Hott and Handled (The Hott Brothers #3) - Leah Sharelle Page 0,30

so we could all get to know each other. I liked her when she came into the restaurant to pick up her order, but never really spoke to her other than, ‘Hi, how are you?’. Getting to know her, I found that Blake was my kind of person: funny, loving and downright mischievous.

After the night at the Triple H, Nixx followed Dillion and I home where he kissed me gently goodnight then left. To say I had been disappointed with the sweet but chaste kiss was surprising to me. I was the one to ask for slow, and Nixx being the wonderful man he is, was doing exactly that. That truth didn’t stop the flow of irritation and frustration or the overwhelming need to suck Nixx’s tongue into my mouth and devour the sexy man.

That had been a week ago, and the last time I had been out to his place. Life and business had gotten in the way this week. The restaurant had three of its busiest dinner trades in a row, keeping me at work without a break. Dillion injured his ankle in the schoolyard rendering him homebound and demanding of my time. Nixx had an emergency at Waterford Views with a few breeding heifers putting a date night on hold, and worst of all, he hadn’t been in for his nightly pizza for two nights now.

I missed him so much, and that was a very strange place to find myself. I spent years alone at night while Alec was ‘working late’, enjoying the reprieve from acting like the wife I was supposed to be. Those times I relished that there was no expectation to perform for Alec, not sweat on having sex when all I wanted was to be cuddled and kissed. Something Alec was not prepared to give and admittedly I stopped asking for from him.

Alec’s favourite snark was to say to me he would kiss me when I stopped asking, he accused me of being pathetic and desperate, begging for affection, making him feel less than a man. I stopped asking and the only good thing that came out of that decision was he ceased berating me, not completely just for that.

Nixx, on the other hand, wanted to touch me, and this time it was me holding back. Our relationship was definitely on, that I had to admit. He’d called me every night the past week to ask me how my day was, even though he saw me at work earlier in the night. When he heard about Dillion’s sprain, he rushed over to spend time with him while I worked, so Dillion wasn’t alone the whole time, bringing a game console with him and a plethora of games. It was still set up in Dillion’s room even though he was back up on his feet now, Nixx gifting it to my son to use for as long as he wanted. He constantly surprised me with his generosity and his genuine feelings for my child. They weren’t pretend just to get into my pants, Nixx actually liked Dillion and the feeling was mutual.

Dillion had gone from being all about motorbikes and footy to all about Fenixx Hott, and in my heart of hearts, it didn’t worry me as much as I had first thought. One of my main concerns getting involved with Nixx was how Dillion would be affected if things didn’t work out with Nixx and me, or in fact, if Dillion resented Nixx in his life taking the place of his father. I shouldn’t have worried, they had their feelings under control better than I did mine.

“So, Farron,” Makena asked, reaching over the table and patting me on the hand, “how are things going with Hottie 3? I’m sorry I have been stealing him away so much this week, but a heifer developed a problem with her pregnancy. She is worth a lot of money as is her unborn calf, so Nixx and I have been practically babysitting her until the meds the vet gave her started to work.”

“Oh, don’t apologise Makena, I understand and am used to sitting back and waiting for my turn.” As soon as the words left my lips, I regretted them instantly. They made me sound pathetic and neglected, and I wasn’t that, not anymore.

Leaving Alec and starting over again in Cattle Ridge, and buying a business all on my own gave me a sense of accomplishment. I had grit and determination, and that I wasn’t a lazy,