Chapter 19 #2
“No need to be sorry. Not your fault. You should be able to dance if you want to without people touching you.”
“I thought it was Carter for a minute,” I tell him. Then I smile. “I just wanted to dance for you.”
“I liked it.” Eli’s voice is thick. Gritty. “You want to continue this at home?”
I do. I want to dance for this man like Salome danced for Herod. Without the chopping off John the Baptist’s head part. “I’ll tell Carter,” I say, sliding my shoes back on.
“Goran’s grabbed him. Their dance off is starting.”
Sure enough, the two of them are in the middle of the dancefloor, surrounded by the team. Goran is waving me over.
I shake my head. “Gotta go,” I mouth. “Shall we?” I ask Eli, turning back to him.
“Yeah.” He doesn’t make a show of leaving with me. Just puts his hand softly in the curve of my back as we walk out of the club. Maybe people noticed. Maybe they didn’t. I can’t bring myself to care. I just want to go home with this man.
And I do.
ELI
We’re having sleepy morning sex when my phone buzzes. It’s the best kind of sex. Mackenzie’s in front of me on her side, her body warm and inviting, so tight as I slide in and out of her. I’m kissing her neck, her jaw, whispering in her ear how beautiful she is.
She lets out little soft breaths as I circle her with my finger. I loved last night – the part when we got home and she danced for me. We fucked on the floor like animals and it felt like an apology. She said it too. That she was sorry for making me feel bad.
It was enough.
This morning feels like heaven. If I ever end up there, this is how I want every morning to be. Soft and warm and sensual.
Making love to my girl.
Without the damn phone that keeps vibrating.
“You want to get that?” Mackenzie looks over her shoulder. Her lips are swollen from how much we kissed last night. Her cheeks are pink from how much I’m rubbing her this morning.
“Nope.”
It buzzes again, damn it. I snatch it up and groan. The brother’s group chat.
Why didn’t I turn my phone off when we went to sleep?
“Problems?” Mackenzie asks, her voice ragged.
This time I turn it off. “No. Just assholes.”
She giggles, and it does amazing things to my dick. I’m going to have to make her laugh when I’m inside of her more often. I kiss her throat again, moving my other hand to her breasts, sliding slowly in and out of her like we have all the time in the world.
Hearing her breath hitch is my jam. Making her cry out my name is my life’s work. Feeling her come reminds me, again, that I’d like to die like this.
Inside Mackenzie Hunter. Feeling her orgasm around me.
I take my time, riding out her pleasure, letting it mix with my own. When I finally come inside of her, it feels like every cell in my body is on fire. She turns to kiss me, and it’s awkward as fuck because she’s still facing away, but I love it anyway.
I clean her up – because that’s also my thing – then I get back into bed and pull her against me. I’m sleepy again. It’s the weekend and we deserve to rest, damn it.
But then she looks up at me. “Do you want to reply to that message?”
“What message?”
“The one that made your phone go crazy.”
I blink. My brothers. Damn. Exactly the people I don’t want to be thinking about right now.
“It’s okay, it’s probably Holden.”
“Your doctor brother?”
“That’s the one.” I nod. “He’s in town for my nephew’s birthday party. He’s probably pissed that I’m not there today.”
Her mouth drops open. “You’re missing your nephew’s birthday party?”
I try not to laugh at her expression of horror. “No, that’s tomorrow. But Holden came for the weekend. I’m guessing it’s one of his rare times off.”
“Then you should go be with him.”
“I want to be with you.” I’m not going anywhere. Not today, anyway. I’m going to nap and fuck and maybe eventually the two of us will get up. “Anyway, the party’s tomorrow. I’ll see them all then.”
“That’s nice.” She smiles. “I bet they’ll be happy to see you.”
I stroke her hair. “Come with me.”
Mackenzie blinks. “What?”
“Come with me to the party. Meet my family.” It’s weird how much I want her to say yes. I want her there with me. I want her to meet my brothers and their wives. She’s becoming important to me. I don’t want to hide this thing away anymore.
“I want to.” She doesn’t look sure though. “But won’t I be intruding?”
I laugh.
“What?” she asks.
“You haven’t met my family. It’s one big intrusion.” It takes me five minutes, but I manage to explain how Myles, Liam, Holden, and I have one mom, while Brooks and Linc have another, and then we have a little sister from my dad’s latest wife.
“And your mom and your dad’s other wives are best friends?” she asks. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. They go on vacations together. They celebrate holidays as one big happy family. It’s weird.”
“But also nice. You don’t have to choose between them.” She draws a circle with her finger on my bare chest. “All my friends with divorced parents hated the holidays. Being shuttled from one house to another.”
I look at her. “How about you? Do you hate holidays?”
“I love them. They were the one time of year that we were all in the same place.”
“You said that in the past tense,” I point out.
“Well, for the last three years, I’ve kind of worked through the holidays.
We had this huge project and most of the other consultants have families.
I volunteered to cover things while they traveled home.
” She doesn’t look unhappy about it. “Brad and Johnny barely get time off during the season, anyway. And Mom and Dad and Isabella have been busy with their Holiday specials for the last couple of years.”
I keep forgetting her parents and her sister are on TV. I so rarely watch it. I make a note to check it out. I’m curious about them all.
“Well you get to spend one day with my family,” I tell her. “That should put you off holidays for good.”
She laughs. “I’m looking forward to it.”
The weird thing is she sounds like she means it. The even weirder thing is that I’m looking forward to it as well.
“What do you want to do about my family?” I ask her.
She blinks. “What do you mean?”
“You want to pretend we’re just friends?” I don’t like it, but I’ll do it for her if I have to.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Let’s do this right.” She looks at me. “Whatever this is.”
“You know what it is,” I say, tracing her jaw with my fingertip.
“Do I?” She breathes softly as my finger reaches her lips. She’s always so skittish. And if I’m being truthful, I like the challenge. I like the chase.
And I like to win. Always.
She flicks my finger with her tongue and I groan.
“You’re mine,” I tell her. “That’s what it is.”
She sucks me in and I’m gone. I pull my hand away and grab her hips, hitching her up until she’s straddling me. “These lips,” I say, sitting up and brushing her mouth with my own. “Mine.”
I kiss down her throat and her chest, to the swell of her breasts. “These are mine, too.”
And I pull her into my favorite position. Thighs pressed against my cheeks, her hands braced against the headboard.
“And this?” I mutter. “Mine too.” I slide my tongue along her seam, and she clenches her thighs.
“Eli…”
“Shut up and let me eat my breakfast.”
And for once – to my surprise – she does.