“Thank you, but it wasn’t just our fight.”
“Then what was it?” I probed, reaching into the fridge to get Malibu’s supper. Her tail thumped on the tile floor as she waited patiently, eyes darting between me and her empty bowl. The raw food diet she was on did wonders for her health, but it wasn’t scoop and go, so I rushed through preparing her meal and adding the vitamins, so Summer could have my full attention.
“It was our connection. Something I hadn’t felt before. And I was terrified I’d ruined it.”
“Ruined it because of what was said during the argument?”
“Not exactly.” She shrugged, resting an elbow on the table and her chin in her hand.
I set Malibu’s dish on her mat and then turned, leaning against the counter and crossing my arms.
“Damn, this is embarrassing,” she added with a shaky chuckle after tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
That threw me for a loop, and I tilted my head, furrowing my brows. I grabbed a dishtowel from the counter and slung it over my shoulder, knowing how messy Malibu got when her dinner included venison and egg yolk. If Summer needed space to gather her thoughts, I’d putter around the kitchen until she was ready.
“It’s just—” her voice got higher, and she waved her arms as a delicious shade of pink crept up her neck and stained her cheeks.
I tossed the towel back on the counter and stood in front of her, pulling her from the kitchen chair. I tugged her into the living room, keeping her hand firmly in mine, and motioned for her to join me on the couch.
She sat, adjusting herself on the cushion, and when I went to the opposite end, she dragged her bottom lip between her teeth, looking down and not meeting my eyes.
I grabbed her left leg and settled it on my lap, taking off her sock and running my knuckles up the arch of her foot. She wiggled and moaned, the sound going straight to my cock as I massaged.
“I’ve been thinking about how I am with you,” she started, tilting her head back and laying it on the edge of the sofa.
“Well, that sounds ominous,” I teased.
She huffed this quiet little laugh before raising her head to smile. “No. It’s just… I’ve always been told I’m too much. Too direct. Too aggressive. Too assertive. Too opinionated.” Her voice caught a little, and she tried to hide it by staring at the slow-moving ceiling fan. “People—well, mostly my sisters and Trey—didn’t mean it as a compliment.”
My expression softened as I focused on her pretty purple toes. “And you think having those qualities is a bad thing?”
“I don’t know.” She raised her arm, waving it around before shrugging and lowering it. “Sometimes I worry I come off too hard—like I bulldoze people without meaning to. I never wanted to do that with you, but when we fought, I felt like that was exactly what happened.”
A part of me wanted to find her ex and shake him until he snapped like a twig for making her feel that way, while the other wanted to make her lose all inhibitions, so she’d never doubt herself.
“You don’t bulldoze me,” I said as she arched her foot so her big toe poked me in the stomach. “If anything, you challengeme. You make me think. You make me listen harder and are not afraid to call bullshit.” I shook my head before continuing to massage her foot.
She chewed on her thumbnail before pulling it out of her mouth and rubbing her hands on the joggers. “You really mean that?”
“Of course.” I smiled. A groan escaped her lips as my fingers moved to her calf, the sound immediately quickening my pulse. “You inspire me. You’re fire, Summer, and I like the way you burn.”
A soft, disbelieving laugh slipped from her lips. “That’s kind of dangerous, you know? Getting burned?”
“Maybe,” I said, running a hand through my hair before pushing myself up higher on the couch and turning to face her. “But it’s worth it.”
She exhaled, and it made my heart settle into something warm and right. “You bring it out in me. The part that’s bold and alive. That doesn’t apologize for wanting things. You make me feel like it’s okay to be loud. To want more.”
“Woman. You be as loud and assertive as you want. Fuck. Tell me to drop to my knees, and the floor will quake with how fast I’ll fall.”
She laughed, and I joined her as the mood lightened, pressing down hard on her arch until she moaned and relaxed into my touch.
“That could be arranged,” Summer murmured as my mind raced a thousand miles an hour with the different fantasies we could act out.
“Just tell me what you want, and it’s yours.”
“This, Mav. This is what I want. Just honest open conversation. I have that with you. Not like how it used to be when every suggestion was met with an eye roll or snarky remark.”
“Suggestions?” I asked, wanting to call my brothers and pay that scumbag a visit for making my girl doubt herself. “Like in bed, or in general?”
