Page 54 of Damien’s Mate

Colt, utterly straight-faced, said, “Do you want me to apologize? I’ll apologize.” He started walking over to the blue truck.

Still carrying the six-foot penis.

The man bellowed, “Stay away from my grandma, you pervert!”

From under his jacket he pulled a pistol and fired three shots—straight into the penis. Everyone stood stupefied as air hissed out through the bullet holes, and the penis started to deflate.

The man stomped back to his truck and peeled out, Grandma waving and blowing kisses out the back.

That finished everyone. Jaeda and Callie were holding each other up, helpless with laughter. Brandon put his head down on the side of the truck bed, and Kitty slid to the ground in hysterics.

Brock and Titan looked like they might suffocate.

Lila and Damien leaned on each other, practically crying. Her ribs ached like fire, but it was totally worth it.

Damien caught her eyes, and suddenly neither of them were laughing. Damien brushed her hair back and kissed her, warm and slow, then pulled back, smiling.

She felt breathless.

The others started to recover. “Oh my god, that was awesome,” Callie said, wiping her eyes.

Jaeda waved her phone. “I got video!” The girls high-fived.

Remy was with Colt, both of them staring at the deflated dick with woebegone faces. Callie and Jaeda went over to comfort them.

“You can fix it,” Callie said. “A few adhesive patches, it’ll be good as new.”

“It will never be the same,” Colt said mournfully.

Jaeda patted Remy on the back. “It died bravely,” she said, her lips only twitching a little.

Squatch held up his phone and said, “I got some good sources for shaft support.”

Remy growled. Squatch looked innocently at him. “Too soon?”

Brandon joined them, still with a broad grin on his face, and slung an arm around each of the twins’ shoulders. “Come on,” he said. “We’ll have a wake for your dick at the café. In light of your tragic loss, I’ll buy.”

Chapter 22

Over the next few days, Lila felt herself growing closer to Damien. She knew she shouldn’t—her father had always warned her about getting too close to people who weren’t Lion Guard.

Which was everyone, so she’d never had any real friends—or any real boyfriends. Not the kind who laughed with you and bought you dirty t-shirts, fussed over you and took care of you.

Took you shopping for fancy clothes, and then bought you the most expensive meal you’d ever had, just because he’d said he would.

Lila didn’t need the things he bought her, and she didn’t need taking care of—not really—but she was surprised by how much she liked it. And how much she had to resist the urge to take care of him. Like when his knee was hurting him and he should be resting it, but he didn’t because he hated to have any weakness, let alone show it.

Like her.

And she didn’t know how to handle the way she felt when they made love. Damien had so many sides to him—passionate and caring, dominant and possessive, sweet and funny.

He made her feel brave and beautiful, sexy and fascinating. She often caught him watching her, a bemused look on his face, like he didn’t know quite what to make of her.

She didn’t know exactly what to make of him, either, but she was beginning to understand him. How even though he was strong, and tough, inside him was a man who’d been forced against his nature to be a loner.

Who really just wanted a family.

She could see it in his eyes when he watched the crew together—teasing each other, annoying each other, supporting each other in obvious and subtle ways. Having fun together.