Page 42 of A Pack of Honey
Slowly, she comes out of her orgasm-induced haze. Smiling over her shoulder at me. Fuck. That cold, charred husk I call my heart pounds in my chest. She's so fucking beautiful. Especially after she's taken my knot.
"Hey," she says.
I kiss her shoulder. "Hey."
We lapse into silence for a stretch, and I'm on the edge of sleep when she speaks.
"Why did you want to open a hotel up here?"
The question is sweet, and it makes me smile and then jolt. I suddenly realize that I've never told her.
"I'm from here," I state simply. She turns her head, still unable to turn over with my knot locked inside of her. But the shock is evident in the slice of her face I can see.
"What?" Her gasp is perfect, and god, if I wasn't buried in her right now, I'd take her again.
"Didn't come up in your online stalking, Little One?" I ask. Her brow creases.
"Everything said you were from Detroit," she admits.
"Mmm, that makes sense. That's where I graduated high school. But I lived in Lakeside Point until I was fifteen." She's looking at me like I just explained the mysteries of the universe. "What's that look for, Little One? What are you thinking?"
"I thought—" She huffs out a derisive laugh. "I thought that you'd never fit in up here. We couldn't be together because we were too different and wanted things that were too different." I curl around her. I know that's what she thought. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Her voice is small and slightly hurt. I nuzzle into her neck, where I plan to bite and bind her one day.
I'd thought about telling her so many times. "I wanted to prove that I could be here for you. That I could fit into your life as I am now. I wanted you to come to me as I am." I admit. It surprises even me. Sometimes, you can't know how you feel until you're forced to describe it. She brings one of my hands wrapped around her middle up to her mouth and kisses my knuckles.
"I love you, Cole," she whispers.
I go completely still. Then I lurch. Pulling her face to the side to give me enough access to kiss her deep and thorough. Sunny moans into my mouth, perfuming, and I wonder how I can be buried in her and still wish I could be free just to have her again. I will never have enough of this woman.
"I love you forever, little one. I'll always take care of you." My purr is a jet engine, and she melts into it.
"Why did your family move to Detroit?" She asks once I settle back down.
"My dad passed away when I was ten." I try to keep my voice casual, but I think my grief still betrays my words because Sunny snuggles closer to me. "My mom remarried when I was eleven."
"She remarried a year later?" Her voice is incredulous, and I shrug.
"I think she just couldn't handle being a single mom. I wasn't an easy kid." She glances at me over her shoulder and looks like she believes it. Dominant alphas tend to be rowdy long before their designations come in. "After marrying him, she immediately had another son, and I always felt like an odd third wheel in my home. It didn't make me amicable. Tristan, my stepfather, insisted we move down to Detroit when I was fifteen. He wanted to establish his own restaurant business and hated it up here."
"But you didn't want to go?" She's a smart woman.
"Right before my high school years with all my friends? No. But what Tristan said went. I wasn't his biggest fan. Anyway, he opened a not-very lucrative pizza joint down there, and then my mom passed from a car accident, and he passed from cancer a couple years after that. My half-brother, Logan, took over. I see him from time to time." She nods.
This time, when we lapse into silence, there are no more questions. I feel her breathing turn easy and even. Her beautiful face becomes peaceful, and all those worry spots smooth into the ease of a safe dream.
Sunny
TheNestStoreisridiculous and huge. It has three stories of fluorescent lights, nest displays, and tired-looking sales associates. I've never been in this store. I can get blankets and pillows for my closet any place. Intimidating doesn't cover it. Jess wraps an arm around one side of me, and Hunt does the same on the other.
"Where first, Bumblebee?" Hunt asks. I have no clue. Luca, thankfully, sees the distress written across my face and steps over to a counter, picking up the free catalog.
He opens it, saying, "According to this, we should start with paint."
So that's where we all head.
Thank god I'd ripped my way through Pinterest last night and had some idea of what I wanted. Steadily, we work through the list. Curtains, pillows, blankets, accessories, and a new mattress—it's never-ending. When asked, the guys put in their thoughts, but it's clear they just want me to be happy. Luca is organized and poised. Cole stalks around, assessing the place for threatsas if concerned Craig will pop out from behind a pillow mound. Jess and Hunt stay by my sides, making jokes and keeping me feeling up. Even when the sheer number of decisions I make threatens to pull me down.
