hot.”
“Someone likes the chase,” I say, turning and pressing my nose into his neck and breathing him in. Muff smells better than Christmas. Better than a newborn baby. He smells all man, and it’s a smell that isn’t easily replaced.
“Says she.” He chuckles. “You little minx.”
“My knees are about to give way...”
He leans back slowly, and then he swoops down, lifting me up into his arms. He carries us both to the room, and when we get in we see the glimpse of the big spa in the bathroom. Our eyes meet at the exact same time.
“Hell yeah!” he grins.
Hell yeah, all right.
Chapter 4
Mistletoe
Janine
“Tell me how you got tangled up with that asshole of a man?” Muff says, filling his palm with soap and pressing it to my hair.
“He was all I knew. I didn’t have a great childhood. My mother loved me, as you have seen, but she was poor. We spent a lot of time on the streets. I was working at a bar, trying desperately to make a life for myself, and that’s where I met him.”
I take a wobbly breath and continue.
“He helped me one night when a group of men were getting a bit too touchy. I fell for him at the time, he was a bad boy, and he saved me. It didn’t last long. He soon became abusive and cold. He was a monster.”
“So why did you stay?”
I sigh. “The house my mom was renting was his. If I left...it meant she would’ve been back on the streets. I couldn’t do it, so I stayed. It was awful, but she meant too much to me.”
“Takes a brave fuckin’ person to do something like that.”
“Yeah, maybe. Wouldn’t we all do that for our family?”
Muff shakes his head, and continues lathering the soap. “No. There are plenty of people who would hurt their families to get what they want. Hogan is a perfect example of that.”
“He was a monster,” I whisper.
“Yeah, that about covers it.”
“I’m not ungrateful for the life I had. I was safe enough, and Ebony had a roof over her head and food in her belly. He never hurt her. He did love our daughter. Maybe not enough, but he did. And besides, I met Serenity there. If none of that happened, I wouldn’t be here now. So there’s always a reason for things.”
“That’s a damn fine outlook to have on life, Jaybird.”
“Yeah, well, I’m a glass half-full kinda girl.”
He chuckles. “Close your eyes.”
I close my eyes and he rinses the soap from my body and head. I groan with delight as his fingers graze over my skin.
“I’ve never met someone like you, Jaybird.”
I open my eyes, wiping them with the back of my hand. I stare at the man in front of me, with his different yet stunning looks, and I know I feel the same about him. I’ve never met anyone like him either.
“Have there been many women?” I ask.
Muff’s eyes grow a little sad. “I had one, a long time ago.”
“What happened?” I say, feeling my heart flutter.
“She cheated on me with my best friend. I saw them in the room, on my bed, fucking. It burned something inside me, and I just never found anyone again. Maybe I wasn’t looking. Either way, I was protecting my heart.”
“Why are you letting me in then?” I say, searching his face.
“Because there’s something damned beautiful about you that I’ve not seen in a woman for such a long time.”
I swallow, and bite my lower lip. “Well shit, now I feel all mushy...”
He chuckles softly, swiping my cheek with his thumb. “So you should. You’re changin’ me.”
“Muff, can I ask you something?” I say, filling my palm with soap and leaning forward, placing my hands on his gorgeous chest.
“Anything baby.”
“The...threesome.”
I lift my eyes to meet his, and he’s watching me with his head tilted slightly to the side. “What about it?”
“Why?”
He shrugs lightly. “I...got invited by one of Jackson’s club whores one night. I was bored, I was sick of the same old shit, so I said yes. Serenity caught us halfway through, and that’s how she became