MIKEI feel like locking my legs together and putting a protective hand over my junk when I knock on the door, but I maintain a normal stance. If Sharon wants to walk out and belt me again, I’m going to have to take it—and take it with a smile. And maybe be smart enough to see it coming this time and get out of the way.The door creaks open, and one sapphire-hued eye peeks through. When she sees it’s me, there’s a huff and a groan then the door reluctantly slides open a few more inches. Since my T-shirt got soaked the night before, she’s wound herself up in the quilt, draping it over her body until she looks like a mummified sausage roll. Her eyes widen when they sweep down my length. Yup, I went full-on wolf this morning, even if looking like a sheep would have been better. I’m wearing my regular black attire a pressed, tailored twenty four hundred dollarMM suit and shined shoes. I look like I’m getting ready to rock a conference room, though the thought of me stepping into an office
Whose fault is it if I don’t have a pair anymore because someone kneed them to kingdom come last night?”There’s a fast blink, followed by an innocent, sweet smile. “I think the entire world would agree that the fault lies entirely with you for that one, my darling sweetheart of an unwanted fiancé. Entirely. With. You.”She holds her head high, as she walks down the stairs, one small, dainty hand on the railing as she makes her way down. I stare after her, my mouth gaping open with a faint buzzing in my blood and a not-so-faint ache in my nuts at the reminder of last night. And I know. I know she’s as right about that as she has been about everything else.Now that Plan A has backfired so spectacularly, I need to “put on my big boy breeches” and go for Plan B.I suppose I should also figure out what Plan B is. Yeah, that’s right. So I thought this would go a lot more smoothly than it did. Har hardy har har.Sharon Despite the whole salt of the earth, good people talk just given to me
I’m done,” Ransom says suddenly, jerking me from my thoughts. He’s holding up his clean plate as though it needs to be inspected. “Can I get the gifts now?”He’s so excited that I’m starting to get a bad feeling about said gifts.Granny sighs. “Alright, alright. Go ahead.”The guy shoots back from the table like he’s just been shot out of a cannon. He rushes off and returns a few minutes later with all manner of shopping bags, which he sets right by my side. I’m so shocked that my fork drops from my hand.I have men watching your parents’ house,” Granny says softly. “They’re safe, but right now, it isn’t safe for you to be out and about, and it’s not okay for us to go to your place and get any of your things. Kidnapping you wasn’t my plan….” She gives Mike a dirty look that I fully second. “But now that it happened, you can’t go around wearing the same set of clothes, so I asked the boys to go out and get you the things you’d need. I laundered your clothing last night, so I knew your
When I hear something shatter in the kitchen, hear a round of cursing, then smell burning, my lips twitch. I’m vastly amused that Lancer was right about the burning. I feel even more exhausted after that long afternoon, and I still have to get through dinner…or maybe not if it’s hopefully been burned to a crisp. I know I certainly don’t owe anyone anything, but I guess my manners are too good to lock myself in my room for the night and not come back down. Or maybe it’s just too exhausting thinking about having to deal with the interruptions that would no doubt materialize, probably in the form of a banging on the door or the said door being taken off the hinges by an industrious granny who has been called back and won’t take no for an answer.I head upstairs to wash my face and hands since I could use a splash of cold water to revive me. I can’t remember the last time I ever felt so exhausted. I know that if I fell into bed right now, my body would buzz with everything I’ve learned ov
How so?” Mike’s frown digs deep trenches into his brow. I think it’s basic human nature and concern that causes me to want to reach over and smooth them away. “Living at home—if I could use that word because it wasn’t a home at all—was…it was…not fun. It was the opposite of fun. My father… well, I’d liken him to the devil, but that would be doing Satan a serious disservice. I don’t think the devil himself could be as bad as my father was. I saw him do terrible things to other people. Other men. But never women. Unless that woman was my mother, though he never hit her. He was too controlled for that. Instead, he controlled her in every other way possible. She was like a puppet, a zombie, doing what he wanted. She was strung out on prescription meds to make her biddable, but also probably because it was the only way she could survive getting through the day. I imagine she thought about killing herself just to escape. All the time. She never intervened in my father’s business, and to her
I watch as my words have the desired effect, and Sharon starts grinding her teeth. I also watch as she pulls back her arm and hurls the pickle at me. It hits me in the forehead, between the eyes, with a soggy, vinegary splat. I get some residual splash in my eyes and have to blink against the sting. I rub my left eye with my hand.“Ouch. That burns.” It’s half a deadpan and half the truth.“So will this,” Sharon growls before she stalks over and raises her knee, trying to angle it right at my groin.“Oh, hell no. That is not happening again. Bag me once; shame on me. Bag me twice…well, no. Just. No.”She slams into me, but I block any and all access to my junk by angling away and giving her my knee only. I grasp her wrists, angling them above her head to subdue her since she goes for my eyes, her fingers like claws after I cock block her. Mmm hrmmm. I’m not exactly sure that’s how you use that saying, but whatever. I use her momentum to twist her against the wall, and I trap her there
And nope, I’m not crouched down over here by the door, admiring his body. Which is, uh, so obviously a ten that it makes my mouth water and turns my nipples into diamond peaks. Damn it. It’s not my fault. His naked chest is just so potently beautiful that I can’t not notice. Also, it’s about as bright red as it gets. Gleaming, glistening, and drawing my attention hook, line, and sinker. My body is on the highest of red alerts alright, so maybe that’s also a good way to describe his chest and I realize I’m slowly sinking into a moment of madness, round two.“Manscaping?” I choke out just to say something. My eyes slingshot up to his face, away from the danger zone, which is pretty much everywhere below the neck.“I was, uh, I didn’t think body hair was attractive. I didn’t anticipate this happening, or I would have prepared before. Now it seems I’ve ruined everything.”He’s so miserable when he says it that it makes me smile, and then I feel like a royal jerk. “I’m not laughing at you,
Not Mike,” Ransom protests, and I wonder where he’s going with this and why he’s suddenly defending me. “He’s way too straight-laced for that. He lives, eats, and breathes hacking.” He goes off half-cocked, putting his hands on his hips and strutting around the room, imitating my deep voice even though his is already plenty deep enough. “Not dragging anyone into our life. That would be a straight-up liability, and it’s not fair to them, either. Love is for sissies. What’s a crush? I’m immune to any and all such nonsense.”“Oooooh! Has someone finally broken through those thick arse walls? Broached the barrier? The old seal sprung a leak? Burrowed into thy formerly impenetrable brain?” Lancer goads.Marcus stands back, puzzled. “Wait, is the wedding real? I thought it was fake.”“The wedding is real. The marriage is fake,” Atlas informs him.Then why’d he shave?”I let loose a warning noise as I swing my legs over the edge of the bed. “It’s official. I thoroughly and truly hate you all