“Well, since we got that out of the way,” Jessica sighs sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. “I need to go pick up some things for school before I leave in four days. I’m going to head into Cascade Springs tomorrow.”
Brennan lifts his glass to his lips, pausing when he mulls over her comment. “Wait, I thought Cameron and I were taking you in a little over a week?”
She shrugs. “If you guys can take me, I’d like to go earlier to settle into my dorm room and get to know my roommate better before classes start.”
Colten places his napkin from his lap onto the table. “I can give you the card to go out tomorrow and buy whatever you need.”
“Can I go with her?” All six pairs of eyes at the table snap to me. “I want to go with her,” I repeat when none of them utter a word. “I need some new underwear,” I manage to speak through gritted teeth.
Colten huffs out a laugh, low and husky. It’s a laugh that has no business being so sexy at a moment such as this one. “Not a chance. Not after what you did today.”
“I went on a run to get exercise,Colten. If I were trying to escape, I would’ve put up a fight when you threw me in the truck.”But instead, I let you suck on my clit and edge me onbecause you’re an ass who was punishing me for no reason.I hate to admit that I liked it.“And I didn’t put up a fight, did I?”
He raises a brow. “No. You were—submissive.”
Submissive.
For one word, it holds enough power to have the cords in my body twisting into knots and sucking all the oxygen out of the room. I’m not the only one who notices the word choice. The corner of Brennan’s mouth tugs upward into this blood-heating smirk. Cameron, on the other hand, is glaring at Colten as if he’s the one who cursed at the table—that look has marked me several times before. As for me, visions of Colten with that woman, obeying him on her knees, flash behind my eyes.
I give him a fake smile and look at Cameron and Brennan. Cameron has his arms folded across his broad chest, the tendons in his muscles straining.
“Plus, if I were trying to run tomorrow too, I wouldn’t leave Rossco here, would I?” I convincingly throw that out there.
Cameron releases a breath laced with frustration. “Fine. You guys can take Elena and Tristan too, because they both need school supplies.”
A little handwhips out to snatch the container of rainbow sprinkles on the kitchen counter. Elena’s arm bumps into the jar of cherries, causing the glass to wobble and slide across the marble.
My nanny reflexes kick in, my hand barely grasping it before it can tumble and create a red sticky mess all over the floor. We don’t need a dessert crime scene on our hands.
A whooshing sound has my head turning rapidly, but I’m not quick enough. Tristan has an Everest-sized mound of whippedcream in his bowl. There’s chocolate ice cream somewhere underneath, but all I see is white fluffy foam loaded with more sugar than he needs.
“Can I have three cherries?” he asks.
I can’t help but smile. It’s one of the first things he’s said to me that isn’t a few measly syllables. I nod, hoping this tiny interaction, as small as it may be, will help him feel more comfortable around me. So far, all my attempts to get him to interact with me have failed.
“Go for it.” I slide the cherry jar across the countertop to him. He swipes a hand across his forehead, moving strands of long hair out of his bright blue-green eyes.
“I’m done!” Elena’s bright voice seizes my attention.
My eyes widen.
Oh, Jesus.
My concentration should’ve been focused on her more than Tristan. Not only does she have the two scoops of ice cream I placed in her pink plastic bowl, but her mass of whipped cream coated in a layer of chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and five cherries on top is nearly toppling over. It’s the ice cream Tower of Pisa.
Her brothers won’t be happy with me giving them all this sugar before bed.Lord, please bring on the sugar crash early.
“Okay!” I clap my hands the exact second she reaches for the sprinkles again like she doesn’t already have enough. “Cameron and Brennan have the movie set up. So, let’s take our ice cream into the living room. Yeah?”
Elena nods and hops off the stool, reaching up for her bowl. She runs out of the room in her Snow White nightgown with Tristan following closely behind her.
When I confessed thatSnowWhitewas my favorite movie when I was her age, she immediately threw on her nightgown and begged the boys to watch it tonight. Of course, they couldn’t say no to her small, pouty lips and puppy eyes. Cameron andBrennan are watching it with us while Jess is upstairs creating a packing list for college, and Colten is back in his cabin doing God knows what.
Or who.
Sliding my spoon into my ice cream, I switch off the lights in the kitchen and head to the living room, plopping on the large couch Cameron is on since Brennan is in the recliner, nearly asleep already. Both Tristan and Elena are sprawled out on the floor on top of the bed of pillows and blankets they made earlier.
A chill sweeps across my bare legs, so I reach for the blanket draped across the back of the couch and tug it over my legs. I scoop up some ice cream, savoring the sweet flavor of peanut butter and chocolate dancing on my taste buds as the movie starts.
