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“Oh, this is going to be interesting,” Levi says with a laugh.
“Okay, so it wasn’t just me who saw his reaction, right?” Emree asks.
Blaire looks between all of us. “What are y’all talking about?” she asks, a little bit of her Texas accent coming out.
I laugh. “Oh, nothing, just that Maddox is crushing on your future sister-in-law.”
Blaire’s eyes bug out as Emree and I laugh. “Wh-what? But she’s barely eighteen.”
Emree wraps her arm around Blaire’s shoulders and drags her toward Mateo’s SUV, whispering something to her. I follow them and climb into the front seat. After loading his sister’s bag into the trunk, Camden takes the driver’s seat. Maddox, Levi, Mateo, Jules, and Trazia load into Maddox’s truck. Mateo ends up bringing a surfboard, so they have a tight squeeze in the cab of the truck over there. Luckily, Trazia is pretty small, and Levi suggests she sit in the middle in the front…right beside Maddox.
Emree leans forward, positioning herself above the center console beside me. “Let’s get this show on the road, boys. I need to be lying out on the beach in my new bathing suit ASAP.”
Images of Emree in whatever bikini she bought recently flash through my mind, and I grin, thinking about her wearing nothing but that all week.
Leaning forward, I place a kiss on her cheek. “Drive fast, Camden. My girl is ready to be wet and sandy.”
Emree laughs, throwing herself back into the middle seat. “Oh, that was bad. Keep the cheesy comments to a minimum this week, will you?”
Looking forward, I can’t stop the smile on my face. Being around Emree does that to me. I’m happy when we’re together, and she makes me forget about the fucked-up family I come from and their demands of me. “No guarantees, baby…no guarantees.”
3
EMREE
Over nine hours in a car is absolute torture. My neck is cramped and my knees are in desperate need of some stretching. Camden wanted to stay on a tight driving schedule since we didn’t leave until nine this morning, and that meant only two bathroom breaks and drive-through food. When Blaire asked for an unscheduled restroom stop, you would have thought she asked him for an organ. He then started a lecture about not drinking so much, and now the two haven’t spoken in almost an hour. It has been extremely awkward, but luckily, we entered Wrightsville Beach not too long ago and the house should be close.
“GPS says the place should be up here on the right,” Conrad tells Camden.
Looking out the window, I take in the houses as we pass by them, my jaw slackening slightly. Never have I seen such extravagant homes before. Most are three stories high, with wide staircases leading up to the front door. One had six garage doors and I can’t help but wonder how someone would need so many cars.
Camden turns the car into a long driveway and a house much like the ones I have been looking at comes into view. It is also three stories, but only three garages line the front on the right. The staircase leads up to a yellow double door with a chandelier hanging from the top. The house is bright white and has shutters that match the door. It seems like a perfect beach house. A verylargebeach house, but from what I have heard about Maddox’s family, they come from money, though I never asked what they do.
After Camden parks, I nudge Blaire with my elbow to get her to move. “If I don’t get out of this car right now, I am going to go crazy. Scoot your butt, woman.”
She huffs but kicks open the door and gets out. Once my feet touch the ground, I stretch my back and arms above my head. Nothing feels better than being able to move around after being stuck in a car for a long period of time.
Arms snake around my waist, and I open my eyes. Conrad is smiling down at me. “Let’s go to bed,” he says with a knowing look on his face.
I laugh. “It’s just after seven.”
“Don’t care.” He nuzzles his face into the nook of my neck and plants open-mouth kisses along the column.
“Conrad,” I whine, but there is little fight in me. The moment his hands or mouth are on me, I turn to mush.
“Yo, break apart and come help unload this shit!” Camden calls out.
He and Blaire are at the back of the SUV, and Maddox’s truck is pulling into the driveway. Maddox jerks the truck to a stop and before anyone else is out, he swings his door open and is jumping away as fast as he can. From the front seat, I can see Trazia staring at the seat he was occupying with a confused look on her face.
Over the next twenty minutes, we unload the insane amount of stuff from both cars. Everyone in the other car stopped at the grocery store on the way here and picked up enough food and supplies for the rest of the week. Us girls are in the kitchen unloading and organizing the groceries as the boys bring in the last of the bags. Maddox bought more food than we need, but with five athletes in the house, I am sure they will blow through these.
Maddox plops down on one of the five barstools at the island. The kitchen is a work of art and straight out of a magazine. With white marble countertops, deep-green cabinets that go up to the ceiling, brand-new stainless steel appliances, and a large floor plan with a butler’s pantry, there is enough space in this room to comfortably fit all of us.
“Which one of you beauties wants the honor of cooking me food?” Maddox asks with his ever-so-charming grin on his face.
I can’t help but roll my eyes. “You are more than capable of cooking for yourself.”
Blaire laughs. “You may want to take that back. Mad will either end up burning the place down or getting food poisoning from whatever he tries to make. He has officially been banned from cooking during the week for family dinners.”
