weekend." Yes, that about summed it up. "So, I guess what I want to tell you, MK, is that I—"
"Hey guys, do we want to order in? Anna left a pot roast in the oven, but I'm more in the mood for pizza." Steele sat down heavily on the sofa beside us, cutting off whatever Kody had been about to confess.
Seriously?
"Max, babe?" I said sweetly, giving him a sharp glare.
He lowered one brow at me. "What's up?"
"Fuck off for like, two minutes? Kody was in the middle of telling me something." I kept my tone light and teasing but also seriously, fuck off.
Steele shot a look between Kody and I, then nodded his understanding. "I'll just... go order the pizzas, shall I?"
I smiled as he stood up. "What a good idea. Get me a supreme, okay?"
Steele's gaze turned wicked. "Of course. Who am I to deny my girl when she's in the mood for all the toppings?" He snickered under his breath as he left the den again, and I refocused on Kody.
"Talk," I prodded him.
He groaned and swept a hand through his hair before returning it to my thigh. "I'm in love with you, MK. This whole thing started so fucking badly, but I knew from that first kiss that you were my penguin. I just need you to know that—"
I cut him off with a kiss, sealing my lips to his and meeting his tongue with a desperate need to soothe his fears.
"Kody," I whispered when our kiss ended some moments later. "Don't feel pressured to say things just because they did. We're good, I promise."
His brow creased, and he pulled back an inch. "I'm not... I mean, yes, that might have given me a push. But it doesn't make it any less true. I'm totally in love with you, MK."
The clear sincerity in his gaze made my chest tighten, and in my heart I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that I felt the same way for him. Yet I still couldn't voice it out loud. Instead, I just kissed him again and prayed he'd be patient with me while I sorted through all my emotional damage enough to verbally reciprocate.
Steele came back into the room a few minutes later, while Kody and I were still locked together at the mouth and one of his hands was inside my shirt, fondling my breast.
"I would say get a room," Steele commented, coming to sit directly beside us on the couch, "but I'm kinda into this scene. So please, continue."
I grinned but broke away from Kody's kiss anyway. "Shut up and play your video games," I scolded them, then brushed my lips over Kody's ear to whisper one more thing. "I love penguins." I smacked a kiss on his cheek, then snuggled into his chest while he and Steele kicked off their game.
Kody’s arms tightened around me in response to my comment, but he said nothing. He didn’t need to, we understood each other perfectly well as it was.
Steele predictably won the first couple of games, then went to answer the door when our pizzas arrived. Kody took advantage of the break in game play to make out with me but froze when his palm slid up my outer thigh, under my skirt.
"Babe," he murmured, his lips hovering just over mine. "Where are your panties?"
I grinned, pecking at his lips. "Lost them on the side of the road somewhere yesterday." And I hadn't wanted to waste time going up to my old room to put a fresh pair on when we got home.
Kody groaned, his fingers flexing on my bare ass and making me hiss with pain. He pulled away immediately, giving me a startled frown.
"Stop it," I scolded him, reaching up to smooth the line out of his forehead. "I'm just a bit... tender. I think I need a night or two to recover." Despite how casual I was trying to make it, my cheeks still heated with embarrassment.
Kody just blinked at me a couple of times, then let out a string of curses and lifted me off his lap. He placed me back on the sofa and stood up just as Steele came back into the room carrying a stack of pizza boxes.
"Whoa, what did I miss?" Steele asked, flicking his gaze between Kody and me.
Kody started to storm out, ignoring Steele's question, but then paused and turned back to me.
"Babe, I love you, but I need to drag Archer's ass out of bed and kick it