Page 21 of Falling for You (Balsam Cliffs #2)

The cold fear that has taken over my body is surreal as four of my best friends stand in front of me. Each with varying phases of anger on their faces.

“Guys, listen, I love her. She’s it for me, this isn’t some fling. I’d never do that to her.”

“You. Fucked. My. Baby . Sister.”

“Hunt, why don’t we calm down?” Gunnar reaches for his shoulder to pull him back, out of the office, to calm down.

Hunter shrugs him off, still staring at me. “No. I’m not going anywhere.”

Before anyone can stop him he jumps over the desk and gets his punch in. He pulls back to get one more and Liam grabs his arm while Wyatt and Gunnar step between me and him.

“Enough.” Nathan’s voice comes out loud and clear. A command that we got plenty of times when we were kids.

All of our eyes snap to the door where he’s standing. “I said, enough. Get yourself together, Hunter.”

“Pops, why aren’t you just as mad? We trusted him as a brother!” Nathan gives Hunter a look that shuts him up pretty quickly. He stands and heaves out a heavy breath.

He looks back to me pointedly before stomping out of the office and past Nathan. The other guys follow him out leaving me with Nathan alone.

“Nathan, I—”

He holds his hand up stopping me.

“I don’t need an explanation, son. I know you love her.

I’ve known for a while. I see how you look at her.

When she stopped coming home I figured you guys just needed a moment to navigate the relationship.

I’m the least surprised, next to Anna who seems to be entirely in the know.

I just need to know that you’re going to do right by her. ”

“I will. I’ve fallen in love with her, and she’s my one.

She’s my Anna.” Nathan has always told us that he knew Anna was the one for him within a week.

That he never looked at another as soon as he figured out what he wanted.

And he wanted her. I always aspired to find that kind of love.

So to admit that I have, with his daughter, is a huge deal for me.

He nods silently and turns to walk out of the room. “My son will come to his senses. Just give him some space.”

With that he’s gone. I let out a breath that I’ve been holding since the door flew open. I can’t believe I forgot to lock it. Not that it would have helped me any. Hunter was on a mission, he knew exactly what he was going to walk in on.

I reach up and feel the stickiness on my cheek. Fuck that means Hunt got in a good fucking punch. I’m going to have to swallow my pride and walk back out into the brewery to face everyone. I’m sure this is going to be a whole thing.

“Oh my God! Look at you!” Emma comes rushing back into the office, with Anna and Violet behind her.

Good. We’re getting the whole Keaton clan. At least my cock isn’t still out.

Emma comes over forcing me to sit in my chair, while she sits on the edge of my desk inspecting my face.

“Oh, Roman, I’m going to get you some ice, stay here.” Anna rushes back out and I’m not fighting it. This is going to hurt like a bitch in the morning.

“I’m so sorry. I tried to stop them from coming back here.” Violet shrugs, “But you did make a pretty public display out there. They were already watching her and then you took her like a caveman. Your hand was fully splayed on her ass cheek.”

Oh shit. I didn’t realize where my hand was, not that it would make a difference. If Hunter saw the whole thing go down, he knew. He was already suspicious I think. He’s been making too many comments lately, I just chose to ignore it and play dumb.

“Thanks, Vi. I know you tried your best.”

Willow barges into the room now, her set must be on intermission. Great. The last Keaton to witness my downfall.

“What did I miss? I saw some of it go down from the stage, but those damn lights are so bright!” She looks around finally taking in the scene. “Oh, shit. The guys know.”

“Yeah. They do. And they’re such assholes. No one gets on their ass when they date. Just mine.” Emma is going to be pissed at these guys for a while.

“I’ll talk to G, Rome. And Vi will talk to Liam. They’ll get over it.”

“I appreciate it but you know they’re all pissed at me.” I shrug and look at Emma who looks more worried than me.

“Not Cooper.” She reaches out to touch my cheek again. “He’s not mad. I mean he’s mad he missed the gossip being gone, but he’s not mad at you.”

“Neither is Nathan. Or me.” Mom hands Emma a warm, wet towel and a towel packed with ice.

I wince as Emma cleans my cheek. It’s already swelling.

“Come on girls, let’s go back out, it’s almost time for Willow to go back on. Gunnar and Nathan are on their way back.”

They all give Emma a side hug, and me a sad smile on their way out.

“I’m so sorry, Rome. I wasn’t trying to piss you off. I just wanted to dance and I was buzzed. I know it’s not an excuse but I’m sorry that I forced your hand.”

I pull her into my lap. “You told them you love me.” The smile that spreads already pulls at my cheek.

“I did. So did you.” She rests her head on my shoulder. “Did you mean it?”

“No.” Her head snaps up to look at me again and she tries to get off my lap, but I hold her to me.

“A simple statement could never be true, Sunshine. My love for you could never be summed up in three little words. You are my everything, my sunshine. I need your light in my world, and I want to be the light in yours. I don’t just love you, you are every good part of me.

You’re everything I want, everything I need, everything I crave, you’re mine. ”

“You’re everything to me too, Stud. You and Livvy Girl fill a gaping hole in my heart that only you could fill. You make everything better.”

Our lips crash once more, and I suck in a breath as she grips my face.

My grip on her hips tightens, squeezing her through the pain. When she pulls away she looks at her hand with my blood on it. Her eyes go wide at the sight.

“I’m fine.” I reach out to take the ice off my desk. “Come on. You go back out and enjoy the night with Willow and Violet. I have to finish up here, then we’ll go home. Together. How does that sound?”

She kisses my clean cheek gently and slides off. “Come on. I can’t wait to go home with you.”

I take her hand and follow her back out to the crowd.

Finishing this shift was miserable. My head is throbbing and the Tylenol isn’t touching it yet. Clark quickly figured out what happened, and he and Jasmine offered to finish up closing duties once everyone is out.

I trust Jasmine as a manager, but not on a night I have Willow Harper singing. She packs my brewery to the point I have to stream her music outside on the patio. I won’t complain about the sales, but I won’t leave my staff to deal with this crowd on their own.

Willow finished about ten minutes ago, but the crowd is still lingering. I flash the lights a few times, signaling last call, and in ten more minutes I’ll turn them on for good.

Willow sits in Gunnar’s lap at their table, people coming up to meet her, and she’s too nice to turn any of them away. She recently went through a little scandal with her manager in Nashville and I know that her fans are really what carried her through to keep going.

Walking over to the group, I stop and stand next to Emma who’s on the edge of the booth. I lean down and place a kiss on the top of her head. It feels so freeing to be able to do this.

“Hey, how’s the cheek?” Gunnar nods to the very obvious black eye and gash on my cheekbone.

“I’ve had worse.”

“No shit. Remember when we tried to play bloody knuckles, and ended up just punching the shit out of each other? Mom was pissed.” He laughs at the memory.

“Only because I had to clean the blood out of all those clothes!”

We all laugh, because it was a huge mess and she made us clean rooms until she could get the blood out of every piece.

The laughter dies down and Gunnar looks at me, “We good?”

“I don’t know, G. Are we?”

“You going to do the right thing by her?”

“Always.”

“Then as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. But the second she isn’t happy…” He doesn’t need to finish that sentence. I know the threat.

“Got it man, I won’t let that happen.” Emma looks at me. “Again anyways.”

Gunnar taps Willow’s leg, “Well we’re going to get going. It’s been a long night.” They both stand, “Give the others some time. They’ll come around.”

He slaps my shoulder on his way by and I take that as his acceptance of what’s happening. I’m not stupid to think that Anna and Violet didn’t have something to do with it, or that Willow didn’t already tell him and just swore him to secrecy. He’s much calmer than the others.

I lean down to whisper in Emma’s ear, “I’ll be done as soon as the crowd is gone. Give me about fifteen more minutes?”

“I’ll be here.”

I walk away to finish getting the crowd out, with a grin on my face. This is the happiest I’ve ever been after being involved in a fight and getting punched in the face.

I know I’ll have to deal with Hunter another day, but with Nathan, Cooper, and Gunnar on my side, I feel a lot better.

Everyone left about five minutes ago, and Emma has been sitting alone for about ten. Her eyes are tracking my every move, and if she doesn’t stop chewing on her bottom lip, I’m about to take her on my office desk and finish what we started earlier.

I finish things with Clark and Jasmine, letting them know to call if they need me, and they each give me a roll of their eyes.

I lock my office door, at least I remembered this time, and I shove the keys into my pocket, practically skipping out to find Emma like some fucking teenage girl who believes in all those fairytales and happy ending shit.

But when I see her waiting for me, and the same smile is mirrored on her face, I know that the fairytales are real.

She walks over to meet me, and loops her arm through mine so I can walk us out to my truck.

“This feels like it’s been the longest night of my life.” She yawns. “And your cheek, it looks so bad.”

“I’m fine. I took some Tylenol, and I’ll just put an ice pack on it tonight.” Backing out of my spot, I place my hand on her thigh.

She places her hand on top of mine, and drags my hand with hers further up her thigh until I’m just about to her clit.

She pulls her skirt up higher, exposing more of her creamy skin for me to touch.

I slide my hand up, and she opens her legs wider for me.

Fuck this damn woman doesn’t even have underwear on.

“You’re so wet for me, Sunshine and I haven’t even started touching you.”

“I’ve been wet since I started watching you at the brewery. I always find it sexy how you run things, and the fact that your biceps are about to bust out of that tee, and that they’re capable of holding me up against a wall while you fuck me… I’m always wet for you, Stud.”

I shift in my seat, her words have me growing harder as the miles tick by.

“Open wider, Sunshine.”

She does as I say, giving me full access to her pussy. I lazily drag my fingers around her clit, dipping them inside every few passes. By the time we pull into the driveway, she’s desperate to come.

Throwing the truck in park, I rip the center console up, giving me a flat surface to finish my girl with my tongue. I turn to face her, gripping her leg with my arm and pulling her toward me. I hook her legs with my elbows, and she sucks in a breath.

“Are you ready to come?”

“So ready,” she pants out.

I set a punishing pace with my tongue, the pain radiating through my cheek as her thighs squeeze my face, but ignoring every twinge to make sure my girl is taken care of.

I lick, nip, and suck at her clit, plunging two fingers deep inside and curling them to find the spot that makes her buck her hips each time I stroke it.

I can’t believe I ever thought I could let this woman go. No wonder I was a miserable bastard for months.

“So. Close. Please.” She pants in the quiet of my truck.

I give her what she wants with one final nip at her clit and she squeezes my face with her thighs as the orgasm hits her and she screams my name.

Fuck, that hurts so good. The pain is a reminder of not only what I’ve done, but what I’ve gained tonight.

And that is the freedom to love this woman however I want.