* **
Somewhere between that huffing and puffing, sleep pulled me in, and I dozed off.
Ezra’s gentle voice rouses me. “We’re here, Feather. Wake up.”
Rubbing the sleep from my bleary eyes, I blink at him and take in our surroundings as people get ready to disembark.
He pats my hair down, tucking it behind my ears, earning himself a sweet peck. “Thank you, darling,” I say, still groggy from the sleep.
His ears turn red, and his eyes spark with an emotion I’m scared to put a label on whenever I call him that.
But we won’t be us if one of us didn’t poke the other. “You like that I call you darling?” I wiggle my eyebrows at him.
“Shut up,” his chest rumbles in protest as he stands to get our bags from the overhead bin to hide his blushing ears.
“God! You’re the cutest.” Never thought I’d say that.
Ezra squints at me, his eyes glinting with devious retribution. “Oh, don’t you worry,Feather. I’ll show you cute.”
A thrilling jolt skates down my spine, goosebumps erupting on every inch of my skin in anticipation, wondering when he’ll exact his promised revenge.
Get a grip, Kaeli. This is no place to get turned on.
“Come on, let’s go.” He cocks his head to the exit.
Shuffling out with other people, we deboard the plane. And get our luggage at baggage claim.
Since we’re surprising my family, we rent a car and get on the road with me in the driver’s seat and Ezra being a handsome distraction in the passenger seat for all of forty minutes it takes us to get to Laurelhurst.
We arrive at my family’s home, and I turn off the ignition after pulling up to the curb.
Ezra straightens in his seat, rubbing the back of his neck. “So, this is your home, huh? Do we have to go inside?” He remarks, taking in the Tudor-style mansion. I can admit one thing: our parents gave us everything a child could need.
I snort at his obvious unease. “If my memory serves me right, it was you who was dying to come with me.”
I glance at my house from a fresh set of eyes,pondering what Ezra must be seeing. The home with a steeply pitched roof, decorative half-timbering, leaded-glass windows, and classic symmetrical lines exudes a preserved and timeless elegance.
“That was before…You know what? You’re right. Let’s do this!” His resolute voice pulls me out of my inspection.
In an instant, he’s out of the car and grabbing our bags from the trunk. Locking the car, we head over, but he must’ve seen me from the window because the front door opens, and Roman ambles out with a huge grin plastered on his face.
“Damn, Kaeli baby, what an amazing surprise!” He traps me in a bear hug and lifts me off the ground.
A chuckle spills out of my mouth as I hug him back. “Hey, Roman.”
The dropping of all the bags on the ground with a thump echoes as the energy behind me seems to darken. I turn in Roman’s hold to see Ezra shooting daggers at us and growling like a feral animal.
“What the fuck’s he doing here?”
Forty One
Ezra
“What the fuck’shedoing here, Kaeli?” I demand again when she doesn’t answer.
I’ve seen this guy before. He’s the same man whom Kaeli meets every time we’re in Seattle at Holly’s. The same one I warned not to take her name, let alone call or fucking have his paws on her in front of me.
I thought she had lost contact with him. However, I couldn’t be sure becausethe team hasn’t had a game in Seattle, not since we got together.
