“Okay,” she said with a frown. “Christmas.”
Kong grinned and tipped his head. “Easy. Spend them with the Gray Backs.”
“The first person you’ll call when we have our first baby.”
“My mom. She’s always wanted me to do this. It’s why she left our family group with me when I was little. She wanted me to settle down and fall in love the way it felt right to me.” Kong poked his sandwich with his plastic fork and slowed his words down. “She would like you. You’re strong and independent, and you care about people in a way that inspires other people to be better. You put others above yourself.” He looked up at her. “My mom is like that, too.”
“Are you worried about her?”
He nodded slowly as he clasped his hands in front of his face. “Every action I take has a consequence for someone I love.”
The sandwich she was munching on lost its flavor all the sudden and sat like a cold lump in her stomach. She pushed away the plate and reached across the table, rubbed her fingertips against his elbow.
Kong had said she was someone who put others above herself, but he didn’t see the same value in himself. He’d been doing that since Fiona had broken him. He hadn’t lived his life for himself at all. He hadn’t approached Layla for years, even though he had wanted her. Kong had lived an empty, hollow existence to make life easier for other people.
Kong didn’t see it, but she did.
He was the inspiring one.
Chapter Fourteen
“Put your bathing suit on, humaaan,” Willa sang from behind an oversize pair of red sunglasses. She was holding an erotic romance book in one hand, a towel draped over her forearm, and in the other a beach bag that was almost as big as her.
“I didn’t pack a bathing suit,” Layla said from the rocking chair on 1010’s porch.
“Well your big ol’ teats aren’t fitting in any of my extra small child-size tankinis. I’ll ask Georgia and Gia if they have spares. BRB.”
“BRB?” Kong asked through an amused smile.
“Be right back!” Willa called, her flip flops clacking loudly as she jogged away.
“Where are we going?” she asked Kong, who’d apparently already gotten the memo because he was wearing a pair of white swim trunks with a subtle, gray plaid print. His chest was bare, showing off all those scars she now found devastatingly sexy.
“We’re taking you to the falls.”
“The falls?”
“Bear Trap Falls, and you’ll be one of the few humans to ever see it. The river splits the territory line between the Gray Backs and the Boarlanders. It’s the best swimming hole in Damon’s mountains, and you deserve a day to just have fun.” His look darkened as he scanned the woods again. He did that a lot now. “We all deserve a break after the week we’ve had.”
“Eee!” Layla squeaked, clenching her fists and waving them in tiny circles with uncontrolled excitement. “I love swimming, and I love waterfalls, and I’ve heard of Bear Trap Falls but never thought I would get to see it.”
Kong laughed, hooked an arm around her waist, pulled her close, and pressed his lips against her forehead. “The water will be cold this early in the season, but we’ll get used to it. The Gray Backs are doing a bonfire, so we’ll spend the day there and just forget about everything, okay?”
“Did you set this up?” she asked.
His proud smile was answer enough. Her big, tough mate was also caring enough to offer her beautiful distractions.
“I’m the luckiest.” Layla kissed his cheek and bounded into 1010 to gather sunscreen, sunglasses, towels, and the like. She had everything stuffed into her backpack by the time Willa danced in, swinging a purple bikini and gyrating her hips like a pole dancer. Layla giggled and danced around her, poking her fingers into the air and double-time tiptoeing across the semi squishy floors of 1010.
“So sexy,” Kong teased from his spot leaning against the doorframe. An easy grin was splitting his face, and his dark eyes were dancing, exposing the happy, carefree side she’d only seen him have with the Gray Backs in Sammy’s Bar when the Beck Brothers were playing a show. Today was going to be amazing.
“Okay, strap them udders into this and meet us outside,” Willa said in a giddy voice. “Snap, snap, human. It was a long winter without Bear Trap Falls, and I have copious amounts of s’mores I need to shove into my mouth hole.”
Layla dressed and slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops, then followed Kong out of the trailer. He looked so cute with her pink, glittery backpack over his shoulder. Tan skin, muscles everywhere, and the man didn’t mind glitter if it meant he could carry her stuff and take care of her. God, she loved him so much her heart felt like it was going to swell out of her chest.