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I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and sank into her affectionate embrace. “Thanks, Marsh. You too,” I said, but my gaze remained riveted to Gage the entire time. I couldn’t look away if I tried.
There was only one word for what we were doing. We were eye-fucking the shit out of each other right there in his kitchen, in front of his mom and grandmother, and I couldn’t find it in me to care. Or to stop.
His eyes were more star-shine than gunmetal, reminding me of the dark speckled sky outside his bedroom window the night before. The corners of his mouth trembled as he poured a fresh mug of coffee and doctored it with a heaping dose of my creamer before bringing it to me.
“Here you go, baby.” His voice held a richer than normal timbre that made me shiver as I reached out and took the mug.
“Thanks, honey.”
I got the same reaction from him as I did the first time I used that endearment, and I instantly craved more. When he leaned in for a short kiss on my lips, it wasn’t nearly enough, but it would do. For now, at least.
Grandma Buttons spoke up, her words like a bucket of ice on my heated libido. “I don’t know about you three, but I’m not in the mood to cook breakfast. I say we head out. How’s that sound?”
“I could eat,” I replied from behind my coffee cup as I forced my gaze off of Gage’s.Man, that dude was potent.
“Then it’s settled,” she declared. “We’ll hit the diner in town. On Gage.”
He let out a snort, bringing his coffee to his lips and taking a sip before saying, “Works for me. Let me change real quick and we’ll get going.”
He moved to the sink, dumping the last of his coffee before placing the mug in the dishwasher. He never was one to leave things in the sink, after all.
As he headed out of the kitchen, he stopped beside me and leaned in, his breath sending a shiver down my spine and straight to my core as he whispered, “Nice shirt, Bits. Looks fucking incredible on you. Help yourself to anything on my side of the closet from here on out.”
Oh my.
ChapterTwenty
GAGE
I couldn’t imagine wantingto do anything or be anywhere other than sitting in a booth at the local diner with Wynn, my mom, and my grandmother like I was at that very moment. As far as I was concerned, the past twenty-four hours had to have been some of the best in my life.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever slept as hard as I had the night before, with Wynn’s warm, soft body in my arms and her sweet, intoxicating smell on my sheets and in the air, filling my lungs.
I hadn’t meant to grope the shit out of her and rut against her like a goddamn animal in my sleep. I blamed my subconscious for acting on all the things my conscious mind wanted to do. But there was something that soothed me the moment I woke up in the middle of the night and felt her warmth wrapped around me like a blanket. A calm washed over me and I was able to go back to sleep with a smile on my face because I was holding my reason for existing in my arms.
I woke up this morning feeling more rested than ever... and grateful she was in my house, under my roof, and most especially, in my bed for the foreseeable future. Normally my mom and grandmother being under the same roof would have put a serious cramp in my style, but their presence ensured that I had a chance to get even closer to Wynn, to work my way behind the walls she’d put up since Shithead Darrin had broken her trust and faith in men.
When she came out of my—our—room this morning dressed in my shirt, it took everything in me not to throw her over my shoulder and haul her back in there so I could strip her of everything but that old-ass flannel and do all the things I’d been wanting to do to her for weeks and weeks now.
I was losing more of my sanity every day that I couldn’t have her the way I truly wanted, but if there was any person on the face of the earth worth waiting for, it was Wynn Klein. My Bits. My firecracker.
I was in such a good mood I didn’t give a shit my mom and grandmother were currently telling stories about me from my childhood meant to embarrass the hell out of me.
“You should have seen him,” my mom cackled as she used the side of her fork to cut into her stack of pancakes, “sitting in the corner, crying his little eyes out, nose bleeding, absolutely crushed.”
Okay, so maybe I gave a little bit of a damn.
“He was positively beside himself when I showed up at the daycare to pick him up. His first heartbreak. I wasn’t sure he’d ever survive it.”
Wynn’s head fell back on a loud laugh, the thin wisps of hair at the back of her neck that didn’t fit into her messy bun brushing against the arm I had stretched along the booth behind her. “Oh, poor Gage.” She looked at me with an exaggerated pout. “Did that mean girl pick on you?”
“Jesus Christ. I was four years old. How was I supposed to know Katie Burbaker would take my attempt to kiss her so personally? I wanted her to be my girlfriend. I thought that was how you got girls to be your girlfriend back then. You walked right up and kissed them. I didn’t expect her to whack me in the face with her Barbie lunchbox.”
That only made Wynn laugh harder.
“Ah, it’s okay, babe. Katie Burbaker’s loss is my gain.” She placed her hand on my thigh. The move was absentminded to her, but it meant fuckingeverythingto me. That touch, thatbabe, along with choosing to wear my shirt of her own accord, all meant I was getting in there. I was beneath her skin.
Her ring caught my attention, and I looked down to see the diamonds sparkle. Unable to help myself, I grabbed her hand and lifted it, bringing it to my lips so I could place a kiss on her knuckle above it before flipping it around and kissing the pulse point on the inside of her wrist. Her chest hitched with a stuttered breath, and there was no missing the way her violet eyes danced with need. I put her hand back on my thigh, needing her touch there as I toyed with the strands of her hair and used them to pull her face closer to mine.
