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My breath catches when he leans down and takes one long lick between my folds. A small moan leaves me when he passes over my clit. He kisses the top of my mound. Then to my surprise, he pulls clean boxers up my legs for me.
“You want your shirt, Red?”
“No,” I manage to get out. I want to lie with his skin against mine. To enjoy every second of whatever this is that I can.
Van flips off the bathroom light before coming back to bed. He pulls me into his arms. I expect him to make a quick, fun remark. He’s probably waiting for me to do the same. Instead, I turn to face him lying on my side. He pulls me in closer. I throw one of my legs over him and lay my head on his chest.
Right now, I don’t care if this is fake. Van has taken care of me more than anyone else I can ever remember. I feel safe.
For the first time in a long time, I fall asleep within seconds.
Chapter
Eighteen
VAN
“Not to be that person, but I gotta ask?—”
I cut Duncan off with a shake of my head. “Don’t. Listen to your better angels.” Dunc asked me to play a game of pool with him. I knew it was a ploy to get me somewhere away from the parentals, and I figured it would come with a lecture about Fleur, but I also figured I'd at least get a game in so why the hell not.
“I don’t have angels, good or bad.”
"That explains so much about you, Dunc." Not sure if I should try for the solid in the corner pocket or the ball near the middle. The middle is harder, but it would give me a clearer shot for the corner. I lean down and sight the green ball near the middle.
"Fleur is like a sister to me," he tries again.
I pocket the ball and move around the pool table to position myself to sink the corner ball. "And Sadie is actually my sister, yet I don't throw a tantrum when you sneak her into your bedroom every night."
"You punched me for even looking at her."
"That's an exaggeration. I didn't punch you until you tried to kiss her."
"Didn't try. Did kiss her." He says it proudly.
I clench the pool cue between my fingers hard enough that it cracks. "Fuck." I straighten and face Dunc. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't talk about the shit you do with Sadie so that we don't fight and make both my mom and Sadie cry."
Dunc presses his lips together for a half second before grudgingly spitting out, "Fine, but take a look at how you feel about Sadie, and that's how I feel about Fleur. She doesn't have an older brother. She has a negligent mom and her mom's shady boyfriend. And that's only the most recent one. Her mom goes through men like you go through jock straps."
"Not sure why you're keeping count of my sports underwear, Dunc." I heft a new cue. It doesn't feel as heavy as I'd like. "But I'm touched you care."
"This is why I never talk to you."
"I wish you kept to that principle but, Dunc, you've done nothing but talk since we got in here. I've racked, broken, and sunk four balls, and all you've done is twist the cue between your palms."
"I let you rack."
I sigh and lean my new cue against the side of the table. "When the parentals said that they wanted us to bond, the pool table was the wrong thing for them to buy, wasn't it?" Duncan Donovan is good at many things. He built Sadie this desk that has a fold-down table, and even I can admit that shit was cool. He's also pretty smart even though he doesn't want to go to college.
I, on the other hand, will be attending college because I can catch anything and I'm faster than most humans. Plus, I can't even build a Lego kit. But I'm athletic and have superior hand-eye coordination, which makes me a natural at pool. This is not Duncan's sport.
"We're in here because you hate the ATVs."
Outdoors is Duncan's sport. "I could die on an ATV, and then my pro career would be over."
Duncan manfully fights back a sneer of disgust at my ATV aversion. "They're very safe."
"When I retire from the NFL with my four Super Bowl rings, we will go on all kinds of adventures on your ATVs."
