He hadn’t hurt me, but I liked the idea of him checking to make sure, and I wanted to get messy again. “Do I have to get cleaned up first?” I wanted messy again now.

Dewayne chuckled. “Needy, magic pussy. Fuck me, I got lucky. But yeah, I have to take care of what’s mine first. Then I’ll clean you up real good. But don’t worry. I intend to make you scream my name at least once, maybe twice, in the shower.”

My eyes widened and I squirmed underneath him. I’d never taken a shower with anyone. The idea of it excited me. “Okay. Let’s go get clean.”

DEWAYNE

I leaned against the bedroom door frame, holding a plate of chocolate cake while watching Sienna curled up asleep in the middle of my bed. She looked so small there all alone. I didn’t intend to leave her there long, but I knew she needed more sleep. I’d woken her up three times last night, unable to keep my hands off her.

My need to keep her safe and protected had just found an all-new level of possessiveness. Sienna wasn’t just Micah’s mother, she was my woman. Mine. I didn’t want her sleeping without me. I didn’t want her waking up without me. I didn’t f**king want her bathing without me.

There was a good f**king chance I was completely obsessed with her. I didn’t get obsessed with anything. Ever. But Sienna was different. She’d always been different. She’d found something inside me and brought it to life when we were kids. After years of fighting it and forgetting her, I had given in and let myself feel. And I f**king felt a lot. More than I thought possible.

The look my daddy gave my momma when she walked into a room now made complete sense to me. When Preston kept Amanda latched at his side like he couldn’t breathe without her and Cage growled at any man he thought looked at Eva too long, I got that. So f**king completely got that.

Hell, I was pretty damn sure I was going to become so much worse than any of them. Even Krit and his inability to sing onstage without having Blythe near him—that made sense to me.

“You gonna eat all that by yourself?” Sienna asked, and I looked up from her long, silky legs to see her eyes halfway open as she looked at me.

“I’m gonna feed the sexy woman in my bed,” I told her. I shoved off from my stance against the door frame and walked over to the bed to sit down beside her.

She moved to sit up and the sheet fell, letting the most amazing set of tits in the world free. Fuck yeah. Those were mine.

“They aren’t hungry. I am,” Sienna teased as she pulled the sheet back up to cover herself.

I jerked my gaze off her chest and rested it on her face. The sleepy, well-taken-care-of smile on her lips and her hooded eyes made it hard to think about feeding her. I wanted to be in her. Again.

“Open up,” I told her, and took a forkful of cake and slipped it into her pretty pink mouth.

“I was thinking while you slept that it would be fun to rub this icing on several parts of your body and lick it off. Think we might have to try that later.”

Sienna ducked her head, but I saw the smile on her face. She scooted closer to me until her front pressed against my arm. When she looked back up at me, there was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “Only if I can put some on you and lick it off.”

“Anytime you want to lick me, baby, you say the word and it’s yours. I don’t care where we are. If there’s a chance I can have that mouth on me, then I’ll want it. I’ll always want it.”

She dropped her gaze to my lap, and my already semi-erect c**k went full-blown. I reached over and cupped her face with my hand and tilted it so that her eyes were on mine. “This thing with you and me. It’s real. No one else. You got me. Just us. Not letting you go, Sienna. I’ve waited too damn long, and now that I finally have you, I sure as hell ain’t leaving you.”

She didn’t respond at first, but I could see the questions in her eyes. She’d come over here to bring me a cake and tell me how she felt about me. Then I’d taken it from that to an exclusive relationship overnight. Literally.

“You said you don’t do this,” she said, almost in a whisper.

“I don’t. Never have. Never wanted to. But then, I’d never had you. I always thought I’d never find this. I wasn’t looking for it. But now that I’ve got it, I won’t let it go. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep you happy.”

Her big eyes filled with tears and she blinked, wetting those long eyelashes of hers. “Then we’re an us,” she said with a sweet smile that made my heart do funny shit.

“I’m warning you now that I’m not gonna be easy to deal with. I want you by my side. In my bed. I don’t want you away from me. I don’t want to do that space shit. I’m gonna be in your space every f**king chance I get.”

Sienna laughed and reached over to dip her finger in the icing. “Hmm . . . Dewayne Falco doesn’t want to be apart from me. He wants to be in my space. I guess there could be worse things in life than that,” she said in a serious tone. “If you’re in my space, then I’ll get more chances to do things like this.” She held up her finger and grinned. “Pull down those sweats,” she ordered.

I did as instructed and gripped the sheets beside me as Sienna coated the head of my dick with the icing on her finger. My breathing was getting faster as she took her time. My patience was just about to snap when she lowered her head and her tongue darted out and licked the tip in a teasing stroke.

“Mmmm,” she moaned.

I wanted to let her have her fun, but I was so close to begging it wasn’t funny. After three more licks her mouth opened and slid down over me. The roar of triumph that tore out of me only encouraged her more. She sucked and began sliding her mouth up and down my length.

I moved her hair back so I could watch her mouth take me deep. “So f**king gorgeous,” I said as she looked up at me.

I knew in that moment that if this woman asked me to walk on water, I’d find a f**king way.

SIENNA

Dewayne had agreed to stay over at his parents’ while I talked to Micah this morning. He had wanted to be there with me, but for five years it had been just me and Micah. No one else got my attention. Just him. I didn’t doubt he’d love having Dewayne in our lives more than he already was, but I also wanted to make sure he felt secure in where he stood.

Micah had talked about his night the whole walk over from the Falcos’ to our house. Apparently, Dave had watched not one but two of the Star Wars movies with Micah. And they’d eaten popcorn and cookies. Mama T had said she might get a swimming pool in the backyard when Micah told her he liked to swim. She and Dave were going to look into it. Those two were going to spoil my kid, and I loved it.

The five-year-old didn’t notice the goofy smile on my face. But I knew it was there. I couldn’t stop thinking about last night and this morning. Dewayne had been everything I’d dreamed about and more. I was ready to give him everything.

“Uncle Dewayne said he would see me in a little bit. Is he coming to play with me today?” Micah asked hopefully. That was a good thing. Micah wanted his uncle around. Dewayne wouldn’t be someone Micah might worry would take me away from him. He fit perfectly into our lives.

“Yes. If he said he’s coming over, then he will be here. You can trust Uncle Dewayne to do what he says he’ll do. He loves you.”

Micah beamed. He liked feeling loved. He’d always had my love, but this extra love was something he soaked up.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about Uncle Dewayne before he comes over here,” I told him as we walked into the house.

“About what?”

I led him over to the sofa and pulled him into my lap. “You’re my number one. You know that, right?”

Micah nodded.

“And you love your Uncle Dewayne as much as he loves you.”

Micah nodded again.

“Well, I love your Uncle Dewayne too.” I did? I loved him. I did. Oh wow. I did.

Micah smiled. “Because he’s family.”

Uh-oh. I’d forgotten about that conversation. I had to explain this. “Well, actually, Uncle Dewayne is your dad’s family. Not exactly mine. But he’s yours, so I called him mine too.”

Micah scrunched up his nose. “So we don’t have the same family?”

This is what I get for lying to the kid. I wasn’t ever doing that again. Lesson learned.

“No, we do. . . . It’s just that you’re actually related to Uncle Dewayne. I’m not. He is the brother of your daddy, but he’s not related to me. I wasn’t married to your daddy. We never got a chance to do that. Remember? I explained that to you.”

Micah nodded, but his nose was still scrunched up. “Okay, so can Uncle Dewayne take you on dates, then?”

Sighing in relief, I nodded. “Yes. He can. And he wants to, but we want it to be okay with you.”

Micah grinned and made a whooping sound.

“I take that as a yes.”

He nodded vigorously. “Can he sleep over in my room?”

Oh my.

“Well, he will be here more often. He wants to spend more time with us. But if he sleeps over, your bed isn’t big enough for him. He’s a big guy.”

Micah’s expression got really serious. “We need to get him a big bed so he can sleep over.”

Okay, this was getting way off track. Right now we needed to focus on the topic of Dewayne being around more often. Not having sleepovers.

Micah jumped down, walked over to the door, and looked out. “When is he coming over?”

“As soon as I text him and tell him you’re ready for him.”

Micah turned and ran toward his room. “Text him. I’m getting my football.”

That was way too easy.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and quickly sent Dewayne a text that Micah and his football were waiting on him.

I hadn’t even set my phone down when the front door of the Falcos’ opened up and Dewayne stepped out. He must have been waiting anxiously for that text. He was so big and tough, but the little boy inside him that he never let others see owned me.

“Looks like he’s on his way over,” I called to Micah.

Micah came running around the corner with his football tucked under his arm. “We’re gonna play some ball,” he told me before letting the screen door slam behind him.

I walked over to the door and watched as Micah ran straight for Dewayne and held up the football. The smile on Dewayne’s face as he looked at my son made right everything that had been wrong.

His eyes lifted from Micah and found me, and then he winked before looking back at Micah.

I stood there and watched them toss the ball back and forth. Dewayne showed Micah how to improve his throw, and I watched as Micah worked hard to get it right. I finally let myself accept something I’d been fighting since I was fourteen years old. I had always loved Dewayne. It had always been him. Dustin had been my best friend and I’d been his. But my heart . . . Dewayne had stolen that in front of a locker on my first day of high school.

Six years ago . . .

SIENNA

They hadn’t let me out of my bedroom since my doctor’s visit. I had been throwing up so bad for two mornings in a row that my mother had taken me to the doctor. She’d thought I had a stomach virus.

But we had both been surprised when the doctor informed us that I was pregnant. Not sick. Pregnant.

Mother hadn’t spoken to me the whole way home, and then she’d sent me to my room and ordered me to stay. My dad never once came to see me. Mother showed up with food at my door three times a day. I even had to open the door and ask to go to the bathroom.

I knew they were upset. I was terrified. Dustin was gone, and I had no one I could tell. No one to share this with, and now my parents were shutting me out. That scared me more than anything. The one thing I could be sure of was that this baby was safe. My father was too religious to make me have an abortion. For once I was thankful for his strict beliefs.

But I had questions, and I had no one to ask. My mother refused to speak to me when she brought me my meals. I didn’t have a phone in my room, and no one had stopped by to see me. That wasn’t too surprising. Dustin’s friends had accepted me, but they had never really been my friends.

So I sat here in my window seat and watched the world outside. I watched the people who came and visited the Falcos. People were still bringing them food. It was what we did here in the South. If someone died, you took their family food. I never understood that. I hadn’t been able to eat for days after Dustin’s death. I had cried and slept. That had been all I could manage.

At his funeral, what little strength I had to keep it together was gone the second I saw Dewayne Falco’s shoulders slumped, jerking harshly from crying. I never even imagined that Dewayne could cry. He was so tough and larger than life. But in that moment, seeing him broken, I lost it all over again. I hated seeing him in so much pain. He loved his brother, and Dustin had worshiped Dewayne.

At night whenever I closed my eyes, the image of Dewayne sobbing over his brother’s grave haunted me. I had wanted to hold him even though I knew he wouldn’t welcome it. No one could console him. No one could bring back Dustin.

We had all lost him.

Including the little life inside me.

I touched my stomach reverently, closed my eyes, and dreamed of the child inside. What would he or she look like? I wondered if it would have its father’s smile and charm. If it would grow up a Falco or a Roy. If the Falcos would accept this baby. I knew my parents were upset, but surely Tabby would love this baby.

I opened my eyes just as Dewayne walked across the street toward my house. Quickly I moved back behind the curtains and watched as he stepped up onto my porch. The doorbell rang, and I hurried over to my bedroom door to crack it open so I could hear him. Why was he here? I hadn’t seen him leave his parents’ house much over the past few weeks.