Page 79 of Sizzling

She let out a soft sigh, then laughed that sweet musical sound I craved. “I don’t know, Storm. You scare me. I’m afraid to want you at all.”

I didn’t like that answer. But I had caused this.

I leaned down and brushed my lips over hers, no longer able to wait to taste them. “I’ll fix that,” I promised her.

• Thirty •

I was completely green with envy of the woman he’d one day fall in love with and marry.

Briar

When I’d imagined Storm Kingston’s home, this was nothing at all like I’d expected. The size of it wasn’t surprising. I had known the man was wealthy. They all were. Wealth and power came with being in the Mafia. They did illegal things and got away with it. Money came with those illegal things. I tried not to think too hard about what those things all consisted of.

“What do you think?” he asked me as we stepped inside the front door.

Although the style reminded me of something found in the South, pre–Civil War era, it wasn’t old. It was new. You could just tell that this was meant to reflect that era of style, but it wasn’t from that time. We’d passed his parents’ home on our drive back here, and it was an authentic Greek revival home. It had been dark, and the lights were off there, but from what I’d been able to see, it was a stunning house. I’d love to see the inside of it. Not that I would ever ask.

“It’s …” I said as my gaze roamed over every detail. “Not what I was expecting.”

He moved closer to my side. “And what were you expecting exactly?”

I shrugged. “A modern-looking bachelor pad sort of thing.”

“This is family land. The house was built with my future in mind,” he explained. “Since I won’t be moving or selling it.”

I nodded. That made sense. I could see him having a family here, although the idea of some woman living here as his wife with children running around made my insides twist in uncomfortable ways. I shoved that thought aside. Not something I needed to think about. The envy crawling just under my skin was difficult to get under control though. I was jealous of some woman in his future. I had let him in, and that was a mistake. He was starting to take up residence in parts of my body he didn’t belong.

“It’s beautiful,” I told him.

And the lucky bitch who would live here one day had better deserve it.

Storm’s pleased expression made me think he actually gave a crap what I thought. Maybe he did. He was acting differently toward me. The disgust was gone, and it had happened so quickly that I was struggling to believe it or this new version of him. I kept waiting for him to go back into complete asshole mode and potentially shatter me. I wasn’t sure how deep these feelings I’d developed for him went, but I feared they were much deeper than anything else I’d ever felt.

“I considered different styles and worked with my dad on a few other blueprints, but I decided with my parents’ house being a historical home, I didn’t need to build something on the same property that didn’t fit the same era.”

You couldn’t see his parents’ house from here, but I understood his meaning. The trees we had passed down the long road that led back here fit with the house. They reminded me of an old Southern homestead.

“Let me show you the back,” he said as he took my hand in his.

I glanced down as our fingers intertwined before falling into step beside him. Why did our holding hands this way feel like something … more? We’d had sex, done very naughty things together, but this was different. It made everything we had shared seem real rather than fleeting. I had to stop my head from going there, or I might never come back from it. What then? I’d be on the run with Dovie while always looking back, wondering where he was. What he was doing. Who he was with. If he had met the woman he’d marry before bringing her into this home to live with him.

Yuck. I hated thinking about it. No! I didn’t want to believe she was out there. This was Storm’s home, and it would only be him living here. I’d tell myself that and hope it stuck.

Realizing I was missing everything because of my internal battle, I tried to pay more attention to the detail. There wasn’t much in the way of personal effects. It could be a show home really. One that people vacationed in, but not one that appeared truly lived in. Much like the places where Dovie and I stayed. No photographs or portraits to signify who lived here. Who he loved enough to see on his walls or sitting about on display.

When we reached a set of glass doors, he opened one, then waved his hand for me to go out first. Stepping out onto the wide back porch, I noticed a swinging bed to the right and a fireplace. I started to say something about it when a sweet smell wafted up to us.

I inhaled deeply, then turned to look back at Storm. “What is that smell?” I asked, breathing it in again.

He walked over and flipped a switch. The backyard was suddenly lit with lights illuminating the trees. There were so many large, beautiful trees. Only a few feet from the house, rows began and seemed to go on forever in the darkness.

“Peaches are starting to get ripe,” he said simply.

“Peaches!” I gasped, walking closer to the edge of the porch to look out at them. “Those are all peach trees?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I have some that I picked today in the kitchen if you’d like one.”

Scratch the jealousy thing. I was completely green with envy of the woman he’d one day fall in love with and marry. The man had peach trees! Was it not enough that he was sexy as hell, had a magical tongue, a big and pierced cock, and a house straight out of a dream?

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