“About this? Pretty much.” Locke eyed his chest again, and in my imagination, he leaned closer, pressing his hard muscles against my fingertip. “There’s something else I should tell you, though.”
“Sounds ominous.”
“Not really.” Locke glanced around. We hadn’t ventured far from the closed chapel door, but the only person in my eye-line was Bear, the weirdo mechanic who helped River in the garage.
Still, Locke pulled me into a shadowed corner. “I’m pretty sure I know how you feel about this, but I kinda need to tell you that I kissed your man this morning.”
“Kissed him?”
“Yeah, I mean, it was just a peck to calm him the fuck down, but it wasn’t platonic, not for me, so I wanted you to know.”
“It wasn’t platonic, not for me...”
Some girls might’ve lost their shit over those six little words, but not me. The only thing that bothered me about them was the uncertainty in Locke’s gaze.
We were already standing on top of each other, but I narrowed the distance even further, knowing he was a sucker for wrapping his arms around me. “You don’t have to tell me every little thing that happens between you.”
Locke tugged me a little closer, the gesture absent.Natural. “Nothing happens between us.”
“But you want it to?”
“This morning all I wanted was for him to get shit done so he could come home and rest, but he was too caught upNashing, you know?”
Of course I did. My entire adult life was punctuated by it. “Is that the way to get him to stop? Kissing him? Hell, babe. You could’ve told me sooner.”
A deep chuckle rumbled from Locke’s chest. “I didn’t know it would work.”
“How did you kiss him?”
“Hmm?”
“Show me.” I was joking. Kind of. But the second the words were out of my mouth, something changed.
Locke gazed down at me, his hands frozen on my hips, his eyes alive with an energy that made my stomach warm and my breasts feel heavy and achy. “It was nothing.”
“Then why tell me?”
“I wanted you to know.”
“Why?”
Locke hesitated, all the while somehow leaning further in. “Because he’s yours.”
“Mine?”
Oh, hell no.
There was a wall behind Locke. I shoved him against it, ignoring the fact that he hit the bare brick because he let me corral him. Let mecrowdhim and get in his face. “No. That’s not it. That’s never it. Nash belongs toNash, and he can do whatever he wants.Bewhoever he wants. He doesn’t need my permission for anything.”
Locke blinked. Then he grinned a little. “Queenie, that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about respect, not ownership.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.Oh.” Locke pulled me to him again, but tighter this time, our bodies wedged together in a hot embrace, his hard muscles a brick wall of heat against my softer frame. “I wanted you to know because it matters to me.Youmatter to me. Also...” He dipped his head and brushed his lips to mine in the slowest, softest,shortestkiss. “I figured you’d like it.”
“I do like it.”
“Yeah?”
