“So what if I’m f**king whipped? What is so wrong with that? That I love the woman I’m with? You have some f**ked up values, Ryder.” Lucah shook his head.
“Nothing wrong with it, nothing at all.” His tone left a lot to be desired in the sincerity department. Lucah went from pissed one minute to smirking the next.
“Just wait, Ryder. Just wait.”
“And see,” I added, which made Lucah smile even more.
“Exactly.”
“You two freak me out sometimes. I’m going to bed.” With that he was off the couch again and heading to his room.
“Well, that was a good way to get him to leave,” Lucah said, taking Ryder’s vacated seat. “Also, I’m whipped and I’m not ashamed of it. At all.” He growled and dove at me, which made me squeal.
“Keep it down!” Ryder yelled from his room.
“Put on some headphones,” Lucah yelled back. “I’m with my girl, and I don’t care who knows it. I want to tell the whole world.” I stared up into his intense eyes, and the mood shifted from playful to serious.
“I’d want to tell the whole world about you.”
Was he talking about what I thought he was talking about? Or was I just reading too much into it?
“Go ahead,” I said.
“Later. Right now I just want to take you to the bedroom and f**k you until you’re screaming to the whole world about me.” And again, he’d shifted from serious to seductive. It was hard to follow, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t all for the f**king and the screaming. Well, the f**king at least. I was going to keep it down unless Ryder had put headphones in.
der and I almost had another run-in the next day, only this time it was him who was caught with his pants down. I’d walked in on him taking a piss.
“Shit, sorry!” I said.
“Knock first!” he replied as I slammed the door. We were definitely going to need the sign about knocking, but for me more than anyone else.
I waited for him to emerge and my face just kept getting redder.
He came out and glared at me.
“If you want to take a peek, all you have to do is ask. I’ll give you the whole show.” He gestured to that area of his body and my face heated up some more.
“No thank you. I already have my own ginger to ogle. But I’ll consider your offer.” My attempt at being flippant was undone by the blush on my face.
“What’s happening?” Lucah said, coming out from getting dressed.
“Nothing,” Ryder and I said at the same time.
“Okay, that’s not suspicious.” I rolled my eyes at Ryder and he acted like I was the one who’d done something wrong.
“I almost walked in on him in the bathroom and he offered to give me a show. I declined. The end,” I said.
“Oh, if that’s all,” Lucah said, shrugging.
“I also told him that I had my own ginger to ogle. You’re welcome.” I pointed to my lips so he could give me a kiss to show his gratitude.
“Thank you, Sunshine,” he said and gave me a peck.
“What are you up to today?” Lucah asked Ryder.
“No good.”
“Fucking fantastic,” Lucah said. He seemed to be loosening up a lot about Ryder and his comments, which I was grateful for. I’d decided not to believe half of the things he said, which was probably a good policy.
“Well, make sure you take pictures and send them to me. Oh, and if you need to be bailed out of jail, my phone is going to be off,” Lucah added as he put his jacket on, and I grabbed my purse.
“Will do,” Ryder said, snapping his heels together and saluting. Lucah and I both shook our heads as we went to work.
“Your brother is something else.”
“So are you.”
“I’m hoping that’s a compliment.”
“For you, it is.” He stopped and gave me one of those middle of the forehead kisses that made me feel cherished and adored.
“I love you. Have I told you that today?” he said. We might be late for work, but I didn’t care. Moments like these were more important than being punctual.
“I think you did when you went down on me this morning. Or maybe I just imagined that.” He grinned and moved the kiss down to my lips, giving me just a little bit of tongue action. He was so good at that.
“Well. In case I didn’t, I love you.”
“Right back at you, Mr. Blythe.”
He stared into my eyes and the world and sound and everything else stopped and then melted away and we formed our own reality where just the two of us existed. The moment was quick, but it was so powerful it took a few seconds for me to realize we were standing on a sidewalk in Boston with people streaming around us, cabs honking and a man up the street screaming about the end of the world.
Lucah gave me one last kiss before hailing a cab to drive us to work.
I thought about that moment for the rest of the morning. It expanded in my brain, pushing out all the negative thoughts and insecurities and other little nasty things that swirled constantly.
And then an email from Violet popped up my inbox, asking when we could have our lunch date. It sent me crashing right back to earth. Irritated, I typed a quick response that I could do it today. Might as well get it over with so I could stop thinking about it. I really wanted to stop thinking about her. I had too many nice things to think about.
She responded a second later with an acceptance and saying I could pick the restaurant. I decided to go with the burger place Sloane and I had gone to after the spa. It was a bit of a distance from the office, but it was nice and casual, and I knew I could at least get a really decent meal out of it.
I tried to throw myself back into the precious bubble from this morning with Lucah, but Violet’s damn face kept invading. So I tried to stop thinking about that and just fill my head with numbers and math and earnings projections and other things I should have been focusing on.
Lilia came to check on me when she brought me my second cup of coffee mid-morning.
“I don’t need therapy right now, but I probably will this afternoon. I’m having lunch with Violet.” Lilia’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “So. I will fill you in on that when I get back. Or after you get back from lunch. You knew what I meant.” She nodded.
“Oh, and I know you said you were going to cut back on the coffee, so I added half decaf. So you still get a little bit of a jolt, and you still get a full cup.” She was very pleased with herself.