“Okay, okay! Put me down before I give you a noogie,” she threatened, and greetings rang out from the crowd. “Hey, Aubrey!” “Glad you made it!” “About time!”
Joe set her on her feet and said, “Missed you, Hums.”
“Stop calling me that,” she said sharply. “Can’t you see I brought a date?” She waved to Knox. “Knox Bentley, meet my brothers.”
Standing shoulder to shoulder, her brothers stepped closer to Knox, their arms crossed and their sharp eyes narrowing more by the second. They were massive. Though the three men were all close in height—a couple inches over six feet—her brothers had an easy forty or fifty pounds of sheer muscle on Knox.
“Be nice,” Aubrey warned, pointing at her brothers. “Or I’ll personally kick each of y’all’s asses.”
“How’s it going?” Knox offered a hand.
Joe shook his hand with a grip so strong, it sent a very clear message. Don’t fuck with my sister.
“Joey,” he said. “Nice to meet you. How did you and Aubs meet?”
“At a charity function a couple of years ago. We’ve been close ever since.”
“Then why haven’t we met you before this?” Troy asked.
“Didn’t you get enough of this scare the bejeezus out of my male friends stuff when we were young?” Aubrey smacked Troy’s arm.
A lopsided grin appeared, and Troy clapped a hand on Knox’s shoulder. “Just giving you shit, dude. Come on in. Grab a beer.”
Knox glanced at Aubrey, who lifted her palms toward the ceiling, amusement dancing in her eyes as she said, “You wanted to date me!”
She laughed as Troy draped an arm around Knox, guiding him through the crowd with Joey flanking his other side. Troy raised his voice and said, “Hey, everyone, this is Knox. He’s with Aubrey!”
Greetings rang out around them. Knox looked over his shoulder and saw Aubrey with a group of women huddled around her. The cutest little girl with golden ringlets barreled into her legs, yelling, “Wee!” Aubrey’s entire face brightened as she picked up the little girl and smothered her with kisses.
“But seriously,” Troy said, forcing Knox’s attention back to her brothers, “you hurt our sister and you’ll wish you never walked into this house.”
“If I hurt your sister, she’ll castrate me before either of you have a chance to blink.”
“He’s right,” Joey said. “Aubs is vicious.”
“Tough, not vicious,” Knox clarified.
Troy pulled open the fridge and tossed Knox a beer.
“We got us a wordsmith here, Troy,” Joey teased. “Yeah, she’s tough.”
“You ever play any ball?” Troy asked.
“Sure. I played a little ball in school, but hockey was my best sport.”
The brothers exchanged a humorous look. “Hockey,” they said in unison. “Cool.”
Troy and Joey kept close to Knox, introducing him to their friends and family and grilling him in a non-confrontational way. Knox didn’t mind. After all, he had a sister, too. He understood their protective nature.
Much later, Knox sat on one of four couches in the lower level of Aubrey’s parents’ house between Aubrey and her father, Hammond Stewart, whom everyone called Coach. He was a dead ringer for Craig T. Nelson, and as nice as a man could be. Her mother, Debra, sat beside Hammond on the edge of her seat, eyes glued to the projection tv, like her sons. Debra had caught him coming in from outside earlier, where he’d taken a phone call, and they’d talked for a while. She was warm, funny, and confident. With parents like Hammond and Debra, it was easy to see where Aubrey’s confident, outgoing personality came from. And with brothers like Troy and Joey, Knox knew Aubrey had to be tough as nails to keep up.
He glanced at her burly brothers, sitting on another couch surrounded by friends Knox had met, though he had trouble keeping track of their names. There were at least thirty or forty people watching the game, and everyone seemed to have two or three nicknames. Aubrey had already been called Hummer, Hums, Shortcake, Bruiser, and Cheeto Girl. Knox had learned that the little girl he’d seen with Aubrey earlier was Troy’s Danielle, but everyone called her Dani or Dani Girl, and she called Aubrey Ree, which came out as Wee. Troy was a loving, attentive father. Dani’s mother wasn’t in the picture, but Aubrey’s family made up for it by showering her with love.
“Another fumble! How did he miss that?” a guy hollered from across the room, and was joined by other exclamations from the crowd—You suck! Get him off the field! What the heck was that?
“Are you kidding me?” Aubrey threw her arms up in the air. “What’d you do? Bathe in butter, for Pete’s sake? Come on, McDonnel! My grandmother could have caught that ball!”
Dani threw her arms up and yelled, “Why you do that, Donel?” Her eyes were trained on Aubrey, as they’d been most of the game, as she parroted almost every move Aubrey made.
Everyone laughed, and Troy kissed Dani’s head. “That’s my girl.”
Aubrey had been hollering at the game all night, a far cry from the woman who handled herself gracefully at professional functions, careful to say and do the right things, and man, he loved this side of her.
“Comeoncomeoncomeon!” Aubrey yelled at the television, mimicked by Dani. “Catchitcatchit! Yes!”
Aubrey leaped to her feet, giving high fives all around as cheers—and disgruntled gripes from those cheering for the opposing team—rang out for the touchdown. Dani wiggled off Troy’s lap and high-fived those close to her, too. Aubrey collapsed next to Knox and took a swig of his beer, which she’d been doing all evening. It was halftime, and the room vibrated with conversation as everyone moved about.
“Did you see that?” Aubrey asked, wide-eyed.
“Hell, yes, I saw it, and it was hot.” He hauled her in for a kiss. He liked sports, but he found Aubrey far more fascinating.
Dani climbed onto Knox’s lap and put her adorable face this close to his as she said, “See dat?”
Knox laughed. Damn she was cute. “Yes. It was pretty exciting.”
Dani nodded vehemently. “Touchdown!” Her hands shot up, and Knox tickled her belly, earning the sweetest giggles.
“Sorry to break this up, but it’s potty time for my Dani Girl.” Troy’s big hands wrapped around his little girl, and he hoisted her onto his shoulders, making her giggle as he carried her away.
“That was about the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Aubrey said softly.
“Oh yeah?” He nuzzled against her neck and said, “I’ll have to hold her more often.” The warmth in Aubrey’s eyes made his stomach get all funky.
“No, don’t,” Aubrey said. “I’d rather picture you doing dirty things with me, and that adorable image gets in the way.”
He pulled her close and whispered, “Babe, nothing will get in the way of me doing dirty things to you. I’ll take you upstairs right now and we can sneak into your childhood bedroom, or a closet, or bathroom, like high school kids.”
Her eyes darkened and she said, “You’re not turned off by all this at all, are you?”
“Are you kidding? This is what life is supposed to be like. No pretenses and lots of warm family fun.”
“Crazy and competitive is more like it,” she said. “I have three hundred dollars riding on this game.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
She gave him a quick kiss, then popped up to her feet and said, “I have to use the bathroom. Be right back.”
Aubrey disappeared up the stairs, and as Knox pushed to his feet, her father greeted him with a heavy clap on the back. “She’s a pistol, isn’t she?”
“Rapid-fire,” Knox said.
“Troy says you’ve known her a couple of years.” Hammond raised his bushy gray brows. “That true?”
“Yes, sir. But we kept things quiet on the dating front until now.”
Her father chuckled. “Her choice is my guess.”
“Sounds like you know your daughter pretty well. I don’t blame her. She’s created
an incredible business, and she doesn’t want to be sidetracked from future success.”
Hammond leaned closer. He was a thick-chested man, easily six four, with a receding hairline that began around the middle of his head. His deep-set hazel eyes were more golden and green than brown. “My daughter has got more gumption than both of my boys put together, but sometimes it backfires. I like you, Knox. My wife likes you, and my boys and their buddies do, too. None of that really makes a heap of difference to my daughter.”
“With all due respect, sir, I think it does.”
Hammond inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. “Well, that’s good to hear. But where I was going with it was that she likes you, and bringing you here is a testament to just how much.”
“I sure hope so, because I’m crazy about her. She’s incredible.”
“Don’t I know it.” Hammond laughed and walked away mumbling, “Don’t I know it.”
Knox made his way toward the stairs to see if he could intercept his girl for a few stolen kisses before halftime ended. The lower level of her parents’ house was decorated with sports paraphernalia and pictures of Aubrey and her siblings through the years playing in the yard, fishing, laughing with friends, and all dressed up in fancy clothes beaming at the camera. They’d captured her brothers in action on the football field and Joey’s proud moment when his team won the Super Bowl. A copy of the picture he’d seen in Aubrey’s office with her, Presley, and Libby standing in front of the LWW building was featured prominently, along with several others of Aubrey and the girls. There was also a plethora of pictures of Aubrey and Charlotte as kids riding horses, swimming, and sitting in the grass holding plastic cups and with red juice stains around their lips. Knox fell a little harder for Aubrey with each and every one, but his favorite picture was of Aubrey wearing a football uniform, complete with cleats and a helmet, standing between her brothers. She couldn’t have been older than seven or eight. She clutched a football to her chest with both hands, her fiery spirit beaming out from beneath the helmet in her proud amber eyes. Troy was leaning on her helmet, flashing that crooked smile, and Joey stood on her other side, scowling, as if he’d been on the losing team while his siblings had been on the winning team.
“She was a spitfire,” her mother said as she sidled up to him. “Still is.”
Aubrey shared her mother’s height, curvaceous build, amber eyes, and blond hair, though Debra wore hers cut just above her shoulders.
“That picture was taken on the field at the university, after one of Hammond’s practices. Aubrey and her brothers swindled Ham into letting them hold a game with all their friends on the university field. Joey was supposed to catch the ball and run the play, but Aubrey snuck right in front of him and snagged that ball. She ran like a bat outta hell all the way to the end zone, and of course Troy took her brother and just about everyone else on the field down to make sure she made it.”
He chuckled, imagining Aubrey’s delight at making that touchdown. “It’s nice to see nothing has changed. She’s still beating men to the end zone.”
“That she is. Aubrey said you have a brother and a sister? It sounds like she and your sister really hit it off.”
“Yes, they sure did.”
“I heard they made plans to go to a baseball game together. That’s good. She works so hard. It’s nice to finally see her reaching beyond the doors of LWW.”
“Her devotion to the company is impressive.”
“From what I hear, you’re pretty darn impressive, too,” she said sweetly.
“Thank you.”
“I don’t mean just in business. I know what men are like, how big egos can get in the way. I raised two of them. But I also know what it was like to raise a daughter who was dead set on conquering the world. It takes a strong, intelligent man to put up with a strong, intelligent woman, and two years, even if kept quiet for most of that time, tells me all I need to know.”
Knox was shocked Aubrey had told her mother they’d been together for two years. Nothing could have made him happier. “She’s a tough nut, but I’m no pushover.”
“That’s good, because if I know my girl, she wouldn’t have brought you home if you weren’t important to her. This was probably the most important test of all, seeing if you can handle the razzing from her big brothers. No matter what she tells you, their opinions, along with her father’s, matter a lot to her. I know mine does, too, but they’ve been her sounding boards and protectors for a very long time. She’s their princess, even if she doesn’t think she is.”
He couldn’t even imagine Aubrey’s reaction if she heard her name tied to the word princess.
“The next time Troy and Joey give you a hard time,” Debra said quietly, “call them Chipmunk and Pinkie.”
“Are you trying to get me killed?”
“No.” She glanced across the room at her sons, who were talking with a group of people. “When Aubrey was little, she saw a chipmunk run across the patio and it ran so fast, she started calling Troy Chipmunk. And Pinkie…well…at three years old she accidentally walked into the bathroom when Joey was getting undressed for a bath. She was so bothered by the idea that boys had pinkies and she didn’t, I wondered if she’d ever get over it.”
As Aubrey descended the stairs, Knox’s heart beat a little faster.
Her mother winked and said, “I’m glad to see she has.”
AFTER THE POSTGAME celebrations, Aubrey and Knox headed back to her place. As Knox carried her bags from the car to her front door, she was still high from not only the evening’s festivities, but seeing how easily Knox had fit in with her family. He rolled with the punches, unfazed by her brothers and their buddies’ teasing barbs. By the end of the night he was giving it right back and hollering at the television with the rest of them.
She unlocked the door, swamped with emotions. Butterflies took flight in her stomach as they stepped inside. She’d never been needy or clingy, but when he set down her suitcase and gathered her in his arms, smiling down at her with a sexy look in his eyes, she didn’t want him to leave. She liked sleeping with his arms around her, waking up to his husky morning voice and scratchy whiskers. She enjoyed having coffee together as wakefulness rolled in. She’d had relationships in college, but this was different. This was I want you to stay, not you’re fun to hang with, but everything else comes first.
“What’s going through your pretty little head right now?” he asked, searching her face for answers.
“I was just thinking it’s a long ride back to the city and it’s late. Maybe you should stay.”
His lips quirked up. “Why can’t you just tell me you want me to stay with you? Why do you need to take baby steps?”
“They’re big-girl steps, thank you very much. It’s all new for me, Knox. I don’t know how to do this without being afraid of losing myself.”
“Then let me help with that.” He lifted her into his arms and guided her legs around his waist as he strode toward the staircase.
“Knox!” She held on tight.
“This is when you say, ‘Knox, I loved spending the weekend with you and don’t want to spend a single night without you,’” he said as he carried her up the stairs.
“Knox, I loved spending the weekend with you,” she repeated as he carried her toward the bedroom, earning the cockiest expression yet. “But every single night might be excessive.”
He set her on her feet beside the bed and cradled her face between his hands. His big body pressed temptingly against her as he said, “I like excessive.”
His lips came coaxingly down over hers, changing those butterflies in her stomach to embers, heating her up from the inside out. She put her arms around him, expecting him to kiss her harder, to stake his claim urgently the way they usually couldn’t keep themselves from doing. Instead, his tongue swept through her mouth like a smooth and all-consuming wave, tantalizingly persuasive. One hand circled her waist, and the other dove into her hair, angling her mouth as he pressed his hardness against
her, kissing her so thoroughly she went up on her toes, eager to give him more. She was light-headed with desire, pawing at his shoulders, his ass, anywhere she could find purchase. When his lips slipped away, trailing kisses along her jaw and down her neck, she longed for their return. He pushed her coat off her shoulders, and it landed by her feet in a heap.
“No more baby steps,” he whispered.
He sealed his mouth over the base of her neck. The sharp graze of his teeth clashed with the softness of his tongue, causing zings of electricity inside her. Lost in the world of Knox’s enticing mouth, in his hands slipping under her sweater and cupping her breasts, she heard herself moan. He pinched her nipples between his fingers and thumbs, causing her to cry out. He captured her cries in a scorching kiss. Her body shook and shivered as he took the kiss deeper and her urgency took over. She reached for the button on his jeans, but he grabbed her wrist and tore his mouth away. His eyes were dark as night, his chest heaving with his lustful breaths. Never before had she seen so much desire staring back at her, and Lord help her, she wanted every ounce of it.
“By the time I’m done with you,” he said in a sexy, gravelly voice, “you’re going to crave excessive.”
He lifted her sweater over her head and tossed it to the floor. His gaze dropped hungrily to her breasts, and he dipped his head, kissing the skin along the edge of her bra. He licked her through the lace until her nipples burned and tingled. Her eyes fluttered closed as he taunted and teased, lavishing each breast with a sinful amount of attention. She pushed her hands into his hair, arching against his mouth, but he grabbed her wrists without stopping his tantalizing seduction and he held them by her sides. She had no idea how long he focused on her breasts, but it was long enough to drench her panties and for her legs to turn to jelly.
“I will never, ever get enough of you.”
His warm breath spread over her skin as he blazed a trail using his teeth and tongue down the center of her body, still holding her wrists. Her body thrummed like a winter storm building, pressure mounting, pounding inside her vying for release. Her nails dug into his skin as his tongue dove into and around her belly button in slow, mind-blowing strokes. He used his teeth to tear open the button on her jeans. Then he licked the patch of skin he’d exposed, sending shivers of heat to her core.
Making You Mine – the Bradens & Montgomerys (Pleasant Hill – Oak Falls) Page 14