Page 68 of When the Storm Breaks
It was fast and furious, and it hit you with the force of a fucking Mack truck. My breath seized in my lungs.Shit. This couldn’t be good.
I didn’t want her to look too closely, to read something on my face I wasn’t willing to admit to, so I lowered my head to her left breast, my teeth teasing and biting her rosy nipple. Her back arched away from the wood and I squeezed her ass cheeks in my hands as I lifted her off me then drove back into her. She met me thrust for thrust, her fingers tugging the ends of my hair, digging into my shoulders, her teeth drawing blood when they sank into my lip.
And fuck I loved the pain she gave, too.
“But oh, what a beautiful mess,” she said when she came, and I left all of me inside of her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Shiloh
It was official.I loved Brody’s family.
By the time the food arrived—racks of ribs, brisket, barbecued chicken, all made on the open pit and served family style along with sides of mac and cheese, greens, cole slaw, beans—I’d already exchanged numbers with Jesse and Gideon. It was BYOB and Gideon had brought the wine, making sure to keep my glass, his mother’s, and Lila’s topped up.
“I’m doing a show at Madison Square Garden right before Christmas,” I told Gideon as he poured more wine into my glass. Another gorgeous McCallister. His hair was the darkest, almost black, his features chiseled and cheekbones high, and his eyes were a cool Arctic blue. “If you want tickets, let me know.”
I told Jesse the same thing, but in his case, it was for the Staples Center in L.A. He forked some greens into his mouth then grinned. His hair was a lighter shade of brown and his eyes a deeper blue. So pretty. “Good to know the right people. If you ever want to come and watch a motocross race, I’ll hook you up.”
I might have been a little tipsy, maybe even drunk which made me overly enthusiastic. I gushed, acting like motocross was my very favorite thing to watch. “I’d love to.”
At that moment, I loved everyone. We were sitting on long benches, all nine adults, one child and a baby seated at a long wooden table topped with a red-and-white checkered plastic tablecloth. I was practically in Brody’s lap. One of his arms was wrapped around me and he was forced to use his left hand to eat but he didn’t complain or try to shove me off his lap.
“Just remember who you came with,baby,” he growled in my ear after he caught me laughing at something Jesse said.
I turned my head to see his face better. Was Brody jealous? “Oh, I remember who I came with. Four times last night. Not that I was keeping count.”
“It was five. And I was keeping count.”
I laughed and fed him a bite of mac and cheese from my fork. “You’re still my favorite McCallister.”
“You’re quickly becoming my favorite everything.” His voice was low, so quiet I wasn’t sure he’d actually said the words.
Before I could respond or ask him to repeat what he’d just said, he turned his head to talk to Ridge and left me wondering if I’d imagined it.
Kate smiled at me from across the table. She was at the other end, with Noah sitting between her and Patrick, a spot he’d claimed after stating that his grandma would want to sit next to her favorite boy on her birthday. For a minute I was worried she’d think I was a hussy, sitting in her nephew’s lap for everyone to see, but I didn’t see any judgment on her face. She nodded like she’d figured something out then lifted her glass to me in a silent toast and we both drank, although I wasn’t entirely sure what we were drinking to.
Brody squeezed my thigh, drawing my attention back to him. I gave him a love-drunk smile. “What’d you need, baby?”
His arm around me tightened as my head swiveled in the direction of his gaze. Two teenage girls dressed in crop tops and cut-offs were standing at the foot of our table, cell phones in hand.
“Itisher! Oh my god, it’s Shiloh Leroux.” The girl hadn’t screamed it, but she’d spoken loudly enough to attract the attention of a few people at the other tables.
Shit. I loved my fans and normally I was happy to engage with them. Sign autographs and chat for a minute. But I always hated it when they interrupted a meal or barged into the middle of a family gathering.
They moved closer to where I was sitting. “Can we get a selfie with you?”
Before drunk me had a chance to catch up and saysure what the hell, Brody lifted me off him and deposited me on the seat then got to his feet and turned to face them. “Put your damn phones away,” he growled. “We’re trying to have a family dinner here.”
Now he was causing a scene and attracting even more attention. “Brody. It’s okay.”
“I’ll take care of this,” Ridge announced, leaving his seat to join his brother. Now my view of the girls was obstructed by two sets of wide shoulders and the brothers’ backs as they stood side by side, a united front attempting to protect me.
“Hey Ridge,” one of the girls said, her voice saccharine sweet. “You never mentioned that you knew Shiloh Leroux.”
“Listen, babe, I don’t even know your damn name and I’ve never talked to either of you. Let’s keep it that way, yeah? And if you think this is Shiloh Leroux, you must be fucking stoned. So why don’t you back the hell away from my family and go post some of those duck-faced selfies?”
I didn’t catch their response. But they did as he said, and I stifled a laugh.
