When he finally lifted his head, we were both breathing hard and my mouth tingled. Touching my finger to it, I tried to press the feeling deeper, wanting it to linger, but he caught my hand and pulled it away. Dropping a softer yet quick kiss on my lips, he stepped back. “I need you to hurry and get dressed, little treasure,” he signed, his movements urgent. “Before I do something that might mess this up.”
Before I could assure him he wouldn’t mess anything up, he turned and closed the door as he left.
4
Max
As soon as she walked into the kitchen, I wanted to grab her and spread her across the island. Maybe eating Delaney for lunch would help me focus on work instead of just lying beneath the car I was supposed to be fixing, thinking about how much I missed her.
It seemed ridiculous to miss her when she was so close, but I fucking did. Badly. That pressure in my chest had only gotten worse and worse as the morning had gone on and I couldn’t see or touch her. As soon as it was noon, I’d called to my dad that I was going to grab something to eat, and I’d hauled ass up the side steps to my apartment. Luckily, he’d been on his way home himself to eat with Mom, or he probably would have stopped me.
And I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if he or anyone else had delayed me from seeing my little treasure.
She was wearing another one of my T-shirts and a pair of my old sweats. They swallowed her whole, making her look even smaller than she was, and I fucking loved it. Her hands landed on the island where I was finishing up with our sandwiches, and I glanced down, spotting her injured finger.
Dropping the butter knife into the mayo jar, I turned and washed my hands before grabbing the first aid box off the top of the fridge. I’d forgotten about the wound on her finger, and it pissed me off. I should have taken care of it the night before. The first time I’d noticed it, I could tell it was infected and painful for her.
She frowned until I took her hand in mine and carefully cleaned the nailless finger. She flinched when the alcohol swab brushed over the reddened flesh, but she clenched her jaw and didn’t pull away. Meanwhile, I began to sweat because I knew my doctoring was causing her discomfort. The thought of her in pain drove me crazy. Knowing I was the cause of that pain pushed me to the brink.
As if she knew my inner struggle, she touched my back with her other hand and leaned her head against my arm. I brushed a kiss over her brow before finally tossing the little gauze in the trash and then slathering a little antibiotic ointment over the area before bandaging it.
Once it was covered, I lifted her hand and kissed her fingertip, earning me a sweet smile from her sexy lips. She wrapped her arms around my middle and tilted her head back. Unable to stop myself, I bent and brushed my lips over hers. It was a soft kiss, barely a flutter of our mouths touching, but it got me harder than I’d ever been in my life.
Her sigh did nothing to calm the inferno she was causing within me. Lifting her, I placed her on the island and then finished making our lunch. Picking up half of the ham and turkey sandwich, I touched it to her lips, and she took a small bite.
“What’s your favorite sandwich?” I asked once my hands were free.
Her brow scrunched up as she considered her answer. “Grilled cheese,” she signed, then added. “But peanut butter and jelly is a close second.”
I grimaced. “Sorry, baby. You won’t find anything peanut butter in this place. My sister is allergic.”
“That’s okay. I like BLTs just as much.” She took a hungry bite of her sandwich.
“I’ll make sure I get bacon at the grocery store,” I promised, then wiped my mouth on a paper towel. “I’m going to grab you a few things after I pick up Nova later. Can you tell me what sizes you wear?”
She seemed to deflate right in front of my eyes, and I replayed what I’d just said that could have caused that kind of reaction. When it hit me, I stepped between her legs. “Nova is my cousin,” I told her with a grin. “She’s thirteen and like another sister to me. I’ll bring her back with me so you can meet her.”
Her brown eyes brightened, and for the first time, I noticed there were flecks of green scattered within them. I became hypnotized by the discovery and realized there was more green in her left eye than her right.
Delaney stroked her fingertips down my jaw, a smile teasing at her lips as they brushed through the two-day-old scruff. “You don’t have to buy me things. I was going to ask if you knew anywhere I could get a job.” She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth before continuing. “Maybe somewhere that will pay in cash? I don’t want my uncle to find me by creating a paper trail.”
“We can talk about that later,” I deflected. “And I want to buy you a few things. As much as I love seeing you in my clothes, eventually my family will want to meet you. I don’t want to have to rip Reid’s eyeballs out of his head if he sees you without a bra on.”
Her skin glowed a pretty pink. “I will pay you back.”
“No,” I growled, even though I knew she couldn’t hear it. “You will not.”
“But, Max—”
I caught hold of her hands and wrapped them around my waist, putting an end to the argument before it even got started. “I want to know your sizes and what your favorite colors are. Write them down for me before I go back to work. I have watch duty at the middle school today, and I usually pick up Nova when it’s my turn.”
She only glared up at me, but I gave her a quick kiss. “Please, little treasure,” I signed with a pout. “Let me take care of you.”
“You have already given me so much,” she said after pulling her hands free. “I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness.”
I threw back my head and laughed, which earned me a light slap to the chest. Grinning, I shook my head at how adorable she was. “No one has ever called me kind before, treasure. Not even my own mother. But I really like that you think I am.”
She rolled her eyes at me. Laughing, I tickled her until she was squealing and giggling, begging me to stop. Her giggles and her voice as she cried “stop” were the sweetest, most precious sounds I’d ever heard. I hated that she couldn’t hear it or my own voice, but I was just thankful the accident that had taken her ability to hear hadn’t robbed me of her as well.
After lunch—and I’d gotten her to write down her sizes and favorite colors—I left her with a kiss to her soft lips and a promise to bring home dinner. The kiss would have to hold me over until I got back, but I wasn’t confident it would help any.
Somehow, I was able to finish up the repairs to the car I was working on before I had to ride over to the middle school. Ever since two of Ramirez’s men had attacked Nova to send a message to the Vitucci family, the MC had been taking shifts each morning and afternoon at all three of the schools in town to make sure that she and the other students stayed safe.
I watched over the middle school three days a week in the afternoon with my cousin Reid. For me, it had been a toss-up between wanting to watch over the high school because of my cousin River or the middle school for Nova. But since River’s boyfriend took both the morning and afternoon shifts for the high school, I decided Nova needed me more.