Chapter 24
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
JUNIPER SKY ELLINGTON WAS A VIRGIN.
Sterling
Cold hands skirt along my shoulder, and a moment later, chilly toes press into my calves. With a yawn, I open my eyes and find Juniper adjusting in bed between me and Dash.
Last night comes crashing down around me as I struggle to wake. I slept so well, so comfortably, too. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to share a bed. I’m a substantial guy, I sleep in a Cal king at my place and I take up most of that thing. Another thing I’d always tell myself—it’s fine to stay single. Sharing a bed would be a nightmare.
And yet, I had no nightmares. I slept so soundly that I’m actually surprised.
Juniper’s eyes pop open and she greets me with a smile. “Morning,” she whispers, “or, whatever time it is.”
“Morning.”
My eyes veer to her leg draped over Dash’s. He’s facing away from us, soft snores radiating from him as his bare back rises and falls. I nod to him, compartmentalizing the way the carved striation in his back sends a flutter through my groin. “He’s sleeping well.”
“So was I,” Juniper says, tucking her hands under her face, peering up at me with adorably sleepy eyes.
“I slept great, too,” I whisper. Despite how well I slept and how happy I am to wake up in Juniper’s bed, there are things that need to be discussed. And then there are bodies to collect.
“Juniper,” I start, drawing her name out slowly. Scratching the side of my jaw, I stare at the rumpled pink comforter draped over my thighs, trying to sort out all the things I want to say without coming across as an asshole. “Last night…” I start, but the soft hand she drapes along my thigh causes my words to cease.
“Was great,” she says softly, almost seductively, then again, I always want her so most of what she says sounds like a tease.
I nod and find myself smiling. “Yeah, it was.” The words regarding the unprotected sex we had are right on my tongue, but before I can speak, she snuggles up close, bringing her lips to my shoulder.
“Remember when I came over to your place with blueberry jam and it was my first try so I had, like, ten different recipes? And we tasted so many batches that we got a sugar high and couldn’t stop laughing?”
Juniper sitting cross-legged on my kitchen floor, purple staining her lips, tears in her eyes from incessant laughter passes through my memories. I smile, remembering how we laughed so hard we cried, and she peed her pants. That was the first time I saw her in my sweats.
Jerked off that night.
“Yeah, I do. That was a good night.”
She clings to my arm, nodding against the pillow as she peers up at me. “It was. But that’s how they all are when I’m with you and Dash.” Her face grows serious, her eyes searching mine. “When the three of us are together, the world just seems right, you know?”
I do know. I know exactly, so I nod.
Now seems like the right time to mention last night. “Juniper, we didn’t use protection with you last night.”
She chews the corner of her mouth. “I remember.”
Through a groggy yawn, Dash wakes and greets us. “Good morning.” He rolls over, exposing his knotted belly and defined chest. “What are you guys whispering about?”
Juniper only holds my gaze a second longer before turning toward Dash. “We gotta get under the oak. It’s evening. Hudson and the crew are long done for the day.” She looks at the clock on the wall. “I know it feels like we didn’t get much sleep, but we should get out there. This is the only surefire time the guys won’t be out. Hudson never misses his late afternoon, pre-dinner snack.”
“Pre-dinner snack?” Dash asks through a yawn. “I thought farmers eat, like, steak and eggs for breakfast and, like, a big hearty stew for supper.”
“My sister is the snack,” Juni says, sliding over me, ignoring my waking wood. My cock doesn’t know it isn’t morning. I blink up at her in all her beauty.
She didn’t want to talk about the unprotected sex. Despite the fact that I’m lying, I feel a little woozy when I recall her telling us we were her first. Juniper Sky Ellington was a virgin. And she let me—the garbage man—be part of her first time.
I know she wants a family. She’s told us. She’s told us she wanted us, too. Only it was me that clammed up and couldn’t handle all the planning and feelings.
Dash is awake now, so I could float the idea of us taking her to a drug store for an after-the-fact birth control. I know it’s out there. I’ve seen commercials.
But as she pulls on clothes wearing the most beautiful smile on her face that I've ever seen her wear, I decide to get up and get dressed, too.
I don’t mention Plan B.
Because I think, just maybe, this is her Plan A.