Page 76 of Buckin' Around

Oh god.My cheeks burn.

I bat the bag away as a sob tumbles out. “I’m sorry.”

“Riles, did anyone ever tell you holding all that shit in is no good for you?”

When I look up, his face is pulled into a soft, playful smile.

Oh bollocks.

It’s all I can do to roll my eyes at him. Another tear slips over, coursing down my cheek.

His palm is on my jaw, thumb brushing the moisture away before I take another breath.

Spencer moves closer, until he’s standing between my legs. My chin still rests in his palm as he tilts my head up. Our gazes clash as he breathes, “O’Malley, did you just roll your eyes at me?”

Chapter 19

Spencer

Atear tracks over Riley’s cheek. She bats at my hand as I hold her chin, and her gaze, facing me.

“So? What if I did, Lockwood? The food is going cold...”

Her attention flickers to the bowls of Chinese food she’s brought home for us. Ivy chews on a teething cracker, the evidence of her squishy vegetable dinner still on the corner of her mouth. And the sofa... is calling my name.

I want to snuggle up with this little woman who feels every damn thing and waste away the night. However that pans out.

“So it is,” I say with a rumble.

I scoop her off the chair and toss her over my shoulder.

“Ah! Spencer fecking Lockwood, you put me down!”

Fists—I think, they’re kind of small—pummel into my spine.

I groan, appreciating the massage. It’s been a long time since I had hands on my body. I’m hard by the time I round the sofa and toss Riley into its cozy, soft depths.

Furious dark eyes glare up at me. “Was that absolutely necessary?”

I chuckle, low and raw, examining the guttural need that rose for her in the short distance from the kitchen to the living room.

“Yeah, Riles, it was.”

With a little huff, she snuggles into the sofa further and raises both hands. “Feed me, Spence. I’m starving.”

Yeah, me too, Riley O’Malley.

My chest rises and falls as I stare at her a beat too long.

Clearing my throat, I pad for the kitchen and grab our bowls and silverware. After delivering them both to the sofa, I pull Ivy over to the end of the sofa as she plays with her teething cracker in her high chair.

With both my girls content, I flop onto the soft seat.

Goddamn, it’s been a long, fucked-up day.

I sigh and Riley looks up from her bowl, noodles streaming from her lips back into the bowl.

She slurps them up before licking the sticky sauce from her pink lips. I shift in my seat and train my attention to the food in front of me before I do something stupid. Like lean over and kiss said sauce from her lips. I can imagine the fire that would meet me when I pulled away. I’d slide my hand into her hair and fist it and kiss her again purely because I wanted to.