The Pact (Winslow Brothers #2)(46)

She’s walking on eggshells, but not because she’s afraid she’s going to upset me. No. She’s a woman at the very end of her rope, trying not to explode all over everything.

As far as I’m concerned, though, the sooner the big boom happens, the sooner I can start putting the pieces back together.

“Go ahead,” I prompt. “Let it rip. I know you want to.”

“God, Flynn!” She tosses up her hands and stomps the rest of the way into the kitchen. “This is just a lot, you know? First, I arrive after traveling across the country a week after giving my boss a practical ultimatum, almost die on the luggage carousel, and then, I find out there’s only one bedroom! And after that, we go straight to your sister’s house without any warning from you, and everyone thinks I’m there with your brother because you left me to fend for myself! And everyone was staring at me and looking for answers that I don’t have to give them! Because this marriage is a pact marriage, and I don’t actually know all that much about you!”

I nod, and she takes a deep breath, gearing up to go again.

“And your sister! She’s so freaking nice and kind, and after she knew that I was with you and not your brother Ty, she was so welcoming and interested in me and jumping to include me. I’m having lunch! With her and Sophie! Next week! Did you know that?”

I shake my head because, no, I didn’t know that.

“I am! Because they were so sweet and I couldn’t say no, and so now I’m having lunches with your sister like it’s a thing! Like we’re a real thing! Oh! And Sophie! She was so excited that she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her and your brother’s wedding! A bridesmaid, Flynn, in your brother’s freaking wedding!”

I raise my eyebrows.

“And I wasn’t prepared for any of it! Because you didn’t think it was important to tell me that we were going to your family dinner tonight! I don’t know what to do with that.” She inhales a deep breath, and I’m not surprised when she keeps going. “I mean, we probably should’ve at least worn our damn wedding rings! Your sister kept asking me, and I had to come up with a random excuse about them being fitted at the jeweler! When she asked me which jeweler, I pretended to have a coughing attack and told her I have a history of asthma—which I don’t! But I do have a growing web of lies with your family!”

“What would be different if you’d known ahead of time?” I interject, and her chin jerks back.

“What?”

“Would you not be going to lunch with Winnie and Sophie?”

Her eyes narrow.

“Or Sophie and Jude’s wedding? Would you have said no to being in it if you’d prepared ahead of time?”

“No, Flynn, that would be rude. But that’s not the point—”

“It is the point, Dais. None of the results would have changed, but the amount of stress you’d have felt leading up to it would have been exponentially higher. You have a tendency to freak out a little.”

“I don’t freak out that much.”

“Daisy.”

She huffs. “Okay. So, I freak out. But the decision to freak out or not should be mine and mine alone. I’m Julia Roberts, dammit, and I say who, I say when, I say how much!”

I stalk toward her with quick, deliberate strides, and she tilts her chin back dramatically to keep her eyes on me during my approach.

Her breathing quickens as I put my hands to her jaw and tip her head back even more, running the pad of my thumb over her plump pink bottom lip.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“I am? You are?”

I nod. “Even though I was trying to protect you from feeling anxiety I didn’t think you should have to feel, I should’ve given you a heads-up.”

“Okay,” she breathes out through a whisper.

“Okay, you accept my apology?”

“Yes, I accept.”

“Good.” I waggle my eyebrows. “Now it’s time to relax.”

“Time to relax?”

I nod briefly and then seal my lips to hers. She gasps, and I immediately slip my tongue into her mouth.

She tastes minty and fresh from brushing her teeth, and the smell of her hair when I’m this close envelops me like a cloud of fog. The urge to recreate our first night together and lift her onto the kitchen counter to eat her out is strong, but the need to normalize her first night in our bed is even stronger.

Hands to her ass, I lift her up until her legs wrap around my hips and her arms around my shoulders, and I turn to head down the hallway to the bedroom with her in my arms.

She’s light and easy to carry, but the things she’s doing with her tongue inside my mouth are a little bit more of a distraction. We bump into the wall once or twice but eventually make it to my room. Her back hits the soft material of my black comforter, and moonlight filters in through the window, illuminating the features of her face and the gloriousness of her curls spread out above her head.

Fuck, she really is beautiful.

One day soon, I need to see those lips around my cock. But not tonight. Tonight, I need to be inside her. She needs to feel me inside her—so goddamn deep she won’t even know she’s in a bed, let alone my own, when we’re done.

I pull her pajama shorts down the length of her legs, taking her pretty pink panties with them, and then scoot her up onto the bed until her shoulders touch the pillows.