Page 111 of Unexpected

“So not being together makes no sense when either way, I’m a target.”

“There’s just more to it that I didn’t know. We’ll… we’ll have to talk about it after dinner.”

He brushed my hair over my shoulder and cupped the back of my neck, pulling me forward until our foreheads met. I braced my hands against his chest and beneath the hard muscle, I could feel his heart frantically pounding against my palm.

I stepped forward between his legs and pressed my chest against his, needing to feel more of him against me. It was unusual and somewhat strange that I was so calm about the situation, but something about my lack of freaking out made me believe I was making the correct decision.Even with whatever we might have needed to discuss.

Luke pulled back and watched my face. His eyes glued to my lips as I licked them in invitation.

“I like the red,” he said, his voice dripping in barely restrained desire.

“Thank you.” I flashed him a smile.

“How much of it is going to come off if I kiss you right now?”

I threw my head back and laughed. Of course, that’s what he was worried about. “It’s pretty budge-proof. I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”

There was a playful gleam dancing in his eyes as I straightened myself and he grasped his hand that wasn’t tangled in the back of my hair around my waist.

“What a shame. I think I’d like to see it smeared around my cock later.”

The desire I saw in his eyes found its way between my legs and then he slammed his mouth to mine. For a minute, we kissed like we were starving for each other. I clawed at his arms, his chest, his neck, but he took charge of the kiss, tilting my head so he could dive his tongue deeper into my mouth. He claimed me in all of the ways I didn’t know you could be claimed by a kiss.

Although neither of us wanted to stop, the all-consuming want still pulsing between us, we parted at the same time, leaning our foreheads together and catching our breath.

Luke smoothed his hands down my face like he was making sure I was real.

Before we could get caught up again, I peered at his mouth. “Doesn’t look like anything came off. But we can test it around your cock later.”

He groaned at my promise but followed as I led us back to his waiting friends.

FORTY

Hazel

With a little rearranging,we were able to manage fitting two additional chairs around Luke’s dining table even after he insisted that I could just sit on his lap while we ate.

“Y’all are already gross with the PDA, we don’t need you having a hard-on the entire dinner,” James quipped from the dining room while the rest of us stood in the kitchen loading up our plates.

Josh and Reed agreed with James’s assessment as they both piled mountains of mashed potatoes and corn casserole on their plates. Everything smelled and looked amazing. Each of them had brought a different dish, although apparently, Luke and Devon were usually the ones that cooked most of their big meals.

They had all the usual suspects: potatoes, green beans, dinner rolls, turkey,andham. It was when my plate was relatively full that I began second-guessing my choices. There were several carbs on my plate, and I knew the ham had a sugary glaze on the top.

Standing in front of the dinner rolls that were smothered in butter, I glanced at everyone around me. Each of them was piling their own plates with everything offered. Amanda was even eagerly adding additional potatoes to Blakely’s plate as she said something about her grandmother’s secret recipe making them even better.

No one was looking in my direction or paying attention to what was on my plate. It was the first holiday in a while that I didn’t restrict what I was eating, and my stomach rumbled. Could I eat all of this?

My new normal was more difficult to get used to than I imagined it would be. It was things like the food I chose to put on my plate that seemed to bother me the most. I figured that it would be a seamless transition to more healthy habits and with little input from anyone else, but that wasn’t the case. Michael’s opinion was ingrained in me, and his voice was still hanging out in my head whenever I ate what he’d believed was too much or too unhealthy.

It was Josh leaning around me to grab two rolls that pulled me from my thoughts. He smiled down at me, and I decided to not let my ex-fiancé ruin another delicious meal for me. I smiled back and, in a move I wasn’t expecting, Josh kissed the top of my head. It was an innocent kiss, but the gesture warmed my heart.

“We’re glad you’re here,” he said before smiling once more and heading into the dining room.

With my plate full of food, I followed Josh into the now crowded room and squeezed into the last open seat between Amanda and Luke.

“Are we going to say what we’re thankful for?” Amanda spoke up over the several conversations happening around the table. Everyone groaned simultaneously as they began shoveling food into their mouths.

“We go through this every year,” Reed mumbled around a mouthful of potatoes he not so gracefully scooped up a moment earlier.

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