Fire Inside (Chaos #2)(47)



Hop touched his mouth to mine then lifted up and touched his lips to my forehead. He moved back, his eyes caught mine, he gave me a sexy smile that engaged the lines at the sides of his eyes then he let me go, turned to the door and disappeared behind it.

I went to the plantation shutters, slid them slightly open and looked out, watching him saunter to his bike, throw a leg over, and roar away.

He’d come all the way to my house to carry one suitcase down one flight of stairs.

And to check on me.

I slapped the shutters closed, leaned my forehead against them and smiled.

Chapter Seven

One Way or Another

My cell on the nightstand clattered, waking me.

Sleepily, I reached out, looked at the display, touched it with my thumb and put it to my ear, a smile curving my lips.

“Hey,” I greeted quietly.

“How’d it go last night?” Hop asked.

He’d been worried about me.

God, God… I liked that.

“It went,” I answered.

“My mouth is between your legs.”

I blinked at the pillows. “What?”

“Fuck, you taste like honey,” he growled.

My legs shifted under the sheets.

I knew what this was. It was an excellent way to take my mind off things and I wanted it.

“Hop—”

“Touch yourself, lady,” he whispered.

Without delay, I slid my hand in my panties.

I must have made some noise because Hop was growling again in my ear. “My tongue’s right there.”

Oh God, this was good.

“No,” he stated. “I’m sucking.”

Oh God, this was good.

“Baby,” I breathed.

“Quiet, lady, and listen to me.”

I did as he said and miraculously, because usually when I did this my fingers didn’t work, I needed a toy, Hop achieved spectacular results with taking my mind off things.

After I came down, I heard silence.

“Do you want me to keep going? Give the same to you?” I offered, my voice sated, husky.

“Don’t come on my gut, babe.”

He had noted this before but, in these circumstances, I found this was interesting and surprising.

“You don’t, uh…?” I trailed off.

“I do but not with a woman.”

“Um, just pointing out, honey, I’m not with you.”

“You on the phone?”

I smiled and answered, “Yeah.”

“Then you’re with me,” he stated.

Even on the phone, I was with him.

Nice.

“I gave you that, you make it up to me Monday night,” he finished.

“I can do that,” I replied.

“I know you can,” he told me. I could hear the grin in his voice as he went on to say where he’d be with the kids for breakfast and when. “You think you can get your folks there?”

We were going to “bump into each other”, friends coincidentally on the same mountain at the same time, all so Hop could have my back without my parents knowing he was.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Do that, babe. See you in a few.”

“Okay, and… Hop?”

“Right here.”

“Uh, thanks for the orgasm.”

He didn’t hide the laughter in his voice when he replied, “Anything you need, lady, I’m there for you one way or another.”

Yes, it seemed he was.

“Thanks, honey.”

“Later, babe.”

“Bye, Hop.”

We disconnected. I looked at my phone a moment before putting it back on the nightstand. I stared at it resting there while stretching a bit and smiling a whole lot more.

Then I curved my arms around a pillow, holding it close.

Anything you need, babe, I’m there for you one way or another.

Yes.

It seemed he was.

My smile got bigger.

* * *

“Miss Lanie!”

This was screeched the moment I walked into the restaurant behind my mother but ahead of my father, who was holding the door, and it was shrieked by Molly Kincaid.

Obviously Hopper hadn’t told his kids I’d be there. I knew this because Molly was screeching and Cody was sitting on a bench at the side of the entry of the restaurant and considering me with some surprise. Hop was standing by him looking his usual amazing in faded jeans and boots. He had a black thermal henley under his cut and his hair was falling in his face.

All him, just him, no pretense.

However, he had shaved but he’d left a new patch of whiskers under his lip as he’d said he’d do.

It was a good addition.

I only had seconds to take all this in because Molly was racing to me with her usual Molly exuberance.

She skidded to a halt, her head tipped back, her long, gorgeous, wavy black hair wild and free, her gray eyes shining with little kid excitement.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” she cried then twisted toward her dad. “Dad, look! Miss Lanie’s here!”

“I see,” Hop murmured, moving toward us, and it crashed over me this sucked because I couldn’t touch him, kiss him, even smile at him like I wanted to smile.

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