Then his grin faded before he asked, “How’d you get home?”

“Don’t know. Ride for a blowjob. I think he was blond though.”

His anger instantly started slithering through the room.

“Don’t play with me,” he whispered. “You think my ass didn’t wait for yours to get home?” he asked and before I could answer, he went on. “She was a redhead, way too much makeup and you both giggled your way all the way up to the door. Though she was giggling like a lunatic, she walked straight back to her car so she wasn’t loaded, like you.”

“She wasn’t a she, she was a he.”

“She had way more tits and ass than you.”

“Foam rubber, Creed. The X is a g*y bar. She’s a drag queen. Her name is Uqueesha.”

The Creed anger snake retreated and his brows shot up.

“That bitch was a dude?”

I nodded. “That bitch was a dude.”

“Fuck, didn’t call that,” he muttered.

“Maybe Grandpa needs his eyes checked,” I muttered back and those eyes that I insinuated needed checked narrowed on me.

I took another bite of donut and grinned big through dough.

He took a bite of his and chased it with coffee.

Then before I could stop it, right after I swallowed, I asked, “You waited for me to get home?”

He said nothing, just looked at me.

Suddenly, standing at the bar to my kitchen, it felt weirdly like the sun was shining warm down on me.

Creed twisted his neck and looked at the microwave before his eyes came back to me and he said quietly, “Got ten minutes to go time for next door, baby.”

Those rays of invisible sun heated my skin, taking the warm straight through me.

I shoved the last bite of donut in my mouth, put my coffee down on the counter, rounded it chewing then swallowing as I headed straight to him. He turned to me, his chin dipped, his eyes never leaving me even when my hands went to his neck, one sliding up and back, I went up on my toes, pressed deep and pulled him down to me.

I kissed him hard, my tongue sliding in his mouth and glazed mixed with Boston cream.

It was divine.

I pushed him back, back, kissing him, holding on and he slammed into the side counter.

His arms closed around me, pulling me up off my toes, off my f**king feet and he pivoted, crossing the kitchen until my back slammed against the refrigerator.

I used his shoulders as leverage, clutching hard, pulling up, my hand in his hair holding his head to me as the kiss went wild and deep. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around his hips, used my back to push away from the fridge, leaned in hard and he moved back until he crashed into the counter facing the dining room.

I tore my mouth from his, lifting my head to find both my arms wrapped around his. My breath was coming fast and shallow, my chest heaving with the effort, just like Creed.

Hair had fallen over his forehead and was mixing with the brow and lashes of one of his bright, blue eyes. It was strangely cute on a man who was not even a modicum of cute but hard, rugged and all male.

It was also hot.

And it was all kinds of sexy.

Shit.

“I gotta get dressed and get over to Charlene’s,” I whispered, not moving an inch, not letting go.

“I’m coming with,” he whispered back.

“Suit yourself.”

“That’s what’ll suit me.”

I shrugged but held his eyes and said quietly, “You get that family hooked on you, you disappear, I’ll hunt you down, Creed. I’ll hunt you down and find an uncomfortable way to make you pay. Do you get me?”

“I get you,” he replied just as quietly. “I also get that she may be rougher around the edges but wrapped around me right now is all the Sylvie who used to be.”

I reared back but he was prepared, his arm angled across my back and held me close.

“Put me down,” I demanded.

He didn’t move a muscle even as he stated, “Anything for you, baby. Any f**king thing. Now do you get me?”

“You don’t have anything I want except my desire for you to put me down.”

“I’m not what you want, Sylvie, I get that because it’s the same for you as it is for me. I’m not what you want ‘cause I’m what you need.”

My gut squeezed.

“Put me down,” I whispered.

He dropped me to my feet.

I reached around him, whirled the donut box and grabbed another glazed. Then I moved around the counter, snatched up my cup and started through the living room. Unfortunately, Gun was waddling her fat, furry ass in front of me and taking her time, there wasn’t room to get around her so I was forced to go slow.

This meant Creed could get another shot in.

He didn’t waste the opportunity.

“You kiss me like that just for waiting up for you, partner, lookin’ forward to payback when I do something that actually means something.”

I turned at the opening to the entry. “You win back my two hundred bucks playing pool, I’ll give you a blowjob that will make you think you entered a new dimension.”

He grinned. “Seems we’re goin’ out tonight.”

“Can’t wait.”

His face changed, his eyes changed, the way he held his body changed and all of this reached across the room and burned straight through me.

“I can’t either.”

I decided it was the time to get the hell out of there before his intensity obliterated me.

So that was what I did.

Though I did it after giving him the finger.

This meant, as I walked away, I heard him laughing.

Shit.

Great.

Whatever.

* * * * *

“Jeez-oh-pete, he’s hot,” Charlene whispered.

She was wrapped around the doorway to the back hall of her house, watching Creed who was at the end of that hall in her bathroom inspecting her leaky faucet.

I pulled her back and wrapped myself around the doorway.

Today, more faded jeans. The suede boots. But it was summer and today was going to be hot so he’d lost the t-shirt and was just wearing a lightweight plaid shirt, this one with light blues and hints of yellow against a background of cream.

Adam was in there with him and Creed was standing huge and tall in the room, smiling down at Adam who was babbling up at him excitedly.

Donuts were a hit.

Creed was a hit too because he brought them, at least he was for the kids. He was also a hit because he was huge and badass. It was my experience the only people who didn’t tread cautiously with badasses were kids. They adored badasses and had no qualms approaching or engaging them in conversation. Badasses were kid magnets and if the badass was a true badass, he had no qualms about this either.