There’s no need to get in his face, even if I normally would never let someone talk to me like that. Instead, I just look him in the eye and say, “Clear.” I watch Henry leave the room and head back to his space while Michael keeps his eyes pinned on me.
“I…hmm, how do I say this without sounding like the weird one? Sometimes how I say things, no matter how honest, they sound wrong. I’m not great at reading the room.” He rubs the back of his neck, searching for how to say whatever else is on his mind. I give him the space to do it. “My father told me a long time ago that Everly is the person you watch, mimic, and protect. Most don’t get me, not in the way that she does. I like things done a certain way and I have trouble keeping my thoughts calm. So yeah, my sister is my moon. It may sound dumb or over the top to a guy like you, but it’s my truth. If you’re not interested in someone as big as the moon, then, like Henry said, take this as a suggestion to move on.”
Law just smiles at his brother and holds up a fist. “Dude, you said it just right.”
I lean over to Michael. “She’s lucky to have you guys. I feel the same way about my sister.” I pause. “Different reasons, but I understand, and I would be saying the same thing if someone swooped into her life. In fact, I have sent similar warnings to someone before, and I can assure you it wasn’t wasted breath.”
I should have known some kind of talk like this was coming. The problem is, she’s made it clear that this thing we have, no matter how much I try to avoid the realization of it, is not going to be more than what she wants. And after last night on the gondola, it needs to remain light and fun.
“You assholes coming or not?” Henry barks from the garage.
Law grabs the plates from the counter and piles them in the sink. “We’re going to try and get in some time at our buddy's MMA gym. You want to come?”
“Thanks, but I’m going to hang back. I’ll go next time.”
“Alright, man.” Law pauses and looks at the mess of the kitchen. “Thanks for breakfast. Those were damn good waffles.”
I’m sitting back, feet kicked up on the counter, finally able to dig into my waffle and strawberries. I feel relaxed even after the Riggs brothers' interrogation and warnings. I respect them and their relationships even more now, to be honest. My body is still buzzing when I think about Everly. The woman makes me dizzy. She looks at me like she wants to devour me and then cools off as soon as she starts to think outside of the moment. It’s how I usually operate, but apparently not with her.
She’s gotten under my skin, pushed her way deeper than I ever would normally allow, and I’m not even sure when it happened. I’m sitting here, in her house, no less, and my brain shifts to the shape of her mouth and how right it feels to kiss her, how I don’t want any other lips meeting mine or anyone else’s tasting hers. All the parts of her that make me feel good, feel something other than defensive. I like how she listens, and how she doesn’t try to fill silence because she’s uncomfortable with it. She lets me breathe around her and it’s not something I ever thought about wanting until now that I’ve had it. It’s a crazy realization for me to come to, but if she felt the same way, I’d stay. Make it impossible for her to choose anyone else. I’d do whatever was necessary to be with her, to make this feeling grow and change only for the good.
“Make yourself at home.”
I flick my eyes up to find her leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, a wicked grin on her face. I keep my feet propped on the counter as I eat another bite of my waffles. Smiling at her, I’m trying to cover any trace of the thoughts I was just having. I should be pissed off at her for the way she left me at the station, but I’m not. I’ve been waiting to see her. And that’s obvious from me being here. In her house.
“Did you make breakfast? It looks like you fed my brothers based on the disaster here.” She walks over to the refrigerator and plucks the creamer out. Hair piled in a messy knot on the top of her head, she shifts to take off her sweatshirt, and I’m rewarded with seeing a strip of her beautiful skin as she raises her arms above her head.
This woman sets me on fire with a simple tease of her lower back. And her brothers thinkI’mthe one that's the threat. She shifts her weight to take off her boots. Seeing her sweatpants slung low on her hips and a black tank top hugging the rest of her curves, I shift in my seat, making room for the growing tension in my pants.
“I did. It was a morning for waffles. Too bad you weren’t here. They’re good.” I take another bite.
Everly pours herself a cup of the coffee left in the French press and adds a splash of cream and then a squeeze of maple syrup. Then she walks next to me and hops up on the counter, scooting her bottom closer so that I’m forced to drop my legs off and sit up. She holds out her hand, asking for the fork. I shake my head and instead spear a piece with a strawberry slice and move it toward her mouth. She opens and takes the offered bite.
“Thank you.” She shimmies closer, and I open my legs to make more space for her feet to rest. As she finishes her bite, her gaze meets mine.
“What happened?” I cut another piece, stab it with the fork, and move it to her. She opens her pillowy lips and takes another bite. Feeding someone shouldn’t be a turn-on, but right now my dick strongly disagrees.
She finishes chewing and takes a sip of her coffee. “A lot.”
I sit up straighter and push the plate to her side, scooting forward in the chair and lifting her feet into my lap. Without overthinking, I take her right foot in my hand, start rubbing my thumbs into the arch, and begin working the tension from her body. She looks at me as if I’ve just thrown her off by my actions, but I can’t help it. I want her to talk to me and I need her to feel like she can.
“Is that all you’re going to give me?” I ask.
She takes a deep breath. “The more time I spend with you, the more I want to give you.”
Liking the sound of that, I keep kneading her foot and work my way around her ankle, coaxing her to relax.
“There’s someone that wants to invest in my designs. Well, one of our current investors wants to go into business with me, exclusively. Taking the designs that you now know about and turning it into my own thing.” She pauses, looking for my reaction, but instead I study her foot and keep moving. I want her to keep talking. “It would mean I wouldn’t be a part of my family’s business any longer and that I’d be starting from the ground floor again. And…” She pauses, and I can tell she’s working through this out loud for the first time, perhaps. “I mean, it would be a lot of hard work and scary to go all-in on it, but it might be incredible. The most amazing part is that I know I can do it, and I don’t need an investor, but it would be a smart move not to take on the initial costs myself, but well…” She pauses again.
I look up and meet her stare.
“I would be blowing up my life to do this. I’d have to split my time in Strutt’s and New York, probably, as I set everything up, for at least the first year. And that’s assuming I’d make it past the first year.”
“Blowing up your life doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It just makes it more exciting.” I offer my perspective a bit. “The scary stuff is always the most worth doing, but you already know that.”
“I’m sorry.” She leans forward and drags her hand down her leg to meet my fingers that have been busy moving up to her calf. “Last night I was an emotional wreck when I boarded the gondola, and after you…” She stumbles on her words. “After we...”
“After I worked that orgasm out of you…”
“Yes, after that.” Her face flushes at the acknowledgment of our ride together. “I wasn’t expecting to see you, and then when I did, all of my angry energy just turned into needing your hands on me. And then after that, I pushed you away, and I’m sorry. I like being around you and I want to be around you while you're here. You make me feel things. Delicious things, but things that I wasn’t prepared to feel. I was all-in on a great night of sex and what it’s snowballing into scares me.”
Something that feels a lot like happiness mixed with nerves washes over me as I absorb her words. I stare at our hands as we lightly tease each other's fingers, then I lean forward, resting my chin on her legs. “Can I tell you something, beautiful?”
She looks back into my eyes, and I grab her hips tight and pull her down from the counter in front of me and into my lap so I can be closer to her. “I want to be near you, and that might seem like something light or small to say, but I don’t ever feel that way. With anyone. Not many people know me. Really know me. I don’t let them. It’s easier to be a good time, or a fling, or just a friend who listens, but with you…” I stop to breathe her in and even after a night spent away, she still smells like oranges, but now mixed with the sweetness of maple syrup. Even the way she smells brings me a sense of ease. “With you, it’s easy to just go with it. Not overthink any of it. It doesn't make me want to run from you, it makes me want to run right at you.”
It's as if my words were flint because within seconds the fire between us is lit, and her lips meet mine with urgency. And the only thing I know, the only thing that is certain, is that in this moment, she is mine.