The Hollow (Preacher Brothers 4)

Yet here I was burning everything.

I went back to focusing on the stovetop, stirring the hash browns, and leaning in because they didn’t look right. Meaning they looked half frozen and half burned.

I was fucking this all up.

Shit.

I heard the bedroom door open, and my entire body went tight. I turned and stared at the entryway. A second later, the sound of her feet padding down the hallway came through loud, heightening my senses. I pictured her bare feet on the hardwood floor, imagined the feminine arches, her little toes, her soft skin.

My breathing started to increase, my heart beating faster. In my mind, I trailed my gaze up her legs. I pictured it all with clarity, remembered how soft her skin had been, how smooth and perfect.

And then she rounded the corner, stepping into the entryway. She stopped when she saw me, her hands going to the edge of the T-shirt she wore. My T-shirt. I’d given her some sweats and cotton tees until I could get her stuff that actually fit. The clothes she’d been wearing weren’t acceptable.

But seeing her in my clothes, knowing she smelled like me, had me so territorial I wanted to keep her locked in this house so no other male could look at her.

She deserved to be draped in silk and jewels. I certainly wasn’t that type of man, didn’t do the whole glitzy or fancy route, but with Nadja, I wanted to give it all to her. I wanted to give her the world.

I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her feet now in the flesh. She was rubbing them together, one foot on top of the other. Her toenails we bare of any polish, but her skin looked so fucking smooth that my fingers itched to touch her, my tongue swelled to explore every inch of her body. I didn’t want to be vulgar or obscene right now, didn’t want things to be sexual at this moment. But I couldn’t help myself.

I’d never been able to control myself when it concerned her.

I didn’t know how much time passed while she stood there and I stared at her, but I couldn’t take my focus from her. Seeing the way my black T-shirt hung on her slight frame had all kinds of filthy things moving through my mind.

She was so tiny, the material dwarfing her. She gave me this small smile, one that was a little bit forced, but I could see in her eyes she was trying to not have this distance between us.

I cleared my throat and ran my hands up and down my thighs, my palms sweaty, my own nerves increasing. I wasn’t a man who got nervous, who let anxiety rule me. But she put me on edge with just a glance.

“I made breakfast,” I said, taking note that my voice was so deep, so scratchy from unshed emotions. I cleared it again and gestured to the table.

She started biting at her bottom lip, her straight, white teeth pulling at the pink, plump flesh. I nearly groaned at the sight. It was so innocent yet so seductive at the same time. She finally moved into the kitchen, and I tracked her the entire time like I was some kind of wild animal watching my prey. She took a seat at the table, and I couldn’t help but watch as she stared at everything I’d laid out in front of her. Everything but these sad as hell hash browns were on plates on the table, but hell, everything looked disappointing.

Why the fuck did I think I could pull off normalcy?

She kept glancing at each plate, and in turn I did the same thing. The bacon was damn near black from me overcooking it, the toast was so dark I didn’t think it could be called bread anymore. The eggs looked… decent, but I wasn’t fooled.

I saw her lips twitching in amusement, and I found myself falling even more for her, which seemed almost impossible, given how obsessed I already was with Nadja.

“You cooked me breakfast?” She glanced up at me and pushed some hair away from her face, the golden strands now tucked behind her ear. She had this sexy mussed, sleepy look going on. It instantly had me thinking of having her in my bed all night long, my body over hers, thrusting in and out of her deeply, thoroughly.

I cleared my throat for what felt like the hundredth time and nodded. “I tried anyway.” Her lips twitched again, and she nodded but didn’t say anything, instead looking back at the food on the table.

I moved back to the stove and turned off the heat, the hash browns decent looking enough. After putting them in a dish and moving back to the table, I sat across from her and just stared at Nadja.