Wright Together, page 17
My pants were shucked off to the side. Whitt’s jeans came unbuttoned. His cock already hard and ready for me. I took him in my hand, and he hissed softly at the pressure. He pumped himself once, jerking for more friction before settling himself between my legs.
Our eyes met, and a sizzle passed between us that I’d never felt before. We hovered in that space. Longing— something that had always been ephemeral and transient in my life—now took up permanent residence in my heart. An ache for this man that tattooed itself across my skin. As ingrained in me as the cherry blossoms on my hip, the peonies on my shoulder, and Gram’s writing on my bicep.
“Whitt,” I whispered.
He pressed his lips to mine, quick and decisive. “Mine.”
“All yours.”
Then, we fit together. It had felt better than each time before. As if Whitt were a mind reader, running his hands down my body, knowing exactly where to touch and kiss and what speed to help me reach that pinnacle. But this time, it was as if he’d reached inside of me, and instead of him reading my mind, we shared a connection, a link. Every touch, every thrust, every kiss was an awakening.
Even as we sped up, it happened as one. Not rough or desperate, as we had screwed so many times before. But steady and loving. Every movement like he’d been made specifically for me.
As we came together, our cries drowned out in the hot Midland afternoon, I relinquished my last hold on control. I hadn’t been waiting for a moment to show someone the real me. I’d been waiting for Whitt, the person who’d discovered it for himself.
24
Whitton
Eve was my girlfriend.
Mine.
All mine.
On Monday morning, I was still on a high from the weekend away while I drove West and Harley to Ransom Canyon for the annual Wright barbecue at Jensen’s lake house. Eve would be there later in the day after she finished the showing she had with a couple who had come into Lubbock for the weekend to look for houses for when they moved here at the end of the year. She hadn’t been happy about not driving in with me. Frankly, I wasn’t either, but I understood her work mentality. She rarely took a break and giving up a whole weekend to Midland had been a lot for her.
For my girlfriend.
Another smile hit my lips, undeterred.
“So, like, are you going to talk about it?” Harley asked from the backseat.
“Talk about what?” I asked.
West snorted next to me. “The stupid look on your face.”
“I don’t have a stupid look on my face.” I dropped my smile at the comment. Ass.
“Yes, you do,” Harley said. “Like you’re in love or something.”
Well, wasn’t I? Holding Eve in my arms under the trees in Midland had been the closest I’d ever gotten to feeling like that. The feel of her heated skin under my touch. The taste of her sweet lips. The face she made as we came together. And better than all of that had been the words she used. The fact that she’d finally relented to what we’d both been feeling.
“Oh my God, you’re in love!” Harley said when I didn’t say anything.
“Adorable,” West teased.
I punched him. “Shut up.”
West laughed as he rubbed his arm. “Careful. I need these to play keys. I’m heading back to LA soon.”
“Don’t remind us,” Harley grumbled. “I just got back, and you’re leaving.”
“He won’t stop talking about it. I don’t know how we could forget,” I muttered.
“Can’t help it that I’m famous now.”
Harley groaned, and I punched him again. It was so nice to have siblings.
“Anyway, back to the important matter at hand,” Harley said. “I see you changing the subject.”
“I didn’t. West did.”
“What’s going on with you and Eve?”
“We’re dating.”
“Yeah. You were dating before.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” I added, the stupid smile returning to my lips.
“Yay!” Harley cried.
Even West grinned at that. “Congrats, man! She makes you smile. So, I like her.”
“She’s a badass,” Harley added. “I approve.”
“So glad I have your approval.”
I pulled onto the main road that led into Ransom Canyon. West Texas was shaped like the surface of a golf ball with lots of flat spots and little divots all over. It was why it flooded every time it rained and why we had these beautiful canyons just outside of town. Ransom Canyon was the closest to Lubbock with beautiful houses around a large lake. Jensen’s was on the far side of the lake, and we had to drive over a man-made dam. The house came complete with a dock with a boat and a few Jet Skis. Already, a bunch of cars lined the narrow road and covered the drive for the party.
I parked down the street and grabbed the cooler out of the back. Jensen had said we didn’t have to bring anything, but I felt weird showing up to a party empty-handed. We were almost there when my phone rang in my pocket.
I tugged it out and saw Dad across the screen. I sighed. He’d called while I was in Midland, too, but I hadn’t answered. Eve’s family was enough to deal with. I hadn’t wanted to add my own troubles to the mix. But now, I should probably figure out what the hell he wanted.
“I’m going to take this,” I said, holding up the phone.
They saw who it was, and both groaned.
“Don’t do it,” Harley said.
“Yeah. Just come enjoy the party,” West said. “He can wait.”
“He called Friday, too. I should probably take it.”
West sighed. “Fine. But be quick.”
He jerked the cooler out of my hand and nodded his head at Harley. She dragged her thumb across her throat, as if to tell me what to do to the man we all called Dad. I shook my head, and she doubled down by pretending to tie a noose around her neck and sticking her tongue out.
I pressed the green button to answer. “Hello?”
“Hey, Whitton. Good to hear your voice.”
“Yeah. You, too.”
“What’s going on over there?”
“I’m at Jensen’s for his Labor Day party.”
“Ah, Jensen. Yeah, you’ll have to tell him I said hello.”
I had no intention of doing that. Like most of my family, Jensen was hardly a fan of my father. It probably had something to do with him trying to undermine Morgan’s ascension to CEO. Or maybe having a second family. Or maybe just his existence. There was a long list of misdeeds to choose from.
Still, I was the intermediary. I was the one who kept the peace.
“What’s going on? Do you have plans?”
“Oh, just here and there,” he said. Which meant no. “I do have business in Austin next weekend though.”
Oh no.
“I thought that I could pop up to see you while I’m there.”
“Just me?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
“Well, all of you,” he said.
All of us. Jordan, Julian, me, West, and Harley. His two families, all happily together…without him.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
As far as I knew, Jordan and Julian were still no contact. Harley didn’t see him, even when she went home. West had seen him in LA when he signed with Cosmere, but I didn’t know what their current relationship was like. And me? Where did I factor in all of this? I didn’t know. I couldn’t put two and two together when it came to him. I’d told the others to give him a chance, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted to.
“Come on. It’d be great. We can do dinner or go golfing. Whatever y’all want to do.” He cleared his throat. “I’d appreciate it if you ask everyone for me.”
I looked to the blue sky. Summer clinging on stubbornly while fall waited in the wings. It would have been nice to enjoy it.
“You want me to ask everyone for you?”
“Well, no one else took my call,” he said sullenly.
I sighed. “Dad…”
“I know. I fucked up. You all want to punish me forever for it, but I’m still your father. I want to be a part of your lives. I regret a lot, but having all of you, raising all of you…never.”
Raising us. I couldn’t even comment on that. How could you raise people when you spent, at most, half of your time with both families? And Jordan and Julian had always gotten more of him than we ever had.
But I said none of that. It wouldn’t matter to him.
Maybe Harley had been right, and I should have ignored him.
“I’ll talk to them,” I said like the faithful soldier I was.
“Thank you, Whitt. I appreciate it. I love you. Have fun at your party.”
I said my good-byes and then hung up. Well, this was going to suck.
I stepped into Jensen’s lake house. It was immaculate. Big windows on all exterior walls with a panoramic view of the lake. A huge open floor plan, currently covered in children running loose and parents with only half an eye on them. I clocked Colton on the patio outside with his arms crossed, ignoring the entire world for his phone. Poor kid.
I shook hands with Jensen, agreeing that I’d be at his next mayoral event—a silent auction in a few weeks that led up to the election. Then, I went about rounding up my various siblings. For once, I was glad that Eve wasn’t here yet.
Once I had them all in a room off of the main area, where purses were piled up in corners, I closed the door and said, “Dad wants to come into town.”
“What?” Jordan asked.
“No,” Julian said at once.
Harley crossed her arms and shook her head.
West pursed his lips. “Why?”
“Look, he said that he has business in Austin next weekend and that he wants to see us.”
“Why are you even still answering his calls?” Julian asked.
“I agree with Julian. I know that our relationship with him was different from yours, but honestly, isn’t it worse?”
“I don’t want to agree with Whitt,” West informed them, “but he did seem changed the last time I saw him. I think it’s gotten to him.”
“Isn’t that what he deserves?” Harley snarled. “He did this to us. We didn’t do anything to him. Fuck him.”
Julian pointed at Harley. “Seconded.”
“What she said,” Jordan said.
“He tried to see me when I was in Seattle, even after I told him no,” Harley said. “Even talking to him is a bad idea. That’s how he worms his way in. No contact is the way to go.”
“He probably invented the Austin trip,” Jordan added. “You know how he is.”
“Definitely. I’d bet there’s no business involved. He’s just trying to find a way in,” Harley said.
“That doesn’t say something? That he wants to know us?” Whitt said.
“He just feels guilty,” Jordan said with a sigh. “I wish it were more. Fuck, I wanted to believe him so many times, Whitt. So many times. Julian and I gave him a million and a half chances. I don’t have any more to give.”
“Tell him no,” Julian agreed.
“West?”
West shrugged. “We can’t make them. Dad told me he was going to be in LA when I got back, but I still haven’t decided how much contact I want. He does have a tendency to weasel his way back in if we give him half a chance.”
I didn’t even know why I was defending the man. Why I was acting like I wanted them to give him a chance. I’d just always been that person. Maybe today was the day to let it go.
“Yeah. All right. I’ll tell him,” I finally relented.
My siblings nodded, clapping me on the back and thanking me for being the one to deal with him. It was never easy. Today wasn’t going to be easy either.
I stepped out of the house, leaving my siblings to enjoy the rest of the party. I had to call Dad back. This was going to be fun.
“Hey there, handsome!”
I looked up and found Eve striding down the drive toward me.
My smile reignited. “Hey! I thought you weren’t coming until later.”
“Couple canceled. They decided they’d rather spend time at the lake with friends than look at houses. Can’t blame them. I’d rather spend the time with my boyfriend.”
She vaulted into my arms, and I swung her around, planting kisses all over her face while she laughed. Then, I got a real kiss, long and languid. She melted into me, and I let the rest of the day slip away.
“I missed you.”
“Of course you did. I’m awesome.” She winked at me. “What are you doing out here?”
I ran a hand down my face. “My dad.”
“What’s going on?”
I explained the situation with my dad to her. She listened patiently while I detailed all the many reactions from my siblings…and the guilt I still felt about it all.
“He doesn’t even deserve it,” I blurted out. “I don’t know why I feel this way.”
“Look, I’m not exactly the best person to give parental advice. My mom disappeared, and my dad is an asshole, but I still deal with him because Bailey is there. Every time you talk about your dad, you make it seem like you owe him something for giving you half of your DNA. But he has done nothing but disappoint you time and time again. Have you considered that your siblings are right?”
“So many times. Yet I’m still the one talking to him. The one making excuses for him. I don’t know how to let it go.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think you’re the most like him?”
“Normally, I would say Jordan,” I said with a shrug. “But even he’s over it.”
“But Jordan had him all the time. You were given scraps. It’s like you’re still begging for them.”
I winced at the words. At the truth of them. No one had ever cut me bare so easily.
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately. “Was that too blunt? I sometimes do that…I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay,” I told her, calming her own fears easily. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. You see me as well as I see you after all. I want my dad’s approval. I want him to want me the way he wanted his other life. I don’t know how not to want that.”
“You were innocent in this. He should have never made you feel like that.”
“Yeah. Parents, huh?”
“Fucking tell me about it.”
I sighed. “Yeah. I guess I should call him.”
“Do it later,” she said, threading our fingers together. “You don’t have to run to him right away. Do it on your terms. He can wait. He made you wait long enough.”
I smiled down at this force of nature I called my girlfriend. Why hadn’t I been able to say that? He’d made me wait long enough. It was as simple as that.
“Plus, I have on a white bikini,” she said with a grin. “Want to see it?”
I choked out a, “Yes,” and she laughed, stripping out of her T-shirt and pulling me toward the party.
Tomorrow. I could think about it all tomorrow. Be more like my siblings.
Because right now, I wanted to be present with my girlfriend.
25
Eve
I blinked into the soft morning light, momentarily forgetting where I was. I jolted upright in the giant king-size bed, my heart racing a mile a minute. Then, the previous day washed over me.
Right.
I’d stayed the night with Whitt.
Whitt, who was not currently in the bed. I looked around his immaculately clean and perfectly decorated room and didn’t see a trace of the man. As my eyes adjusted to the space, I realized that I could hear the shower running.
I released a breath with relief. I didn’t know what I’d thought he’d do. It wasn’t like he was going to run out on me, sleeping in his bed, but it was the first time that I’d stayed here despite our many adventures between the sheets. I’d always thought it was too intimate…too relationshippy to stay the night. I hadn’t snuck out or anything, but I’d still left before the morning.
Now, I sank back into his luxurious sheets and stretched out on the big bed. My bed back at the house was a double. Why hadn’t I stayed here before? Ten out of ten for quality of the sheets, pillows, and mattress. A girl could get used to this.
I rolled over and grabbed my phone. I jolted at the time. Christ, it was early. I still had a few hours before my meeting with Jordan later. I was pretty sure that Whitt didn’t have to be in the office for at least an hour.
I tossed the sheets off of my legs and padded into the bathroom in nothing but the red lacy thong I’d had on the night before. Whitt’s shower was enormous with just a thin pane of glass, revealing the muscular, naked torso through the fogged window.
I dropped my panties on the tiled floor and drew the door open. “Mind if I join?”
He grinned as I stepped into the shower with him.
“I’d mind if you didn’t,” he said, pulling me under the hot spray.
I laughed as water cascaded over me. “I wasn’t going to get my hair wet! Do you know how long it takes to dry?”
“I have seen you with a blow-dryer before, yes, but I wouldn’t get to do this.”
His hands came up into the now-wet tresses, massaging my scalp. I groaned as he brought goose bumps to my skin. My body hummed to life at the feel of his fingers working their magic. I hadn’t even realized that there was tension in my body until he dissolved it.
“That feels amazing,” I muttered.
“Do you need fancy shampoo and conditioner?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’m a girl after all. I like nice hair products. You don’t get tresses like this without quality care.”
“Then, you should leave some here.”
My eyes fluttered open. “Really?”
“Yeah. Whatever you need, I want you to have it here.”
My heart constricted. That felt like a huge step. Only this weekend, we’d agreed to date, and now, he basically wanted to give me a drawer. And I wasn’t upset about it. Just surprised that he wanted that level of commitment. He’d been saying it since the beginning, and still, I’d doubted him.
