ANDREW
May
Andrew laughed as Riley danced around the diner while no one was there, mopping to the music overhead. She always plugged in her ‘RockOutCockOut’ playlist and cleaned as she danced. It was entertaining as hell.
“Riley, darling!” He grabbed her as she did a pass and she looked up at him, grinning. They were staying later than normal tonight, trying to get some time just for them away from the pride. The diner was their retreat from the other guys.
He held her close to him as she danced and wiggled in his arms. He leaned down, kissed her soft mouth, and she eventually stopped singing to the music.
“Hi, Andrew,” her husky voice sent shivers down his spine and made his cock hard. “What can I do for you?” Her amber eyes met his and he kissed her again, stealing the mop from her and leaning it against the counter.
“I was thinking we could go do something together,” he mumbled against her lips.
“Like what?” She was grinning now, her eyes alight with interest.
“Well, we’re pretty much done here, and you’ve mopped the floor three times just dancing around… So, let’s get out of here and go have a picnic or something.” Andrew rubbed his cheek to hers, enjoying the purr he got in response.
“Andrew, it’s like two in the morning,” Riley’s voice had dropped, becoming a little deeper.
So? He chuckled to himself. They weren’t often here at closing and he enjoyed having the time alone with her. He didn’t get it very often with the pride’s working schedule. They lived busy lives to pass the time. They had wanted that before Riley came into their lives, but now they were all just trying to be with her as much as possible. Nearly losing her a few times had caused them to readjust their priorities.
“We need to get home, so the others don’t freak out,” she continued, kissing him slowly. His hands held her hips.
“I don’t see you enough, though,” Andrew groaned softly. “And the moment we get home, one of the guys is going to be excited to see you and say I’ve had you all night. We don’t get real quality time here at the diner.” He kissed her again, this time with a little more force, a little more something. She was panting softly by the end of it. She nodded slowly. “I can call the guys; they’ll understand.”
“Alright,” she touched his cheek. “We’re still working all this out. I still want to do so much with all of you.”
“Then let’s go make memories, darling.” Andrew nuzzled her cheek.
They were now just standing like fools in the diner, grinning at each other. Riley ran off first to get her music player and other personal items. Andrew locked the back office and put away the mop. He met her at the front door, holding a to-go bag of the diner’s best pies. Pecan, blueberry, key lime, you name it, Andrew put it in the diner.
“What are we eating for this picnic, anyway?” Riley strolled over, still grinning. She had her black leather purse, something Brenton had gotten her.
“I’m bringing the leftover pie we had. You know, those last two or three slices always left when I replenish the baked goods display. We normally throw them out,” Andrew held the bag up for her.
“We’re going to eat pie, at two in the morning, that we stole from the diner?” She laughed and took the bag, passing him to leave Starry Night Diner.
“Well, since we own the diner… We’re not really stealing. It’s our pie.” Andrew locked the front door and looked at the night they had.
The sky was clear and full of stars. The air was warm, and all the ice and snow had finally melted. The puddles had evaporated, so it wasn’t wet anymore like it had been through March and April.
Not that the pride had gotten to do much through March and April except Riley’s birthday, which she’d tried to run from. They’d had a lot of stuff happen, and it just reaffirmed how Andrew felt about her. Her ability to bounce back from the kidnapping and attempted murder had touched him in a deep place. Other than the occasional nightmare, she jumped back into the world, ready to take it on.
They slid into his truck, and she sat in the passenger’s side. He could see her excitement in the dark interior, the light in her eyes undiminished by it all.
“So, where are you thinking to take us?” She put her feet on his dashboard, and he tried to swat them down.
“Put those down,” he growled playfully. “And I was thinking we should go to our little grove and look at the stars. You call the guys and tell them we’ll be home eventually and not to send out any search parties.”
“Hopefully they’re just asleep,” Riley chuckled, pulling out her cell.
He got them moving as Riley grimaced when a voice came on the line.
“Riley! Why aren’t you and Andrew home yet? We’ve been staying up!” Zachary. He wasn’t angry, but Andrew could tell he was being… Zachary.
“Go to sleep!” Riley groaned, rolling her eyes. “Andrew and I have decided to do a bit of a night picnic and will be home around dawn, most likely.”
“He gets you for all evening at the diner and then for the rest of the night?” Zachary growled. “It’s not fair.”
“The diner isn’t really a place to have a good time, and Andrew needs some quality time, Zachary.” Riley sighed and rolled her eyes to Andrew, who shrugged. This was why he didn’t make the call.
“Well. When you get back, it’s my turn.” Zachary grumbled, a bit petulantly. Andrew bit back a chuckle, since Zachary would hear it and get pissed.
“How about I decide whose turn it is?” Riley shook her head, staring out the front window.
“Now, wait a minute, baby!” Zachary was getting desperate now. Andrew figured he realized he got too pushy with their girl.
“You and Brenton had me before my shift at the diner with Andrew. Troy and Gabe also need to see me one day, too, since they just got back from a three-day trip dropping off that bike they finished.”
Go Riley. She was handling Zachary like a champ. Andrew was honestly impressed. The tiger was now whining to her, but not disagreeing with her. After another fifteen minutes, Zachary let her go, and she put the phone away.
“Is it always going to be like this?” Riley asked him, looking over in the dark truck.
“Like what?” He wanted to hear her complaint before he really offered her any information. He didn’t want to accidentally say something that was off topic and start a totally different conversation.
“You guys fighting for time with me? This whole ‘I want a turn’ stuff. I don’t want us to have a schedule. I want you guys to just trust me to understand who needs me and when,” she shrugged and looked a little put off.
“Oh, darling. Yeah, we’ll figure it out. You have to understand, we’re new to this, too. We-- When we originally talked about all this, we just didn’t think long-term. We were thinking with our dicks, honestly.” Andrew sighed. “And now those guys are thinking about things they hadn’t considered. Like being in a real relationship with a woman. It’s not something any of those four have ever done.”
“You have?”
“I’ve had only one real lover, and yeah, she and I were together,” Andrew admitted as he pulled them into the parking for the trail.
“Are we?” Riley asked softly.
“Together? Riley, we’re more than together. We’re family.” Andrew leaned over and kissed her after he parked. “And I honestly don’t care about the other labels, as long as you’re happy here with us.”
“What if one of the guys gets tired of this? I mean, I was thinking with my proverbial girl-dick when I decided to give this a shot,” she chuckled, and Andrew couldn’t stop his laugh at that. Her proverbial girl-dick. Oh yeah, she had the same attitude about sex most of them did. Sex is fun, just do it. It was always more serious for Andrew, but he could live with the wild girl. “Seriously! What girl wouldn’t want five guys all over her? Especially five guys that look like you all.” She jumped out before he could grab her.
He was going to show her just how tired of this he would never get. He would rather have a fifth of Riley than one of his ex, or even ten of her.
And if he didn’t have Riley, he didn’t want anything.