Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(87)
He kissed her cheek and muttered low beside her ear, “Morning, angel.”
She stirred and her eyes fluttered open, the striking blue even more impactful with the sun’s soft glow. At first her expression was a little dazed, her features still soft and unmarked by reality, but like everything else about her, her mind caught up quick and her eyes came into focus. “Is everything okay?”
“Perfect.” He rolled her to her back and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I need to run some traps I laid out last night, but I didn’t want you to wake up and worry where I’d run off to.”
She traced an arc below one of his eyes. “You didn’t sleep.”
“I didn’t want to. Was too busy enjoying the woman next to me.” He snagged her hand and kissed her palm. “I’ll get my work done a whole lot easier if I know you’re happy and asleep in my bed, though.”
“If I stay, will you promise me you’ll sleep tonight?”
He couldn’t help it. The lure of all the ways they could sexually work his over-thinking brain into off mode made his dick twitch and start to swell. “Oh, I’ll make sure we’re both so exhausted tonight we’ll drop into a coma.”
She smiled at that, one full of teeth and mischief to match his own. “I can work with that plan.”
“Good. Now close your eyes and think about what’s on your wish list for tonight.”
She chuckled low and sultry. “That list keeps getting longer with you.”
Fuck, but he loved this woman. Loved her heart. How sweet she was even to strangers. How easily she not only kept pace with him intellectually, but eagerly met him pound-for-pound with sex. “Make it as long as you want. Not gonna quit until you’re sated, and then I’ll still be ready to start over again from the top.” He slid his nose alongside hers and breathed in her winter rose scent. “Sleep for me, angel.”
Before he could change his mind and indulge himself and his ready cock in her sweetness, he rolled out of bed and grabbed his phone as he stood. He snatched his discarded jeans off the floor, tugged them on in short order and padded to the door as quietly as he could. The second he opened it, the rich, nutty scent of coffee and the even better promise of Sylvie’s old-fashioned fried potatoes and bacon assailed him. His stomach growled in appreciation before he’d even shut the door to his suite.
Sure enough, Ninette was perched on a bar stool at the massive island while Sylvie manned the stove. For two women outside their normal environment, they looked right at home, both still fitted out in their TV-watching yoga pant and T-shirt combos. It was Ninette who spied him first, casting an easy good morning grin over her shoulder as she set her oversize coffee mug on the concrete-topped counter. “Look who’s up and smiling like he ate a whole flock of canaries last night.”
Well, hell. Who’d have known he could be twenty-nine years old and still blush like he’d just been caught whacking off to a Penthouse centerfold? He strolled past Ivan manning the screens and laptops lined up on the dining room table. “Hey, man. Anything?”
“Nope. Not a peep,” Ivan said. “Got a call from Danny and Beck about half an hour ago. They’re hittin’ Krispy Kreme on the way back and called the rest of the crew in early. Jace and Axel just pulled into the garage.”
Good news. An earlier meet meant less time to kill keeping Darya distracted. “Thanks, man.” He headed on toward the kitchen and Ninette, who’d yet to take her eyes off him, her focus a little too narrowed for comfort.
She stood just as he reached her and wrapped him up in a familiar hug. “I’d ask if you got any sleep, but my guess is no. So how about I ask if your girl did?”
Knox chuckled and kissed Ninette’s gray head. “She slept hard. Though, I’m hopin’ she gets at least another hour in before she gives in to curiosity and obligation and drags her butt out of bed.”
“She’s a woman, Knox. A smart one who’s just had it made plain she is well and truly taken. Only normal she’d instinctively feel the need to step into her place as woman of the house instead of resting where she should be.” She stepped away, but kept her hands on his shoulders and scanned his bare torso. “I see you’re missing something this morning.”
Knox scoffed and headed for the coffeepot. “Like you haven’t seen the lot of us hangin’ out sans shirts a million times before.”
The odd commentary must have caught Sylvie off guard, too, because she paused in stirring the potatoes long enough to twist and scan him head to toe.
Knox took advantage, leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Mornin’, Ma.”
When he pulled away, she was smirking back at him. “Ninnie wasn’t talkin’ about the shirt, love.” She dipped her head toward his chest and waggled her eyebrows. “She was talkin’ about yer tags.”
Yep. Twenty-nine and both of them could make him feel like he was ten again. He covered the uncomfortable response by tackling the single-brew coffee machine.
Sylvie didn’t seem the least bit troubled by the topic, because she kept going. “Ye know Ninnie and I would be more than happy ta help ye pick out a pretty ring fer the lass.”
“Yeah, I thought we’d start by making it so she could walk out of the house without a psycho catching her before we started planning weddings and babies.”