counter, mug still in hand, eyes tracking me as I fixed my coffee the way I liked it (no sugar, hint of cream). He looked so good like this, naked in my kitchen, all that gorgeous dark skin on display, from the curve of his biceps to his muscular thighs to his ankles crossed casually as he leaned.
Desire swirled low in my gut—but it wasn’t just his naked body that did it. It was the sight of him like this in my kitchen, comfortable and teasing, like he belonged. Like we did this all the time.
“Surprise?” Mal asked. “What’s the occasion?”
“Does there have to be an occasion just for me to do something nice?” I teased.
Something in Mal’s expression softened. “Well, when you put it like that. It’s just been a while since someone’s gotten me a surprise.” He grimaced. “Other than bad, stalker-related surprises.”
“Yeah, the whole stalker deal is part of the reason I wanted to do this. I know you’ve been stressed about it—and feeling a little irritated by the constant enforcement tail.”
“Is it that obvious?” Mal asked, rubbing his face.
“Uh, yes?” I said with a laugh. “It’s literally the first thing you said this morning.”
Mal cringed. “Well, in my defense—”
“—it was before you had your coffee,” I finished for him. “I know. It’s fun to tease you when you’re all grumpy.”
“That’s why you got shoved off the bed,” Mal said matter-of-factly.
“So,” I continued, as if he hasn’t spoken, “I cut a deal with Blade.”
Mal looked interested now. “What kind of deal?”
“We’re ditching the babysitters and going for a ride,” I said.
He brightened. “Ditching the sitters? No way. How’d you swing that?”
“Raven put some fancy tracking thing on our phones, and we have to have it activated the whole time, and we have to stick together,” I said, parroting off the rules that Blade had given me. It hadn’t been too hard to convince him to agree to it, though—he knew how irritated Mal was getting, and this was a good compromise to give us both a breath of privacy. “So no running off on your own, agreed?”
“I don’t think there’s any risk of that,” Mal said.
He beamed, then set his mug down. I did the same, just in time for him to fling his arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around his waist, tugging him close as he kissed me.
“Thanks,” he murmured into my mouth. “I really, really need this.”
I savored the feeling of his bare chest pressed to mine, his soft cock against my hip, his lips parting sweetly against my mouth. Seeing him so happy made my heart pound, like fireworks were exploding in my chest. It was an addictive feeling. I wanted to make him this happy, over and over. Wanted to keep giving him gifts like this. He deserved to have someone who took care of him—and I wanted that someone to be me.
I pushed that thought away. One day at a time. And today was supposed to be a day for Mal to relax. The fact that I got to go with him only made it better.
MAL
We got dressed in a hurry, exchanging heated kisses between pulling on our clothes. Part of me wanted to chuck Priest onto the bed and show him how grateful I was with a knockout blowjob, but the draw of the open road—sans enforcers—was too powerful. And that was saying a lot, because my recent desire for Priest was a force to be reckoned with.
Outside the cabin, I glanced around, shocked that there weren’t any enforcers waiting to follow us. “Wow. We’re really allowed to be alone, huh?”
“Just for a few hours, yep,” Priest said, and grinned. He looked so fucking sexy in his riding gear: fitted jeans, well-worn boots, and his leather jacket zipped up over his broad chest. “Let’s not waste it.”
First, we stopped by Pepper’s Pizza and picked up sandwiches for lunch later, then made our way outside of Junee and onto the winding two-lane highways. The further we got away from Junee, the more the roads widened and the traffic dissipated, until it was just the roar of our bikes, the road, the clear blue skies, and the brisk air. It felt incredible to just get out and ride with no real destination, to have nothing to worry about other than the engine beneath me and the asphalt ahead.
Sometimes I pulled ahead, taking us onto familiar winding roads I loved to ride, and other times Priest led, guiding us to his