I would tell him all the time for the rest of my life.
Chapter Forty
BRONSON
It had feltlike forever since I’d seen her.
Less than twenty-four hours since I’d kissed my woman on Alley’s porch and I vibrated with the need to do it again. She was definitely an addiction but one I could fully get behind.
Lake wasn’t hazardous to my health, she made everything better.
When I walked through the door, my wife squealed and did a running jump right into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist. Her hands held my head tight and she planted an energetic, open-mouth kiss on me as everyone watched us.
A throat cleared, interrupting our moment. Lake pulled her mouth from mine, unwrapped her legs and dropped her feet to the floor. I began counting in my head to calm the reaction she generated as her body slid down mine.
Looking toward the source of the noise, I scowled at Kace who was smirking at me. He nodded to the kids around the room and snickered. “Just trying to keep it PG.”
Shit, he was the last one to talk, he couldn’t keep his hands off his wife most of the time. Case in point, as my gaze traveled to his hand that rested on Teal’s behind. Raising my brows, my head motioned to where he rested his palm.
He just laughed. I started to mouth asshole but out of the corner of my eye I noticed Embry watching the exchange and managed to stop myself. No doubt she would have made me pay up for not even saying it out loud. When I looked her way, she had a glint in her eye. The little turkey knew she almost got me.
“You hungry?” Lake asked, capturing my attention again.
I leaned in toward her ear and whispered, “For you, I am.”
Her palms lay flat on my pecs, but at my words her fingers curled and her nails dug into my skin. I had to remind myself what PG looked like for a second. I grabbed one of her hands as she dropped the other and started walking toward the kitchen.
“Starved,” I answered, again, this time out loud so everyone could hear me.
I didn’t miss the heat in her eyes as we moved along with everyone else to eat breakfast with our friends. The house was packed with all the adults and kids but we made do. Nobody gave a damn how much space there was. It was all about who we were with.
“I missed you guys,” Stormi said, a mouth full of pancakes.
“We missed you too,” Lake told her, leaning over our daughter and hugging her.
Stormi looked at me expectantly and I gave her a good squeeze too. It was hard being away from either of my girls for any length of time.
Once everyone was stuffed, we talked for a bit before getting ready to leave. I heard all about the poor dude named Carson who was probably scared shitless when Lyric and Kace approached him. I had to wonder though which he feared more, that moment or the one where Alley dragged him into the house and slammed the door, and then he saw her mass collection of bats lined up in the entryway.
The ladies got another good laugh at that and the men couldn’t help chuckling either. What our women had notdivulged was what the Carson kid had brought them in the small brown bag. Nope, their lips were sealed tight on that one.
All morning, something seemed different. If possible my wife seemed happier than normal. I wasn’t sure what was going on but I loved seeing her that way.
We stood by the front door about to leave when Landon and Alley’s sweetheart of a daughter, Noelle, ran up to her mom. “Mommy, Auntie Teal and Uncle Kace said they want to take me with them shopping and to get ice cream.” She bounced up and down. “Can I go?”
I watched Alley glance over to Teal who had the biggest smile on her face, then back to her daughter. “Yeah, baby, you can go.”
“Thank you, Mommy,” she said happily.
Noelle was a doll. She definitely was more on the quiet, reserved side like her father rather than the ball-busting, smartass-talking woman that was her mother. Their family was adorable.
Jurnee then told Lake they were going with them because she had to pick up a few things for the kids and wanted to know if Stormi also felt like tagging along. While Stormi said she missed us not long ago, she jumped at the chance to hang out some more with her friends.
Kace, Teal, their kids, and Noelle started out the door before us, along with our daughter who was with Jurnee, Braxton, and their kids.
Teal looked at Alley before leaving and said, “Consider the favor rendered. Use the time wisely.”
“Do I even want to know?” I asked Lake.
