They deserve to know.
But like always, I don't.
Both of them have always had a fairly decent relationship with our father. As much as he doesn't deserve the respect they give him, he’s never actually treated either of them poorly.
It’s … fuck, it’s a hard place to be.
Fixing this issue before it affects either of them is still the plan.
I’ll take over the lodge, and if this secret of his ever gets out, it’s on me. Not them.
“Wren seems happy,” I say, changing the subject.
Grace sighs, and Gavin shakes his head with a smile.
“She does,” Grace replies. “I wonder what it’s like to go to school and be able to pick any career you want?”
“What do you mean?” Gavin asks.
“Well, the three of us always knew one of us would run this place one day. Wren never had that responsibility.”
“No, she?—”
“Hello, everyone.” Henry's booming voice fills the patio, and everyone stops what they are doing.
Wren moves first, rushing to him and wrapping him in a hug.
That smile right there on my baby sister's face is why I can’t tell them.
From the corner of my eye, I see Brooke moving toward me. I hold my arms out for her, and she settles into my side, her hand sliding across my lower back to hold onto me.
Henry looks at us with zero emotion before he moves on to my next sibling, greeting them all as if I weren’t here.
“I have Wren’s gift in my office. Come with me to grab it,” I whisper into Brooke's ear.
She nods, moving the hand now wrapped in a bandage into mine as I pull her behind me.
We weave through the halls of the lodge, and once we are in my office, I close the door behind us.
“Oh, it feels good in here,” Brookes says, sitting on the edge of my desk. “The thermostat seems to be fixed, which is a bummer because I’d been hoping you would show me more pictures of you reading steamy books with your shirt off.”
I chuckle, remembering that day very well, how every word of that scene made me think of Brooke.
I stalk toward her, rest a palm on the desk on either side of her, my lips dangerously close to hers but not touching.
“If you want to see me in this office with no clothes on, Books, you’re going to have to take them off for me.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” she says.
“Good.”
She puts her hands on my shirt and starts to bunch it up higher until I’m forced to lift my hands for her to pull it over my head. Undressing me with one hand isn’t an easy task.
She closes her eyes and her head falls back, exposing her neck to me. I brush a soft kiss to her silky soft skin, slowly trailing kisses down the front of her V-neck top.
Then my lips are on her desperately. In a way that saysI need you now more than ever. It’s been too long since we last kissed.
My hands smooth around her back and pull her to the edge of the desk to meet my body, but I’m too fucking tall to feel her where I need her most, so I pick her up and move us to the couch along the back wall. I sit, letting her straddle me. Then I run my hands up her thighs, moving the skirt she’s been wearing higher and higher until I spot the light pink panties covering her pussy.
