Only Mine (Honey Mountain #5)(16)

“If that’s how you want to take it. I told you I was impressed you got him there, and I meant it.”

“Thank you.” She smiled as our server set our plates down in front of us. “Seeing as we’re going to be traveling together, we may as well form a truce. Let’s get to know one another, and even if we aren’t best friends, we can be civil, right?”

“Says the woman who told someone I suffered from micropenis syndrome.”

“You’re so hung up on that.” She waggled her brows, forked her sausage link, took a bite, and chewed slowly.

Was that supposed to be my dick?

Why was she waggling her eyebrows when she bit into her sausage link?

I shook it off. I would not feed this insanity.

“Fine. You’re from the same town Hawk grew up in, right?”

“Yep. Honey Mountain. I lived in San Francisco and attended UCSF for undergrad, then attended law school near home so I could be close to my dad.”

I narrowed my gaze. That was honorable, especially for the heartless little tyrant.

“Is he sick?”

“No. He’s the captain of the Honey Mountain Fire Department. A total badass.” She beamed when she spoke of her father, and it was the first time I saw a softness in her. Her guard was down, which wasn’t the norm for this woman. She always seemed to be on. Making her next move. But her father was definitely her kryptonite. We all had weaknesses, and Dylan Thomas had just shown me hers.

“You two are close? Is Everly your only sibling?” I forked some eggs and popped them into my mouth.

“No. I’m a twin.” She laughed before dabbing her mouth with her napkin.

“Dear Lord. There are two of you.”

She shook her head and chuckled. “No. Charlie is super sweet. And I actually have four sisters. Everly, Vivian, Charlotte, and Ashlan.”

“Wow. That’s a whole lot of females in one household.”

“Yeah. My sisters are all amazing. And my dad manages us pretty well.” She shrugged before taking a bite of her toast.

“What is your mom like?”

Her face hardened as if I’d just slapped her. I reached for my glass of juice, unsure of what to say.

“My mom lost her battle with cancer when I was in middle school.” My chest squeezed at her words, and I was not a man who experienced that often. But I could see her pain as clear as day. And then she tipped up her chin and forced a smile as her dark brown gaze locked with mine. “How about you? Are there any other charming Wayburns running around?”

“Yes. My brother, Sebastian, is a few years younger than me, and there’s my baby sister, Sabine. She recently graduated from college, and she’s brilliant. Sebastian just came to work for the Lions in the marketing department. You won’t see a lot of him; he’s not very focused on work.”

“Well, I assume he doesn’t have to be. I mean, you own an NHL hockey team, and we flew here on a private jet. I’m guessing you don’t have to be here either. Yet you went off and became a Navy SEAL. What’s that about?”

I finished chewing. “Do you only work for the paycheck?”

She gazed up at the ceiling as if she were deep in thought. Her tongue peeked out and wet her plump bottom lip, and my hands fisted as I tried to keep my dick from reacting. I could fucking hold my breath underwater for longer than anyone I’d ever known. I could hike unbelievable peaks, and I’d even managed to swim almost two miles with gunshot wounds to my arm and leg. But for whatever fucking reason, I could not contain my raging boner when it came to this intoxicating, irritating, intelligent, witty-as-hell woman sitting in front of me.

It was a slap in the face to my training. I could endure unbelievable pain. Go without food and water for as long as I needed to. But I couldn’t manage to control my dick around this woman.

“I do not. I mean, sure, I love making the big bucks,” she said, and she did some sort of little shimmy with her shoulders. “Though I’ve yet to make any actual money, seeing as this is my first real paying job outside of working at Vivi’s bakery part time, and I have a ton of student loans to pay. But no… If I had a million dollars in the bank today, I would still be an attorney.”

“Well, there you go. You and my brother have very little in common in that area. However, I’m sure he’d appreciate your—er—unusual personality.”

“Unusual personality? Do you mean award winning? Life of the party? Dazzlingly witty?” She crossed her arms over her chest and studied me. “Tell me something about being a Navy SEAL.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about a mission you went on.”

I forked some potatoes and popped them into my mouth as I watched her. “Sorry. You’d have to kill me if I talked.”

“I’d be all right with that,” she said dryly.

“I’m sure you would. So, are we good on the small talk?”

“I think this is a decent start. Who knows, Wolf Wayburn? Maybe we’ll even become friends by the end of all this.”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath, Minx.”

“Isn’t holding your breath kind of your thing? And what’s with the nickname?”

“It suits you better than your own name. And we weren’t talking about me holding my breath; we were talking about you holding yours.”