Chapter 17 #2
“You’re right, that does sound self-inflated.
” I sniff, glancing out of the window at the thicket of emerald trees flying past. He chuckles and I tap my lips with one finger.
“Okay, what’s the largest animal you think you could take on?
” His brows raise and then he laughs, tipping his head back.
“You get one prop, and it can’t be a gun—go. ”
“For fucks sake,” he mutters exasperatedly, swiping a hand over his face.
“You said I could ask anything.” I pout, watching as the golden haze of the setting sun feathers through the passing trees, highlighting every warm hazel tone in his dark, sparkling eyes. Beautiful. He’s really fucking beautiful.
“I don’t know, maybe a wolf, with a knife?” He shrugs, shaking his head and smiling.
“Mhmm, I can see that.” I nod, chewing on my bottom lip. Why am I now imagining him fighting a wolf and why does that sound…hot? I need help. I need a big screaming orgasm to take the edge off. Ah sex, my old friend. Why didn’t I make the most of you when I had the freedom to do so?
“What’s yours?” he asks as we pull onto a rural country lane flanked with rows of golden corn fields.
“Bear.” I nod without hesitation.
“A bear?!” He glances my way like I’m insane. “What’s your prop?”
“A packet of ham. Or any deli meat that stinks will do.” I sigh, reaching down to grab my purse.
He lets out an incredulous laugh. “How the hell are you going to kill a bear with a packet of ham and nothing but your bare hands?”
“Who said anything about killing it? It will want the ham so much it won’t be interested in me, and then I’ll run.” I’m rifling through the never-ending junk in my bag to try and find something sweet.
“You know you’re five-foot-nothing, right?
You can’t outrun a bear.” I let out an annoyed little growl as I search, resorting to handpicking items out to give me a better view.
Wallet, lipstick, tissues... “Why do you have a potato in your purse?” Zeke asks abruptly as I snatch out a golden-wrapped candy with relish.
“Never mind that,” I reply, throwing everything back in and dumping my purse back at my feet. “That’s what the ham is for, to give me a head start.” I unwrap the sweet and pop it into my mouth. He’s staring at me like I’ve grown an extra head. “Road,” I remind him, pointing out of the windshield.
“You are a very strange woman.” He shakes his head, returning his attention to the road.
“Yep, I know,” I reply quietly as I settle back into my seat.
We drive the rest of the way in a semi-comfortable silence.
As we pull into the familiar drive of the whitewashed house, I see Tilly sitting on the porch swing.
She raises her long neck beer in greeting and then leans back to holler something into the open front door.
“Strap in, Guerra,” I mutter as we pull to a halt, and I unclip my seatbelt.
“Hold on.” Zeke stops me from reaching for the car door handle and wraps his hand around mine.
I glance back at him as he drags my hand to his lips with a playful smile and dusts them over the garish ring on my finger.
“You put on a show for me, the least I can do is return the favor.” He winks and leans his dark head across the console to capture my lips with his.
The kiss takes me unawares, blinding me with the feel of his mouth on mine—hard and soft at the same time, which doesn’t seem possible, but here we are.
Antsy as I am, I fucking melt. I know this is for show, but somehow in this moment, I just don’t fucking care.
A strangled whimper lodges in my throat and my hands jump up to his neck, one sliding into the silky strands above his collar.
“Chloe.” His warning growl against me is barely above a rumble through his chest, sending heat pooling between my legs. My lips part for him like a pliant little flower, silently begging him to delve in. To give me more. To do to me with his tongue what I want him to do with his—
“Fuck!” Strong, calloused fingers snake around my wrists, pulling my hands from him as he retreats.
When my eyes open, I see a glimpse of a man who is burning.
His chest rises and falls heavily, and every glorious, chiseled plane of his handsome face is painted with pained restraint.
“Why must you make everything so fucking hard, woman?” His eyes are pools of molten chocolate and I want to paint it all over my body and let him lick it off.
“Everything?” I tip my head lightly to the side, raising one brow as I trace my tongue along my lower lip, tasting him there. My fingers, still paralyzed in front of me by his hands, itch to feel just how hard I make it for him.
“Oh, lo descubrirás muy pronto, mi fuego. But for now, your father is looking like he might try and strangle me.” He smirks, his eyes dusting over my parted lips.
A sharp rap jerks my attention away, and my dad stands at my window with a steely look on his face.
Fuck…fuck! What the fuck am I doing? I snatch my hands away from Zeke’s, my cheeks burning.
I just nearly mauled a man I’m very much trying to stay away from in front of my dad.
And my brother, Cade, who is standing just behind him with his arms folded and one brow raised as if to say, “Finished?”
“Oh boy.” I wrinkle my nose and flash them both an apologetic look. My father pulls open the door and steps back, eyeing me like I’m fifteen and he’s just caught me sneaking a boy into my room. “Hey, Dad.” I smile sheepishly, stepping out of the car and planting a kiss on his whiskery cheek.
“Hmm.” His steel grey eyes have now glued to a spot behind me instead.
Twisting, I see Zeke step out of the car, rising to his full height as he meets my dad's stony gaze head on.
“Oh my!” I hear faintly and glance sideways to see my mom frozen halfway across the drive toward us, her jaw practically flapping in the wind as she gawps at my fiancé.
“Mr. Devlin, Mrs. Devlin, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Zeke is supremely unruffled, every ounce of his steely control back in place, but he measures his tone to be respectful.
“Jesus wept!” Of course, my grandma chooses this exact moment to shuffle out onto the porch and start shouting obscenities. “Are you seeing this, Sharon?” she hollers at my mom, who seems to have regained some of her motor function.
“Yup, I’m definitely seeing it, Beatrice.
” Her tinkling laugh sets the birds in a nearby oak off, and they begin merrily chirping their evening song.
I sigh internally—this is going to be a long weekend.
Grandma moves with surprising speed, overtaking my mom on her walker, kicking gravel up as she makes a beeline for Zeke with a sly grin on her weathered face.
“Give an old lady some sugar, Sugar.” She giggles and I swear a faint blush stains her papery cheeks.
“Grandma!” I groan, sending a pleading glance to Mom, who just smiles and shrugs.
Zeke laughs good-naturedly and stoops to grace my beaming grandma with a chaste kiss on her cheek. “Thank you for having me,” he says smoothly as he pulls away. Grandma looks like she might die a happy lady if she keeled over right now.
“Oh nonsense, we’re thrilled to have you!” Mom exclaims as she barrels forward and envelopes him in a hug.
“Erm, hello? Where is my hug? You know, the one you birthed?” I grumble, crossing my arms.
Zeke shoots me a wink over my mom's shoulder, and I stick my tongue out at him like the petulant child I am. He chuckles as Mom lets him go. “I’m sorry for my mother-in-law here, we don’t…
well, I’ll just say it. We don’t get men round here who look like you.
” My mom giggles like a schoolgirl before shooting a glance over her shoulder. “No offense, Pete.”
“Offense taken,” my dad grumbles, eyeing Zeke furtively.
“Stop being a grump and help them get their bags.” Mom tuts, gesturing me forward and wrapping me up in a big hug.
“No Mom, I told you, we’re staying at The Sovereign,” I protest, trying to fight my way out of the hug that only a moment ago felt like heaven. Aka, where we can have separate rooms and it not be noticed.
“And I told you, I won’t have my own family stay in a hotel when we have a perfectly good home here.” She wrestles me to stay in her arms with surprising strength.
“Mom!” My responding growl is muffled into the shoulder of her shirt.
She releases me with a satisfied sigh, holding me by my arms as she looks me over.
“You’re too skinny.” She sniffs before turning to Zeke.
I blink, glancing up at the sky as if God might grace me with a little lightning bolt to end my suffering.
“You don’t mind staying here instead, do you, handsome? ”
I snap my chin down and deliver a thousand-watt death glare to the towering man who is leaning back casually against the hood of the car, one ankle crossed over the other to mirror his arms. He grins under my mom's attention, like the cat that got the cream. “Not at all—I’d love that.”