally seeing all his rough abrasiveness for what it was.
This sweet, sweet warrior.
Someone who would fight.
For his family.
For me.
I hoped I could be a little of that for him, too. Bring him out of the shadows where he’d lived.
“Always the babysitter,” Logan whined when he sat down with his plate across from me, though he was smiling softly, winking to let me know he wasn’t serious.
“That’s because you’re a really, really good babysitter,” Gage said, still shoveling in the eggs. “Right, Dad, right?”
“That’s right, buddy,” he said, tugging his son down to sitting. “Couldn’t make it through this life without him.”
I looked around.
Taken.
Gone.
My feet no longer touching the ground. Every part of me completely washed away.
Logan was right.
I had no clue what I was in for.
Twenty-Five
Trent
“Ready to tell me what the hell is going on?” Logan forced under his breath once we were out of earshot of Eden and Gage.
The two of them had gone into the great room. She’d wanted to clean up after breakfast. I’d insisted she relax. And what had the girl done?
She’d climbed to sitting on the carpeted floor, her knees hugged to her chest and all that lush hair wisping around her shoulders, and started to play with my son.
My chest tightened when I took them in. Adoration was written on that stunning face as she watched Gage scramble around on his knees, showing her every toy in his toy box. No doubt, the kid was telling her the whole damned history behind each of them, too, prattling on the way he did.
Nonstop jabbering.
That shit was probably annoying to anyone who didn’t know him. To those who didn’t love him like mad, since the only thing that sweet little voice did was fire at warp speed.