Page 174 of Smooth Sailing

“Really?”

“You wanna feel the evidence?”

I shivered at the invitation, but had to say, “I fear that would make us late.”

“Your hand gets anywhere near my cock, especially right now with you in that dress, we’ll be late, baby,” he decreed.

I really, really wanted my hand near his cock.

But I’d been blowing off my friends, and late was rude.

Damn.

I bit the side of my lip in indecision.

Hugger chuckled as he pulled himself out of my couch.

“Let’s get you to cocktails,” he said, taking my hand.

Before he could tug me anywhere (not that I could go anywhere except my closet, I still had to switch out purses), I held strong to his fingers and asked, “You don’t mind that I wear my dedication to cookies and tacos on my ass and belly and elsewhere?”

His expression changed to irritable.

And as ever with Hugger, he didn’t make me wait to understand his emotion.

“I now see how your dad dicked that up.”

“Yes, but you’re super fit,” I pointed out.

“Because we got a gym on Chaos and all the brothers take advantage of it.”

“On Chaos?”

“Our flagship, with the first store, the garage, and the Club Compound is referred to like an island. You’re there, you’re ‘on Chaos.’ Don’t know how that came about, just know that’s how it is.”

“Oh.”

Now I didn’t know why I loved knowing that about his Club, but it was just how it was.

“Was a bouncer before I became a brother,” he went on. “Pay was shit, but I was good at it. You can’t do that unless you know what your body can do and you can take care of business. To know what your body can do, you work out.”

“Right.”

“Became a habit, and I dig it,” he stated. “Clears my head.”

“I took a Pilates class downstairs once and couldn’t move for two days.”

He smiled.

“When the heat goes off the Valley, I like to take walks. However, with the heat on or off the Valley, most of those walks happen in a mall.”

His smile got bigger.

“Pretty much, I get my exercise by cleaning my house once a week,” I finished.

He got closer and tucked his chin in his neck to keep his eyes on me.

“I give you any indication at all I don’t love every inch of you?” he asked quietly.

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