I was splayed over the tiny couch, my hips rolling against Mace's hand, my fingers tangled in his hair as he made me come again.
"Give me a minute, and let's see if you can do three for three," I slurred.
But I was the one who couldn't last. I woke up an hour later and pushed off the blanket he had laid over me. Yawning, I looked around the dark tiny house.
My phone blinked. I had new messages.
Marnie:You will not guess who's asleep on my air mattress
36
Mace
Iwas shocked at how quickly Josie fell asleep. I didn't know if I should be proud or miffed about it. But she had been working hard, and like Owen said, she probably was saving us billions of dollars with salvaging the marketing rollout of the gene therapy procedure.
I walked into the house, trying to tamp down my desire. Being with her was what I had fantasized about for the last week or so. Eating her candy, as she put it, hadn't slaked the desire, just dialed it up to a thousand.
The old Harrogate estate house had a large room that the architect told us was the clubroom. It had a built-in bar and was completely clad in wood. In the middle of the room stood a giant globe that I wouldn't let the kids touch because it was some sort of priceless antique. The furniture consisted of large leather chairs—a mix of what had been left over in the house when we bought it and pieces the architect said were period appropriate.
Usually, we kept the room locked because that was where we stored the liquor. I needed a drink. It wasn't locked when I walked in, but it was dark. If Isaac or one of the other teens had pilfered the liquor, I was going to—not hit them because I refused to be my father, but there were quite a lot of windows that needed cleaning in the house.
But the teenagers weren't there. Instead, when I turned on the light, I saw Hunter slumped in one of the chairs. He looked rough. His hair was a mess. His eyes were red, and his tie was loosened and draped over his rumpled shirt.
A bottle of cognac was on the table next to him, with a generous amount missing.
"Are you all right?" I asked him, taking the half-filled glass away from him before he could drink it.
"Don't get involved with women," he said, staring at the glass. "I think that's the mistake Dad made. He should have just stayed in the military."
"Dad made many more mistakes than leaving the military," I said carefully. I knew this had to be about Meg. I wasn't sure what had happened between them. Archer had sold it that they were madly in love and Meg was going to move in. Then the next thing I knew, she was in the Harrogate government and hell-bent on making the lives of every grown Svensson male as difficult as possible.
"All women are like Payslee, deep down," Hunter continued. "They're out to make your life as miserable as possible."
"No, they aren't," I admonished him. "Josie's nice. She's nothing like Payslee."
Hunter snorted. He looked a little green. I didn't want him to throw up on the carpet. I drained the rest of his glass and set it down.
"You're not thinking right," I told him. Slipping an arm under his armpit, I lifted him out of the chair.
"What you're doing with Josie is a mistake," Hunter slurred as I carted him down the hall. "Trust me. This isn't going to end well. We're cursed. We'll never be happy."
* * *
I couldn't stop thinkingabout Hunter's words as I tried to sleep that night. Was Josie a mistake? How well did I really know her? My father would show up randomly with a young woman, declare he was in love, and inform us she was our new sister mother. Maybe he and I had more in common than I'd wanted to believe. Maybe I was just infected with whatever sickness my father had.
But when I saw Josie the next morning, I knew that even if it was a bad idea, I wanted nothing more than to make mistakes with her.
She had an easy effectiveness with my younger brothers. Wearing a big straw hat and a sundress, Josie was organizing my little brothers for the picnic outing at the train park. They hung on her every word and were calm and well-behaved, more or less.
"Mace, did you see these picnic hampers?" she asked. Her eyes sparkled with delight, and my heart swelled. I couldn't help but lean in to kiss her.
"The Victorians had the best stuff!" she exclaimed.
"It's Edwardian," Garrett said as he strode past us from the carriage house, carrying a box of papers. "Can we try to use correct facts?"
I glowered. My brothers could be the worst sometimes.
Josie didn't seem fazed by his curt attitude. "Are you coming with us to use these gloriousEdwardianpicnic baskets?" she teased Garrett.
