She sucks in a breath. “Was it Emmett?” she whispers, her voice trembling slightly.
“No. I can’t tell you who, but Ipromiseit wasn’t him.”
She nods slowly, masking her emotions again. “Can you at least swear to me it’s not Lane? I’d honestly rather you fuck my brother than that dickwad.”
A laugh slips out, tension lifting for just a second. “I swear it.”
Her lips twitch, but her eyes stay sharp. “Don’t think I’m going to let this go. That bruise didn’t put itself there.”
“I promise, when I can tell you, I will.”
She sighs. “I’m still mad at you. Feels like you’re lying to me, and that breaks, like, a hundred friend codes.”
I nod, guilt a stone in my chest.
She shakes her head and drops her sunglasses back over her eyes. “Congrats on the sex bruise.”
And then she walks away, leaving me standing there in the middle of the barn, heart pounding and drowning in shame.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SADIE
Thesheetsarestillwarm, tangled around our legs, the room steeped in that heavy silence that follows when the world feels miles away. It’s the third night in a row I’ve snuck into Wesley’s room after everyone has gone to bed.
Every night, I have full intentions of slipping back into my room after—but I’m weak, and he makes it impossible to want to leave his bed.
His arm is draped over me, thumb tracing slow, absent circles along the curve of my back. Every touch is unhurried, like we have all the time in the world and he’s memorizing me in pieces.
“I want to tell Lydia,” I murmur, the words slipping out before I can swallow them back. “About…this. About us.”
His thumb pauses against my skin and he slowly exhales through his nose before pressing a kiss to my temple. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. You know how she is.”
My chest tightens. “I don’t like secrets, Wesley. She asked me point blank if we’d been together and I lied right to her face. Keeping it from her feels wrong.”
“I don’t like having to hide it either,” he murmurs, brushing his lips across my hairline. “I hate that you have to lie for me. That we have to sneak around like this is something shameful when all I want is to go to sleep and wake up with you in my arms.”
My breath catches, his words carrying more weight than I want to admit. I tip my head back to look at him and whisper, “That’s all I want, too.”
His jaw tightens, thumb tracing lower across my spine. “Give me a little more time, okay? Then we won’t have to hide it anymore.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble,” I say, searching his face in the dim light. “I know how much this place means to you.”
His eyes soften, a small smile tugging at his mouth as he brushes a stray strand of hair from my cheek. “Let me worry about that.”
Ican’tstopsmiling.
Not just because my morning started with Wesley fucking me against the shower wall—though that is officially my new favorite way to start the day.
And God, I can’t get him out of my head.
I never thought I could be this consumed by another person, undone by every look, every touch, every stolen moment that leaves me aching for more. Whatever this is between us—it’s bigger than I imagined. Wilder. Addictive. Like he’s stitched himself into me without even trying.
This is only supposed to be temporary, but I can’t help the way I crave him.
The sun is already merciless, pressing sticky heat down the back of my neck, gluing my shirt to my skin. But I don’t care.
Because today is the first day I get tofinallylead a trail ride. Well…sort of. Emmett’stechnicallysupervising, but before we left the house this morning, he grabbed my shoulders, stared deep into my eyes in this ridiculously dramatic way, and said, “You’rethe captain today. You’re in charge.”
