She followed me down the hallway to the front door. “Darling, what’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Sorry, Mum, I’ll explain it when I see you next. I don’t have time to get into it just now.”
Another text came through as I turned the door handle. Without checking it—I knew it would be Winter—I opened the door and came face-to-face with him.
Fuck.
That smug bloody smile of his sat proudly on his face. “Angel,” he said, the gravel in his voice hitting me everywhere.
I looked at the text.
* * *
Winter: Another heads up, Angel. Those lips of yours will be on mine again by the end of the night.
6
WINTER
Birdie’s mouth fell open just the way I liked it. Surprise and sexy were two of my favourite things she ever wore. And fuck, she wore the hell out of them.
“Angel,” I said, being sure to emphasize the deep rumble in my voice that I knew would cause her brain to malfunction. She’d often told me I could convince her to do anything with that rumble.
Her eyes flared with heat. Score one to me.
The words on her lips died when her mother gushed, “Winter! You’re just in time for dinner. Are you hungry?”
My smile turned into a grin as I watched Birdie struggle with this development. I was a bastard, but fuck, I’d take every win in my efforts to make her mine again.
Stepping inside, I pinned my gaze to Birdie’s. “Yeah, I’m starving.” I dropped my mouth to her ear as Jennifer turned and walked away from us. “I’ve never been so fucking hungry.”
Her hands came to my chest and pushed against me. A half-hearted push at best. “What are you doing, Winter?”
Before she saw it coming, I gripped her waist and backed her against the wall. “You kissed me yesterday, Angel. I gave you the chance to say no, to let me know you didn’t want me, and you didn’t take it. So you need to be prepared for me coming for you.” I threaded my fingers through her hair while I took hold of her face with my other hand. “I can go slow if you need that, but I can’t walk away. Not again.”
Her breathing sped up as she grasped my shirt. I would have hazarded a guess she didn’t even realise she’d done that, because she appeared lost in what I said.
I traced a finger over her lips. “We’re going to have dinner together tonight. I’m going to check out your mum’s deck. And then I’m going to make sure you get home safe.” I dropped my voice deeper again. “And tomorrow night I’m taking you out for dinner. I’m not accepting no for an answer on any of that.”
That got her attention. It drew the fight out of her that I loved. “No is a valid answer to all of that. And it’s one I’m choosing. Your bossiness doesn’t work on me anymore.”
She finally pushed me away with enough force to actually move me. I watched that ass of hers sway with determined defiance as she stalked down the hallway.
Hell, she got my dick hard without even trying. I’d take her challenging ways any day of the week. The last five years had been filled with women I barely managed to remember. Women I didn’t care to make mine because they had no spirit, no heart, no fucking substance. None of them came close to affecting me like Birdie did.
I followed her into the kitchen where she collected a pink top and told her mother she was leaving. Jennifer argued for her to stay, but Birdie was having none of it. She was hell-bent on getting out of here as fast as possible.
As she brushed past me on her way out, she hit me with a filthy glare and grasped a handful of my shirt. Dragging me with her, she called out to her mother, “I just need Winter for a moment, Mum.”
I let her drag me. There was no need, though—I would have willingly followed her.
When we reached the front door, she let me go and said, “Just so you know, that kiss yesterday was a momentary lapse in judgement. It won’t happen again. And as for you coming for me, you can stop that right now. There’s nothing here for you, Winter.”
A smile danced across my face. She amused me with her fierce determination to keep me at bay. If she thought she truly had any chance of that, she was dreaming. “That’s where you’re wrong, Angel. Everything is here for me. And from where I’m standing, you are so fucking open to this.”
“No. I’m not,” she said forcefully. “Stop making things out to be something they’re not.”
I opened the door and pulled her outside with me, closing the door after us. Drawing her close, I reached for the bottom of her dress. As my fingers ghosted across the skin on her thigh, I demanded, “Am I imagining the fact that your heart just started beating faster? Or that your breathing sped up?” When she didn’t answer me, I pushed her harder. “I know I’m sure as fuck not imagining the fact you’re not saying no, Birdie. Do you want my fingers up higher? Do you want me to find that sweet spot I know so well? Or do you want me to stop and let you leave?”