My heart thumped harder as I looked at him and nodded. I didn’t know what I was agreeing to; we’d never really done anything that wasn’t sex before. The idea of just…staying with him tonight had too many implications for me to settle on one, especially when I was dealing with a man who was the worst at explaining what was going on in his head.
I winced as I got into the truck. “Try not to hit every bump on the way there.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, but as he pulled away from the shoulder, he took my hand and gave it a squeeze.
It was a good reminder for me not to think too heavily about what he meant, or what it might not mean. We’d never said it before, but we’d done pretty well agreeing to take things as they came. It was important that I kept that in mind; I wasn’t some fluttering idiot with stars in my eyes. I knew the score, or at least the potential score, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy what I had.
Which is exactly what I made myself do as we drove the last twenty minutes back to the outpost, night having beaten us because he’d taken a detour to beat the hell out of my insides. There was no way in hell I was going to complain, though, and I hopped out and looked at the main building, seeing it lit up.
“Leave the stuff,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Well, except for?—”
“Right,” I said with a laugh, grabbing the bags meant for his cabin. “We could unload the rest of the stuff, or make the guys do it.”
“Nothing is going to be lost staying out overnight,” he said with a shrug.
“Someone’s feeling antsy,” I said as I closed the door and glanced over, cocking my head when I saw a bike I didn’t recognize. Shit, had one of the guys had their bike from home delivered?
“What?” Xander demanded, and I jumped, hurrying after him.
“Nothing,” I said with a shrug. If one of them, probably Jake or Carter, had had their bike dropped off, Xander was going to have a shit fit. And considering he seemed eager as hell to get the two of us alone for the night, I wasn’t going to risk his bad mood coming back over something like that. Better we deal with it inthe morning. Maybe I could even handle it myself before he was ever aware of it. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head as we walked through the dark; me following because he had the paths around here memorized more than I did. “Just…too early to be this quiet.”
“Probably a movie night,” I said, glancing back at the main building. “Looks like Cait’s still in her office, though. So she’s keeping an ear out for their nonsense.”
“You’re starting to sound like me,” he informed me with a chuckle.
“Nah, I didn’t call them idiots, or swear half a dozen times to cover up the fact that I’m actually really fond of them and care about them,” I said with a snort. “When I pull that shit, then I’ll sound more like you.”
“Eat shit,” he said, but I could hear his repressed laughter.
“You’re such a stubborn butthole,” I said as he came to a stop at his door, butting my head into his back and kissing it.
“Rail a man against a truck and suddenly he gets all submissive and soft.”
“It’s submissive and breedable, get it right, old man.”
“I wasn’t that old earlier,” he said, and I chuckled when he bent down and gave me a kiss. “You were the one struggling to sit down.”
“That has nothing to do with my age,” I told him with a snort. “But yeah, maybe I’m feeling a little squishier than usual. I could do with a stiff drink after that stiff dicking, and then a nice soft bed with the man who’s learning to tolerate me.”
“More than tolerate,” he said, and I blinked, my heart skipping a beat at the soft words. “C’mon, let’s settle in.”
“Sure,” I said, pressing up against him and kissing him as he swung open the door, reaching to flip the light on.
And froze when I realized…we were not alone.
He realized it at the same moment I did, both of us turning slowly to stare into several sets of eyes that were wide and shocked. There was a small cake in Mika’s hands that was slipping dangerously as his arms sagged. Every single person who worked at the outpost was crammed into Xander’s cabin, and had not only watched me cozy up to their boss and kiss him, but had probably heard enough of our conversation to have scarred them for life.
Every single employee, plus a woman in biker gear I didn’t recognize, but her shock and anger were obvious.
And then Xander said. “Mona?”
As in…the wife he was separated from and divorcing?
“Uh…happy birthday?” Reno said, feebly waving a plastic maraca of all things. “Surprise?”
“Fuuuck,” Xander breathed.