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“Uhh…”
I rubbed the heel of my palm against my chest. Cleared my throat. “It’s, um, non-negotiable.”
“Non-negotiable?” she whispered.
“Yeah, baby. I’m getting in too deep. If you’re going to cut me loose, you gotta do it now.”
Brayleigh leaned across the table of her highchair and lay her grubby little hand on Minty’s bracelet. “Sparky. Mine sparky?”
Minty moved her arm closer so Brayleigh could play with the shiny beads. “No, dolly,” Minty murmured, aiming a half smile in my direction. “I’m Daddy’s sparkly.”
Chapter Twenty-Four – A Study in Contrasts
Minty
Once Brayleigh fell asleep, I fully expected Lucky to toss me over his shoulder and charge into the bedroom.
Instead, he linked his long, calloused fingers through mine and led me upstairs. Closing the bedroom door, he stood before me and lifted my hand to his lips, kissing the tip of each finger.
1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5
Each finger on my other hand received the same treatment.
I counted it off, twice, just the same. Same for both hands, the same weight of numbers, 6, on each finger. 1 and 5, 2 and 4, 3 and 3, 4 and 2, 5 and 1, and repeat.
He turned my hand over in his and pressed his lips to the inside of my wrist, then slowly made his way up my arm until his lips met the strap of my sundress.
Slipping it off my shoulder, he kissed the naked skin beneath.
I turned my face toward him, closed my eyes and inhaled, breathing in the smell of his shampoo, his aftershave, the warm fragrance of his skin.
Encircling my waist, he ran his hands up my spine before dragging them back down again, the zipper pinched between his talented fingers. Piece by piece, my clothing and his hit the floor.
Laying me out on the bed, he immediately covered me with his long, lean, hard, body. Braced on his elbows, he stared down into my face, his thumbs gently caressing my cheekbones, the tips of his fingers grazing my temples, his mouth soft, eyes serious.
His eyes spoke volumes.
“Lucky,” I whispered.
I’d heard the old saying, ‘It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch’, but my Lord, when the mouthy ones, the jokesters, the charismatic entertainers, the ones who command the center of attention, when those ones go quiet, it’s like the whole world comes to a standstill.
“Baby.” He touched the tip of his nose to mine. “This is no longer casual. You get that, right?”
“Yes.”
He spread my thighs with his, notched himself at my entrance and slowly entered me, pushing deep.
The exquisite pleasure of being filled. His hips rolling. His sweet mouth dropping gentle kisses on mine, his fingers gently tangling in my hair.
I cupped one hand around his ribs and lay the other over his heart. My eyelids slowly closed, cutting off one sense to heighten the others.
The tremor in his limbs, the soft touch of his lips, the gentle fan of his breath.
The heat of his skin, the steel of his body, the rasp of his voice.
His breath fluttered against my eyelashes in the half second before his kisses fell on my closed eyes.
“Keeping you,” he muttered.
