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I grin as I connect the call to my helmet and answer.
“Hey baby,”
“Hey, I’m thinking pancakes and the biggest cheeseburger we can find..”
I chuckle as I watch her turn her car around and start in the direction of the gates.
I follow.
CHAPTER TEN
ADDIE
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Rhys cheated.
I realize as much a whole week later when I find myself in the passenger seat of his truck watching the highway wind out behind us.
To be fair to myself, I never stood a chance when he broached the subject that lazy afternoon in my apartment. He picked me up from work on his bike. We stopped for tacos at our favorite takeout place and went back to my apartment just as the rain started. The soft patter filled the cramped space as Rhys kissed me that way he knows fucks with my senses. It’s always the cause of my clothing issues — they come off too quickly.
But this time, he went in with a plan. He nestled between my thighs, his tongue swirling in teasing figure eights between my opening and clit. He had a finger in my pussy and a vibrator in my ass. I wasn’t even listening when he made the suggestion we carpool to Mom and Oz’s house that weekend, especially when he followed the question with a sweep of his tongue over my swollen muscle. I would have agreed to anything.
“You play dirty,” I grumble, arms folding across the soft material of my hoodie.
Rhys smirks from behind the wheel. The sun reflects off the black frames of his glasses with the tip of his head in my direction.
“You said yes like nine times. You sounded really excited about the idea.”
Despite my best efforts to maintain my annoyance, my lips twitch. “I wasn’t saying yes to this.”
“No?” The hand on my naked, upper thigh squeezes. The fingers have been steadily climbing higher beneath the hem of my skirt since we left my apartment and were now angling to slide under the elastic of my panties. “Well, this is definitely awkward then.”
I’m not angry with him. I’m not even upset about the situation. I love that I get to spend three hours with him. Carpooling from the same city to the same town made all the sense in the world, but it isn’t normal for us. It’s going to raise questions and speculations. What if Mom takes one look at my face and knows I’ve been climbing her stepson like a jungle gym?
I know I’m being crazy. I’m overthinking a perfectly reasonable thing, but my gut is in knots. I’m so nervous my bladder has shriveled up to walnut size. The fact that Rhys is calm about this should be making me calm, but it’s only infuriating me because I feel like I’m the only one freaking out.
“Hey,” Rhys squeezes my thigh again to get my attention. “I promise you, no matter what happens, I’ll be there. We’ll get through it together.”
He’s been saying it for days and I believe him, but...
“If Mom hates me...” I don’t miss the way my voice catches on the confession.
“That’s not going to happen, baby. She might be confused at first, but she could never hate you.”
I place my hand over his and give a little squeeze.
I love the wild landscape Oz owns deep in the belly of nowhere and nothing. The small square footage of wilderness basking on the cool shores of Lake Eden is a haven I devoured as a child. I know every inch of it better than my own shoebox apartment.
Pinecrest, a breathtaking structure of unlimited glasswork buried in the heart of a grove has my soul. My love. I would live there forever, become a wood witch frolicking naked through the trees.
But the four-story home has been in Oz’s family for generations and, although Oz is the type of man who would give the shirt off his back if asked, it rightfully belongs to Rhys. Even if he’s never treated me as less than his own, I’m not taking his ancestral home.
Dark, rich oak and gleaming tinted windows glint in welcome as I pull up the gravel path. The sun is at the highest point where the sharp edge of the roof reaches past the towing trees to pierce the sky. All around, the air smells so clean and crisp, a cleansing brew of sunbaked earth, sweet pine, cool, bubbling water. I’m so happy to finally be here, I almost forget to wait for Rhys to park before tumbling out of the car.
“Addie!”
Mom comes tearing out the front doors and down the marble steps. I meet her halfway in a collision of bodies.
