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“What would I do without you guys?” I smile wryly.
“Melt into a puddle of need, I suppose,” Bonnie says with a straight face, ignoring the mock glare I throw at her.
The rest of the night I feel an inexorable pull toward Ryan which I try to drown in mocktails. Bonnie keeps sneaking alcohol into my drinks because I’m not ready to tell Brooke and Sabrina that I’m not pregnant. By the fourth glass, I know I’m unlikely to last the night without somehow going to drape myself over Ryan.
The looks of pure sin he keeps throwing me from across the room don’t help either.
By midnight, Brooke and Xavier suddenly announce they’re leaving, and the others take their cue from them. I’d expected the party to draw on until much later going by how late the boys usually stay on their nights out.
At last, everywhere becomes silent.
I hop on a bar stool and kick off my heels. I’m still wearing the black skirt and dark green silk blouse I’ve had on since morning. I would have loved a chance to refresh my makeup or change, but I couldn’t have hoped for a better night.
Ryan returns to the cabin after seeing the last guest off locks the sliding doors and leans against it. He stares at me from across the large cabin for a beat then slowly approaches me.
He’d long taken off his jacket, and his shirt is now untucked, with the top three buttons undone and cuffs pushed up to his elbows, typical of the roaring match they’d been at all evening. I watch him approach, letting myself enjoy the delicious tightening I feel in my womb when I look at him.
He pulls a stool and sits beside me.
“Ryan, thank you for this, for tonight. It was the best.”
He smirks. “What do you say I give you a full, uninterrupted tour of the Stella tomorrow.”
“Oh yes!”
He grabs my calf, stoking all the way down to my foot which he starts to gently rub.
“Ryan,” I feel self-conscious knowing his penchant for cleanliness. “My feet are sweaty.”
“I know. Hold still.” he continues massaging my achy foot, moving from one to the other, and I try not to moan out with how good it feels.
“Ryan, can I ask you something?”
“Hm hm.”
“Why does everyone think we live in a lake house?”
He stops, then lifts me to the counter, steps between my legs and buries his face into my neck.
“Because I own one. Fuck, your smell drives me crazy Stella.”
I’m still reveling in how his short trimmed beard feels my neck When he draws my earlobe in between his lips and sucks on it, drawing a gasp from me. I’m overwhelmed with sensation from suddenly having his mouth all over my skin, but I manage to stay on track.
“Is the lake house in Seattle?”
“Hm-hm.” He grunts kissing a path down my neck.
“Don seems to think it’s his….” I sigh, hooking my legs around his hips and reach for his shirt buttons.
He shifts the neckline of my shirt to gently nip on the ball of my shoulder, and I’m about to give up conversation altogether when he responds in a serious tone.
“It’s true. It used to belong to his family. Uncle Reuben lost it to my father who then immediately passed it on to me when I turned eighteen. To rub in salt into Don’s wounds, I moved into the house straightaway and threw wild parties in it. Don was devastated.”
“Ryan!”
“What can I say, I was a bit of an ass then.”
“But given how it all played out now, would you have handled it differently?”
