Seven Years

“Me and you. Let’s go.” He flicked an icy glare at Jericho, who had scooted his chair right beside me—so close our arms touched. Reno took the spot on my left and everyone else looked spread out. I guess I didn’t think about how it might look to be sandwiched between his brothers until Austin came in and made me aware of it.

The extra space at the table allowed them room to move down, but they chose to sit right beside me. I just thought they were being consolatory because of the recent attack.

“Why should I go?” I looked at Austin and he gave me the look. I didn’t really need an answer because I knew where he was going with this. The tingling had been coming and going with more frequency over the past few hours. Maybe I was just hormonal, but either way, I didn’t want to stick around and find out.

I got up from the table. “Going out, Mom. There’re a few movies in my bag if Maizy gets bored.”

We had spent the past hour talking about my dad. She didn’t think he’d come back for her and even if he did, I doubted he stood a chance against the Cole brothers. Anyhow, he had no idea Austin was back in town, nor would he think to show up here.

Damn, Austin was doing his lean on the frame of the kitchen doorway and I got the shivers again just looking at how snug his shirt was. I could almost see his abs through the thin fabric, and the bold ink patterns on his upper arms were so striking I wondered if it had hurt to get them.

Jericho snaked his arm around my upper leg and nestled against me. “Stay with us,” he said in sweet, syrupy words, nuzzling into my shirt. “I’ll play my guitar and sing a song for you.”

Austin crossed the room before I could reply. He gripped the back of Jericho’s chair and pulled it out, dumping him on the floor. “I think we all know what’s up, boys. You need to learn to put that in check, because our numbers will grow. And now that we have another female in the house, let me reiterate to you all that respect is something we live and die by when it comes to one of our own.”

He meant Ivy. She’d passed on dinner and gone to lie down in one of the twin’s rooms. I had a feeling she was having adjustment problems and needed time to herself. The house really closed in on you after a while with all these men.

“Come on, Lexi. Let’s go,” he said, holding out his hand.

Something restrained flickered in his eyes—something hot. When I took his hand, I gasped at the warmth and saw a muscle twitch in his cheek. He had already packed an overnight bag for me and loaded up the car.

When we drove off, I finally asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise.” Austin flipped on the radio and we listened to Bush singing about breathing in and breathing out. Which was exactly what I was doing. I rolled the window down, hoping if I was leaking any kind of sex perfume, the outside air would keep Austin from having to put up with it.

He pulled up to a stretch of property that reminded me of how Ivan’s house was set up, with a generous amount of cleared land in front and a thicket of woods around the back. It looked like a mansion, but not pretentious. The square windows were fogged over and needed replacing. They showed signs of wear, as shutters were broken and pulled away by time. A covered porch ran along the front and around the sides with a balcony off one of the rooms on the second floor. It looked like there was an attic, but I couldn’t tell from the front. I could imagine how beautiful impatiens and roses would look on the top balcony in the springtime. It must have been a grand place in its prime.

“Is this the house you were talking about buying?”

“I bought it,” he confirmed, switching off the radio. He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and melted me with his pale eyes. “Are you okay? You know what I mean. We haven’t really talked about what happened with Beckett.”

It wasn’t cold but I shivered. “I’m still trying to process it. I’m not sure I want to deal with it right now.”

“Well, stuff like that messes with your head. So whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here. Doesn’t matter if we can heal or not; some scars are beneath the skin and mark us in ways we least expect.”

“Thanks.”

He shut off the engine while I gaped at the house. “This is our new home,” he said. “You were right; the other place wasn’t me.”

“Why were you at my apartment the night Beckett came over?”

His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. “Just wanted to check up on you. Make sure you didn’t need anything.”

“Is that all?” I glared at him because it sure didn’t feel like all. He clammed up and I got mad. “Tell me lies, Austin,” I said, mimicking the song we had listened to on the way over. I slammed the door and stormed up the steps.

“Lexi, wait,” I heard him call out from behind. “Don’t run off before I explain.”

I turned on my heel and watched him slowly walk up the steps. We lingered on the porch, lit by a half-moon that kept peering out from behind a gathering of brooding clouds. A cool wind brought the sweet smell of rain, and a cricket chirped from beneath the porch.

“Well?” I tapped my fingers on the wall behind me and a smiled tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I showed up at your apartment to bring you a birthday present, but I saw the flowers from Church and clearly I’m out of my league when it comes to that kind of thing.”

“What present?” I stopped drumming my fingers and cleared my throat. Austin bought me a gift?

After a few seconds of clenching his jaw, he finally swung his left arm around from behind his back.

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh. My. God.”

Lollipops. My absolute all-time favorite candy and he’d made them into a bouquet. When my face began to hurt, I realized it was because I was smiling so hard the corners of my mouth were getting introduced to my ears. Austin didn’t lift his eyes but had a defeated look on his face as he turned the candy in his hand and stared at it.

“I wanted to surprise you and… it was obviously a dumb idea. You’re not twelve anymore and I should have gotten you something better. Perfume, or real flowers.”

“Are you kidding me, Austin Cole?” I snatched the bouquet and dipped my nose in, smelling the sweet bliss of sugar. “This is the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever seen.”

Then my lip quivered and I felt like a fool. “Wes used to give these to me whenever he wanted to shut me up about something.”

“I know,” he admitted. “He told me about your addiction years ago. No need to make a big thing of it. I’ll get you something better.”

Austin wanted to get me something better? Impossible. Just the fact he wanted to do something for me made my knees shake a little bit and my heart flap around like a nervous hummingbird. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to walk away thinking he didn’t just blow my mind.

I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. “I love that you know me so well,” I said. “This is better than roses by a mile.” Then I smelled him and he wasn’t wearing cologne. What’s more, I noticed he was smelling me when I felt his nose tickle against the crook of my neck.

When I stepped back, I plucked one of the candies from the cluster and ripped away the wrapper with my teeth. Immediately, I sucked on it and then held out my tongue, spinning the candy in circles.

Austin’s eyes were following every movement as he watched the whole affair. His lips parted as he eyed my mouth. “Keep doing that,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

Then he shocked the hell out of me when he leaned down and licked the other side. I felt his tongue slide against mine and I froze. Then he did it again, only this time more slowly until he pulled the candy away and began sucking on my candy-coated tongue as he cupped my face in his warm hands.

The tingles were roaring.

Suckers fell to the floor with a whack! My right leg wrapped around his waist as he lifted me up by my thighs.

The kiss was deep, wet, and salacious. My chin burned from how rough he was with his whiskers as we angled our heads to the left, then the right, and nibbled each other’s lips while discovering our groove. That comfortable groove you get into once you learn someone through their kiss—their moves, their rhythm, the intensity of how they use their tongue, even where on your mouth they linger during the kiss. Upper lip, lower lip,