“Kenzie—”
“They weren’t like that when I got home.”
The words blurted out before I could stop them, and suddenly, I felt the whole room go still. Wilder stiffened, his hand leaving my skin and body moving away from mine.
No, no.
I didn’twantto not feel him against me, and I didn’twantto not feel his hands on me.
I turned, taking shaky breaths and feeling my whole body buzz with the raw need for him — forbothof them. And slowly, I opened my mouth.
“That—”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to look right up into Wilder’s deep, dark, brooding, sexy eyes.
“That only happened after I got home,daddy.”
The roomfroze. I swear you could’ve heard a pin drop. And I’m not sure what in the world I everthoughtwas going to happen when I said it — what insane porno-scenario my dirty mind thoughtmight justhappenwhen I said it.
But when Wilder opened his mouth, it wasnothingI’d expected.
“Go to bed, Kenzie,” he growled quietly, his face and his eyessofull of heat and this raw desire that it almost sucked me right into him. But he took a step back, his broad chest heaving. He glanced past me, and I looked over my shoulder to see Lincoln standing there with his jaw clenched tight and his eyes wild — the same frozen, hard look on his face as he shook his head and downed the last of his drink before turning away.
“Go to bed,” Wilder said again, quieter this time.
And just like that, the raw heat of the room cooled, and the two of them put their walls right back up. Wilder gave me one last, long look, before he and Lincoln stepped from the room, leaving me alone with my pounding heart, my bated breath, and myverywet panties.
5
Lincoln
Islammed the bourbon back, hoping the glass of fire would somehow quench the one inside of me.
…No fucking luck.
Next to me, Wilder did the same, growling as he set his glass back on his desk before rubbing his face with his hands. After we’d left Kenzie back downstairs, we’d both wordlessly come directly here, shut the door, and gone right for the bottle.
I reached for it again as Wilder groaned into his hands, pouring myself another splash before sinking back in my chair.
“That went too far.”
Wilder’s hands slid down his face, giving me a look.
“Oh, you fucking think so?”
“Goddamnit,” I muttered, grimacing as I looked into my glass. “We’re stronger than this. Or, we fucking should be.”
“Yeah?” Wilder glared at me. “And how’d that work out for you back there?” he spat sarcastically.
Not well.
The thing was, Iwasstronger than this — we both were. Both of us were men whoshouldhave been capable of the kind of discipline and restraint most men didn’t possess. They were skills we’d honed in the Marines, in Kabul, where we’d met. Later, after the service, we’d sharpened those skills when we’d foundedHammer and Sparktogether — the military contracting outfit we built from the ground up with our bare hands and sheer willpower.
We’d done well with our company, and trained some damn fine soldiers. But when the offer came to buy us out, we both knew it’d be foolish to ignore it. Soldiering, and training others to fight had been a major chapter in our lives, but we both knew it was time for another one.
So we’d cashed out, and we’d cashed outbig. Wilder and I had walked away with a cool $500 million…each. We were set for life. Fuck, our great-grandchildren were set for life, unless they totally fucked it up. So, we had the money, Wilder had his dream home out here in the country, and I was building mine not far away. Other than that though, we weren’t exactly sure what our “next chapter”was.
…That is, until Kenzie had showed up at his front door.