Chapter 17
Samson tapped the table, watching Landry carefully. Thankfully, he’d avoided killing the man.
Landry leaned against the kitchen counter, sipping his coffee, grinning like a damn fool.
I rolled my eyes.
“What?” he asked.
Natasha came in the back door, “Mer, your brother’s car is…” She stopped when she spotted us all. “Oh, you already know he’s here.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, he got a rather eye-opening welcome.”
She looked at Samson. “You walked in on them?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Samson snapped.
Natasha went to him and hugged him around the neck. “It could have been worse.”
“How so?”
“It could have been Phillip with her.”
Samson seemed to think it over. He exhaled slowly. “Okay, so you have a point.”
I stood and went to refill my coffee. Landry eased it from my grasp and handled doing it for me. His gaze swept over me and he grinned. Groaning, I pushed on his face. “Stop.”
“Stop what?” he asked, acting all innocent. He jerked me to him and kissed my lips tenderly.
I pushed on his chest lightly. “Landry, stop.”
“I don’t want to.”
Natasha laughed.
“I think you should go now. Don’t you need to get to the diner?” I asked, looking up at Landry.
His eyes widened. “Wait, are you basically kicking me out the door?”
“I’m trying.”
He laughed and looked at Samson. “Figures she’d be the one pushing me away now, huh?”
“That is a very Mer thing to do,” Samson agreed. “Ignore her. While you’re at it, marry her. I’m not letting her be your fuck buddy.”
I flinched.
Natasha slapped him. “Nice, Samson. Real nice.”
Landry grabbed me to him and kissed me. When he drew back, he nipped at my lips. “What do you think?”
“About?”
“Having my last name.”
Laughter erupted from me. “You can’t be serious. Yesterday you acted like I was contagious and today you’re asking my thoughts on marrying you. Go away, Landry.”
“And yesterday you told me when you give yourself to someone it’s forever,” he said, refusing to let go of me. “What changed?”
I tensed.
Natasha sighed. “She’s terrified you’ll hurt her in the end too, Landry.”
Landry wrapped his arms around me and held tight. “Don’t make me call my dad and brothers and enlist their help here. I think you know the men in my family like you an awful lot. Hell, I’ve had to ignore my brothers’ calls for fear they’ll show up just to try to move in on my girl.”
“Your girl?”
“Yes,” he said, kissing my lips tenderly.
I smiled against his lips and snuggled closer to him. “Fine. You don’t have to leave, but you do have sit here with my brother glowering at you for banging his little sister. And you should probably tell him it wasn’t your first time.” Laughing, I darted toward Natasha as Samson stood, his eyes wide.
Landry picked up his coffee and chuckled. “Sit down, Samson. We’ve got some things to talk about.”
Natasha pulled me into a hug. “What do you say to escaping to the city for the rest of the day? Just you and me. Like we used to?”
I glanced back at Landry, waiting for his approval for some reason.
He winked and nodded. “Make sure your cell is charged, Mer. I don’t want to spend the day worrying.”
“I will.”
“Is it me or are they already acting like a married couple?” Natasha asked, tugging on me. “Come on. We need to get ready to go.”
“Natasha,” Landry said. “Before you take off, can I talk to you a minute? Alone?”
Seeing how he wanted some privacy, I hurried off to get ready for the remainder of the day.