Then, she began to sing “Amazing Grace,” tilting my world on its axis, and it made my suffering through the minister’s preaching worth it.

  I hadn’t been prepared for her to sing. None of us had. She hadn’t said she was going to sing.

  I wasn’t a spiritual man, but, holy fuck, her voice sounded like a goddamn angel. I hung on every word, not wanting it to stop. I didn’t care that it was some old hymn everyone liked to sing. The voice singing it was hands down the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard.

  When she was finished, I wanted to beg her to sing more, not to stop, but she turned back to us with tears streaming down her face, and my damn chest constricted so hard that I couldn’t breathe. Like it was natural, she walked right to me, and I wrapped my arms around her. She held on to me as if I was all she had in the world. That wasn’t a good thing. I wasn’t the one she needed to rely on. I should be pushing her to Trinity. Not holding her like she belonged to me.

  “I didn’t know you could sing like that,” I whispered against her ear.

  “Irish was the dancer. I was the singer.”

  Every day, I learned something new about her. Something that I liked. I now understood Kitty’s response after I asked her about Aspen. She had been so damn protective. Even Kitty had known I wasn’t good for Aspen.

  I watched Blaise speak to the minister before Huck led him back to his car. They’d all come through today for Aspen, and I fucking appreciated it.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t have her funeral in Alabama,” I told her.

  Aspen finally let go of me and smiled. “She would have hated that. She ran from there the moment she turned eighteen. She would have left sooner if it hadn’t been for me.”

  Aspen looked around at everyone, and then her green eyes came back to me.

  “She would have loved this.”

  Maddy walked over to us. “Although I am sorry about the circumstances, it was nice to meet you,” she told Aspen.

  “Thank you for coming. I’m overwhelmed with how kind everyone has been.”

  Maddy’s gaze flicked up to me, then back at Aspen as a small grin touched her lips. “We’re all very glad you’re here.”

  Aspen looked like she might cry again, so I put my arm over her shoulders and pulled her against my side.

  “I’m going to take her inside,” I told Maddy. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Of course.”

  I walked past Blaise and gave him a nod. He looked at Aspen, then back at me, raising an eyebrow. I’d deal with that later. He had the wrong idea. I was sure Gage had helped with that.

  “Do you want the urn brought to your room?” I asked as we stepped inside the house.

  She nodded, but said nothing. I knew she needed comfort, but that line I was trying not to blur was taunting me, and if I crossed it, it would only confuse her. If she were any other woman, I’d sit on the sofa and hold her in my lap. Probably try to use this as my opening to fuck her. Not an option here.

  “Damn, girl, you can sing,” Kye said, coming up to her other side and leaning down close to her ear.

  She managed a weak smile. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me, just sing for me again. Not now, of course, but sometime soon.”

  A small laugh escaped her, and Kye was again on my shit list. I should like that he’d made her laugh. She needed a reason to laugh, but he was flirting. He needed to back off. I wasn’t going to let him fuck with her head and break her heart.

  “You want to hang out down here or go up to your room?” I asked her.

  She lifted her gaze to mine. “I think I’d like to go to the room for a bit.”

  “I’ll be down here if you need me.” I dropped my arm from her shoulders and watched as she walked away.

  “Now that the funeral is done, how much longer are you gonna wait to fuck her?” Kye asked.

  I glared at him. “I’m not.”

  “Can I ask why? Because, damn.”

  “Off-limits. She’s living in this house for I don’t know how much longer. No making things uncomfortable with fucking. She’s too innocent.”

  Kye groaned and went over to plop down onto the sofa. “That’s even sexier.”

  “He’s going to lose his shit on you, and I want to be here when it happens,” Trev Hughes drawled as he walked into the living room, grinning.

  Kye rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

  “You weren’t there at the last hit that Levi went on. They aren’t lying about his fucking temper. It’s like a switch. One minute, there is easygoing Levi, and the next, he’s this crazed monster. I like it.” Trev was nodding with approval.

  “I’ve seen him underground. I just know it takes a lot to trigger him. He’s not Gage.”

  “Hey, babe, you ready to go home?” Gypsi asked, walking up to Trev and wrapping her arm around his.

  He looked down at her and winked. “Yeah, if you promise I get you all to myself for the rest of the day.”

  She whispered something in his ear, and I looked away from them. They were fucking nymphos. I’d walked in on them fucking at the damn stables twice already. The bite marks on his chest were no joke. Bitch had a biting fetish.

  They said their goodbyes and left—thank fuck. I saw enough making out shit with the other two couples around here. Made me need to go find a cunt to fuck most of the time.

  “She’s a freak. I’d love to watch them go at it,” Kye said, grinning.

  “Trev would slice your ass up. We’re gonna need to change his name to Blade if he keeps that shit up. Gage giving him the goddamn knife that one time might have been a bad idea.”

  Kye chuckled. “He sure gets off on it.”

  Of course he did. He was a Hughes. They all had it in their DNA.

  Fourteen

  Levi

  The mornings all started to begin the same way. Aspen’s back pressed up against my chest. My arms wrapped up around her.

  By the fourth morning, I just accepted it. Acted like it was normal. I didn’t jump out of bed and run for the bathroom. I stayed there until she started to stir, and then I released her and rolled away before stretching.

  She sat up, her gaze locked on me, looking nervous. I grinned at her to ease her concerns.

  “Seems like we are gonna continue waking up like this. Might as well enjoy it. You smell too fucking good not to,” I told her before leaving the bed.

  After that, we just went with it.

  We were on the ninth day of her sleeping in my bed, and I wasn’t sure if she was going to stop. I didn’t want to upset her and bring it up. She wasn’t doing it to try and have sex with me. The girl was really afraid to be alone. And I couldn’t stand the idea of her being scared. That was where we stood with the situation. Except I was now having to jack off in the shower every morning, thinking about her. I had a couple of detailed fantasies that I knew were never going to happen. Especially the one where she let me spank her round ass while she called me daddy. Yep, completely fucked up.

  I’d been at the shop all day, handling family stuff in Huck’s office, but we’d all ended up at the house afterward because Trinity had made a full-on Mexican feast with a taco bar, enchiladas, and burritos. Gage and Shiloh had even come over. While drinking tequila shots and margaritas, Trinity had convinced everyone to watch a movie.

  We were currently watching one of the many movies on the Best Movies Ever list the girls had made Aspen. I’d never thought I’d be subjected to watching The Titanic, yet here I was. Because we’d gotten just tipsy enough to agree to this shit.

  Aspen was curled up under a blanket beside me. She wasn’t leaning on me or touching me really. It was definitely the first time I’d sat on this sectional with a female so platonically. Shiloh was in Gage’s lap on the other end, and Huck had Trinity in his lap in the chair.

  The idea of pulling Aspen into my lap and doing what I was sure Huck was currently doing to Trinity under the covers appealed to me more than I wanted to admit. If I were the one person she trusted to take care of her, I might cave in and touch her. That body was tempting the hell out of me. Daily, I had to remind myself that she was naive, and if I let myself do anything, she would think we were something we weren’t.

  We were becoming friends. That was a given. She was impossible not to like. She made me smile, and she was fucking funny and smart. Hell, I enjoyed waking up to her in my arms. I’d never thought I’d say that, but I did. And it was a pretty damn good setup. She wasn’t clingy or needy. She fucking looked at me like I was a damn king, and I loved it. That worshipful gaze made me feel incredible. It wasn’t like I encouraged it. She was doing it on her own, and who was I to tell her to stop?

  There was no sex messing up things. No talk about relationships and shit. Aspen was meeting a need I hadn’t known I had. Maybe it was fucking screwed up because I found myself wanting to take care of her. I liked being the one to meet her needs. It was an odd sense of ownership—and if I admitted that to anyone, they’d think I was a psycho. But, yeah, I felt fucking possessive of her. I didn’t want anyone else taking care of her. I’d had to let go of the idea of handing her off to Trinity. I wanted the job. Gage was right; it was a sick way of getting my kink and not fucking her.

  I already knew it was twisted. I wasn’t someone who should be taking care of anyone, but with Aspen, I required it to keep me sane. I had to know what the doctors said every week. My schedule was made around what she needed that day. When I thought about how I had been changing things in my life to accommodate her, it bothered me. Then, she’d smile at me, and I’d forget why I should be bothered.

  A door closed, and moments later, Kye walked into the room.

  “What the fuck is this? Oh wait, is this Titanic? Have they done the tit scene yet?” he asked, walking over to sit on the other side of Aspen. His eyes glued to the screen.

  “Not yet,” Trinity replied.

  “That’s my favorite scene.”

  “We would have never guessed,” Gage replied, amused.

  I looked down at Aspen. “Kye has a tit fetish. We think he was nursed too long as a child.”

  Aspen laughed and bit her bottom lip.

  “Shit’s probably true. I should ask my mom,” he said, leaning back on the sofa. “You want to curl up on me, Aspen? I’m a willing body.”

  She stiffened, and I shot him an annoyed glare, then put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me. He laughed at me and shook his head.

  “You good?” I asked her.

  She nodded, looking happy about being against my side. Shit. That just made this possessive shit worse. I wasn’t letting her go with Kye’s horny ass sitting beside her though.

  “The tits are coming up,” Kye announced.

  “Don’t start stroking your fucking dick,” Huck warned him.

  “Not even if I put a blanket over me?”

  “Fucking hell, you just got back from Devil’s. You don’t need to jerk off to Kate Winslet’s tits,” I grumbled.

  “You’re home early,” Gage pointed out.

  “Didn’t go to Devil’s. Hooked up with Starla,” he replied. “She came to the shop, wanting my dick.”

  “Can we watch the movie and not discuss your sex life?” Shiloh asked.

  He chuckled again but shut up.

  Aspen rested her head on my chest, and all I could smell was vanilla. Why did she have to smell like a damn sugar cookie? Made me think about eating—her. Willing my cock not to get hard, I began to mentally chant all the reasons I wasn’t going to be tasting Aspen.

  The naked tits scene came, and all Kye did was groan. Gage carried a sleeping Shiloh home shortly after. I could tell Huck had gotten Trinity worked up under the blanket when she made a noise. He was up and taking her out of the room immediately.

  Kye looked over at me. “She’s asleep.”

  I couldn’t see her face with her lying on my chest.

  “I’ll take her up.”

  “I bet you will,” he drawled.

  Ignoring him, I stood up and cradled her in my arms.

  “Lucky bastard,” he called out as I left the room.

  If he only knew how hard this had become, he wouldn’t say that. Every damn day, I was fighting wanting to fuck her.

  Fifteen

  Aspen

  Opening my eyes, I felt a smile tug on my lips. Levi’s breathing was still deep. He wasn’t awake yet. His hand was nestled under my breasts, and his thumb was against my right nipple. That was nice. It wasn’t the first time it had happened. Two days ago, I’d woken up, and my entire right boob was in his hand. He had made a joke about it, then kissed the top of my head and gotten up like it was nothing.

  I liked waking up like this. A thrill always rushed through me when I felt his hand somewhere I had never been touched. I wanted him to touch my whole boob again. That had been amazing. But I wasn’t going to say anything. I knew he would more than likely send me back to the other room to sleep.

  At first, I hadn’t realized it, but the hardness pressing against me was his penis. It was startling when I figured it out because, well, it was bigger than I’d imagined penises to be. From reading, I had been led to believe that when it was hard like that, it was sexually aroused. But I didn’t think that was necessarily true. Levi never acted sexually interested in me.

  Me, on the other hand? I was very sexually interested in him. By the time he got out of bed in the morning, I was aching between my legs so bad that it was painful. I tried to look at it as life giving me this small taste since I could never have the entire thing. I wanted to find some sexier books. The romance novels I had weren’t very descriptive with sex. I was curious about things. More than once, I had considered asking Levi.

  His hand moved, and his palm covered my boob. I dropped my gaze to watch him. He began to gently squeeze it, and I had to bite down on my bottom lip to keep from making a noise. Why did him touching me here make the area between my legs tingle? His hand slid down and then moved beneath my camisole until his bare hand was touching my breast.

  Oh my God. I closed my eyes as he caressed it.

  A low groan came from his chest, and he pushed his hard penis against my bottom.

  “Ah.” I couldn’t stop the gasp of pleasure that shot through me.

  He froze. We both lay there, not moving, but from the way he was breathing, I knew he was awake. Slowly, his hand slid down and out from under my top. I wanted to weep. I wasn’t ready for that to stop yet. Things had been building inside me that I wanted to experience.

  “Oops,” he grunted, then chuckled. “Must have been having a good dream.” Then, he patted my waist and turned on his back to stretch, making those sexy morning noises before getting up.

  “Nice tits though,” he said teasingly, then laughed again before walking into the bathroom.

  I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. My face was so warm. Wow, that had felt really good. I reached up and touched the boob he’d been playing with and squeezed it. Not the same. Not even close.

  Sighing, I climbed out of bed and headed for my room. That might have been the most action I’d get in life. I wished it had lasted a bit longer.

  “Morning.” A deep drawl from behind me startled me.

  I spun around to see Kye grinning at me.

  “Good morning,” I replied.

  His gaze slowly took in my entire body before he shook his head and made a strange sound in his throat. “You sleep in that every night?”

  I glanced down at my pajamas, then nodded.

  Kye licked his bottom lip, and I noticed a flash of metal on his tongue before his teeth closed down on his lip.

  “I’ll see you at breakfast,” he said, then winked before walking away.

  Opening my door, I went inside and stood there for a moment. Okay, so I was pretty positive Kye had been flirting with me. The way he had looked at me was like he was hungry. If only I could get butterflies and tingly feelings with him. Maybe … I wondered if he’d want to show me some things so I could experience them.

  Kye seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind that. I just wanted to know what it felt like to have an orgasm. To be touched in places. Not necessarily sex, but I wasn’t crossing it off.

  Levi was too complicated. He, for one, wasn’t interested in my body. He was interested in taking care of me. Like the way he made sure I had my meds and how he stayed with me when Dr. Andrus came to do his visits. Levi had taken on this role as my protector for whatever reason, and I knew I’d somehow gotten very lucky.

  After this morning’s experience, I was finding myself wanting to at least get a chance to know how being with a man sexually felt. I knew men weren’t going to want a relationship with me. I couldn’t give them a family. My life wasn’t promised to be long. Who wanted that kind of girlfriend? No one. But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t know how it felt to be wanted. Even if it was just for my body.

  Watching Huck with Trinity and Gage with Shiloh all the time made me yearn to feel that. I was getting desperate, apparently, if I was considering asking Kye to help me out.

  Dropping my face into my hands, I groaned. The idea was just embarrassing.

  My attempt to masturbate in the shower failed again. I’d tried it many times before, and I was not doing something right. Frustrated with my own stupidity, I got dressed and headed down to breakfast.

  When I stepped into the kitchen, Kye and Levi were the only ones there, sitting at the table.

  Levi lifted his gaze to look at me. “Get you some breakfast.”

  I walked over, taking a plate. I noticed the small glass bowls with yogurt, granola, fruit, and what looked like honey drizzled on top. That was more my speed. I picked it up and headed for the table. When I paused, unsure of where I was supposed to sit since the table was normally full and I took whatever available seat there was, Levi pulled out the chair beside him. Taking that as my answer, I walked over and sat down.