Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“You’re Kat? Get the fuck over here, lady,” Luke says, and embraces her in a tight bear hug. “He talked about you all the fucking time.”
He holds her so tight, her arms can barely move. And the tips of his fingers are right at the top of her honeysweet curves.
“Hands. Asshole. Hands,” I growl.
“Sorry. Fuck, sorry,” Luke says, letting her go and stepping back. “Just… it’s been a long time since I’ve been near a girl as pretty as you.”
Kat hits me with a glance. I can’t read what’s behind it—but she looks willful, almost bratty. And just that glance is enough to make me rock fucking hard.
I want to fuck the brattiness out of her over the damned kitchen island right now.
“It’s okay,” Kat says, her voice flirtatious, sexy. “Trent was the same way yesterday when he saw a pretty girl. Weren’t you, big brother?”
I narrow my eyes at her. You’re not a pretty girl. You’re my fucking property.
I snap my tongue over my teeth on a sniff as she pops an eyebrow my way. “Thought you were going to take a nap. Heard your door slam.”
She swallows and takes a deep breath, making her pudding tits rise and fall. “You said you were having Luke for dinner and I didn’t want to miss it.”
Fuck. If only she knew what she and those pigtails were doing to me right now, she wouldn’t be sounding so careless and sweet.
“So, Kat,” Luke starts, taking another step into her as I seethe, fists clenching, ready to light into my best friend for even putting his eyes on her let alone breathing the same air.
She turns to face him, smiling up at him. As she does, the strap of her dress falls from her creamy shoulder.
And then? Then everything goes into slow, slow motion.
Luke reaches forward with one finger, hooks it over the strap, and starts to lift it back up into place.
Don’t fucking do it, man. Just do not.
As soon as his fingertip touches her, it’s like a starting pistol in my head.
You motherfucker.
Rational thought evaporates. There’s no calm processing of what I am seeing. Instead, I explode forward. I grab Luke by the shoulders, sending his beer flying.
“Don’t you fucking touch her, do you fucking hear me?” I grind the words out through clenched teeth.
“Trent!” Kat screams. “What the fuck?”
But I don’t back down because I can’t. Every cell in my body is raging to protect what is mine.
Luke leans back in my vice grip. “Easy, Trent. Easy.”
“Easy would be busting your fucking jaw into three, asshole.”
Luke nods, looking me right in the eye. Like a bomb defuser waiting for the big bang.
One breath. Two. My heart thumps in my ears, and I’m as laser-focused on him as if I were about to fire the killshot.
But then I feel Kat’s hand on my shoulder.
Her touch makes me take a breath.
Slowly, the shocked look in Luke’s eyes somehow gets through to me. He’s seen me in a near-homicidal rage before. War does crazy fucking things to soldiers.
“Eaaaaaasy brother.”
Kat’s grip tightens, and I feel myself start to disengage. I take another breath and let him go. “Sorry. Just don’t you touch her again, okay?”
Luke nods—nods the understanding of a brother who will forgive, no matter what. “Understood. My bad. No touching, no looking. I’ll even leave if that’s what you want.”
I shake that off. “No, stay.”
Luke reaches out for my hand. “You sure. You fucking sure?”
I give his palm a squeeze. “Yeah. Hard adjusting back into civilian life, you know? Here, head out on the terrace. I’ll bring you another beer.”
As he makes his way out onto the terrace, I turn to face Kat. She looks both terrified and totally fucking turned on.
“You scare the shit out of me sometimes, you know that?” She sounds so soft and sweet, but fear is hot and thick in her voice.
Good. She should be scared: I’m 250 pounds of raging possessiveness. Pent up doesn’t come close to what’s buried in my gut. I glance over my shoulder to make sure Luke’s not watching. I push her up against the refrigerator, cupping her pussy in my hand, and then press my lips against her ear.
“Go upstairs. Stay there.”
“Sending me to my room like a bad girl?” she hisses, all saucy and naughty.
I growl some affirmative sort of man-grunt into her ear.
“Just protecting my buddies. If they so much as look at you, I’ll kill them. With my bare hands. So get something to eat, and then go upstairs and get in bed. Read a book, watch your TikTok and wait for Daddy. Understood?”
She laughs a little, and her thigh presses against my cock. She smells like heaven and feels like home. “Yes, Daddy. Understood.”
That word on her lips—it’s the sweetest sound in the world. Only hearing it between her sobs when she’s coming will be sweeter. “Good girl. And keep the pigtails in.”