Goodness gracious, his words… they should not have this much of an effect on me.
I smirked. “I was more referencing the part where you announced that you loved me.”
“Oh, that.” He pressed closer, his cock hardening against my stomach as he offered me a thoughtful tilt of the head that didn’t match the devious glint in his eyes. “You mean right before I devoured your tight little—”
“King!” I threw my hand over his mouth, blushing a bright red that I was positive was unattractive, as his unexpected blunt words turned muffled. He chuckled as he pulled my hand away and kissed the top of it, the light touch making me dizzy.
“It’s true though,” he pointed out, his voice a growl. “That was exactly when it happened.”
The man was enjoying my embarrassment far too much.
“You can’t just say that out loud,” I insisted, leaning into him as his fingers slid to wrap around my throat in a firm but possessive hold.
“Why not?” His eyes darted down to my lips again as heat turned his eyes nearly black. “The only people around to hear are far more likely to be jealous they didn’t get a taste than to be upset by it.”
Good lord, this man was going to kill me.
“King, she hasn’t even had coffee yet. Pretty sure that’s taking advantage of her.” Sterling appeared in front of us, his lips tilted into a sexy smile. He wasn’t wrong, for the record.
“Yeah, King.” I slipped from his grasp as he let out a low rumble from the back of his throat, sending me into Sterling’s arms. My savior from King’s sexiness easily scooped me up, flashing his friend a goading smile before I wrapped my arms around his neck.
When I looked back at King, he was staring at me with a glint in his eyes. Oh, I was going to pay for that later, and I could not be more excited.
I buried my head against Sterling’s neck, and a moment later he sat me down at the breakfast table right next to Stratton.
Oh! He was here. In my kitchen. I loved that.
“Morning, angel.” Stratton’s eyes ran over me, his gaze turning hot despite the concern that still existed there, as he slid me a mug. I eagerly took it, taking a sip and letting out a soft, small moan that had Lincoln groaning from across the table.
I couldn’t help but smirk just a little bit, my eyes flashing over to Linc, who was now scowling at me slightly… scratch that, it was nearly a pout. That was just far too funny.
“You slept well,” I pointed out to Stratton, his piercing blue eyes hyper-focused on the coffee mug near my lips as he ran a ringed hand through his messy black hair. I could practically feel him wanting to move closer, so I made it easier on him and scooched right up next to him, my other hand drifting over his tattooed forearm. The man was ‘bad boy’ personified, and I absolutely loved it. I wanted to explore every part of Stratton that I had missed over the years, and I was curious to know how many tattoos he had underneath his all-black ensemble paired with motorcycle boots. If that exploring happened to be with my fingers, and even tongue, all the better…
His hand gripped my thigh as he inhaled sharply, clearly reading where my thoughts had gone. The man was ungodly handsome, and his gauges, rings, and tattoos were a major turn-on. Mind you, one that I’d never considered until Stratton started sporting them. He just had a hard edge to him that I used to be frustrated with because he’d used it to distance himself… but now I knew the truth.
Now I knew that there was so much more to the situation than I had realized, and because of that, something had fundamentally changed between us. Stratton wasn’t fighting this anymore. He seemed at peace with it, and I wasn’t going to question that at all because he had been missing from my life for so long that it had begun to affect me in ways I hadn’t even realized.
Loving someone who wouldn’t give you the time of day was painful. But loving someone who you once had but then lost was pure anguish.
I had him back though. I just had to remind myself of that. I also had to convince him to let us help figure out the mess his deceased father had left him to clean up. He shouldn’t have to single-handedly bear the responsibility of attempting to reestablish a family business because his father had run it into the ground. Nor to solely bear the responsibility of bringing in enough money to support himself and his grandmother, including her medical bills. That was what family was for.
Not that life wasn’t hard, but in times of true trouble, you called on family. And that was what we were, first and foremost. Wildberry Lane was a family.
Stratton seemed distracted by whatever was on my face, his mood a bit confusing to me. He pressed a kiss to my forehead, and I felt a slight split on his lip. I frowned at that. As much as I thought it was sexy when the man fought, I didn’t want him to feel like he had to. I didn’t want him to have to come into contact with gangs.
“I stopped home to check on MeMaw,” he began. “She told me, and I quote, ‘What are you doing over here and not at Dahlia’s?’ I couldn’t refuse the woman, so I managed to knock out for a few hours on your couch in the office.”
I tilted my head. “You should have come up to the bedroom.”
I had a couch up there, he knew that… but I didn’t mean for him to sleep on the couch. No, I very much would have welcomed him in my bed.
I nearly shook my head at that. I was a virgin. A virgin who wantednotthree men in her bed like this morning, but six. Could we say ‘inwayover our head’?
I could feel Lincoln’s analytical gaze on my expression, making me far too nervous to look over to see his reaction to my rather blunt statement to Stratton. I hadn’t meant it to be so forward, but that was a lost cause at this point, obviously. Luckily for me, his eyes flared with heat, making me know the concept was welcome.
“Probably not a good idea, angel,” he mused.
Before I could ask him why, Yates walked into the kitchen wearing one of the stolen shirts from my collection, making me scowl. Unfortunately, he looked ridiculously good in the dark blue shirt along with his dress pants from yesterday, so I could hardly be upset. Looking down at his watch, he seemed to consider something and then looked up at me.
“Bunny, your parents are going to be landing in Naples any minute now and will probably call. I need to run home really quickly, do you want me to wait—”
“I’ll be fine,” I promised, not wanting to be a hassle if he had something to do. I hesitated before adding, “But can I use one of your phones? I really don’t want to use mine right now.”
Or ever.
When Kingston handed me his, I clutched it tightly and drained my cup of coffee before getting a second one. My eyes drifted towards the boxes in the office, which were as numerous as my unanswered questions.
It was just going to be a second cup of coffee day.