Stirring the pot of mac and cheese slowly, a knock broke me out of my depressing thoughts, and I opened my mouth to shout ‘go away’ when someone else spoke.
“We should talk, Kota. Everyone is asking me what’s going on, and I don’t know what to tell them. Do I tell them about us? Is that what we’re doing now? We should’ve talked about it first, but at the very least, we should talk about it now.”
Closing my eyes, I sighed, knowing he was right, and padded to the front door to unlock the bolt I’d had locked since I got home from the auction. It was, after all, the only way to keep Forrest out. Damn, did I now regret giving him a key.
Deacon was leaning against my front door, hands tucked in his leather jacket, a plain white t-shirt stretched against his muscular chest, looking so damn delicious that talking was the last thing I wanted to do right now. But fucking him would only make things worse and confuse my already confused mind more.
Apparently, though, Deacon did not have the same train of thought. He stepped into the house and grabbed my face, backing me into the hallway with his huge body, and kissed me full on the lips.
More bewilderment came over me, but my body responded to his touch like the traitorous bitch she was, gripping his hips and letting him press me roughly against the wall so I could feel every hard bit of him. Every hard bit that I knew how well he could use.
Licking my lips meant inadvertently licking his, and he took this as an opening, his tongue swirling around mine as pleasure sunk lower in my belly, making me moan softly.
“Deac,” I managed to mumble around his tongue as it stroked the roof of my mouth, sending a flurry of butterflies spiraling into the pit of my belly. “Deac, this isn’t talking.”
As much as it pained me to do it, I pressed my palms against his pecs and shoved him back so I could take a deep breath and keep him from distracting me again.
“Damn it, woman. You’re killing me.” He stepped back, letting his head fall back with closed eyes as he took a deep breath and then adjusted himself before he straightened and shook his head. “So, the auction.” He sighed, suddenly sober. “What were you thinking?”
“Too many things, obviously, and it distracted me, and I just … went for it.” I sighed and turned, making my way back to the kitchen to make sure my pasta wasn’t burnt to hell. I could feel his presence behind me as he followed me in, and instead of taking a chair, he followed me right over to the oven, always so close, always within touch.
“Went for it? Went for me, you mean.”
“Yeah,” I said absently, lifting the wooden spatula and stirring the pasta once more before turning the stove off. “I didn’tloveseeing other woman buying a date with you when I’ve never had one in the two years we’ve … been doing whatever we’re doing.”
“Whatever we’re doing,” he repeated under his breath. “What are we doing?”
For a moment, we stared at each other. Both of us maybe trying to read the other’s mind, neither of us certain enough to make the first move. But I’d done that already, hadn’t I?
“What did Forrest say?” I stretched up on my toes to open the cupboard behind him, sliding two bowls out and setting them down on the counter. Carefully, I dumped a serving of pasta into each bowl and then grabbed two forks. Once finished, I held out the bowl to Deacon with two raised eyebrows.
“Asked me if I knew you were going to bid on me, which wasn’t a lie, I didn’t. Then he asked if I knew why you did it. He implied it was a joke, which tells me you definitely haven’t told him that we’ve been … hooking up for a while.” I hated that he used ‘hooking up’ to describe what we were, not that he was wrong, but it certainly wasn’t how I wished to describe us.
I shrugged, walking over to the table and sitting. Instead of answering, I shoved a mouthful of mac and cheese into it and glanced over at him, wondering if I should tell him his mother orchestrated and paid for this whole thing.
What a surprise that would be.
deacon
She was uncomfortable.That was obvious, which was also why I’d given her space. I was positive the same couldn’t be said for my family, but no one had spoken to her yet, according to the group chat.
Except me.
My heart fluttered every time I considered it. Was she treating me differently because she wanted something different than the arrangement that had suited us all too well for the last couple of years?
No matter how much I wanted that answer, I could tell she wasn’t ready to make me privy to her thoughts. Hell, maybe she wasn’t sure of it all herself.
“Alright, let’s eat, and then I owe you a date. You paid for it after all.” I flashed her a grin as I slid into the seat across from her and her eyes flashed with something unspoken before she smiled, the gesture not quite reaching her eyes, and she looked at her bowl.
“Can we go another day?”
“No, you look like you haven’t seen the sunlight in a while. So, I’m taking you on the date.”
“It’s supposed to be a day date … It’s already—” Her eyes drifted to the oven clock before looking at me, “—one in the afternoon.”
“I can pivot unless you bought a boating, high-tea, and shopping trip specifically for that two grand?”
She flushed before shaking her head.