Page 39 of Unwrapping Deviance

“I see the Devil still has his roots embedded deep in your soul.”

Christian purses his lips. “I call him Daddy now actually—”

“Christian!” Daniel hisses even while I’m struggling to contain my laughter. “Three coffees, please, Mabel. Thank you.”

Mabel must have realized she was playing a losing war because she snaps on her sensible shoes and marches off in a huff.

“What is wrong with you?” Daniel growls, keeping his voice low. “We’re only here a few days and we will need to come to town in that time. Stop pissing people off.”

Christian wrinkles his nose in a way that makes him appear boyish and cute. “I’ll tell Daddy to spank me later in penance.”

Daniel blows out a breath fraught with irritation, but doesn’t get the chance to respond when a tall, gorgeous man with thick, black dreads and a blindingly white smile appears at the end ofthe table. The gold beads in his thick mane clink as he swings his head from side to side, taking in each brother with deep, brown eyes.

“I could not believe my ears when they said you assholes were back in town.”

Christian leaps out of his seat and the two crash together in a violent collision of slapping hands against the other’s back.

“You son of a bitch!” Christian laughs, pulling back. “What the fuck are you still doing in this shithole?”

The man fixes his seven-million-watt smile on the other man. “Dad got sick. Took over the diner to help.” He shrugs enormous, bulging shoulders under the white, stained shirt barely concealing muscles no one man should be allowed. “He passed last year so I kept the place in his memory.”

The grins drop from both boys’ faces.

“Shit, man, I’m really sorry. Your dad was a really great guy.”

The man bobs his head once. “But enough about me. How have you been?” Those deep, dark pits find me and widen. “And who’s this angel?”

I blink and feel my face flush as he extends a giant palm. My tiny fingers vanish with the curling of his.

“Gunner, this is Mira. Mira, Gunner,” Daniel introduces. “We played ball all through high school. He was one of my closest friends.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say.

“And you. Mira is a beautiful name. Very fitting,” he adds with a sly grin that makes me giggle like an idiot.

“Easy,” Daniel mutters with warning in his eyes and a grin on his lips. “This one’s mine.”

My heart melts. I melt. I’m a gooey puddle of feelings I can’t process without wanting to giggle all over again.

That’s the second time he’s called me his. The second time he’s possessively staked his claim and I’m buzzing. Practically vibrating with love for this man.

The conversation has continued without me and I don’t catch the end until Gunner is waving goodbye and hurrying back into the kitchen.

“Well, at least we know no one’s going to spit in our food,” Christian says, dropping back into his seat.

Mabel claps over a few minutes later with a tray holding three steaming mugs and a small pile of menus. Everything is placed on the table with just enough harshness to convey her displeasure.

“I’ll be back for your orders,” she snips before vanishing over to a table nearby with a group of women who immediately made me think PTA, book club, bake sales.

They had that vibe, that catty aura of bitterness sprinkled with a heavy dose of valium and wine.

All heads pivot in our direction, a uniform motion that must have been rehearsed right down to the smirks I’m shot from all four faces.

I ignore them.

I’ve seen scarier women on the subway, and I don’t mean crazy scary. These women acted mean and tough because no one in their small, backwoods town would dare stand up to them. One hour in the city and these bitches would be crying in their cloud of hairspray. So, no, I’m not scared or intimidated, but if they don’t stop staring at Daniel and Christian like they’re something scraped off the bottoms of their designer pumps, I might go over there and stab them in the face with my fork.

“Okay?”

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