Chapter 12 #2
The way she said it had me sitting up straight and pointing at her in excitement. “Did you just quote Ace Ventura?”
She nodded with a skeptical expression, like her quoting that movie didn’t make me fall for her a little more just now.
“I love that movie. Please tell me you love stupid comedies as much as I do.”
Her lips curved in a slow grin. “I may or may not indulge in the occasional brilliantly clever film when I need a break from battling it out online.”
The cushion adjusted beneath me as I shifted on the couch to lean in closer. “All-time favorite, go.”
“Napoleon Dynamite. Duh,” she scoffed, as if it was a dumb question. “You?”
“I’m old-school. Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Juno nodded, tapping her lips with a single finger. “Solid choice. I approve.” A mischievous look overtook her features. “Did we just become best friends?”
My smile couldn’t have been wider. “Yep. And I love that you just quoted my other all-time favorite, Step Brothers.”
“Of course. You set me up for that one, really.”
“Oh fuck,” Langston griped. “There are two of you.”
Juno and I turned to him with our tongues sticking out. When his gaze darkened, I snapped mine back in fast, Juno doing the same.
“Let me guess, you’re a Rambo or Die Hard fan,” Juno teased. When neither Langston nor I commented on her guess, she studied me and then him. “What? What am I missing? Am I wrong?”
“Just slightly,” I chuckled under my breath, holding in the truth.
“West,” Langston growled, stalking over to where we sat. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Juno’s gaze volleyed between us before she scoffed. “What, does he like romance movies? Wait, nope, he’s totally a Hallmark guy, right?”
There had never been a more silent silence in the history of silence.
Even GG slowly backed out of the room, though I swear one paw covered the cat’s teasing smile.
With a loud gasp, Juno leapt up, pointing an accusing finger at Langston’s chest.
“Shut. The. Front. Door. You do not.” She whipped her head toward me. “He does not. Not the grumpiest, snarkiest asshole in Anchor Bay.”
“I’m not grumpy,” Langston pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I mean, she’s not wrong. You are—” The unamused expression Langston shot at me said I would pay if I finished that sentence. “And he’s a cat daddy.” I slapped a hand over my mouth, shocked the truth had slipped out. “I’m sorry,” I cackled.
“Oh, you’re going to get it now.” He lunged toward me, anger and heat burning in his darkening gaze.
In a desperate escape attempt, I jumped over the coffee table, barely missing Langston’s outstretched fingers, and ducked behind Juno. It might make me a coward, but I grabbed her around the waist to use as a human shield.
“You can’t hurt the already injured,” I shouted from behind her back. “It goes against the bro code.”
“So does calling me out on owning GG, you fucker,” he snapped.
“I think I’m dreaming.” Reaching down, Juno pinched my arm, hard.
“Ow!” I yelped. “You’re supposed to pinch yourself, not someone else.”
“Yeah, but that hurts, so….” She shrugged.
Turning to face Langston, she reached out to pinch his chest, but he snagged her hand out of midair. In a move I’d been on the receiving end of before, he carefully twisted her around, pinning her back to his chest.
Juno’s lashes fluttered, her brain attempting to catch up to recent events. A deep chuckle vibrated in my chest at her confusion. Closing the distance, I stopped in front of her, sandwiching her between us.
“What just happened?” Her whispered breath brushed against my throat, making goose bumps spread in its wake. “And why am I not freaking out?”
“Because you know you’re safe with us.” I stroked a single finger along her jaw. “And it’s hot as fuck.”
Her plump lips parted in a sharp inhale. Flicking my gaze to Langston, I found his green eyes already on me, hooded and blazing with heat. Not dropping my own heated stare, he leaned down, brushing his lips against the shell of Juno’s ear.
“No more distractions, shortcake. Tell me who they are and why you’re hell-bent on avoiding them.”
Juno chewed on the corner of her lip. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about Hallmark movies—” With an almost growl, Langston dipped lower and nipped at her neck. “Hey,” she exclaimed. “That hurt.”
“Not as bad as my palm against your bare ass if you don’t answer me right now, Juno.”
“Fucking hell,” I groaned, sealing my lids shut. “Can we not say shit like that when my dick is already so hard it fucking hurts.” At her soft giggle, I peeked one eye open. “It’s not funny.”
Juno cleared her throat. “Right. Sorry, it’s just…
.” She looked over her shoulder at Langston.
“What the actual hell is going on right now? Why are you being nice to me?” She looked back at me.
“And why are you suddenly very comfortable talking about your dick and touching me and talking dirty and—”
“Because I’m done pretending that I don’t want you,” I whispered. “After last night, there’s no going back for me, sweet cheeks.”
“And your bossy friend back there?” She arched a questioning brow, but I could see the confusion mixed with interest in her eyes.
I eyed Langston. “He’s done seeing you as a threat to his family and can finally admit what you really are and have been since you arrived in Anchor Bay.”
“What’s that?” Juno rasped.
“Ours,” Langston growled.
She swallowed nervously. “I’m not so sure about that. I told you earlier, West, I’m broken. I’m really not someone either of you should want. And on top of that, I don’t think I can.”
“Why?” Langston asked.
“I’m scared, mostly.”
“We’d never hurt you. You have to know that.”
I nodded, agreeing with Langston’s statement.
“Physically, yeah, I know, but… what if I trust you both and you break me all over again? Or worse, you smother the part of me that makes me Juno Jones just when I’ve finally found those lost parts of me again.”
Silence filled the small space. I started to respond, but Langston beat me to it.
“That’s it.” Juno’s sharp squeal had me wincing as Langston picked her up by the waist and carefully set her down in his chair.
Gripping the armrests on either side, he leaned in, brows pulled in tight.
“You tell me everything that fucker did, and I swear to you I’ll give it back to him a hundred times over.
He fucked with you, which means he’s a dead man walking in my book.
Tell me, Juno, or I swear on my damn cat that I will turn your ass red until you do. ”
With a wince, I adjusted myself to relieve the pressure.
His bossy, protective nature had always been a turn-on, but when it was directed at Juno, someone I was also attracted to and wanted to keep safe, it was almost too much.
Just imagining her over his knee, bare ass in the air, had precum soaking my boxer briefs.
“Okay,” she whispered, cheeks flushed pink as she blinked up at him. “But you have to back up a little. I’m fighting the urge to either smack you or beg you to follow through on that punishment.”
Langston stood tall and crossed his arms. “Have you ever been spanked before for punishment or pleasure?”
Her head rolled from side to side against the back of the chair. “No, but I’ve lived a thousand different lives in the books I read.” The pink staining her cheeks darkened. “Fuck, what am I even saying right now? You’re putting some kind of lust-induced spell on me or something.”
“Same, shortcake. Now.” He reached behind him, pulled the coffee table until it was a foot away from the chair, and sat, his knees encasing hers. “Talk.”
Blowing a raspberry, she looked at the ceiling.
“The two people I never wanted to see again, ever, who you so rudely brought to my little sliver of Alaskan paradise—” She cut a frustrated look at Langston, who just shrugged like it didn’t affect him, but I saw the stiffness in the movement, the downturn of his lips.
“—are Eric Adler, my former fiancé, and Stephanie Wilson, the woman I caught him cheating on me with.” She paused, her gaze flicking between us. “Oh, and bonus, she’s my sister.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck.