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The Clare woman hesitantly agrees, but she doesn’t turn around and walk away. Instead, she takes one step backward, then another before stopping, still facing us and giving me the stink eye. If I were a different kind of man, I might take offense to that shit.

Tearing my gaze from her, I look at Keely. My heart squeezes at the sight of her. She looks the same but also different. Better. Sexier. I want to see her naked. Like, right fucking now. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to wait to be inside her.

We can talk about whatever this baby in the carrier means afterward. There is no way I’ll be able to concentrate on whatever she’s going to tell me until I’ve had her. Keely takes the opportunity to walk away from me and straight to her car.

A decent little Kia sedan. I let her open the driver’s door and start the engine, then I watch as she slips the baby carrier into the back seat. She buckles it in, and for the first time, I truly take in the little creature in that seat.

“She’s small,” I announce.

Keely turns to me after she’s buckled the baby into the seat. She closes the door. I can hear the air on full blast, so at least the baby is cooling down. When I take a step toward her, she moves back until her ass hits the car window.

Caging her in, I place my palms on either side of the roof beside her, then lean in close to her and close my eyes as I inhale her scent. Fuck, she smells good. Shifting my face closer to her, I slide my nose along her jawline until my lips are at the shell of her ear.

“Where the fuck have you been, Keely?” I rasp.

I feel her tremble before I shift my face backward so I can look into her eyes when she tells me where the fuck she disappeared to.

CHAPTER

SEVEN

KEELY

I stare into Hound’s eyes. I’ve dreamed of this moment for longer than I would probably ever admit. My breath hitches at the sight of him. I cannot believe he’s really standing right here, this close.

So damn close that I can smell him.

I can almost taste him, and I would be a liar if I said that I didn’t want to.

I want him.

I thought that maybe I’d imagined our connection. That it was in my head because I was having his baby and I’d romanticized it and made it bigger than it really is. It’s been a year since I’ve been anywhere near him, but I didn’t imagine a damn thing.

Our connection is so strong that my back involuntarily arches so that my breasts press against his chest. I need to be close to him. It’s shameless, I know it is, but I’m not sure I care.

I also try to pretend that I can’t hear the people whistling and catcalling in the background, no doubt the pool party people who are watching us. I’m sure we’re nothing less than a spectacle, but I can’t care because it’s him and he’s right here in front of me, so close.

So damn close.

“Baby,” he rasps, and my belly dips.

I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for that baby. I open my mouth to say that but decide I’m an idiot. Instead, I press my lips together in an attempt to keep from saying anything at all.

“I went back to California,” I whisper. “But now I’m here.”

“Yeah,” he breathes, and I swear it goes straight to my pussy.

I’ve never felt this way… ever, but with Hound, it’s like my body isn’t even my own—it’s his. My body belongs to him. It always has. A year later, and nothing has changed.

I want him.

Every ounce, every inch, I want all of him.

“And now you’re back?” he asks, his voice rough and so damn sexy I actually feel his words slide down my spine before goose bumps break out all over my flesh.

There is a moment of silence, mostly because I’m trying to gather my thoughts. But I’m not doing a very good job of it. They’re all over the place. Jumbled and needy, wondering and silently begging him to kiss me instead of discussing whatever the fuck he wants to discuss.

It’s been a year. I think I would be okay with talking—later.