Dean
Iprobablyshouldn’thavetakenAddison to the bathroom at a bar, but fuck, when I laid my eyes on her, held her close on the dance floor, I lost all control. I had to touch her, taste her, watch her come apart for me. I would deal with the fallout and complications later because, goddamn, it was worth it. Watching Addison fall apart on my tongue was the hottest thing I’d ever seen, and the incredible blow job was a bonus.
We made our way back to our empty table, Harper and Archer nowhere in sight. Addison turned toward me with a puzzled look on her face. “Where did they go?” I checked my phone to see if I had any missed calls or texts from Archer.
Archer:
Harper had a headache, so I took your truck to take her back to Walker’s.
I turned my phone screen toward Addison, showing her the text from my brother.
“Well, I hope she feels better. I feel bad that we kind of abandoned them.” Addison frowned.
I shrugged. “I’m sure she’s fine, just tired from traveling. Can you take me back to my place?”
“Yeah. But let’s run by Primrose Hill Creamery on the way. They’re open late on Saturdays, and I could use something sweet after all that action.” She winked at me, then led me out of the bar toward her car.
I leaned down close to her ear and lowered my voice so only she could hear. “That makes one of us. I already ate something sweet.” She nearly stumbled over her own feet as the prettiest blush crept up her neck onto her cheeks, and I barked out a laugh. I loved how this woman reacted to me.
Getting ice cream was a bad idea. I sat there, completely mesmerized and hard as fuck yet again as Addison licked her way around her ice-cream cone. Discreetly, I tried to shift myself in my jeans for relief.
“You okay over there, Adler? You look uncomfortable. Is this ice-cream cone reminding you of something?” Addison smirked before she continued to slowly drag her tongue around the tip of the velvety cold treat.
I shook my head.All right, if she wants to play games, let’s play.
I leaned forward, slowly trailing my hands up her thighs, satisfied when she froze in place beneath my touch. I brought my mouth to the corner of her lips and slowly licked before placing a chaste kiss on her lips. As I pulled away and leaned back in my chair, her eyes were wide. “Sorry, you had a littleice cream there.” I motioned to her mouth.
It took a moment for Addison to gather herself from my unexpected public kiss. She cleared her throat. “All right, you win.” She narrowed her eyes at me as I barked out a laugh.
“So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, tell me more about your parents. How did they meet?” Addison asked, changing the subject.
“They ran in the same circles growing up. My mom’s family owns a real estate development company that partnered with my dad’s family’s communications company. Their parents knew each other, but they didn’t start dating until college.”
Addison smiled. “That’s cool. Are you ever resentful that they weren’t super involved when you were younger?”
I thought through her question for a moment. “Not really. I don’t blame them for not being super hands-on as parents. It’s all they knew. It was how they were raised. My grandmother, whom I was very close to, my dad’s mom…I think that’s why she was so involved with me and Archer growing up. She wanted to right her wrongs and be different from the way she raised my dad.” I dipped my spoon into my cup of ice cream.
“Makes sense. Have they come to visit you here yet?” Addison asked as she finally finished her ice-cream cone, relieving me of her torture.
“They haven’t come here yet, but my mom has mentioned coming sometime in December. We own numerous properties all over the world, so they travel frequently. We usually try to see each other around the holidays and for birthdays. We enjoy each other’s company, but I wouldn’t say we’re super close.” Ishrugged. “Tell me about your family.”
Addison smiled. “Well, I guess you could say we’re the opposite of yours. We are all very close, but since there are so many of us, it can also be quite chaotic. My parents gave us a great childhood. They always had a way of controlling the chaos and being there for each of us whenever we needed them. We’ve always had this unspoken rule that if one James was down, we were all there. Period.”
“That’s a great rule. I’d say Archer and I are like that as well.”
“So, how’s the practice going? Are you liking the small-town vet life?” Addison chuckled.
“It’s going well. Dr. Davis definitely built a solid staff, so I enjoy working with everyone there. The clients, however…let’s just say every day is an adventure.” I shook my head, laughing. “Like yesterday, for example. Mrs. Pierce brought in her orange cat, Tabitha, and asked me if I could neuter her instead of spaying her because it was cheaper. Then last week, I was called out to Mr. Damon’s ranch because he was convinced his horse Oreo was dead out in his pasture. I drove all the way out there to find Oreo lying on his side, sunbathing. Mr. Damon didn’t even bother to walk out there to check if he was breathing, said he couldn’t bear it.”
Addison threw her head back laughing. I couldn’t help but stare at her graceful neck and luminous emerald eyes. She was so effortlessly beautiful, and I doubted she even knew it. “That’s hilarious. I’m sure these are not the type of problems that you would have encountered if you were a vet in California for the polo fields.”
“Nah, definitely not. But hey, at least the people here mean well and are good people. I’ll take crazy vet calls and clients over entitled assholes any day.” I finished my ice cream and got up to throw my trash in the bin.
“We should probably get going. I want to make sure Harper is good, and I’m sure you want to get back to your brother,” Addison said while standing up from the table.
Truth was, I didn’t want to get back to my brother. I wanted to stay with her. We hooked up. I should have been good, but I wasn’t. I wanted more. I wasn’t sure I would be able to get enough of this girl, and that feeling freaked me out.
Once we got to the car, I entered my address into the navigation in Addison’s SUV, since she hadn’t been to my place before. The drive was quiet, and I couldn’t help but feel like something was off with her all of a sudden. She was usually chatty.
