His chuckle filled her with more warmth. “I’m yum, am I?”
“Yep. You know it.” She moved closer, pressing her face into his chest. He wrapped an arm around her and she rested her head on his chest.
She raised her head. Her hair was across her face and she shoved it back with her hand.
“Hi,” she said huskily. “You slept with me last night?”
“Actually, we all slept with you. But the others got up about an hour ago.” He ran a finger over her face. “You scared me yesterday.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I know. Sorry to wake you up, but I need you to do something.”
“What’s that?”
“Speak to Aleki. He’s been baking since five this morning.”
She chewed her lip. Shit. She hoped he wasn’t blaming himself for what happened yesterday. “I should have stayed closer to him. I should have yelled out when that little boy was trying to get me to leave with him.”
“Yes,” he said sternly. “You should have. But I’m going to let Aleki deal with that since this happened on his watch. Right now, you need to go to him. Wolfe is at the palace, dealing with Marilyn and I’ll be in my office.” He left the bed after giving her a mind-altering kiss.
After using the bathroom and quickly brushing her teeth, she pulled on some panties, shorts and a T-shirt then wandered out to the kitchen.
Before she even reached it, she heard the sound of something being banged around. She winced. Not a good sign.
She walked into the kitchen right as he slammed a bowl down on the counter. It cracked and he swore.
“Guessing you didn’t like that bowl?” she asked, moving towards him.
He turned to glare at her.
?
?You want another one to break? Maybe that will make you feel better?”
“No,” he growled. “It won’t make me feel better.”
She reached into a cupboard and pulled out a plate then threw it on the ground. “Ooh, that actually is kind of fun. I want to try that again.” She grabbed another plate. “Fuck you, Dad! You asshole!”
She’d never realized how therapeutic this could be. Another plate went smash. “Fuck you, mystery man!”
Another plate. “Fuck you, William!”
All right. She was on a roll. She glanced up at Aleki to find him gaping down at her.
“What?”
“I . . . you . . . fuck. That was hot.”
“Umm. Okay.” That wasn’t the response she was expecting.
“What’s going on in here?” They both looked over as Caleb ran in, looking frantic. “I went outside for a minute. Just a minute. And when I came back in, I heard smashing. Why the fuck are you throwing plates with her standing right there? She could step on a shard and hurt herself!”
Aleki dropped his gaze to her bare feet. “Fuck!” He stepped towards her, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her onto the counter. He was smart enough to be wearing shoes.
“Does someone want to answer me?” Caleb snapped.
“We’re fine,” Aleki replied without taking his gaze off her. “We’re working through some issues.”