“Sometimes the greatest damage is done when we don’t even meanit.”
Seth kisses the back of my neck and quickly falls asleep, but I stay awake until the sun comes up, reliving each glorious moment with the man I love and wondering what the heck he meant by those crypticwords.
Seth
The afternoon sun tickles my lids as I struggle to open them. My head feels thick, my tongue dry as if I just pulled an all-nighter, and then the events that unfolded these last few hours come crashing back, and I realize indeed I pulled the best all-nighter ever—with Sunday,inSunday, inheaven.
A groan begs to work its way up my throat as I pry my lids open, but I won’t let it. Instead, I give a few hard blinks and stare right into Sunday Knight’s hair, a dark blonde flurry tangled across my chest, her warm body pressed to mine as my arm drapes over her midsection, my hand right over the small bulge of her belly. Little Fish, our Little Fish. As much as I feel like an ass for not coming clean, I can’t help but drink down the moment. This is how it can be—willbe for Sunday and me. I’m sure we’ll iron out all the details soon enough. As much as I want to blurt out the truth, I don’t think my bed is the time or place. Nope. Baby steps—no pun intended. We should probably cement ourselves for a few days at least, and then I’ll find a delicate way to tell her. I’m assuming she won’t be thrilled I’ve held this info close to the vest since beforeChristmas.
The scene in the Black Bear comes back to me. Eli and Sunday talking and laughing, having a genuine good time. Just the thought of Eli trying to land his mitts on her has the ability to send me into a rage. Sunday and I have been long in the works. We’re meant for one another. We get one another. Eli and Sunday—that would be forced. I don’t even think she likes the guy. But Sunday is so nice, so bent on doing what’s right, she might think it’s for the best if they ended up together. It breaks my heart that I’ve led her to such a dark conclusion. I’ll have to put an end to this and tell Sunday the truth before she does something radical like runs off and marries the dude. Eli’s a nice guy. He’s nowhere near the player the student body has pegged him to be. But if he knew he had a shot with Sunday, he might just take it. He’d be a fool not to. Sunday is perfect in every way—genuinely sweet, a smile that can light up a football stadium, a face that could launch a thousand ships—and she happens to be very fertile. So am I apparently, and together we made a Little Fish who will undoubtedly make a big splash in this world one day soon. We need to tell our families. I’ll need a Kevlar vest and maybe a safety helmet when it comes to her brothers—probably her father, too. My parents will be disappointed, confused, and frightened, but they won’t admit to any of those three. Misty—she’ll be understanding. She might even try to talk Nolan out of the homicide he’ll be looking into—namely mine. Nevertheless, all arrows point to me telling Sunday as soon aspossible.
I take in a lungful of air laced with Sunday’s sweet scent, roses and cinnamon. A light moan escapes her as she presses her bottom into my morning wood. My hand moves down reflexively, and I end up cupping the softest part ofher.
A hard breath escapes her as she twists into me. Her mascara is smudged, her hair tousled as she blinks up at me with those citrine eyes glowing likeheadlamps.
“Damn, you look hot in the morning.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but the truth is, Sunday deserves to hear it. I press a gentle kiss over her forehead. “Are you hungry?” I swallow hard because I’m suddenly hungry, and it has very little to do withfood.
A dark laugh bubbles in her chest, and it ricochets throughout my body. I lean down and land my mouth over hers as I take a gentle bite from her bottom lip. Sunday wraps her arms around me tight and trails kisses all the way to my ear. “Did last night reallyhappen?”
“That depends.” I take a playful bite out of her shoulder. “Did you likeit?”
“Seth!” She pulls back and laughs, her face bright as noon. “I loved it. And I love you.” She scratches on my chest, and just like that, I’m shaking to have her. I can’t blame myself. I’ve got Sunday Knight naked in my bed. The girl I’ve been panting after for the better part of forever. Yes, I want her. I need her more than water oroxygen.
“I love you, too.” I press a kiss over her heated forehead. “So, on a scale of one to ten, I was an eleven, right?” The dark laugh is all mine now. I give her sides a light tweak, and she bucks in my arms with alaugh.
“I don’t know.” Sunday is the worst kind of tease because she’s completely unaware she’s doing it. Her gaze hooks to mine as she flirts mercilessly. Her shoulders bounce up and down, and my mouth dares me to land over one, take another far more nefarious bite this time. “I think we’d better go another round before I can give a properassessment.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I pull her in close. Sunday is tiny by nature, but she’s curvy in all the right places, and it’s been ecstasy mapping out every last trace of her with my hands, my mouth. Sunday’s body tastes like wine, and I look forward to getting drunk off her again and again. I run a line of kisses down her nose, between her beautiful tits, down her belly, and draw a small heart over the life that’s growing inside her. “Did I hurt you last night?” I ask, floating back up and wrapping my arms aroundher.
“No.” She nuzzles a quick kiss into my neck before pulling back. “I told you a thousand times, no. And I don’t think you need to treat me likeglass.”
“Okay, but I’m not giving you a poundingeither.”
Her entire body shakes with laughter. “Please give me something. I’m a ball of anxious hormones, and I’m craving anything you’re willing to thrust my way.” She bites down on a smile, a shy awkwardness suddenly peeking through. “You’re pretty amazing, you knowthat?”
“In bed? Yeah, I know that,” Itease.
She swats me over the arm. “In general.” She averts her gaze. “Okay—in bed, too, but if you tell anyone I said that, I might deny it. Unless, of course, you get right to it and blow me out of the water with your mad mattress skills.” She leans in and licks a line up my chest before landing her mouth over mine with a brutal kiss that saysmake me yours and make it memorableall at the same time. She pulls back, panting, that primal look in her eyes speaks volume to the fact I’d better make haste. Sunday is insatiable, and I’m not too sorry about it. “Your move,Baker.”
“Challengeaccepted.”
My mouth seals over hers as Sunday and I wrestle it out. I take her three different ways, and Sunday never complains, simply calls out for more. My mouth finds a home over the most delicate part of her, my heart accelerating to outright dangerous levels as she knots up the sheets with her hands. Sunday fists the hair at my temples and roars like a lioness as she hits her zenith. I glide up her beautiful body, and my mouth doesn’t miss a beat on the way to her lips. My body pushes into hers over and over as we spend the rest of the morning repeating last night’s performance on aloop.
When we’re through, we nap, we shower, we share a kiss that steams up the bathroom ten times hotter than that water could ever hope to get. I make Sunday breakfast wearing nothing but a pair of old sweat pants, Sunday in my T-shirt and she looks like a goddess. I don’t quite understand how lucky I got. Someway, somehow, I stepped into a magic portal back in December, and now I’m living out my fantasies with the girl of my dreams. And I pray to God I don’t wake up, that neither of us wakes up. But most of all, I pray this doesn’t morph into a nightmare and take us down in the process. I’ve got to cut loose one hell of a secret, and for both our sakes—for the sake of the three of us, I had better do itsoon.
* * *
The next meetingat the media club, I wait until the room clears out and it’s just Trixie and Rush. I’m not sure why, but I’ve never felt like a third wheel with them. And now that I’m officially with Sunday, I get why Trixie and Rush are always so damn hands-on whenever they’re together. It’s because they can’t help it. God knows all I want to do is spend time with Sunday. And when I spend time with Sunday, all I want to do is land my hands all over her. But I’m not saying a word to Rush about that. Nope. As far as he’s concerned, Sunday and I are still clear in the friend zone. He’d lop my dick off if he thought otherwise, and he wouldn’t thinktwice.
“Baker”—Rush doesn’t look up from his laptop—“are you taking off, or did you stay behind to flirt withme?”
Trixie sneers, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. Trix thinks everything Rush does and says is freaking hilarious. She didn’t always, though. She thought pretty little of Rush in the beginning, much like Sunday did withme.
“Just letting you two know I’m meeting with someone from Collins and Associatestoday.”
Rush glances up, doesn’t bother to move. “The lawfirm?”
“Yup.”
