Sway (Landry Family #1) (28 page)

I pull my raggedy red robe around me and tie it snugly. It’s my favorite, and most beat-up, piece of clothing but I needed it last night when I felt like my life might be breaking apart. Now, after talking to Barrett a little while ago, my heart feels like it’s been glued back together, my hopes and dreams still intact. I’m not even sure what those dreams consist of, exactly, besides having Barrett in our lives.

I sing a little ditty from when I was a child softly until Huxley’s eyes flutter open. He stretches and yawns, his sweet, sleepy smell making me smile harder.

He follows me to the kitchen where I have a plate of sausage links and a scrambled egg waiting on him.

“Wow, what happened to cereal?” he asks.

“What? You’d rather have a box of marshmallows?”

“No,” he yawns, sitting down to dig in. “It’s just . . . weird. You aren’t a morning person, you know.”

“I know, buddy.” I hum a little tune and put the skillet in the sink when the doorbell rings. I look up at Hux who’s looking at me. “I’ll be right back. Grandma must’ve gotten her days mixed up.”

Hux stuffs an entire sausage link in his mouth as a reply.

I pad down the hallway and pull the door open. When I see Barrett on the other side, my hand flies to my mouth.

He looks divine in his crisp grey suit and tie. His watch sparkles in the early morning sunlight, but it’s outshone by his beautiful eyes which are looking at me.

The lips I love to kiss, love to hear form words in my ear, are pressed together in an undeniable smirk. He watches me for a minute before reaching for me and I fall into his arms.

Holding me with one hand, he steps inside and closes the door quietly behind him.

“I missed you,” he whispers in my ear.

“What are you doing here?” I can’t keep the amazement out of my voice, even though I don’t want to give him the wrong impression. Seeing him first thing, before the world has a chance to ruin our day, makes me happier than I could ever tell him.

“I needed to see you.”

“Don’t you have a million things to do?” I try to say as he kisses my lips, little taps in quick succession. I giggle as the last peck sinks deeper into my lips and I find my hands wrapping around his neck and pulling him into me.

“Mom, are you okay?” Hux shouts from the kitchen.

I pull back and laugh, resting my head on Barrett’s chest. “Yeah, I’m good. I’ll be right there.”

Barrett nuzzles me against him, brushing my hair back with one of his large hands. “God, I needed this.”

“You have no idea how much I needed it too.”

“You look adorable in this robe,” he grins.

I glance down at my clothing and grimace. “I can’t believe I’m letting you see me in this!”

“Stop,” he winks. “I want this.”

“My holey robe?”

“Yes. And your morning rush with Huxley and your out-of-bed hair. I want it all, baby.”

Grinning wildly, I start to comment without swooning, but I hear the sound of Hux’s feet coming down the hallway. I feel Barrett tense, a nervous energy passing between us.

Turning to see Huxley coming towards us, I smile. “Hey, buddy. Barrett came to say good morning.”

“Hey,” my son says, giving Barrett a little wave.

“How are you?” Barrett asks him.

“Good. I was just, um, checking on my mom.”

Barrett’s face breaks into a smile as he steps towards Hux and stretches his hand. “You’re a good man, Hux.”

Hux beams, obviously liking being treated like a man, and shakes Barrett’s hand. “Want some breakfast? Mom actually made food today.”

“Did she?” He leans close to Hux and whispers, but loud enough for me to hear. “Did she sing while she made it?”

It’s some kind of joke between them, I can tell, but I have no idea what it means. I raise my brows and they both laugh.

“I was asleep. But she doesn’t make food in the morning, so I’m guessing yes.”

“That’s a good thing.” Turning to me, Barrett’s face sobers a bit. “I hate to run, but I have a meeting in about twenty minutes. Troy’s going to have to drive like a bat out of hell to get me there the way it is.”

“Go,” I insist, shooing him towards the door. “But thank you for coming by today.”

He watches me, wanting to kiss me but not sure if he should do it in front of Huxley. “Thank you for letting me.”

“You can come here anytime,” Huxley says. “But I’m going to go back in the kitchen now in case you’re going to kiss her because I don’t want to see that.”

We laugh as he salutes Barrett and zooms back to the kitchen and out of sight.

“I like him,” Barrett says, pulling me into him. He kisses me sweetly again, making me melt under his touch. “I still get to see you tonight right?”

“I was counting on it.”

I kiss him one last time before he walks out the door.

My spirits soar and I walk to the kitchen like I’m walking on air. Huxley is putting his empty plate in the sink. He scratches his head, his morning hair wild. “He makes you happy, huh?”

“He does. But only if you like him.”

He looks at me in a way that reminds me of Hayden. It’s a careful look, calculating, and at another time in my life, my heart would have tugged in my chest. I would’ve thought back to a life we could’ve had and to all the things that went wrong. But today, I don’t go there. I’m too worried about the life that we can have and all the things that just might go right if we’re lucky.

“I like him,” Hux announces simply.

Laughing, I amble towards my son and pull him into a hug. “I love you, Hux.”

“I love you, Mom.”

Barrett

"DO ONE MORE," ACHILLES, MY
trainer, demands, watching me like a hawk. I pay him a lot of money to put me through my paces, and he does, many times after hours in his gym. "Three, two, give it hell, Landry, one. Relax."

I blow out a breath and drop the dumbbell to the ground. Achilles watches in his camouflage pants and white tank top, his arms folded over his large chest. "You have a little steam behind you tonight, Landry."

"Pent up aggression," I say, wiping my face with a towel. "Better to leave it here than on a member of the media. Fuckers trailed me all afternoon. Hobbs has them all convinced I'm a gangster or something and it's nearly impossible to actually work."

"So, you aren't a gangster?" Achilles teases.

I glare and he snickers at my reaction. His Mohawk wobbles. "I kid, I kid. I actually had someone call me a few days ago and asked if I had any dirt on you."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, man. I set that bitch straight though. Told him he could go fuck himself."

"Did you say it like that?" I grin.

"Just like that."

“You wanna know how frustrated I am?” I ask, wiping my face with a towel. “I’m starting to think Lincoln makes sense.”

“That’s crazy talk,” he laughs.

“Right?”

“You know what I always say,” Achilles says, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “trust those that have proven their loyalty. Linc might be full of shit half the time, but he has your back. That’s why I trust Robin. My wife is the only person in the world I trust explicitly. She’s proven it.”

He leans against the wall and tries hard not to smirk.

“What?” I ask.

“I see you’re on your way to settling down now too. Have to say, I’m shocked.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know about settling down for sure.”

His chest shakes with his laugh. “You released a statement. I’ve known you for twenty years, Landry. You’ve never entertained doing something like that before.”

“That fucking statement wasn’t what it should’ve been,” I grumble, feeling the anger work its way to the surface. “Nolan fucked me over on that. Alison was pissed as hell and I couldn’t blame her. Do you even realize how bad it looked coming out with the other article like that? Fuck.”

Achilles picks up a dumbbell and presses it overhead. “I wondered when I saw it, to be honest. Did you work it out with your girl?”

“Yeah,” I grin. “I’m meeting her after I leave here. I have this big thing set up at the house with candles and a bubble bath. I just want to . . .” I look at him and he’s wearing a teasing smile. “I sound like a pussy, don’t I?”

He sets the weight down and laughs. “No, man. You sound like a guy that is getting his priorities together. Making your girl feel special should be the first thing you do in your day. I mean, if you lose her, what do you have left?”

He gets it.

I try to wrap my head around that when movement catches our attention outside the glass. Troy is coming towards the door. He pulls it open and steps to the side.

My face breaks into a wide, yet confused, smile.

Alison walks around him, her step stuttering as her eyes meet mine. Her cheeks blush to the color of her pink dress, a short little number that I want off of her body as quickly as possible. I drag my gaze down her round breasts, over the sinful curve of her hips, and down those legs I want wrapped around me so badly my cock is rock solid.

I need her. I need some kind of physical confirmation that we’re okay. Call me stupid or call me a pussy but I need it like the air I breathe.

Glancing at Troy, he shrugs. “She called and asked if I knew where you were. I figured you wouldn’t mind if I grabbed her for you,” he says.

Achilles smacks his lips beside me. “Well, I’m guessing you don’t need me anymore,” he chuckles. “You remember the security code, right?”

I nod but don’t look at him. I can’t look anywhere but at her.

Before I know it, it's just the two of us. She's standing in front of me. It's everything I've wanted since I saw her this morning. I feel like a kid on his birthday, when the box that you know holds the one gift you've been begging for is suddenly placed on your lap.

"Hey," she says, her voice timid. I have no idea why the hell she's nervous. All I know is that my heart is racing like a man on crack and my fingers itch like a junkie looking for his next fix.

I have to touch her. I have to taste her.

I stalk towards her, watching her anticipate my arrival. Her eyes widen as I draw near, the peacock necklace moving in between the large breasts that I want my mouth on.

In a couple of long strides, I'm in front of her, our bodies nearly touching. She tips her head to look up at me and begins to speak, but I capture the words with my mouth. She gasps, melting into me with no hesitation. Our tongues lace together, her sweet perfume wrapping around me. My arms are tightly wound around her, pulling her into me like I can't get enough.

Because I can't.

She's all that exists in the world right now and I want to be so far into her, lose myself so deeply into her, that it takes an act of God to separate us.

My hands find the curves of her ass and I cup them, squeezing, appreciative of her continued pantiless style. She moans, my palms dragging roughly across her skin to her hips. My fingers dip into the curve of her body, her own finding the small of my back, her nails digging into me. Her fingertips trace a line across my lower back, leaving a rush of sparking skin beneath.

This woman is going to kill me.

“You don’t mind I showed up here, do you?” she breathes.

I lean back and look into her eyes. “I couldn’t be more happy that you did.”

“Hux left and I just needed to see you. I needed this peace I feel when I’m with you.”

My lips find hers and press against them tenderly. “I needed it too.”

“You know what else I need?” she asks.

“Whatever you need, I’ll deliver.”

“I need you inside me, Barrett.”

That’s all it takes for her to go from sweetheart to siren.

Pulling her hands from around me, I nearly drag her across the room.

"Barrett!" she laughs, having trouble keeping up in her heels.

I bring her around a corner next to the sauna, the air pierced with only our breathing. A long table sits next to it for massages. I pull her in front of me, kiss her quickly on the lips, and turn her away to face the wall.

"Grab the edge of the table," I order, my voice giving away just how worked up I am. "And hold on."

A quick breath escapes her throat, but she complies. I take a second to take in how fucking sexy she looks while she waits on me to fuck her.

My cock hardens, throbs, as I take in her nude heels, her thick, tanned legs, and the way the bottom of her ass cheeks peek from beneath the hemline of her dress bent over like this. I palm my cock and stroke it as she glances at me over her shoulder.

"You look so fucking good, Ali."

Her cheeks flush, but a sexy grin slips across her lips. "Then what are you waiting for, Mr. Landry?" She leans further across the table, baring her ass for me. She taunts me, shaking it from side to side. “I asked you to get inside me. Do I need to ask again?”

I drop my shorts to the floor and stand directly behind her. Rubbing my cock up her slit, I coat myself with her wetness. I suck in a breath and fight the urge to bury myself in her immediately.

Her breath catches in her throat at the contact. Her back is to my front. My breath on the back of her neck results in a quiet sigh escaping her lips. I press my tongue against her skin and drag it slowly to just below her ear. Her skin heats up immediately, her heartbeat now pounding, matching mine. I nip the delicate skin under her ear before pulling away.