Just Like That (The Kings)

In the smoky candlelight, Hazel was irresistible. The fact that I was in the middle of a paternity case with her nephew didn’t matter, because I simply did not give a fuck.

I couldn’t make sense of Hazel Adams, but I was utterly enchanted.

My eyes were pinned to her chest as it went red, and I could just make out the outline of her nipple piercings through her white T-shirt.

My jaw shifted.

I dragged my eyes up to her face. Certain my expression was akin to a glare, I tried to soften the scowl that felt permanently etched on my face.

My blood warmed as Hazel tilted her chin in a defiant way that made my blood hum. Her eyes were ablaze, like she got off on the way I had been staring at her tits.

She isn’t afraid of you.

My fingers curled around the edge of her chair and my grip tightened. My cock hardened and pressed against the zipper of my jeans, begging for release.

I wanted nothing more than for her to crawl on my lap and ride my dick until we were both exhausted.

“Hazel.” My voice was an unrecognizable growl as her soft brown eyes lifted to mine. Struggling to hold myself back, I tried like hell to keep things appropriate. “I think we should call it a night.”

Her cheek twitched with a smile and she leaned in. Her cinnamon and citrus scent snapped through me as her breath floated over my ear. “What if I’m not tired?”

I knew she was baiting me. The tether on my control was fraying, about to snap.

I knew better than to get involved with a woman like Hazel Adams. She was too wild, too alluring, too fucking perfect.

The walls I’d built over the years were meant to protect me. Protect everyone. It was safer to have them securely in place, but something about Hazel made the reasons for those protections seem irrelevant.

My knuckles trailed up the outside of her arm, taking my time and savoring the softness of her skin. I glided across her collarbone and along the column of her neck. My hand slid into her hair, combing through her strawberry blond strands.

Hazel tilted her head, allowing me access to caress and luxuriate in her softness. She was trapped between my knees, but it was me who was unable to move.

“What are we doing?” she asked, closing her eyes and reveling in my touch.

I have no fucking clue, honestly, but I don’t want to stop.

I leaned in, letting my nose brush against her jawline. “I’m seeing if those cards are full of shit or not.”

I was crossing lines left and right. The moment I yanked her chair forward and crowded her space, everything shifted. I paused to look into her eyes as they fluttered open.

They were dancing with delight. With certainty.

I could feel myself falling. A smile stretched, unused and uncomfortable, across my face as I leaned in. I pressed my mouth to hers and was met with warm, willing lips. Hazel opened for me, tilting her head to accept the kiss.

My hand cupped the side of her face and I shifted, deepening the kiss. Her gentle whimper fueled a deep and wanting hunger. I couldn’t remember a time when something as simple as a kiss had been so intoxicating. From a single kiss my chest felt cracked open and exposed.

Raw.

Hazel’s fingertips smoothed over my shoulders, pulling our bodies closer. They slid up the back of my neck and across the short crop of hair at the base of my skull.

I had fantasized about the moment we would kiss again, and it wouldn’t be an impulsive, emotion-fueled mistake. My pathetic, late-night fantasies didn’t even come close to the real thing. No—she was so much more.

She was everything.

Her short, flowy skirt was riding high on her knees. I gripped the flesh at her hips and in one move dragged her onto my lap.

Hazel yelped, and I swallowed her sweet little gasp with another kiss. Her ass ground into my hard cock as she shifted her hips. Her tits pressed against me, and I moved one hand up to cup her breast, moving my thumb to graze over her hard nipple. Her bra was thin, and I gently toyed with her piercing. She sucked her breath in a hiss.

I held back, easing away when she pressed her hips into me. “No,” she breathed. “Don’t stop.”

My dick twitched against my pants, hating the fabric that kept me from being able to plunge into her. My hands slid up her thighs, moving under her skirt to grip her ass as she rocked her pussy over my cock.

I eased back from the kiss to look up at her. Hazel’s hair was wild and falling in a soft red curtain around her face. Her pupils were wide with desire, and for the moment she was mine.

“More,” she demanded.

I teased the silky hem of her thong. “More what?”

She lowered her head for another kiss. “More you. More everything. Just . . . more.”

I groaned and let my fingertips drag over the seam where her panties just covered her pussy. My tongue slid over hers as I moved one finger beneath her underwear.

She was wet and hot as I dragged my finger across her bare pussy. “You’re desperate,” I teased and nipped her neck.

Her hips rocked, trying to place my finger exactly where she wanted it. “Yes,” she whispered.

I smiled as I looked up at her. She hummed against my lips as I stroked her pussy, but didn’t enter her.

Hazel braced her hands on my shoulders as she pulled back to look at me. “What do you want me to do? Beg?”

An eyebrow shot up my forehead. I licked my lower lip and grinned. “Yes. I want to know you’re so desperate that you’d beg me to finger-fuck you.”

One hand gripped my face, holding me in place as she looked down on me. “You’re an asshole.”

My eyes blazed, knowing her words were hollow and she was primed and aching for me.

I slid one finger to tease her opening and she hissed. “Beg,” I demanded. “Beg for it so I can finally take care of you.”

She hummed, gripping the back of my T-shirt. Her forehead lowered to mine. “Please,” she whispered.

The word was barely out before I plunged my finger into her tight, hot cunt. She gasped and pulsed around me. “That’s my good fucking girl.”

We both moaned as I added a second finger, then worked in a third. She stretched around me as I moved in and out of her.

She rocked her hips and I matched the rhythm she craved. Her nipples were sharp points and I captured one in my mouth, sucking and teasing her through the fabric of her bra and tee.

I wanted more. I wanted everything.

Her pussy clenched around my fingers as she rode my hand. My mouth moved to her neck, sucking on the pulse point as her heart beat faster. I pressed my thumb into her clit, and she nearly came unraveled.

I needed her to feel as good and free as she made me feel. I didn’t understand what she was doing to me, but I knew it was magical. I didn’t have the words to explain it, but I could show her.

Her breaths came out in heavy pants and my cock wanted to explode. As desperate as I was for her, the moment wasn’t about me. It was about giving her everything she needed and taking nothing for myself.

Her pussy fluttered around my fingers and I kept my pace steady. A hot surge of wetness coated my hand and she unraveled. Hazel clung to my shoulders as I let her ride out her orgasm.

Time dragged on, our breaths the only sound filling the air. Hazel gulped and leaned back, bracing herself on the edge of the chair but not getting off my lap. Her nipple piercings were straining against the thin fabric of her white T-shirt, and my mouth watered. I couldn’t wait to get her stripped bare and ready so I could explore every inch of her skin.

I stared at the way her pulse throbbed, and my cock twitched. She ground her ass against my erection and I nearly came, like some inexperienced teenager. I tightened my grip on her hips and groaned.

Hazel sat up. Her soft brown eyes were alight and playful. She looked at me, brushed a strand of hair away from my face, and sighed.

I wanted to lean forward. To wrap my arms around her and carry her to my bedroom so we could finish what I had started.

When she climbed off my lap, my heart sank.

Standing, Hazel smoothed the rumpled edges of her skirt and turned to leave. I stared as she paused and looked over her shoulder.

“You know,” she said with a laugh. “You may not be the villain, but a hero doesn’t fuck like that.”

Tension dissipated as a hearty laugh rang from my chest. I stood and slapped her ass before leaning close to her ear.

“That wasn’t fucking, Hex. And while I might not be the villain, I’m not a hero either.”

I palmed her ass and squeezed as I moved around her to blow out the candles.

She turned, crossing her arms and putting those irresistible tits on display. “So what are you then?”

I glanced down at the table. Her tarot cards were still spread from her reading. I picked the Tower card up before dropping it on the top of the pile. “I guess I’m just the king, trying not to fall out of his damn tower.”

In the darkness, I was struck by how angelic she was. Her features were soft and ethereal.

She smiled softly at me. “Sometimes the king needs to fall in order to remember what it’s like to live in his kingdom.”

I scoffed to myself.

If only . . .

Hazel raised an eyebrow and gently gestured toward the stairs with her head. It was an invitation. One I had no right accepting.

I stuffed down my feelings and shoved my hands in my pockets. “Good night, Hazel.”

Even in the darkness, I could see the hurt flash across her soft brown eyes. Her lashes fluttered down, and the flush was back in her cheeks. “Good night, JP.”

My lips pressed together as she made her way to the stairs and climbed, looking back at me with a soft, sad smile.

I wanted to follow.

I wanted to take my time with her and fuck her hard until she rattled the trees as she screamed my name.

I wanted to show her that if the universe wanted me to hurl myself off the tower, I just might do it for her.

Instead, I did what I was best at—kept her at arm’s length and pretended like it wasn’t fucking killing me.

If life had taught me anything, it was that happiness came at a price. When I was twelve, I had begged my father for a dog. He was rarely home, and Aunt Bug had agreed to help take care of it as long as my father gave the okay. It took weeks for me to gain the courage to even ask him if we could adopt a puppy. I was shocked when, after I presented all the reasons it would be beneficial to the family, he agreed.

Nothing had meant more to me at the time than that dog. It was a mixed breed with a dingy, wiry coat and paws that were too big for his body. I had spent every dime I’d earned mowing lawns to pay for a dog bed and food. Aunt Bug and I picked him up from the animal shelter and brought him home. MJ was ten and enamored with him. Even my older siblings couldn’t believe I’d managed to get Dad to agree to having a dog.

I was flying on a cloud as we drove home with him in my lap.

It wasn’t the first time my father had taught me that happiness comes at a price, but it was the hardest.

It took many years to realize that my father was jealous. He couldn’t stand the loving attention with which his children showered the dog.

Within a week, the dog was gone.

Sylvie, MJ, and Whip all cried. Abel and Royal exchanged a look I couldn’t decipher. I simply stared at the empty lead in the yard that our beloved dog had been tied to.

“But I just let him out.” I couldn’t stop staring and trying to make sense of it all.

Dad had shrugged and looked at his watch like he had somewhere better to be. “I guess he got off the chain . . . If you cared, you would have kept a better eye on him.”

That was my father’s only explanation. The dog had been let outside for mere moments, and it was gone. There was nothing we could do.

My happiness came at a price, but I refused to cry about it. I wanted to show my father I was tough like him—that I could handle myself. I wanted so badly for him to approve, and instead he got into his Porsche and drove away while we all stood in the backyard.

At the time I thought that was the hardest lesson.

Until today.

I couldn’t dodge the incessant feeling that just as things were going well with Hazel, something else in my life was waiting to go to utter hell.

Teddy laughed as Hazel made goofy faces at him over breakfast. She’d intentionally shoved bits of bacon into her teeth, but pretended like she didn’t know they were there. Teddy was doubled over, his arms clutching his belly as he tried desperately to tell her she had something in her teeth. Every time, she moved her finger, avoiding the bacon, and asked, “Did I get it?”

My cheeks ached from smiling.

When my eyes caught Hazel’s, a zip of energy coursed through my veins. There was something about her that was effortlessly shifting my entire world.

Ever since she’d ridden into my life, driving that ridiculous skoolie, everything was different.

And different was a real problem.

I pressed the heel of my hand into the center of my chest and paused—discovering it was that unfamiliar ache of happiness.

I dropped my fork. “What do you two think about a beach day?”

Teddy’s soft eyes lifted, and a huge grin spread on his face. Hazel’s caramel browns narrowed slightly as she sucked the bacon from her tooth.

“What about work?” she asked.

“It’s supposed to be one of our last warm days.” I frowned and shrugged. “Work can wait. I haven’t been to the beach in years.”

A peal of laughter erupted from Teddy. “Years? But you live here.”

Hazel finished the last scoop of scrambled eggs and stood, clearing her plate. “I think it might be fun. What do you think, Teddy? Do you want to walk down to the beach for a little bit?”

Teddy was emphatically agreeing when I stopped her. “I was thinking about going to North Beach.”

She raised a skeptical brow. She’d gotten to know me well enough to realize that a day off work was unusual, but a day off work paired with the very crowded, very public beach was downright unheard of.

“I’ll get the sunscreen!” Teddy was gone before Hazel could ask him to clear his breakfast plate.

I stood and shooed her away. “I’ll take care of it. Go.”

Hazel planted a hand on her hip. “I hate when you’re so bossy.”

A flash of desire crossed my face as I recalled just how much she hadn’t minded my bossiness last night. I looked down at her pretty features. “Are you sure about that?”

She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and tried not to smile. She bumped me with her hip. “I’ll go change.”

I nodded. “Good. Make sure you’re well covered up, though. The late-summer sun can be surprisingly harsh.”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded, definitely not believing my bullshit. Hazel tossed the towel onto the table and disappeared up the stairs while I finished cleaning up.

Within minutes, Teddy was dressed in swim trunks, a rash guard, and goggles perched on the top of his head. I laughed and patted his shoulder. “You know, for someone who thought the beach was too sandy, you’re awfully excited.”

He grinned. “Some things can grow on you.”

I looked at him and my heart rolled. “I know what you mean, kid.”