“Only for a couple of minutes?” she said, translating.
I nodded, then pointed to the food.
“Yes, I’m starving. But first…”
I was about to pass her a plate, but Laikyn stepped between me and the center island, her body pressing against me.
“I’m glad you’re home.”
Her lips pressed to mine, and I was instantly lost. No one had ever greeted me like that before, and I couldn’t pretend I didn’t like it.
Gripping her ass with one hand and the back of her head with the other, I angled my mouth over hers and kissed her like the starving man I was. Her soft moan tickled my tongue and made my dick kick hard in my jeans. When we surfaced for air, I felt a shift in the air and realized Rule was strolling toward us.
Instantly, I felt guilty because I’d taken what Laikyn freely offered, but I hadn’t thought about him before I kissed her back.
Fuck.
“He gave me permission to ravish you.”
I looked at Rule, my eyebrows lifting skyward.
He shrugged as though it was no big deal, his tone gruff when he said, “And she gave me permission to fuck you.”
That caught me by surprise and had me stepping back from Laikyn. I frowned. Should I have been a part of this conversation? It seemed to have been centered around me, so perhaps I should’ve had a say in the matter.
“Unless you have objections,” Laikyn tacked on, clearly seeing my confusion. “I only wanted clarification. I did marry him, yet he let me fuck you. I wanted to understand the playing field.”
Yeah, that would be good for me to know, too.
Laikyn’s expression sobered. “Clearly, I approached this the wrong way. I’m sorry. I should’ve—”
My frustration had no bearing on my need for her. And though I would certainly be tackling the conversation at a later time, for the moment, I was content to kiss her because I’d spent all fucking day thinking about her, wanting to see her, to touch her, to feel her.
“Oh!” Laikyn squealed when I jerked her to me and crushed my mouth to hers.
Her arms went around my neck, her cool fingers teasing my skin, and this time I caressed her ass with both hands beneath her shirt so I could feel the smooth, rounded globes against my palms.
“While you two do that, I’m gonna eat,” Rule said, and I didn’t miss the edge in his tone.
The reference to food made my stomach growl in response and caused Laikyn to laugh as she pulled her mouth from mine.
“Perhaps we should eat first and play later.”
I would prefer to eat while playing, but I nodded in agreement. I was hungry, and honestly, I was fucking exhausted. We’d stayed up all night working on her studio, and although I’d caught a two-hour nap on the couch in Rule’s office, it wasn’t enough. I needed to sleep for a solid eight before I would feel like my normal self again.
“He won’t get his until you get yours,” Rule told Laikyn. “But get all you want because he’ll eat the rest.”
Laikyn’s eyebrows lowered as she backed up. “Is that your thing or what? That’s the second time someone’s told me that.”
I felt Rule’s eyes on me as he walked outside and took a seat on one of the sofas. He cocked an eyebrow, so I nodded, permitting him to tell the story so I didn’t have to drag it out over text.
“His parents were addicts,” Rule explained while Laikyn spooned food onto her plate. “When he could stay with his grandmother, he had enough food. When he couldn’t, he was lucky to get scraps. When his grandmother died, he was left to fend for himself.”
“When did she die?” Laikyn asked, directing the question at me.
Rule answered for me. “When he was ten. He went into foster care when he was eleven. That’s how we met.”
“This is plenty for me,” Laikyn said, then gestured to the remaining food. “Eat. You’ll need your strength.”
