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I took her hand. “You too, ma’am.”
Her brows lifted slightly. “Please. Call me Kinsley. I’m too young for formalities.”
“Ma’am?” Sierra whispered in my ear. “Where was all that politeness when we first met?” The fiery look she gave me made me want to scoop her up and find somewhere far away from her family where I could kiss every inch of her body until she was gasping and moaning like she had last weekend.
That was the wrong thing to be thinking about in front of her mother. Or in a church for that matter. I hadn’t spent much time, or any really, in church buildings, but I figured raging hard-ons were generally frowned upon.
I swallowed hard and forced my lips into a smirk. “Good first impressions work both ways, baby girl. You weren’t exactly polite to me at our first meeting.”
She frowned at me, and I had a feeling we’d be continuing this conversation later, but she turned her attention to the front of the church without another word. She couldn’t really push the issue and risk her family overhearing this conversation. Not unless she was willing to tell them about the demons after her and what I was really doing in her life.
* * *
We stoppedby the apartment after church so Sierra and Kylie could change before heading out again. The tight-fitting jeans weren’t any better than the miniskirt. They showed off Sierra’s every curve perfectly. It was like she was purposely trying to torture me.
Once we were back in the car, I forced my eyes to stay on the road while Sierra and Kylie chatted about people I didn’t know. We’d made a pact to not talk about demons today. We’d been brainstorming plans for nearly a week and were still coming up with nothing. All of us could use the break from the stress and pressure.
Kinsley’s house was set into the side of a hill and tucked away at the end of a long driveway surrounded by trees. There was a feeling of privacy, like we were in the boonies, but it hadn’t taken more than half an hour to get here.
Several cars were already parked next to the house. Sierra pulled up behind one of them, clearly not worried about blocking anyone in.
“You ready to meet more of my family?”
“Anything I should know before we go in there?”
She reached over and squeezed my hand. “I don’t think so. My family is pretty accepting. My cousins are capable of being scary when I introduce them to guys, but I’ve seen you fight. I think you can hold your own.”
Kylie snorted from the back seat. “That’ll be fun to see. Sev and Aiden could really stand to be knocked down a peg or two. Please push all their buttons and prove to them that someone is immune to their badassness.”
I grinned. “I can do that.”
Sierra led me up a flight of stairs to a deck that wrapped around the front and side of the house. She laced her fingers with mine before opening the front door and pulling me over the threshold.
Inside the house was open, no walls separating the living room from the dining room or kitchen, and high cathedral ceilings added to the feeling of open space. A balcony on the second floor overlooked the living room, and opposite that, two sliding glass doors offered a view of the deck and the trees beyond.
“Welcome to the house I grew up in,” Sierra said. “You already met Mom and my siblings. Oh, and you’ve met Merida, right? She owns Fountain of Youth. In the kitchen is my mom’s sister and her husband. That’s my cousin Sev next to the woodstove, and his wife is the one holding the baby. And over on the couch is Aiden.” She lowered her voice to the point that I wouldn’t be able to hear her if I were human. “Feel free to annoy them as much as you want. They can be overprotective jerks, and Kylie’s right—they could use the ego check.”
I bent to whisper in her ear. “Should be easy enough. I intend to be all over you today, baby girl.”
It was a stupid promise to make. We couldn’t have a repeat of what had happened last weekend. It was a lapse in judgment no matter how pleasurable a lapse it might have been. My body wasn’t keen on listening to reason, however, and fighting my desire was starting to get exhausting. Meeting Sierra’s big happy family was going to be too much, and I knew it. I needed her more than I could deny today.
“I can live with that.” Sierra’s answering smile was bright and happy. She wanted me here, in the place she grew up, with the people she loved.
We made our way around the room while Sierra made introductions and hugged everyone.
“So, Nate, my daughter has told me almost nothing about you,” Kinsley said, leaning against the kitchen counter beside us. “She isn’t normally so secretive. I was beginning to think she was going to keep you hidden away forever.”
I shook my head. “I’m to blame for that, not her.”
“Well, I’m happy you’re here. It’s nice to finally meet the man my daughter seems so smitten with.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Sierra muttered.
I slid an arm around her waist, tucking her against my chest and propping my chin on her head.
Kinsley smiled at her daughter. “Sorry, honey, but this is my job as a mother.”
“And you wonder why I didn’t introduce you sooner.”
