Unraveling Him: A Small Town Family Romance (The Bailey Brothers Book 3)

by Claire Kingsley

  With a long, low growl, he slid his cock out. “Don’t move.”

  I waited while he got up and a second later, I heard a cupboard in the kitchen. He came back with a jar of coconut oil.

  His breath was ragged, but he didn’t rush. Didn’t force himself inside. He massaged me with his fingers, gently pulling, stretching—getting me ready.

  I had no idea how he had so much control. I’d come twice already and I was dying for him again.

  With his hands palming me, he positioned his cock and pushed in. Slow. Agonizingly slow. His body shuddered and he groaned again as the tip slid into my tight hole.

  “Fuck,” he muttered. “This is so hot.”

  The pain was nothing, the pressure more than worth the reverent awe in his voice. The way his body trembled behind me. He loved this, and I loved giving it to him.

  “Do it. Fuck me. I want to feel you come in my ass.”

  He grunted, moving his hips so he thrust in a little deeper. I bit my lip and exhaled. It wasn’t bad. He settled into a rhythm, his hands gripping my hips, his cock sliding in and out.

  “Fuck, Fiona, I can’t.” He was almost breathless now. “You’re so fucking hot. Oh my god.”

  His hips jerked harder and he growled like an animal. My muscles tightened around him as he started to come, the pulses of his orgasm rippling through me. My heart raced with the intensity of it and my eyes rolled back. It was a different sensation, new and delightfully dirty.

  He made me feel bad in all the best ways.

  His grip on my hips loosened and he carefully pulled out, breathing hard. “Holy shit. That was fucking unbelievable.”

  Still on my knees, I glanced back at him. The lazy grin on his face made me want to collapse into a melty ball of happiness.

  He gently massaged my hips and ass and leaned in to pepper me with soft kisses. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m great.”

  I held there while he babied me for a minute until my legs started to give out. He got up while I crumpled onto the couch.

  “Don’t move,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

  My eyes drifted closed—my word, I felt good—and a few moments later, strong arms were turning me over. Lifting me up. He carried me into the bedroom and laid me down on the bed.

  “Do you need anything?”

  His voice was so tender. So sweet. Who would have thought that grumpy, broody man had this inside of him?

  “Just cuddles.”

  “Anything you want, beautiful.”

  He got in bed with me and proved once again that Evan Bailey was the best cuddler in the history of snuggles.

  Feeling blissfully warm and pleasantly sore, I relaxed in his arms. There was something in the back of my mind. Something I’d meant to do. And for some reason, it seemed like maybe now would have been a good time to do it.

  But I didn’t want to think. I shifted a little so more of my skin was touching his, and he hugged me closer.

  I was so crazy in love this this man. I just wanted to drift for a while and enjoy this feeling.

  37

  Evan

  I woke up before Fiona, so I got out of our disheveled bed carefully so she could sleep. She was sprawled across the mattress, one arm hanging down, the sheets tangled around her waist.

  Adorable.

  She made me breakfast all the time, so I decided to return the favor. I wasn’t a great cook, but Gram had raised me right. I could make a decent stack of pancakes.

  There was a mixing bowl and a container of blackberries on the counter. Had she been about to make me cobbler last night? God, she was the best. I put the blackberries away for later and got to work. Pretty soon, the kitchen smelled like coffee and breakfast.

  Fiona’s sleepy voice came from the hallway while I was flipping the last pancake. “Morning.”

  “Hey.”

  Sasquatch trotted over to her and she petted his head. “Are you cooking breakfast?”

  “Yeah. Thought you might be hungry.”

  She smiled. Her hair was messy and she’d thrown on a t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of pink slippers. “Starving. It smells delicious.”

  “Thanks.”

  She went to the coffee maker to pour herself a cup and I couldn’t help but glance at her to make sure she was walking normally. Had I hurt her last night?

  I put the last pancake on the plate and set the spatula on the counter. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just waking up.”

  I gently slipped a hand around her waist. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. Why?”

  “Last night was just…”

  “It was what?”

  Fucking mind blowing. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

  Slipping her arms around my neck, she smiled. “Last night was fantastic. What are you worried about?”

  “I didn’t hurt you?”

  “No. Okay, I’m a little sore, but not in a bad way. I liked it. I wasn’t sure if I would, but it was fun. It felt naughty. I like being naughty with you.”

  I growled, low in my throat. “Beautiful, I love being naughty with you.”

  “So you liked it?”

  “That’s a fucking understatement. I can’t remember the last time I came so hard.”

  Giggling softly, she nibbled her bottom lip. I leaned down to kiss her—I wanted to nibble on that lip too—but someone knocked on the door.

  I groaned. “Who the hell could that be?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Reluctantly, I let her go and answered the door. I was surprised to see Jack Cordero, dressed in uniform.

  “Morning,” he said. “Sorry to bother you first thing, but I was wondering if Fiona has heard from her father.”

  “No, not at all,” she said, gathering her hair into a messy bun and tying it with a hair tie.

  Jack’s lips pressed together, like he was considering what that meant. “We haven’t had any luck tracking him down. No answer at his house and it’s unclear whether he’s been to work recently.”

  Fiona came closer to the door. “Have you asked Simone Stevens? She’s his… girlfriend, I guess? She also works there.”

  “We did talk with Simone. One of your dad’s mechanics pointed us in her direction, although she doesn’t work for your dad anymore. I don’t think she’s his girlfriend, either.”

  “Really?”

  “She’s living with someone named Rodney Burke. It was clear that they were in a relationship.”

  “Rodney?” Fiona asked, scrunching her nose. “Gross. He’s her jerk of an ex. Although she’s probably a bigger jerk than he is, so I guess they deserve each other. She’s living with him?”

  Jack nodded. “And she had some rather colorful things to say about your father and why she left him, none of which were pertinent to our case or his whereabouts.”

  “Drama,” Fiona muttered. “Wait, are you saying my dad’s missing?”

  “Successfully avoiding the police, yes. Missing, possibly. The only people who would see him on a regular basis are his employees, and the answers we got out of them are… inconsistent.”

  “They’re trying to cover for him.”

  “That’s what we think. Listen, I don’t want to alarm you unnecessarily, but we do have reason to believe he might be here, in Tilikum. You’re sure you haven’t seen him?”

  “No. I’d tell you,” she said. “I really would.”

  “All right.” He put his sunglasses back on. “Be careful. Both of you. And if you hear from him, let me know.”

  “I will.”

  “Thanks, Jack,” I said.

  He turned to go back to his car, and I shut the door.

  “I cannot believe him,” Fiona said. “He did this before, when I was in high school. The cops came sniffing around and he freaking disappeared for weeks.”

  “He didn’t take you with him?”

  “No. When he finally came back, he said he figured I was old enough to look out fo
r myself.”

  “Jesus.”

  She let out a breath. “He makes me so mad.”

  “Yeah, I’d love five minutes alone with him.” I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. “I want you to be careful, okay? Don’t go anywhere alone.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Fiona, someone took a baseball bat to my shop. Stuff can be replaced, but you…” I couldn’t even think it.

  “He won’t hurt me. Not like that.”

  Leaning down, I kissed her. I wasn’t so sure about that.

  My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket. Gavin. “Great, what does he want?” I swiped to answer. “Yeah.”

  “Bro, I’m pretty sure I can build a jump that will clear the ravine.”

  “No.”

  “Come on, I’ll be the first to test it. It’ll be fucking amazing.”

  “You’re a jackass. Is that seriously why you called me?”

  “Yeah. Also to chew you out for not letting us in on your prank on Luke.”

  “What prank on Luke?”

  Fiona’s eyes widened.

  “Whatever Fiona pulled on him yesterday. I saw her car parked at his shop. What’d she do and why didn’t you tell us?”

  “There was no prank, Gav.”

  “What? Of course there was. You don’t have to cover for her. Why else would she have been at Luke’s shop?”

  I stared at her, watching her face go pale. “I don’t know.”

  Gavin was quiet for a second. “Oh. Maybe it wasn’t her car then.”

  “Maybe not. Gotta go, Gav.”

  “See ya, bro.”

  Without taking my eyes off her, I ended the call.

  My heart knocked against my ribs and my pulse throbbed in my temples. I had a hair trigger when it came to that name, and when I spoke, my voice was louder than I intended. “Were you at Luke’s shop yesterday?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “What the fuck, Fiona?”

  “Could you maybe not yell at me? I was going to talk to you about it.”

  “Were you? This was yesterday and I hear about it from my brother?”

  “Yes, I was.” She crossed her arms. “I went there to talk to him. Why is that such a big deal?”

  “Because he’s fucking Luke Haven,” I roared. “You know what that means.”

  “I don’t know why you have to make your childhood rivalry everyone else’s problem,” she said, her voice rising with every word. “Your families want to pull pranks on each other, fine. I get it, it’s kind of funny. But this thing between you and Luke is out of control. One of your brothers sees my car there, and suddenly you’re yelling at me about it?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I haven’t had the chance. I was going to last night but you attacked me in the kitchen—which, for the record, I’m not complaining about. But do I have to tell you everything, now? If I run into Luke on the street and wave, should I call you? I probably should in case the freaking Bailey patrol reports me.”

  “He wasn’t reporting you. He assumed you were pulling a prank, because why the fuck else would you be there?”

  “Why would you assume I was doing something bad? Don’t you trust me?”

  I was so fucking angry. Too angry too fast, and a voice in the back of my head tried to tell me to shut up. To stop yelling and listen to her.

  But, like the asshole I was, I didn’t.

  “I thought I could trust you, but you’re hanging around with Luke fucking Haven, so now I don’t know.”

  Her mouth dropped open and her eyes blazed with fire.

  Fuck. I’d gone too far. But I was too pissed and defensive to take it back.

  “Fine.” The word cracked like a whip. “If you don’t trust me, I don’t know what I’m even doing here.” She stomped to the bedroom and came out with her purse and a sweatshirt slung over her arm. “Do not follow me.”

  “Fiona—”

  “Don’t.” Without another word, she stormed out the door and slammed it behind her.

  “Fuck.” I raked my hands through my hair. I wanted to kick something, but there was nothing close. Which was probably a good thing. “Goddammit.”

  Sasquatch stood nearby, the fur along his spine standing up. I’d agitated him. He didn’t know what to do when his humans were arguing.

  “Sorry, big guy.” I went over to the couch and sank down. Rubbed my hands over my face. “Why the fuck would she go to Luke’s shop and not tell me?”

  He came over and climbed onto the couch next to me so I could pet his head.

  “Yeah, I’m sure she had a good reason. Maybe she’s right. Maybe this thing with me and Luke is out of control. What do you think I should do? Go after her?”

  I paused for a moment, scratching behind his ears.

  “We probably both need a little time to cool off. She left her plants, so we know she’ll be back.”

  Letting out a long breath, I leaned my head back. Damn it. I shouldn’t have yelled at her. She didn’t deserve that.

  And maybe I didn’t deserve her.

  In that moment, a hard truth hit me. All this time I’d been keeping people out to avoid getting hurt. But I hadn’t thought about how easily I could be the one doing the hurting.

  38

  Fiona

  Fuming with anger, I flew out of the house. What the hell did he think I’d been doing with Luke? Fucking him in his office? He hadn’t even given me a chance to explain. Just started shouting at me.

  I got in my car and left, heading toward town. I wasn’t even dressed in regular clothes. Thankfully I’d put on a bra when I got up, but I was wearing a faded t-shirt, pajama shorts, and slippers. My hair was in a messy bun I’d done without looking.

  Damn it.

  Maybe I’d just drive around a little bit so I could calm down and cool off.

  I’d known Evan would get mad when he found out I’d been to see Luke. What else had I expected? Other than to be feeding him blackberry cobbler—possibly while naked—when I told him so he wouldn’t get so worked up. That would have changed the outcome significantly.

  But why couldn’t we just have a normal conversation where the name Luke Haven came up? Why did I have to go out of my way to coddle him over it?

  And to say he doesn’t think he can trust me? I was trying to fix his biggest problem. I did fix it. But all he was going to hear was Fiona went to see Luke Haven.

  Cue shouty, angry Evan.

  I got into town and slowed. It wasn’t just Evan that had me worked up, and I knew it. Hearing that the cops hadn’t been able to locate my dad had gotten my adrenaline pumping. I’d tried to act nonchalant so Evan wouldn’t worry, but that unwelcome tidbit of news had put me on edge.

  So maybe I’d overreacted a little bit, too.

  My stomach rumbled. I wasn’t dressed, but I was hungry, so I stopped at the Bigfoot Diner. I couldn’t be the first girl to come in with messy hair and slippers.

  I went in and choose a booth—the same booth I’d sat in when I’d been contemplating my life after realizing I was too broke to continue on to Iowa. Where Luke had offered me a job. Seemed fitting.

  The waitress brought me coffee and I put in an order for eggs and toast. I thought about pancakes, but for no reason that made any sense, it felt like eating diner pancakes when Evan had made them at home would be disloyal. As if he’d care what I ate for breakfast while we were cooling off from an argument.

  Still.

  Naming my plants and talking to them like pets didn’t make much sense either, and I did it anyway. It was just who I was. It made sense to me, so no pancakes.

  A man at the counter swiveled around on his seat and grinned at me. It was Gavin.

  “Hey, Fiona. Where’s the big guy?”

  “Just me this morning.”

  “Want some company?”

  I shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

  He grabbed his plate and moved it to my booth, sliding onto the bench seat acros
s from me. “Did I get you in trouble?”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “Sorry. I just assumed you guys were up to something and I didn’t know why he hadn’t told us. I probably should have known. Evan hasn’t pulled a prank in forever.”

  “Really? I thought with how much he hates Luke, he’d be all over that.”

  “No, he’s pretty serious about the grumpy recluse thing he does.” He met my eyes. “Or he was before you.”

  I took a sip of my coffee. “I don’t understand why he can’t let it go. Don’t those two realize they don’t have to hate each other? They could make peace and coexist.”

  “We’re expert grudge holders out here.” He took a bite of his hash browns.

  “You’re telling me. Do you have a rivalry with one particular Haven?”

  “No, I like to fuck with all Havens equally.”

  The waitress brought my breakfast and I picked at my eggs. Gavin was being unnaturally subdued this morning. Normally he low-key flirted with me. But we were having a fairly normal conversation.

  Of course, he didn’t have an audience.

  “So, have you thrown in the towel and decided to stop asking me out?”

  He looked up from his food and grinned. “Definitely not. But, you know, Evan isn’t here, so why waste a good line.”

  “You love to get him riled up, don’t you?”

  “So much. When he’s really mad, he clenches his fists and makes those veins in his forearms pop. I like to see if I can get him there without him trying to tackle me.”

  I shook my head. All five Baileys were such boys.

  “Gram must have had her hands full with all of you. How did she survive your childhood?”

  “That’s an excellent question,” he said around a mouthful of food. “I’m sure we didn’t make it easy on her.”

  “Which one of you was the most difficult?”

  His brow furrowed as he wiped his hands on a napkin and swallowed his bite. “I don’t know. Asher got in fights. Levi too sometimes. Logan was the class clown—got in trouble a lot for being disruptive. Evan would lose his temper and disappear in the woods.”

  “What about you?”