Chapter 11
" Y ou sure you don't want any more?" Adam pauses on his way to get up and grab another helping of roast chicken for himself.
I shake my head. "I couldn't eat another bite."
"Okay." He leans over and presses a kiss to the crown of my head.
My cheeks burn as I lean into the touch. Instinctively, my gaze darts to Cayden, who's definitely watching, but still doesn't seem upset by the display of affection.
Neither does anyone else, and this is all so fucking weird. It's definitely going to require a conversation at some point, but how do you bring up something like that?
For now, I'm just going with it.
Cayden and I returned from my grandmother's house to find the guys all back from whatever it was they did around the lumber yard. Sergio and Jax were playing video games in the den while Adam and Deandre worked on dinner.
Now we're all sitting around the big oak table in the dining area attached to the kitchen, finishing up another delicious meal.
I spare a thought of sympathy for Adam as he portions out the last drumstick.
Every one of these guys eats like a horse, and it's not like there are a lot of good take out options on Lonely Peak.
The guy must spend half his life cooking just to keep up. He doesn't seem to mind, though.
And I sure as hell don't mind watching. From behind, the lean lines of his body are on display. He's wearing jeans that show off his firm ass, and I clench down inside, imagining how it must have looked as he hovered over me this morning, wiry muscles bunching as he took me hard from behind.
Under the table, Cayden grips my knee. A different, more immediate wave of heat washes through me, and I remember viscerally the way his eyes glinted with hunger when he asked me to sleep in his bed tonight.
Shame twists in my belly, mixing with my arousal and driving it higher.
Cayden slipping his hand up my thigh doesn't help the situation as he gets dangerously close to the inner seam of my jeans.
It's so wrong to be thinking about getting fucked by one guy while being all but felt up by another.
But it also feels so, so right.
These men are clearly a unit. They move around each other as if they can anticipate each other's actions. The lack of jealousy among them is weird to me, but there's something natural about it, too.
As Deandre and Jax laugh about something at the other end of the table, my curiosity finally boils over.
"So how did you guys all end up living together like this anyway?" I nominally direct the question at Cayden, but the wider group picks up on it. A few glances are traded across the table.
"Well," Cayden says. "We met in the army."
"Right. My grandma told me—you signed up right after." I stutter. Should I be bringing this up? "After—"
"After my parents died." Cayden's mouth curls into a soft, sad smile. "It's okay."
"I mean, it's not, but…"
"But it is. I lost them, and I kind of lost my focus. But the military helped me get it back."
"It has a habit of doing that," Adam says, quiet. He puts the lid back on the pot and returns to the table, sinking down to sit beside me again.
"Right." Because he told me his story this morning, and it was awfully similar.
"Don't worry, girlie," Deandre says. "Not all of us have tragic backstories."
Thank God. I glance between him and Sergio. "How did the rest of you…"
Jax volunteers, "Some of us followed our idiot best friends."
"No one made you sign," Cayden says, holding up his hands.
"Well, someone had to watch your punk ass. Keep you from getting yourself killed."
"Don't think I'll forget that." Cayden's voice goes sober.
He and Jax exchange a meaningful look, and there's a story there.
Those two were always inseparable. But as they talk about their time in the military, the strength of their bond is even more clear. Something happened to them over there, and it made them closer than ever.
A beat passes in silence. Sergio looks around, then offers, "Nothing noble over here. Just needed the money."
It's the most he's said in one burst in the entire time I've been here. I blink, and he shrugs.
Deandre nods. "Lotsa guys get into the service like that."
"How about you?"
"Money sure didn't hurt. Always figured I'd get out and go to college on Uncle Sam's dime, only after…"
I look from one of them to the next. Shadows hang on all their faces, and I suddenly regret ever bringing this up. I was curious, but I didn't mean to kill any cats.
I didn't mean to remind them of anything they didn't want to have to think about.
"A lot of things didn't go according to plan," Adam says. "We did three tours. Active duty. Lost good guys and got into all sorts of messes. We hope we did more good than harm, but you never know."
How can he not know? "I'm sure—"
"Lots of shades of gray out there," Deandre echoes.
Jax's gaze goes far away. "Lots of things you can't ever forget."
Silence hangs for a long moment.
I swallow hard. "But you all came back."
"Yeah," Cayden says. "Banged up as hell and not quite right in the head, but we came back."
"Took a bullet to my leg," Jax says. "Ain't never gonna heal right."
"Shrapnel," Sergio says. He runs his hand over his arm, then the side of his face.
"You come back different," Adam says quietly. "Normal life doesn't make sense the way it used to. I had all these hyper-vigilance problems. Thought everything could be a bomb, everyone could be an enemy."
"I almost pulled a gun on my baby sister," Deandre admits. "Knew I had to get out after that."
"And none of my brothers or sisters wanted this place." Cayden gestures around. "All had other things going on by then, so I came back, but it was too much. Asked Jax if he wanted to move in."
"And then everybody else just started showing up," Jax says.
"Army buddies are like fungus," Deandre says. "Can't get rid of 'em, no matter how hard you try."
Cayden flashes a wry smile. "Wouldn't know. Never tried."
"So here we all are," Adam says.
I look down at my plate, overwhelmed by everything they just shared. "Well, I sure am glad you are."
Cayden removes his hand from my leg and grasps my palm, above the table this time. "So are we."
"So is the world," Jax says, and there's that swagger I expect from him. The seriousness that had darkened his gaze melts away, leaving only his dickish, brash self.
Sergio balls up his napkin and throws it at him. It hits square on, and Jax howls in protest. Sergio winks at me, then jerks a thumb at his own chest. "Sniper."
Yeah, that makes sense.
The lighter mood has even me cracking a smile. "And what do you guys all do here now? You can't be running the whole mill by yourselves."
The place was practically shuttered back when Cayden and I were kids, but supposedly, in its heyday, it employed a hundred guys during the season. These five are strong as hell, but there's still just five.
Deandre shakes his head. "Turned it into a specialty woodworking operation." He points to Sergio and Jax. "These guys deal with the lumber part. I do carpentry."
"I wouldn't just call it carpentry," Adam protests. "He's an artist."
Cayden nudges me. "Like you."
"You're an artist?" Deandre asks.
I squirm. "Sort of. Not really. Not anymore."
"Yes, you are," Cayden says.
"You should come by my workshop sometime," Deandre says. "I'll show you around."
My heart leaps. I haven't had much passion for making art of late, but the idea of seeing another person create something from nothing…that's appealing.
"I'd love that."
A slow, pleased smile spreads across Deandre's face. "Good. Do it, then."
"I will."
"Anyway," Jax says, picking up the thread. "Cayden does a little bit of everything, both at the mill and in the carpentry workshop. And Adam runs the business."
"And the kitchen," Adam reminds them all.
I grin. "And I thank you for that." I gesture at my scraped-clean plate. "This was delicious."
"Happy to cook for you anytime," he says, and there's a saucy flirtatiousness to the way he says it that makes me flush anew.
"Happy to have him cooking for you," Deandre adds. "If I knew all it took was a pretty girl to have him bringing his A-game…"
"Hey!" Adam protests.
"Don't listen to him," Jax says. "You know he's just talking shit."
"Not the only reason I'm glad to have a pretty girl around, though," Deandre says. He flashes a panty-dropping smile my way.
And if Adam was being flirty, Deandre's being downright seductive.
Wow. I might have forgotten it with all the heavy conversation, but I'm suddenly reminded anew that I'm surrounded by a group of incredibly attractive men. That I'm the only woman here—maybe the only one half of them have seen in quite some time.
Normally, that might make me feel selfconscious. But between Adam's and my encounter this morning and the simmering sexual tension that Cayden and I have practically promised to explore tonight, I'm feeling…well, sexy. Unusually so.
All the appreciative eyes on me feel like actual caresses on my skin. And I may not be hungry for food anymore.
But I'm definitely, definitely hungry for something else.
My fantasy from last night flashes before my eyes. I'd imagined being taken in turn by each one of these strong, gorgeous, ripped men.
And it was just that. A fantasy.
But the way they're looking at me right now…
What if it was more? What if it could be a reality?
The room suddenly feels too hot, my skin too tight. The sexual energy in the place is thick enough to be cut with a knife.
Apparently, I'm not the only one to feel it.
Cayden places his napkin on the table and pushes his plate away. He stands.
"Haley. That thing we were talking about earlier…"
I rise to my feet so fast I see spots.
Yes. Hell, yes.
I want him. I've wanted him since I was thirteen, and I can't believe I finally get to have him. He told me this afternoon that he had all kinds of things he wanted to do to me, and I can imagine a list about a hundred miles long.
I want him hard, I want him fast. I want his mouth on me, and I want the hot, silky length of his cock pushing into my throat.
I want him soft and sweet and slow.
He holds out his hand, and I take it immediately.
And I never would have imagined I would do this, but I hesitate. All those other gazes are on me. Adam looks as turned on as he was this morning, but he makes no move to challenge Cayden's claim. Jax looks openly ravenous while also kind of customarily pissed about it.
And Deandre and Sergio just look like they're biding their time.
Cayden tugs on my hand. With effort, I pull my gaze away from the other guys.
But as I let Cayden lead me to his bedroom, I can't get their aroused stares out of my head.
I can't help but wonder if my wild fantasy is really as wild as it seemed…