Chapter 14 Indy
Indy
“Cherry, baby,” Toren whispers in my ear the next morning.
True to his word, hardly any work got done, not until we were starving for a different kind of hunger, one that involved food.
After heating up leftovers, showering, and getting dressed again, Toren went out to the pole barn, needing to get the last piece finished on his commissioned project.
He’d tried to convince me to let him come with me to check out of the bed and breakfast, but that made zero sense.
While I’d have loved to sit around and watch him work, getting my stuff out of the way meant we could relax later.
“Shhh.” I open one eye and see Toren sitting on the side of the bed. My finger goes to his mouth, holding it there for him to give me a few more minutes of sleep.
“I see I wore you out. Gave you an extra thirty minutes.” His hand grasps mine, and he nips at the tip of my finger.
I’m not a morning person. I’ve tried everything: setting multiple alarms, going to bed super early, and having an iced coffee in an insulated cup on my nightstand.
Nothing works. Toren is learning this the hard way.
“Few more minutes,” I mumble before rolling over and burying my head beneath the pillow. It doesn’t matter that he’s still holding my hand captive.
“Cherry, hate to put you on the spot, but you’ve got about ten minutes until Jett gets here along with all the others.
They’re helping me load the trailer up, see the woman who gave me shit, and make sure there isn’t anything else we need before we hit the road tomorrow.
” My eyes spring open. I sit straight up, the sheets falling down my chest, and I’m wide the hell awake.
“Um, what? Shit, I’ve got to shower.” I fling the hair out of my face and attempt to climb over Toren but land in his lap instead.
“Not going anywhere till I kiss you good morning. You sleep like the dead, cherry. Might have to get creative in waking you up.” I’m in his lap, naked.
His hands are on my ass, making my core clench with just one touch, and when he does what he says, I’m a needy and achy mess, all of which I shouldn’t be after the night we had together.
“Eww, morning breath.” I slap a hand over my mouth, saying the words through my fingers.
“Don’t give a fuck about that. Give me your lips, cherry.
” His roughened voice hits my senses at the same time he moves my hand, and then his mouth lands on mine.
The sudden electric shock to my system is the best wake-up call I could have ever asked for.
He tastes dark yet dangerously sweet. His tongue sweeps in, claiming me with a possessiveness that’s all Toren Navarro.
My heart hammers against my ribs. He groans into my mouth, and my hands fly to his shoulder, gripping his corded muscles as he pulls my lower lip between his teeth and tugs, sending spark of lightning straight to my core.
His hand moves from my ass upward, his palm searing a blazing path until his thumb grazes the underside of my breast. When my breath hitches, he breaks the kiss just long enough to nibble at the sensitive curve of my jaw. The stubble from his beard grazes my skin before he devours my mouth again.
“Get up and movin’, cherry. We’ll finish this later.” He pinches my nipple before soothing the pain away with a rasp of his thumb.
“Not fair, not fair at all.” He stands up, then helps me do the same.
“Should’ve woken up earlier. Could’ve showered with me. Now you get to wait.” He taps my ass, more in a loving way than a man would when he’s doling out punishment. What he doesn’t know is that I’d probably enjoy that, too.
“Yeah, yeah. Can you make me a cup of coffee while I get ready?” I bite my lower lip when I see he’s wearing his customary fit of jeans and a tee.
“You got it.” He stands still, watching as I move through his bedroom, and when I look over my shoulder, I see the same hunger in his eyes that’s coursing through my own.
“I won’t be long.” I make a promise to myself to try harder to get up in the morning in order to spend more time with the man who makes me feel like the most beautiful woman on earth.
--
“Hey, Indy, I can’t believe you’re brave enough to take a three-day road trip with my cousin.
You know he burps and farts, right?” Is how I’m greeted when I walk into the kitchen.
Toren is at the counter, making a cup of coffee.
I’m hopeful it’s mine. The shower didn’t do very much to wake me up.
If anything, the warm water nearly lulled me back to sleep.
“Jesus, Jett. Decorum much?” Toren says, and I’m caught between not laughing and laughing. I do the latter as I make my way over to her.
“Hi, Jett.” I give her a quick hug. I’ve seen her every day since meeting Toren, and we’ve hit it off in the friendship department.
“What? I’m being honest. I’ve had plenty of childhood sleepovers.
Don’t worry, I packed you a little goody bag, air freshener included.
” I’m not sure if Jett is jerking his chain or being serious, but something tells me she’ll stay true to her word about packing treats, though I’m highly suspicious of her packing air freshener.
“You wanna go there, I can dig up some dirt on you, too, Juliette Navarro.” She rolls her eyes, and I move to Toren. He does have coffee, and I’m a hoe for some caffeine in the morning.
“Thanks, sweetheart.” I place my hand on his chest, reaching up to place a kiss on his cheek. He moves at the last minute, making my lips land on his in a sweet kind of way
“You got it, cherry.” The sounds of opening and closing doors sound through the open side door.
“That’d be the guys and their women, along with Nellie.
She’s a hoot and keeps you on your toes.
” While I was showering, Toren gave me the rundown on his friends, little slices of their personality, and from what he said, Nellie is the cutest little girl.
“I’ll keep her company. Send the women in while you do the mainly burly, make-grunty-noises-when-you-lift-heavy-objects deal.” Jett is a lot like Toren in how they harmlessly give one another shit back and forth.
“You must be Indy. I’m Sable and this is Nellie.” She hugs me and then turns to Jett. “How long have you been in town and kept it a secret?”
“Well, it was supposed to be a quick trip. Literally, like a day at the most. Kind of hard to squeeze it all in at once.” Jett travels more than me, which is saying something because Miranda has me running around like a chicken with its head cut off a lot of the time.
“Are you Uncle Toren’s girlfriend?” Nellie interjects, holding her hand out for me to shake.
“I’d apologize, except this is true Nellie fashion,” Sable says.
“So, are you? I’m Kara, Colt’s sister.” We shake hands.
“We’re not technically labeled, but considering what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, I’d hazard a guess that yes, I am.” I look to the next woman, clearly Jace’s sister from the way Toren described her.
“I’m Jade. Locke’s out there with the guys.
I had to persuade him not to bring the tow truck with the hook to lift the welding machine into the trailer.
When he realized Toren was taking the closed-in trailer, his idea was out of the question.
It’s really great to meet you.” Instead of a handshake, she gives me a warm and friendly hug.
“Something tells me lots of cussing is going to happen when all that equipment is being off-loaded again,” I reply.
“I’m Willow. We’re going to miss Toren, but I’m so glad he’s getting his name out there and not hiding. Don’t tell him I said that,” she says with a wink. “We’re also excited to add another girl to our group. We’re slowly dominating them in the numbers department now.”
“Girl power!” Nellie yells out just as the guys start making their entrance into the house. Either things went well and everything’s already settled with the amount of manpower or they haven’t started, or something went wrong.
“Come ‘ere, Nellie girl,” Toren says, swooping her up in his arms, making me think about a future with him, one that includes a little girl of our own.