deep waters in his voice.
“Wesley’s holding the reins for you. Rosie’s decided he’d be her perfect match.”
He smiled, picturing Kendra’s silly friend, trying not to remember she was James’s cousin. “Poor bastard. And is she the one who encouraged your new look?”
“Maybe. Maybe I just wanted to catch your attention.”
A chuckle vibrated through his chest. “You don’t need to cut your hair for that. But I confess, I was more than a little intrigued by one thing.” His forefinger rubbed over her hip bone. “I haven’t gotten a good look at it yet.”
“Later, my lusty king.” She slapped at his hand then tightly clutched it. As his long fingers laced between hers, she lifted his arm to examine the new design flowing like flames over the back of his hand from beneath the turned back cuff of his work shirt. “And what’s this?” Her forefinger traced the boldly tribal black and red lines.
“Local color. Just trying to blend in. I kinda like it. I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.” His voice purred persuasively. “Later can’t come soon enough.”
“And where will that later take place? Not at Silas’s, I presume.”
“I think I wore out my welcome there, at least until I replace the coffee table.” He grinned at the remembered circumstances then his mood quieted. “I’ve been kinda going from here to there since I left Savoie’s place. For the moment, home is on a sofa in my sister’s den.”
“Sister?” Her head lifted, questioning him with her gaze.
“The one Silas and I share. My half-sister on my father’s side, his on his mother’s. Tina Babineau. She’s a human cop’s wife. Go figure. You’ll like them.”
But she wasn’t thinking about family beyond the one she planned to make with the prince, now king, who’d claimed her as his own. She slid a knee across one rock hard thigh to straddle him. His immediate response encouraged an amorous turn of mood.
“I’m sure I will. But not tonight. Tonight I’m thinking a private room with a big shower and a bigger bed.”
His gaze locked on hers, lids lowering slightly over a heated glimmer. “I like the way you think, my queen.”
A quick knock on the door jarred them from that mental destination. Nica peered in without apology.
“Three loud, obnoxious brutes are out front demanding to see you.” She swept Cale with a disparaging look. “The resemblance is obvious. I’ll bring them up before they break anything else you have to pay for.”
When she ducked out, Cale sighed, hands kneading his mate’s backside restlessly. “Who said it was good to be king?”
“I believe you did.”
Her teasing made him groan as he settled her onto the cushions beside him. “How much trouble could they get into?”
“Your brothers? In New Orleans?”
Point taken.
With Kendra silently observing, Cale rose to greet the trio, accepting their bone grinding hand clasps and rough one armed hugs with an open affection she wouldn’t have believed possible only short months ago. Then, under the rule of their ruthless father, his sons were cautious strangers competing for a coveted crown. And her virginity as a means to claim it. The memory of their determined eagerness to bed and breed her hadn’t been easy for Kendra to overcome, until they’d stood by their new king and protected his queen. In that moment, they’d become her family.
They filled the room with their rowdy presence, reminding her of a pack of highly trained hunting hounds, fierce and deadly when on the scent but rambunctious when unleashed. So similar yet so far apart, all three had the trademark Terriot red cast to their hair with Bram’s strong features and towering height, but differed in their approach to their world.
The youngest, Kip, clearly worshipped the older brother who’d tutored him in combat and placed him beneath a protective care Cale, himself, had never known. Barely twenty-one, Kip regarded life through wide blue eyes with