Chapter Eleven
“She still asleep?” Sinn asked the next morning.
Saint had woken up with Kira on his mind. He’d gone forty years without a woman getting under his skin, and a nice girl comes along and fucks it all up. He tossed and turned almost all night with Kira’s use of the word “we” running through his head.
“I guess,” he snipped, tired from lack of sleep. “I’m not her keeper.”
“Whoa, Mr. Grumpy Pants has returned.” Sinn gestured to the half-done puzzle on the table. “Don’t tell me she was the only one putting that together.”
“Shut up.”
Sinn rolled his eyes.
Saint sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, I didn’t sleep very well.”
“A certain girl making your libido go into overdrive?”
“Let’s move past this conversation,” Saint ordered, leaning against the counter as he drank his coffee. First time he stayed up with a woman doing a puzzle and not getting laid, so mark that off his nonexistent bucket list. “Tell me what you found out last night.”
“Something definitely odd is going on with the guys,” Sinn replied. “All of them are in favor of killing every single Bone Breaker, that’s nothing new, but Cas suggested the Sons take over the turf and put one of them in charge. He said Warden, but then he also suggested himself.”
Saint thought about that. “If we were to hypothetically do that, it would be you taking charge, not either of them.”
“Precisely what I thought. Not that I want to be top dog by any stretch, but if the Sons needed me to step up, I would.”
“I know.”
He and Sinn shared more than a womb. They’d survived on the streets when the state wanted to split them up. They relied on each other through their teenage years, and both made the pledge to the Sons of Sin on the same day.
“I’ll go in and see if I notice anything,” Saint said. “You’re on babysitting duty today.”
“You say that like it’s a hardship.” Sinn grinned. “Oh, by the way, I told the men you were taking care of personal business you’d been putting off.”
“At least you didn’t go with diarrhea,” Saint said dryly.
“Nope, Warden already claimed that distinction.”
Saint placed his mug into the sink and then grabbed his keys and wallet. “I’ll probably crash at the clubhouse.”
“All right,” Sinn said. “So, go ahead. Say it.”
“Say it?” Saint questioned, perplexed. “Say what?”
“Say ‘don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,’ so that let’s say you obviously failed at the fine art of seduction.”
“What?” Sometimes his brother confused the hell out of him. “Who are we seducing?”
“She’s our girl.”
Saint rolled his eyes. “Not this again.”
“Admit it. Admit you want her to be ours.”
“No.”
“Are you chicken?”
“Are you five?”
Sinn stuck his tongue out. “We always said we have to find a woman who fits both of us.”
“You said that.”
“You agreed.”
“Was I drunk when I agreed?”
“Probably,” Sinn replied with a cheeky smile. “We were drunk a lot in our youth.”
Saint shook his head. “For fuck’s sake.”
Did he want to share a woman with his brother long term?
Of course, they’d sandwiched a woman in the past. Several times, in fact, and he enjoyed each encounter.
But was that only sexual satisfaction or was each experience a prelude to what he truly wanted?
He stomped out the back door and made a beeline for his bike.
Sometimes his brother gave him a horrendous headache.
Yet, he couldn’t eliminate the small voice in the back of his mind urging him that maybe Kira came into their lives for a reason.
****
When Kira appeared in the kitchen, she immediately saw Sinn working on the puzzle, and couldn’t help but smile.
Sunlight bathed him in warm light, and when he glanced up to meet her gaze, his eyes crinkled at the corners.
He drew her in. Made her feel human. Saint had an intensity that was absent from his brother, but no less gravitational.
Sinn might be the sun, but Saint was the dark side of the moon, and she was drawn to both.
“Good morning, darlin’,” he drawled.
“How come you sound like you’re from Texas, but he doesn’t?”
Sinn chuckled. “Practice. How else can I get people to separate us?”
“Believe me, that’s not a problem,” she said.
He rose from the table. “Want breakfast?”
“Um, just coffee, please.”
“Breakfast is the most important part of the day, you know.”
“I’m not used to eating breakfast.”
He walked over to the cabinets and pulled down pancake mix, butter from the refrigerator, and some blueberries. Then he put on an apron that said: Made With Love and Some Other Shit.
“Are you sure? Guess what I’m making?”
“A mess?”
He chuckled. “Probably, but I always clean up.”
She sat at the island and watched as he whipped up the premix batter, threw in a ton of blueberries, which turned the mix slightly purple. There was something soothing about watching him cook.
“What do you want to do today?”
Kira blinked. “Do? As in, go somewhere?”
“Yeah. Movies. Museum. Botanical Gardens. Anything you wanna do?”
“Um, I don’t really feel like going anywhere.”
He took a few minutes to heat up a skillet, add a little butter, then poured the batter.
“I don’t know about you,” he said, concentrating on the food. “But I like my pancakes barely cooked. Pale like a baby’s bottom.”
“That’s an oddly specific phrase for pancakes.”
He flipped them over and he was right. They were very pale.
“You’re weird,” she stated.
“I can’t argue with that.”
They ate their barely cooked pancakes and she slathered on the butter and syrup, something she rarely did, and couldn’t remember a better meal.
“If you don’t want to go out, what do you want to do?” he asked. All the dishes were in the washer, and the countertop wiped clean.
“I saw a horseshoe pit. Can we play that?”
His eyebrows rose, clearly surprised. “You know how to play?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “My dad liked the game.”
“You’ll have to tell me about him.”
Her heart ached at remembering her father. “Maybe.”
The afternoon was filled with fun, something she hadn’t done in years. After several games of horseshoes, in which he won the best three out of five, she was pleased to note she gave him a run for his money.
Then he held her hand as they went for a walk through the woods. The lush canopy of trees provided a respite from the hot sun. Rabbits scampered in the underbrush. Wildflowers grew in the patches of sunlight that played peek-a-boo.
Finally, they came to a small brook that ran through a clearing.
Sinn sat and pulled her down with him. He urged her to lay her head in his lap.
Time drifted by as she stared up at the cotton clouds in the clear blue sky.
She couldn’t remember a more soothing, serene moment in her life, and wished she could freeze time.
Wished she could stay right here for the rest of eternity.
“I’m glad you didn’t kill me when I asked,” she said. “I would’ve missed this.”
“I hate to say I told you so—”
“Then don’t.”
He chuckled. His fingernails gently stroked her scalp as he ran his fingers through her hair, lulling her into a nap. When he shifted, she opened her eyes and stared up at him. As if sensing her gaze upon him, he looked down.
Never had a man treated her with as much kindness as he did. All the what-ifs played through her mind. What if she had met him long ago? How would her life be different now? What if he’d been her first kiss? Her first lover? What if he’d protected her against her family? What if he’d been her hero?
“What’re you thinking, darlin’?”
“Would you kiss me?” she asked in a voice that was barely audible.
He didn’t laugh, or say no. Instead, he leaned over and placed a kiss on her mouth, and it was so quick, it barely registered on her lips.
“Like that?” he asked.
“No,” she replied. “More.”
Sinn studied her, and then he gestured for her to sit up.
He scooted closer and cupped her face. His thumb brushed over her lower lip, pushing in a little so her tongue swiped over it, which caused the intensity in his eyes to blaze.
Sinn rubbed his cheek bristles against her sensitive skin.
Running his nose up the column of her throat, he breathed her in before claiming her lips.
Her hands rested on his chest and she could feel his heat burning through his shirt, his muscles ripping with every breath he took.
The kiss was a million times better than any kiss she’d ever had.
Well, except for the one Saint gave her.
Both brothers kissed perfectly. No sloppy saliva left behind.
Sinn didn’t cage her in. Instead, he gave her enough of a berth to pull away if that was what she wished.
What she wanted, though, was more. Desire and need crashed through her body, so she leaned into him even more.
When they broke for air, she touched her lips and stared at him in wonder.
“You look like you saw a ghost.”
She swallowed, panting slightly. “I-I never thought kissing could feel so good.”
His brow furrowed. “Never?”
“Romance has never treated me very well,” she said, heart racing. She knew it was time to tell her story. “I want to tell you everything.”
He cocked his head. “About what?”
“About why I haven’t felt alive in years. Why the job I work fifteen hours a day is the only thing I have in my life. Why I’ve been afraid of bikers.”
He pushed some of her hair behind her ear.
“All right,” he murmured. “Do we need Saint here?”
She took a deep breath, and nodded.