Chapter 22
***Boone***
I checked my watch and shook my head. I opened my mouth to complain about Memphis running late again when she came running up the path from the guest house.
Her hair was in a cute bun on top of her head with plenty of pieces already escaping and flying around her face as she ran.
She was dressed in the same sundress she’d worn the day of the interview, confirming what Remy had thought about her clothing situation.
While he thought we needed to rectify the situation and buy her more, seeing the little sundress made me think she had just what she needed and I didn’t want her to change a thing.
When Memphis got closer, I saw her eyes were wider than ever, the lashes darkened with makeup that made them seem impossibly long.
Her cheeks were flushed and she looked like she’d gotten a little sun.
Her smile as she reached our side was forced.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. I wasn’t sure what to wear and I only brought a few things with me, so I had to try them all on a dozen times.
I should have my things delivered, but-”
Remy opened the car door and grunted. “We’re taking care of that.”
She bent forward and climbed into the car without question. The back of her dress rose up enough to flash her delicious ass at us. The pale pink panties seemed too innocent for the vixen we knew she could be. They also covered too much.
After she was settled in the car with her seatbelt on, she crossed her legs and squeezed her hands in her lap. It was the first time we’d seen her since we’d fucked her and she was clearly nervous. “What are we taking care of?”
I sat next to Remy across from her and took my time taking her in while Remy held her attention. Just seeing her was enough to get the blood pumping to my dick. I fought to control my desires, but it wasn’t easy.
“You didn’t bring much. You need clothes and other things, I’m sure.” Remy didn’t look up from his phone. “You can hardly be expected to live in the few dresses you brought for the next five years.”
“I’m going to have my parents’ housekeeper send me some of my things.
They’re not exactly happy with me, though, so it may take some time.
” She frowned and shook her head. “I’m fine, honestly.
There’s a washer and dryer in the guesthouse.
I can do my laundry just fine. Haven’t you ever heard of clothing waste? ”
I bit back a grin. “You don’t want new clothes?”
She shook her head again, making her bun wobble. “Not really. I’m okay with what I have. I’ll need...maternity clothes...but that’s later. Much later.”
Remy put his phone down and tapped his fingers on the back of it. “It’s not a debate. You need more than what you brought. There’s a yoga instructor coming to start doing prenatal yoga with you. Will you do crowning kid or whatever the fuck they do in your pretty little sundress?”
Despite his rough tone, Memphis smiled a real smile for the first time that day. “You think my sundress is pretty?”
He picked his phone back up and ignored her. I knew him well enough to know that she’d gotten under his skin and he was doing his best to shut her out. Too bad for him, I wasn’t sure there was a way to give Memphis the cold shoulder, not with her accent and her genuine sweetness.
“It is pretty, Memphis. You need more, though.” I ran my eyes over her body, remembering all the places I’d touched. My stomach tightened and my dick was a steel rod. “Most women would be happy.”
Her eyes flashed and a touch of her fire slipped free. “I’m not most women.”
“No, you are not.” I nearly laughed at the way she pouted when I agreed with her. “We took time out of our schedule to go with you. This is something we’d normally push off on one of our staff.”
“So, it’s something you do a lot? Treating the women around you to shopping sprees?” Memphis crossed her arms and looked out the window beside her. “Then I really don’t need it.”
Remy growled and tossed his phone down next to him. “You’re being a brat. We pushed off important work tasks to be here with you. Wells would’ve come if he could. Do you think you could just say thank you and let us do this very simple thing for you?”
Red cheeks and downturned lips, Memphis uncrossed her arms and gripped her knees. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Thank you for thinking of this for me. It’s not something I would’ve thought to do for myself.”
“Good girl.” Remy’s voice had lost the annoyed edge and he even offered a small smile.
Memphis shuddered and then stared down at her hands.
Her reactions to Remy’s words made me think she’d be more than interested in exploring his sexual needs, if he’d allow it.
The thought of seeing her on her knees, blindfolded and bound while Remy played with her made me shift in my seat.
I’d never given a shit enough to even think about Remy’s darker games before, but with Memphis, I wanted to watch and play along.
“Was Wells painting?” She looked between the two of us and judged our silence as what it was, an omission. “What is it? Is he okay?”
I felt warmth at the concern in her voice for our brother. It was what made me speak when normally, I never would’ve said a word about Wells. “He doesn’t care about going out all that much. Especially to stores and smaller places.”
She sat forward. “Is he agoraphobic?”
Remy tensed beside me. “And if he is?”
“If he is, it’s a really terrible thing to go through. My little brother struggled with it for several years.” Her face darkened and she looked away. “He did seem different at the interview.”
“Struggled, being past tense? How did he manage to get through it?” I watched as her eyes pinched, like she was in pain, and my stomach dropped.
Memphis busied her hands with the hem of her dress and blew out a shaky breath that felt heavy with a lot of ache. “He found drugs. If he was high enough, nothing bothered him. Each come down was a little worse, though, and now...he’s in rehab.”
I wanted to pull her into my lap and comfort her, an alien emotion for me, but I could tell by the way she straightened her shoulders and cleared the emotion from her face that she didn’t want to be comforted in that moment.
“Wells gets by,” I said. “He’s okay. If there’s something he doesn’t have to do, though, he’ll pass. ”
“This isn’t something he’d appreciate us talking about.” Remy ran his hand through his hair and rolled his neck back and forth. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
“That’s fine with me. You should know that it doesn’t change the way I see Wells, though.” Memphis looked back out the window and smiled. “Is crowning kid really a yoga pose? Second question. Can I see you do it?”
I laughed at Remy’s shocked expression. He hadn’t been prepared for her wit, I could tell. I loved watching him lose his footing and it happened so rarely that when it did, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning.
Remy grunted. “Cute.”
Memphis relaxed into her seat and then pushed the button to roll the partition down.
Twisting around to face Jake, she spoke to the man like he was her oldest friend.
“Hi, Jake! I’m sorry I didn’t say hello before, but I was distracted by being told I’m being cast as the newest Pretty Woman.
Taken shopping by these rich guys, I just hope no one snaps a jewelry box shut in my face. ”
Jake’s shoulders shook as he laughed. “I don’t think anyone will believe you as a prostitute, Memphis. You’re just too sweet and innocent.”
Remy’s snort wasn’t unnoticed by Memphis, but it was ignored. Thankfully. The last thing I needed was to find out if the stereotype about southern women being sneakily tough was true.