Page 22 of Endlessly Yours (The Wilder Brothers #10)

“Listen. My parents brought her here to introduce her to me because they didn’t know.”

“Know what?” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest. That slight twinge of hope at his words threatened, and I refused to let it take root. I refused to want any more than I had.

“I told everyone in that room that I was taken. That you and I were seeing each other. I realized I don’t know what the hell we’re doing, and I’m not good at this, but I wasn’t about to let you be hurt by something as stupid as a woman saying she was sorry about my loss.”

I tried to take a step back, but his hold tightened. “I don’t want her. I want you.”

“She touched you,” I whispered. “And I don’t like being territorial.”

“Callum looks at you, and I want to rip his face off. Do you want to talk about territorial?” he asked, his voice low with a growl that went straight to my core. I pressed my thighs together, and his eyes darkened.

“It’s fine. I guess I was wrong.”

“It’s not fine,” he bit out. “I’m sorry. I keep hurting you, and I don’t mean to.”

And just like that, I melted. For him, for what could have been. Because I was a fool.

“I’m sorry, too. For running. I’m just a little tender it seems.”

“We’ll fix that. And I’ll show you how sorry I am soon.”

I swallowed hard and took a step back at the sound of Alice’s footsteps at the top of the stairs. “I guess we should go read to them.”

“I guess so. What do seven-year-old girls read these days?”

“I think it varies, but Cameron’s going to be involved too.”

“Why do I feel like I should be worried?”

“You really should be. Come on.” I held out my hand, and he took it, and all felt right. Or maybe, all felt as if I hadn’t taken a step that I wasn’t ready for.

We walked up to Alice’s room, and I quickly let go of his hand.

I didn’t know what the girls knew, and frankly, I wasn’t good at dating, let alone dating as a guardian.

When were you supposed to sit the girls down and explain what you were doing with another man?

Let alone, when you didn’t know what you were doing.

Being a parent was damn hard, and I hadn’t read a rule book about this.

There had to be an outline or something, a how-to.

Of course, there were probably a million books on it, but nothing about this situation.

“How about this one? We don’t need to read the whole thing.”

“You can’t read the whole thing in a night,” Cameron said with a roll of her eyes. She sat at the end of Alice’s bed, back to the wall. Alice sat with her back to the headboard, book in hand. They both smelled of mint, with fresh faces, and looked so sweet and innocent.

The same little girls who had cried the night before when each had had a nightmare and hadn’t wanted to tell the other. But each had held one another while I had held them.

We were navigating this space, and maybe I wasn’t failing completely.

Brooks pushed past me and took a seat at the edge of Alice’s bed.

I scrambled into the small space at the edge next to Cameron and was grateful when she didn’t pull away.

Instead, she snuggled into me as Alice lifted Brooks’s arm to sink into his side, and I wanted to take a photo, to snap a picture of this moment forever.

I listened with half an ear as Brooks’s deep grumble of a voice soothed Alice to sleep in his side, her bow-mouth parted as she slightly snored.

Cameron dozed lightly, and as thirty minutes passed, and we went further than a chapter, Brooks set the book down on the nightstand, and I gently tugged Cameron off the bed as Brooks tucked Alice in, turning off the nightlight.

I stood at the doorway, Cameron leaning into me, as we watched Brooks lean down to brush a kiss over the top of Alice’s head before he turned towards us.

I mouthed that I would be right back and walked Cameron to her room.

She yawned quietly and looked at me with an odd look on her face.

“What is it?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

“Are you and Brooks together?” she asked.

I swallowed hard and promised myself that I would never lie to her. “Yes, but it’s still new.”

She frowned and nodded. “I like him.”

And with that, she tucked herself in, and I knew better than to help her. It would just start a fight, especially when she had been so nice just now. But I turned off her light, grateful for this odd semblance of normalcy in a world that was anything but normal.

And then I was walking to my room, Brooks behind me. Throat tight, I closed the door behind both of us and let out a deep breath.

“That was weird,” I said with a soft laugh.

“Tell me about it. Although, I did get some practice by reading to Faith.”

“You’re better at it than I am.”

“I don’t believe that. You draw stories for a living. I bet you have more imagination than you think.”

I shook my head and took a step away from him, needing to breathe. It was hard to even think when he was around, Or perhaps that was just something that he did to me.

“I don’t know. I think the girls liked listening to you read.” I looked down at my hands. “So did I.”

“I am sorry, you know. For how it looked. And for blurting out in front of everybody that we were dating. Considering we hadn’t really said those words yet.”

A smile stretched over my face, imagining that. “Well, at least you had to deal with the awkwardness with that. As I ran away with the girls to the car.”

“You guys did scurry quite quickly.”

“We did not scurry,” I whispered, knowing that even though we were on the other side of the hall, we had to be quiet.

Brooks’s gaze went to my lips, and my tongue darted out as if it had a mind of its own.

“I don’t want to hide this. Whatever this is,” he said after a moment.

“I think blurting it out to your family sort of excludes the whole hiding it thing,” I said with a small half-laugh.

“True.” He stepped forward, his thumb tracing along my jaw. “I haven’t been very good about figuring out what to do with you, have I?”

“I wasn’t aware you had to do something with me?”

“I don’t date. Or at least I haven’t. Not since…”

I nodded, throat tight. “I haven’t dated since Anthony.”

Brooks’s eyes narrowed. “And who the hell is that?”

I snorted. “Someone that doesn’t mean anything to me. It has been a long while since I’ve been in a relationship. And I didn’t know how to do the whole dating thing when I didn’t have two kids to take care of.”

“So we’ll figure this out together. But I think that means I should kiss you now.”

“Oh? That’s what you think?”

“Yes. And I should hold your hand when we’re in public. And maybe take you out. Have I ever taken you out?”

I shook my head. “No. But it’s not like we have time for that. You have how many jobs within your one job? And with the girls, and our friends, who happen to be your family, I don’t think there’s much time for that at all.”

“Then we’ll make time. Because if I’m going to figure this whole path out, I might as well do it with purpose.”

“Oh. I like you with purpose.”

“Good.”

And then he leaned forward, his lips on mine. I groaned into him, hooking my fingers in his belt loops.

He pulled away, leaving me wanting.

“We’re going to have to be quiet if we do this.”

My eyes widened. “I’ve never actually had sex with other people in the house before.”

“I promise I’ll be gentle.”

I snorted. “I don’t think you know how to be gentle.”

“I could. If I tried. If that’s what you wanted.”

I shook my head. “You might have to gag me,” I teased.

This time, it was Brooks who’d groaned before he picked me up by my hips and carried me to the bed.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, kissing him wholeheartedly.

If I was going to make this mistake, I might as well lean into it. Brooks Wilder was going to break my heart, but for now, I could just live in the moment.

I didn’t do that often enough.

He set me down at the edge of the bed, exploring my mouth with his own as if he was a man dying of hunger and I was his feast. When he tugged at my shirt, I released my hands so he could pull it over my head.

He undid my bra in a move that left me gasping as my breasts fell heavy into his hands.

He cupped them, pinching my nipples in between his thumb and forefinger.

I gasped again, and he raised a brow at me.

I put my hand over my mouth, keeping myself quiet as he lowered his head, sucking on one nipple hard enough that I knew it would leave a bruise.

And then he did it to the other nipple, and I rubbed my thighs together, my clit pulsating.

But when he turned me around, I moaned.

“Hands on the bed,” he ordered.

I did so, bending over for him. His jeans-clad cock pressed hard against my backside, and I wiggled against him, needing that motion.

He chuckled roughly, and then he licked slowly up my spine.

I exhaled shakily, arching my back.

“I love this tattoo here. Every time I see it, it gets me hard. Like when you are reaching up for something, and I just get a bare glimpse. It reminds me of when you’re bent over like this, and my cock is slowly sliding into you from behind.

Because one day, I’m going to fuck this ass of yours and watch as your back arches just like this, and this tattoo will be exactly what I focus on.

And then I’ll pull out and come all over that pretty back of yours.

What do you think? Do you think your tattoo will look pretty covered in my cum?

” he asked, his voice so growly that I squirmed harder against his cock.

He gripped my hip, keeping me steady.

“If you make me come in my jeans, I’m going to spank that ass.”

I wiggled again, and the sharp sting of his hand against my ass, even through my jeans, made me gasp.

“Face on the bed. Keep that mouth of yours closed as I show you exactly what I mean.”

I lowered my face, biting down on the comforter so I wouldn’t shout as loudly while he pulled down my pants with my panties all in one movement.

I was naked before him as he knelt behind me, spreading my ass cheeks.