“He was a bastard,” she said.
“Yeah, he was. But if he was aiming his anger on me, it wasn’t on my brothers. If he was hurting me, scaring me, he wasn’t harming them.”
Her beautiful man. Always protecting everyone else.
She wrapped her legs around his hips. “I hate that you had a childhood like that. I wish I could have protected you from it.”
He smiled down at her. “Now, you are. Because the more time I spend with you, the less I think about him and the things he put me through.”
“Good. I want to erase him from your head.”
“He’ll never be completely gone. But with you he’s a whisper not a roar.”
“Make love to me, Kellan.”
“With pleasure.” He started thrusting deep, taking her hard. Every few minutes, he’d pause and check on her. But after a couple times, she decided she’d had enough.
“Fuck me, Kellan. Please!” she cried.
Reaching between them, he played with her clit until she came with a cry. He drove himself deep and fell over the edge with her.
She held him tight, never wanting to let him go.
Kellan heldhis girl’s hand as they walked around Duncan’s house to their outdoor seating area complete with grill, table, and chairs.
He could feel her trembling and stopped, turning to her. Horse was walking with them and he sat on his butt, staring up at her as well.
“Eyes on mine.”
She sighed and raised her gaze to his. She had her mask firmly in place which he hated. She was moving stiffly. Carefully.
Which he also hated. In fact, he nearly called this all off. Except he knew that nothing bad would happen to her here.
He wouldn’t allow it.
“Everything will be fine.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
“Because I’ll make it so.”
She gave him an exasperated look. “You can’t make people like me.”
“Sure I can,” he replied.
Arabella turned to Eli who was grinning like an idiot. “Can you talk to him?”
“Why would I want to do that? I agree with him.”
She shook her head. “The two of you are nuts.”
But he could see that some of the tension had left her as they headed toward his family. He could see how they might be intimidating, especially since she was an only child.
However, none of his family would ever harm her. Plus, she was friends with Laken and Shaw.
Laken immediately started to waddle toward her, arms outstretched. Of course, she couldn’t hug her very easily with her huge belly between them.
“Urgh! I’m a whale,” Laken said when she drew away from Arabella.
