“I haven’t been hiding it, Teach,” I tease her.
She swings the door open and I freeze for about three seconds before I slide off the edge of the bed to my knees. One of her hands goes up to her mouth as she gasps in shock and her eyes widen and round. I barely register the expression because I’m too busy raking my eyes over her body.
The denim skirt she’s wearing has lace trim on it, but that’s not what makes my mouth go dry. It’s short. Shorter than I want it to be considering we’re about to head out to hang out with my brothers.
Fucking hell.
The shirt she has on is classic Ezra. There’s a drawing of an old plane with a one-star review for Wright Brothers Airlines underneath it. The review reads:no peanuts, no wi-fi, just a man yelling ‘hold on’. It’s perfect and makes me want to wrap her up and protect her from everything bad in the world.
Who the hell wears history puns on their shirts? My Ezra’s the only one I know.
She’s one of a kind and the fact that she’s still here with me, when she could have left with her father, still blows my mind. Does she even know how much of a renegade she is?
“What are you doing?” She gasps out the question while taking a step closer to me.
“Stay,” I bark.
Ezra freezes in place and I watch a myriad of expressions pass over her features. Confusion. Surprise. Shock. Irritation.
“I’m not a dog, Titus,” she admonishes me.
I can’t help but smile at her. It must be all teeth, a predator’s warning, because she goes stiller.
My eyes travel down her legs again and I use my gaze to trace over the black, leather high-heeled boots encasing them. The expanse of skin between the leather and lace looks like it’s begging for my lips.
Without giving a fuck about what I look like, I shuffle closer to her. She lets out a sound which is part surprise and part amusement.
“No,” I rumble, moving close enough to clamp my hands down on her hips and haul her the rest of the distance between us, “you’re not a dog. If anything, I’m your dog. I’ll be your shadow. Lay at your feet. Watch your back and always be on alert for anything that might be lurking in the darkness.”
My forehead presses against her belly and I take a deep breath. One day. Soon if I have anything to do with it.
Her hands slide over my head, the short hairs prickling under her touch. “What kind of dog would you be,” she muses.
“Something ferocious,” I mumble while using my nose to nudge under the edge of her shirt before kissing along the edge of the waistband of her skirt.
My fingertips slide up and down the outside of her thighs. When goosebumps cover her skin, my lips curl into a smirk.
“Teacup Poodle,” she groans.
I freeze and slowly pull back from her body. When I look up at her, she’s already grinning down at me with sparkling blue eyes.
I tighten my grip on her hips, a reminder of exactly who I am. By the way the mischievousness in her eyes only deepens, she’s not afraid of me.
Good.
She’s the last person who should ever fear me.
“Just for that I should keep you home and show you how wrong you are,” I warn her, dead fucking serious.
Her head tips back and her bright laughter fills the space around us. “You’re the one who said we were going tonight,” she points out, her words filled with a joy that warms my soul.
“I know,” I pout, “I changed my mind.”
“You can’t change your mind about this,” she coaxes me. “And, anyway, I want to see what all the fuss is about.”
“Fine,” I hold the word out, the sound more like a whine than a word.
“But you can definitely get on your knees for me later,” there’s a sultry note in her voice.
