7. Atticus #4
Lemon’s smile is brittle, but before I can pull her into my arms, Felix circles the table, crouches down in front of my woman and hugs her. When I lift my head to look at my sister, her expression is as shocked as I feel.
Felix is tactile with me, Tori, Jude, and August, but rarely with anyone else.
So to see him hugging Lemon for a second time of his own volition is surprising.
When he did it this morning, I assumed he was just feeding off my behavior toward her.
I figured he was sensing my desire for her and showing me he understood.
But this hug feels different. This hug isn’t about me.
It’s about my twin and my girl sharing something, and I don’t know how to feel about that.
When Felix pulls away, his eyes are warm and soft.
He likes her. I don’t know if he likes her because he senses she’s mine, or if he just recognizes something in her and likes it.
I’m not sure if I care why he’s drawn to her.
I’m just grateful that he is. If he hated her, I’m not sure Lemon and I could have a future.
But knowing that he already feels comfortable enough with my woman to want to hug her makes the tightness I hadn’t realized I was holding in my chest unwind.
Lemon sniffles, and when I move my gaze to her, she’s subtly wiping under her eyes, like she doesn’t want anyone to realize she’s so emotional.
“You’re not alone anymore. You have Atticus and three brothers and a sister now,” Felix says without any preamble as he sits back down on his chair and takes a bite of his cornbread.
The rest of the evening is comfortably easy, like we’ve eaten together a million times and not at all like I only met Lemon this morning. We finish our chili, then eat the dessert Tori brought over. Once the second bottle of wine we opened is finished, Tori announces that it’s time for her to go.
“Thanks for dinner,” she says, hugging Felix first, then me, before she turns to Lemon. “I’ll see you on Monday. Will you be okay to start at seven thirty a.m.? It’ll give me a chance to walk you through the basics before we start to get busy.”
Lemon nods. “Of course. And thank you, Tori. I’m really excited to work for you.”
“Me too,” Tori says. “See you guys later.”
“I’ll walk you over to the store,” I tell my sister.
“I’ll be fine,” she says, waving me away.
“Of course you will be, because I’ll be walking you to the store,” I tell her, making sure she knows this isn’t optional.
“What about Lemon?” she asks.
“She can hang out with Felix until I get back.”
“Do you want to see my sketches?” Felix asks Lemon, shocking me again because he rarely shows anyone his work until it’s finished.
“I’d love that,” Lemon says softly.
As a group, we all leave the loft and head down the stairs.
At the bottom, Tori hugs Lemon, then Felix again while I gather my girl into my arms and kiss her until she’s breathless and my dick is hard.
Palming her ass, I squeeze her bare cheeks, then smirk at her outraged expression. “I won’t be long,” I tell her.
“Okay,” she says quietly, her cheeks pink.
Leaving Lemon feels harder than it should, but I dutifully follow my sister out of the warehouse and into the cool evening air.
I grew up a little over an hour from here, so despite the gentle summer breeze that wafts my sister’s hair, I know in a few months the warm days will be replaced with icy mornings and freezing nights.
“Soooo,” Tori says, looking at me with an amused smirk.
“Soooo,” I mimic back.
“Oh, come on, Att. Lemon? I adore her, but seriously, what the hell is going on?”
“She’s mine,” I say simply, like that’s all the explanation that’s needed.
“Just like that?” she asks, her steps slowing to a stop as she turns to look at me.
“Just like that.” I shrug, because to me, it really is that simple.
“Atticus Hoffman, what the fuck has gotten into you? You can’t claim a woman you just met this morning and then shrug like it’s nothing.” Her ire flares, then evaporates in an instant as her expression morphs from annoyance to surprised understanding. “Holy fuck,” she exclaims.
“What?” I question.
“You got Barnetted.”
“I got what?” I snap, annoyed.
“You know about the Barnetts. Cody’s brothers, I told you about them—seven brothers met seven women. They all live together and have a million babies, like that old musical that Mom used to love, only real life.”
“Little Bit, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“The Barnetts have this family legacy. They see a woman and fall in love…like instantaneously. It’s crazy. But after they were all loved up, it started happening to the smoke jumpers.”
“Are you saying that Nero saw you and fell in love right in that second?” I ask, raising a knowing eyebrow at her.
“No,” she scoffs. “No, his instant feeling for me was hate. But it was instant. He told me that he knew the first time we met that I made him feel some kind of way. He just didn’t understand what it was.”
“That’s not what happened with Lemon and me.”
“So what did happen?” she questions.
“She bumped into me in the grocery store. She was rushing and not looking where she was going, and she crashed right into me. Her basket went flying, and all the steak and protein shakes her asshole ex-boss had her buying went all over the place. She got down on her knees to pick it all up and…”
Tori’s laugh is mischievous as fuck. “You got Barnetted, Att. Oh god, this is perfect. I like Lemon. I have since she started coming into the store before I bought it. She has this infectious energy. But I was prepared to warn you off if I thought you’d hurt her.”
“Wait,” I interrupt her. “You were going to warn me off her, to protect…her. I’m your brother.”
“And you’re a big, bad alphahole. You’ll be fine. But Lemon, she has this…” Pausing, her expression turns pensive. “She has this sadness beneath all of her sunshine. Be careful with her, Att.”
“She’s mine,” I tell her, feeling my ire starting to rise.
“And does she know what being yours means?”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I snap.
“You’re into kinky fuckery. Is that her thing, or are you just assuming you can coerce her into doing what you want?”
Shocked, I take a step back. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m a fucking bully who’d force a woman to do what I tell her to?
” Jesus, I had no idea Tori felt this way about me, and it hurts.
I might consider myself a Dom, but I’m not an abusive asshole.
As far as I’m concerned, sex and sexual intimacy are all about consent, and I enjoy giving, not taking.
Sighing, Tori shakes her head. “No, Att, that’s not what I think of you at all. I’m sorry. This is just a shock. I’ve never met one of your girlfriends. Have you even had a girlfriend before? I guess I knew the Barnett effect was real. I just didn’t expect it to happen to you.”
“Tori, I’m only going to tell you this once.
My feeling one hundred percent sure that she was mine the moment I saw her has nothing to do with people I’ve never met.
But I’m not willing to question how I feel about her because I’ve never experienced anything like this before in my life. Lemon is mine.”
Sighing, Tori nods. “I get that. Once I admitted that I had feelings for Nero, it was like a slap in the face that I hadn’t recognized what I was feeling before. I like her for you, Att. Just…”
“I know how to treat my woman, Tori,” I chide angrily.
“I know you do. I’m sorry for questioning that,” she says, as we start to walk again. “Felix likes her.”
“He hugged her the moment I introduced them. I’ve never seen him do that before—be so openly affectionate with a stranger. Hell, he rarely hugs Mom and Dad, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hug anyone outside of our family before,” I admit.
“And she’s…into what you’re…into?” my sister asks cautiously.
“I’m not a fucking deviant, Tori. I don’t make her walk around with a butt plug in her ass,” I retort, swallowing back the chuckle that tries to break free.
“I told you that in confidence,” Tori snaps. “But if you’re not into butt plugs, what are you into?”
“Do you really want to talk about sex?” I question.
“Why not? You know a little about my sex life. It only seems fair that I learn a bit about yours too.”
“Jesus, Little Bit, this feels messed up,” I admit, unsure if telling my sister about my sexual preferences is a sign of how close we are or a massive overshare that we’ll both regret later.
“Oh my god, just tell me,” she says with a smirk.
“Fine. I like sexual submission and total control in the bedroom.”
Rolling her eyes, Tori snorts. “Well, duh, that’s obvious.”
“I like a woman to kneel for me.”
“Kneel? Like to suck your dick?”
“Sometimes, but it’s more than that. Seeing Lemon on her knees is a huge turn-on for me. I like to be able to touch her and feed her and have her rest her head on my thigh while I play with her hair.”
“So it’s a control thing?” she questions, her steps slowing again.
“Yes and no. Forcing her isn’t what turns me on. I enjoy her doing it willingly because I asked it of her. It’s her submission and the innocent agreement in her expressive eyes.”
“And that’s it?”
Sucking in a breath, I blurt, “I’m a pleasure Dom, Little Bit. I like to give my woman as much—and sometimes more—pleasure than she can handle. Watching her come is what gets me off.”
“Ohhh,” Tori says, her eyes wide as her lips curl into an amused grin.
“Holy crap, big bro. No wonder Lemon wasn’t bothered about wearing a dress and no underwear at dinner tonight.
You’ve dickmatized her into submission.” Laughing loudly, she skips forward toward her shop as I shake my head and follow after her.