Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(64)
“So...” Axel eased back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. As usual, he stood out from the rest of them, his tailored brown slacks, shiny loafers and crisp white button-down rolled up at the sleeves making him look like a corporate CEO caught in a casual moment. Even with his wild russet hair knotted up tight at the back, he still made the look work. “Darya seems to be settling in.”
And there it was. The nosey prodding he’d halfway expected the second he’d learned their family night had been relocated to a public place. Well, they could prod all they wanted. He wasn’t ready yet and until he was, there was nothing to talk about. “Yep.”
The table got quiet, all of his brothers looking from one to the other.
Not surprisingly, Jace was the one to break the silence. “That mean we need to talk about her future?”
“Hers or mine?” Knox said.
“Maybe both.” Beckett peeled his attention off Darya where she stood beside Levi across the room at the end of a long line of Skee-ball machines. “The two don’t have to be exclusive.”
Letting out a heavy breath, Knox snatched his beer and tipped it for a healthy draw.
“For a guy that looked as comfortable as you did about fifteen minutes ago, that sound doesn’t jibe,” Trevor said.
“Sure it does,” Zeke said before Knox could answer. “Or did you forget how long it took for him to figure out we weren’t gonna leave his ass swingin’ in the wind? The only thing Knox does fast is type and hack into other people’s business. Everything else he has to stew on and overthink twice as long as the rest of us.”
“That true?” Danny asked. “We pushing where we shouldn’t be?”
Knox set his beer bottle on the table and shrugged. “You’re not asking anything not already in my head. I’m just not ready to go there. Not yet.” He anchored both forearms on the table and grappled for some way to share what was in his head without coming off like a ginormous pussy. “She knows about me. My past. All of it.”
“You ask me, that’s the biggest hurdle you’ve got,” Axel said.
“For me, yeah.” Knox studied his brothers, letting his gaze rest on each of them for a split second before moving to the next. “But I don’t know hers. I’m the only one standing out there full Monty, and until she’s ready to do the same, I’m not willing to bring my family into it.”
“We’re already in it, brother.” Jace sat forward, mirroring Knox’s pose. “We always will be. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got a toe in or the whole damned enchilada. We’re always with you.”
“Not like you to beat around the bush, though,” Axel said. “If not knowin’ her past is the only thing holding you back, just ask her.”
It wasn’t like him. But then nothing he’d done since laying eyes on Darya had been status quo. He met Axel’s steady stare. “Is it whacked I want her to give it to me?”
The hardness in his green gaze softened, understanding and a shit ton of compassion reflected back at him. “Not whacked at all. Surrender’s the sweetest gift a woman can ever give a man. Worth the effort to earn and the wait that goes with it.”
“So, we wait,” Trevor said, the easy drawl in his voice belying the stout vow behind his words. He rocked forward, guiding the front two legs of his chair back on the floor, grabbed his beer and lifted it in salute. “But we do it together and give your girl a safe place to share.”
The rest of the guys grabbed their drinks and lifted them as well, a mixed chorus of agreement echoing back at him.
God, they were a motley group. Every one of them incredibly different and fallible on their own, but unbreakable and steadfast as a whole. And they were his. His brothers. The family he’d always wanted patiently waiting and willing to support his future however he chose to build it. He lifted his own drink. “Yeah, we do it together.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
As routines went, the one Darya had developed with Knox was not only surprising, but strangely comfortable. For a guy with the energy of a sugar-hyped two-year-old and the brain power of a rocket scientist, he’d proven to be a bit of a domesticated homebody.
Work. Dinner. More work peppered with ample music or movies. Sleep and repeat. For just over a week, the pattern had varied very little, only events with his brothers or the weekend offering diversion.
The sex though...that was a whole different story. Predictable wasn’t a word that could ever coexist with Knox’s sensual nature. Well, except maybe that they were guaranteed to bookend every single day with anything from languid, brutally teasing sex to nothing short of wickedly carnal fucking.
Forcing herself to focus on the search results detailed on the screen, Darya slowly scrolled down the list of known residences for the most recent skip she’d been hired to find. Despite Knox’s attempts to get her to work with him on the couch, Darya always felt more focused behind her desk. More centered in her purpose.
Not that it was helping tonight. She was too distracted. Too aware of the shirtless man stretched out long across the couch cushions and the number of times she’d caught him watching her.
No, not watching.
Studying.
Calculating.
Which was doubly weird because after dinner, Knox was a machine when it came to work and focus. Nothing distracted him. Not music. Not her phone calls to clients or the endless movies that streamed across the television screen.