Restless Ink

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “Huh?”

  “She owns a bakery. I feel like we should get to know her bakery just like we should get to know her.”

  Amelia snorted as Devin punched him, and Dimitri just grinned.

  “How do you stay so in shape with your sweet tooth?” Dimitri asked.

  “First, we all have sweet tooths. Teeth? Whatever. We’re Carrs. It’s in our sweet blood.” Caleb grinned. “Not to be mistaken for sweet breads, which is gross. And, secondly, I work out. A lot. Because I like cake. Cake is my friend.”

  Dimitri just shook his head as his siblings discussed their favorite cookies and cakes, listening to them while trying to think of what he was going to say to Thea when he saw her next. He’d needed this time with his family so he could remember who he was and where he’d come from. It reminded him why he taught at the school he did, why he dealt with dress codes, and why he stayed down in the Springs. Because that was the life he’d made, and he wanted Thea to be a part of that life.

  Meaning, he needed to speak to her.

  And talk to Molly to make sure she knew the boundaries he had to put in place. The ones he should have established to begin with.

  “You should go,” Devin whispered while Caleb and Amelia were fighting about something unimportant. That’s how they all dealt with each other: dramatics, loud voices, hard hugs, and support. One more reason Dimitri had come to his brother’s place for the weekend.

  “You kicking me out?” Dimitri asked dryly.

  “No. Never. You’re always welcome here, and I know I’ll see you again in a couple days for the holidays, but you need to go see Thea. Text her, call her, whatever. But see her. Soon. Before it’s too late because you didn’t say the things you should have.”

  Dimitri frowned, staring at his brother. “Why are you talking to me like you have experience with this?”

  Devin’s gaze went emotionless, and he shrugged as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “I read. And those Marvel movies have a lot of emotion. I mean, the fight between Captain and Tony broke me.”

  Dimitri knew his brother was lying, but he let the other man keep doing so. When the time was right, Devin would spill. They always did.

  “Team Captain forever,” Dimitri said, getting up off the couch.

  “Team Captain!” the other three said at once then started laughing. They were all a little off their rockers, but they were his family. He wouldn’t have them any other way.

  “I’m going to head home and call Thea on the way. It’s an hour drive, so that should give me time to think about what I need to say before I actually make the call.”

  Amelia bounced toward him, giving him a hard hug. “Go get your girl. I can’t wait to hang out with her.” She kissed his cheek, and he did the same to the top of her head. She was his baby sister even if she wasn’t such a baby anymore.

  “Don’t fuck up,” Caleb said before pounding him on the back and hugging him even harder. He was pretty sure between Caleb and Devin, Dimitri was going to end up with a broken rib or four.

  Devin walked him out, helping him with his bag, though Dimitri could have done it on his own.

  “Don’t fuck up.”

  Dimitri just shook his head. “Caleb already said that.”

  “Bears repeating. Bring her to dinner when you can. I know she works long hours, and with this potential expansion you were talking about, it’ll get harder timing-wise, but we want to get to know her. She makes you happy, bro. Don’t lose that.”

  Dimitri nodded, his throat a bit tight, and got into his car, waving at his family as he pulled out of the driveway. Thankfully, the roads were clear, and there wasn’t another storm predicted for over a week. They weren’t going to have a white holiday, but they’d have less ice and snow on the roads, something he didn’t mind in the least.

  He got on I-25 and headed south toward the Springs, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he tried to figure out what he was going to say to Thea other than that he loved her. He could do that, should do that, but it wasn’t time yet. Not when things were so uncertain.

  “Maybe telling her would make things certain for her,” he muttered to himself.

  He’d tell her, maybe not tonight if he got to see her, but soon. Because he didn’t want to lose her. But then again, he didn’t want to overwhelm her either. It was a lot to deal with, and he already came with so much baggage it wasn’t even funny. He was damn lucky she’d even given him a chance.

  He let out a breath and used the keypad on the steering wheel to call Thea. When she answered on the second ring, he blew out such a relieved breath, he figured she heard it.

  “Dimitri.”

  “I’m heading home from Devin’s now and…can I come over? I miss you so damn much, Thea. I know we need to talk, and we will, but I just need to see you.” He hadn’t known what he was going to say when he called her, but as soon as the words left his lips, he knew they were the right ones.

  “I was waiting to call so I didn’t interrupt your time with the family. I need to see you, too, Dimitri. Can you come over? Do you have Captain?”

  “Molly had him out for grooming when I went to pick him up, so I missed my weekend.” He was still bitter about that and had a feeling she’d done it on purpose.

  “That bitch. And, Jesus, she just had him at the groomer’s. It’s like she’s finding excuses to get him out of the house. Bitch.”

  His eyes widened. “Thea?” He’d never heard her talk about Molly that way, even when Molly had started to be more passive-aggressive than usual. The fact that he’d just thought that last sentence spoke volumes about how well Molly had been hiding her true self.

  “Come over. I need to hold you and tell you all the crap that’s been going on. Because, Dimitri? It’s a whole load of crap.”

  “I’m forty minutes away,” he said.

  “Don’t speed. Stay safe and come home to me.”

  He let out a shaky breath. “I miss you, babe.”

  “Miss you, too. And I miss Captain. Can I go over to Molly’s and steal him? Dognapping isn’t too bad of a crime, is it?”

  He squeezed the steering wheel, trying to stay in control so he didn’t get in an accident since people were speeding by him on this one curve that most people drove too fast on.

  “I’ll get him tomorrow night since it’s too late tonight.” It was just after dinner time, but he knew he and Thea needed to talk before he went and saw his ex.

  “Have him stay here with me. I…I don’t want him with her.”

  “I’m almost there, baby. You need to tell me what happened to make you react like this, though.”

  “Not when you’re driving.”

  “Worrying about what it could be is just going to make it harder.”

  “I think Molly is actually trying to push us apart. She’s pushing us together so she can look like the bigger person while tearing at us so we break apart, and she ends up on top. It’s insane, but after she lied about the shrimp and then all those little remarks over time…it’s just weird.”

  He sighed, looking at the mile marker and wishing he were already there rather than so far away. “I think you and I are on the same page. Jesus, Thea. What a mess.”

  “It gets worse.” She told him about the flour delivery and how a woman had called to change it. “I don’t know if it was her, and it’s probably a stretch, but seriously, it sounds like someone is out to get me. And that sounds delusional. But she’s the only one I know who might do something like that to get back at me for some slight. And doing her ex-husband isn’t just any slight.”

  Dimitri wanted to groan and close his eyes at that, but since he was driving, he resisted. “First, it’s not delusional or paranoid if they really are out to get you.” She laughed, but he knew it wasn’t a full one. “Second, she has no right to feel that way. Not with the words and actions she’s used in the past to put us together. Yes, now we know it might have all been a lie, but that’s on her. Third, you’re not just doing me, and we bo
th know that. Though the doing is nice.”

  “The doing is more than nice.” She paused for a moment. “Come home, Dimitri.”

  He didn’t comment on the fact that she’d called her home, his home. That was one more step for them, even in just word choice. “I’ll be there soon. Why don’t you tell me what kind of cupcakes you’re making tomorrow, so we can think of good things. And when I get to your place, we can talk about what we’re going to do next.”

  “I was thinking lemon, even though it’s such a summer flavor. I just need a little sunshine.”

  “You can make two kinds. Summer and winter and make it a thing.”

  “Cider cupcakes with lemon ones, as well? Think of the decorating I could do with the frosting.”

  “Now I’m hungry. Maybe I made the wrong choice.”

  “There’s never a wrong choice when it comes to cupcakes.”

  He smiled. “You need that on a shirt.”

  “Or a mug. Totally writing it down. How much longer?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Let’s talk about brownies then.”

  By the time he pulled into Thea’s driveway, he was hungry and horny. Oddly, not the first time when it came to Thea Montgomery. He turned off the car and got out, only to find her jumping toward him. He caught her in his arms and held her close, needing her taste, her touch, her.

  “I missed you,” he whispered against her lips.

  “I missed you so much.” He kissed her again. “Make love to me, Dimitri. We’ll make our plans, figure out what’s wrong and why everyone keeps doing the things they’re doing, but make love to me first.”

  He nipped at her lip. “Here? Outside?”

  She wrapped her legs around his waist and grinned. “It’s a little chilly. What would Little Dmitri say?”

  He rocked himself gently against her, aware it wasn’t quite late enough for people to be asleep and anyone could look out of their window at any moment.

  “Let’s go inside and play adult Twister, just without the mat.”

  “Deal.”

  He locked his door and carried her inside, locking the house door behind them, as well. He carried her to the bedroom, just holding her as she rested her head on his shoulder. They were both tired, but from the way neither of them wanted to let go of the other, he knew they needed tonight more than ever.

  “I want you,” he whispered against her neck.

  “Then have me. I’m all yours.”

  Dimitri could barely hold back, then again, when it came to Thea, he usually had that problem. He kissed her softly when they reached the edge of the bed, needing her taste. He’d missed her so damn much, and he couldn’t find the words to make sure she understood that. And because he couldn’t, he’d find a way to tell her with his hands, his body, just him.

  They stripped each other slowly, as if they were relearning one another. He loved the soft curves of her body, the heavy weight of her breasts, the way her hips flared out, and the fact that her thighs were thick and perfect when they wrapped around his waist…and his face.

  “I know we usually take our time with foreplay and we’re forever teasing each other,” Thea began, wrapping her hand around the base of his cock. He swallowed hard, trying to focus on her voice and not her touch. “But can you just get inside me? Next time, we can go slow and do all the things we love to do, but I need you in me. I missed you, Dimitri. I just…I need you.”

  He leaned forward even as she held him, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. “You read my mind. Lay on your stomach on the bed. We can still play…just how we like.”

  Her pupils dilated, and she squeezed him one last time—making him wince—then went to the bed. She gave him a coy look over her shoulder before crawling to the middle and laying down. Her gaze tracked him as he went to the dresser and got out a condom, sliding it over his dick. He ignored the other toys they each had in there—him having left a few new ones for the two of them—and shut the drawer. Then he walked back to the edge of the bed and crawled over her, though he knelt to the side of her legs.

  He slid his hand between her legs, and she shivered.

  “Already wet.”

  “Always with you.” As he was always hard, he liked that. No, he loved that. Loved her. And he would tell her. After.

  He tapped her thigh. “Legs together.”

  She looked at him strangely. “What?”

  “Put your legs together. It’ll make it feel even tighter.” He winked, and she licked her lips before doing as he asked.

  Then he settled over her and slowly slid into her. She lifted her ass ever so slightly to give him better access, and he almost lost himself at the first stroke.

  “You’re so damn tight like this.”

  She panted into the bed, “I…I don’t think I’ve ever done it this way. I…you feel so big.”

  He held onto her hips, his thumbs playing with her crease as he shifted his hold. “I’ll go gentle.”

  “Don’t. I don’t want gentle. Not tonight. Not this time.”

  So he didn’t give her gentle. He slammed into her before pulling out and doing it again. She met him thrust for thrust, squeezing her thighs together as he fucked her…as they made love.

  And when he was close, he knelt over her, using his core muscles to pull her up with him. It forced her to spread her legs slightly, and soon, her back was to his front, his hand over her pussy, and his other over her breasts.

  She turned her head, capturing his mouth, and he slid in and out of her. The angle was just perfect enough that he could do this, though if she were any shorter, it wouldn’t have worked. He’d never felt this close to her, never felt as if they were connected far beyond their bodies.

  But they were.

  And from the look he caught in her eyes, she knew it, too.

  Her arms reached behind them, pulling him even closer, spreading his cheeks at the same time. And because he was so deep inside her, she was able to probe the crease of his ass, but not any farther.

  “Next time,” he growled into her neck. “Next time, you can play.”

  Then she fell to her hands, looking over her shoulder with such a fierce look, he knew she was close to the edge. With one more push, they’d both fall into the abyss. “Deal.”

  He thrust into her hard once more, and she came around him, sending him over the edge, as well. He shouted her name, gripping her hips so hard, he was afraid he’d leave bruises, so he let go but hovered over her back, needing her touch, her heat, her everything.

  He needed her.

  And now that he had her, he was never letting go.

  And if he were lucky, she’d never want him to.

  Chapter 23

  The next day, Thea was sore in all the right places and wanted to go back to her house and get back into bed next to Dimitri. She’d left him there since she had to wake up so early, and he had planned to head back to his place to shower and grab some things before coming to the bakery.

  Later, they would go and pick up Captain and possibly confront Molly. The idea that it might feel as if they were ganging up on the other woman had occurred to both of them, but they needed to be a united front against what had been happening under their noses.

  Molly was not a nice person.

  And that meant she wasn’t going to be in their lives.

  Even if it hurt.

  And, hell, it already hurt, and it was going to hurt more. But there was something unhealthy about the way Molly was in their lives at the moment, and they had to fix that. Yes, they. Not just Dimitri, who wanted to break ties completely. He’d already tried with the divorce, but between Captain and Thea, he hadn’t been able to.

  Now, it was Thea’s turn.

  Because Thea could finally see beneath the veneer of the woman to who Molly might have always been. And if she and Dimitri thought things were complicated now, well….it was just going to get worse once they spoke to his ex.

  Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Maybe everything
that had happened recently wasn’t connected at all, and it was all just a huge error.

  Or maybe it was something far worse.

  “Thea?” Carter reached out over the counter and gripped her hand, startling her. “What’s wrong? You’ve been standing there watching your coffee cup for a few minutes without saying anything.”

  She blinked up at her brother-in-law and tried to smile. “I didn’t realize I was lost in thought that much. Usually, I can multitask when I think.”

  Carter studied her face, his eyes searching. He was such a quiet man, though he could make her laugh. She didn’t know him well because he was hard to get to know, not because she didn’t want to. She knew he loved her sister, saw it in the way he moved around Roxie as if she were his everything, but Thea didn’t know if that was enough.

  Considering that she hoped Dimitri looked at her the way Carter did with Roxie—albeit with a little less sadness she didn’t understand—she hoped that love was enough.

  After a moment, Carter sat back and gave her a nod. “Well, usually if you’re thinking, you’re dealing with dough and kneading or mixing ingredients you know like the back of your hand. Dealing with hot liquid might take a little more attention, hence the standing still with coffee. Either that, or what you have on your mind needs more of you than just the part.”

  “You sound like you know a lot about thinking on the job.”

  Carter shrugged before taking a bite of his croissant. He chewed, swallowed, and wiped his mouth before answering. “Lots of time to think when you’re under a car. Most of my attention is on my hands, but there’s always a part of me that can think about what needs to be done or what hasn’t been done yet.”

  For some reason, she didn’t think Carter was talking about a to-do list at the shop, but she didn’t pry. The fact that he was talking so freely to her just then surprised her.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked after a moment. “I’m not the best with answers, but I’m a decent listener. Sometimes, you just need to talk, you know?”

  She almost asked him what was on his mind but stopped. What was going on between him and Roxie was between them. And Thea wanted her sister to talk to her, not Carter. Not because she didn’t care about her brother-in-law, but because she didn’t want to betray her sister by getting any news from another source. Loyalty and love went hand in hand, but it made things tricky when there could be secrets that needed to be kept…or spilled.