Page 68 of Gather the Storm

It wasn’t Wolf and Otis’ fault Jace was a dick and it wasn’t mine either. Why should we suffer when he was the jackass? Not that eating alone would have been suffering. It wasn’t like I enjoyed being around Wolf and Otis.

Not as if Ilikedthem.

Yeah, okay, Daisy.

This was my life now: two voices in my head, the figurative angel and devil. One of them was the voice of reason, reminding me that the Beasts had confessed to killing Blake.

But the other one? Well, that one whispered all kinds of dark and dangerous ideas. It tempted me to enter Wolf’s room whenI heard him strumming his guitar. It urged me to push Otis’ door open when I heard his shower running, and when I couldn’t sleep it suggested I visit Jace’s room, slide into his bed, press my naked body against his until he couldn’t deny me.

In short, it was a real bitch.

I got up early on Thursday morning and dressed in another one of Jace’s booby shirts, this time pairing it with a pair of jeans (too tight, but they all were, so what was a girl to do?). I grabbed a lavender blazer for good measure and threw it over my arm for later.

I’d been cautious about my attire the first day of work at Cantwell, but now that I’d spent a day working there it was obvious the dress code was more business casual than power lawyer.

Thank god.

I strapped on another pair of heels, got to the kitchen early, and threw together a quick breakfast of scrambled cheesy eggs with spinach, three packs of bacon, and a stack of toast a mile high.

The guys would be working on the house while I was at Cantwell, and I wanted to fulfill my end of the bargain by making sure they were well fed.

I thought about Wolf and Otis while I cooked, wondering if Jace had told Wolf I’d been making out with Otis yesterday, wondering if Otis had told him. Wolf and I weren’t together or anything, but making out with his best friend kind of seemed like something I should disclose.

Dammit, when had my life gotten so complicated?

I was untying the apron I’d donned to keep my blouse clean when Wolf entered the kitchen, looking sexy and sleepy in slouchy jeans and bare feet.

“Morning sunshine.” I flinched when he planted a kiss on my cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world. “What’s all this?”

Honestly, if you’d told me a month ago that I’d get all hot and bothered over a guy in jeans and bare feet — one of the guys who’d done time for killing my brother no less — I’d have said you were crazy, but here I was, pulling on my jacket for work, hurrying to hide the fact that my nipples were hard, my mind filled with a play-by-play of my make-out session with Wolf in the truck.

“Um, breakfast,” I said, trying to get my heart rate under control. “I have to go to work but I didn’t want you guys to be hungry while you work.”

“You don’t have to do all this,” he said, leaning against the counter. “We’re happy with bagels or cereal.”

I frowned. “Bagels and cereal are nutritionally bankrupt. You need protein for all the work you’re doing.”

A smoldering smile lifted the corners of his eyes, and if a sleep-tousled Wolf wandering into the kitchen was sexy, well, a casually leaning sleep tousled Wolf was devastating.

“You’re really cute, you know that?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Just what every girl wants to hear.”

He moved so fast I was hardly aware of him crossing the kitchen until he was pressed against me, my back against the kitchen table.

He smoothed his hands over my shoulders, then reached under the blazer to slide his hands around my waist.

His hands traveled over my ass and I gasped when he grabbed it with both hands and pressed me against his obvious hard-on.

He grinned down at me. “In case you were thinking I’m not turned the fuck on by cute.” His expression grew serious as he stared into my eyes. “And if you can’t see that you’re more thanthat, that you’re fucking magnificent, then we obviously have a lot of work to do.”

I only vaguely registered his use of the word “we.” I was breathing hard and fast, like I’d been running when all I was doing was standing with Wolf’s body pressed to mine, the promise of all he could to me lingering like a fragrant breeze in the kitchen.

“I made out with Otis,” I blurted.

I didn’t know what I’d expected, but it wasn’t the lazy smile that appeared on his face. “Good for you, sunshine. I hope he made you come until you screamed.”

“Um, we didn’t get that far. Jace showed up.”

---