To cover how much she felt for Smith, Erin socked him in the arm.
“Ow. You may be tiny, but you’re fierce.”
“Hush, you. That’s for teasing me about moving in with you.”
He rubbed his arm and drew her inside with him, but along the way he whispered, “Who said I was teasing?”
The ride homepassed in silence, but not because Smith had fallen asleep. Far from it. After telling Erin he’d been serious about her moving in, he waited for them to discuss it. Only she hadn’t, and he didn’t know what to think.
Brunch had been magical. Aunt Jane was all the moms and aunts and grandmas he’d always dreamed of having wrapped up in a caring woman who genuinely wanted him to visit whenever he could. Like, shemeantthat shit. Evan had been his typical self: charming, funny, and damned nice.
Smith had to admit he liked the guy, and he’d promised to bring Erin to meet Kenzie and Daniel at some future date, though he hadn’t committed to anything specific. Not unless Erin confirmed it.
She’d been a little too quiet since being outside with Evan, and it freaked him out. Was it all too much? Had Evan dissed him without him knowing it? Did she see how much he didn’t fit in with the Griffiths and now pitied him with no way out?
By the time they parked, he felt ready to come out of his skin.
They went upstairs to his apartment, and at least she seemed okay with that, because she followed him inside.
“Okay,” he burst out, “What the hell?”
She frowned. “What?”
“Why are you mad at me?”
She gaped. “I’m not mad.”
He started pacing, his nerves shot to hell. Today had been about sharing something good with her, but he felt as if he’d done something wrong. “Then why have you been giving me the silent treatment the whole way home?”
“Me? I thought that was all you.”
“Huh?”
She poked him in the chest, and for some reason that turned him way on. “I have been wanting to talk to you all day about this living together thing, but you say nothing. Are you serious about me—I mean, serious about me moving in—or not?”
Smith had been through enough. He couldn’t take their distance any longer. He knew one thing he was damn good at. One thing he couldn’t screw up. So he kissed her, and he showed her exactly how much he wanted her. He stripped her naked in moments, his mouth and hands never stopping. He had her against the back of the couch and knelt between her legs, his mouth over her before she could do more than cry out his name.
He ate her up, licking and sucking her into a wild orgasm that tore his name from her lips.
Then he turned her around, a fantasy come to life, and unzipped his jeans. “Bend forward,” he ordered and didn’t recognize the grit in his voice. He took himself out, so sensitive, so hard, and spread her legs wider as she bent over the back of the couch, almost off her tiptoes due to the height.
He took himself in hand and angled at her entrance, so hot and slick. He shoved home, over and over, thrusting in tune to her cries for more. He couldn’t stop, so fucking in love with the woman that where he ended and she began blurred.
His orgasm took him by complete surprise, the rush of ecstasy both numbing and exhausting and over too fast.
He stood behind her, shivering as he released, small shocks of bliss still pumping through his blood.
“Cupcake, you good?” he asked, feeling as if he’d run a marathon.
She held a thumbs up then flopped back over the cushions.
He stayed there a moment, feeling better than he’d ever thought possible. He’d been a part of something today, of a family, and he’d been treated just like everyone else.
With Erin by his side.
She made it seem right. Normal. As if he’d always belonged.
Shehadto move in with him.
