Our skin slapped together so loudly that I knew it was echoing through the room.
And then the bed started to make noise as well.
Neither of us stopped.
Hell, he didn’t even slow.
Not when I could hear obvious male voices in the background, and definitely not when those voices turned to loud, boisterous chuckles.
I was too far gone.
Things were feeling so good that I had no other recourse but to let him finish me.
“Ah, fuck,” he moaned, his hand coming down on my ass and squeezing it tight.
I looked at him over my shoulder to see the muscles in his shoulders, neck, and abdomen flexing with each thrust of his hips.
A drop of sweat trickled down his chest, weaving a drunken pattern between his abs.
That was all it took. I came, and I came hard.
His startled eyes met mine, and he squeezed them shut moments later as his own release washed over him.
I dropped my face to the pillow once again, panting and replete, wondering what in the hell had just happened.
I’d never, not ever, had sex like that before.
That wasn’t sex. That was an out-of-body experience.
Callum rolled to his back and pulled me with him.
“I’m fucking starving,” he proclaimed loudly.
I rolled with him and pressed a kiss to the middle of his chest.
“I’ll make you breakfast,” I promised. “How’s your ankle?”
“Hurts.”
I gasped. “You said it didn’t hurt!”
“Actually,” he corrected. “I didn’t. You said if I still felt that way in the morning… which I did. So there’s that.”
I just shook my head.
“I’ll make you breakfast. Can you get your own pants on?” I asked curiously.
Last night I’d had to help him. I was wondering if this morning he was capable of doing it on his own.
“Yes.” He paused. “I think.”
“I can help him put his pants on!” I heard called.
That was when my face flushed. “So they can hear us?”
He squeezed me tight. “Don’t show any fear.”
With that, he got up, leaving me to deal with getting dressed on my own.
“I’ll go to the kitchen. Head to the bathroom,” he suggested.
He opened the door as I took the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around myself.
When the door closed behind him, I gathered up my clothes from last night, peeked my head out into the hallway to make sure the coast was clear, and then went to the bathroom to take care of business.
Chapter 11
Moist.
-Coffee Cup
Desi
My stomach was now filled with butterflies as I cracked the bathroom door open and poked my head out.
With nobody in the vicinity and no voices at all sounding from the other parts of the big house, a false sense of security started to flow through me.
Thankful that there was nobody in the house except, hopefully, Callum, I made my way to the living room. Still not spotting anyone, I went farther to the kitchen.
I walked out the door and to the kitchen to find four hungry-looking men waiting on me, and I came to an abrupt halt in the entryway.
“Ummm, hi,” I said, feeling all of a sudden self-conscious.
The only one not looking at me expectantly was Callum, and that was because he was more than satisfied enough for the time being. Though, the way he was rubbing his belly and practically grinning from ear to ear…
“I guess y’all have the stuff for me to cook breakfast? And that you heard that I was cooking breakfast?” I asked hesitantly.
“We heard a lot of stuff this morning,” Banks said, clearly letting me know that not only had he heard the breakfast comment, but he’d also heard other things.
Ace smacked him.
“Codie and I didn’t hear them,” Ace said. “Well, not until she yelled that she was making breakfast.” He turned to look at me. “Just sayin’, but Codie’s pissed that she’s missing food. She had to go to an interview, though, with the police department. She said to save her something she could eat tonight.”
My grin came back full-fledged. “Will she get it?”
Ace nodded. “At this point, it’s only a formality.”
I fist-pumped then walked to the fridge. “Y’all have bacon?”
I heard a few scoffs behind me.
“Of course.” Darby got up and walked to the fridge where he pointed at a drawer.
The drawer was filled from top to bottom with bacon.
I blinked.
“Umm,” I hesitated. “I take it y’all like bacon. And cheese.”
Because that’s seriously all that they had. Bacon and cheese. Oh, and beer. There wasn’t even milk.
“I can’t make pancakes because you don’t have milk. Didn’t I pick up milk yesterday?” I said.
But about the time that I said that, Colt came running in with a gallon in his hand and a receipt flapping in the other.
“Got it!” he declared.
So I guessed Colt was attending breakfast, too. Got it.
“We are growing boys. I finished that milk last night.” Darby grinned.
“Okay? Then I’ll need flour, salt, sugar, a hand mixer of some kind, powdered sugar, eggs, and vanilla.” I paused. “And two big mixing bowls. A griddle or large skillet, and the biggest spatula you have.”
The men went to work. All of them but one.
I walked over to Callum and touched him on the cheek.
“How’s your ankle?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Hurts, and riding fence today is going to suck balls.”
“You have to ride fence?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Will you still be able to come to the shop downtown with me?” I questioned, feeling things inside of me start to flutter at him hurting.
I didn’t want him to hurt. In fact, the mere idea of it made my stomach clench with abhorrence.
“Yes.” He nodded once. “That’s at four o’clock, right?”
I smiled and nodded back. “Yep.”
“Then yes, I should be able to make it just fine. It should only take me about three hours to ride it. And as long as breakfast doesn’t take three hours to eat, I should be done by one this afternoon.”
“Got it all out for you, darlin’,” Banks said as he resumed his seat.
I looked at him with raised brows. “I hear you carried me to bed last night. Thank you.”
His mouth twitched. “The pleasure was all mine.”
So not only was he scary, but he was also a charmer as well.
“Also, thanks for the save with Mal,” I told him as I turned toward the sink and washed my hands. “He wasn’t letting me leave, and I was getting quite annoyed.”
“Why is Mal all of a sudden interested again?” Ace asked as he sat down with a cup of coffee. “Codie told me a little about him over the last year. How he’s acted. What changed?”
I pointed at the man with his foot propped up on the only empty seat in the room. “He told him to stay away from me, and Mal was never good with being challenged.”
“Meaning he heard ‘try to worm yourself back into Desi’s life’ instead of ‘I’m going to kick your ass if you keep messing with her,’” Ace guessed.
I shrugged. “Mostly. He’s a douchebag, but really he’s harmless.”
“A callous, harmless douchebag,” Callum muttered. “Malloy deserved a much better kid than the one he got.”
“Can’t believe this one was ever friends with him,” Colt said. “I’ve met him a couple of times around town. He really is a complete douchebag. Normally Ace is a lot more selective of his friends.”
“Mal wasn’t always bad,” Ace said as I started cooking the bacon. “Honestly, he was a pretty good kid growing up—for the most part.
And though we were best friends, we grew apart well before the thing happened.”
The ‘thing’ being his father killing his mother and two siblings, while also attempting to kill the rest of them, too.
“Mal was always a dick head, he just put on a good show for you,” Callum mumbled as he reached for the coffeepot that was on the counter behind him.
I started cracking eggs and measuring out ingredients.
When the skillet was hot enough, and the mix was thoroughly stirred, I started the tedious process of making pancakes.
When four were done, I started whipping up scrambled eggs and popping toast in the toaster.
By the time sixteen pancakes were done, I had the scrambled eggs almost finished, the bacon cooling on a paper towel, and ten pieces of toast buttered.
“All right,” I said as I made Callum a plate and took it over to him. “Food’s done.”
He looked at me with a sparkle in his eye.
“Thanks, honey,” he rumbled.
I licked my lips and smiled at him.
“You’re welcome.”
“You’re not eating?” I heard asked.
I turned to find Darby staring at me.
“I’m on a diet,” I said. “Bacon and pancakes aren’t part of that diet.”
He frowned. “Why are you on a diet?”
I looked at the young man and found myself breaking out into a grin.
I liked him.
“I want to run that Spartan race that is scheduled in about two months. Mal runs it every year, and he always let me know when I expressed interest in running it with him that I couldn’t handle it. I want to prove to myself that I can.” I paused. “And to do that, I need to get into a little better shape than I am.”
He frowned. “It’d be a shame to lose those curves.”
I grinned and turned to Callum.
“Your brother’s a charmer,” I said to my man.
Callum rolled his eyes. “Not something we all haven’t thought, honey. Curves are sexy.”
I found myself flushing.
“Bacon and eggs are okay for you,” Colt said. “Pancakes? Probably not. But eggs are definitely okay.”
I appeased everyone in the room by getting eggs and a piece of bacon.
When I sat down, all of the men were silently shoveling food into their faces while periodically making groaning noises.
I smiled and ate my eggs.
“If you want to come up here and cook us all breakfast,” Ace said, breaking the silence. “You can stay at the cabin for free. And you don’t even have to buy the food. We’ll buy it. You just cook it.”
I thought about that for a long second, then shrugged. “I don’t mind that. For everyone? Or just the brothers.”
“Everyone,” Banks muttered around a bite of pancake. “We have all of us that are here, and about four other men that work here with us from Ace’s old team, and our old foster house. None of us know how to cook.”
“Codie knows how to cook,” I told them all.
“Codie knows how to cook,” Ace agreed. “But not like this, and she can’t cook for a goddamn army. Plus, with her starting her new job soon, it’s not like she’s going to have the time to come in here and cook for us every day.”
“I can cook before I leave for the store,” I finally agreed. “But I don’t need to stay at the cabin for free. I have enough money to—”
“This is more than enough,” Callum interrupted. “We were about to hire a cook to do this anyway. The one we talked to wanted to charge us extra since it was more than eight hours a day. Plus, with us needing her on Saturdays, too, it would’ve been even more. So yes, we need you more than you need us.”
“Well,” I said. “In that case, I’ll cover whatever meals that she doesn’t. I also don’t have a set number of hours that I need to do. If you don’t mind me baking here every once in a while, I’ll be more than willing to help out.”
“Deal!” Darby sang. “Can you make this every Saturday?”
We all started to laugh.
***
Eight hours later, there was no laughing in sight.
“There was no way that this was as cheap as he said it was,” I found myself saying to Callum.
“No,” he agreed. “More likely, it was about twice the amount.”
My thoughts exactly.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “This place is to die for. And there are top-of-the-line appliances in the kitchen. A sub-zero fridge. Fuck, there’s even a perfect workspace for me to make my cakes. And there’s this display case up here. He put everything into action for me.”
“Was selling your bakery items something you wanted to do?” Callum asked, gathering me into his arms.
I went willingly, surprised that the feel of his arms around me was so comforting.
It’d felt like I was meant to be there, like it was coming home.
“Sort of,” I admitted. “In the beginning, when I told Malloy of my dream of opening up a bakery like this, it was. Now? I don’t really have time to run the bakery part of it. I could do the baking, and I could do the cakes, but I don’t have the time or desire to stand up here and dispense the goods.”
Callum made a humming sound.
“I may have a solution for you,” he suddenly said. “You remember me talking about Candy Ray Sunshine?”
I frowned.
“Yes,” I said. “The one with the donkey that caused you to get hurt yesterday.”
He snorted. “Yes. That one.”
“Yeah,” I answered. “What about her?”
“I walked up on her yesterday with that donkey,” he explained. “And she was on the phone with the bank or something, cursing them because they wouldn’t give her enough of a loan for her to start up a coffee shop in town.”
I frowned. “A coffee shop?”
“Yes,” he answered. “She wants to start up a specialized coffee shop that sells beans and shit. Or at least, that was what I heard. She doesn’t even want to make the coffee. Just sell the beans.”
“Huh,” I found myself saying. “And you think that we could partner up and sell pastries and coffee beans?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It might benefit her to also sell the drink as well as the beans. I don’t know. But she was wanting a loan. She could rent this place from you. Or hell, you could sell her half. That would be something that y’all would need to talk about. But the girl is nice. I think you’d like her a lot.”
“She didn’t sound very nice yesterday,” I found myself saying.
“That was because she thought I was Banks,” he explained. “She hates Banks, remember? And with me and Banks looking so much alike, being twins and all…”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re awful.”
He shrugged. “I think you should go see her. You might like her.”
I frowned, thinking about the monumental task that was ahead of me.
Did I want a partner?
Did I want to do this all by myself?
The scary answer was no for both.
But I couldn’t find a way to do it without the help.
“I gotta think about this,” I admitted.
He grinned. “Good. In the meantime, you can come work out with me.”
I looked at his bum ankle, which he was favoring quite badly.
“You can’t workout with that.” I gestured to him.
He snorted. “I have arms that I can work out. I can do anything core, too. I’ll figure something out while you go to class.”
I felt my face flush, happy that he would go with me despite being hurt.
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter 12
Are you in a bad mood? Bitch, I might be.
-Callum to Banks
Callum
Two weeks later, things seemed to be looking up in my world.
My ankle was healing. Desi was officially moved into the small
cabin, and I was getting fed each and every day.
Today, we would also be meeting with Candy Ray Sunshine after a workout. A workout that I’d spent the majority of the time looking at Desi out of the corner of my eyes.
“She looks good,” Banks said as he spotted me at the bench press.
I grunted and pushed the bar upwards once more before racking the weights.
“I agree,” I said as I sat up and wiped the sweat out of my eyes. “I tried to get her to wear shorts, but she wouldn’t do it.”
Banks snorted.
“Crying shame,” he said. “She’d totally rock them.”
I knew she would.
I’d had an up close and personal view of those legs every day for two weeks now.
Sometimes they were around my waist. Other times they were wrapped around my head.
It was all about balance with those legs of hers.
“I can see that you’ve obviously started thinking about shit that you shouldn’t while you’re at the gym,” Banks muttered. “But we gotta go ride some fence, and I have to go by the sale barn. You’re coming with me.”
“Why?” I asked. “I was going out to lunch with Desi.”
“Well, you can do both,” Banks suggested. “But you’re still coming with me.”
“Why?” I asked again.
“Because Candy’s supposed to be there. And I don’t want to go by myself.”
I sighed. “Candy’s going out to lunch with us, too.”
Banks cursed softly under his breath. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
“What?” I asked as we switched positions.
He laid down, and I spotted him, waiting for him to let me know if he needed my assistance before I touched the bar.
“I already told Desi that I was accompanying you to lunch because I didn’t want you to say no to going to the sale barn with me,” Banks muttered. “That means that she knew I wouldn’t want to go to lunch with y’all, yet let me invite myself anyway.”
I grinned. “You did tell her that her cake tasted like shit last night.”
Banks rolled his eyes. “I also told her that I wasn’t a fan of chocolate with white icing, too. It doesn’t matter how good the two are apart. Together they’re always going to be shit.”
“I don’t understand your aversion to chocolate cake with white icing.”
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