While my eyes remain on the house, I can feel the heated stare coming from the driver side. Every ounce of control wants to escape and force myself to turn and look at him. But I know damn well that if I turn I will become a puddle in his hands and there might be nothing to stop my impulses.
“Careful, you might burn a hole in my skull,” I taunt, avoiding his eyes. “You should be focusing on what we’re here for.”
His voice grovels, “I have two things I’m here for, and I won’t take my eyes off her.”
He didn’t sayit,he saidher.Butterflies roam my stomach. If he keeps being nice to me, I might have second thoughts. I take it that he’s meaning he’s here for me and perhaps the club business.
The winter wind starts to whip and Cedric’s front door, the urge to look around sounds more appealing than a tall, tanned skin god of a man staring at me. My hand reached for the handle, the temptation was there. I’m welcomed with a hand upon my thigh, gripping in its grasp. I chew on the inside of my cheek to keep from whimpering under the touch.
The eeriness of the streets feels like more is coming like a dark storm brewing but yet to be unleashed.
“Talk to me about you,” his voice startled me. I jolt back in my seat, but his hand is still placed on my thigh as if it’s a restraint for now.
“About what? I feel like you might already know more about me than you let on.” The light from the street light casts a reflection of Keola, his burning brown eyes darken, my eyes lock onto his.
“What if I just want to hear it from you?” he asks.
I don’t want to take my eyes off the door, but I'm on the brink of insanity at this point. “What do you want to know?”
“What will you allow me to know?” he fires back.
He’s not fighting back on what he wants to know, he’s giving me a choice.
“I’ve had Finn since he was two,” He just knew Finn as just my nephew, not the whole story. He unbuckles my seatbelt and yanks me closer, practically on his lap. His muscular arm wrapped over, embracing him. “You’ve been like a mom to him for all his life.”
Mom. My heart sank, “Not a mom. I’m not his mom.” He clenches on me.
“I meant to say that you have been a mother and father figure in his life. That’s not easy, I can imagine,” he empathizes with me. “What happened?”
I take a deep breath, trusting him more than I have with anyone. “Finn is my brother’s kid and I lost him and my sister-in-law in a horrible accident. I was in the midst of my masters program when I got the call. I was living with Lilly, taking odd jobs for income, I wasn’t ready. But one look into his eyes and I knew I wasn’t going to let anyone take him. I didn't trust him in the care of my father,” Anger seized in me as the memories of our trouble and trials flooded my mind.
He rubbed my arm endearingly, “Why not?”
“When your father wasn’t really a father, you don’t trust him to be a grandfather. He called me too prideful and bitter and at one point unfit.”
His body tenses up behind me, I continue, “Finn wasn’t going to be a pawn in his schemes and thrown away like he was trash. But,” I almost say defeatedly, “the courts granted him visitation whenever he wanted as long as there was supervision. I fought against it and lost. So he still is in my life and tries to use Finn as a bargaining chip.”
I feel a gentle brush of a kiss on the back of my head. “When is he going to see him next?” he asks, “You called a few weeks back… I have to wonder if it was because of him.”
“How do you know it wasn’t because I wanted to talk to you?” I become coy.
He reaches over and smacks my thigh, sending a rush of sensation.Do it again.
“Fine.” I huff, “He’s coming for Christmas and I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t need him undermining me or spitting poison towards me. If it wasn’t for Joshua and Lilly, my life would have a different ending.”
“Finn adores you.” Keola says. His fingers danced across my thighs, tracing every line he could.
Christmas is Finn’s holiday where typically we have a big dinner with Lilly and Brayden and anyone else that needed a family for Christmas. My mind wanders to Cedric, he’s a regular at the house.
“Maybe you need someone else in your corner?” Keola mutters.
I laugh. “Why sir, are you trying to get yourself invited?”
His hand travels up my body to grasp my jaw and tilt it to meet his gaze, “I don’t want some bastard to get under your skin. Not fair to you, and I don’t want to see my girl hurt.”
His possessiveness sears into me, I melt, and stupidly nod my head. We’ve been on one “date”, and he has this effect on me.
He places a possessive kiss on my lips, fueled with passion. His hand is still grasping my jaw, not painfully but enough to keep me into place. I inch closer, compelled to straddle him, tease him. In the worst timing, a yawn escapes me and a different kind of heat rushes to me.
