Page 67 of Slow Burn


Font Size:  

“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”

“Good deal. Then we better get you packed, huh? They’ll be here soon to get you.”

“I’ll do that,” I blurted, dropping the spoon to the counter with a clatter as I rounded the island.

“Stay,” Laeth said. “I’ve got it.”

“I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure packing Cash’s things for an overnight stay is part of my job description.”

He pinned me in place with a look, his expression leaving no room for argument. “And I said I’ve got it.”

Still carrying his son, Laeth turned and started down the hallway. He paused just long enough to look at me over hisshoulder. “Oh, and Deva? Don’t go anywhere. We’ve got a lot to talk through tonight.”

My breath expelled on a whoosh once I was standing alone in the kitchen. I’d been right. Tonight was going to be a turning point, one way or another.

And Laeth had taken extra steps to ensure I couldn’t use Cash as a buffer.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

LAETH

Deva was a jittery,fidgeting mass of nerves.

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing as she scuttled around the kitchen with no clear plan or destination. She checked, double checked and triple checked the items cooking on the stove. She opened the oven to check the prime rib so many times I started to worry it would affect the outcome, and that would have been a disaster because it smelled like heaven.

There wasn’t anything she cooked that wasn’t delicious, but her steaks were enough to make my mouth water, so I was seriously looking forward to what was to come.

I’d pulled in a favor earlier, after my talk with Holton Clarke, and asked Shane and Jensen to babysit for the night so Deva and I could have this—whatever the fuck it was—out without risk of disruption or little ears listening in.

Truth was, as much as I loved my son, I wanted Deva to myself tonight. I needed her to myself if I had any chance of making this into what I wanted it to be.

I’d gotten to know her pretty well lately, and I knew she’d use Cash as some kind of blockade, and I wasn’t going to let thathappen. And since we’d bid my boy goodnight fifteen minutes go, telling him to have fun and behave, her nerves had gotten even worse. She’d barely looked at me once the door shut behind Cash. I’d given her that play for a while, hoping she’d eventually calm down, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen, and I was done waiting.

“Deva.” I said her name with authority, trying to break through the shutters she had closed tight so I could get in there.

“Hmm?” she hummed, keeping her back to me as she whisked something on the stove.

“Would you turn around and look at me, please?”

Her voice came out in a squeak. “I have to keep an eye on dinner.”

“You said yourself it had a while left.” The whisk started moving faster, the sound of metal scraping against the bottom of the pot setting my teeth on edge. I snapped, moving to her then. I took her wrist with one hand, removing the whisk and cutting off the burner before spinning her around and pinning her to the island. I moved in so close I could feel the heat coming off her body. I could smell the delicate scent of roses on her skin. The greens and browns and gold in her eyes swirled together, creating an intoxicating kaleidoscope of colors. They grew bigger as she stared up at me, and I realized that it would be nearly impossible not to get lost in those eyes. Her full, pouty lips were slightly parted, her soft, minty breath coming out in tiny puffs, and it was taking every ounce of energy I had not to take her mouth with my own and erase the kiss she’d share with Holt. Christ, even the thought of it made me rage.

She was all I could see, all I could focus on.

Her back bowed slightly in an effort to maintain some distance, but I refused to let that happen. I gripped the edge of the counter on either side of her hips, leaning in to get a better hit of that smell.

She pulled in a choppy, shaky inhale as I burrowed into the crook of her neck and dragged the tip of my nose along her delicate skin.

“Fuck, you always smell so good,” I groaned out, unable to help myself.

“Laeth,” she whispered, and the sound of my name on her tongue made my cock start to swell. “What are you doing?” She managed to speak, even as her body trembled uncontrollably.

I pulled back enough to see those eyes I’d quickly grown obsessed with. I deep-breathed, counting in my head to keep myself in check. The last thing I needed to do was strip her naked right here in the kitchen and ravage her. That would scare her so goddamn bad, she’d go running for the hills.

“We need to talk,” I started once I felt more in control.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like