She opened her mouth to protest or argue with me but I didn’t give her the chance to speak. I pressed my lips against hers, and she instantly melted into my touch and sighed.
It was the best kiss I’d ever fucking have. The second her lips touched mine, I knew these were the lips I wanted to kiss forever. I figured there was something special about Mayra the past few days, but I had finally clued in what that was.
She was the one for me.
Her arms wrapped around my waist, and my fingers delved into her hair. I tipped her head back a bit, and she pressed deeper into me. My tongue tangled with hers as I drank in her sweet intoxicating taste.
“Boink,” she gasped against my lips.
“Fuck,” I breathed out.
“You can kiss,” she whispered.
“So can you, M-baby.”
She stared up at me and blinked slowly. “I used to hate when you called me that.”
“And now?” I asked.
“Now I kind of like it.”
I pressed her against my chest, and she laid her head on my shoulder. “I think I might have a few other things you might like.”
“Is that so?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I am kind of cold. Maybe you could take me back to the cabin and help me warm up?”
Now that was the best idea I had heard in a long time. “Let’s go.”
*
Chapter Fourteen
Mayra
Who would have known that me not having a decent coat would lead to Boink and me heading back to the cabin with the promise of something new and exciting between us?
He held my hand in his lap, his fingers intertwined with mine. He squeezed my hand gently, and I looked over at him. “You okay?” he asked.
I nodded. I had never been better. I had felt a pull toward Boink the past few days, and I was thankful I had opened my mouth without thinking. Normally, I wouldn’t have been so forward to ask someone to kiss me, but with Boink, it was as if I couldn’t ignore how I felt.
He looked back at the path that we were bumping along, and I scooted closer to him. My side was pressed up against his warm body, and I was studying his strong jaw that was sprinkled with a budding beard.
“What the fuck?” His jaw clenched, and his fingers flexed against mine.
“What’s wrong?” My words died in my throat and I turned to see there were three pickup trucks parked in front of the cabin.
Boink stopped the side-by-side off to the side of the garage before we cleared the edge of the path. He let go of my hand and leaned forward. He reached around and pulled a gun from his side.
“Where the hell did you pull that from?” I gasped. I had just been wrapped up in this man’s arms and I hadn’t felt anything besides his rock-hard body.
“Stay here. Don’t move and do not make a sound.”
“Boink,” I hissed. “You are not leaving me here while you go all John Wayne on whoever is here.” No way, no how he was going to leave me. I had watched enough horror movies to know this was the perfect beginning to a massacre that started with the lone girl left behind while the strong, strapping alpha went to check on the unwelcome visitors. I grabbed onto his arm that wasn’t holding the gun and refused to let go.
He looked down at me with a scowl on his lips. Funny how the sexy man I had been kissing minutes ago was replaced with a still sexy man, but this one was ready to kill anyone who stepped in his path. “How am I supposed to keep you safe with you glued to my side?”
I shrugged. “Figure it out, B-man, because I’m going wherever you do.”
He looked back up at the house. “I can only see half of the front porch and not the front door. I don’t see anyone in the trucks.”
“You really think the Banachi’s would be driving ten-year-old trucks with rust on the tailgate?” I pondered.
“Not a clue, M. I wouldn't think so, but I’ve never dealt with them before.”
I squinted and was able to make out that one of the license plates said Utah. “I don’t think it’s the Banachi’s come to kill me. The plates are local.”
“Shh,” he hushed.
An older man walked into our view.
“Is that…a casserole dish?” I whispered. “They’ve come to poison me with a casserole. The nerve of these mob guys.” I figured food would always be my downfall, but I didn’t think a poisoned casserole would take me out.
Boink looked down at me. “They’re not with the Banachi’s, M.” He stuck his gun back in the holster and slowly rolled back onto the path to the house.
“But what if they are like a distraction. You know, they send a guy with a yummy casserole to get our guard down, and then bam,” I clapped my hands together, “they repel down from the rafters and kill us both.”
“You might want to lay off the spy movies,” he muttered.
Boink may think right now I was crazy, but I was totally going to keep my eyes on the rafters while I enjoyed whatever was in that dish.
We cleared the trail and rolled over to the shed. Four people were standing on the porch of the cabin, and three of them were holding dishes that promised delicious food that might kill us.
“Hi there!”
Boink helped me off the side-by-side and held my hand as we walked up the cabin.
A woman who was holding a light purple crock stepped forward. “Elle told us you guys were staying here, and we thought we would do the neighborly thing and welcome you.” She looked at her deadly casserole accomplices. “We figure a few home-cooked meals would be just the right thing to say welcome to Pines Peak.”
“How nice,” I said skeptically.
“I’m Agnes, that’s my husband Jim over there, and these other two are my daughters Carnie and Wendy.”
A chorus of “hellos” went up from the other three.
“Elle is on the way over with the cornbread. She got it into the oven late and told us just to come on over without her,” Agnes explained.
“Out exploring the property?” Jim asked.
Boink hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “Just went to check out the view on the cliff.”
“Momma, can we set these down? The meatloaf is burning through my hot pad.” The one Agnes had said was Carnie held up the white covered dish.
“Come in, come in,” I urged. I let go of Boink’s hand and climbed the steps of the porch. “You can put them in the kitchen.”
Boink followed behind me and pulled out a set of keys. “I’ll unlock it for you.”
I halted in my tracks. Of course, he had locked the door. I hadn’t even thought of that before we took off.
He opened the door and held it open for all of us to file through.
“No need to lock your doors around here,” Jim said as he walked past Boink. “The only thing you need to worry about around here are bears getting into the garbage.”
“I’ll keep the door locked just the same if Bertha and I aren’t here,” Boink muttered.
I helped the girls and Agnes set their dishes on the kitchen island and asked if they were thirsty.
“Wine?” Agnes asked. She wasn’t a shy one at all.
“Sure. I picked up a bottle when we were in town yesterday.” It wasn’t anything fancy seeing as it was a twist off, but it was good enough to hopefully give me a buzz.
“The girls just got off of work, and we told them to meet us here.” Agnes shrugged off her coat and tossed it on the back of the couch. “Hope that was okay.”
I grabbed the chilled bottle from the fridge. “No problem at all.” I glanced at Boink who had grabbed Agnes’ coat and was collecting the coats from Jim, Wendy, and Carnie.
Any thought of coming back to the cabin to have Boink warm me up were replaced with Agnes, Jim, Wendy, and Carnie sitting in my kitchen drinking wine with casseroles of death.
“Knock, knock.” And now Elle was here. She walked into the cabin with a large cast iron skillet in her hands and beelined straight over to the stove top. “Heavens above
. I grabbed that sucker straight out of the oven and came right over.” She set it down with a thump and smiled at me. “Hello, dear.”
“Uh, hi, Elle.”
“Bertha, you don’t mind us stopping by. I know you guys stocked up on groceries yesterday, but I figured if we brought over a couple of meals, it would make unpacking and getting settled in a little bit less stressful.” She beamed at me, and I couldn’t be mad at her for interrupting us.
“It’s no problem at all. We were just out for a ride and were surprised to see the trucks in the driveway.” I wasn’t going to mention the fact that I had thought they were with the mafia that was trying to kill me. She sat down next to Agnes and straightened the placemat in the center of the island.
“Figured you guys could use some company living out here in the middle of nowhere,” Agnes added. “No one would know you were here if it weren’t for Elle letting us know.”
I grabbed three glasses down from the cabinet. “Uh, you’re right. Thank goodness for that.”
I knew Boink was not going to be happy about that. He was trying his damnedest to make sure no one knew about us being here, but it seemed we were the talk of Pines Peak.
“Got any beer, Melvin?” Jim asked Boink.
Crap, I had almost forgotten that we weren’t Boink and Mayra.
“Uh, I picked up a twelve-pack yesterday. I’ll grab ya a bottle.”
Jim sat down next on the other side of Agnes at the kitchen island. “I know it’s only quarter to four, but it’s been a hell of a day.”
Boink moved to the fridge, and I took two steps to the right to stand close to him. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, hoping that Boink was the only one who could hear.
“For what?” he asked lowly. He put his hand on my hip and pulled me a step closer.
“For them,” I smiled lamely. If I hadn’t started talking to Elle at the store, she never would have figured out where we were staying or invited herself over.
“Not your fault, M.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, and his hand gave me a gentle squeeze. “Though if you want to try and make it up to me later, I’ll be good with that.”
I smacked him on the chest. “Is that so?” I giggled.
He grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to my palm. “It is, M-baby,” he murmured. There was so much promise in the way he said “M-baby.”
“Well, you can sure as hell tell they are newlyweds,” Agnes boomed.
“Mom,” one of the girls chastised her. “You really need to announce that to everyone?”
“It’s what your mom is good at,” Elle laughed.
Boink let go of my hand with a wink and reached into the fridge. “You guys want to stay for dinner?” he asked.
“Oh no, we couldn’t impose like that,” Elle blustered.
It was too late for imposing seeing as they had already made their way into the cabin and were sitting at the kitchen island. Carnie and Wendy were camped out on the huge couch scrolling through Netflix and arguing about what to watch.
I filled the three glasses with wine. “It’s really not imposing. We would just eat some of the delicious food you guys brought over.” I grabbed a glass for each Agnes and Elle and set them in front of them. “Won’t take much at all to get dinner on the table.”
Boink moved to grab the other glass of wine I had poured and handed it to me. He draped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me close. “I’m sure there’s a football game on we could watch,” he suggested.
Carnie and Wendy both groaned in protest.
“You know,” Jim perked up, “I think there is. Fork over the controller, girls.”
Boink gave my shoulders a squeeze, pressed a kiss to the side of my head, and headed into the living room to help Jim wrestle the TV controller away from the girls.
Elle and Agnes both stared at me.
“Uh, so…” I floundered for words to say. I hadn’t expected to have an actual conversation with anyone today other than Boink.
“He loves you,” Elle blurted.
Agnes nodded her head. “Sure does. I can see it the way he looks at you.”
The way he looked at me? Half the time, he looked at me like I was crazy or he wanted to strangle me. “I think you both started drinking before you came over,” I laughed.
“Nonsense,” Elle scoffed. “I see it in the same way Jim looks at Agnes.” She leaned forward and whispered loudly. “Though, to be honest, not sure what he’s seeing.”
Agnes smacked the back of her head. “You’re a bitch, Elle.”
My jaw dropped, and I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on.
Elle threw a wink at me and turned to Agnes. “Takes one to know one, big sis.”
“Well, I would say the same about your husband looking at you all in love but…” She put a hand to her mouth and looked around. “You ain’t got one.”
“Burn!” Jim called from the living room.
“Blow it out your butt, Jim,” Elle called.
Agnes turned to me and shook her head. “Don’t look so shocked, darlin’. We’re just joking.”
“Sister love and all that crap,” Elle muttered. She took a huge swig of her wine and nodded at the cornbread and other food on the counter.
“The cornbread is warm enough, but if you want us to eat soon, you’re gonna have to stick those two in the oven,” Agnes advised. It was like these two had the same brain. Elle motioned at the food and Agnes explained what I needed to do. “The other one is cobbler that I pulled out of the oven before we left.”
“And you were giving me crap for not having my cornbread done right away,” Elle grumbled. She scooted back her stool and grabbed the bottle of wine off the back counter. “You warm up the food, and we’ll keep our chairs warm.”
I turned on the oven and opened the door with a big smile on my face.
Not at all what I had planned for the night, but I had to admit, I wasn’t having a bad time.
Boink and me spending the night in bed would have been better but spending the night with new friends wasn’t bad at all.
*
Boink
“Make sure you bring her to the potluck Wednesday. Everyone would love to meet you guys.”
I nodded and leaned against the doorframe. “I’m sure she won’t let me forget about it.”
“Agnes! Get your ass in the truck. It’s a half past ten,” Jim yelled through the open window the driver’s side of his truck.
She waved her hand at him to quiet down. “You keep yelling like that and you’re going to wake up Bertha.”
Nothing was going to wake up Mayra right now. After dinner, she had taken a pain pill, which mixed with the four glasses of wine she had, helped her to pass out half an hour ago.
“Mama, get in the truck,” Carnie called.
“Oh, all right,” she blustered. She patted me on the shoulder and stomped down the steps mumbling under her breath about finding a new family who let her have fun and do what she wanted.
I closed the door and locked it.
It had been a fun night with Elle and her family, but they had stayed an hour longer than they needed to.
After dinner, Wendy had mentioned she had a couple of board games in her truck and we had all wound up playing a game of Monopoly and then a trivia game that had Elle and Agnes bickering back and forth while we all laughed at them.
Mayra was passed out on the couch, and a light snore rumbling from her.
Any plans I had of having a little fun with Mayra after everyone left were out the window now.
Mayra was moving around much better, but I could tell that she was still sore. Taking the pain pill had helped but mixing it with wine totally knocked her out.
I cleaned up all of the empty glasses and bottles, turned on the dishwasher, and flipped off all of the lights. After I pried the remote to the TV out from under Mayra, I turned it off and looked down at her sleeping body.
The couch was comfortable enough that I could just leave her sleep, but I kn
ew the bed would be better for her. She was going to be sore in the morning from all of the moving she did today so at least getting her into a comfortable bed would help.
I hoisted her up into my arms, careful not to hurt her back, and made the slow climb up the stairs to the loft.
“Where are you taking me, Melvin?” she whispered sleepily.
“Bed, M.”
She hummed under her breath and laid her head on my shoulder. “Bed sounds nice.”
I bumped the lights on and walked over to the bed. “Let’s get you tucked in.”
“Bathroom, first,” she whispered. I set her feet on the ground, and she padded over to the bathroom.
I turned on the bedside lamp and turned off the overhead light.
Mayra padded out of the bathroom and looked over at me. “Where are you going?”
“Bed, M.”
She looked over at the bed. “It’s right here. Why are you by the stairs?”
She was expecting me to sleep with her. “It’s been a long night. I was just gonna camp out in the spare bedroom.”
She rolled her eyes. “The bed isn’t made, Boink. The only reason this one is, is because I made it after I got out of the shower this morning.”
“Then I’ll just sleep on the couch.” That was where I had slept last night.
She walked over to me and tilted her head back. “Get in the bed.”
“Mayra, I don’t ne—”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the bed. “It’s a big bed, Boink, and I don’t want to sleep alone.” She climbed into the bed and fluffed the pillow under her head. She laid on her side and smiled sleepily. “Besides, it’s a big bed. You don’t even have to touch me if you don’t want to.”
It wasn’t about not wanting to touch her. That was the one thing I knew I wanted to do. I didn’t want to rush her into anything she didn’t want to do.
We had kissed today, and if Elle and her family wouldn’t have shown up, we might have taken things further, but we hadn’t.
“M, I can just sleep downstairs.”
“You can, but then how can you know I’m safe when you’re down there, and I’m up here?”
Boink (Fallen Lords MC Book 5) Page 8
