“I don’t think so. Your dad already sees us.”
“He’ll understand.”
I wrinkled my nose. “He would understand that you want to take me home and…”
I blushed, and Kai threw his head back and laughed. I watched the way his throat moved, the butterfly tattoo fluttering with it. I was completely enraptured.
“That I want to take you home and have my wicked way with you?”
“Perhaps it would be best if we don’t talk about that… or think about it,” I said.
He chuckled and pulled me tighter to him before letting out a small sigh. “Fine. Let’s go see everyone.”
I nodded, even if my heart stuttered at the words.
“Remember,” he said. “I’ll be right by your side.”
With that, he led me to the table. Everyone watched us as we approached, and Dominic was smiling widely.
Emmy rubbed her hand over Dominic’s chest, though I didn’t think she was trying to soothe him. It looked more like she was seeking his touch for comfort. I knew the feeling. I squeezed Kai’s hand, and he squeezed mine back as we got to the table.
A waitress came by at the same time to drop off drinks. She smiled at everyone, though it seemed she was ignoring me, and I didn’t know if that was on purpose or not.
Then she turned to Kai, a weird expression flitting over her eyes. I shifted, feeling uncomfortable, though I wasn’t sure why.
Kai sat down and pulled me onto his lap.
I stiffened slightly, and he made sure there wasn’t even a minuscule amount of space between us. He placed one hand over my stomach, his thumb moving distractingly against my thin black shirt.
Dominic watched us intently.
I pretended not to notice his eyes.
There was always something about Dominic’s eyes that made my skin prickle with awareness. They might be nearly identical to Kai’s eyes, but there was something different about them.
“What are you doing?” I asked Kai quietly.
He ran his lips over the side of my face, his stubble tickling me. I squirmed against him, stopping when my butt brushed against his hard-on.
My whimper was thankfully drowned out in the otherwise loud bar.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he said. “I’m staking my claim.”
I rolled my eyes, trying not to show how affected I was by him.
Emmy caught my gaze from her seat on Dominic’s lap, trying to avoid his feeding her a French fry from his hand.
She blushed and slapped his chest, glaring up at him. He winked, making her flush, and I looked down, smiling a little at the intimate scene.
I had heard all sorts of horrendous things about Dominic, but they must have been false, considering how sweet he was with her, and from what Kai told me—with his kids. A man who was like this with those he loved couldn’t be that bad, right?
And something about looking at him made me miss my dad. Granted, he’d died when I was young. Young enough that I didn’t know what kind of man—or father—he could be, but the memories I had of him were good ones.
“Hi,” Emmy said when I looked up and found her eyes on me once more. “I’m Emmy.”
I waved a little at her. “Gemma.”
She smiled and pointed to Ryleigh. “And this is Ryleigh.”