Page 21 of Fearless
“Is this weird?” She returned my gaze hesitantly. “Talking to you about what I did with him?”
“Why would it be weird?”
“Because I’m used to being with one guy at a time. A guy I’m seeing wouldn’t normally be thrilled to hear about my date with someone else.”
“Nothing about our situation is normal.”
“I know, I just,” she sighed, “I don’t want to upset either of you. I care about you both and I don’t want to like, rub in your face that I spent all day with him.”
“Hey, you’re not upsetting me.” I leaned forward and grabbed her slender fingers. “And I asked the question, so of course I don’t mind hearing the answer. Now, I’m not gonna ask about all the ways he fucked you yesterday because yeah, I might get a little jealous of that.” Her eyes widened slightly and her neck flushed even redder. Damn, he must have turned her inside out.
“Only because I wasn’t there to join in on the fun,” I added with a smirk. “But don’t forget, I care about Reaper too. He’s the brother I never had. You’re making him happy. And a happy president means less bullshit for the VP to deal with.”
Her fingers curled around mine as she humored me with a giggle. “I suppose that’s true.”
“It is. And hey.” I nudged my foot around the back of her chair leg to pull her closer. Lowering our clasped hands to her lap, I hovered my lips over her ear. “You have no idea what coming here with food means to me. Not saying you should be slaving in a kitchen all the time, but it’s little things like this that make me feel cared for. So thank you,Mariposita. You’re rocking this two-men thing.”
I kissed the shell of her ear, dragging my lips down to the quickening pulse in her neck. Our hands untangled as if they had minds of their own. Mine nestled into the luscious curves of her waist while hers wrapped around my shoulders.
“You deserve it,” she breathed, her voice warm against my cheek. “You take care of everyone here. Especially Shadow, Reaper, me…someone ought to take care of you too.”
An involuntary groan of longing rose in my chest. She had no idea at all how perfect she was for me. This woman understood me, from my sense of humor and appreciation of fine machinery to the deepest, basic needs of a full belly and a cozy home—which was right here at this shitty table pulled from a dumpster.Shewas my home.
I did not fall in love easily. I could flirt and charm the panties off of any woman in my sleep, but that was a game. It was meaningless. This was real, and I was free falling into the Grand Canyon itself.
“Come home with me tonight.” It was all I could do to not sound like I was begging. “I’ll be done for the day in about four hours. Meet me back here after you see Tessa and everything else you gotta do.”
“Jandro, I—“
“I’ll make you dinner for bringing me lunch. We can just watch old TV shows, hang out with the chickens, and not do anything else. Shadow will be there, but he won’t bother us. I’ll walk you back to Reaper’s if you’re not up for spending the night. I don’t care what we do, I just want to spend more time with you, Mari.”
“Okay!” she laughed, planting a kiss on me like she was trying to shut me up. “I was about to tell you I’d love to, silly, if you’d let me get a word in.”
“Oh.” I grinned sheepishly, our smiles touching in a not-quite kiss. “I was expecting more resistance, but all right!”
“Yeah?” she challenged playfully. “I figured you knew exactly how irresistible you are.”
“I do know, but a certain type of girl, called a Mariposa, has a knack for holding out on me.”
She chuckled, but her smile was more cautious this time. “I guess I’ll just have to let Reaper know where I’ll be.”
“You do that.” I reluctantly pulled away from her, sliding my palms down her thighs. “And if he gives you shit for it, let him know I’m coming for him at Fight Night.”
“Ugh, that again,” she groaned, dropping her forehead into her palm. “I almost forgot.”
“Yes, that again.” I smacked a kiss on her cheek before standing to clear the table. “At the end of the day, we’re just animals after all.”
MARIPOSA
My feet touched the ground,but it felt like I was floating on air after leaving Jandro’s shop. I was really doing this—seeing two men. And feeling intense, vastly different things for both of them.
Even so, this floaty feeling, the smile I couldn’t erase, and the fluttering in my stomach, it was all familiar. Every person felt this at some point in their lives, when someone stood out as special to them. My brain and body were processing all the chemical reactions of an intense crush.
And the crazy part was, I couldn’t tell if it was over Reaper, or Jandro.
I still felt the physical, sweet ache of the green-eyed president on top of me, inside of me, and all over me. Yesterday consisted of the most thrilling, scariest sex I ever had, but the day was so much more than that. He took me to a painful place, trusting me, and himself, enough to open up and share a side of him that few others knew.
Everything seemed to change between us since then for the better, like we reached a new appreciation and understanding of each other. He couldn’t keep his hands off me when we got home, and not for more sex. But from the door to the shower to the bed, those rough hands maintained some form of contact on me and he never stopped kissing me. Only this morning did we peel apart reluctantly to attend our separate duties.
