“Yeah.”
I brush my fingers through my hair while he takes his next shot, giving the ball a calculated tap to send it into the hole. I head to the rough to line up behind my own lost ball, digging the club into the sand to act like a scoop and I send the ball back onto the green, a few feet from the hole.
“Seriously, Davis, what is going on with you?” He asks. “You could have made that shot, no problem. Hell, youhavemade that shot before, no problem.”
“She told me she loves me.”
My best friend’s eyebrows shoot up and a smile spreads across his face. “And you said…?”
“Not a damn thing,” I chuckle, tapping my club against the ball, sending it toward the hole.
“Jesus, Davis.” He walks toward me to pull the club from my hand. “If you’re about to try to tell me that you aren’t in love with that girl, I’m going to have to kick your ass.”
I laugh, scrubbing a hand over my jaw. “I’m not saying that.” With my free hand, I snatch the club back from him, giving it a couple quick test swings. “I justcouldn’tsay anything, you old bastard. Not ‘til she was asleep, anyway.”
“It doesn’t count if she doesn’t hear you say it to her,” he laughs. “I don’t understand. You spentmonthshung up on this woman. After everything that brought you to this point, why hold back?”
I fish the golf balls from the hole in front of us and toss my club back into the bag with all the others. “It’s just different, saying it to you or Rowan or the kids,” I explain. I heft the bag over my shoulder and the two of us start toward the next hole. “You gonna have any more of those, old man?”
“No, and stop deflecting,” he orders.
“I’m not— look, I just can’t say it yet.”
Colt stops in his tracks, looking at me like I’m a fucking idiot before he scrubs a hand over his face. “I’m about to whoop your ass, Davis,” he tells me, and I can’t help but laugh. “You are at the forefront of a multi-billiondollar company, which you helped to build from the ground up. You moved a thousand miles from home on a whim because some guy you met on the internet had an idea.
“You’ve built an entire life for yourself out of nothing, Davis. You make some enormously stupid decisions sometimes – like the police car incident of twenty-ten - and yet, none of that has ever scared you enough to not do it. There is risk in everything that we do. I understand that you have a lot to push past in order to get there, but she’s already said it, and I can guarantee you that she already knows. Youare not a subtle man,” he chuckles. “Stop being afraid if it and take the risk.”
“She does know,” I tell him. “She told me that, too.”
His hand claps over my shoulder. “So give her the words, asshole. And if you really can’t say it, if it goes that deep, write it down. Women love notes. Rowan bought stationeryjustfor me to leave her notes with. It wasn’t subtle, but it was damn cute.”
“Nah, that dog won’t hunt,” I tell him. “She’s not a ‘notes’ kinda girl and I’m not the type to wax poetic about my feelings and shit. It’s unnatural.”
“No, you’d rather just ignore them until they make you explode,” he taunts. “You and Emmett both. You’re exhausting.”
“Not all of us were raised by Elaine Fowler. Fuckin’ saint of a woman,” I smile, remembering her.
Colt’s mom was probably the nicest person I’ve ever met; his wife is a pretty close second. Elaine was my second mom just as much as Martina is Colt’s. When I moved out here, with Colt moved out of the house, the Fowlers had offered me his basement apartment in their house, but I didn’t want to invade their space, so I got my own place close by. Elaine brought me supper every goddamn night I didn’t eat at their place, and she left a ‘breakfast kit’ for the morning so I wouldn’t drive through somewhere. She picked up my laundry on Sundays so I could grab the fresh basket Monday morning. She even made Colt’s dad give up half his office so we could have a space to talk stocks and shit while she hung out with Emmett.
Damn near ripped me apart when she died.
Colt’s hand clamps down on my shoulder and he gives it a squeeze. “Seriously, asshole, if you don’t tell her, I’ll do it for you.”
“Just tee up, rat bastard.”
•
I rap my knuckles on the door to the employee lounge and count down from thirty before letting myself in, just in case. When I open the door, I’m met with a group of beautiful women, each dressed in a different color and style of lingerie.
“Oh man,” I say under my breath. Two months ago, I would have been figuring out the logistics of fucking them all at the same time, but now, I don’t think I’m allowed to even think about it anymore.
“There he is,” Sophia announces, poking her head out from behind a dressing curtain.
She steps out of the curtain dressed in a practically fucking fluorescent green bra, with a pair of little bows sitting on the front of each strap, a matching set of panties, and a little belt that wraps around her waist, ending at her thighs in clips that hold stockings to her legs. A few small bruises line her arms, reminders of our playtime with the rope, and her hair is tied up in two buns at the top of her head.
“Do you like them?” She asks, giving one of them a few gentle pats. “Rowan gave me the idea.”
I step toward her, dropping a hand to her waist, and I bend down to meet her ear with my mouth. “I’m gonna use them as handles when I rip those panties off and fuck you,” I growl at her. I bring my teeth to her jaw, biting harder than I mean to before turning to the rest of the girls, gesturing to the five here from Envy. “Alright, y’all come on to the office with me and I’ll get you situated.”
