Chapter 5
DAKOTA
“Dakota Janiece Donovan!”
I shot straight up in the bed at the sound of her voice, only to be knocked back down by Fabian’s big arm as he blocked me and pointed his gun at Mo.
“Shit!” Mo gasped, her arms going up in surrender.
“Wait! She’s my cousin,” I told Fabian when I was upright again.
“Ummm, Kodi, girl, who the hell is this and why does he sleep with a gun?” Mo, wearing one of her many Janet Jackson-tour T-shirts, bright green aloe eye masks and an equally as bright hot pink bonnet stood with wide eyes at the end of the bed.
“Fuck.” Fabian frowned and lowered his arm.
“I can explain.” I started to get out of the bed, then realized I was naked and yanked the sheet up to my chest. Not that Mo had never seen me naked. All the sleepovers we’d had growing up and even as adults on trips or whatever, none of us had any modesty in that regard.
This morning’s nudity felt different though. Especially when the man beside me was also commando beneath the butter yellow sheet.
“But you’re not explaining,” Mo replied. She lowered her arms slowly, gaze narrowed at Fabian. “And I really need to hear this explanation, or I’m gonna make assumptions that might carry my ass back down the hall to my room where I’ve got my own gun.”
And she definitely did have a gun in her purse.
A SIG 380, which was a more compact version of the 9mm I carried.
We’d bought them together and never went anywhere without them.
Well, except for when we were staying at a B&B on a quaint island and wandering into each other’s room at the crack of dawn.
“I’m her husband,” Fabian said. “You don’t knock?” He put the safety back on his gun, then returned it under the pillow.
I hadn’t seen him stash it there last night but wasn’t at all surprised since mine was under the pillow behind me as well.
Her eyes went wider. “Husband?”
“Mo,” I whisper yelled as her voice raised an octave. Of the triplets, Hannah, the youngest, was usually the loud one. Marie, the oldest, was the serious one, and Mo was the balance between the two.
“Nope, don’t Mo me,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “I need that explanation expeditiously. Who the hell is this man?”
“You don’t hear well either, do you?” Fabian asked.
Pulling her head back in shock, her face masked in irritation, Mo shook her head. “And you obviously don’t know who the fuck you’re talking to!”
The annoyed but still basically calm mood Fabian had been about to settle into shifted at both her tone and words, and I knew this shit was about to go all the way left.
I quickly dropped a hand to Fabian’s thigh, hopefully to keep him from grabbing his gun again.
“Give me five minutes, Mo,” I said, knowing my normally even-keeled cousin could flip the switch on her temper in the blink of an eye.
“I’ll come to your room and we can talk. ”
She and Fabian were in a heated stare off and I sighed. “Mo.”
“What?” she snapped but finally turned her attention back to me.
“Five minutes,” I repeated.
“Twenty,” Fabian added, his tone unyielding. “We’re gonna shower and get dressed. Then we’ll be downstairs for breakfast.”
“We will?” I asked then clamped my lips shut at the icy glare he tossed me.
Okay, they were both getting on my nerves and it was way too early in the morning for this. I tossed one leg over the side of the bed and was about to stand when Mo huffed.
“Fine. But I better see you alive and well in exactly twenty minutes or I’m coming back with the cousins.
” With one last frown toward Fabian and a quick glance at me, Mo walked out of the room.
I was sure Fabian had no clue that the threat of her and the rest of my cousins returning to this room was far worse than Mo grabbing her gun.
“Why would you tell her we’re going down to breakfast?” I asked before standing but that wasn’t the real question I desired an answer to. “And oh, just blurt out that you’re my husband instead of simply giving your name?”
I was on my way to the closet where I’d hung the clothes from my suitcase. I saw him getting up as I walked past his side of the bed.
“You’ve got more smoke for me than you had for your cousin who interrupted the best sleep either of us have had since you were in my bed three weeks ago,” he grumbled.
Sighing, I silently admitted he wasn’t wrong about the last part of that statement. I didn’t sleep as well alone as I did when we were together. “I can guarantee you she wasn’t expecting to find a man in my bed.”
I grabbed the hanger with a sage green lounge set on it, then turned to head toward the dresser to get my undergarments. Colliding with Fury’s toned chest halted that move. His hands immediately went to my shoulders to steady me, and I instinctively tilted my head to stare up at him.
“She wasn’t expecting the husband she didn’t know you had.” His brow was furrowed, jaw tight as he finished that statement. “Like I told you last night, that shit ends today.”
“Fabian—” I started, only to watch him shake his head as sternly as if he’d just told me to shut the hell up.
“It ends today. And if you don’t want me making a similar announcement to the rest of your cousins while we stand naked in this bedroom, I suggest you follow me to this shower.
” He dropped a quick, hard kiss to my lips, then moved to a black leather duffel bag I hadn’t even noticed he’d left by the door.
Clutching my outfit to my chest, I watched his fine ass walk away from me without a care to the anguish churning in my stomach.
There was no mistaking how good this man looked in anything he wore, but mostly naked.
I could literally sit and stare at his toned body covered in deep mocha skin every hour of every day.
From his sexy bald head to the sprinkle of gray in his goatee that added a distinguished touch to what could be a gruff demeanor.
On his broad back, where I always seemed to get lost, was the tattoo of a black panther.
Just the head, the club’s mascot, covered every inch of his back in all its snarling and intimidating glory.
I loved running my fingers and tongue over it.
This morning, I was once again lost in the feline eyes glaring back at me, until its owner turned after grabbing his duffel bag and walked toward me again.
The only thing that ever gave that big cat on his back competition for my mesmerized gaze was the length and girth of his semi-erect dick. To be fair, Fabian’s dick in all stages, was a glorious sight to behold. A sight that I better be the only one receiving.
“If you were already in the shower waiting for me, I could give you this dick instead of you standing there staring hungrily at it.”
Arrogant. I could add that as the number two word to describe him. It would come right under fine as fuck and just before mean as hell.
But when he held out his hand, I slipped mine into it and followed him to the bathroom. I was too far gone for this man. Wildly in love with him and nervous as hell about what would happen when we sat down to have breakfast with my cousins.
“Damn, he fine,” Bailey said twenty-five minutes later when Fabian and I walked into the kitchen.
Suri elbowed her, and Bailey frowned. “What? He is.”
“Good morning,” Tedra said with a bright smile. “Coffee, tea, and an assortment of juices are over there. Breakfast will be served family style, so just take a seat and we’ll get started.”
“We asked her to wait an extra five minutes for you two to arrive,” Mo stated from her seat on the right side of the table. She was obviously perturbed at our slight tardiness.
Glancing next to me, I caught Fury’s smug ass grin because he’d done that shit on purpose.
“And I saved you a seat, right here beside me,” Regan added with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
Amidst this exchange, I remained rooted to where I’d stopped in the doorway.
They were all looking this way like I’d just stepped onto a stage to perform, and they were the audience in possession of the hottest ticket in town.
Was I anxious about their reaction to my news?
Hell, yes! This particular announcement had been simultaneously the heaviest weight I’ve ever carried and the best thing that ever happened to me.
So, yeah, it was a big moment that could quickly go south.
But I’d never been afraid of a challenge. I wasn’t going to start now.
“Good morning,” I said, just as Fabian squeezed my hand. I’d forgotten he was holding it, although I’d been clinging to his presence.
He had this aura about him, this undeniable pull to the power and confidence he exuded. I’d felt it the first night we met and hustled my ass away from him as quickly as I could without looking like a fool.
“Good morning to you,” Hannah replied, her dimpled smile on full display. “And to you too, Mister …”
“Mathias,” he supplied his last name for her. Then, with a nod continued, “But you all can call me Fa—”
“Fury,” I interrupted him because no, they didn’t get to call him what I did …
even if it was his real name. “His name is Fury and he’s my husband.
” The words rolled off my tongue as easily as if I’d just said my name.
With my fingers still tightly entwined with his, I led us to the two vacant seats.
He pulled out the chair beside Regan for me, and as he took the seat to my left, I began the introductions.
“Fury, these are my cousins.” I started at my right and went all the way around the table. “Regan, Maria, Mo whom you’ve already met, Bailey, Suri, Kendra, and that’s Hannah to your left.”