by K. A. Linde
“I’m glad we could do this. I look forward to hearing how that distribution meeting goes,” he told me.
I nodded, actually believing him. “Definitely. When is your flight back?”
“Sunday. I’m going to check in on your mom and see some old friends. I’d be happy to do this again if you’re free.”
Jordan arched an eyebrow and looked at me.
“You’re seeing Mom?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“Of course. Just because we’re not married anymore doesn’t mean that I no longer care for her. I hate to see that she’s suffering.”
I stood there in shock. Of any of the conversations I’d envisioned having with my dad, this was not one of them. I knew that Mom still loved him, but I hadn’t thought they were in contact. That she’d let the man who had hurt her back into her life…even as a friend. That he’d ever actually cared.
“I didn’t know that,” I said softly.
And just like that, something shifted. Like I could see my dad for who he really was. A broken man trying to make amends with the only family he had left.
“Well, I’d be up for a round of golf,” Jordan said with a shrug. “Maybe tomorrow afternoon?”
“Absolutely. I’d love to get out on Landon’s course. Heard it’s a doozy.”
Jordan laughed. “You have no idea.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “Julian?”
Despite everything, I nodded. “Actually, yeah. Golf sounds nice.”
My dad hid the look of surprise as quickly as it had come and then nodded. “I look forward to it.”
It was weird to realize that I was, too.
“Well, what do you think?” Jennifer asked as we drove away in Milli.
“I don’t know. It didn’t go at all how I’d thought.”
“Because he’s as charming as every other Wright?”
I flashed her a grin. “You find me charming?”
“Oh, don’t start,” she said with a laugh.
“I kept waiting for him to make a mistake, to show his hand. But he never did. I don’t know if that’s because he doesn’t have an ulterior motive or he’s just gotten sneakier.”
“I’d like to think the former.”
“Me too,” I said with a sigh. “I thought that in the past though, and then he fucked us all over.”
“He’s going to see your mom though. That doesn’t seem like a man with an ulterior motive. It sounds like someone doing penance.”
I sighed heavily. “I know. That’s what gets me, too. He’s going to see Mom. She never told me either. I’m going to have to talk to her about it.”
“Or you could let it go. Have a little faith.”
“That hasn’t worked so well for me.”
She nodded. “I get it. I have a difficult relationship with my parents, as you saw. But I can’t imagine cutting them out of my life forever either.”
“It wasn’t an easy decision.”
“And so, it won’t be an easy one to turn around, but if tonight is any indication, he’s trying to right the wrongs from his past.”
“Well, I was glad to have you there.”
“I didn’t do much,” she said.
I arched an eyebrow. “You grounded me. It was more than you know.”
We pulled into her neighborhood, and I headed toward her house. She looked focused and thoughtful. I didn’t dislike whatever was going on with her. But I wouldn’t mind knowing why.
I hadn’t planned to ask. “What are you thinking about?”
She hesitated a second before saying, “I’m not ready to go home.”
My head jerked over to her. “Really?”
“Yeah. Maybe…we could go somewhere else to talk?”
I blinked. I couldn’t believe she was suggesting this.
“Sure,” I said without pause and turned the car around, heading toward my place. I didn’t want to make it a big deal. Casual and fun were the words I’d used. I certainly wasn’t going to say no.
We drove the rest of the way to my house in companionable silence while the radio played Top 40. We pulled up to the driveway of the house I’d had built my first year in town. I’d lived with my mom in her remodeled ’70s-era home while she was sick and had this place built in the meantime.
I parked in the garage, and Jen followed me with wide eyes into the house. The space was a sprawling open-floor plan with vaulted ceilings and an industrial farmhouse kitchen. My mom had taught me to cook, and I enjoyed it. So, I’d put all my time and love into the kitchen design.
Jennifer’s mouth hung open slightly. “Wow. This is your place?”
“Yeah. Benefits of being a Wright.”
“Tell me about it. Geez,” she muttered as she wandered the room. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks. Probably too big for me,” I admitted.
“Probably. And you’re here all alone?”
I nodded. “Yep. Just me. Hollin joked about moving in, but he likes living closer to the vineyard.”
“Annie always gushed about Jordan’s place. You know, she used to study there before moving in. I didn’t really get it.” She stopped with her hands on her hips, looking out the back windows to the pool beyond. “Now, I get it.”
My eyes remained on her the entire time. I’d always thought that Jennifer was shy and maybe a little insecure but generally just really shy. My teasing had always made her blush. She didn’t speak up much when in big crowds. I’d thought that was who she was. But now, I could see there was something else simmering there. Something I only saw when she had a camera in front of her face.
“You seem different,” I finally said.
She turned to face me. “Do I?”
“Yeah. I can’t put my finger on it.”
She arched an eyebrow and crossed the room to stand before me. “I don’t think I’m any different.”
Then she smiled that smile. The new one. It took all my self-control not to kiss her right then.
“It’s that smile. Like you have a secret.”
Her eyes dipped down, and then she looked up at me from under her lashes. “Maybe I do.”
“Oh?”
“I heard a rumor…that you like me.” She swallowed. “That you liked me when you proposed our fake dating.”
My eyebrows rose to the ceiling. “Is that so?”
She nodded. “Is the rumor true?”
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, I like you. Of course I do.”
Her body trembled slightly at my words. “And you wanted to fake date me…to real date me?”
“I…yes. I wanted to ask you out, but I didn’t think you’d say yes.”
She blinked. “Why would you think that?”
I laughed and ran a hand back through my hair. “Honestly, I didn’t think you were interested in me.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I mean, you hide your feelings so well. I couldn’t ever tell if you were humoring me or what.”
Her mouth fell open. “Oh God, you’re serious. I thought everyone in Lubbock knew how I felt about you, Julian.”
It was my turn to blink in confusion. “And how do you feel about me?”
She stepped forward, clearing the last bit of distance. “I’ve liked you since you fell into the pool on top of me at Landon’s party almost four years ago.”
My pulse jumped. I wanted her so fucking bad. I’d been trying to deny myself, to tell my body that whatever we were doing was fine. But I could no longer deny that I wanted her. I wanted all of her. And to hear that she’d wanted me all along…
It was so much wasted time. I refused to waste another minute.
My lips sealed to hers in a searing kiss. I should have told her how I felt from the start. I should have dived right in. Instead, I’d feared that she’d turn me down, and after my last relationship, I hadn’t wanted to put myself out there.
Now, she was here, in my arms, and I didn’t intend to ever let her go again.
“Oh God,” she groaned agai
nst my lips as my hands trailed under the hem of her black dress.
I ran them over her thighs, reaching the lace of her panties. I didn’t wait another second before ripping them down her legs. She squeaked in surprise. Her eyes were wide, but I was already standing against her, taking her lips for mine again before hoisting her up into my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I thumped her body back against the wall. She gasped again. I swallowed her cries, grinding my body against hers.
Fuck. I’d wanted this for too long. One night of her body would never be enough.
Her hands went for my belt, removing the clothes that lay between us, and pulled my dick free. She pumped it up and down in her hand, the friction hot between us.
“Need you,” I grunted.
“Yes,” she breathed.
Whatever I’d been feeling these past few weeks, she clearly had, too. Because as soon as I lined my dick up with her opening, I realized how wet she was and how much she fucking wanted this, too.
“Oh fuck.” I pressed the tip deeper.
Her head fell back against the wall. Her hands dug into my back. “Please.”
And then I thrust forward up into her, claiming her perfect body for my own. She moaned deep in the back of her throat. It went straight to my balls. I’d do anything to duplicate that sound.
So, I drove up into her again. And again. And again.
She was so fucking tight and wet. The sounds coming out of her mouth drove me to take her harder and faster. To feel every inch of her wet pussy wrapped around my cock.
I was hardly seeing clearly by the time I felt her tighten so hard around me that it was almost painful.
“Julian,” she cried over and over again as she came. My name the prayer on her tongue.
“Come for me,” I groaned, trying to hold off to let her come down, to maybe even get a second.
Her eyes opened then, golden irises only for me. She was panting. Her breasts heaving out of the top of her dress. “Come with me.”
It was a command out of her perfectly prim mouth that I’d never be capable of denying. I came with a fury, buried deep inside of her. I saw stars at the force of my climax, and it was a full minute before I pulled back to look at her again. She had a sated, happy smile on those lips. Another smile that I claimed as my own.
I gently dropped her back down to her feet, and after we cleaned up, we collapsed back onto the couch, nestled together under a blanket.
“I guess I should have told you how I felt earlier,” I said into her hair.
She chuckled softly. “I don’t know that I would have believed you.”
“Why not?” I trailed figure eights into her hip.
“I don’t know. It would have felt too surreal that you’d pick me.”
I kissed her shoulder. “I like everything about you, Jen. The way you light up when holding a camera, your most adorable reaction to your cats, that smile when you think no one is watching, the blush on your cheeks when I tease you…” My voice dropped seductively. “That little noise you make as you come.”
She flushed all over and buried her head in my chest. “Okay, I believe you.”
“Mmm. I can keep reminding you of all the reasons I like you.” My hands trailed lower.
“You have my attention.” She peaked back up at me. “So, I have a question.”
“Yes?” I asked, pressing a kiss to her neck and then her collarbone and then her breast.
“Um…I’m going to Cabo next week for an elopement. Do you...have any interest in going?”
I looked up at her from where I’d been laying kisses down her stomach. “To Mexico with you? Of fucking course, I want to go, Jen.”
She grinned. “Oh well, um…good.”
“My turn for a question,” I said right before I reached the apex of her thighs.
“Mmhmm?” she murmured.
“Does this mean you’ll go to the gala with me as my girlfriend?”
Her eyes flew open. “Not your fake girlfriend?”
I shook my head. “Real girlfriend.”
“I…could probably manage that,” she whispered. “And that makes you my real boyfriend?”
I covered her body with my own. “It sure as fuck does.”
Part IV
A Real Relationship
23
Jennifer
A text from Annie buzzed form my phone as I pulled up to Jordan’s place three days later and parked next to Sutton’s new Range Rover.
Come around back. The gate’s unlocked. xoxo
I plopped a wide-brimmed hat on my head and grabbed my beach bag out of the backseat. Annie’s residency started at Texas Tech in full force tomorrow. Her life was going to be a madhouse, but she had today off, and Sutton and I were taking the rare opportunity to get away for the afternoon. Jason was at summer camp all week, and they’d hired a full-time nanny for Madison. Sutton had jumped at the first opportunity to have a break.
I hefted my bag and walked around to the back. Jordan’s house was on the Wright golf course that Landon had commissioned to PGA standards. But the best part of the house was the immaculate pool and spa.
Annie and Sutton had already stripped down to swimsuits. A pitcher of margaritas sat between their tables.
“Hey, y’all,” I said.
“You made it!” Sutton said with a wide smile.
“I did.”
I held my breath for a second and then stepped into the backyard, carrying the other thing that I’d had in my backseat with me. I walked right up to Annie and dropped a twelve-pack of Coke onto the empty table next to her.
She looked at it, then at me, and then back down. Then she shrieked at the top of her lungs, jumping out of the seat and throwing her arms around me.
“Oh my God!” she squealed. “Yesss! I knew it!”
Sutton’s hands covered her ears. “Dear Lord, what is happening? I escaped the screeches of my toddler for a reason.”
Annie bounced up and down. “I won a bet!”
Sutton arched an eyebrow. “What bet?”
I laughed at Annie’s reaction. “Annie bet me a Coke that Julian was into me.”
“And I said I was so sure that he was that I’d bet her a whole twelve-pack.” Annie hefted the package up to the sky. “And look what I have, bitches!”
Sutton shook her head, laughter bubbling out of her. “So, you’re dating my cousin, too?”
I dropped my bag and sank into the seat next to her. “I am. As utterly surreal as that is to say out loud.”
“Why?” Sutton asked. “Anyone would be lucky to have you, Jen.”
I shrugged. “Well, I sort of thought that I’d make it longer than a few weeks with my no guys for ninety days policy.”
Annie snorted. “No one thought that would last.”
“Least of all if Julian showed interest,” Sutton added.
“I never thought he’d show interest. You know, he was interested in someone like Ashleigh Sinclair.”
Annie wrinkled her nose. “A two-faced, manipulative asshole who tried to ruin his life? Yes, why can’t we all be as perfect as Ashleigh?”
“That’s not what she means,” Sutton said knowingly.
“No. I know that she tried to ruin his life and sabotage the winery. I certainly don’t forgive her for it. But I’m also not a Sinclair.” I gestured to Sutton. “And I’m not a Wright.”
“Neither am I,” Annie said quickly.
“But you’re Annie,” Sutton said.
“Right! You’re Annie,” I gushed. “You’re Miss Self-Confidence. Your whole motto is, I am woman. Hear me roar.” Annie laughed but didn’t deny it. “I’m more the David Rose type and you know, not connecting.”
Sutton chuckled.
“Who cares if you’re not like me? There’s no reason that Julian shouldn’t see how wonderful you are in your own way.”
“But how could he? When I didn’t see it in myself first?”
They were both silent at that question. It was tr
ue. I wasn’t just shy; I actively self-sabotaged my own life. I got in my own way. I’d rather stay inside than go out. I was more comfortable in front of a camera. I preferred the company of cats that didn’t even belong to me to ninety-five percent of people. And I wanted to be as bold as Annie, but that wasn’t who I was.
“Part of me still feels like the nobody I’ve always been. And the last couple years with you two and all your amazing friends and family was just a dream.” I shrugged. “I liked Julian, but I didn’t feel good enough for him.”
“Well, good news,” Sutton said, taking my hand, “it’s not a dream.”
I laughed. “I’m so glad.”
“And,” Annie said pointedly, hands on her hips, “if anything, you’re way too good for Julian.”
“Yeah, right,” I sputtered.
“He had his chance with you, and he ended up dating someone like Ashleigh Sinclair,” she said furiously. “If he didn’t see what he was missing, that was his own damn fault for having bad taste. Not your fault. Not because you’re nobody. You’re our friend, and we most certainly don’t have bad taste.”
“We do not,” Sutton agreed easily.
I nearly choked on their words. Tears came to my eyes, unbidden, and I laughed as I swiped at them. “I love y’all.”
“We love you, too,” Annie said, pulling us in for a group hug.
“Now,” Sutton said as we broke apart, “have a margarita and tell us everything.”
I took the margarita glass out of her hand and tugged off my cover-up. “Well, first things first. I’m going with Julian to a gala on Friday, and I need a kick-ass dress.”
“I thought you already had a dress,” Annie said.
“I did. But…that was when I was going with him as a fake date. If I’m going as his girlfriend, then I want to show up Ashleigh.”
Annie cackled. “There’s my Jennifer.”
Sutton smiled mischievously. “I think we can handle that.”
When Friday rolled around, I still wasn’t completely satisfied with my dress situation. I’d tried on the most incredible dress with Annie. Until I saw the price tag and nearly threw up. I couldn’t get the gorgeous thing off of me fast enough. I’d worried that I might even sweat on the thing. No event was worth the price tag on that thing…even if it was as close to perfect as I could get. So, Blaire had called in some favors, and we had a dress, but it still didn’t feel like the dress.
