BRINLEY
King
How are you feeling this morning?
I glanceddown at my phone that sat on the bathroom counter for what had to be the twentieth time, wondering how in the hell he expected me to respond to the text.
Talk about a loaded freaking question.
What words were there to say when last night had shifted an intrinsic part inside me? Set something that had been wronged back to right?
Like I know how to dream againseemed like a really imprudent way to start the day.
I leaned back toward the mirror to finish applying mascara, figuring no response was better than the one I wanted to surrender.
My phone vibrated again.
King
If you don’t respond to this in thirty seconds, I’m going to leave the clubhouse to come check on you, and I have important business to attend to. Having to walk out of here on my crew is not going to make me happy.
I couldn’t help but grin.
Surly bear.
Me
So grumpy at 7:45 in the morning. It seems you must be feeling a little less satisfied than me.
I pressed send before I could think better of it. They say not to poke the devil and, here I was, trying to rile the beast.
King
I’ll take it that you’re feeling extra good this morning, then.
Gone was the intensity that we’d fallen asleep to last night. The chaotic storm of emotions that had swelled and throbbed as he’d stared across at me while I had Kai tucked to my chest.
Now? I felt a surge of electricity strike all the way from the clubhouse.
Me
You can rest assured that I am quite chipper this morning.
There I went, laying down bets on a clearly unfavorable hand. Clearly, I was at the disadvantage. No chance of winning.
King
Glad you feel that way because I already miss the taste of you on my tongue. This coffee is not going to do.
Need sailed through my senses. A tumult of butterfly wings that flapped haphazardly in my belly.
Me
Are you thinking about me when you should be paying attention to that “important business” you were attending to?
King
That’s the whole problem, Brinley. Can’t get you off my mind. You’re becoming a distraction that I can’t afford, and I think I’m willing to pay the consequences, anyway.
