Ever After Awaits (Layla) novel Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Hunter POV

This woman is going to be the death of me,

These guys need to finish up and lose already because I need to get my woman home so she can make good on her part of our deal.

Fuck. I can’t wait.

Even if she just gives me a handjob, I’ll be the luckiest fucker ever to walk this earth.

We’re all well aware that she’s not experienced in the bedroom, most likely still a virgin too. So for her to ask that I help her gain experience with such an intimate act is monumental. But it will also drive me up the wall if these idiots don’t get a move on.

Goddamn, the moment those words slipped from her mouth and I saw no hesitation in her eyes, I started getting hard. Not caring in the slightest that we were in a public place.

What baffles me, though, is that the other two have their head so far up their asses that they aren’t even realizing she’s fucking with them. I clocked her subtle tells almost immediately when she tried to play it off that she’s not the best of arcade game players. But I will have no sympathy when she wipes the floor with them, and I get to hold her in my arms later tonight – it serves them right.

When Layla steps up to the Donkey Kong machine on the left, slipping in front of Al to cut him off from going for that specific machine, I’m one hundred percent sure this is going to be a landslide win. I intend to ask her later how it came to be that she knows these machines so well.

Slotting the arcade coins into their individual machines simultaneously, they immerse themselves in the game as soon as the screens flash ‘START‘.

Al’s got a concentrated look on his face that would make him look more at home in a lecture hall during a final exam. On the other hand, Layla is breezing through the game with a slight smile to her lips and her hips lightly swaying to the music blaring through the arcade’s hidden speaker system. Fuck, she’s beautiful like this.

Cade stands next to me, arms crossed over his chest, and a perplexed look on his face. “Do you also get the idea Layla might have played these games before, more often than she’s letting on?” he asks me from the corner of his mouth, not able to take his eyes off Layla’s swaying delectable ass. Same brother, same.

“Nope, I think it might just be a stroke of luck,” I reply, shrugging nonchalantly, unwilling to give away Layla’s game because there’s a much bigger prize for me if I help her win than if she loses.

A couple of minutes later, Layla wins and starts jumping up and down with her arms in the air in a celebratory dance. AJ sulks next to her, but his tender smile, directed at her as he looks at her adoringly, belies his feigned sullen attitude.

“That’s three wins for me, right? So I win the wager, right?” she asks excitedly, the cracks in her machinations starting to show, making Cade and AJ immediately suspicious.

Frowning at each other, they don’t answer her right away, but then with a slight nod, they step closer to her as a unit, as Cade asks dubiously, “Did you hustle us, Sunshine?”

The guilty giggle that comes from her is adorable as shit, making me smile at her. I step up behind her, a show of my solidarity by being her back–up during this ‘confrontation‘ as they realized they’ve been played by the girl who holds our hearts.

Holding her thumb and pointer finger a few millimeters apart, she feigns embarrassment at being caught out when she says, “Maybe just a teensy weensy little bit.”

This makes me laugh as I slip my hand to her stomach and pull her against my front. “Beautiful, we both know that’s a bold–faced lie. You played these guys better than Tiger Woods did the Masters tournament when he was at his peak performance level.

“Why you little…” AJ starts with a wicked glint in his eye as he watches Layla, still in my arms, who’s unable to stop giggling at getting one over on them.

“You knew about this?” Cade asks me, as his brows furrow at my betrayal. “What happened to the bro code?” he continues as his scowl deepens.

Pulling Layla even closer, I use my other hand to bring her face round to mine, saying as I stare into her happy face. “When my woman made a side bet with me there was absolutely no way I wasn’t going to take her up on it.”

1/2

Chapter 67: Hunter POV

I place a lingering kiss on her tipe in front of them, making it clear that she’ll always come first, my matter the container.

And what, pray tell, did this side bet entail?” Al asks curiously, but he can forget about me divulging that information to him or Cadet L httle secret until the devides if she might want to tell them one day.

“Nonrya,” is my only reply as I wink down at her before kissing her again softly.

“Lucky fucker,” Cade grumbles as he starts walking away, Al not far behind him, making Layla and me chuckle at their antice.

We finish the rest of the night off at the arcade by getting her some candy floss, salted pretzels, and a grape slushie that gives her brain freeze when and Al challenge each other to see who can drink theirs the fastest.

We laugh, hold hands, pull her close whenever we can, and kiss her tenderly each time the moment feels right, while blissfully ignoring some of the we get.

Walking back to my truck, she’s skipping a couple of feet in front of us, happy and recalling her magnificent duplicity out loud, making us all smile at

I can’t believe I’m such a fortunate man to be able to call her mine.

She hangs back as we near my truck, holding my hand as the other two guys slip into the backseat. I don’t expect her to make good on our deal tonight, it’s been a long day, and I intend to take her home so all of us can end the day on a high. I’m willing to wait till the end of time if that’s what she needs.

So, when she leans into me and softly asks, with an endearing look in her eyes, “Mind taking me to your place?” My heart almost comes to a complete stop in my chest.

“Don’t you want to go home? It’s been a long day. You must be beat?” I hedge, not wanting to read into her words, and also wanting to make sure she knows she doesn’t have to do anything tonight that she’s not ready for.

“I’d like to spend the night with you, in whatever way possible,” comes her reply, and my heart basically leaps from my chest at her admission

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