My next breath feels caught in my chest. “Then... then—”
“Then what?” His eyes hold the same promiscuous gleam as the night in the hotel.
The hotel, and what he did to me there, comes to the forefront of my mind.
My fingers tremble slightly as I bring them up to the buttons on my blouse, undoing them one at a time. I have no explanation for my actions, as my heart rate picks up.
“What are you doing?” He watches as I finish unbuttoning my shirt and slide it over my shoulders, revealing the semi-see-through white lace bralette underneath.
“Making things even,” I say.
I get down on my knees and look up at him from under my lashes. WhatamI doing? He looks down at me and I watch him swallow, before looking over at his open bedroom door. I reach up and start to unbutton his pants, then pull down the zipper. He doesn’t stop me. He’s already hard when I pull him from his briefs and stroke him once with my hand. I put the tip to my tongue, and close my mouth around him, swirling my tongue over him as he lets out a shallow breath. And I’ve committed to this now, I think to myself as I continue.
“Fuck, Sloane, fuck,” he breathes.
I put a hand to his thigh, removing him from my mouth. “Sit back,” I tell him. He does, sitting back on the piano bench, and I lean over him, slipping my other hand into his briefs while putting him back into my mouth.
“Fuck.” He leans back, hitting the piano keys. He puts his hand in my hair again, yanking it back so I lift my head. “I want you to look at me,” he says.
So I do.
“Good girl.” And I roll my eyes at thegood girl.He huffs a laugh, leaning back. “How do you still have an attitude while doing this?”
“Mm,” I hum in acknowledgment, and his hips buck. I know he’s close, so I work faster. His hand tightens in my hair as his other arm leans back on the piano.
“Fuck, I’m gonna—” he says, but doesn’t finish—well, he does finish, just not the sentence. I sit back on my heels and wipe my mouth on my wrist. “Fuck,” he says up to the ceiling before looking back to me, eyes half wild, half disbelieving.
We look at each other like that for a minute, his eyes dipping down to my chest, where he can no doubt see right through the lace fabric, and I have half a mind to slide off my jeans and fuck him on his piano bench. But I did what I set out to do, nothing more.
“Now we’re even,” I say, standing up to grab my blouse before leaving.
I almost get to the last button when I walk out onto the porch and Wes is getting out of his car. He’s beaming from ear to ear and runs right to me.
“He approved it!” he yells. “My dad approved the proposal!” Wes scoops me up and spins me around.
“Oh my god! Wow,” I say. “I’m so happy for you.” He sets me down and goes in for a kiss, but I turn my face. “Cold sore,” I say quickly. “Sorry, I have a cold sore coming in, I can feel it. I wouldn’t want you to get one.” More so I wouldn’t want you to have to kiss the mouth that just went down on your cousin. He kisses my flushed cheeks instead, not even wondering why they’re flushed, or why I’m leaving his house if he wasn’t there. Asher comes down the stairs and sees us on the porch.
“Good news,” Wes says to him. “The resort is all yours, man.”
Asher walks up to the door and leans on the frame. “All mine,huh?” But he’s looking at me as he says it. Wesley claps a hand to his shoulder before walking inside.
“I need to make a few calls, and then I’m making reservations at Lago for tonight to celebrate!” Wes calls out. “Everyone better be there!” He runs up the stairs to his room, leaving Asher and me alone on the porch.
Asher cocks his head to the side, raising his eyebrows at me. If he’s looking for an explanation for what I did upstairs, he isn’t going to get one.
“I’ll see you at dinner,” I say, turning to go.
“Dinner?” he says. “You’re not already full?” I turn back around to see him smirking at me.
“That needs to stay—”
“A secret?” Asher finishes for me. “I know how we operate by now, Sawyer.” I go to walk back down the stairs and to my car. “And by the way,” he calls out, “we’re not even. Far from it.”
But aren’t we? He went down on me, I went down on him, now our unfinished business is finished. I got it out of my system. Didn’t I?
“We’ll take three bottles of your best champagne,” Wes says to the waiter. “We’re celebrating tonight.” The waiter, in a white button-down and black bow tie, nods before walking away. Nine of us sit around the rectangular table with ivory linens and three lit candles down the center.
“I just can’t believe he really is passing on the resort,” Annica whispers to me and Dani while Wes talks to Sam. “I mean, it was practically set up for him. This bed-and-breakfast thing might not even work out.”
