Page 76 of When We Break

“Okay, let’s clear the air here, Irish. You’re welcome at my ranch any minute of any day. You want to come over in the dead of night? Come on the fuck over, I’ll be waiting at the door. You want to be there in the morning to search for eggs? Spend the night. There’s never a time when you’re not welcome in my home. You have the code to the gate, and hell, I’ll give you a key.”

When I look her way again, she’s looking at me with wide eyes and her jaw dropped.

“Does that clear it up, baby?”

“So this is serious.”

I frown over at her. “As a heart attack.”

“We’re … monogamous.”

Without hesitation, I pull the truck to the side of the road in a residential area of town, unbuckle us both, and pull my girl onto my lap. She’s so small, I don’t even have to put the seat back.

Her eyes are wide with surprise, and I cup her cheek, brushing my thumb over her smooth skin.

“No one exists but you, Irish. You are under my skin and in my head, and I can’t imagine being with anyone else. Yeah, we’re serious, and we’re monogamous. Unless you tell me that you’ve had your eye on someone else, in which case I’ll take care of him.”

She swallows hard as her eyes fall to my mouth.

“Eyes on me, baby.”

“No. That’s not what I meant, Beck. I don’t fancy anyone else. I think I wanted to make sure that we’re on the same page, so I’m not for making a fool of myself when you tell me that this isn’t what I thought or hoped that it is.”

“Good. Same page, then.” I kiss her quickly before helping her back over to her seat. “Let’s eat.”

If I didn’t move her over, I would have fucked her right here in front of Mrs. Martin’s house from high school, and that isn’t a great idea.

When we reach the restaurant, we’re shown to our table, and a server named Kyle writes his name with a crayon on the white paper that covers the table.

“Hi, folks, I’m Kyle. I’ll be your server this evening. Can I start you off with something to drink?”

“Water for me,” Skyla says as she looks at the menu.

“Same, thanks.”

“Okay, I’ll get those waters. You take your time with the menu. If you’re looking for recommendations, I’m partial to the lasagna and the pasta ravenna. But you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.”

He walks away, and Skyla smiles over at me. “He’s very enthusiastic.”

With a smirk, I reach over and take her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles, and set my menu aside.

I’ll get the lasagna.

“Tell me about this charity function next week.”

Before she can say anything, Kyle’s back with waters and garlic bread, then he takes our orders and is off again.

“I don’t think I should eat that,” Skyla says, staring at the bread.

“Why not?”

“Because I won’t be able to stop.”

With a laugh, I cut her a piece and pass it to her, then do the same for me and bite in.

“Jesus, that’s good.”

“I could have just had this for dinner.” She chews and moans, and my dick immediately comes to attention and bitches me out for not fucking her earlier. It’sveryaware that it’s been a week since I’ve been inside her.Fuck, I’ve missed her. And her delectable body.“Okay, so the charity is called Dreams for Kids, and it’s something my family started about ten years ago or so. I’d been working with a summer dance program for children in New York City, and a couple of girls were terminally ill but wanted to be treated as normal kids. They just wanted to learn how to dance, wear pretty clothes, and perform for their parents. So we modified things and made sure they were able to do that.”

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