Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“STAY (SPED UP VERSION)” BY SAMI ROSE
STEELE
The market was chaos, but as I’ve come to learn about Blossom, she not only took it in her stride, but was like a flower drifting on the wind, making everyone she touched smile.
She knew almost every vendor there, buying something from most of them until we had so many bags I wasn’t sure we’d fit them all in the sunshine bus.
Then her helping me potentially get my dream job at Chuck’s…
Emotion almost overwhelmed me as we were walking away.
Though, part of me wondered if leaving and getting a place of our own is still the right call, given what she can offer Jus here.
Everything here — the address, the stability, the jobs — it's exactly what we've been trying to build for years. Leaving now would mean starting over.
Not to mention it would take you further from her…
I shut that shit down real fast. Aside form the fact that I’ve known the woman for barely more than a day, she’d never want someone as fucked up as me. I’m no good for her. Too broken. Too dirty.
Once we’ve all had lunch, eating delicious pastries and fruit from the market, the kids all decide to go outdoors, and not having seen the garden much, me and Nox follow.
It shouldn’t surprise me that it’s as beautiful and huge as the house, with even what looks like a small stream at the bottom before some woodlands.
Blossom heads to the vegetable garden with some of the kids, helping them do some weeding and planting while Sally shows Jus and Nox how to collect the eggs and feed the chickens.
Ant is still indoors I think, and I know I really should go and get him, convince him to get some fresh air, but I want to enjoy this moment of peace for just a little while longer.
I can hear the goats, though they must be out of sight, and I close my eyes, letting the sun warm my face, the sounds of happy children fill my heart.
A soft clucking sound is followed by childish giggles, and I open my eyes to see Debbie, the house chicken, strutting towards me with Peggy hot on her heels. The chicken stops, allowing Peggy to scoop her up, and the girl makes a beeline for me.
“Mr. Steele! Mr. Steele! Hold Debbie!”
Before I can protest, the child is standing on her tiptoes, presenting me with the pure white bird. I’ve no choice but to take her, the warm chicken in my arms as Peggy skips off with a giggle like she hasn’t left a bull in a china shop.
Fuck.
What if I squeeze her too tight? She’s so small and fragile, so fucking breakable and I’m too big to be holding something so delicate.
The stupid bird settles immediately, making these soothing cooing noises that calm my racing heart and I realize the look on Nox’s face yesterday when he held her wasn’t fake.
It really is the most calming feeling I’ve had in years.
There’s something serene about it, even if a man like me has no reason to be holding something so pure, so breakable.
Movement in my peripheral vision has my head snapping up, watching as Blossom wipes dirty hands on her jeans, a soft smile on her face as she gazes at me. My heart clenches in my chest as she stands up, making her way over and I can’t take my eyes off her.
She really is like an angel, the sun making her honey-brown hair look like it’s run through with gold, creating a halo around her.
“See? Chicken cuddles really are the best.” Her tone is amused, and I find my lips tilting upwards.
“You weren’t lying,” I tell her, glancing at the very sleepy looking chicken in my arms.
“I never lie, Steele,” she answers softly, reaching out and stroking Debbie’s feathers.
Our fingers brush, and it’s as if a pulse of electricity jolts through me. Just like when she took my hand at the market. I swallow hard.
“I’ve never…”
“Never what?” She’s not pushing, just waiting with a patience that no one has ever given me.
“Held something this fragile without breaking it.”
The skin around her eyes creases in pain, her lips turning down slightly and I hate that I’ve put that sad look in those eyes.
“Steele…”
“I’m not a gentle man, Blossom.” I’m not sure why I’m telling her this. Or even if we’re talking about the chicken anymore.
She doesn't answer right away. Something moves behind her eyes — old and quiet and hers alone — before she reaches for her voice again. Her breath leaves her on a sigh, then she raises her other hand, cupping my cheek like she did yesterday and I swear I stop breathing. “You are when it matters.”
Without conscious thought, I lean down and she tilts up, my lips brushing over hers in the softest of caresses. It still sends lightning down my spine, steals my soul right out of my body. She makes a small sound, one that goes straight to my dick, and then presses her body closer.
Squawk!
Debbie’s indignant noise has us breaking apart, breathless and laughing as she ruffles her feathers before settling back down in my scarred arms.
Blossom’s eyes are soft, her cheeks deliciously blushed. “I should…”
She vaguely gestures back at the house, at the children.
“Yeah.”
But neither of us move, happily trapped in this hazy bubble of sunshine and soft kisses.
Finally, her hand reaches out again, finding mine in Debbie’s soft feathers and stroking over my fingers.
She may as well have caressed my cock with how hard that one touch makes it in my jeans which, luckily for me, keep him in check.
“See you at dinner, Steele.”
“See you, Flower,” I whisper back, watching as her eyelashes flutter at the nickname, before she slowly turns and walks away.
I watch until she heads inside, looking down at the contented chicken in my arms.
“Cockblock.”
“HANDS ON YOU” BY ASHLEY MONROE
BLOSSOM
The kids are all asleep, and I’m getting changed for bed, pleasantly tired after a full day. Yet my fingers keep tracing my lips, thinking about the barely there kiss which Steele placed on them this afternoon. Never has a kiss burned so brightly, lingered so long.
A knock on the door has me jumping a little. “C—come in,” I call, thinking it must be one of the kids needing something.
But instead, it’s the very man who I was just thinking about. He enters, shutting the door behind himself, and even in the soft lamplight his dark skin seems to glow, all that coiled strength barely contained. My heart gives a hard beat when his brown eyes meet mine.
“I can’t stop thinking about you. About our kiss,” he tells me, blunt and straight to the point. His honesty is as refreshing as it is terrifying.
“Me neither.” It leaves my lips unbidden, on a whisper of a breath, but it’s as if I shouted it for the visceral effect it has on Steele.
He crosses the room to me in all of three strides, all leashed power and dark intensity that threatens to steal the very breath from my lungs. He’s suddenly right in front of me, and I have to crane my neck to look up at him.
“Tell me you want this. Tell me you want me.” The words are a growl, a plea that allows nothing but the truth in return.
“I want you. Steele. So much. Even when I shouldn’t.”
He stops, going utterly still. “Because I’m a monster. Because I’m beneath you.”
It’s not a question. It’s a heartbreaking statement of fact as he sees it. It’s a truth, a story that he’s been told so much it’s become his own. And it makes me sick to my stomach.
“No!” I close the small distance between us, my hands coming up to his strong, wide t-shirt covered chest. “God, no, Steele. Never that.”
His brow furrows, confusion in those dark eyes of his. “Then why—”
“Because I’m sort of Justin’s foster mum, and you’re practically his brother, then there’s Anatole and Nox and—” My eyes go wide as I slap my hand over my mouth, realising what secrets just spilled out. Oh Christ.
His pupils dilate, swallowing up his dark irises, the muscles on his face relaxing as understanding dawns. A slow, dangerous smile curves his kissable lips, and my core pulses.
“You want my brothers too?” His voice drops even deeper than normal, that wild, primal edge that he has sharpening until it spears straight to the heart of me. “Nox and Anatole?”
I whimper, which has his nostrils flaring, my face no doubt flaming. “It sounds very wanton when you put it like that. Like I want all the desserts at the buffet table.”
He gives a low chuckle that has my thighs clenching, stalking closer, forcing me to back up, one step at a time until the backs of my legs hit the edge of the bed.
Goosebumps race across my skin in an intense tingle as he looms over me like some kind of dark woodland king, all that barely contained wildness focused entirely on me.
“You could have all the dessert, Flower.”
Another small push and I’m sitting on the bed, my head tilted back to maintain eye contact. I’m not sure I’m breathing, lost in the swirling darkness of his eyes. In the impossible promise he seems to be making.
“You could have everything.”
He comes closer, forcing me onto my elbows and he braces his hands on either side of my hips, caging me in and good lord I never want to be set free.
“But you want me now? First?”
His voice is all gravel. It makes my heart race, the blood rushing around my body until I’m dizzy with need. I’m trembling, nerves and arousal mixing potently inside me until all I can see and feel and smell is Steele.
“Yes.” It’s barely a whisper, but his nostrils flare all the same. “I want you first, Steele. I want you now.”
Something fierce and possessive flashes in his eyes.
“Good.”
His mouth captures mine in a claiming kiss, not gentle like the one earlier in the garden. This is hunger unleashed, and it sparks something in me, something desperate and needy, making my mouth open to him, my hands lifting and dragging him down with me as my back hits the mattress.