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“Nice to see you too, Malakai,” the girl responds, seemingly unbothered by his attitude. She steps wide, opening the door for us. Malakai storms past, practically knocking the poor girl off her feet. But she just smiles.
“Don’t mind him, he’s an arsehole,” she says, grinning when Malakai makes a kind of rumbling, growly noise. Talk about a bear with a sore head.
“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” Eastern mutters, giving her a weak smile.
“Bad crossing?” she asks as we all pile into the surprisingly warm cottage.
“It was hell,” Sonny agrees, pulling off his baseball cap and holding his hand out to shake. “My name’s Sonny, thanks for having us here, Ma Silva.”
The girl’s mouth pops open and she tips her head back and laughs. “Oh my god, I’ve never,ever, been mistaken for my grandmother. Mum maybe, but Grandma? Nope. Priceless.” She swipes her hands over her face and grins, her pretty blue eyes flashing with mirth. “I’mConnie. If you hadn’t already guessed, Ma Silva is my grandmother and right now she’s got a headache. This time from a cold and not from the three glasses of port she usually knocks back every night.”
Connie closes the front door, successfully shutting out the weather and motions for us all to follow her into a spacious kitchen with an open fire. It has a large, worn-looking wooden dining table in the centre and not much for mod cons, but it’s homely. There are shells dotted about everywhere. Large ones, small ones, little pearlescent beauties all glimmering in the firelight. Someone in this house clearly collects them. On the windowsill behind the sink is a large conch shell and my heart squeezes. It reminds me of my little brothers. They’d love it.
As my boys and Kate enter the kitchen, filling up the space, I can’t help but notice how Malakai watches Connie from his spot by the kitchen sink. He looks mighty pissed-off, his big, hulking frame and mean glare a little intimidating if I’m being honest. Though she seems oblivious.
“I thought you were on the mainland?” he asks, ignoring us all completely, his attention well and truly focused on the very pretty, very curvy Connie. If I was gay, she’d totally be my type. She’s all soft skin, pouty lips, dark wavy hair, deep blue eyes with big tits and arse that’s balanced out nicely with a flat tummy and strong muscular legs all encased in a jean and t-shirt combo. She doesn’t have a scrap of make-up on and is still incredibly beautiful. Basically she’s a sex bomb and the complete and utter opposite to me. I’m wiry, edgy, I suppose. Less curvaceous for sure.
“I caught the last ferry home yesterday evening. Grandma needed me. Like I said, she’s feeling a little under the weather. She told me you had to go to Hastings on business. I’m guessing this is the business she was talking about?” she asks, eyeing us all in turn. There’s no judgement in her gaze, just curiosity. When she gives us all a warm smile, Malakai scowls at my boys daring them to try and chat her up. Not that they notice his aggression or her beauty, given they’re all looking at me.
“What?” I say.
“Your lips, they’re blue,” Eastern points out, traversing the table and drawing me into his arms, but he’s just as cold and wet. We stand there shivering, neither of us having any kind of warmth to give to the other.
“You need to get your clothesoff,” Malakai points out, even though he’s looking directly at Connie. Her cheeks flush pink and she snatches her gaze away. What’s their deal? Pretty sure he’s old enough to be her dad though he certainly isn’t looking at her like a father should. “Clothes off,” Malakai repeats, this time glaring at me. Connie rolls her eyes, shaking her head.
“What this brute meant to say is, you should go upstairs and change. All of you. I’m pretty sure none of you want to catch pneumonia. There’s plenty of room for everyone, just avoid the two rooms at the end of the corridor, they’re mine and my Grandma’s. I’ll serve up some breakfast at 8am, that should give you enough time to get refreshed and warm. There’s an en-suite bathroom in the largest room at the top of the stairs and another bathroom second on the right. Help yourself to towels and things…” her voice trails off as we all stare at her like she’s grown another head.
“You’re just going to let a bunch of strangers enter your house, make themselves comfortable and then cook them breakfast?” Eastern asks incredulously.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she shrugs.
“Because you don’t know us…” Kate says, her eyebrows pulling together in a frown.
“Well, what can I say? It must be the trusting country bumpkin in me. Either that, or I happen to know Malakai will protect me if any of you get any funny ideas, which you won’t, I’m sure.” She flashes him a look, and he presses his mouth in a hard line even though his eyes light with possession. Interesting. “We can catch up in a couple hours, okay? Nice to meet you all,” she adds, effectively dismissing us.
Malakai coughs, folding his arms across his chest. I can tell he’s feeling cold by the slight tremble of his body, but I’m betting he’d never admit to it. Seems like he’s the type of dude who has to be all alpha male and domineering. I can even imagine him banging his chest like Tarzan. The thought makes me smirk.
“You okay, Malakai?” Connie asks sweetly, though I see a hint of amusement in her eyes.
“I could do with getting out of these wet clothes too.”
Connie nods, eyeing him slowly. “Yes, you could… but, alas, all the rooms are taken. Includingmine,” she adds with a smirk. “You can change in the lounge.”
Her dismissal of him has me choking back a laugh, particularly when he looks like he’s about to throttle her or maybe… kiss her? I’m not sure, I don’t think he is either. She gives him a sweet smile before turning to look at me, winking.
I like her. She’s got spunk.
