“No,” he answered with conviction.
I smiled. “And you’re here for weeks.”
He squinted at me then nodded. “Yeah. Wren wants to stay through the birthdays.”
Bodhi’s was July first and Wren’s was the Fourth. When he was little, he used to think the fireworks were all for him. My brother and his best friend had always celebrated together, as soon as they had the autonomy to demand it. I think they’d been six. My parents went all out for them both, Wren’s parents had reluctantly shown up.
“So that’s five weeks. And you’ve got a job to do, which will get more intense when Wren gets here. I have work too. We’ll both be busy.” I moved so I was propped on his chest so I could look him right in the eye. Ville’s eyes were so pretty, the color undecided between blue and gray, shifting back and forth depending on what he was wearing or the light. In the moonlight that softly illuminated the room, they were grayer. “But are you really thinking we won’t find time to do this again?”
A rumble powered through his chest and before I realized what happened, he had me flipped onto my back and underneath him, his body pressing me into the mattress. I knew he worked out and practiced some type of martial arts. I couldn’t remember which discipline but he needed to be strong and agile to protect Wren from all his adoring, and sometimes too invested, fans.
“No.” His voice was low and gravelly, and his stare was intense. After a few seconds, his expression softened, and he tucked his arms under mine so he could cup my face. He kissed me slow and sweet, but I wasn’t having it. I nipped his lip to get him to kiss me harder until we were both panting again.
I knew Ville could be endearingly sweet. It was why I called him sugar. It started as a joke that first time we hooked up, because he’d been anything but, but I’d quickly learned just how soft his heart was underneath his gruffer exterior.
“This? Us? The sex?” I wrapped my arms around his neck and slid the fingers of my right hand into his short hair. I gave his scalp a light scratch that had him closing his eyes. He always loved a good head massage. “It’s always worked. I see no reason we can’t indulge while you’re here. Unless you have an objection.”
He sucked on my neck for a moment and I spread my thighs so he could fit better between them. I was gonna hurt tomorrow but I didn’t care in the least.
“No objection,” he murmured into my skin. Then he lifted his head to stare down into my eyes. “But no matter how careful we are, your family is going to figure it out.”
I scoffed. “Probably. I love them more than anything, every last one of them, but man, they’re nosy. But who cares? I’m a grown ass man, practically thirty. I can sleep with whomever I want.”
Ville rolled his eyes. “You’ve been twenty-nine for all of three months.”
I hummed and kissed him quickly, inordinately pleased that he remembered. I ignored the little, tiny niggle in my brain that said he had to have all that information because it was his job as security. But we’d had that discussion the time we spent the weekend together while I was in med school. Wren had a concert in Charlotte, and since that was a two-hour drive from Chapel Hill, I’d planned on staying over. Fortunately I was able to get a refund on my hotel room since Ville let me make use of his.
I quirked a brow. “And you’re going to be forty in five months. Really, less than. Four months and a week. What’s your point?”
“Emery,” he chastised, drawing my name out.
I could only laugh, the action shaking us both and making me moan. I wasn’t the only one who was getting hard again.
“Mypoint is we’re both adults and we don’t have to tell them anything we don’t want to. They can speculate and poke their noses in wherever they want. I don’t think it’s anything we have to worry about.”
“If you’re sure,” he offered, but his gaze was fixed on my neck and I wondered if he’d marked me. When I tilted my head a little more, he bent his head, attacking that same spot, so I was going to go with yes. At the same time, he grabbed my knee and pulled my leg up to hook around his hip.
“I’m sure, sugar. Now, how about round two?”
Considering how fast Ville grabbed the lube, I would take that as a yes.
Dawn was still a couple of hours away when I made my way back to the house. I didn’t think anyone would be awake yet, so even though I wasn’t exactly sneaking, I made sure to be quiet and use the side door, since the front one squeaked. We also had a doorbell camera—which come to think of it, we’d probably end up with a hell of a lot more cameras before Ville was through—and I knew my dad never silenced the alerts, even when he was sleeping.
Ville and I had managed a few hours of sleep after he fucked me again but I was tired. And aching in the best possible ways. I winced as I bent to pick up my flip flops, not wanting to leave them by the door. Then a smile crossed myself as I felt more of Ville leak out. My underwear was probably a goner, but I didn’t mind. I had plenty.
I walked softly down the hallway, passed the bathroom and my dad’s office and turned toward the stairs when a creak caught my attention. I whipped around to see Bodhi sitting at the table, a tall glass of water in front of him. He was staring directly at me, expression blank.
I frowned. It wasn’t even four a.m. Why was he awake?
“You okay?” I asked quietly.
It took him a few seconds to answer. Then he nodded. “Couldn’t sleep.”
Making a detour, I dropped my flip flops off at the shoe cubby by the front door, then beelined straight for my brother. My worry was the complete lack of emotion on his face. There was no tension in his body, but neither was he wholly relaxed. I took him in, assessing with my doctor brain, rather than my brother brain.
“Wanna talk about it?” I wasn’t stupid. I knew the likely cause of his sleepless nights. It had been years since Bodhi saw action, but he was still military. Even when he’d been promoted to drill instructor and assigned to Parris Island, that didn’t mean any ofthe trauma he experienced went away. And then there was the reason he’d decided to resign his commission last year and come home. He never talked about it, though I was pretty sure at least Dad knew, and even after all this time, he’d never told the rest of us.
But I knew my brother, even though I’d only been fourteen when he’d joined up. I knew something big had to have happened for him to suddenly leave. Bodhi had all the makings of a lifer, and yet he’d only served fifteen years.
