Page 30 of This Reckless Home

My knees are weak, my core throbbing as he pulls his lips from mine, using his grip on my hair to turn my face to the side, kissing his way to the mark that he’s now exposed.

“Nox!” I breathe when he closes his mouth over it, his lips where Steele’s were last night, and sucks.

I feel like only his hand in my hair, his other still around my throat, is what’s keeping me upright as he keeps sucking over the bruise, his tongue laving it until all I can picture is what he’d do if he was between my legs.

“Miss. Blossom!” Rachel calls from somewhere in the house. “Can you come help me finish this English homework, please?”

I freeze, my muscles tensing but Nox doesn’t stop, and I blink, my hands clenching round his arms.

“Nox!” I hiss, which turns into a moan when he sucks again. “Please.”

I feel his lips grin against my skin. “As you beg so prettily, Petal.” He gives my neck a final, open mouthed kiss, then straightens.

There’s only a thin ring of green around his black pupil, and his cheeks are dark, his chest rising and falling rapidly with panted breaths. I can only imagine what I look like — flushed from my hairline to my chest, lips swollen, breathless.

“Miss. Blossom?” Rachel sounds closer, and my heart jerks in my chest.

“I’m coming!” I yell back, removing my hands from Nox’s muscular arms and tugging the neck of my jumper back up.

“Soon you will be,” he promises darkly, and I have to force my inhale to steady. He chuckles, in such a self satisfied male way that my thighs squeeze together. “See you around, Petal.”

Then he turns around, stalking out like a jungle cat, and leaving me, once again, breathless.

At this rate I’m going to have to get my oxygen levels checked. These boys seem to keep stealing it all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“ETHEREAL” BY TXMY, FREYA RIDINGS

BLOSSOM

Monday morning rolls along in all its chaos and I come back after helping Henry drop the kids off. The house is… quiet. Usually that fills me with a level of peace, parenting is no joke and I’ve found I need some time to be me. To work on my stuff, though I usually end up getting sucked into sorting all the kids’ things, from after school clubs to sorting outings and holidays.

It’s why I get tutors for the homeschool kids, as well as my acknowledgment that teaching academic subjects is not my forte.

But as I walk through the house, tidying the mess that seven kids leave lying around, I can’t help feeling a twinge. And I can’t help wondering if it’s down to the three guys who stepped into our lives and who I somehow can’t imagine being without.

Anatole leaves ridiculously early every morning to go work at the construction site, taking Steele with him this morning to drop him off at his first day at Chuck’s. Henry and I dropped Nox off in town at the coffee shop, and while I suspect it’s not what he wants to do with the rest of his life, he seems to enjoy it for the most part.

My heart sinks. They’ll soon have saved enough to find an apartment of their own. A place they can show CPS that will then enable them to take Justin, be the family they always wanted.

And I want them to be happy, just like I want all the kids who come through here to be happy.

Doesn’t stop my heart from sinking at the thought of them leaving, regardless of how little time they’ve been here.

“This was always temporary,” I sigh, moving into the kitchen to grab a drink and maybe one of the leftover muffins Tina made yesterday. “They made it quite clear that very first day.” I decide my pity party really needs a hot chocolate to go with my muffin. “Of course they want their own place. They need to support Justin.” I go about making my drink, we have a hot chocolate maker because it’s one of my little treats. “It doesn’t matter what Steele and I shared Saturday night. Or that Nox kissed me. Or that Anatole looked like he wanted to.” My throat thickens as the whirring of the machine comes to a stop. “They’re going to leave. Everyone always leaves. And that’s okay.” It would be more convincing if my voice didn’t break on that last word. “Okay, you get the time it takes to eat this muffin to feel sorry for yourself then you pick yourself up and get shit done.”

“Good pep talk, dearie,” Tina’s laughing voice floats from the kitchen doorway where she’s standing, a bag in her hand. I get up to help her but she waves me off. “Now, you wanna tell me why you feel sorry for yourself?”

She bustles over, in the way only Tina does, plonking herself at the kitchen island.

I shake my head. “It’s nothing.”

She scoffs. “Nothing like you’re worrying those boys might up and leave just like they said they would that first day? Just like you think everyone will? Like your Da?”

My mouth drops open as my gaze flies to her, her soft brown eyes knowing.

“How did you know? Were you listening the whole time?”