“Why do you like them so much?” She traced one after the other over my shoulder to my pec then farther to my abdomen.
“They are pieces of me. Stories.”
“This is my favorite.” She dragged her finger down my arm over the stormy waters and thick dense clouds overhead. The sun’s rays peaked through them, and specks of light hit the water. And below the water in the depths bloomed a flower, its petals closed, the stem broken.
An orchid.
Her fingers stopped on the flower and her eyes lifted to mine. She didn’t have to say anything. Neither did I. The flower represented her.
The orchid lost in the depths of the river.
Like I’d been lost.
The stormy river where my brother died. Where my anger flourished and pieces of me drowned with him. And her… Savvy was the light struggling to reach me beneath the surface.
But the anger was controlled now. At least most of the time. And the orchid, she blossomed and came back to me.
She rested her cheek on my chest, her palm flat on my abdomen. “You scare me, Killian.”
“I know.” She feared who I’d been, the overprotectiveness, what was happening with my father. She’d been hurt and feared that happening again. “Will you come to brunch with me, not because you have to, but because you want to.”
She looked up at me. “Yes.”
I tilted to kiss her. My body sagged. I hadn’t realized I was tense asking her, but I was.
“Is it at Logan and Emily’s?” she asked.
“No. We get together at Crisis and Ream’s adoptive parents on the last Sunday of every month. We used to go to Georgie and Deck’s, but he’s been busy with work.”
“Georgie and Deck?”
I absently stroked up and down on her arm. “Mmm. We met Georgie and Deck when we were first starting out. She worked at a coffee shop Logan, Ream, Crisis and me used to hang out at. Now she owns two coffee shops.” Her palm slid over my abdomen then lower, and my cock swelled.
“And Deck?” she asked.
I clenched my jaw as the tips of her fingers drifted lower still. “Ex-special forces. He has a company that deals with the scum of the Earth. Not so legal, but he’s a good guy and would do anything for his friends. Fuck, he has. And his men.”
“So, who will be there?”
“The guys in the band with their women.”
She touched the ridge of my cock, and I sucked in air. “Fuck, baby.”
She wrapped one finger at a time around the base of it. “Savvy, I’d like nothing more than to fuck you again, but we should go.” I was never late and recently I’d been off schedule and doing things I never did, like right now, lying in bed after sex.
She trailed kisses down my chest, her grip tightening on my cock and I groaned, hardening.
She reached my abdomen, and her tongue swirled, wetting the surface of my skin while her hand slid up my cock and back down again. My hand went to the top of her head as she shifted over my thigh and lay between my legs.
Her thumb grazed the piercing, and I hissed, bunching her hair in my fist. “Jesus.”
Her head lifted, mouth a breath away from the tip of my cock. “Killian?”
“Yeah,” I managed to grind out, my body tense and on edge waiting for her lips to wrap around me.
“I never forgot you either.”
Fuck.
My breath locked in my chest as her mouth enclosed around my cock.
“Oh, my God, sweetness, you must be Kite’s girl, Savvy. I’m Sophia Wesson.”
A well-put together woman rushed toward me wearing white pants and a light pink blouse with a brilliant smile and warm, welcoming eyes.
She put her hands on my shoulders then kissed both cheeks before pulling me in for a hug. She ran her hand over my hair. “Look at this gorgeous hair and face. So beautiful. And you’re a dancer.”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Well, it’s so lovely to meet you. I’m glad you could join us. Kite has never brought anyone over before.” She turned to Kite and kissed both his cheeks. “You’re late. I didn’t think that was possible, but now I see why.”
My cheeks heated, and Killian squeezed my hand reassuringly.
“Vincent told me you knew Logan and Kite in high school. That’s wonderful.”
I wasn’t sure who Vincent was until Kite squeezed my hand and said, “Crisis. Vincent is his real name, and his mom refuses to call him by anything else.”
“I don’t know why he doesn’t use his real name.” She ushered us through the house. “Everyone is already here and breakfast is nearly ready. Have you met the crew?”
“I haven’t met Kat.”
“Kite, the others are out back, I’ll show Savvy around first.”
God, Crisis and Ream’s mother was so nice and funny. It kind of clashed with how she looked, very classy and straight laced.