Pillowy softness. Warm breath.
My hands raise to cup his face, cradling his jaw as I hold him to me. Riley’s hand clenches where it rests on my waist, his fingers dipping beneath my shirt to scorch along my skin.
I gasp, and Riley’s lips stretch into a smile against mine.
Time slows to a crawl as I whimper into his mouth, and hetenses, then presses more firmly into me. Just as I part my lips, ready to taste his mouth on mine, the truck jerks.
Time snaps up to full speed as we’re torn apart, and I turn wide eyes to the front where Brooks grimaces, an apology on his lips. Riley tugs me into their side, pressing a kiss to my temple, and I sigh into their embrace.
My cheeks heat as I replay what just happened. I’ve never been so bold in my life.
I can’t believe I did that.
IkissedRiley.
I’m practically vibrating out of my skin when we pull up to the lavender farm, and both Riley and I leap out of the backseat. Hand-in-hand we run inside—smack into Neveah.
Riley bounces off of her as he rounds the doorway, and I bounce off of him. Luckily, Brooks wasn’t too far behind, and he steadies me while Vee reaches out to straighten Riley. She raises one eyebrow at us, gaze darting up to Brooks for a moment.
“How was your date?” she asks.
“So good!” Riley gushes before I can so much as open my mouth. “We went to the coffee shop and she got a milky way, loved it of course, then we went to the bakery and tried all the best things. She loved those too, lemon best, obviously.”
Vee’s eyes start to widen as Riley keeps talking, and she darts a look at Brooks again. I’m just standing here with a stupid, giddy smile on my face, but I tried to put it away and I simply can’t.
I think it’s stuck.
Also my heart is pounding. Hard.
“—Then we went to the clothing shop and we found a couple things she likes but she wanted to keep wearing my clothes,” Riley is still talking, his words coming out faster and faster. “I think I’m forgetting something but then we went to the candy shop because she hasn’t hadcandy, Vee! And weeach—” He pauses, looks around for a split-second, checking both his hands and mine to see they’re empty. “Our candy!”
He turns to sprint back to the truck, but Brooks throws an arm out and catches him around the waist.
“Slow down there, Ri,” he says, amusement lightening his tone. “I’ve got both bags right here.”
Riley snatches the bags and spins back around to face Neveah, holding them up in both hands. “And we got candy!”
She waits a second before responding. “Is that all?” she asks with a wry smile.
“Oh!” Riley says, throwing one hand up to interrupt her. “And Brooks makes areallygood alpha daddy watchdog.”
He scrambles away as soon as the words are out of his mouth, cackling like a lunatic. I can’t believe he did it! I am far too much of a chicken to poke at the alphas like he does.
I spin around to see Brooks’ reaction. His neck is tense, tendons standing out as he clenches his jaw and his lips pinch together. His scent is bright though, so I don’t think he’s mad. Then his lips twitch before he forcefully scowls and narrows his eyes as he watches Riley run away.
“Is there steam coming out of your ears?” I ask, then slap a hand over my mouth, horrified.
“Oh, you want to be on my spanking list, too?” he says.
I drop my hand and my mouth falls open. My thighs clench together, and my perfume saturates the air.
Vee steps up behind me, trailing one finger lightly down my neck and arm until I shiver. There’s definitely slick starting to pool between my legs, another foreign sensation that I’m not sure what to do with.
“I think she just might,” she purrs into my ear.
“No!” I squeak, then slip out from between them to sprint after Riley.
Riley tries to get another date day, but Brooks says since it’s his day off, it’s his turn to take me on a date. He also says Riley owes it to him, since Riley ended up taking over so much of our first date when we came here to the lavender farm.
