“For another three weeks,” she corrected coldly. “Not a day more. Go play with your friends from the boys’ club, Boudreaux. They’ve gone to such lengths to get you here.”
A low, angry growl was a warning she was pushing him too far, but she didn’t care.
“They went to great effort to getyouhere, Bennie. This, them, all for you.” Reaux whipped her around in a distinctlynotsubmissive manner and glared down at her. His accent thickened dangerously. “Tonight, I will be sleeping in the bed. No arguments, Violet. This attitude needs to be fucked out of you before it lands you in trouble.”
“With whom? You?” She scoffed derisively. “Take the bed. I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.”
“This is not up for discussion. The night is mine.” He cupped her face and kissed her savagely enough to bruise her lips. “So are you.”
She didn’t breathe again until he walked away with his new best buddies to the bar, then sucked in a gasping breath that couldn’t alleviate the fresh pulse of arousal assaulting her system. She wanted to hurl something at that broad back, but nothing was close enough to hand.
“Violet!” Callie’s welcoming screech turned every head in the room.
She tried not to let her shoulders sag in resignation. There went any hope of quietly slipping back out through the doors, going home, and locking the door so Boudreaux could freeze his tight ass off on the porch all night, presumptuous bastard.
Instead, she plastered on a smile, held her head up high, and made her way over to the people who’d become her family. Almost immediately, she was assailed by Callie and Sierra, strangled in a joint hug that brought tears to her eyes.
It was just from missing this connection, she assured herself. It was not any kind of hormones.
Callie was talking so fast, it was hard to understand what she was saying. Her voice, her tone, her mannerisms were all childlike, sweet and innocent. It was like being hugged by an adult-sized toddler.
In comparison, Sierra’s silent clinging wormed into Violet’s heart.
It struck her suddenly how leaving abruptly would devastate these two alone, not to mention the others, and a flood of guilt drowned her as she realized not only how blind she’d been, but how selfish to consider just up and abandoning them.
When she left, it needed to be on the right terms, with no broken friendships in her wake.
“Sierra, let Violet sit down, babygirl.” Mack patted the seat beside him. He smiled at her, understanding in his eyes. “Been a while, Mistress.”
Sierra did as her Daddy told her, hurrying back to his side after one last squeeze. “We missed you.”
Violet cleared her throat. “I know, sweetheart. I missed you too.”
“Did you miss me?” Callie peered up at her, heart in her eyes.
“How could I not?” She pressed a kiss to Callie’s hair. “Did you save a seat for me?”
The Little’s head bobbed against Violet’s breast in affirmation before she pulled back and grabbed her hand. “The most special one, between Daddy Vander and Master Grit.”
Oh, fun. She let herself be towed to the special seat, sitting regally and trying to answer the questions rapidly fired in her direction. Merrick joined them, cuddling Tamsyn close.
“So, who’s the new boy on the block?” Ericka flicked her fingers toward the bar. “The gossip mill has been running on overtime. The hunk walks in and you disappear for a week with him. A little workplace romance?”
“The gossip mill must be running low on worthwhile rumors.”
“Oh, come on, Vi. Don’t tell me you’ve got him under your roof and haven’t taken him for a ride. Hell, in your shoes…” Ericka’s tongue flicked over her bottom lip before her teeth scraped over it. Her eyes were sharp, focused,hungryas they raked over Reaux. “He wouldn’t leave my bed for a month.”
More amused than jealous, Violet shrugged. “You and I have different priorities, Ericka. If you want to take a shot at him, please, by all means do so. In fact, you’ll be doing me a favor by keeping him out of my hair.”
Ericka mulled it over, then exchanged a glance with Felicity. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” Felicity grinned and rose, smoothing down her dress with her eyes already on the sexy prize across the room. “Single approach or go for the united?”
“United as always.”
There, Violet thought as she watched the two Mistresses cross the room. That should keep the insufferable prick busy for a while. Ericka was a bloodhound when it came to single men, Felicity was a wolf, and between the pair of them, there was rarely a man who could or would turn them down.
“Forget something?” Evander asked, drawing her attention to him.
