Talon(71)

His brothers, cousins, their respective girlfriends, and his parents all helped us move and unpack, and they brought us food and housewarming gifts. Storm and his fiancée, Evie, came over with a U-Haul filled with various sizes of carpeted cat trees and condos, put one in each room of the house for Princess Pixie, then proceeded to check every window screen in the house and the entire basement to make sure there was no way Pixie could accidentally get out of the house. Their care for my little cat meant more to me than I could express to them in words, so I just kept hugging them randomly.

Two weeks ago, I was living in the ghetto, with no car and ten dollars in my bank account. I had no family and only one friend to talk to who actually cared about me.

And now, I'm living a life I used to only dream of.

"I don't like the way that fucktard looks at you," Talon says after his cousin and his friend left. They came by earlier to help move some of our new furniture around.

And then there's this. The man who's given me everything I've ever wanted. The man who I do believe, in his own way, really does care about me, even though he's got a very odd way of showing it. Slowly, we're still trying to figure out how we fit together.

"Next time I see him ogling your ass, I'm gonna throat-punch him," he continues, raiding the refrigerator.

"Who are you talking about?"

"Fucking Finn."

"Lukas's friend?" I pick a few grapes off the fruit basket someone left for us. "He came to help us move. He seems like a nice guy."

He closes the fridge door and moves to stand across from me at the kitchen island. "He's always looking at you like you're lunch, and he's about to have his last meal. He looks at my sister the same way."

I find his jealous and protective streak kind of endearing; at least it shows he cares. Evie warned me that all the guys are fiercely protective of their women like cavemen, and she wasn't wrong.

"Well, it's nice to know there's a guy out there who's attracted to me," I tease, which I probably shouldn't do, but my emotions are still bearing the footprints from where he trampled on them during our first few days together.

He sighs and I can almost see some steam coming out of his ears. "I've apologized for that. I've done everything I can to make it up to you."

Everything except show me you're attracted to me.

Yeah, his sexy, sarcastic, flirty comments are there, and they make me laugh. But other than a few quick and steamy kisses, there's been nothing physical between us.

That's a lie. Every night, there's the foot snuggles. Which I love, and I would completely cry and throw an all-out tantrum over if he stopped, but I'd like a little more of a hint that he actually wants me. I'm not exactly ready to have sex with him yet since we're still in that new phase, but something would be nice.

"So, Friday night, we're playing at the grand opening of the Rusty Knife in Boston. It's a short set, like three songs since there are a few other bands playing that night too."

"Oh." I don't remember him mentioning this before.

"There's a VIP party afterward."

"Okay. I take it you're going?"