Jaxson left his seat and brought a plush throw blanket to drape on us, and I smiled my thanks to him as he plopped down in front of me. He grabbed my hand and placed it on his head. He couldn’t be more obvious. I stifled a giggle and began to run my nails across his scalp and neck. He shuddered and groaned, and I knew he was enjoying it.
I sighed. This was a nice respite from our normal chaotic nightly routines. I was content. It was so nice to have all the guys together around me. I didn’t like the fact that I had been separated from them, but Horatio’s plan had back fired on him. He wanted to separate us and alienate me, but we were closer than we had ever been, and we now had the opportunity to work on us. We were given a do over.
It wasn’t long before the younger kids started to fade. Their movie wasn’t even finished yet. Will quickly volunteered to carry one of them up before he headed to bed himself. Noah, Jace, and Drake took the other ones up. The older boys asked us if they could go in the den and continue pouring over Patrick’s comic books, and we didn’t find a problem in it.
Troy decided to light a fire in the fireplace. I decided to head to the kitchen to grab some snacks for us. Remy followed me into the kitchen to grab some drinks.
I was putting some popcorn in the microwave, when I felt a warm, large, hard body press into the back of me. I didn’t have to turn to know it was Remy. I felt his hands slide along my ribs, grasp my hips, and stroked his way down my thighs. It took me a second to realize his goal as I felt his warm sure hands.
“You do have panties on.” His voice was gravelly as he husked in my ear.
I leaned back into him. “I couldn’t wear no panties with the kids around.”
He hummed in the back of his throat as he continued to rub his hands along my thighs and began to kiss the side of my neck. I was putty in his hands. I had noticed a change in him the most since my last connection was made. He was physically affectionate before, but never physically forward with me.
Remy was a hard read. I didn’t know if he was more physical with me because he had ‘lost’ me once, or if the increased power of his gifts affected his libido. All further thoughts flew out of my head as he turned me around to capture my lips with his own. His lips were commanding and domineering as they closed over mine. I opened my mouth in a gasp as he tilted my chin up to deepen our kiss. I linked my hands through his jaw-length blond hair and arched my back into him.
He let out a satisfied growl as he lifted me against him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, wanting to get even closer to him.
The sound of the doorbell had us breaking apart from our steamy make out session. Remy lifted his head and growled in frustration. He slowly lowered me to the ground. My breathing was ragged as I gripped the front of his shirt, bracing my forehead on his chest, my legs barely able to hold me up. I could hear murmurings of voices in the hallway, and I felt Remy stiffen.
I lifted my head in confusion. I looked up at Remy and his face was closed off. I could feel the tension radiating from him. What made him do a complete 180 in a matter of seconds and who the heck would be ringing the doorbell at nearly 9 o’clock at night? I stepped back away from him in bewilderment and felt somewhat hurt when he didn’t try to stop me.
Jace came into the room looking slightly uncomfortable, followed by a tall, breathtakingly beautiful woman. It was my turn to stiffen as Molly Hunt came into the kitchen. She was once Jace’s on again, off again girlfriend. She was also a lingerie model, and one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She was tall, with natural curves, and had platinum blond hair and light grey, almost silver eyes.
“Remy!” she gushed with a lilting voice. She could be one of those 900 number operators, with a voice like that.
She embraced him and turned to look at me. “Hello there. I’m Molly, are you one of Jemmy’s friends?”
I blushed under her kind appraisal. There was no malice in her tone. It was like I was so inconsequential. That there was no way I could be involved with any of the guys. Admittedly I was sans makeup, so I’m sure I looked younger, but the assumption still stung.
Remy and Jace exchanged an indecipherable look. “Well, no. This is Blake. She’s our connected,” Remy finally grunted. “What are you doing here?”
I was struck by two things, the silence in the room and Remy’s behavior. His tone surprised me. When Molly was mentioned in the past, he never seemed to have any reservations about her. Jemmy had also told me there was a possibility that I would be seeing her around, since she still had ties to the family.
“Oh great! You met your connected,” she gushed as she nudged her elbow into his chest, with a familiarity. “And at your age!”
Jace cleared his throat. “No, Molly, she’s our connected. All of ours; Remy, Jaxson, Noah, Troy, Drake…and I.”
She let out a tinkling laugh, looking between Jace and Remy. Jaxson, Troy, Noah, and Drake chose that moment to join Jace in the opening of the kitchen. “Oh,” she gulped, sadness flitted across her features before she pasted on a wide smile. It looked effortless. I imagined if you spend hours in front of a camera, you became an expert on how to hide your true feelings. “Well congratulations.”
I could tell she was making a conscious effort not to look at Jace.
“How?” Then her eyes widened before she closed them. “The tattoos,” she said quietly.
I shifted uncomfortably, feeling like I was intruding on a private conversation. In that moment I felt sorry for her. Jemmy sincerely liked her, and Jemmy was always a great judge of character. I had been jealous of Molly’s relationship with Jace in the past, especially after they showed up on every gossip rag in the country, but there had to be a reason she was still considered family…right?
“Yeah, the tattoos,” Jace confirmed. He came up behind me and pulled me close to him. “Do you mind if Remy and I take this into the den?”
I looked at them uncertainly. Was there a reason they didn’t want to have this conversation in front of me? Not that I wanted to be there. I was super uncomfortable right now. I didn’t want to repeat our past mistakes, but at the same time, trust had to be established at some point.
“No,” I shook my head. It was my turn to see if I was any good at my acting skills. “Go ahead.”
Chapter 22
They had been in there for less than 5 minutes, before Remy came slamming out of the room and stormed down to the basement. When I went to stand up and follow him, Jaxson pulled me back into him and shook his head.
“He needs to work it out on his own,” he said quietly resituating me into the curve of his body.
When another half hour passed, I looked at the den door in confusion. What could be taking Jace so long?
Troy sighed and paused his movie. Not that any of us had been watching it. I was too busy watching the den door and looking towards the basement door. They were warily watching me.