Just Like That (The Kings)

My throat was raw when I dropped back down over her soft, pliant body. My lips found her skin, peppering slow, messy kisses over her neck and shoulder. My lungs weren’t working, and all I could see were the strands of her hair as my face buried into her.

Considering I’d fantasized about Hazel for weeks, I was rocked to my core.

Nothing—and I mean, absolutely nothing—compared to the real thing.

Hazel hummed as her nails scratched through my hair. “You really did it.”

I grunted something akin to acknowledgment or maybe a question, but I didn’t make any effort to remove my weight from her.

She was too fucking perfect.

“You’ve officially ruined me for any other man.” Her voice was heavy and satiated, and it relaxed the pinch in my shoulders.

I braced my weight with one arm and glared at her. “There won’t be any other men. If there was, he’s a fucking dead man.”

Delight flashed in her eyes. “Oh, I like this feral side of you.” She grinned and kissed my neck. Her tongue slid across my skin, and I hummed.

She thinks I’m joking.

I shifted, lying on my back and taking her with me so that she was tucked into my side and draped over me. I loved feeling connected to her—like there was nowhere else in the world we needed to be but wrapped around one another.

Her eyes were dreamy and heavy. I kissed the tip of her nose as I slipped out from under her and stood. The sheets were tangled, and I traced the perfect shape of her ass with my palm. She wiggled and I smacked. Hazel yelped, and I enjoyed the jiggle of her ass as I rubbed it afterward.

Her lips quirked up, and I was struck by just how gorgeous she really was.

Gorgeous, and all mine.

I walked to the bathroom to take care of the condom. After I slipped it off and wrapped it in tissue, I stared at it in the garbage. It had been Hazel who’d stopped me from fucking her raw.

I stifled a groan at how fucking good it would have been to take her bare. How much I had wanted it.

She made me reckless. I’d already had one possible child, and I hadn’t given protection a second thought when she was exposed and begging in front of me.

I raked a hand over my face, stuffing down the fact that I wanted nothing more than to fill her with my cum. I wanted to pull out and watch it seep down her leg, only to use my fingers to shove it back inside while she clenched around my fingers.

Somehow Hazel had unlocked some unhinged part of me that wanted to claim her in every fucking way possible.

“You get lost in there?” Hazel’s playful voice shook me from my dizzying thoughts.

I walked out of the bathroom to find her tangled in my sheets with a grin. She shimmied to one side and pulled the covers back for me. I had never really been a post-sex cuddler, but with her, I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in her until morning.

Maybe forever.

I lay beside her on my back, slipping one arm around her and gently yanking her body against mine. Her leg draped across me, and I kissed the top of her head.

I exhaled a deep, contented sigh and looked up at the ceiling.

“Amen, mister,” she said, snuggling into me. I chuckled and buried my nose in her hair.

“Safe to say your date ended on a high note?” I teased.

She giggled and curled into me. “Five stars. No notes.”

Pride swelled in my chest. “That’s what I thought.”

She swatted at me and laughed. “You’re such an arrogant prick.”

I frowned and tried to look at her. “Ouch. That’s hurtful. I like to think of it as a healthy confidence.”

She hummed and her fingers traced the hills and valleys of my bare chest. “Why did you come tonight?”

“To the date?”

She nodded. “Yes. You’re not really the type willing to get uncomfortable, so I was just curious . . . why even come?”

I mulled over her question, partly annoyed that I hadn’t made it clear that I had gone out of my way to ruin Charles’s evening for the sole purpose of having Hazel to myself.

After a slow stretch of silence, I landed on the truth. “I was willing to be uncomfortable for you.”

I could feel her grin grow against my side. “Thank you.”

I pulled her into a hug and enjoyed the quiet afterglow of amazing sex with an incredible woman.

For the first time, I had the indescribable urge to crack myself open to her. I didn’t want anything between us. No more secrets.

I had to tell her what I had discovered about her sister’s meeting with my father.

I cleared my throat to break the ice. “I want to tell you something, and it’s important.”

I shifted so I could look her in the eyes, and she gazed up at me. Hope and uncertainty warred in her warm caramel gaze.

“JP . . .”

“I discovered something about your sister.” I continued on despite the nerves. “After she came here, my father paid her off. A large lump sum at first but then every year after that, he paid for her silence and she accepted it.”

“Olive?” Hazel frowned as she gently shook her head. “No . . . she couldn’t. She wouldn’t.”

“She did. And, look, I’m not mad.” Sure, I was fucking furious at my father, but I understood how someone in need might be tempted by the kind of money he was willing to throw around.

My lips pressed together. “He always looks out for his own interest, but in this case, I’m sure it actually helped her . . . at least, in a way that I couldn’t. But I promise you, Hazel, I didn’t know about her or Teddy.”

Her eyes bounced between mine. “How much?”

My molars clenched. “Does it matter?”

Her lips twisted. “I guess not.”

My fingertips ran over the bumps along her spine. “It was substantial, but also . . . not enough?” My free hand dragged through my hair. “I don’t know. I just hate that I wasn’t even given the chance to talk with her about it.” I blew out a breath. “Though to be honest, I doubt I would have made things any better. I don’t know if I would have even believed her.”

She held her hand above my chest where my heart hammered. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. I didn’t know you then, but I like to believe that you would have found the good man that lives in here.”

I harrumphed. “And I think there’s a chance he may only exist because of you.”

Hazel snuggled closer to me, like my opening up to her made her happy.

My pulse quickened just at the thought of being close to her. The way her lush hair fanned across my pillow, the soft curve of her exposed shoulder—every detail drew me in, making it hard to think about anything but the urge to pull her into my arms and let the rest of the world fall away.

Her soft sniffle drew my attention. I slipped two fingers under her chin and lifted. “Hey . . .” My fingers swiped away a rogue tear. “What’s going on?”

She sniffed again and wiped at her face. “I’m mad at her. I wish she would have talked to me about Teddy, you. All of it. It’s like there’s a whole part of her I didn’t know. So I’m mad at her, but I miss her so much.”

My arms wrapped around Hazel and I squeezed. I didn’t have words of comfort to offer her. I simply made space and stayed quiet.

“Does it ever go away?” she whispered.

“Does what go away?”

Hazel pressed the heel of her hand into her chest. “This feeling. The ache.”

My throat was thick and I swallowed. The last thing I wanted to do was tell her the truth—that no, it pretty much always hurt. My thoughts tumbled over one another when I settled on what to say. “I’d read once that grief is a lot like a stone in your pocket. It’s there. It’s something you always notice. You feel it there all the time.” My palm rubbed down her arm. “The pain never really goes away. But over time, you get stronger, and it seems to get a little lighter, but no . . . it never truly goes away.”

“That’s good.” She exhaled and I looked at her in surprise. “I don’t want to forget. I don’t want Teddy to forget his mom either.”

My lips pressed into a firm line. “That won’t happen. We’ll be there to make sure he remembers her and knows how much she loved him.”

Hazel let out a watery laugh. “See . . . I knew you were a big softy.”

I could have made a joke about how, whenever I was near her, there were parts of me that were definitely never soft, but I let it slide.

My voice cut through the darkness. “Can I ask you a question?”

She hummed in response.

“Do you have an urn in the skoolie?”

Even in the dim lighting, I could make out the pink splotches that moved up her cheeks. “I do. Temporarily.” Silence stretched between us. “Do you think that’s weird?”

I thought for a moment. She’d lost her sister and was practically a nomad. It made sense that she hadn’t committed to a final resting place.

I shrugged. “A little . . . but not weird so much as . . . strangely understandable.”

I listened to the rhythm of her breathing until it felt like we were inhaling and exhaling in tandem.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I like when you’re honest with me.”

I hadn’t told anyone else about the meeting with my father, and I found I liked being honest with her. “He’s taking a deal.” My bitter voice cut through the darkness.

Hazel rolled toward me. “Who? Your dad?”

I nodded, reining in the seething hatred his presence produced. “I went to confront him, and he practically laughed in my face.” I let loose a pathetic sigh. “He’s pinning it on Bootsy and Bowlegs and taking a plea deal. I have to face the fact that he’s won.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” she whispered.

A dark chuckle rumbled through me. “Besides hiring someone to kill him and make all of my problems go away? Unlikely.”

Hazel went stiff beside me. “You wouldn’t . . . I mean—you’re joking right?”

I was, wasn’t I? Sure as hell didn’t feel like it.

“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t want to think about him right now.” I curled into her, pushing away my problems and bathing in her warmth.

Her hands found the sides of my face. “Promise me, JP. Promise me you won’t do anything that you’ll regret later.”

I looked into her caramel-colored eyes and told her the only truth I knew. “I won’t lie to you, and I will never promise you anything I can’t deliver.”

She swallowed hard and nodded.

I knew I hadn’t done a very good job reassuring her, but I meant it when I said I wouldn’t lie to her. I still hadn’t figured out exactly what I was going to do about my father and his impending plea deal. He sure as fuck wasn’t about to go free and think he could come back here to find things the way they once were.

I’d worked too long and too hard.

My hands stroked across her soft skin until her breathing was deep and steady.

“Hey, I have an idea.” I said it into the darkness, unsure whether Hazel was even awake.

“Mmm?” Her hum indicated she was on the cusp of dreaming, but I kissed her head and continued anyway.

“We did the camping thing and the thrift shop date thing . . . but now I want to show you what a real date with me is like.” I was already grinning like a fool as one idea leaped over another.

“That sounds good.” Her hand reached up, and she clamped a drowsy hand over my face. “Now shut up and go to sleep.”

I chuckled, pulling her into me and settling into sleep.

She’s got no idea what’s coming for her.