Flip runs his hands down my arms and lifts them, encouraging me to link them behind his neck.
“Hold on tight, kitten.” He bends, gripping high on the back of my thighs as he hoists me up. I wrap myself around him, and he carries me down the hall. But he doesn’t head for my bedroom, instead he goes to the living room.
He adjusts my legs as he sits in the middle of the couch, with me straddling his thick thighs. My heart is hammering and my body is humming with anticipation.
Flip runs his hands up my thighs, skims my waist and keeps moving up until my face is cradled in his hands. “Don’t be jealous of anyone that came before us.” He leans in and kisses the edge of my jaw, sending a shiver down my spine. “No one else gets this part of me, but you, Tally.”
I tentatively run my fingers through his silky hair.
“I want to give you everything you need.” Flip moves one of his hands to my hip and squeezes. “Beeverything you need.”
His teeth scrape gently along the side of my neck, and I whimper.
“That’s the sound I’ve been waiting all night to hear again,” he murmurs.
I slide forward in his lap, seeking some kind of friction, but he circles my waist and holds me in place.
He shakes his head. “Remember what I said.”
At my confusion, he smiles darkly.
“We go at my pace.” He kisses a path along my neck. “And at times like this it will feel excruciatingly slow, but it will be so worth the wait.” He pulls back and cups my chin in his wide palm. “Do you know why?”
“Because you care about me.”
“That’s exactly right, kitten.” He brushes his lips over mine. “And I take care of what’s mine.”
His fingertips press into my skin as he angles my head and finally,finallykisses me.
His lips are satin, his tongue velvet.
I feel special. Important. Cherished.
Flip has spent his adult life avoiding connection.
But with me, it’s what he wants most.
CHAPTER 22
FLIP
“Thanks for coming over.” I usher Dred into my apartment. It’s finally my date night with Tally. I fight a frown as Connor follows her in like an annoyed, threatening shadow. “I didn’t realize you were coming, too.”
“It’s my wife’s day off. I go where she goes.” Connor’s tone implies I’m an idiot for not realizing this.
I plaster on a smile. “If you’re hungry, I have everything you need to make yourself a ham and cheese sandwich.”
Connor flips me the bird. “Go fuck a T-shirt, Madden.”
“Are you offering yours?”
“Stop being a brat. Both of you.” Dred kisses her husband’s jaw.
“But then your attention won’t be on me, darling.”
“This won’t take long. Then you can go back to being Dred’s sole focus,” I assure him.
“Untrue. We’re taking the twins to the movies tonight, so Mildred’s focus will be very divided, much as it is now.”
