“You alright?” he asked me, and I wanted to punch him, but that would damage his pretty face. Just because a woman drinks didn’t mean a damn thing was wrong with her.
“Absolutely.” His gaze lingered longer than it should before he took off to make my drink. A subtle come on, but definitely one of them.
A tap came to my shoulder, and inside I wanted to jump. Earlier, when Ari and I were dancing, I’d been blowing men off left and right. I really wasn’t in the mood to do it again while I was sitting here drinking.
Turning my head slowly, a man on the shorter side stood next to me with a goofy as hell grin. “Go away.” The order came with an eye roll. No, he wasn’t ugly, but he did nothing for me. Sure, I could go back to being polite and doing everything the man said, but out here, I didn’t have to do any of that. I could make up my own mind and do what I wanted to do. Not what a man told me to do.
He might be a good guy, but just from one glance at him, I knew he wasn’t for me. Romance books had so many different heroes in them. The ones who got to me were the men who were strong and dominate. The ones who took what they wanted and made a woman feel like she wasn’t so alone in a world of chaos yet didn’t take over their lives. They were loving and caring, doing anything and everything for their woman. I’d yet to find one, so maybe they were just in my imagination.
The guy started to talk, but it was the deep baritone on the other side of me that caught my attention. Turning to him, my breath caught for a moment, and words wouldn’t form on my lips. It’s as if I was suspended in time, unable to do anything but stare at the beauty of this man. I’d never described a man as beautiful, but he was.
“Just ignore him,” he said to me as my brow quirked, my voice coming back after clearing my throat. All I could think was ‘Don’t sound stupid. You’ve got this’.
“Now why would I want to do that?”
The hunk of a man’s face was very well-defined with solid angles and planes giving him an imposing look. When his lip tips in a smirk, my panties instantly dampen. It’s one of those a woman will never forget in her entire life. One that makes you stop and take notice. One of those that was burned so deep in a woman’s mind, it never escaped. One I thought was a figment, a ghost. Almost like the books I’d read.
Of all the men I’d ever been around, none of them made me feel even a speck of whatever this tingle was.
The eyes were his other weapon, deep brown with layers upon layers pulling me and captivating me completely.
“No answer?” I jabbed, wanting to hear more from him and curious what his story was. Everyone had a story. Some weren’t so pretty like mine. While others were intriguing. I wondered which he was.
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve seen in years. You think I’m lettin’ you go?”
To this, I threw my head back laughing. “Flattery will get you everywhere. What’s your name?”
“Micah, you?”
“Cyrus.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”
To this I laughed full out. “Beautiful name? No. More like a life sentence.”
He leaned in to my ear. “Sexy Cyrus. Yeah, I think it’s damn perfect.”
My belly did a small flip, and my heart rate picked up. Fuck, I was in trouble.
Yeah, I was in serious trouble that night. Little did I know, he’d leave me with a bundle in my belly.
7
Micah
“How the hell are ya?” Dryerson put his hand out and I clasped it, pulling him into a man embrace. Or whatever the hell you called it. I didn’t give a fuck; I was just happy to see the man.
“Fuckin’ great,” I responded as he pulled away with a wide smile on his face. Dryerson was my brother. We were Marines, with a team fighting together, and we trusted each other with everything inside of us.
We depended on one another every damn day, and we didn’t let the other one down. Ever. We never left anyone behind. Come hell or high water, we all got out. Even if it were on a stretcher unresponsive. Those were the memories I hated reliving, but they were always there just at the edge waiting for some moment to trigger them to all come flooding back.
“Get your ass in here.” I opened the door to my new home, and Dryerson stepped inside. The place was sparse, and Dryerson didn’t know it yet, but he was going to help me get my things out of storage later.
When I got home from college, I’d bought a home in Sumner. It turned into a rental property while I was gone in the Marines, and there was a realtor who handled everything for me. When I knew my service time would be ending, I called her up about a year before and had her get it ready for me. The two-story home needed to be cleaned and updated. Paint, cabinets, flooring, beams, appliances, countertops, bathrooms—everything was new.
No offense, but I wanted my ass to be the only one that sat on my toilet. After sharing everything for four years, I needed that.
Luckily, my realtor handled everything. I just paid the bills.
It worked out in the end.
It saved me a ton of time and money for that matter.
“Lookin’ like you need some furniture, man.” Dryerson commented, stepping into the entryway, then into the living room with cathedral ceilings. Ceiling fans whirled above, and the exposed wooden beams gave it a homey look.
The living room fed into the kitchen which was stocked with all the appliances. The realtor had them delivered yesterday before I got here. Stainless steel all the way, and the countertops looked like marble with whites, browns, and blacks swirled around, but really it was fake marble.
It looked good and wouldn’t take much to replace, but it went well with the cherry color of the cabinets. Even I had to admit the kitchen was huge and included a large island in the center. Off to the side of that was a connected dining room, but it would probably end up being a pool room or something. I’d either eat at the island or the couch, once we got it anyway.
“Yup, now that you brought my ride here for me, I’ll go get the trailer. And you’re gonna help me get it out of storage, man.”
“You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me. I finally get my ass here, and you’re gonna put me to work already?” he teased in his sarcastic way.
“Fuck yeah.”
“Your ride is sweet, Tugger. Fuck me. Driving that thing was a dream.”
I smiled. “Wait until you see what it does.”
His brow quirked as she shook his head. He knew me. Knew what I needed. He got me.
“This place is gorgeous. Why the fuck you need such a big house?” he questioned.
It wasn’t huge. It had four bedrooms and a basement room that could be turned into another if needed. Three baths and one half bath. Then the office, dining room, kitchen and living room. Not atrocious by any means.
“Plan on livin’ here a long time. Wanna get settled and put in some roots. Sumner is home and always has been. It’s damn time I get my shit together, and this was the first step.”
Dryerson stepped through the room to the sliding glass door. I knew what he’d see and his reaction. “Holy fucking hell. This is your backyard?” He didn’t ask, just opened the sliding door and stepped through. I followed, smiling.