I’m all over her, dominating her scent, her warm skin, her love. I pull her into a fiery kiss while hitching her leg over my hip. My wife moans against my lips.
“No,” she groans. “This is not a good time for me to get lost in the moment, Leith.”
“Now is the best time.” I encircle her in my arms. She sinks into me, then pushes back, regarding me with mischievous eyes.
“Leith, are you ready to star in our very own video game?”
I give her a lame look, and her chuckle is almost infectious.
“Babe, soften up. We’re about to sneak away from a party at my favorite restaurant tonight. Do some covert shit.”
“I could. . . .” I begin. There would never come a day when I’d not want to protect my wife.
“Nope. Though I could see Brody and Camdyn jumping at the chance to accompany you, this is my deal. Now, I could treat you the way you were treating them at first?”
A mask of confusion descends over my face.
“Cam filled me in on a few things. They were trying to help.”
“So, ye’d treat me like I treated them?” Just the thought makes me shake my head. “Nae.”
“Okay, so we do this together.” She holds out her hand. I complain about the cheesy handshake, and then we follow through with it.
Chapter 63
Leith
Two hours later, we’re in a restaurant perched on the ledge of a cliff with the ocean as our backdrop. The MacKenzie clan mills around a long table. My parents should arrive soon. Erika was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. She kept changing her mind about attending.
I grab the blue label whiskey from a server, tell her we’ll need more bottles, and gesture to Brody and Camdyn. One of the servers asks Camdyn for his ID. He pulls out his wallet and flashes a top-of-the-line forgery, and Brody places his arm over my shoulder. “Dinna be a feckin’ clipe,” he whispers.
“First off, I’m nae snitch,” I say.
The three of us head toward the floor to ceiling windows. Bright lights are off in the distance of the ocean, a yacht party.
I divvy up the drinks, saying, “I dinna believe the three of us will ever stop bickering, but I’ll tell ye bawbags something. We’ll feckin’ die for each other, aye?”
“Aye!”
We clap each other’s backs, drinking a couple of rounds. Firth heads over, and Knox too. By the look on my older cousin’s face, I see he’s still holding onto auld grudges. I gesture to the glass of water in Firth’s hand. He chugs the water, then hocks the wedge of lemon onto an empty table. The amber liquid swishes into his glass as I pour him a generous amount. I eye him while filling up his water glass. It takes the nugget a good five or six shots worth before he mutters, “That’ll do.”
This he tosses back even faster than the water.
I pat his shoulder. “Firth, ye still hate me, co-ogha—cousin?”
My cousin bites his lip. His eyes narrow just so as if mentally calculating some bloody string of numbers. After a few beats, he says, “Aye.”
I cup the back of his neck, look him deid in the eye. “I feckin’ apologize about the midges. Good now?”
“We’re good now.” He clasps my arm then pulls me into a hug. “Ye need to be warmer and fuzzier, Leith. Like ye are with Mia and Chevelle.”
“Ye a female?” I chuckle.
“Och,” he mutters.
“Whatever the feck ye did to him,” Knox juts his chin to Firth, “gimme the same treatment, then pour me some of that.”
Rolling my eyes, I gesture to his water glass. Knox sets his full glass at the perfectly set table. He then walks over to his brother and takes the empty one from Firth’s hand. Laughing, I fill it with about three shots worth of whiskey.
Knox grabs my face, pecking my cheek. “Did I ever tell ye, I love ye?”
I’m pushing him away when Mam enters the room. Da’s wheeling Erika, who isn’t wearing a wee feckin’ t-shirt for the first time in her life, but a vast floral dress that might belong to Mam. I look around. Chevelle’s chatting with Justice, Brody’s next to them. When did he walk away?
Conquest my arse. Had he not scented pussy, he’d be over here with us guzzling down this expensive whiskey. Or priming himself for his next victim in the main bar area. Aye, Justice’s a conquest in that he’s never fecked her. But I’d say, the only person who’ll