AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t worry,” he said, leaning forward close enough for me to get a dose of his sweet scent. Hell, the entire car was filled with rotating breaths of fucking incredible aromas. “I clean up well.”
Of that, I had no doubt.
Rowan looked at me in the rearview again. “Can I ask you something, Isolde?”
I nodded.
“Your scent.” The rich baritone of his voice ran over me, and I stifled the shiver it gave. “What is it? A little of roses, but the other floral part? I can’t seem to identify it.”
A laugh bubbled out of me. “Don’t worry, most people can’t. Hell, it took my own family a while to actually figure it out. It’s magnolia.”
“The tree?”
“Yes. Not super common.”
“I recognize it now. It’s fascinating,” Cade murmured. “Floral, but with those shades of honey and rose and…sex.”
He didn’t look away when I turned to him. If anything, there was blatant interest on his face and in his eyes. “Thank you, I guess.”
“You’re very welcome.”
The silence stretched out as we stared at each other, that quiet power he held building a little more. Joel came to the rescue. Otherwise, I didn’t know that I’d be able to break the contact myself.
“Can you walk us through what to expect tonight and the next couple of weeks? We’re good at going with the flow, but anything is helpful.”
I cleared my throat, suddenly realizing Vaughn still held my hand. He’d never let it go. “Yeah. I can do that. I’d rather you not get eaten by the wolves.”
They all chuckled, and I started talking about the lion’s den we were all walking into. “First couple of days are busy, then it slows down. My parents’ anniversary party tonight, and then the fittings for the bridal party tomorrow. They’re having everyone hang out for a couple days before they go home and everything slows down.”
And once it slowed down? It would be me and them and a whole lot of time. With the way they looked and all their scents? I would need a backbone of steel to get through it.
Too bad my backbone was historically made of rubber.
Go me.
CHAPTER FOUR
________
ISOLDE
Iwished I had another cocktail napkin to rip into pieces. The signs for Clarity Coast had my heart pounding, even though it would be fine. It was going to be fine.
If I kept telling myself it would be fine, I hoped my brain and body would believe it instead of feeling like I was walking into a firing squad.
And not because of my family or friends. But because seeing Beau made me feel out of control. I should be able to walk in there with my head held high because I didn’t do anything wrong. Instead, the thought of seeing him made me want to curl in on myself and hide.
At the same time, the first glimpse of the ocean made me breathe out a sigh of relief. The airport was near the ocean too,but it was hard to see it until you were here. At least from the highway.
It sparkled in the afternoon sun, stretching out into infinite blue. I could just barely see the cliffs that edged our estate in the distance, and my entire being settled. If there was anything I missed moving away from here, it was the sea. It wasn’t the same anywhere else.
I woke up every day of my childhood with the song of waves in my ears. I rarely went a day without sand in between my toes. The beach was one of my favorite places, sitting on the sand and just gazing out at something so much bigger than yourself.
Of course, that was as far as it went. No swimming for me, but I was still comforted being near the water.
After I told the guys about everything we were doing—which was frankly too much—we lapsed into a comfortable silence with music on quietly in the background. I was so much more relaxed. I didn’t know if it was because they put me at ease or because I liked being home, but I felt better than I had when I got in the car, and that was the important thing.
Rowan pulled off the highway where the GPS told him to, following the roads through the strange combination of the glitzy and the artsy to where the big houses were. The kind you saw on television and thought ‘no one could ever live there.’
