35. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Brynn
The first batch of cookies turned out pretty good. That second batch, though… let's just say that if they were a person, I'd be calling the coroner right about now and arranging a funeral service.
And maybe, if I were a better woman, I'd shoulder the blame. But fuck that.
It's Salem's fault.
It was that adorable, yet arguably disgusting, small child who timed a spit-up in synchrony with the most enormous blowout in history, which meant I had to run with her at arm's length to the bathroom, scrub her clean, change her, do the laundry, then retrace my steps to wipe up any droplets of poop that had dribbled onto the light-oak floors.
Needless to say, by the time we returned to the kitchen, the cookies had been carbonized.
"I'll let you explain to the boys why they're on rations tonight," I tell Salem, plopping her in her highchair with a tray full of sliced avocado. "Seems a fair trade for what you just put me through, huh, ladybug?"
She snorts a spit bubble in reply then smashes a palmful of green mush into her face.
"Glad you agree."
Dropping a kiss to her forehead, I set up Cocomelon to play through the sound system and rush about trying to reset the chaos. Practice will have ended by now, and Leo will be back with his teammates any minute. God bless my soul if he walks in now to find the state we've left his kitchen in.
Thankfully, I have everything looking almost as good as new in under ten minutes—mainly because I’ve hidden most of the dirty shit in the pantry, but that’s a problem for later—with the exception of Salem, who resembles The Wicked Witch of the West due to the sheer amount of avocado she's pasted herself in.
I'm cleaning her off when I hear the front door slamming open and the footfalls of several boisterous men coming down the hallway.
"What are we listening to?" Arun asks as he enters the kitchen. His lips tip into a wide smile at the sight of Salem, and he immediately launches into a dance routine. "‘Wheels on the Bus’? My favorite."
"Jesus, what the fuck happened to Say Say?" my brother asks, rounding the corner. He stops in front of the kitchen island, resting his forearms on the marble countertop and frowning down at Salem with a grimace on his face. “Daddy Sully is gonna blow a gasket when he sees you.”
That earns him an eye roll. If Leo has a problem with the mess Salem has made of herself, then maybe he should have put more thought into teaching her some table manners. I’m not saying a one-year-old should know the difference between a fish fork and a salad fork, but Lord Almighty, the poor girl can barely handle a spoon.
“Avocados make excellent face masks, actually. They’re rich in skin-loving fats.” I fix him with a pointed expression. “And they’re great for anti-aging. You could use some, actually.”
He smirks in that overconfident, conceited way he likes to do. “Bullshit. An elderly lady in the lobby yesterday told me I have the face of an angel.”
“Were you flirting with her?” My tone drips with accusation, my hand perched on my hip as I stare him down with disapproval.
He has the audacity to look affronted. “What? No.”
“You flirt with everyone.”
“True dat!” Arun chimes in, waving his arms in front of him to imitate windshield wipers. He slips me a conspiratorial wink, and I shoot him a grateful smile in return, grinning harder when I catch sight of the pout on Alex’s face.
The sound of Leo’s laughter has my body turning rigid, hearty and boisterous, bordering on obnoxious. It doesn’t make sense to me how the sound vibrates through my body, raising my heart rate and causing my stomach to dip. I can’t even see him yet.
“The look on Sully’s face, man,” Harley is saying as he appears through the archway that separates the hallway from the living area. “I keep reliving it.”
Theo is hot on his tail, cheeks flushed from laughing at whatever the fuck they’re talking about, until finally, Leo comes into view.
He’s shirtless. All glistening, sun-kissed skin, hard planes, and sharp lines. Track pants hang loose around his hips, dragging my gaze downward to the unmistakably large bulge he’s sporting beneath the cotton. Taking the ball cap off his head, he rakes a hand through his messy hair and strides straight for his daughter, kissing her loudly on the cheek. “I missed you, baby girl.” He pulls away with a frown, wiping his hand over his mouth.
“God, what is that?” He pulls back to look at Salem properly. “Why is my daughter green?"
“Skincare,” I croak, my tongue trying to crawl down the back of my throat to suffocate me. Because for the life of me, I can’t stop staring at him.
It doesn’t help that he’s standing so close. With him in front of Salem and me right beside her, he’s close enough that I can smell the musky evidence on his skin of a long day of working out and running drills.
It should disgust me. Lord knows the smell of my brother’s sweat repulses me to the point of nausea, but Leo’s has the total opposite effect on my senses. It calls to the space between my legs, leaving an almost unbearable ache thrumming steadily in my core.
I must be ovulating.
Goddamn him and his body and his stupidly delicious scent and his motherfucking eight-pack and his big dick and his masculinity that is so incredibly toxic, simply because I can’t seem to resist it.
He’s an asshole for being so attractive.
Catching the frown on my brother’s face in my periphery, I realize that my leering hasn’t gone unnoticed. So, I change tactics.
Wrinkling my nose, I look up at Leo. “You stink.”
There’s no embarrassment on his face when he answers me, no shame at all, just a flash of amusement in his dark eyes. “I didn’t have time to shower after practice.”
“I’m sure the guys wouldn’t have minded waiting ten more minutes so you didn’t come home smelling like a scrotum.”
Someone snorts a laugh, but my attention is locked on the man in front of me. With one hand, he's stroking the fine hair on Salem's head and tapping his ball cap rhythmically against his thigh with the other. But his eyes...they're all mine. Deep and dark and twinkling with deviousness, as if he can see straight through my bullshit and would call me out on it if all the guys—namely, my brother—weren't listening in with rapt attention.
“You’ve had a lot of experience with smelly scrotums, then?” Leo asks, his lips twitching at the corners.
“Too much.”
“Then I’d suggest finding yourself a man with better personal hygiene next time.”
"Well, evidently, it won't be you."
Alex slams his hand down on the counter. "It won't be anyone if I have it my way." He turns to the rest of the guys. “What was so funny, anyway?”
Harley snorts. “A woman in the elevator asked Sully to autograph her pussy.”
I watch Leo through the corner of my eye, studying his expression as if it alone will tell me whether or not he actually did it. Not that I care either way. He can sign and touch and eat and fuck as much pussy as he wants—so long as it’s mine.
No, wait. I didn’t mean that.
Harley snatches a stool from the island and drops himself onto it. “He didn’t do it, obviously.”
“No.” Leo shakes his head with a wry smile. “Theo did, though.”
All eyes fly to Theo, who scratches the back of his head, his cheeks flushed pink from embarrassment. Arun, having finally completed the last round of “Wheels on the Bus,” extends his hand toward Theo for a fist bump.
Shaking my head at all the boyish buffoonery, I take the plate of cookies off the counter behind me and present them on the island with little ceremony.
"Cookies!" Theo rubs his hands together, elbowing Harley in the ribs. He has the excitement level of a child—the maturity of one too. Bless his gentle heart, but he doesn't strike me as the most intelligent player on the team. "Look, Brynn made cookies."
"Holy shit, Brynn," Harley says, his dirty-blond hair falling shaggy over his forehead. He looks to me with a wide smile, his teeth sparkling white and perfectly straight.
I'd probably find him a suitable prospect for my next sexual engagement if my mind wasn't already hung up on someone else. The sad truth is, I haven't even glanced in the direction of another man since the night I moved into Leo's apartment.
He's hijacked my thoughts completely and has my pussy locked inside a chastity belt that only he holds the key to. My lips still haven't stopped tingling from our almost kiss a few nights ago, and my dreams ever since have been more occupied by the imaginary feeling of his body on mine than my usual nightmares.
Which is bittersweet, really.
Sure, it's good that I'm no longer crying over Indiana Jones losing his lasso, but on the other hand, it's pretty damn jarring to wake up midway through an orgasm.
"Jesus, Leo, you're so fucking lucky." Theo sighs wistfully, taking a bite of his cookie and moaning like it's the best thing he's ever had in his mouth.
"Hmm?" Leo arches a brow. "How so?"
"Your nanny is hot as fuck, and she bakes!"
Alex's face turns scarlet. Everyone in the room sucks in a collective breath at whatever overprotective chaos my brother is about to rain down, but Theo, bless his adorable, underdeveloped brain, keeps going.
"Fuck me, Brynn, you're my perfect woman."
Sweet Jesus.
I tilt my head to one side and assess him with narrowed eyes. "You base your ideal woman on her appearance and ability to bake?"
"Real big into feminism, this guy." Harley slaps his buddy on the shoulder and smiles tentatively in Alex's direction in a bid to diffuse the tension. Then he bends his head to whisper sharply in Theo's ear, "Shut the fuck up and read the room, man."
Theo's face falls in realization. His eyes flick nervously to my brother, who's glaring at him with storms in his eyes, then back to me.
"No, no, no," he backtracks. "I didn't...um, I mean...baking is cool, and hotness is obviously great because you've got to wanna fuck your wife, right?" He grimaces. "Shit, I just did it again, didn't I? I'm not sexist, I swear."
"Bloody hell, dude, just stop talking." Leo pinches his nose in exasperation, but I can see him fighting not to laugh.
"No, wait," Theo pleads with me, his eyes wide and round like a puppy's. "I'm a dumbass, and I say stupid shit, but I swear I don't think that a woman's appearance is the most important thing. And I like a girl who bakes but not because I think women belong in the kitchen or anything. I just like cookies. But really, my perfect woman would just be someone who is kind, you know? And, like, knows her own power and can tell me when to shut up. And also, I'd like her to be smarter than me so that she can teach me shit but also doesn't make fun of me every time I get something wrong, which is obviously a lot. Basically, I just want someone who is nice to me." He takes a breath, shoulders deflated. "Anyway, I'm sorry if I offended you, Brynn. And thank you for the cookies. They're delicious."
Taking pity on him, I walk around the kitchen island to where he's standing with his head bowed. The rest of the boys look on with mixed expressions. Harley is bracing himself in anticipation of me chewing out his best friend, Alex has notably calmed down but still appears to be balancing on a hairpin trigger, Arun is still dancing to nursery rhymes with Salem, and Leo... I can't see him, but I feel his gaze searing into the back of my head.
Rising up on my tiptoes, I press a short kiss to Theo's cheek. His face flames red immediately, his lips stretching into a relieved smile.
"I hope you find her, Theo," I whisper so only he can hear. "No one deserves to be made fun of."
He nods silently, which is a first for him. But when I look into his sweet blue eyes, I can see gratitude swimming within them.
He's a good guy, even if he does say stupid shit sometimes. His soul is pure, and his heart is full of kindness. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know how to articulate his thoughts sometimes. His intentions are always in the right place.
And I truly hope he does find a woman who can show him all the compassion, patience, and understanding he deserves.
"Alright, boys, I'm going to get changed. There's only enough for one cookie each, but I'll let Salem explain why." Spinning on my heel, my gaze snags on Leo once more. His expression is one I haven't seen him wear before: heated in a possessive sort of way, flaming with something not dissimilar to jealousy. It sends a sharp thrill running through me, and I add just the slightest extra sway to my hips as I leave the kitchen and head down the hallway to my bedroom.
Just as I'm opening the door, a large hand wraps itself around my wrist.
"Brynn." He speaks my name with barely more than a breath, but I feel the weight of it in every atom of my being. I'm not even looking at him, but the air around us crackles with electricity the way it does every time we're close to one another.
"Leo."
Pressing himself into my back, he moves us both into my room and closes the door. I'm swung around in an instant, caged against the wall by his hands on either side of my head.
"It was nice what you said to Theo out there," he says, his words whispering across my lips.
My forehead crinkles in confusion. He has me up against the wall, close enough to kiss me, and yet this is what he wants to talk about?
"I didn't think anyone could hear."
"No one else did." He shrugs. "But then, no one else pays as close attention to you as I do."
My heart thunders so aggressively I'm certain he can feel it against him. "Oh." That's all I can say. It's all I'm capable of even thinking when he's as close to me as he is, with his biceps bulging in my periphery and that damn fucking scent of his skin that awakens something wild and primitive within me.
"But just so you know..." he whispers, dipping his head to run his tongue along the column of my neck, "the only man you should be putting your lips on is me."
He takes his ball cap off his head and places it gently onto mine. Then he's slipping back out of my room, leaving me panting and shaky against the wall and starving for the taste of his kiss.