I grinned and leant in close to him. “We sure do, baby. When I’m ready to leave, I’ll start whispering dirty talk to you,” I said, and then moved away from him to walk inside.
He followed close behind, muttering something under his breath. God, I loved this man, and as much as I knew the road ahead wouldn’t be easy, and that there were no guarantees in life, I also knew deep in my heart that he was mine and would be mine forever.
7
Chapter Seven
Madison
I eyed the pavlova Harlow made and my mouth watered. “Is there anything you can’t make?” I asked. We were in my kitchen getting her desserts ready to serve and I stood in awe as I looked at them. Black forest pavlova, strawberries and cream trifle, and a choc-raspberry profiterole cake – all to die for.
“Do you know how hard it was for me to keep Scott away from these? That man has the biggest sweet tooth. Next Christmas I think I might have to come here and cook.”
Next Christmas.
I smiled. “I’m so glad you’re already thinking ahead to next year. I was beginning to worry about you and Scott,” I admitted quietly.
“We’ll be okay, honey,” she assured me, “Your brother is amazing and will get me through this. I wish I’d leant on him sooner, but I’ve never been good at leaning on people.”
“You’ll let him help you now, though?”
“I’ll try not to shut him out like I have been, but it might take me a while to get the hang of letting someone in, you know? I don’t think it will happen overnight; that’s for sure.”
Squeezing her hand, I murmured, “I know. You two will figure it out. Scott’s a stubborn man; he won’t give up.”
“Yeah, I realised that today,” she said, and I sensed she’d drifted away a little, remembering something.
Clapping my hands together, I said, “Okay, let’s get these desserts outside.”
We carried them out and I had to stifle a laugh when the guys zeroed in on them. Harlow’s cooking was appreciated by every Storm man and was the highlight of every get together we had.
“No Christmas pudding?” J asked, clearly disappointed.
Harlow winked at him. “No, I thought I’d try some different desserts this year, J. Plus it’s also good to leave a man hanging and wondering what’s next, you know?”
“Story of my fucking life, Harlow. I often get left hanging,” he muttered, his eyes coming to mine, and I couldn’t stop the laugh this time.
I left Harlow with the desserts so I could go and sit on J’s lap for a moment. “I promise not to leave you hanging tonight, baby,” I whispered in his ear.
His hand slid over my ass and he groaned. “I thought I wasn’t allowed to distract you tonight.”
“You’re not. I’m distracting you.” I brushed my lips over his, completely blocking out the sound of laughter and conversation around us.
His teeth gently grazed my lips and he tightened his hold of me. “You might wanna stop what you’re doing because that fucking distracts the hell out of me and when I’m distracted, you can bet your ass I’ll ignore all the rules you’ve laid down for me and then you’ll be distracted,” he growled. “And, sweetheart, if I begin distracting you, there won’t be any stopping. Understood?”
God, yes.
I moved off his lap and gave him a smile. “Understood,” I said, before making my way back to Harlow, knowing – and loving – that J’s eyes would be tracking my every movement.
We finished serving the desserts and almost complete silence fell on us as everyone began eating. Harlow had given us a piece of all three, and I thought for sure my favourite would be the pavlova, but they were all so damn good, I couldn’t choose a favourite in the end.
Scott had been fairly quiet all night, but as he placed his empty plate on the table, he said, “I thought Mum was coming.”
“Yeah, she is, but she said she’d be late,” I reminded him.
Frowning, he said, “We’ve just had dessert…that seems way past late.”
I shrugged, confident she’d turn up soon. We’d grown closer since Dad’s death so I had no reason to doubt her. “She’ll come.”
“And where the hell is Griff?” Nash asked.
“I don’t know. He said he’d come, and it’s unlike him not to do what he says,” I replied, disappointed he hadn’t turned up.
Scott leaned back in his chair, putting his arm around Harlow’s shoulders, and said, “Griff always has a solid reason for doing something. He wouldn’t just blow this off.”
Nash narrowed his eyes on Scott. “Is something going down we don’t know about?”
Scott didn’t rush to answer him, and I knew from the look in his eyes, he was considering whether to share something or not. “He texted me earlier to say he might not make it due to personal reasons; nothing to do with the club.”
Still so much we didn’t know about Griff. I wondered if we ever would.
I was lost in my thoughts about Griff when Brooke spoke up. “Thanks for inviting me today, Madison. This party is just what I needed after a long couple of months.”