Lexi shrugs, head dipping down. “I might’ve told her I’ll never trust that she’s going to stay. Said some pretty harsh things.”
This woman who feels abandoned by everyone, she’s been hurt so deep that she lashes out at the people she cares about. Maybe it’s in retaliation, or maybe in an effort to push people away before they can leave her. Possible it’s both.
She needs an outlet for her anger, and she needs to know she’s not going to get rid of me for letting it out.
I roll over, letting my body lay heavily on top of hers, pinning her in place, elbows framing her face, knees on the outside of hers, hips touching. Staring into her earthen eyes, I make sure she doesn’t miss my words.
“Don’t push her away. If you need to lash out at someone, lash out at me. I can take it. You won’t push me away, no matter how hard you try.”
Because she’s a brat, she shoves at my shoulder with one hand, physically pushing me away, and I encircle her wrist with mine and hold her in place. Her eyes soften, some of those barriers that tried to spring back up falling right back down.
“You’re the kind of woman I crave.”
Her hips shift beneath me, that fire returning to her gaze as she watches me hungrily, much more comfortable withthisterritory.
I drop her wrist, running my fingers over her face, that mark on her temple, down to her throat, and I keep going.
“Gorgeous, fierce, full of fire, with an appetite that matches mine.”
Her lower lip sinks between her teeth, and I don’t even think she knows she does it.
“You deserve someone who can handle every part of you.”
Shifting my hips, I let her feel what she does to me and savor it when her eyelids droop in response.
“And that’s you?” she asks, voice husky.
“You fuckin’ bet. You need someone who lights that fire in you, not puts it out.”
“You the man for the job?” Her tone is teasing, and it makes me even harder.
Brow raised, I ask, “Need me to keep proving it to you?” Nothing would make me happier.
“Show me what you got,” she whispers, watching my mouth lower but never quite come down on hers.
“How about I feed you this cock inch by inch and remind you why it’s me you’re with.”
Alexis Weiss might not show her emotions too often, but I see past her bravado to what’s underneath.
And when I fuck her again, I make sure it’s slow and deliberate, keeping her eyes on mine the whole time so she can see I’m the only man for the job, when it comes to her.
Eventually, around the time the sun is fucking off for the day, we make it to her sister’s. Lexi’s flushed face might give us away if the sky were brighter, but it’s the way she struggles to walk without bowlegs tonight that’s probably gonna do it.
Slapping a possessive hand down to her hip—partially to help her walk straight, mostly just because it’s the first time she’s let me claim her in public, in front of her friends and family—I carry a few trays in my other arm as we head into the clearing in between the two Grady properties where the bonfire is being held.
Hollered greetings fall all around us as I drop off the hotel pans on the table set up for the food, but I don’t leave Lexi’s side. Someone else can unload the car.
She might not have said it out loud, but the more time I get to spend around her, the less she needs to vocalize for me. Lexi needs me with her tonight. She’s too raw for another heated confrontation with her sister, or for more reminders about what’s at stake.
A night where she feels normal might go a long way though.
Gracie comes over first, giggling—already tipsy, by the looks of it—and grasps Lexi’s face in her hands, nuzzling their noses.
They start talking and I grab the chance to take in the rest of the setup. The quick lay of the land I took as we pulled up, the initial scout for threats, exits, that old habit will never go away.
But this time, my eyes search for familiar faces, Ronnie and Wyatt—the sources of the laughter ringing out all around us—and they absorb the radiant smiles of Weston and Amelia huddled together by the fire. The grandparents—Duke, Virginia, probably her husband by the looks of it, and Billie—sit around the other side of the roaring fire, keeping warm beneath several blankets. Rory bounces her sleeping daughter on her shoulder near the others, and I give her a quick nod with my chin.
The worry on her face, it’s that gut-clenching kind that’s only ever for someone you love. Nobody looks that sick to their stomach over their own fates.
