He was right. Most of us were nearly black-out drunk after the emergency book club meeting to discuss Baylee’s love life crisis. Our advice clearly worked. She was happy with her own little harem, who loved and protected her with their every breath.
I turned my gaze to Langston, finding him already staring down at me. “Okay, fine,” I relented. “Maybe I acted a little bratty in my drunken state, but I was just annoyed at being manhandled.” And also annoyed at myself for liking it a lot. “I apologize for saying I wanted to fillet your balls and feed them to you.”
He barked out a laugh. “I don’t remember hearing that or I would’ve spanked your ass again.”
I shrugged. “Maybe I just said it in my mind, then.” I chewed my lower lip. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for that night and getting me home safe. Even though I didn’t expect you toshow up and save me from myself and the terrible decisions that could’ve happened, I’m thankful that you were there. Even when I didn’t know I needed to be saved, you were there.” Emotions constricted my throat. “I’ve never had that, you know. It’s nice to know that there’s someone out there looking out for me, without me even having to ask.”
“Always, shortcake.” Knuckle under my chin, he tipped my face up to his. “You’ve been under my protection since the day you arrived in Anchor Bay.” I arched a brow, making him chuckle. “Okay, yeah, I was suspicious of you and why you showed up here like you were running from something. But you were—that’s clear now. Understand, I would do anything to protect my family here, and I didn’t know you. I didn’t trust you.”
“Do you now? Or do I still need to pass some kind of screening process? Maybe get fingerprinted later?” I joked only to stop short. “Wait, if you trust me now, does that mean you’ll stop being an asshole?”
“Doubtful,” he grumbled as he adjusted his backward ball cap.
“You’re not being one right now. You’re the opposite actually, and it’s kind of throwing me off a little.”
His responding chuckle was deep, vibrating in his chest.
“Oh, I’m still an asshole, Juno. Don’t you worry about that. But West warned me to tone it down a little so I didn’t scare you off before we showed you how good it could be with us.”
“Oh,” I breathed, face heating.
“I think he’s afraid once you find out how deep my need to protect you goes, and the lengths I’ll go to make sure you stay safe, you’ll run.”
That seemed sweet for West to say to him, but I’d kind of fallen for Asshole Langston over the last few months. This side of him was just as hot, but I enjoyed bickering and fighting withhim. It made me feel alive, strong even, because I stood up for myself against him.
“I don’t want you to stop being you,” I said after a few moments. “Maybe it would help if you explained the why behind your obsessive protectiveness?”
His throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “One day. It’s not a story I enjoy telling, the first time I failed someone. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about that one oversight and what it cost the other person. And me.”
“I’ll take that. But don’t change who you are, Langston. If this is going to work, being more than friends, then I want to know the real you and be with the real you. Not you holding parts of yourself back just because you’re afraid I’ll be scared away. Because I could do the same. I could put on this perfect façade, the person who Eric wanted me to be, instead of the quirky computer geek who would rather be in her sweats and Uggs than designer clothes. Who’s an emotional train wreck most of the time and also needs constant reassurance. But then that wouldn’t be fair to you guys.
“You need to know what you’re getting into from the start, so hopefully when you decide I’m too much, it’s sooner rather than later, so I can protect myself from even more heartache?—”
“I swear, woman,” he growled, “you and that mouth of yours. How you talk about yourself is a fucking problem. One I plan to fix by spanking your perfect ass pink from now until it stops.”
“Langston,” I groaned. “I’m just telling you the truth. You’ll get tired of?—”
His lips sealing to mine cut me off in a demanding, passion-filled kiss.
Pressure wrapped around my throat, making me gasp. Thumb beneath my chin, he tilted me to just the angle he wanted, allowing him to command the kiss. Roaring voices andbursts of laughter from the bar faded. The entire world ceased to exist; it was just the two of us lost in each other.
Never had I had a kiss like it. One that made me lose all sense of reality because it was that good, not to mention who was kissing me. I could let go of the worry and fear, let my guard down because I knew Langston’s was up. Regardless of the situation, he had it under control.
I could lose myself because he had me, us, no matter what happened.
My lips followed his, not wanting the kiss, our first actual kiss, to end. A soft expression eased the normal tension in his features as he gazed down at me. Gone was the cocky asshole, the demanding jerk, leaving a man who almost looked like a lovesick boy in front of me.
“That’s your final warning, Juno. You watch how you talk about my girl.”
“Um, okay, but I’m not your girl.” He hummed a noncommittal sound, making my temper flare. “Are you saying you’ll make me yours and West’s no matter what I want?”
That loose grip around my throat tightened just a little in warning, turning me on way more than it should have. Hell, this whole possessive bit he pulled turned me on more than my independent-woman side wanted to admit.
“No, I’d never make you do something you don’t want to do, and I’d murder someone with my bare hands if they ever did.” Again, why was that level of violence on my behalf so fucking sexy? “I’m saying if you’re not convinced—” He leaned in close, our noses almost brushing. “—then my buddy West and I need to step it up to make sure there is no doubt in your mind or anyone else’s whose you are.”
Zero sassy comeback left my lips, because who the hell in their right mind would say anything but “yes, please”?
Adjusting his hat, he shifted his focus down the hall that led out to the bar. Sighing, he released my throat, trailing his hand over my shoulder and down my arm to interlock our fingers together.
