Lowlander Silverback (Gray Back Bears #5)(35)

He kept her off balance as the morning faded to afternoon. Playful, happy, serious, troubled, playful again. He carried her over his shoulder and gripped her ass through her sundress on the way to his Camaro.

Willa and Gia waved to them as they pulled away, and Layla beamed. “I like it here.”

“Yeah?” he asked, pulling her fingertips to his lips as he drove away from the trailer park.

“I know we have to go back to Saratoga soon, but that place made everything easier. The people there and the woods.”

“Ten-ten.”

“Yeah.”

“Told you it was magic.”

“You. You’ve made everything okay.”

He threw her a questioning glance, and there it was again. The speckles of green, just starting to glow like fireflies in his gaze. He rasped his newly shaved jaw across her knuckles but didn’t say anything as he dragged his gaze back to the road and slid on a pair of sunglasses.

“Would you be mad if I put my feet on the dashboard?” she asked, slipping her feet from her sandals and wiggling her toes right over the finely detailed glove box.

“Maybe.”

“You know, if I make footprints, you’ll always think of me when you get in and see them.”

He ghosted a glance at the dashboard, then nodded his head. “Do it. I like thinking about you.”

“Really?” She was shocked to her bones. Kong loved his car.

“Really.” He pressed her knee so her left foot touched the warm dash. “Leave your mark on here, woman.”

So she did. She rested her feet there the entire drive to Moosey’s Bait and Barbecue. When she took them off in the parking lot, the dash still looked pretty shiny, but if she squinted and looked hard at just the right angle, there were two faint smudges, and that was good enough. “Now, if anything ever happens to me, you’ll still have a part of me with you in the passenger’s seat.” Ugh. Where had that morbid thought come from?

Kong stared at the prints too long after putting the Camaro into park.

“Did you change your mind? I can polish it again.” Layla turned and reached for the detailing wipes he kept in the back seat.

“No,” he rushed out. “I like them. Leave them.” He leaned over and kissed her. Just a sweet sip with a gentle smack at the end, and then he was getting out of the car, leaving her off-balance as he’d done all morning.

Kong was a tall glass of arctic water on a hot day. His legs were long, lean, and powerful against the hole-riddled jeans that clung to his waist just right. The thin V-neck white T-shirt that hung over his defined chest was enough to draw a gulp from her lips. Aviator sunglasses hid his eyes, and scars peeked out from under the neck of his shirt. He was rocking that sexy, clean-shaven jaw that was sharp as glass with thick, dark hair styled longer on top and, holy hotness, she couldn’t believe he was hers.

Hers in all the ways that mattered. Her mate. Her love and, someday, he would be the father of her children. Over the past week, he had held baby Rowan anytime Gia and Creed would let him, and Layla had fallen in love with the way he looked at the infant. A tiny baby cradled so gently against his chest as he rocked slowly back and forth and talked to her. Kong would make a great father and teammate to raise a family with. She’d never admitted it to anyone other than Mac, but she wanted lots of kids. She’d grown up lonely, confused by the definition of family, but with Kong, she could have something special—a sense of belonging that filled the hungry hole in her heart.

He opened her door and held out his hand. “You ready, beautiful?”

Grinning, she slid her palm against his and allowed him to help her out of the car. “You know, I always imagined what it would be like if you asked me out. I would see you at the bar and daydream about what you would say and where you would take me.”

“Disappointed?”

“Not at all. Being with you is better than I could’ve imagined.”

His throat moved as he swallowed hard. She wished she could see his eyes, but all she could see was her own smiling reflection in his sunglasses. Turning, he linked his fingers with hers and led her into Moosey’s.

Barbecue sandwiches and sodas ordered, they picked a seat outside on the picnic table farthest away from the lunch rush. There was a red and white checkered umbrella spread open above them, shielding them from the bright day.

“I’m glad the clouds disappeared,” she admitted as she popped the top of her grape-flavored beverage. “The sun came out for our first date. I take that as a good sign.”

Kong reached under the table and pulled her feet onto his lap, then massaged her calf. “You look so f*cking beautiful today.”

“Funny, I’ve been checking you out, too. Now,” she said in her best business voice, “I know almost everything about every regular in Sammy’s bar, but I don’t know near enough about you. Tell me your secrets.”

Kong’s sexy mouth bracketed with smile lines when he grinned and poured barbecue sauce onto his sandwich. “I hung out at Sammy’s over the years just so I could see you.”

“You’re teasing me.”

He laughed and ducked the potato chip she threw at him. “I swear. I knew I couldn’t be with you, but I needed to at least see you. When I tried to stop myself and go cold turkey on my Layla fix, my animal got hard to control.”