Page 23 of Sully

She was tall and willowy with thick dark hair and chocolate-brown eyes under the thickest lashes I’d ever seen. Her face was round and feminine. I swear I instantly felt any confidence I had starting to slip away just looking at her and all her effortless pretty. I was pretty sure she wasn’t even wearing any makeup.

“I’m Layna,” she said, stepping inside and leaving the door slightly open. “Your food is here, and I didn’t want it to get cold while I ran around looking for Sully.”

“Oh, thanks. That was nice of you,” I said, starting to climb out of the bed.

“No. Nope. Keep your ass in the bed. You are supposed to be resting. These men at this club take the ‘let the lady rest’ shit very seriously. It’s cute. So long as it isn’t you stuck in bed foran elongated period of time, being treated like you’re made of glass.”

I couldn’t help it; my mind wandered right back to the bathroom. To how gentle Sully had been when treating my head, how firm and practiced his fingers had been as they worked out the knots in my neck and back that I was sure had been there since I was born.

Though those sweet thoughts were quickly replaced with more embarrassing ones. Like I was almost certain that I’d made little whimpering sounds when he kept massaging me.

I didn’t really mean to. But, God, it had been so long since I’d been touched. It felt better than I remembered.

“So,” Layna said, going into Sully’s closet and coming back with a melamine tray featuring flamingo pool floats all over it. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said, seeing something on my face that she wanted to brush away. “I’ve never fucked Sully. I mean, not that I haven’t thought about it. I mean, have you seen him? Thoroughly fuckable. But he’s a patched member. And I’m a princess. It’s forbidden. The guys around here also takethatvery seriously. And, amazingly, our fathers don’t seem to care if we all end up bitter old ladies because they wouldn’t let us date club guys. Anyway, what was I saying?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “You got the tray from the closet.”

“Right. Yeah, I know where it is because Sully likes to crash girls’ nights, so we always need an extra tray or two for snacks. So… that’s how I know it’s there. He’s like a brother to me.”

“A bangable brother,” I mused, lips twitching.

“What can I say? I have complex feelings. So,” she went on, placing the tray on my lap, then putting the bag on the foot of the bed to reach inside. “We have… baked ziti. Excellent choice,” she said, popping off the plastic top and placing the round tin on the tray. “Noodles and cheese can fix pretty much everything, in my humble opinion.”

“And potatoes,” I agreed.

“Which explains this,” Layna said with a strange little smile as she pulled out another tin. I’d only asked for the ziti, so I had no idea what she had.

“What is it?”

“Tater tots,” she said, placing the container on the other side of the tray. “Three’s also garlic bread, of course. And… oh, an iced tea. And utensils, of course,” she added, dropping the little packet on the tray. “You are all set.”

“Want some tater tots?” I asked, knowing there was no way I could eat all of this food.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said, kicking off her boots, then climbing over me to get on the other side of the bed. “So, what are we watching?”

“Gilmore Girls,” I told her, shocked and charmed by her casual familiarity. Everything about her gave me the impression that she was a woman used to being around lots of other women. She’d mentioned having girls’ nights. There was just something so easy and relaxed about her. Even though I was a complete stranger.

“Always a good choice. The girls and I used to do a rewatch every fall. Until everyone started to get lives and all that other boring shit. These are surprisingly good, coming from an Italian place,” she said, popping another tot into her mouth.

“Yeah,” I agreed, finding they had just the right crunch.

“So, you almost got blown up today, huh?”

The casual way she’d said it nearly made me choke on my food.

“Uh… yeah, I guess.”

“Was it super hot when Sully took charge and disarmed it?”

“You’re asking as a completely uninterested sister, of course?” I teased.

“Of course,” she said with a smile.

“Honestly? I was too busy trying not to pee my pants to notice,” I admitted.

“Understandable. It’s not every day you deal with a bomb.”

“Yet you’re talking about it like it might be.”

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