An inclination inside me has me ready to be far too honest. “Lexi, you’re… I can’t describe it, but you are different. I always turned off the possibility to go anywhere with anyone?—”
She cuts me right off. “Exactly. You don’t even allow yourself to have anyone in your life that could be more. You seem to have thrown away that you’re allowed to be in a relationship and be a great dad too. Which is why I think me leaving my captivity is the way to go.”
My hand on her hip drags her closer to me. “Will you let me finish?” She rolls her eyes, yet that just makes me even more certain of what I want to say, because her ability to be blunt all the time is a positive to me. “I told you at the start of the weekend about going with the tide. Here we are. What if I’m saying that I’m curious to see if, yeah, I can have what I’ve been missing, and it seems you’re actually that key since you’re on the other side.” A suave smirk hits my lips as I know I’ve surprised her.
Her head cranes up with her face skeptical. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Not tequila doing this to us?” she double-checks.
I squeeze her hip to add a signal that she needs to get with the program. “Nah, this is me. Even if it was the alcohol, people normally speak honestly anyhow, they have no fear suddenly.”
Her eyes blaze, and Lexi seems to soak in everything that I just told her the last two minutes. “Then kiss me.”
Now I grin, my fingers raking into her hair then gripping the back of her head. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll take you right here because off-limits locations to fuck you senseless have been abolished.”
Her smile is pleased. “Okay, I’m convinced. Now please show me.”
I dive right in to kiss her lips.
* * *
It’sMonday morning and Lori and Harry are silent as they eat their cereal at the counter. That’s not unusual for Harry, but the fact that Lori is on time and actually eating breakfast is new. Kind of scary, to be honest. Eerily unusual.
“Uh, I’m going to head to the inn to check the delivery of new lamps.” Lexi holds up her to-go mug of smoothie she made. “Thanks, guys, for not adding any extra ingredients.”
“We could have added laxatives for all you know. You don’t taste those,” Lori deadpans.
We all swing our attention to Lori. “What?” I check if I heard her correctly.
She shrugs. “Relax. It was a joke.”
Lexi releases a smile. “You have some dry humor, but thank you for confirming.”
Lori offers her a faint smile that only seems directed at Lexi.
I glance at the clock on the oven. “Okay, team, five minutes until we need to head out.” My kids groan but pick up their speed, their spoons full of cereal. “I will walk you out, Lexi. The switch for the garage is acting a little funny.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as I close the door from the hall to the garage, I break Lexi’s attempt to hit the switch. “Lexi.”
She looks over her shoulder. “What? This seems to work fine.”
The door is already slowly rising. “Of course, it does. But I needed a cover to kiss you good morning.”
Lexi greets me with a knowing smile. “I figured. But I like to make you work a few seconds extra.”
My arms loop around her waist, and I pull her until our middles touch. Our lips meet for a slow sensual morning kiss. A few days ago, I probably would have called this sappy. But now? It seems I want my day to start this way. Especially since I don’t get to enjoy a shower or morning sex with her. Maybe we can role play that later at the Dizzy Duck.
She purrs a sound as our sensual kiss deepens. It’s one long kiss to begin the day on a strong basis. When we pull away, we take a few seconds more to admire each other before she shakes out of my hold.
“Down, boy, I do have to get to my job. Plus, I make Stuart’s day by having a morning cup of coffee with him. He’s trying to ask someone out that he met at the supermarket. It’s kind of cute.”
I chuckle. “Phew, had me worried he’s a contender.”
“God, no. I’m not even sure he knows how to use a key for handcuffs.”
