That earned him a grunt from East. “Coffee would be great. Thanks.”
Kipp busied himself with the pot, leaving us in a silence that buzzed louder than words.
“Hot dream, huh? I want to hear all about it later.” East asked finally. His voice was rough, quiet enough that it felt meant for me alone.
“The dream was pretty good. Almost lived up to the original.” Peeking at him from under my lashes, I gave him a coy look.
Kipp handed me a cup of coffee and gave East a look I couldn’t decipher before excusing himself to check on Maggie.
I wrapped my hands around the mug, letting the heat sink into my skin. “So what happens now?”
I wasn’t sure if I was talking about the back of my house being burnt up or if I was talking about the two of us. Everything seemed to be a mess right now, which was completely uncharacteristic of how I liked my life. Granted, organized chaos was my jam, but not like this. Now everything was spinning completely out of control.
“We meet up with Wade. He’s called his buddy Rhodes, who’s sending someone from Redhawk Security to take a look and consult. A guy named Briggs Carter. Butfirst things first.” He got up and came close, sidling up to me and tipping my chin up. “Got to take advantage of this situation while you’re still a little speechless. Do a little follow-up.” His thumbs slid along my jaw, caressing the edges of my lips.
Oh … well, I liked where this was heading. “Maybe I’ll be the one to take advantage.” Two could play at this game. I liked this version of him. It settled the squidgy feeling that I’d woken up with. All that anxiety that had been pooling in my tummy seemed to melt away. Pushing up on my tiptoes, I leaned up for a kiss, reveling in the way he angled into me, nibbling a little at the corners of my mouth before deepening the kiss. Those hands of his cupped my ass and pulled me closer to him, and I could almost forget that Kipp was due back into the kitchen any second.
“If my brother weren’t here, I’d be eating you for breakfast right now.” He leaned a little closer in and tucked my hair back so he could brush against the crook of my neck. “Too bad.” He smirked a little, and I tried to ignore the fact that under the hoodie, my nipples were pebbled and my panties were damp. This man and his mouth.
After he pulled back, looking clearly heated, I calmed down enough to say, “So, tell me who Rhodes is.”
He gave me a gentle smile but didn’t pull away; in fact, he moved even closer, feathering kisses along my ear and running his fingers through my hair before he answered. “Rhodes Collins. He’s a friend of Wade’s from his time in the military. He has a private security outfit. That’s theRedhawk part. He works with Wade sometimes when things get messy.”
My stomach dipped. Messy. My porch going up in flames wasn’t just some prank or unlucky accident. Messy meant deliberate. I’d tried to write off the break-in as unlucky, but now it was really looking unlikely.
Easton’s gaze sharpened. He’d read the thought right off my face. “We’ll figure it out.”
I wanted to believe him, but it hurt my heart to think that I was once again a victim. Grams had worked hard to help me get out of the abusive relationship that I’d found myself in with Derek. I’d promised her that I’d never again be a victim. This seemed like I was breaking that promise to her. My brain told me it wasn’t the same, but once again, the process of going to the police station had to happen. Those old feelings of defeat were hard to escape.
26
Easton
Lila had come downstairs looking like an absolute vision, pausing just on the stairs long enough that I wondered if she’d even take the next step into the kitchen. She’d been biting her lip and tugging on her sweatshirt so much that I wanted to go over and kiss her right away, but Kipp was right there, and my dick needed to calm down before I laid hands on her.
Then she’d made that comment about her hot dreams, and I couldn’t keep my mouth or my hands off her. I’d bet a lot of money that she was sopping wet in those little panties of hers.
Now, she looked like she was having all sorts of doubts about something, the way her mouth was pinching and her fingers were winding together. I was hoping she wasn’thaving doubts about us. She was too good for me, but I more than liked her.
“How about I get you some breakfast and you sit here with Kipp before we head out, okay? He can tell you all about what happened to Phiny last night at her San Francisco catering gig.”
She nodded, but I could tell she looked unconvinced. I listened as Kipp began to share the story Delphina had told him that morning about her experience at last night’s service.
“So, the customers there are something else. It sounds like a snooty place. Can you even imagine catering something where they tell you what they want you to make, taste it in advance, and then complain when you make exactly what they ask? Like, come on?” Kipp curled his lip in disgust. If there was anything that Kipp hated, it was snooty people.
Lila laughed, and my heart lifted a little. “Yeah, customers can be that way sometimes. For a while, Grams was making cakes for birthdays and stuff, but she stopped because the changes to the orders were wild. One time, someone, I won’t say who,” she smirked at Kipp. “Asked her to make a birthday cake, but wanted her to leave out the sugar and put extra salt in it.”
“Why? As a joke or something?” That didn’t seem like smart business for many reasons. Plus, you could make someone sick doing something like that.
“Grams said it was some kind of mean-spirited thing she didn’t want to be involved in, but the customer gotmad and left her a bad review because she wouldn’t take the order.”
“People have too much time on their hands playing dumb games.” Kipp rolled his eyes.
“Tell me about it.” Lila agreed. “So, Sage told me Phiny was having some trouble in the city, but I was hoping she was doing better. Do you think she’ll come home?”
I heaved a sigh, flipping a pancake over. “I hope she does. She’s the hardest one of us all to figure out. Phiny really wanted that job in San Francisco. She thought it’d be her shot in the food scene, but I’m not sure that’s really her at all.”
She’d been the very last to join the Holt family, and while we all struggled with feeling included, it seemed like she felt it the most. She wanted to prove she had earned her place. Success was important to her, and I was worried that if she failed, it would deal a big blow to her self-esteem. Both Levi and Maggie tried to teach her how to get back up when things didn’t go exactly as planned, but Phiny was stubborn. She’d come up with the idea to do some catering gigs on the side of her restaurant work. If that didn’t work out either, I’d be really concerned.
